I have always admired people who have been very sincere in their dua's. They even ask me to pray for them, especially when I travel from place to place. Somehow, through all I have experienced in the last 1 1/2 years since I began taking formal instruction from my Shaykh, my own dua's have begun to take on a different quality. I am not certain exactly why or how, but as I reflected on this yesterday I realized that it is as if I finally truly believe that Allah hears my prayers, and will answer them as He sees fit. I have always known that Allah's answers are not always what we might expect, and that sometimes the answer may come long after we have made the prayer, but I sense His listening more than I have sensed it before. He has always been there, but I have traveled closer in a certain way, and I see and sense the evidence all around me in many ways.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Prayers Heard
This is something which gives me great solace at all times. I have hope like I never had hope before, but contrasting that is also fear that I will not manage to live as well as I should in light of all the blessings I have received. I pray Allah will make me worthy of all the honors He has given me.
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3 comments:
assalam walikum warahmatullah Sister:
I read your response to InshallahShaheed's blog about Jihad in the current war being Fard'Ayn for all Muslims. I respect your perspective and I would like to explain mine if you have a minute to read this.
All around us, we see the works of Shaytan and his followers. We see the unpracticed, broken, watered-down practices of Islam, we see nor hear of any blessings falling upon the Muslim Ummah... why? because we are no Ummah... Of course we need a united Kaliphate system to become one again. But look at the many sects that have become of us. Does this mean we give up? Or that we kill each other till no sect remains because every sect thought they were of the righteous? And if some sects were neutral, the other sects believed those sects to be going astray anyway so they got rid of them to0? No. This is not our place. We are not to judge one another (especially to such an extent) that we start playing God's hand. It is only up to Allah to see inside ppl's hearts. Only Allah swt knows who is capable of change. Perhaps rulers need to be overthrown, but the people who are under the corrupt rule are not completely responsible for the negligence. If they are, Allah knows best and He will take care of them.
Our job is to have good relations with one another under one kingdom, Allah's Rule. Allah is eternally ruling us regardless of Muslims lacking the Kaliphate system or Shari'ah. He created us therefore He knows what we need and how we need to live in order to succeed amongst all that exists.
Iran is not even practicing a Shari'ah system. It is hardly better off! If one puts his own system over Allah's, there is no correct system.
However, let me get back to the point. We cannot let Muslims die to create a more firm unIslamic state, you get my perspective?
I hope I have not offended you. I really enjoy your perspective and your writing... May Allah swt grant you Jannah~
Ma salama <3
Wa'alaykum as salaam Aasiyah,
I understand what you are saying, but in truth, I find that the ummah on the whole is in such a state of despair that I do not try and 'figure out' how to fix it on the larger scale. In fact, I cannot even figure out how to fix things on the smaller scale, except to work on purifying my own heart, and helping others where I can until I am ready within myself to do something greater.
I heard an Imam once say that most of us just run around wondering what to do, but if we would just stop long enough to really work on our relationship of Allah as His servants, eventually we would get to the point where we would KNOW what to do inherently, and at that point we would be doing the 'right' thing, as opposed to randomly doing some right, some kind of right, and some maybe even wrong.
I pray one day this ummah will be united, that we will recognize a truly legitimate leader who will help us resolve our differences, act effectively and justly in the world, will guide us to fight when we must, negociate when we must, and help us pick up the pieces of this mess. I do not ever expect that we will all view our religion in the same way, but it may be possible for us to work in greater harmony with one another, respecting our differences, and looking at one another with kindness and compassion.
I am not sure why I find some young men these days to be so absolutely determined to advocate and insist on violence/war/jihad. It seems almost selfish, their desire for paradise, for if they chose not to waste their life fighting one battle in far away lands, if they even make it to the battle before they are killed on the sidelines, they are capable as individuals of finding ways of helping many many many people. If each one of them became a doctor, and some seem quite smart enough to do so, they could help thousands of people in dire need. But the glory of martyrdom would not be there, or it might not be there. But could one receive a greater reward if they forego a quick ticket to paradise in terms of a jihadi death, in favor of a path which would benefit many other human beings on this earth in a more substantial way?
And even if they ALL go to fight, and possibly help obtain victory in certain places, without the guidance of a just leader of the Muslims, what comes after may not be any better than what came before. Power corrupts most people, and we have seen abundant evidence of that in almost all Muslim societies today. Were the Muslims any better off under the Taliban than they are today? In some ways yes, in some ways no.
So I worry about these young men, because I see them as victims both of a society in which they have no true way in which to be MEN, and also as victims of elements within the ummah bent on using these boy's lives to further someone else's political agenda.
And now I will be accused by some of using too much 'logic,' of having little 'Iman,' and maybe even on not really caring about Muslims who are suffering throughout the world. But the truth is this:
I love Allah, and I love His Messenger (saws), and I love His Book, all so much that it is impossible to quantify my love any more. I love them more than I have ever loved anything, I will do ANYTHING Allah wants of me, and only pray that He will make clear my path so I will KNOW which way to go.
And it breaks my heart to see people twist and turn both the Qur'an and the hadith to suit whatever their agenda is. To act as if their agenda is the ONLY agenda in Islam. I love this deen so much that I cannot stand to see it used as nothing much more than a political tool.
Where are the people who truly know the Sunnah? I know only one today, a true Shaykh, one of the awliya. When will people stop long enough to purify their own hearts, to become maybe even of the awliya themselves, before they make declarations of what is and is not Fard 'Ayn on anyone else?
I am sorry for being so long winded in my response, and truly you did not offend me, and I am happy that you read my blog and were so kind to share your thoughts with me. In some ways I am the happiest I have ever been, for Allah has blessed me on the path of Ihsan in many ways, but ways I also despair both for myself and my defects, and for the state of confusion and suffering I see in so many.
I pray Allah will help us all, those of us who have lives of luxury, to know how best to use that luxury for the benefit of others, and for those who suffer, that their suffering will be less, that we will be able to TRULY help them, and that they will have the greatest of rewards in the next life for what they have been through here.
Salaam,
Munira
Dear Sister Munira:
I was almost convinced that Jihad is not Fard when reading your response... I do agree that many brothers want the easy way out and thus, want to perform Jihad... But there are also Muslims that just feel seriously guilty for what is going on, their tax money going to buy weapons to destroy the eastern globe atmosphere and create cancerous diseases and waters for many generations to live in, and that as Muslims, just like in the early years of Islam, help one another to strengthen Islam physically and emotionally (even if they lose). Also, I know if Muslims in the East are bad, Muslims in the West are worse because we have more access to the filth and are more encouraged to practice with error and modernism this preserved faith of Islam...
Fighting in Jihad is not fixing the Ummah but only showing that there are Muslims out there willing to take responsibility and defend their brothers... If we work on improving and watch these other Muslims die as we "improve," our Dawah will not bring moreee Muslims... Allah swt gives ppl Hidaya (guidance in the ppl's hearts) and our job is to send the message and act out our ownnn deeds... we cannot change someone else, only set examples for them... the rules of war for Muslims have encouraged many previous nations to accept Islam... Look at Napoleon and his army... they were harsh, insane fighters... as heartless as they were, they adopted one method they saw from the Muslims' and one by one over the generations came to accept Islam and became one of the best Muslims, there are people all over the world that dislike this war... I am sure you will not lose the effect of Dawah if the rest of the world sees that Muslims are going to defend themselves after all this time of being pushed around... It is not in our religion to turn the other cheek when we are mistreated as a whole... This holds only for individual instances away from war times. If our roads were paved for us, wouldn't life be so much easier...
Assalam Alaikum :)
Aa`si`Yah
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