RAMADAN REFLECTIONS - continued

This is a continuation of the first part "Ramadan Reflections".

DAY 5

Today, we revisited the concept of 'Sweetness of Eeman.' We discussed in depth about how we could attain this sweetness in our lives according to the Principles of Ibn Qayyim.

The first step as mentioned in the previous sessions is knowing your Lord. And the best way to know him is through His own words. This is the perfect month to get to know the Word of Allah, as our hearts are softened and hence will readily receive the message of the Qur'an.

We must keep returning to the Qur'an, recite it constantly and ponder upon its meaning. We must make the Qur'an the source of our knowledge and guidance. Allah says in the Qur'an

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۚ

"What, do they not ponder, do they [not] contemplate, the Qur’an?, and the marvellous truths contained in it..." (4:82)

Did you think the privilege of being a 'Friend of Allah' was limited to Ibrahim عليه السلام? Allah says in the Qur'an

أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

"Assuredly God’s friends, no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve, in the Hereafter." (10:62)

In the following ayah, He also tells us how we can attain his friendship!

ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ يَتَّقُونَ

"They are, those who believe and fear, God, by observing His commandments and prohibitions." (10:63)

From the Hadith Al-Qudsi shared in the last session we know that in order to draw close to Allah, we must perform the Obligatory duties and to draw even closer to him, we must perform the optional duties(nawafil and the sunnah). This is the second step. Once we put everything in the hands Allah, we have nothing to be afraid of. When we are sad or grieving, when we feel distressed, we must turn to Allah alone. Be assured that He has got your back.

One way to get to build a relationship with the Qur'an is through collecting ayath (could be through an Ayah Journal or a Qur'an Journal). The next step is to start applying these ayath in our lives. We must make Du'a to Allah to help us understand the Qur'an and take steps towards implementing it in our lives.

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DAY 6

Today we started with two wonderful stories that had me smiling throughout the session!

The story about the Pearl Necklace teaches us such a valuable lesson about being able to let go of things. It also is an example of the point we discussed last week that when Allah takes something away from us, He replaces it with something better. When we know beforehand that we will get something better in exchange for something, it becomes easier to give that thing up. But often times, we aren't ready to do so, despite Allah's promise that He WILL give us something better in return. We hold on the fake pearl necklace and lose out on the real Pearls...

The second story about the man from Surah Yaseen makes you feel sad, but through that sadness, we also smile with joy for the man. May Allah give us the honour of experiencing such bliss of feeling the Sweetness of Eeman.

All of us are human, and 'to Err is Human' We make a lot of mistakes in our life. But we can correct these mistakes by following them with a good deed. Allah says in the Qur'an,

وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ طَرَفَىِ ٱلنَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلْحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّٰكِرِينَ

"And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. That is a reminder for those who remember." (11:114) Allah gives us an opportunity to rectify ourselves, regardless of the number of sins we commit. He makes it all go away when we sincerely ask for forgiveness. سُـبْحانَ الله!

The third principle for the 'Sweetness of Eeman' according to Ibn Qayyim is to Dhikr of Allah. Dhikr is not utterance of words from our mouth but any act of the lips or the limbs that gets us closer to Allah. (Allah has made everything so easy for us, سُـبْحانَ الله!) Doing Dhikr of Allah is also a way to show our gratitude to Him and Allah says that the ones who do not thank Him are kafir. Be thankful to Allah for the smallest blessings and He will bless us the with the best, إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ.

May Allah grant us forgiveness for the sins we have committed knowingly or unknowingly. أمين.

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DAY 7

How do make sure we have Allah by our side during bad times? By making sure we have Him in our hearts during the good.

If we truly want to feel the Sweetness of Eeman, want to know our Rabb, we must be grateful for everything He has given us.

When we are not grateful for our blessings, Allah either takes them away from us, or He doesn't let us be content with them. The way we can make sure that the good times or the blessings last longer is by showing our Gratitude to Allah for everything that he has blessed us with.

Firstly, We must recognize all the blessings that we've been gifted with by Allah, even the smallest ones, and be truly grateful for them all. Even during trials and tribulations, we must say Alhamdulillah and really mean it, and Allah will show us a way out. We just have to have faith in him. We must make sure we use the blessings provided by Allah for a good and noble cause.

If we're grateful for the smallest of blessings, we will surely be rewarded with bigger and better ones. We can show our Gratitude through extra Salah or any form of ibadah. But the best part about this is though we do this to show our Gratitude to Allah, we are ultimately the ones who benefit from it, الله أَكْبَر!

The fourth principle according to Ibn Qayyim for experiencing the Sweetness of Eeman is to give preference to what Allah loves over what you love, when faced with your desires.

But how can we stop committing sins or giving way to our desires? Sounds easier said than done, right? The simplest way is to remember Allah often (especially during the good times) and Allah will remind us not to commit the sin and stand by our side during the difficult times.

We must consciously check if we're truly grateful, remove all blames and complains from our heart and replace it with shukr and hamd. And surely, Allah will reward us with better, إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ.

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DAY 9

In this session, we got to explore the wonders of Allah's mercy.

In the previous session, we learnt that we do not get into Jannah based on our deeds but by Allah's mercy.

Allah's mercy has no bounds. If Jibreel عليه السلام stuffed sand and water into Firaun's mouth out of fear that if Firaun asked for forgiveness, Allah would grant it to him, we cannot even begin to comprehend the mercy of Allah.

We see His mercy all around in this duniya. Mothers who are ready to sacrifice everything for their children, and animals who don't eat before they've fed their young ones. Despite the immense amount of mercy we see around us, it's just a small part in comparison to Allah's mercy. I mean, we cant even begin to comprehend Allah's mercy but, we do know that out of the Hundred parts of mercy, Allah has just given us ONE part! سُـبْحانَ الله!

Although Allah is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem, we must strive to gain His mercy. We must set goals for ourselves and then try to outdo ourselves. We must compete with ourselves to have the best deed, one that we are confident about. Allah says in the Qur'an,

وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَنُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَحْسَنَ ٱلَّذِى كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

"And those who believe and do righteous deeds - We will surely remove from them their misdeeds and will surely reward them according to the best of what they used to do. " (29:7)

We must try to spend some time by ourselves, to remember Allah. Think about him, talk to him. We must not go to anyone else with our problems, anyone except Allah. Who better to solve our problems than our Creator? Even if we're excited about something, we must first thank Allah for it before telling anyone else.

May Allah show us mercy on the Day of Judgement and open the doors of Jannah for us.