Reflections of a traveller

Bismillah.. In the name of Allah the Most Merciful I hope everyone is doing their best during these last couple of nights left. It is hard to keep awake the whole night, but we all know how important these nights are for us. Imagine, how many of us will be alive for 83 years! If we do, will we be able to be fit enough to worship our Lord that much? So please don't waste this great opportunity. May Allah subahanu wa ta'ala enable us to witness the night of power and accept our deeds, ameen! Now a days, I am trying to avoid going online . Most of my work requires me to be online which is quite challenging for me given I love browsing and reading. But I am trying to balance bi'idnillah. MashAllah Sheikh Omer Suleiman's today's Ramadan resolution is very timely. Let us try our best to have "cyber i'tikaf" as much as possible, inshAllah. ‪#‎ RamadanResolution‬  Day 22 (Cyber I’itikaf) by Sheikh Omer Sulaiman  " The world of the Internet...

Bismillah  In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful I watched an excellent video today . Most of us know that our beloved prophet Muhammad salllallahu alaihe wa sallam taught us through our mother A'isha RadiAllahu Anha the dua we should be doing during the last ten days of Ramadan. He  (salAllahu alayhi wa salam) taught us that the most frequent and beloved dua to be said on the last 10 nights is: Allahumma innaka afuwwun tuh’ibbul ‘afwa fa’ffu ‘Anni (O Allah, You are the Pardoner and You love to pardon, so pardon me). But how many of us really understand how powerful this tiny dua is? Subhanallah the video is just mind-blowing. Please listen carefully. May Allah subhanau wa ta'ala give us the ability to do the dua very frequently, ameen! May He accept this dua from us, ameen! The best dua for the last ten days of Ramadan Also another great reminder by Imam Zaid Shakir of Zaytuna College " One of the greatest forms of deception in this world is the...

Bismillah... In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful Subhanallah today is the first odd night, possibly the night of power! InshAllah I hope to do my best to connect to my Lord, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Hopefully, I won't be really blogging anymore but share the great work our wonderful teachers are doing through this blog, bi'idnillah. I have been tempted to deactivate my Facebook account and re-schedule our magazine issue which is due this Friday inshAllah. But alhamdulillah I am benefiting a lot from the wonderful posts on FB as well as the articles sent to me for the next issue. We as believers need reminders on a regular basis. These beautiful reminders are the food of our souls. So I will keep sharing the khayr through this blog on a daily basis bi'idnillah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept this humble deed as an act of ibadah, ameen! InshAllah I hope you  all, our precious readers will benefit from the reminders and keep us in your precious duas. Ja...

In the Name of Allah.. The Most Merciful Ramadan for me is a month of dua, month of asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Today I want to share with you some favourite duas of mine. Please never underestimate the power of dua. Dua is the essence of worship. This month is all about worshiping our Lord. So making plenty of dua is a great way to worship Allah Subahanahu  Wa Ta'ala.  "My prayers and my devotions, my life and my death are all for Allah, Lord of the Universe. He has no peer. Allah's guidance is the only guidance. We are commanded to submit to the Lord of the Universe, to pray and to fear Him. Before Him shall you be gathered all. " [Qur'an Al-an'am:6 ]  "My Rabb! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and my parents and that I may do righteous good deeds such as please You and make my offspring good. Truly I have turned to You in repentance and truly I am one of the Mu...

Bismillah... In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful Yesterday in Egypt lot of innocent people have been murdered by criminals of Sisi's "government". Yesterday was also the anniversary of battle of Badr, the first battle between truth and falsehood. So many Muslims around the world are suffering , subhanallah. Every single day, watching the TV channels, remind us what atrocities are talking place around the world. Yesterday I tuned into Ramadan TV to watch the Penny Appeal for Syria. One sister called to donate money and couldn't stop crying. I was thinking how hard my heart must be that while hearing about the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Bangladesh, Burma and so many other countries, no tears are shed. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala have mercy on me and enable me to relate to my brothers and sisters around the world, ameen! Without a doubt, there are plenty of people who are crying and making sincere dua every s...

Bismillah..In the Name of Allah , the Most Merciful Subhanallah today is the 17th day of Ramadan ! How quickly time is passing us ! Not that many days left till Eid! I hope we can do our best with the last two weeks remaining, bi'idnillah.  Today I want to share a very beautiful  message I have received recently. This can be enough to motivate us to ask for forgiveness i.e do istighfar on a regular basis inshAllah.  A man came to Hasan Al-Basri and complained to him: " The sky does not shower us with rain." He replied: "Seek Allah's forgiveness (i.e say Astagferullah)". Then another man came to him and said: " I complain of poverty." He said: " Seek Allah's forgiveness." Then another person came to him and complained: " My wife is barren; she cannot bear children." He replied: " Seek Allah's forgiveness."  The people who were present, said to Al-Hasan: " Every time a person came to you c...

