Effort, Willpower and Self-Purification

By Khurram Murad
A Muslim Scholar and Writer
An Article from onislam.net

As you proceed on your journey in along the path of self-purification and Tazkiyah, in quest of the ultimate goal of Paradise, you will encounter difficulties and hardships. These may often seem insurmountable. Overcoming them may be made easier by a good early grasp of the prerequisites of tazkiyah. These include:

Genuine Effort
In order to succeed, you must have a deep desire to make a genuine effort to fulfill your obligations as a Muslim:

But as for those who strive hard in Our cause - We shall most certainly guide them onto paths that lead unto Us: for, behold God is indeed with the doers of good. (Al-`Ankabut 29: 69)

With desire, of course, come actions. But know that it is not solely the results of your endeavours that count; what matters most is that you made your best effort.
This is a very important point to appreciate because without genuine effort nothing can happen. Those who think that du`aa' (prayer) alone can work miracles are not living in a realistic world. Prayers are part of the effort, but Prayers are not the whole answer. If you pray, `Allah! Guide me and make me good', it is not going to bring you any benefit unless you are also determined to become good and make an effort towards becoming good.
Once you have done the latter two things, then, of course, Prayer will be a source of barakah or Divine grace that will further inspire and strengthen your efforts. The initial desire and the ensuing effort to do and become good, is part of the continuing process of self-development, a process that may begin at any point in life that you choose and continue till your last breath:

O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam. (Aal `Imran 3: 102)

Sustaining Willpower 
To achieve the ultimate goal in life requires a sustained determination to do so, a willpower that is forever responsive and strong. In Qur'anic terminology this is called iradah. Iradah is basic to all our efforts. Without willing to do something you cannot do anything. 

Iradah is very different from desire. You always hear people reflecting upon unfulfilled aspirations. One of the main reasons why aspirations and dreams remain unfulfilled is that they are no more than desires which faded to assume the status of iradah.
The Qur'an explains that one of the basic weaknesses in human nature which impedes self-development is the weakness of will. While narrating the story of Adam, Allah informs:

And, indeed, long ago We made Our covenant with Adam; but he forgot and We found no firmness of purpose in him. (Taha 20:115)

Iradah requires strength and consistency and is indeed the antithesis of doubt, hesitation or lethargy. Once iradah is firmly in place, then you must have no doubts and you must not hesitate.
Now, what purpose should iradah serve? The Qur'an makes it clear that this will power must be a firm resolve to seek the pleasure of Allah because this is the part of the bargain that you must deliver:

And whoever desires [arada] the Life to Come, and strive for it as it ought to be striven for, and are [true] Believers withal-they are the ones whose striving finds favour [with God]. (Al-Israa' 17: 19)

References

Taken, withsome modifications, from the author's In the Early Hours.

Happiness is a choice, cultivate it!

“Happiness is a habit – cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
Happiness is one aspiration all people share. No one wants to be sad and depressed.
We’ve all seen people who are always happy – even amidst agonizing life trials. I’m not saying happy people don’t feel grief, sorrow or sadness; they just don’t let it overtake their life. The following are 21 things happy people make a habit of doing:

1. Appreciate Life
Be thankful that you woke up alive each morning. Develop a childlike sense of wonder towards life. Focus on the beauty of every living thing. Make the most of each day. Don’t take anything for granted. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

2. Choose Friends Wisely
Surround yourself with happy, positive people who share your values and goals. Friends that have the same ethics as you will encourage you to achieve your dreams. They help you to feel good about yourself. They are there to lend a helping hand when needed.

3. Be Considerate
Accept others for who they are as well as where they are in life. Respect them for who they are. Touch them with a kind and generous spirit. Help when you are able, without trying to change the other person. Try to brighten the day of everyone you come into contact with.

4. Learn Continuously
Keep up to date with the latest news regarding your career and hobbies. Try new and daring things that has sparked your interest – such as sporty things

5. Creative Problem Solving
Don’t wallow in self-pity. As soon as you face a challenge get busy finding a solution. Don’t let the set backs affect your mood, instead see each new obstacle you face as an opportunity to make a positive change. Learn to trust your gut instincts – it’s almost always right.

6. Do What They Love
Some statistics show that 80% of people dislike their jobs! No wonder there’s so many unhappy people running around. We spend a great deal of our life working. Choose a career that you enjoy – the extra money of a job you detest isn’t worth it. Make time to enjoy your hobbies and pursue special interests.

7. Enjoy Life
Take the time to see the beauty around you. There’s more to life than work. Take time to smell the roses, watch a sunset or sunrise with a loved one, take a walk along the seashore, hike in the woods etc. Learn to live in the present moment and cherish it. Don’t live in the past or the future.

