He Who Has No One Has Allah subhana ta'ala

Mashallah a great talk by Sheikh Navaid Aziz! Please do listen to the talk, especially if you are going through a difficult time. May Allah subhana ta'ala forgive us and give us the ability to have sabr (patience) during trials and tribulation, Ameen!

Sheikh Navaid Aziz is one of the latest additions to AlMaghrib's instructor line-up. Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, he obtained a degree in Economics and Social Science. There after he went to the Islamic University of Madinah where he spent three years attaining an associates degree in Arabic before attaining his Bachelor's Degree in Shari'ah. Sh. Navaid serves the community as a marriage and youth counselor. His most recent project, can be found at http://www.myspiritualfix.com Also, connect with him on Facebook via http://www.facebook.com/navaidaziz

Great reminder!

I really needed this one :-) There is always hope alhamdulillah! Be positive. Only Allah subhana ta'ala knows what is best for us. He is the best of planners. La hawla wa la quwwata illah billah!

First Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah.. more blessed than last ten days of Ramadan!

Assalamu alaikum my dear readers and fellow bloggers,

I haven't been blogging for more than a month now. My son has started nursery so I am quite busy with all the school run alhamdulillah. I have to get three of them fed and ready by 12:30 and get there by 1. I walk there , carrying my baby in a sling and my daughter in the push chair and my big boy walks with me alhamdulillah. Sometimes he does get a bit tired but I just keep reminding him that he is a strong boy mashallah :-) I return home by 1:15 or 1:20 and again at 3:15 I leave for the school. By 4 or 4:15 we are home. So Monday to Friday this has become a routine for us. Sometimes it does feels like a mission impossible especially when the weather is not that walk-friendly but I just try to keep reminding myself that Insha-Allah I will be getting reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for every second of struggle I am going through to raise our children Insha-Allah! So as you can see this is my (not so valid) 'excuse' for not blogging for all this time :-] I hope to start blogging  on a regular basis insha-Allah as I do miss blogging :-( For me blogging is very therapeutic alhamdulillah and it also gives me a great opportunity to do a journal of most of the sweet memories I am trying to create with my family and friends, alhamdulillah. I always remind myself that I am on a journey to my Lord and I won't be given this life again so I hope to do my best to lead a good life with lots and lots of wonderful memories INSHA-ALLAH.

Okay now to the main topic of this post Insha-Allah. The great days of Dhul Hijjah is here now. Actually today is the 5th day of Dhul Hijjah. Alhamdulillah I am so glad that I have been able to fast. Alhamdulillah thanks to British weather it is not that hard to keep fast :-) Maghrib is around 4:30 and we finish shehri by 5:10 and do our morning prayer. The days are so blessed that our scholars have recommended to fast and do lots of good deeds such as Hajj and Umrah, zikr (remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala), extra-prayers, animal sacrifice, charity, istigfar and so on. I was just listening to the talk by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi about the 10 days. It only takes 10 minutes to listen to the talk so please do tune in to know more about this blessed days insha-Allah. If you cannot fast all the 9 days then at least try to fast on the day of Arafa which is the 9th of Dhul hijjah. Here in the UK it's this Saturday 5th November insha-Allah. Please do try to do as much as possible. We don't know whether we will be given this chance again. Lots of my relatives and friends have left us this year. We just don't know when our time is going to come to go so we really need to wake up and do our best to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, insha-Allah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us and help us in using this days to our best of abilities to get closer to Him and gain His pleasure, ameen! Please keep us in your precious duas. Below I have added the talk by the shaykh and also some more useful talks by other shaykhs . May Allah subhanu wa ta'ala reward all of them for their efforts , mashallah, ameen.
First ten days of Dhul Hijjah by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

Another good talk by Shaykh Sajid Umar ( Al-Kauthar)

10 days of Dhul Hijjah by Sheikh Dr Haitham Al-Haddad

Ramadan is over, what now?

Ramadan is over, have we got closer to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala? Have we returned back to our sins? Are we worst off than before Ramadan? Have we (especially brothers) stopped visiting the house of ALLAH (mosque)? Have we stopped reciting and studying the Qur'an? Have we stopped our nightly prayers (Qiyam)? Unfortunately most of us would say yes to all these questions! I feel sad that Ramadan has left us. Whenever we fast, we find it easier to perform the reccomended deeds such as reciting the Qur'an, doing nafl prayers. Alhamdulillah I am trying to fast for the six days of shawal. Alhamdulillah not many more days left now. Our beloved prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihis salam told us to fast six days in the month of Shawal which comes just after the month of Ramadan. If we do so, it will be like as if we fasted the whole year! Subhanallah! How can we afford to miss this great opportunity to earn such a great amount of reward! May Allah swt give us all the ability to fast in Shawal, Ameen.

One of the way, we can guess whether our deeds in Ramadan has been accepted by Allah subhana wa ta'ala is to be able to repeat the deeds after Ramadan . I hope we can carry on doing whatever deeds we did during Ramadan. According to the sunnah of our beloved Prophet Sallallahu alaihis Salam, we should be more concerned about our deeds being accepted by Allah Subhana wa ta'ala. Just performing a deed is never enough. We should continuously ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to accept the humble deed from us. There is a beautiful dua in the Qur'an which we can do after every act of worship insha-Allah. The dua was done by a very close friend of Allah Subhana Wa ta'ala , Siyyidina Ibrahim A'laihis Salam. Rabbana taqabbal minna. Innaka antas Samiul Aleem. O Allah swt accept (this worship) from us; You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing (Qur'an 2:127).

