Sunnat - A path to a lover's destination

One of the most significant reasons of our existence in this world is to gain the love of Allah (swt). This love builds our eeman (faith in Allah) to such a profound state that some even surpass the ranks of Angels. There is a simple philosophy behind this feeling we call love. When a lover falls into love with someone, it becomes incumbent upon him to love those things that our loved by his loved one even if it means loving the loved one's house, its doors and walls.
Similarly, to attain the very reason of our existence i.e love of Allah (swt) we must love each and everything loved by His majesty the most exalted. The most loved of Allah's creation is Rasulullah (sallalahu alaiyhi wasallam), may peace and blessings be upon him. He is referred to in many sources as the Habib (loved one) by Allah (swt). Moreover in Quran, Allah says (interpretation): "Say (to the believers O Prophet), if you love Allah then you must follow me". The ayah is self-evident that to love Allah we must love and follow Rasulullah (sallalahu alaiyhi wasallam) and not our desires or anything straying from the path of the Sunnat (the manner by which Rasulullah sallalahu alaiyi wasallam used to spend his life).
It must be stressed at this stage that the most expressive way to love someone is to imitate him. As a wise man once truly remarked: "The heart is flooded with love first and then it flows out of the heart to show its signs in the appearance of the lover". Similarly, our love for Rasulullah (sallalahu alaiyhi wasallam) and subsequently the love of Allah can only be attained if we shun every other way that is opposite to the path of Sunnat and follow and imitate Huzoor (A.S) in each and every walk of life, be it apparent imitaion i.e imitating him from head to toe in appearance which means dressing how he dressed, walking how he walked, sleeping how he slept, eating how he ate, talking how he talked and the list continues or be it matters of his spiritual conduct i.e praying how he prayed, thinking what and how he thought, supplicating how he supplicated and the list goes on.....
We should read the seerah (life of our dear Rasulullah sallalahu alaiyhi wasallam) to gain a closer insight upon his life and then aim to practice and imitate him as our role model and forget every other role model we have created in this worldly life. We should mold the very basics and fundamentals of our life in accordance with the Sunnah. And this solely means that the very fundamental day to day activities to the most important events in our life must be a complete depiction of the life of the most exalted of Mankind, Allah has ever and will create till the Hereafter! (Sallalahu Alaiyhi Wasallam). And this truly is the most fastest and rapid ways of achieving the intense love of Allah (swt) which is obviously a lover's final destination!
May Allah give us the strength to follow the footsteps of Rasulullah (Sallalahu Alaiyhi wasallam) and to resurrect us at his noble feet on the day of judgement. Ameen!

P.S. For a detailed sermon on the topic please click here.

The Human Creation: A combination of the vivid and the unseen (Including some tips of controlling anger)

In times like these when 'evil' whims and desires are not only fulfilled but they are valued and practiced to such an extent that they can be easily termed as being 'worshiped', there is one feeling that is not only disastrous for the Hereafter but can cause widespread calamities in this world too. The feeling is known as Anger.

ALLAH (swt) created us with a body and a soul. Although the body, as it is apparent is a unique but balanced blend of flesh and bones and serves to maintain our bodies' composure; our soul has a much greater purpose and has been created to serve man with the most significant of his needs.

A Buzurg once defined the soul and body with a simple yet comprehensive analogy. He said "Our soul is like the man who rides a horse and the body is like the horse that is being ridden by the man". What we understand from this analogy is an undeniable fact the our soul is arguably the most important of features that Man has been created with. And thus it is the soul that either takes the body to the highest of Paradise or the deepest ebbs of Hell.

Likewise, we also understand that just as the body needs to be nurtured and taken care of, so does the soul. But as we understood from the above analogy that the soul is much important than the body. Thus we can rightly conclude that the needs of the soul are much more important than the needs of the body. For example,body requires food and exercise to remain healthy so does the soul needs food and exercise but perhaps not in the form of the food/exercise that body needs.

All this may seem philosophical for some but for a moment ponder upon the Ayah's and Hadith that talk about the creation of man and one will soon verify the above stated argument.

Furthermore, here it may be important to mention that just as the body the soul consists of parts. Perhaps, the most important part that acts just like the heart acts for the body is the Nafs (the inner self) for a soul. This is in fact the part that governs upon the soul, it harbors and instills man with all kinds of desires.

This Nafs is the very part that overpowers our brain with Anger. Anger is not undesirable. It is in fact a characteristic of our soul but as its outcomes our undesirable it needs to be controlled and never allowed to overpower our mind and numb our senses. It can be said that this is one of the reasons that ALLAH made it unlawful. And it is the very reason that ALLAH states that the controlling of Anger is from the acts of the righteous and pious.