8. Laugh
Don’t take yourself – or life to seriously. You can find humor in just about any situation. Laugh at yourself – no one’s perfect. When appropriate laugh and make light of the circumstances. (Naturally there are times that you should be serious as it would be improper to laugh.)

9. Forgive
Holding a grudge will hurt no one but you. Forgive others for your own peace of mind. When you make a mistake – own up to it – learn from it – and FORGIVE yourself.

10. Gratitude
Develop an attitude of gratitude. Count your blessings; All of them – even the things that seem trivial. Be grateful for your home, your work and most importantly your family and friends. Take the time to tell them that you are happy they are in your life.

11. Invest in Relationships
Always make sure your loved ones know you love them even in times of conflict. Nurture and grow your relationships with your family and friends by making the time to spend with them. Don’t break your promises to them. Be supportive.

12. Keep Their Word
Honesty is the best policy. Every action and decision you make should be based on honesty. Be honest with yourself and with your loved ones.

13. Meditate
Meditation gives your very active brain a rest. When it’s rested you will have more energy and function at a higher level. Types of meditation include yoga, relaxation tapes, affirmations, visualization or just sitting in complete silence. Find something you enjoy and make the time to practice daily.

14. Mind Their Own Business
Concentrate on creating your life the way you want it. Take care of you and your family. Don’t get overly concerned with what other people are doing or saying. Don’t get caught up with gossip or name calling. Don’t judge. Everyone has a right to live their own life the way they want to – including you.

15. Optimism
See the glass as half full. Find the positive side of any given situation. It’s there – even though it may be hard to find. Know that everything happens for a reason, even though you may never know what the reason is. Steer clear of negative thoughts. If a negative thought creeps in – replace it with a positive thought.

16. Love Unconditionally
Accept others for who they are. You don’t put limitations on your love. Even though you may not always like the actions of your loved ones – you continue to love them.

17. Persistence
Never give up. Face each new challenge with the attitude that it will bring you one step closer to your goal. You will never fail, as long as you never give up. Focus on what you want, learn the required skills, make a plan to succeed and take action. We are always happiest while pursuing something of value to us.

18. Be Proactive
Accept what can not be changed. Happy people don’t waste energy on circumstances beyond their control. Accept your limitations as a human being. Determine how you can take control by creating the outcome you desire – rather than waiting to respond.

19. Self Care
Take care of your mind, body and health. Get regular medical check ups. Eat healthy and work out. Get plenty of rest. Drink lots of water. Exercise your mind by continually energizing it with interesting and exciting challenges.

20. Self Confidence
Don’t try to be someone that you’re not. After all no one likes a phony. Determine who you are in the inside – your own personal likes and dislikes. Be confident in who you are. Do the best you can and don’t second guess yourself.

21. Take Responsibility
Happy people know and understand that they are 100% responsible for their life. They take responsibility for their moods, attitude, thoughts, feelings, actions and words. They are the first to admit when they’ve made a mistake.
Begin today by taking responsibility for your happiness. Work on developing these habits as you own. The more you incorporate the above habits into your daily lifestyle – the happier you will be.

Most of all: BE TRUE TO YOURSELF.

