be a better muslim

Rememberance of death is always good, if I take some time out to remember the fact that I’m going to die, that I might not make it to the end of the day, it promotes awareness of Allah, responsibility over actions and increased thankfulness for the time that you do have on earth. Alhamdulillah.

I’ve got all my prayers and the fasting and the Qur’an reciting down but if my heart’s not in it there’s no point. Time for a spiritual re evaluation, can anyone recommend any good books for kick starting some soul searching and searching for Allah swt?

Allah hu akbar. A great opportunity to change our lives and fix ourselves up for the hereafter.

http://www.lightuponlight.com/islam/modules.php?name=Stream2&file=index&lid=706

Very good lecture about seizing hold of the multitudinous benefits of this holy month.

I just don’t know where my mind was this Ramadan. I didn’t do nearly enough extra reflection and reading. InshaAllah I’m around to do better next year. Eid Mubarak!

Being impatient I guess is in a way acting like God owes you something. Which is an awful way to be thinking. I need to be more patient, in the little day- to- day things (e.g. not getting into arguments with my brother, cursing whenever the phone rings because its not who I want to talk to) and in longer term things (e.g. not feeling utterly despondent because I don’t know for sure what I’m supposed to be aiming for in life/ where I’m going to live/ what job I’m going to have)
I’ve got Sh Hamza Yusuf’s lecture series accompaying his book, ‘purification of the heart’ which has some pretty relevant chapters to this so I will inshaAllah have a listen. Oh Allah, keep me turning towards You always!

yay! Happy Ramadan to all you bettering muslims on 43things, may this blessed month be the best opportunity for us all

Its one thing to get all your Islamic knowledge down. I like that part of my learning, reading and understanding. But its another thing to apply this to social situations. Too many times last year at university I acted coolly to someone who asked me about Islam, because I felt the way they posed their question was patronising, or because I couldn’t believe they didn’t know the answer and assumed they were taking the mickey. Or conversely, I would get so into the swing of things that I would get really loud, aggressive, emotional and probably just scared a lot of people. The Prophet pbuh would never have acted like I do in such situations. InshaAllah I develop self- discipline, patience and love towards my fellow humans so that I can do Islam justice. I’m working on it.

I realise that my attempts in this field are also coming under my quest to ‘be a political activist’, for obvious reasons at this moment in time. So if you want to know what I’ve been up to in this respect, hop over to that topic. I didn’t mention it there but I also went to a ‘Shut Guantanamo Down’ march. Lots of people came dressed in orange jumpsuits and chains as a mark of solidarity. As we marched from the American embassy to Marble Arch a random American man in the park opposite started shouting ‘Screw you! Screw you!’ and he was laughed at by most spectators and marchers.
I memorized surat Al Masad, alhamdulillah. See, that should go under ‘memorize the Qur’an’. Oh this topic merlarky is difficult indeed.

I saw this on http://www.islamsgreen.org/ which is a brilliant blog. However the article is written by Yayah Wilson Dyer. People of understanding, you’ll get it:

‘Imagine you are lost, travelling alone for days on end in the willderness, with no food, no water, no shelter, no companions – nothing. Then imagine all the difficulties you would face; great hunger, thirst, exposure to the roaring elements, aching solitude. Add on to all of that terific fear of unseen beasts, and worst of all, the tyrany of complete darkness, and you would be in quite a state. Then imagine you are no longer alone. Imagine a man comes, a man whom you have never seen before, a man whom you can neither help nor hurt, a man who owes you nothing. Imagine he turns on the light. He gives you fire, and you can see, and you are warm, and you are safe from deadly creatures. You can make your way through the darkness. Imagine he feads you, and clothes you, and waters you. Imagine he builds for you a shelter, and joins you together with others like yourself. Imagine he provides for you, and more. Imagine this man asks you to thank him, would you? Imagine that this man asks you to use the fire you have been given to see what is good and to take from it, and to see what is bad and refrain from it. Would you adhere to his request? Well, imagine he tells you that everything he has given you is nothing, not even a drop in the ocean, not even a blade of grass on the great green earth. Imagine he tells you of something so great, your mind cannot even comprehend its splendor. Would you want it? Imagine he tells you that all you have to do is thank him, and he will give you it all. And then imagine, just imagine, if he told you, that in order to thank him, all you had to do was whatever was best for yourself, and hold back from what was bad for you. Imagine all you had to do to get to this wonderland he has described is to keep yourself safe and well. Imagine.

You probably know where this is going, but dont shut off. If you are a person of understanding, please don’t shut off. Was it not that you had nothing, and Allah (SWT) fed you? Was it not that you had nothing, and Allah (SWT) clothed you? Was it not that you had noone, and Allah (SWT) gave you 1.6 billion brothers and sisters? And above all, has Allah not given you majestic fire, Islam, as a means of guidence for you? Does Islam not give you the best of life styles? Is it not that by living this wonderful way, you will please and thank your benefactor? And is it not that by pleaseing Him (SWT), you will get Jannah, the best of resting places, and at the same time avoid the worst!!! Will you not then live in the best of ways, and thank the One who deserves to be thanked, and take your portion of the home of the faithful?!?’

This aim is so vague and expansive, but I guess nothing says it better. I want to be a better Muslim. I want to perform my salat on time and not just before it becomes time for the next salat. I want to read the Quran more often, and with more zeal. Most especially I want to manifest my faith more in what I say and do. I actually couldn’t believe it in university but there are really people I met whose first experience with a Muslim has been me, and I daresay they could have far better first impressions if I put the work in.
Alhamdulilah, I prayed Zuhr when its supposed to be prayed. Since its Friay I should make more of an effort to follow some Islamic pursuits, so inshaAllah I’m gonna now have a go at learning a new surah, Surat Al Masad. My big problem with Quran memorisation is that I teach it to myself from listening to reciters on the Internet and reading the Arabic and transliteration. Thank God, I can read Arabic (but I can’t understand it) and yet I still can’t entirely rid myself of my English accent when reciting them. I need to sort that out somehow, but I’ll save all this for my ‘Memorizing the Quran’ goal. Salaam