By Iris Khadijah Lim

DON’T BE SHY TO SEEK KNOWLEDGE, OR ADMIT THAT YOU DON’T KNOW. THEREFORE SEEKING ILM IS FARDHU AIN – OBLIGATORY UPON THE BELIEVING MEN AND BELIEVING WOMEN.

Always push and encourage those you love to pursue ilm, and never complain that they are seeking “too much” ilm as long as they are fulfilling their obligations.

With ilm, there’s depth and breadth – one never loses out when they go back to revise with fresh perspectives.

Remembrance of Allah in the prayer

With seeking ilm, the difficult part is always consistency

We need to realise that Allah SWT has provided us with abundance and His Mercy is unimaginable. So keep choosing Him for there is nothing else that can give you peacefulness for the source of peace is As Salam. Be pleased with Allah SWT not other-than-Allah.

You can only bring your religion into the grave and we need to bring a strong relationship with Allah into the grave with us. Allah SWT has given us the answer sheet for how to lead our lives through ayats and hadiths , just follow the answer sheet closely so that we can differentiate the truth from falsehood.

وَقَالَ تَعَالي:  لَوْ لاَ تَسْتَغْفِرُونَ اللهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

(النمل:٤٦)

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala says:

“Why do you not ask Allah of forgiveness, so that you would have received Mercy.”

Quran 27:46

Why do we need to apologise to Allah SWT?

Because we are in need of Him and we can never thank Him enough for thanking Him comes from Him, and it is impossible for us to even repay Him, and He doesn’t even need us to repay Him, so the least we can do is to be needy in front of Him and be shameful in front of Him for He has given us so much even though He doesn’t need us, and even though we truly are undeserving.

A child seeking their parents’ forgiveness even when the parents don’t require the “sorry”, can move a parent’s heart to remove any anger, what more Allah SWT, the one who put mercy in the hearts of parents to even feel that softness towards their children.

If parents can forgive their children so easily, and parents are merely humans with the smallest of hearts, what more the Lord of the Worlds – the Al Ghafoor.

Put your heart with Allah SWT for He is the Only One who can multiply it. 

Understand that we depend on Allah SWT to thank Him, and we depend on Him to even pray to Him. He guides whomever He Wills and His Decisions and Plans are unquestionably the Most Exalted.

Ask Allah SWT to make you loyal to Him, ask Allah SWT to fill your heart with only Him, to face your heart only to Him.

Be content with any situation that Allah SWT has put you in, because this life will end and you can’t bring these things with you for they are temporary pursuits.

There’s no need to live a long life if the long life is not filled with passion and love for Allah SWT.

When you enter into a new position, get ready to step down already (i.e. if you become a manager, get ready to step down for these things are not lasting)

Allah SWT never takes a break from us (i.e. stop giving us breath and sustenance etc), so why should we ask for a break from Him.

If anyone rejects you, especially your family, then be glad for it is a test from Allah SWT and Allah SWT tests those He loves.

Love Him, Choose Him, Give your heart to Him and you WILL see the best of this world and the hereafter.

If you claim that you love Allah SWT, and if it were true and loyal, then you should never lose attraction for the One you love and you will want to chase His Love and prove and declare your love and adoration for Him, until He takes you in and accepts your love.

Know that He is the Only One who can save you, who can redeem you, who can change you, who can give you, who can truly love you.

✨Quick Tip✨

Let your tasbih be a physical aid to determine if it is an appropriate place for you to be

Istighfar at least 100 times a day. Rasulullah SAW, so clean and free of sins, constantly sought forgiveness from Allah SWT, what more us, fraught with sins and shortcomings.

–

 عَنْ وَاثِلَةَ بْنِ اْلاَسْقَعِؓ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ: مَنْ طَلَبَ عِلْماً فَأَدْرَكَهُ كَتَبَ اللهُ لَهُ كِفْلَيْنِ مِنَ اْلاَجْرِ وَمَنْ طَلَبَ عِلْماً فَلَمْ يُدْرِكْهُ كَتَبَ اللهُ لَهُ كِفْلاً مِنَ اْلاَجْرِ.

رواه الطبراني في الكبير ورجاله موثقون مجمع الزوائد:١/١٢٣

23. Wathilah ibn Asqa’ Radiyallahu ‘anhu narrates that Rasullullah Sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam said:

“He who seeks knowledge and attains it, Allah writes for him a double reward, and he who seeks knowledge but does not attain it, Allah writes for him a single reward.”

Tabarani , Majma-‘uz-Zawaid

Once you have benefitted knowledge, it is your responsibility to practice it and to share the good news as a form of sadaqah and this is ordained upon the believer 

Stick structure to your days. Do not let your days pass with inane things like Netflix, social media, etc

Ilm, training and getting good teachers will mould you to go with the flow while sincerely declaring “alhamdulillah” every step of the day.

