Khushu' in Salah: III

One very important thing we must ensure prior to starting our salah is to observe proper covering. Not only is this an etiquette for standing in front your Lord, it will also serve to increase your Khushu' Inshallah. Prior to starting we must see if our clothing covers our satr and how easy it is to move in. The actions of the salah are not new to us, neither are salah timings a surprise; hence we must ensure that we are appropriately dressed. Imagine standing in front your boss at work, or someone respected and fidgeting with your clothes? You would never. Just think - we are presenting ourselves in front of THE Boss.
Another thing is to give each act of the salah its due haq- what that means is; when you go in ruku', say the tasbeeh slowly and properly. You hands must be on your knees, your head must be aligned with your back; this position must be fully observed before moving on to the next act. Then, when you stand in qauma; thats where you say Sami Allahu liman hamidah - it must look like you have stood up striaght and not like you rushed from your ruku to your sujood.
Between your sujood, ensure you sit back up properly. As the prophet saw said, till each bone is back in its place. Most of us dont even sit half way up, just go back down for our second sajdah. Kindly observe the rules of jalsa. Like so, give each act its due haq! Inshallah this will serve to better or increase your Khushu' in Salah

Khushu' in Salah: Wudu

Salah begins with wudu; hence to attain khushu in salah, we need to attain khushu in wudu. Here are some fard (obligatory)and mustahhab (preferred) elements of wudu.

Obligatory:
1) Niyyah to make wudu
2) Wash your face inclusive of rinsing you mouth and cleaning out your nose - once
3) Wash  your arms -once
4) Masah over your head inclusive of cleaning your ears
5) Wash your feet - once
6) Do it in this order only


Preferred:
1) Do miswak before wudu
2) Wash your hands uptil your wrists thrice
3) Repeat act 2,3 and 5 thrice
4) Rinse your mouth with your right hand and clean out your nose with your left hand

Say Bismillah (just that, not bismillahir rahmanir raheem) before beginning the wudu. This is obligatory in the view of some scholars while others consider it preferred.

We all probably do all of it anyway, but knowing is important, so if the need arises we can perform just the obligatory; for eg if there is a shortage of water, if you are in a public place where you cant be elaborate, etc  Also while we are performing preferred acts consciously and for the sake of Allah's pleasure and in the footsteps of our beloved prophet saw, i feel we most certainly renew our imaan.

Ramadan Counter: Ready, Set, GO!

The month of mercy is fast approaching! have you made your preps yet? Its warm up time before your spiritual work-out. Pen out your goals, think about your daily plan - dont just sleep or laze the fast away. Its a blessed month for a reason; shaytan is in chains, you are FREE to earn hasanah in multiples. Do you feel your pulse racing from excitement about how much good you will get writ in your book of deeds! This is a chance for you and me to ask for forgiveness for everything we may have done wrong - imagine we can start anew the other side of Ramadan Inshallah!!
Dont think the fast will be too long. Allah is allowing you a longer fasting period so you may collect more good deeds Inshallah, so you may do more ibadah, so you may seek His pleasure SubhanAllah! Think positive, be excited - make a niyyah to make it your best Ramadan ever!

Shukr: In sickness and in health

I've written about being thankful during the hard times. Wanting to discuss that further i wanted to address pain in particular. I'm talking of physical pain mainly like you when you fall sick and are burning up or when your joints begin to ache. I once read an article about a little 7yr old girl who felt no pain. She had a condition whereby her nerve-endings were devoid of that sensation. My first reaction was wow, thats pretty cool. So i read further, this little girl had blinded her self in one eye, wears a helmet to protect her skull because she has had so many falls, has her arm and legs are in casts most of the time; has had surgeries to insert steel clips in her joints ... all because she has never felt pain; hence does not know how to prevent injury. SubhanAllah.
Change your approach to pain. Doctors will tell you most diseases are diagnosed when people experience pain or discomfort and when they dont - usually the disease reaches a terminal stage before the doctors find out. Our rabb, Allah - who loves us more than 70 mothers, has given us this sensation of pain for our own benefit and SubhanAllah even then He washes away our sins during our time of pain. Next time you have a headache or fever, dont forget to say Alhamdolillah.Inshallah, the Almighty will not only relieve you but your ranks will be raised  because Allah is THAT merciful.

