Mujahadah an Nafs...

A few words of wisdom gained from my Shaykh last night regarding tasawuf (Spirituality) and tazkiyah (Spiritual cleansing):

Mujahida of the nafs (striving to control it) is not refusing yourself a cold drink on a summer’s day or sleeping on the floor when you have a bed available to you. Instead, mujahida is, for example when you force yourself to look down when a non-mahram is passing by, someone you shouldn’t be looking at.

Restraining your nafs from doing all the permissible things will eventually cause it to rebel against you in such a way that it overcomes you and forces you into haraam. Therefore treat you nafs like a child and force it when necessary but also reward it with the halal things that it enjoys.

On another note, we must be careful with overindulging in halal. This meaning that we should not go round looking for things that are halal and pleasurable to our nafs and then just keep doing it. The result of this will be that our nafs will eventually get bored of all these halal activities that it has overindulged in and then its only desire will be to experience haraam pleasure as that is all that will be left! Therefore we should ensure that we engage in maximum 75% of the halal things that we enjoy and in that way we will have at least a 25% barrier between us and haraam.

May Allah allow us to act upon these beautiful teachings and becoming perfect muslims. Ameen.

Be Allah’s, He Will Be Yours...

Once the Prophet Musa (aliyhe asslaam) was tending to his sheep when he started to feel very sleepy. He tried vey much to stay awake, because he feared that if he fell asleep the wolves may harm his sheep. However, he could not control himself and he fell asleep. As soon as he awoke he very worriedly looked around to see what had become of his sheep. To his amazement he seen that the wolves themselves were guarding his sheep. Very astonished, he asked Allah as to what was happening. Allah sent reveleation to him,

"O Musa! You behave in the manner which I desire, so I am repaying you by dealing with you in the manner"

Honouring the Name...

“The great Shaykh and Muhadith Bishr e Haifi rahmatullahi alayh was a great sinner in the initial phase of his life. He had a profound love for alcohol and he would regularly meet with friends and drink the night away.

After one night of heavy drinking Bishr e Haifi was stumbling home drunk when he noticed a piece of paper lying in the gutter. He picked it up and noticed that written on the paper was the name of Allah ta’ala.

Bishr e Haifi took the paper home, cleaned it, placed it in a beautiful cloth and then put it with utmost respect on a shelf in his house. He then went to sleep.

That night Bishr e Haifi dreamt that someone was saying to him:

"O Bishr! You have honoured My name. Thus I will make you honourable in this world and the hereafter"

And it was after this that the drunkard Bishr e Hafi changed and became the great Shaykh Bishr e Haifi rahmatullahi alayh.”

Ask for help...

Words of my Shaykh:

“List your sins before Allah, accept your guilt before Him and say that from tomorrow I will not do the same. Supplicate to Allah by saying:

‘O Allah, this is your Fadhl that I was able to repent and it is only through your Fadhl that I will be able to stay steadfast on this so help me and keep me steadfast’

Then exert effort, for Allah helps the one who exerts effort. If not today, then tomorrow, sooner or later you will progress.”

Medication..

Harr dard ka dawa hai saleh alaa Muhammad

Every pain's medication is salah upon Muhammad (Peace be upon him)

Keep on sinning but on five conditions..

Once a man came to Ibrahim ibn Adham and said, “I have such a love for sinning that I cannot stop”. Ibrahim soon realised that the man was indeed so deep in sinning that it would be difficult for him to give them up. So he said to him, “Fine, you may continue sinning but you must fulfil five conditions as you sin”. The man took this as good news and then asked what the conditions were.

“First, when you sin, make sure you don’t eat any food given by Allah”

“How can I do that? All food is provided by Allah!”

“Well then how can you disobey Allah and yet eat his food?!”

“Okay, okay, what’s the next condition?”

“Secondly, when you sin, don’t do it on the land of Allah, do it on your own land.”

“That’s impossible; all land is owned by Allah!”

“So you expect to disobey Allah on his own land and continue eating his food?”

“Okay, what’s the next condition?”

“Third, when you commit a sin, go do it where Allah cannot see you”

“That too is impossible! Allah sees everything!”

“You disobey Allah on his land, eat his food and do it front of him?!”

The man began to realise his position but continued to ask the other conditions.

“The fourth this is that when the angel of death comes to take your soul, tell him to wait a minute so that you can make tawba.”

“What? The angel of death waits for nobody. He neither comes a second early nor late!”

Reality began kicking in and Ibrahim carried on.

“Lastly, when you are being thrown into jahannam, make sure you grab onto something to save yourself.”

“In jahannam there will be nothing to hold on” and the man realised his fate. Thereafter he made such sincere repentance that he went to become one of the most pious people of his time.

Isn't it funny..

Isn't it funny how we make great efforts to lower our gaze in the street yet we look with big wide eyes when looking at non-mahram men and women in TV and magazines?

It may not with a gaze of lust but it's a sin nonetheless. And the greatest sins are those which we do not realise are sins. Because then we do not repent.

May Allah guide us all.

Ameen.