The following list contains some tips and procedures to cure the ill usage of anger that has been compiled from the Quran and Hadis:

1) Fight with the Nafs (inner self) when one feels angry, fight it until anger leaves. Prevent one's body (tongue, hands and face) from reacting in anyway harmful to others.
2) A better way is to divert our attention.
3) If one is standing when he feels angry, he should sit down, and if he is sitting he should lie down to oppose the Nafs from making the body to react.
4) Drink a glass of cold water.
5) Perform ablution (Wuzu) until one feels himself back to his own senses as anger is from the fire lighted by the nafs and shaitan (devil) and the Wuzu will extinguish this fire. (hopefully!)
6) As Anger is from Satan, recite Ta'awwuz (i.e Pray for refuge from the evil of Shaitan (Devil)).

May ALLAH (swt) give us the power to defeat our nafs from its evil desires. Ameen!

P.S: Whatever good has been written above is from ALLAH and whatever error made above is from me. May ALLAH accept this minute effort and forgive me for the errors.

And ALLAH knows best!

O Muslims! What is your identity???

Proclamation – Its essence and our duties (Part 2)

The second part of the kalmia is

Muhammad is the messenger of Allah- This line has its own significance. To explain this in one sentence it’s the criteria to judge whether a person is a believer or not. Nothing more can explain the gravity of this part of the kalmia. As in the words of an urdu poet

Inkaar-e-Nabi laazim inkaar-e-Ahad hai,

Imaan-e-Khuda laazim hai Imaan-e-Muhammad salallaho alahye wasallam.

From this declaration stems an article of creed that Muahmmad Salallaho alhaye wasallam is the seal of the prophets. As Allah swt says in the Quran "Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is not the father of any men among you, but he is the Messenger of ALLAH and the last of the Prophets; and ALLAH is aware of all things". (Quran, Al-Ahzab 33:40)"

This verse is clear about the finality of the Prophet hood. It explicitly states the door of prophethood is closed and no new prophet will be raised in future. This closes the door for any apostate and liar who declares his messengership. His act will be deemed as a direct attack on the Crown of the seal of the Prophets which was conferred upon our Master, Our beloved Prophet Muhammad salallaho alahye wasallam.

Furthermore this declaration demands us that we must have complete faith and trust that to succeed in this life as well as the hereafter, we need to follow the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad salallaho alahye wasallam and should abandon all the activities that directly contradict the prophetic ways.

In the words of Imam Maalik ru, “Sunnah is like the ark of Noah, whoever gets into it will be safely carried to its destination”

Allah says in the Quran, “There has certainly been for you in the Messenger (salallaho alahye wasallam) of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and who remembers Allah.”

Without a shadow of doubt, there is no field of life in which the way of our beloved Prophet salallaho alahye wasallam doesn’t guides us. None of the other personalities of the world were able to produce such exemplary character and take my words, no one will be able to replicate it. Yes we as laymen cannot reach that noblest of peaks but yes what is attainable, we should strive for it and hope that Allah raises up on the day of Judgement in the group who strictly adhered to the sunnah.

Naqshe Qadam Nabi (salallaho alhaye wasallam) hain k jannat k raastay,

Allah se milatay hain sunnat k raastay.

Last but not the least, as there will be no new Prophet therefore the duty to call people towards Islam and to correct the misguided is now delegated to the Ummah. It is the duty of each and every muslim to call people towards Islam and to correct those muslims brothers who have astrayed. Mind it, each and every act that we do, the word that we speak has an effect. Our words and actions can attract people to Islam and can distance them from Islam. Our prophet salallaho alahye wasallam had one of the noblest characters which caused many non-beleivers to accept the shahadah.

To sum up :

1. Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad salallaho alahye wasallam is the seal of the prophets

2. Prophetic ways are the blessed ways and anything contrary to it must be abandoned.

3. The propagation of the deen and to correct the faith and the practice of the people is now the duty of the ummah and negligence in it can be a cause of failure in the hereafter.

Anything that u find good therein is from Allah and any mistake is my flaw.

May Allah make this beneficial for the readers and pardon me for my mistakes.

Written by he who is in most need of his generous Lord.

Prostration: A moment of closeness.........

When I bow down to prostrate in front of You,

Ah! I feel as if my whole self has flown back to You,

It is a feeling inexplicable but ever so sweet,

My heart starts pounding with a terrific speed,

It’s a blend of fear and a gush of affection,

Cleansing the dense clouds of darkness and raises me from this infection,

An infection that has made me betray You,

A disease that has kept me far from You,

It is so kind of You to give me a chance to bow down now,

Oh! Dear Allah I am so fortunate to have this moment of closeness now,

My sins have made me a creature worse than an animal,

But You are my Lord flawless and infallible,

It is such a blessing to be at Your Feet,

Soothing me entirely, and fulfilling me deep,

My tears stop at the fringe of being flown away by the surge of pain,

The pain of not meeting You and tell You that my heart is full of shame,  

Oh! How dearly I want to never rise up from earth,

But time it seems never gives a chance and always shows its worth,

I wish it would last forever,

We would talk in serenity and I would leave You never,

I am Your slave who is in love with You O my Highness,

Accept this defective creature and make it pious,    

Let me bow down to whatever you say,

And let me surrender my life in Your exalted way.

                                                                        (AK)

When life became an endless cycle of sins…..