Bismillah... In the Name of Allah. the Most Merciful Yesterday London time 12 midnight, I tuned into ILF live-stream "The halftime Report" a very timely conversation between Sheikh Omar Suleiman and Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan, the two giants working very hard in sharing their knowledge of our beautiful faith, MashAllah. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala accept their efforts, ameen! May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the ability to learn from them and implement the lessons in our life, ameen! I love the way they explain the issues we as the Muslims of this post-modern world face on a daily basis. I can really relate to them. One of the best thing about them is their use of recent technology to reach out as many people as possible, mashAllah. I am so blessed to have Bayyinah TV in my life. When I listen to the tafseer of the Qur'an by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan, I feel like I have never heard the verses of the Qur'an he mentioned during the tafseer session. I...

Bismillah... In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful Alhamdulillah we have reached the middle of Ramadan 1433. Only 14/15 days are left of this sacred month. If we haven't done or achieved that much, then this is the time to start to step up the game, bi'idnillah! No excuses! ( As I mentioned earlier my beautiful readers, first and foremost, this order applies to me) One of the categories of people who are  cursed ( Attention! Did I just mentioned CURSED) by our beloved prophet Muhammad SAllalahu Alaihe Wa Sallam and the great Angel Jibreel Alaihes Salam is the people who are lucky enough to witness this great month but are not even bothered to try to get their sins forgiven and gain Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's Pleasure (Ridwaan)! Month of Ramadan offers us a great opportunity get our sins forgiven, free ourselves from the Fire and earn Allah subhana Wa Ta'ala's Mercy and Ridwaan which will eventually lead us to His Eternal Garden. Not just that, if we ca...

Today I am completely shattered. Alhamdulillah I had a goal to accomplish and I have done it so as a treat to myself I won't be writing anything :-) Instead I would like to share an awesome reminder from Ustadh Omar Suleiman. Please do like his Facebook page . He is doing an excellent job, mashAllah. Also, register for the ILMfix . He is a great teacher mashAllah. ‪#‎ RamadanResolution‬  Day 14 (The Daily Death) Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi rajioon. Today I woke up to a heartbreaking text message. The son in law of our beloved Imam Farooq in Baton Rouge, Akbar Raqeeb, died in his sleep last night. He was a husband and father, only in his 40s, who just last night prayed taraweeh behind his hafidh son. I ask Allah to have mercy upon him, enter him into al firdaw s, grant his family steadfastness, and bestow upon them all tranquility. Ameen Every single night, Allah takes our souls and we have no idea whether or not they will be returned to see another day of this world...

Bismillah ... In the name of Allah subhana wa ta'ala The best gift someone on this earth can have is a righteous wife ( based on a hadith of our beloved prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihe wa sallam). Subhanallah this is a very profound statement. As Muslim wives, we have so much potentials to change everything for better bi'idnillah. Once someone said, a  pious wife can make a poor husband feel like the richest man in the world with her contentment, satisfaction and gratitude.  While any other wife who is not as such will make her rich husband feel poor with her nagging, demands and never-ending complains. So many times around us, we see wives who are always complaining and not content with their husbands at all. This negative behaviour affects the children . By default, children tend to support the mothers without thinking logically as they are tend to be more emotionally atteched to their mothers. Sometimes children grow up disrespecting, hating their fathers. By th...

Alhamdulillah we have just went through the 12th day of Ramadan. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala accept our fasts, ameen! I am still struggling but alhamdulillah trying to do my best. At the end of the day, we all need to realize that we have different abilities and our situations are also very different from each other. Only I know my strength and shortcomings. I try to stop comparing myself with others (especially the amazing multi-tasking sisters), which I must confess is not really an easy task! But I keep reminding myself that Allah subhana wa ta'ala does not burden us more than we can bare. He loves us to carry on small but regular good deeds. Never lose hope or underestimate your abilities. Keep trying and have good hope and trust Allah subhana wa ta'ala.  