Collected From : islamictube

Breathe and Believe

by Zahra Belal
Originally posted in SuhaibWebb.com

Sometimes life takes such a turn that the very earth beneath our feet is shaken. We scramble around blindly to make sense of what is happening to us. In doing so, we pass from stages of shock, denial, uncontrollable grief to acceptance or numbness.
Despite all our courage, we are at times helpless in taking charge of our feelings; involuntarily, we seem to sink deeper and deeper in to a dark abyss of self-pity, pessimism and worthlessness.
In times like these, we feel akin to a tree in winter that has shed all its leaves, leaving it branches stark and barren in the cold wind. We are able to relate to this image of an entity that has nothing to give any more; frozen in stagnation and purposelessness—in, so to speak, death.
Our suffering distorts all our senses, seeping little joys in life, colouring everything in dark. We find it hard to fathom how everything around us can be so normal when there is a storm inside us.
In those moments of despair, there are certain things that we need to remind ourselves again and yet again—ad infinitum.
Foremost is the fact that we are always in a flux, moving from one state to another. This is perhaps why it is said that we cannot step in to the same river twice, for on our second attempt both the river and we have changed. The phenomenon may not be perceivable to us, it is not necessarily observable or tangible but an irrefutable nature of the world it is—nothing lasts, everything is inexorably and incessantly moving towards one culmination after another.
Our own body is a testament to this with constant reproduction of cells, countless dead cells replaced or repaired by new ones; every moment you are being changed, matured and aged with years that you live.
Look around you. The dynamics of the cosmos beckons us to believe in change; the tireless movement of the planetary objects that shapes our day and night and one season after another.
This is why Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (glorified is He) says again and again, “And [in] the alternation of night and day and [in] what Allah sends down from the sky of provision and gives life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness, and [in His] directing of the winds are signs for a people who reason,” (Qur’an 45:5).
That you will face hardships in this life is a foregone conclusion. Allah (swt) says: “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to the patient,” (Qur’an 2: 155). During our trials and tribulation, we are being closely monitored, which is true for all times, but how we react can either please or displease Allah.
Our vibrant Islamic history is full of such examples. The Qur’an recounts the lives of so many prophets and glorifies their steadfastness (sabr). Our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) faced one trial after another; orphaned before he was born, lost his mother and grandfather in his childhood, lost his loving wife and uncle in a span of a year, endured persecution from his own tribe and others, travelled to Taif with hopes but was rejected with cruelty, forced to immigrate from his place of birth, ridiculed by the Jews of Madina and made to fight one ghazwa (battle) after another in such challenging circumstances. Then one day he stood holding his dead son in his arms with tears falling profusely from his eyes. Despite all this, he remained firm in his iman (faith) and true to his cause.
And Allah rewarded every Prophet with ease after hardships; we only have to show our commitment for Allah to cool a fire, part an ocean, grant a throne, send a flock of ababeel, descend thousands of angels and conquer a city. Allah (swt) says, “O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient,” (Qur’an 2:153).
The same ayah (verse) is followed by allusion to Safa and Marwah, which Allah says is among his signs, “sha’ar Allah.” In your misery, think about Hajar`alayha as-salam (peace be upon her), a beautiful woman who was stranded by her husband on Allah’s command, in a barren, unhabituated valley with her wee son. As time took its toll, her son began crying for water but where can water be found in such a lifeless place? Does that daunt her? Does she make a mad dash in her anxiety? Or does she listlessly sit down, giving up and bemoaning her fate?
No, no, not this woman. She gets up and runs from one hill to another, trying to discern for any clues of a passing caravan from a vantage point. This is sa`i—struggle to achieve an end while harbouring complete trust in Allah (swt); believing that He indeed will pull her through. Sure enough, a spring burst forth from a rock and forever transformed that desolate place into a bustling city. And Allah found her act so endearing that He prescribed it as part of Umrah and Hajj which is why to this day, droves of people—both men and women—emulate this amazing woman by doing sa`i between the two hills to earn Allah’s pleasure.
In quite moments of reflection, relate your disappointments and losses in this life to that of the Day of Judgement, a day when there is no turning back from what we have earned for an eternity. If our fleeting sorrows of this life bow us over to this extent, contemplate on how unimaginably tremendous would be a loss on that day, when every atom of good and bad will be weighed. Indeed, if trials do not remind us of our beginning (inna lilahi—to God we belong) and end (wa inna ilaihi raji`oon—and to Him we shall we return) then we truly have bargained a great loss.
Therefore, feel a kinship with a tree in winter but do not pity it. That tree is far from a symbol of hopelessness, it is indeed a symbol of patience (sabr) as it braves the cold, quietly biding its time till the first glimmer of spring, when sun rays will rejuvenate it with lush, green leaves, when vibrant flowers will break out all over and when its boughs will droop with the weight of the fruits it will bear.
And that is what we need to do; last out the rough patch. Tell yourselves, breathe and believe. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

A believer's blessings

Allah (SWT) informs the believers of their reward as follows:

"...So announce glad tidings [of paradise] to those who are patient; those who, when afflicted with calamity, say: Truly we belong to Allah and to Him we will return."
Qur'aan, 2:155-6

He puts love in the heart of the believers for those who are righteous.

"Surely, Allah will bestow love [in the hearts of the believers for] those who believe and do righteous deeds."
Qur'aan, 19:96

Abu Yahya Suhaib bin Sinan (RA) reports Rasulullah (SAW) said:

"The affair of believer is amazing! The whole of his life is beneficial, and that is only in the case of the believer. When good times come to him, he is thankful and it is good for him, and when bad times befall him, he is patient and it is better for him." 
[Muslim]

Abu Saeed and Abu Hurayrah (RAA) report that Rasulullah (SAW) said:

Never is a believer is stricken with a discomfort, an illness, an anxiety, a grief or mental worry or even the picking of a thorn but Allah expiates his sins on account of his patience.
[Bukhari and Muslim]

Abu Hurayrah (RA) report that Rasulullah (SAW) said:

"He for whom Allah intends good, He afflicts him with some difficulty."
[Bukhari] 

Courtesy: www.freebigpictures.com

The World and All It Contains

How much is it really worth.....