Tips for memorization

I just got a few tips for effectively memorizing from the Quran:
1) Fajr is the best time to learn. Before you've eaten anything and after your salah
2) Abstaining from lying and haram
3) Using miswak
4) Repeat unfamilair arabic words over and over before you attempt to learn the ayah
5) Read the translation and try to pair up the arabic with the language you are reading translation in
6) Listen to a qari reciting the surah (you will find infinite sources on the net). Correct yourself
7) Learn tajweed

Khushu' in Salah: II

For almost every action in salah, there are alternate adhkar that we can read. We usually keep reading the ones we were taught as kids. Take the time to add another dua to your vocabulary and Inshallah it will renew your  khushu'. For eg do you read Subhanak Allahumma wabihamdika when you begin ur salah? Do you know there atleast 2 other adhkar you can read here? Check Azkare- Masnoona or Hisnul Muslim for lovely adhkar we can learn Inshallah.

Majority Rules?Think Again

In the eyes of Allah, numbers have no value. His Majesty is not affected if only 1 person were to enter Jannah or 1000. It is reported in an authentic hadith that most of mankind will enter hell. Also in the Quran Allah never praises the majority. Rather, the majority is usually used when referring to disobedience. When Allah refers to the grateful ones and to the believing ones, He says they are few. My point is, if you are the only one standing on a principle you know is right - stay strong. People may not understand why you are doing or saying what you are,  because thats not what the majority does or says - know that in the eyes of Allah SWT, one steadfast momin is dearer than anyone; know that believers will be of the few; know that grateful ones will be of the few; dwellers of Jannah will be of the few; those who get the prophet SAW's company will be of the few; those who see Allah will be of the few. One wise man used to pay Oh Allah make me of the few! How wise was he and how foolish are we wanting to fit in when we were made to stand out!

ps: i will get reference of the hadith and possibly a clearer ref of the wise man in mention here.

Shukr

We all know that we need to be thankful to Allah for all His blessings upon us. I learned about a new dimension of shukr today - shukr for all the "bad" things that may happen to us. Yes you read it right. When you stub you toe for you have feet, when you bang your car for you have transportation, when you fall sick for you had health, when your child falls sick for you have a child, say Alhamdolillah. If you have faith in Allah, you will believe that all your circumstances are by His command and maybe some due to your fallacies - nonetheless at His command. Even if you can see no good coming from your situation, still say Alhamdolillah. For Allah will raise your ranks and you will achieve closeness to the rabb. It is a treasure only few will get. Wont you want to be one of them?
Alhamdolillah!
(Refer to my note Daily Zikr)

Push yourself

This one's more for me than you, honestly. I just read something - if you are working for islam and you are burning out then something is wrong with your intention! SubhanAllah. I'm still trying to educate myself but i know this is the path of Allah and in it I cannot burnout. When you think, this is it, thats enough on my plate - PUSH YOURSELF! Inshallah you will surprise yourself. That being said, you need to surround yourself with people who can build you up emotionally. If that core group is not immediately available, then work on yourself to keep out the negativity that may surround you.
We are instructed to look up to people higher than us in taqwa. If you know such people, they will always push you to do more, to test your limits. Laa yukallifullaha nafsan illa wus'aha (2:286) - look it up for translation. :)
You and i will only short change ourselves when determining our limits but not Allah, who created us.

Are you Ramadan ready?