Alhamdulillah day 11 is about to finish bi'idnillah. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala accept our fasts, ameen! I have been quite tired and just feel like sleeping most of the time. My eldest who is almost 6 asks me, "Mum, what do you like most, sleeping, reading books or talking to us? You can only choose one!" Quite difficult to choose for me :-( I think as I have reached almost the middle of the month, my body is feeling weaker. Everything seems hard to do around this time. I am in surviving mode, just plodding along! May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make it easy for all of us, ameen!  When I am struggling with hunger, thirst and aches & pains, I realize how weak and dependent I am! Subhanallah I am nothing without Him. We exist because of His Mercy. During this month , abstaining ourselves from  food and drink, we realize how dependent we are on these blessings Allah subhana wa ta'ala has provided us with. All the hardship, reminds me what my Lord, Allah...

Bismillah.. Salam alaikum my dear readers,  Hope everyone has had a very productive first 10 days of Ramadan. If you haven't (just like me), don't despair. WE got 20 more days to do our best. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make it easy for all of us, ameen! Please listen to Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan's excellent tips bi'idnillahi ta'ala. Ramadan 10 day check-in.   Today I want to share some beautiful quotes I have been reading. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward our precious teachers. “When we hear the Quran, we should reflect on the meanings. The Quran should not become for us a replacement for pop songs that we used to hear before. People buy recordings of their favourite reciters for the beauty of their voice… The listening of the Quran has become more of a musical thing. We are entertained by that music, so much so that when the reciter is reading, we hear people in the background going, “Allah! Allah! Allah!" People making statements in the...

Bismillah Assalamu alaikum my dear readers, Alhamdulillah we have just completed the 9th fast of Ramadan. I feel sad as almost one third of this magical month is gone! The weather in London is quite hot and that's why I try to avoid going out as much as possible. I am getting quite hungry and thirsty by 12. I feel like sleeping most of the time! But my kids keep me busy, alhamdulillah. They are at that age, where you love exploring . They have been upto quite a lot of cheeky stuff. I try to control my reaction thinking once upon a time I was in that stage too. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward my parents especially my mum for having patience with me. Most of the time, it is the mum who has to deal with daily cheekiness! May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward them and make it easy for them and the kids, ameen! Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. For me during Ramadan, praying taraweeh (night prayer) is really difficult. I try but feel quite guilty with the...

Bismillah Assalamu alaikum dear readers, As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I hope to study the Qur'an in this month to get closer to my Rabb. Just reciting or even completing the whole Qur'an is not enough to understand the real message of this great Book. This month is the month of the Qur'an and I hope to do my best to connect to it and gain the pleasure of my Rabb, bi'idnillahi ta'ala. I hope to share the gems through regular (hopefully daily) posts inshAllah. And I hope to keep it short ( which is quite difficult for moi!). I have been listening to brother Nouman Ali Khan's series on Parenting. One great series, I must admit, mashAllah. One of the topic is 'Concerned parents' in the Qur'an. He talks about our father Ibrahim (AS). He was always in state of gratitude towards Allah subhanau wa ta'ala. As we know, he has gone through really difficult tests and trails in his life. From the very start of his life, he started facing h...

Bismillah. Assalamu alaikum dear readers,  I have been quite busy with children. Last two days, their friends came and they had a great time together. Most of the time they were in the garden as the weather is beautiful mashAllah. They had lots of fruits as part of healthy snacks alhamdulillah. I must admit, cutting fruits while fasting is quite therapeutic! Alhamdulillah today we read some books on Ramadan together. They also did some Ramadan rhymes and songs. They did some activities i.e coloring Ramadan pictures, alhamdulillah. It's really good for them to socialize with their Muslim friends as I hope they will be able to relate to each other when they are teenagers and when they are adults bi'idnilillahi wa ta'ala. Alhamdulillah we have some good Muslims families around us which is a huge blessing for us, alhamdulillah. The day before Ramadan I took my daughter Ayesha and the youngest son to the talk done by a very beloved teacher of mine. I was telling Ayes...

Alhamdulillah 6th day of Ramadan is over now. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept our fast and enable us to enter Jannah tul Ferdous through the exclusive door of Ar-Rayyan (only reserved for the people who fast in Ramadan), ameen! ameen! ameeen! Just before I write about my Ramadan Reflections, I want to remind myself that this reminder is first and foremost for myself inshAllah. Anything good I write is from my Rabb Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and anything bad is only my fault. So please do forgive my shortcomings.  Ramadan is a great month to purify our soul. The pure soul is the only way to get to the Garden (Jannah). One of the way to purify our soul to give sadaqa (charity). I have been watching almost everyday the charity appeals on TV. One of the best charity appeal I have seen is the Penny Appeal which deals with feeding poor people around the world. Feeding people is one of the best way of getting reward (azr) from our Rabb. MashAllah they are doing an excell...