I’ve been so sinful; I’ve been so hypocritical,

Dear Lord forgive me or I’ll become a criminal,

A criminal of the hereafter, a criminal of my life,

I’ll burn in hellfire for my eternal afterlife,

My heart is restless and my eyes don’t cry,

O Lord! My soul is about to die,

I get an intuition of a darkness that has befallen within me,

A hole in myself that is deepening as it weakens me,

I feel an urge to scream, and an urge to die,

But my life is Yours O Allah and for you it will die,

With my hands shivering and my heart trembling,

I beg for Your mercy that is never ending,

To make me rise from the ebbs of filth,

To resurrect my soul and make it tilt,

Let it tilt to the Love of You, O Lord,

Let my heart suffice to You only and only to You O God.

Let my life be a means of satisfying You,

Let it pass with my heart in the remembrance of You.

Just give me the strength to defeat myself,

And defend my heart from the desires of my inner self.
                                                                        Ameen

                                                                                          (AK)

Proclamation - Its essence and our duties (Part 1)

“La Ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah”-There is no God except ALLAH, Muhammad is the messenger of ALLAH

This is the Islamic declaration of faith which has to be recited by anyone who has to enter into the religion. In other words this is the key to enter into a lifelong experience of ALLAH (swt)’s limitless blessings and immense love.

The words may apparently seem as if they are ‘just’ a few Arabic words joined together to form a sentence but literally speaking, if we try to delve into this sentence and ponder upon the words we would surely conclude that they contain a deep sea of endless bounds.

To recite these words so as to enter into the folds of Islam is an easy formality but to believe and implement upon the words is what’s lacking today. A believing Muslim is the one whose heart has been penetrated completely with this declaration.

The proclamation (Kalma) has two parts:

There is no God except ALLAH: This forms the basis of Islam as it explicitly negates all kinds of gods that were prayed upon by people before Islam was revealed to perish any such gods and invited the people to declare that ALLAH (swt) alone is our God. The words also negate any desires and commands of the inner self (our nafs) and the devils (Shayateen) that may be acted upon by an individual against a command of ALLAH (swt). As ALLAH(swt) says in the Quran:

“Have you ever seen the one who has taken his own desires as his god?” (Surah Al-Furqan, Ayah 25)

These words, when recited with full intent and belief, automatically mark that a believer has to submit to whatever ALLAH commands and to refrain from whatever He commands us to refrain from. The words provide a foundation for a complete system of life for an individual so much so that there is no place on the face of the earth where a believer is free from the promise concealed in these words. As ALLAH (swt) says in the Holy Quran:

“The command belongs to God alone. He commands you not to worship anyone except Him. This is the right way of life.” (12:40)

The injunctions that are then made compulsory upon the individual include the five pillars namely Salah (5 times a day), Sawm (Fasting in the month of Ramazan), Zakah (2.5% of a fixed amount of accumulated wealth) and Haj (once in the lifetime). Apart from these, firm intentions to abstain from all the sins which are declared as sins by ALLAH (swt) and his Messenger (sallalahu alaiyhi wasallam) also is what is implied here. To sum up, a believer has to put his steps cautiously in this life and act upon the commandments of his Lord that are compulsory over him at every moment of his life.

This proclamation also brings a change in our thoughts, a cleansing of our soul and a strengthening of faith. This is due to many reasons. Firstly by saying (and believing in our heart) that ALLAH (swt) alone is our Lord and Sustainer we are implying that whatever good we do is for him alone and no one else. This shuns the very path of Riya which is a serious spiritual illness where a believer does all his deeds to be called pious in the society or to gain respect. For this reason ALLAH (swt) says in the Quran:

“Say, my Salat (prayers), my acts of devotion, my life and my death, are for the Sustainer of the Worlds; He has no associate. I have been commanded this, and I am the foremost to be among the submitters. “[Qur’an 6:163]

Secondly, the first part of our proclamation also demands from a believer a change of mindset. Today, we are thriving in a materialistic world where virtually everyone from any strata and any background either believes that having more money is what is ‘real’ success. The priorities have changed. A child from an age of 12 and above is told to become a rich man with hafty amount of money and fame to live a happy life. Our priorities today have changed. We think that money and fame is what will make us content and only these things will grant us success and alas we feel proud possessing them. 

The first part of the Kalma negates all such false deities that we have made namely money, fame and status. As we proclaim in it that everything is made by ALLAH (swt) alone and whatever He wishes happens and that our money, fame and status can do nothing for us if ALLAH (swt)’s wish is against us. We also proclaim that ALLAH (swt) made all these that is money, fame and status as a blessing for us and if He wishes He can always take them away from us.

To sum it all up, the first part of the proclamation is not just a few words we recite just to fulfill a formality but they are a promise. A promise not just to any of our friends or our close aides but it is a promise to The All-mighty, The Lord of the worlds and what is within them – ALLAH (swt). Thus I do believe that this promise should be kept in mind at every step in our course of life and should be our top priorities! May ALLAH (swt) give us the courage to implement the Kalma (proclamation) in our lives to its purest essence.
Ameen