Put your love in the right place, put your heart with Allah SWT – He is the Best Caretaker and He will NEVER hurt you

Only the dunya will hurt you

The dunya looks so pretty and glittery to steal your heart away only to break it. The truth of it is that it is very ugly and disgusting – think about it, all the scandals on the underbelly of what’s “popular” – hidden aways is always about drugs, corruption, vice etc. Everything in this dunya is just Hollywood sets on a really big scale – looks really pretty but artificial.

When you say that you love and commit to Allah SWT and do not spend time with Him to do the things He’s ordained, to witness Him, to put Him above everything else, then you have to work towards living the shahadah and it comes with the 5 pillars, the strength of belief in heart and soul. It is your responsibility to keep cleansing your heart and keep reigniting your love for Allah SWT. Never let it go stale.

We need to upgrade our religion till we become muhsin , where we reach the level of Ihsan , where we constantly speak to Him and thank Him and you emulate the characteristics that He loves towards His creation for His Sake

Even the blessings of using your fingers and thumbs comes from Allah, the blood flow in our veins, the cognitive favours He blessed us with, to recognise words and sights and sounds, the ease that He has showered us with.

He is The Fashioner, The Creator – the blessings of beauty and balance in His creation of sunrise chasing sunset for free – it is for those who give thought and thanks.

The one who thinks that he is poor can look at his blessings of having arms and legs, that which people will never trade for $1 million or 2. Allah has never deprived us, we want our limbs and mental abilities and senses, but it is imperative to attribute these blessings back to Him.

Etiquette of reading a book

Understand the intent of the author so that you can get the best understanding and use out of the literature

Do not rip off authors and find the pirated version of books for this is haraam. Unless the author gives it out for free

Do not put your books on the floor

“A solat that seems perfect in appearance but is filled with imperfections from the spiritual point of view is like a fruit that is rotten inside.”

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. v

We cannot let our solat be rotten because it is something that we are presenting to Allah SWT and it is the ONLY thing that we can offer to Him, why can’t we just get it right or strive to get it right even though He has already given us the answer sheet for what to say and what to do.

Think of it as bringing a fruit basket to someone’s home, we bring the best and cleanest of fruits, what more our Allah SWT? The Creator, The Greatest, The Dominant

“However, if the appearance is flawed, the spiritual side of solat cannot be perfect either”

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. v

From inner to external, just as how we take wudu with our bodies (the requirement of perfection in the external ritual of taking wudu), our solat needs to reach human perfection in both the external and the internal.

“A rotten fruit may not be much of a problem but solat that is riddled with imperfections will have dire consequences. Allah Almighty might reject totally the person’s solat, making him a prime candidate for the deep recesses of Hell.

In the Quran, Surah Al-Ma’uun, lines 4-5, Allah has decreed:

“Hell is the Guardian for those who pray. That is those who take their prayers lightly.” “

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. v

This is terrifying. Because Allah SWT has warned us against taking our prayers lightly, thus proving that it is NOT just a cold series of movements and mutterings but a holistic event to be taken seriously.

At least have a small moment of gratitude and focus on Allah SWT during solat

Keep seeking knowledge on how to pray to correct this disease of the heart because Allah SWY excuses those who are trying to rectify their heart through seeking ilm

Seek the virtues of seeking ilm, seek the rewards of seeking ilm – perhaps this will keep your motivation high

The Meaning of Fardh Solat

Verbalisation of takbiratuh ihram, al-Fatiha, tashahhud akhir and salam are technical conditions for the solat to be fulfilled.

We cannot take advantage of Allah SWT and His Mercy. NEVER be arrogant before Him and use His Mercy against Him.

Have a balance of hope and fear in Allah SWT

Motivate those around you to pray if they are not praying. It is your duty to bring them back to Islam if you see them neglecting their religion. Sometimes, they are shy to admit that they don’t know how to pray or they are too proud to learn from you, so motivate them with kindness

NEVER say to anyone “What kind of Muslim are you?” and NEVER bring them down when they are trying to pray even if it is inconsistent. NEVER send someone back to a worse state than they are in after talking to you.

Love, kindness and patience will always motive someone more efficiently than harshness

Hadith: teach your children to pray by 7, punishment is valid when they are 10 – BUT PUNISH THEM ACCORDING TO ISLAM

Like punish them by loving them a lot so that they will feel shy to disappoint you. Love, gratitude, respect, filial piety are greater than fear

The parents will have to lead by example and normalise prayer as a family activity first to foster habits. And as they get older, encourage them to seek ilm to rewire and refresh their hearts to the spiritual aspect on the important of solat.