Yes i know ramadan is almost 3 weeks away, but this is really the time we should start planning how we will spend it. Also, we should have atleast one goal we want to achieve by the end of ramadan. The prophet SAW said Ameen when Hazrat Jibreel AS cursed those who did not manage to get themselves forgiven by the end of ramadan. The sahaba used to start making dua 6 months before ramadan that they get to see ramadan and make it better than the last one, and spend the next 6 months praying Allah accept their ibadah. Are we this concerned about our ramadan? Are we so sure we'll even see ramadan, or get to spend all of it?!
1) Make a niyyah right now that you will make this ramadan better than the last
2) Make dua that you see this ramadan and that Allah help you make it better
3) Write down one goal- something you want to improve or change about yourself. Make niyyah to make that change by the end of ramadan. Think of an action plan of how you will go about doing it.
For eg. If you dont pray regularly and you want to make that your aim. Make a decision that you will never miss a salah again. See why you normally miss salahs? is it because you are too lazy to make wudu. if so, then make wudu everytime you go to the loo so you are in wudu at salah time.
I'm afraid that just saying may Allah make us better will not make you better... you need to do something
 about it yourself before you are eligible for Allah's help Inshallah.
4) Make a plan as to how you will spend your day fasting. For eg, get up in the morning (after suhur and fajr), give breakfast to the kids/ go to work, then at say noon you will recite Quran, then pray zuhr, then rest, then make zikr, etc. Basically chart out your day else you will not use the day appropriately.
5) ATTEND A DAURA! Daura is a halaqa in your local masjid or someone's house where they go through the meaning of the entire quran during ramadan. It is absolutely imperative we know whats in the quran - this is the best opportunity when shaitan is imprisoned!

"News"

We all have read articles in the papers under the guise of "news" which are aimed solely at defaming islam or its many scholars. It has boiled our blood, and has us ranting - albeit to each other. We have been told repeatedly by scholars that we need to respond, they need to know our point of view. For that, most papers require a simple login.
Today i'm suggesting to all my muslim friends, around the world to sign up at the websites of your local paper (if its reqd). Whenever there is an article you need to respond to, your id will be ready and shaytan will fail in making us lazy about doing it Inshallah!
I have created my id at thestar.com. would like to hear back from you on papers you know where we could sign up. Other sources www.dawn.com, www.gulfnews.com, www.khaleejtimes.com

Great New resource

Ok maybe not new.. "I" just discovered it... check out www.halaltube.com and enrich yourselves with talks from some great shuyukh.

Daily Zikr: II

The prophet (saw) taught us many duas. Learn a few like the one for going to bed, getting up, entering and exiting the bathroom, eating. If you dont know many of these, make it your aim today to learn atleast one a day. If you have children in the house, recite loudly, Inshallah they will learn and also get it in their practice.

ps: i write duas on little pieces of paper and stick them around the house to read at the appropriate time. For example i have the dua to go outside the house at the door. I almost never forget to read it and that's how i learned it too.

Stay in Touch

Hazrat Omar RA is reported to have said, one who doesnt read the quran even one day, it is as if he has abandoned the quran all together. We learn that we must stay in touch with this glorious book. A good way to go through the quran is to recite it in your Salah. During your sunnahs and nawafil, you can read off the quran directly. Just keep a little table next to your musallah to rest the mus-haf.
However, i must add, do read the tafseer/translation after salah

Improve your tajweed

We must all know how to read the quran properly in its intended diction. Here is one way to practice rules you may be learning. Listen to a qari recite a familiar surah. Recite after him (not during his recitation) and record yourself on your computer. Its interesting to listen to playback!

Daily Zikr: I

Perplexed about how you can be involved in zikr the whole day? Read SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar. Save you tongue from idle talk, your mind from idle thoughts and earn hasanahs!

For the Love of the Prophet (SAW)!

Since childhood we have been told to love the prophet sallalahu alaihi wa'alihi wassalam. When i gained consciousness of my way of life - i questioned how can i love and i mean really love (not just revere) a man, whom i have never seen or met. SubhanAllah! The answer is through his Seerah and his sunnah. We must strive to read as much as we can about our prophet and we must absolutely follow his sunnah. By Allah, that is the only way to love him that is accepted by Allah. and Allah knows best.
Love you for the sake of Allah!

Khushu' in Salah: I

Here is one way to improve or increase your khushu in Salah: Change it up! You know how we always read the same surah in the certain rakahs - DONT! Switch the order or introduce new surahs to keep yourself alert, Inshallah.

Memorizing a new Surah

Ever found it challenging to memorize a new surah? Here's a tip. Learn one or two ayahs and then repeat them in your prayer after Surah Al Fatiha. After repeating it in your 5 daily salahs, you would surely have them memorized by the end of the day. Now its time to  move on to the next 2 ayahs and so on and so forth. JazakAllah for reading and happy learning!