Amongst the dreams of early Muslims is one related by Yasir ibn Nu'ama who said,

A girl died in the al-jafir plague.
Her father met her in a dream after her death & asked her to tell him about the Next World. She replied:

"My father, this is a big subject you have raised.
We know but cannot act. You can act, but do not know.
By Allah! One or two acts of glorification and one or two rak'ats of the prayer in my book of my actions...

            

          ...are preferable to me than the world and all it contains

                      
                                   [Ibn Al Qayyim's Kitaab Ar-rooh]

Narrated Anas RA

the Prophet SAW said

Allah will say to the person of the Hell Fire who will receive the least punishment,

"If you had everything on the earth,

would you give it a as a ransom to free yourself (i.e. save yourselfs from this Fire)?"

He will say "Yes",

then Allah will say

"While you were in the backbone of Adam, I asked you much less than this, (i.e. not to worship others besides Me), but you insisted on worshiping other besides me"

  [Sahih al-Bukhari Vol.4, no.551] 

Collected from the magazine

Benefit of the day, issue 2

 

Life is a Fading Shadow

Allah subhanahu wata'aalaa said:

"Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a quick passing enjoyment, and verily, the Hereafter that is the home that will remain forever." 

                                                                           (40:39) 
The Prophet (saw) said:

"What have I do with this life? The parable of me and this life is the parable of a rider who rested in the shade of a tree and then departed."

       Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Al-Albani rendered it authentic

The Prophet (saw) also said: 

"In this life, be like a Stranger or Passerby."

                                           Al- Bukhari

Abdullah Ibn Umar (ra) said:

"This life is like paradise for the disbeliever and like jail for the believer. The example of the believer when his soul departs his body, is the example of a man who was in jail and was released from it, so he goes about in the earth and travels all around it."

Sharh As-Sudur, p.13

Abdullah bin 'Aun said:

"Those who were before us (the Sahabah and the Salaf As-Saalih) would leave for this life what remained with them after taking care of their Hereafter. You, on the other hand, leave for your Hereafter what remains after taking care of your life."

Sifatus-Safwah, vol.3, p.101

Fudail ibn 'Iyad said:

"Entering this life is easy, but departing from it is very hard. (He means being delivered from its lures and danger to Allah's mercy and forgiveness )"

Al-Ihya', vol.3, p.224

Habib bin Muhammad always said to his wife:

"If i die today, ask so-and-so to wash my body and do this and that." People asked her: "Why did he said that, has he seen a vision?" She said: "This is what he says everyday."

 Sifatus-Safwah, vol.3, p.101

Muhammad ibn Waasi' asked:

"If you see a man crying in Paradise, would you not be amazed at his crying?" He was answered in the affirmative. So he asked again: "What is more amazing is he who laughs in this life, while utterly unaware where his final destination will be!" 

 Al-Ihya', vol.3, p.224

 Wahb ibn Munabbeh said:

"The example of this life and the Hereafter is the example of two rival wives, if you make one of them happy, the other gets angry." 

Hilyatul-Auliyaa', vol. 4, p. 51

Collected from the Magazine

Benefit of the day, issue 1

Poetry 2

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be cleaning you out
For some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from the beyond.

~Rumi

18 sources of Barakah!

“Barakah is the attachment of Divine goodness to a thing, so if it occurs in something little, it increases it. And if it occurs in something much it benefits. And the greatest fruits of Barakah in all things is to use that barakah in the obedience of Allah (Subahanahu Wa Ta’ala)”
 Barakah is not a lost treasure, rather, it’s right in front of our eyes! This treasure is only available and ready to be handed over to the one who works for it.
 For details:
http://productivemuslim.com/18-sources-of-barakah/

Poetry 1

I Come From There

Mahmud Darwish  

I come from there and I have memories

Born as mortals are, I have a mother
And a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends,
And a prison cell with a cold window.
Mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls,
I have my own view,
And an extra blade of grass.
Mine is the moon at the far edge of the words,
And the bounty of birds,
And the immortal olive tree.
I walked this land before the swords
Turned its living body into a laden table.
I come from there. I render the sky unto her mother
When the sky weeps for her mother.
And I weep to make myself known
To a returning cloud.
I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood
So that I could break the rule.
I learnt all the words and broke them up
To make a single word: Homeland..... 

Struggling to be Patient

Patience doesn't follow you, it is not enslaved to you. If you turn your back on it for a moment, it will evade you. You can't simply "be" patient. It's not a state of mind that can never be fully achieved, but rather it is a battle that must be fought daily. I pray that in this struggle, I win against the darkness more often than I lose.

- Collected from sister Asmaa

Run Back

Where are you going?

What are you doing?

The World is

-The House of Deception

-The Wing of Mosquito

-The Web of  spider

-The House of Pain

-The room of Heartache

What do you seek from it? 
Run back to your Lord.