Posted By Nasmira Firdous on Jan 7, 2015 in Featured,
Inspiration and Spirituality, Islam, Life | 0 comments
Distress, anxiety, joys, fear, worries and happiness :
different facets that make up this mesmerizing sojourn
called “life ”. It might fascinate you with its unknown twists
and turns. There are moments where you relish the joys and
happiness with every breath you take. And then, there are
moments when the human soul, weak in its creation but as
mighty as it thinks of itself, tries to shred realities and
instead, buries itself into worldly deceptions.
With the pressures of dunya that strangle us both physically
and emotionally, our minds tend to lose focus and our
hearts cringe with disappointments and pain. Beyond all of
this, our souls end up forgetting their very purpose of
existence: To worship our Creator .
In this article, let us undertake a journey that would help us
free our hearts from worries, let us perform tiny little acts of
acts that could weigh heavy on our scale of good deeds,
helping us have an eeman high, in sha Allah.
Cleanse Your Heart
The sins we commit, no matter how big or small they might
seem, darken our hearts gradually, making it rotten on the
inside. In order to place ourselves completely under Allah
servitude and refresh our eeman, we need to cleanse
our hearts, making it pure from the stenches of sins that
have been committed. Here are small little steps , which you
could implement to commence the process of cleansing, in
sha Allah:
1. Begin with Repentance
A heartfelt, sincere repentance begging for forgiveness and
mercy never goes unnoticed. Allah is the most Merciful
of all, therefore, acknowledge the fact that you have
committed sins and ask Him to bless you with His mercy
and forgiveness. Do it now!
A heartfelt, sincere repentance begging for forgiveness and
mercy never goes unnoticed.
2. Salah : The Elixir of Life
Nothing in life can be achieved without having a one-on-
one conversation with our Lord. You might want to get rid
of worldly pressures; maybe you want a righteous spouse;
perhaps you want to be blessed with a child or acquire the
dream job; or your mind just yearns for contentment and
peace. Allah is the Maker, the Sustainer, the One who
loves to Forgive and the One who loves to provide for His
slaves. All you have to do ask Him ! Whatever be your
demand, focus whilst praying, focus when you make dua
instead of putting your dua list on auto pilot mode; talk to
Him when you’re given five official chances to do so
everyday. What better time than salah!
3. Build a Relationship with the Quran
While repentance purifies your heart, reading the glorious
Quran strengthens your soul, filling it with an eeman high.
Make a little more effort when you recite the glorious book.
Push yourself to understand the tafseer or the Arabic
language in order to grasp the eloquence, beauty and
miracle of the Quran. It’s Allah ‘s way of talking to
you. Open it everyday to listen to what He has to say!
While repentance purifies your heart, reading the glorious
Quran strengthens your soul, filling it with an eeman high.
Perform Deeds that Pull you to Jannah
The acts you perform with intentions to seek your Lord’s
pleasure can add a lot of weight to your scale of good deeds
on the Day of Judgment, giving you a mighty ticket to enter
the eternal paradise, with your Lord’s permission and
mercy.
So why not start with charity . In a well known hadeeth, we
learn that charity extinguishes sins like water extinguishes
fire .[1] You don’t have to be a millionaire to do something
massive. The next time you go to the masjid, remember to
donate an unknown amount of money for charitable causes
that would help your local masjid function better.
Help the needy with whatever means possible.
Buy a single meal for them every week;
Donate your clothes to an orphanage;
Donate some money to a nearby school;
Give money to build a well
There are umpteen types of small investments that provide
exponential benefits on the Day of Judgement.
So get into the “art of giving” now! Perhaps, these tiny acts
of yours could give you a ticket to paradise or save you
from the ferociousness of Hellfire.
Let Go of Your Past
Often times, we drown in foams of disasters by making the
wrong decisions or speaking the wrong kind of words. One
of the most important ways to move forward and renew our
eeman is to let go of our past . It’s done and over with.
Learn from your mistakes and move on. You benefit nothing
by brooding over it. If Umar were to brood over his
past, he would have never become one of the outstanding
caliphs that he went on to become.
If you are still breathing, Allah has given you another
chance to prove your worth, so let go of your past, your sins
and mistakes, no matter how disastrous they may seem. Sit
down, repent now, cry in sujood, raise your hands up to the
heavens and beg for forgiveness, then move on.
With every breath you take, you are one step closer to
meeting your Lord. Make sure it is filled with meaningful,
productive, humble acts rather than grieving over what
“could have been” or what “should have been”.
The Blessed Tahajjud
Wake up for ten minutes everyday when everyone else is
asleep to offer the blessed tahajjud prayer, the sweetness
and beauty of which can only be experienced, not
explained. It is a de-stressor, a magical eraser that would
remove traces of worries, guilt, fear and anxiety from your
mind; and instead, perfume your existence with hope and
peace. Pull the blanket off at the last third of the night and
have a blessed conversation with your Lord when half of the
world sleeps and the other half is busy indulging itself in
worldly affairs. It just needs a little extra effort, helping your
ordinary day become extraordinary !
Be a Leader
After you’ve fixed yourself up with these little acts that will
help boost your emaan bi’ithnillah, try to please your Lord
by stepping up the initiative and helping His creation. Do
not be pleased with being ordinary. Go out of your way and
do the extraordinary. Rise up because you have been
blessed with the gift called “Islam”. Carry forward the
beautiful legacy, so people belonging to other religions can
look up to Islam.
Next time you are in gathering or meeting, initiate a
genuine smile that would become hallmarks of a happy
and content Muslim/Muslimah.
Take the initiative. Volunteer for useful organizations and
put your skills into use in whichever field you excel at. It
could be something creative like painting and writing or
something technical like graphic or website designing.
Maybe you have excellent oratory skills. Your talent is a
gift from Allah . Don’t waste it by not using it.
Take a pen and paper to list down three (or more) things
you are really good at. Once you’ve narrowed in on these,
start nurturing your talents and put them into use to
benefit the Ummah and invest in your akhira.
Maintain the Euphoria
Remember, emaan increases and decreases according to
situations life throws at us because our hearts and souls
are fragile. Always have a bunch of eeman buddies who
would help you in times of need. You don’t have to battle in
the dungeons of dunya all alone. Your friends have a direct
impact on the type of person you are, so choose your
surroundings wisely. Race forward to do good deeds.
You don’t have to battle in the dungeons of dunya all alone.
A hundred years from now, it won’t matter whether you
wore an expensive dress or if you bought the latest gadget/
car/mobile phone. What WILL matter is the number of good
deeds you managed to pack into your luggage for your final
and eternal abode in the Hereafter. Wake up from your deep
slumber and spend your time wisely!
With each moment of life flying away, you are in a trance. A
magic wand will not clear up the emotional and physical
debris of disasters and disappointments that have piled up
in your life. However, eeman boosters that would remind
you of your purpose in life, will!
Repent, rise up and initiate changes in your life to please
your Lord. Be the Ummah that can bring about changes in
the society rather than being an Ummah that constantly
whines about every tiny problem. Push yourself a little
more than what you normally do, to become a little more
special than what you already are. Do not be another of
speck of sand on planet earth. Instead, be a star that winks
from the sky!