So ramadhan is here and I was wondering why it is I still do wrong or think wrong when shaytaan is all locked up. And obviously it came down to my nafs who isn’t a good lad. And this should be enough to worry anyone. The fact that this doing wrong is ingrained within us and we cannot just blame the devil anymore.
Anyway, so I’ve decided to try measures by which to discipline my nafs. So when iftar came, I had my two dates and water and refused to eat all the nice food that was all over the table. Then my mum handed me a plate of food and I ate from that. The whole point being that I didn’t want to jump into the food and waste all that control we had over our nafs during the fast.
It’s not a huge control over my nafs but inshaAllah over time I can learn to control it better but I think it’s a good start. It reminds me of the story of one of our pious predecessors who used to admonish himself when he felt thirst. He used to be preoccupied in his ibadah and then naturally one would get thirsty and at this point he would tell his nafs off. He would take a sip of water and say “there you go, you’re not getting anymore”. MashaAllah what strength and self-control they had developed.
So yeah, that’s something I thought I’d share with anyone who may stumble upon this.
Friday 21 September 2007
Monday 10 September 2007
Deceptive piety..
Ramadhan dawns upon us and I think about these words of my Shaykh,
“We begin to practice a few good deeds and then begin to think to ourselves that we are pious. The reality however is that we continue to be involved in many major sins. Shaytaan encourages us to remain in this deception of piety and does not allow us to even think about our sins and weaknesses.”
The main thing I must make myself realise is that I can accumulate lots of good deeds during this blessed month but a simple act such as backbiting someone will make it ALL go down the drain in a matter of seconds.
So as I address myself, I share with you also, the fact that we need to be careful not to sin at all in this month, and other months, because it will mean all these forms of worship we build up will simply evaporate.
One of the biggest forms of worship I intend to carry out is to do whatever my mother says and straight away. Obviously we should do this all the time but in Ramadhan we get preoccupied with our other ‘ibadah and we do get easily annoyed, what with the hunger and all. But remember that helping anyone is in itself a great reward.
By the way, this isn’t just for anyone reading this, it is for myself first and foremost. I am so easily deceived by this supposed ‘piety’ which leads to arrogance and forgetting the reality of my failings.
“We begin to practice a few good deeds and then begin to think to ourselves that we are pious. The reality however is that we continue to be involved in many major sins. Shaytaan encourages us to remain in this deception of piety and does not allow us to even think about our sins and weaknesses.”
The main thing I must make myself realise is that I can accumulate lots of good deeds during this blessed month but a simple act such as backbiting someone will make it ALL go down the drain in a matter of seconds.
So as I address myself, I share with you also, the fact that we need to be careful not to sin at all in this month, and other months, because it will mean all these forms of worship we build up will simply evaporate.
One of the biggest forms of worship I intend to carry out is to do whatever my mother says and straight away. Obviously we should do this all the time but in Ramadhan we get preoccupied with our other ‘ibadah and we do get easily annoyed, what with the hunger and all. But remember that helping anyone is in itself a great reward.
By the way, this isn’t just for anyone reading this, it is for myself first and foremost. I am so easily deceived by this supposed ‘piety’ which leads to arrogance and forgetting the reality of my failings.
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