 I have been listening to some beautiful talks to boost my imaan insha-Allah. Alhamdulilah this great lecture below was given by Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman in August 2009 (post Ramadan 09) at Lakemba Mosque. May ALLAH (SWT) reward him for the excellent talk and also reward you all for watching. May Allay swt help us in implementing his suggestions, Ammen. May Allah swt grant us the ability to remain on the straight path ( siratul mustakim) and grant us istikama... steadfastness, ameen. May Allah swt accept all the worship we did during Ramadan and give us the ability to carry on doing more through out the year and give us the opportunity to witness more Ramadan in our life, Ameen!

Also, another 5 part talk given by Imam Rageah on post Ramadan activities. I love listening to his talk as he talks about practical issues we face on a regular basis. He was talking about Facebook and how we tend to replace the Qur'an, Allah's Book with the Facebook just right after Ramadan ! May Allah swt forgive me and give me the strength to avoid the FB Fitna Book :-) as much as possible.Insha-Allah I am trying to use the internet only for beneficial purpose. May Allah swt make it easy for me to read His Book on a regular basis, Ameen!

Was our Ramadan accepted...

Five years Alhamdulillah :-)

Alhamdulillah five years ago, on this day I got married to my husband. It took me quite a long time to find him :-) I used to tell my friend at university and at work, that I may never get married and live for the rest of my life with 99 cats! I don't know where I got this idea from but I was indeed quite worried about my future. I have always been a big fan of children. For me the biggest fear was the prospect of being childless forever! I have seen quite a lot of brothers through family and friends. The more I was going through these meetings, I was getting frustrated thinking this is not really working for me and love is just a myth! Alhamdulillah going to hajj in 2006 has made me help put things into perspective. I started to think more seriously about the purpose of my life. I even wrote in my diary that marriage is not an ultimate goal for me anymore. Before that time, I used to think only through marriage I can become a better Muslimah as if no other option is left for me to serve my Creator. I came to know that marriage is a sunnah not a fard (obligatory). So I decided that I would just concentrate in getting closer to Allah swt.

Alhamdulillah going to hajj and staying there with my dad for a month has changed my life forever. Alhamdulillah it has been a great time for me to reflect and ponder about my future. I met some amazing people during that time. They all have inspired me and helped me to rethink about my life and all the expectations I had. When I came back, I was really missing my time in Makkah and Madinah. Life in London felt so spiritually bankrupt! I stopped working full time as a teacher and started part time work. I started seeking more knowledge of my faith through attending circles at my local mosque. I didn't actively look for a partner either. But through my dad I came to know about my husband. Alhamdulillah we have talked to each other at our place twice and we did do our istikhara ( prayer for guidance) couple of times. I wasn't really sure that this will work out for me so didn't really had that many hope. But alhamdulillah we both were okay with each other and decided to go forward! Alhamdulillah we are still very happy with each other.

 Alhamdulillah we do treat each other as best friends. But I do believe that  he is also my guardian . My faith has taught me that my husband is responsible for taking care of me and  my responsibility towards him is to listen to him. Insha-Allah through loving him and listening to him ( apart from anything which goes against our faith), I hope to please Allah (SWT). Being married for five years, I have learnt a lot about life and most importantly about myself. Sometimes we tend to get too much carried away with the whole wedding stuff but marriage should be the priority for all of us especially the future husband and the wife! Now after five years of marriage I truly understand how difficult but at the same time how significant married life is! Now I can at least understand why marriage is regarded as the half of our faith (deen). Being a mother of three kids all under the age of 4 also taught me so much about myself. I do have my days where everything seems so hard . But also I have my days where I feel so delighted watching my children growing up alhamdulillah. Sometimes it just seems to be a dream to me. Allah swt has blessed me with so much! Alhamdulillah All Praise Belongs To Him and Only Him! I hope to be grateful to Him by spending every moment of my life thanking Him and obeying His commands, INSHA-ALLAH! May Allah swt keep us happy and blessed forever! Everything is from Allah swt . La hawla wa la quwwata illah billah... we cannot do anything good without His Help and we cannot save ourselves from anything bad without His Help. God is the Great Allahu Akbar!
"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 Muslims. " [Qur'an Al-Ahqah:15]

Last ten 10 days of Ramadan 2011

Please do watch the video below to keep yourself motivated to do as much as possible during the last ten days insha-Allah. Please keep me in your duas. May Allah swt grant us with the vision of Laylatul Qadr, the night of power and many more baraka-filled Ramadan in our life, ameen, ameen, ameen! It's so sad to see not that many days left till Ramadan leaves us :-(

We are just travellers, heading towards our grave...

Mashallah what a beautiful nasheed by brother Junaid Jamshed. Every bit of the lyrics is so true subhanallah! We are indeed on a journey towards our Lord, whether we like it or not! May Allah swt help us in preparing for the great journey, Ameen. I have copied the lyrics in English for the people who may not understand urdu.

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave
This journey for which you are preparing,
Will last for only two days

Since the creation of this world,

Thousands and millions have arrived
No one is left,
They've been engulfed in soil

Do not forget this,
This will be everyone's final abode

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave

With your own eyes,
How many burials have you witnessed?

With your own hands,
How many of the dead have you buried?

Of your own consequences,
Why are you so unaware?

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave

Those who slept on velvet,
On soil they are sleeping

Kings and beggars alike,
Together they are sleeping

Both are the equal,
This is the effect of death

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave

These great mansions you have,
They are of no use

These tall and lofty buildings (that you have built),
They are of no use

Only two metres of this vast earth,
Will be your small home

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave

Effigy of soil, to you,
On soil, it is to immerse

One day you have arrived,
Another it is, you have to leave

You are not to stay in this world,
Your destination is to leave

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave

This journey for which you are preparing,
Will last for only two days

Oh travellers of this world,
Your destination is the grave