As the foundation of Islam

“Abdullah ibn Umar r.a. related how he once heard Rasulullah SAW, say:

“Islam is based on five principles: A belief in no other God except Allah and that Muhammad is His Servant and Prophet; performing the solat; paying the zakat (tithes); performinf the hajj and fasting during the month of Ramadan” “

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 2

Any of those missing/faulty will render our religion incomplete/faulty

“The pillar at the centre is the utterance of the syahadah. Without the central pillar, the tent could not be erected and if any of the remaining four pillars went missing, its corners would collapse. Let us examine ourselves to see how far we have gone in laying the foundations of the Islamic religion. Have we really erected the four pillars in their places firmly?”

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 2

And this is a question that we have to constantly ask ourselves to keep our religion and intentions in check. All of our acts should lead back to pleasing Allah SWT – living a life of la ilaha ilallah.

“Abdullah-ibn-Mas’ud said:

I once asked Rasulullah SAW, ‘Which act of worship is the most blessed by Allah SWT?’. Rasulullah SAW replied: ‘Solat.’ I then asked: “What follows after that (in terms of blessing). Rasulullah SAW said: ‘Respecting your mother and father.’ I asked again: ‘What is next?’ He replied: ‘Jihad.’ “

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 2

The greatest jihad is the struggle against one’s nafs.

“Abu Zar r.a. related an incident that took place during a season when trees shed their leaves. Rasulullah SAW took a twig from a tree whole leaves were falling in great numbers and said:

“Ya Abu Zar! When a Muslim performs solat in the name of Allah, he will be shedding his sins the way this tree is shedding its leaves.” “

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 2-3

Allah SWT is the Most Appreciative, He is our Ash Shakur, which is so Magnificent and rightfully so. Think about it, how can Allah SWT, our Lord be Appreciative of us but He is. Wouldn’t your heart melt? And He accepts from His servants if they are sincere.

True sincere repentance wipes major sins

Have deep remorse and regret (and be thankful that Allah SWT has put remorse and regret in your heart)

Resolve to never go back to those sins

Perform Salatut-tawbah and ask Him to grant you sincere repentance 

Never lose hope in the Mercy of Allah SWT, never give up asking forgiveness from Allah SWT

Keep begging Him to accept you back. If you have Allah SWT, you have everything.

” “Do you believe that the dirt will stick to a person who bathes fives times a day in the river tht flows in front if his house?” His companions replies: “No, no dirt will stick onto his body.” Rasulullah SAW replied: “The same applies to those who pray five times a day. With Allah’s generosity, all the sins will be forgiven.” Water that flows is generally clean and the deeper it flows, the clearer and cleaner it is. Taking a bath in such clean water will definitely cleanse one’s body of all the dirt that has accumulated. Solat that is performed in line with all its rules and with full concentration is similar to bathing in a river – it will cleanse one’s sins and soul”

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 3

The soul and heart, like the body gets dirty everyday since dust and rust settles in there

Solat is a beautiful medium, a gift given to us to cleanse our souls…and perhaps a redemption for the one who secretly craves Allah SWT

Think about it, it is so easy to sujud and cry and beg Allah SWT as opposed to other positions. It is the most vulnerable position that He has blessed us with and it is the position that He has blessed us with to pour out our feelings like a baby. And it is also the position when we are the lowest and yet, the closest to Him.

” This is, in fact, a great gift from Allah Almighty, the All Loving and All Forgiving. It is we who will lose out if we do not make use of the blessings He has showered on us. As humans, we can never run away from committing mistakes. The amount of wrongs we have done is incalculable and we deserve to be punished severely by Allah – yet just look at the amount of mercy and love that He is ready to grant us.”

A Complete Guide to Fardh Solat, P. 4

If Allah Wills, He will forgive our sins by His Mercy but that does not mean that we take advantage of His Mercy. Everything that He has ordained for us cannot be negotiated.

The najis of forgetfulness of Allah SWT in solat is a bigger najis than physical najasa of faeces and urine.

عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍؓ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ: اَلدُّعَاءُ مُخُّ الْعِبَادَةِ

190. Anas ibn Malik Radiyallahu ‘anhu narrates that Nabi Sallallahu ‘alaihi wasaltam said:

Du’a (supplication) is the essence of worship.

Tirmidhi

Concentration of Allah SWT in solat or striving with the intention to reach full concentration of Allah SWT in solat is an obligation upon the Muslim.

One of the means to reach that level is through zikir (and zikir with motion of the heart is well-loved and cherished by Allah SWT)

Another way to through du’a. Note that du’a is not just a string of Arabic words, but a form of communication with Allah SWT.

Its just that the prophets and messengers have already been inspired by Allah SWT to make du’as that are perfect, so we take from those du’as to apply to our lives because they were given by Allah SWT to His prophets and messengers. Again, the answer sheets have been given to us already and all we have to do is to apply them with sincerity. Allah SWT has truly granted us with much ease.

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