By Aizatul Amilda Bte Sazali

Raḍītu billāhi Rabba (I am pleased with Allah ﷻ as my Lord):

We are blessed to have a Merciful Lord, who gives and gives, who fulfils all our needs irrespective of the work we put in. There will never be gaps in our ability to breathe. Even if we aren’t consciously thanking Allah ﷻ for that breath, He still gives.

Allah ﷻ gives us our very existence even though, there will always be gaps in our ability to worship Allah ﷻ the way He deserves to be worshipped.

If we pondered about the speed and extent to which He fulfils our needs—the beating of our hearts, the exchange of gas from carbon dioxide to oxygen and so on—we would realise our extreme indebtedness to Him.

He also created our existence with dignity, to be humans with the gift of aql (mind), instead of inanimate things. Use our gift and ability to choose, to always choose Allah ﷻ, who chose us in the first place. Be grateful that He chose us to be His servants.

Wa bil-Islāmi dīna (with Islam as my religion):

The world is constantly about toiling, but know what you are toiling towards, and make sure that it is towards Allah ﷻ.

Islam is a way of life.

Just like how we work towards earning a salary from our employers—likewise we should toil even more towards the One who gives us the gift of life, to feel like we are deserving of our salaries in this life and the next, which all ultimately comes from Him. Whatever that we may be going through right now, is up to Allah’s ﷻ divine calculation and know that the tough experiences that we have to endure right now are meant to elevate us in our ranks through being patient.

Allah ﷻ never does injustice.

Amidst the calamity that struck our fellow brethren in Türkiye and Syria, know that even that was part of His Divine plan. Instead of questioning Allah ﷻ, look inwards and ask ourselves, as the Khalifah (custodians of Allah ﷻ), “What can you do to support your Ummah? What have you done within your capacity to help out the Ummah?”. Having Islam as a way of life should ultimately push us towards alleviating the plight of others and contributing beneficially to the Ummah, be it in money, time, etc.

Wa bi-Muḥammadin Nabiyya (and with Muhammad ﷺ as my prophet):

The Prophet ﷺ was sent down to us as a Rahmatan Lil Alamin (a Mercy to all). He brought mercy and compassion to all people and the universe. We have the ideal role model which is Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Come back to Allah ﷻ.

It is always important to have a specific time and duration dedicated to only Allah ﷻ in our days. Just like how we carve out 8 whole hours for work, we also need to ensure we have uninterrupted time to focus on our spirituality.

When we make du’a and ask Allah ﷻ to grant us goodness in this world and the Hereafter, are our actions tallying up to what we ask of Him?

Are we putting in more effort for this world or the dunya?

WHEN WE ADD UP THE TIME SPENT FOR PRAYERS AND OTHER REMEMBRANCES AND COMPARE THAT DURATION, TO THE TIME WE SPEND AT WORK, WE REALISE HOW SHORT WE COME BEFORE ALLAH ﷻ.

Even if we cannot aim to have this undisturbed time for just Allah ﷻ, we should strive. The least we can do is try and witness His facilitation when engaged in our everyday tasks. For example, it is through Allah’s ﷻ help that I am able to see, type and complete my tasks in order for me to be remunerated for it. Right this moment, we need Him to be able to see, read and comprehend this.

In this world of needs, we need to be mindful and conscious of the one who is able to facilitate all of our needs. He is not just fulfilling our needs, one individual at a time, but rather, for all of us. Yet there are never any gaps.

This is why we need to come back to Him, and seek forgiveness for our shortcomings.

Istighfar is therefore incumbent upon us because of our shortcomings, and we should constantly seek His forgiveness.

On Seeking Knowledge:

WE NEED TO CONTINUOUSLY TOIL AND STRIVE IN THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE TO ACQUIRE THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF ISLAM, IMAN AND IHSAN.

We need the heart to learn and seek knowledge in getting to know who Allah ﷻ is. Learning the attributes of Allah ﷻ.

Islam’s 1st and 2nd pillars—the shahada and prayers:

The shahadah should not only be observed through the tongue but rather our entire essence, mind, heart and body should turn into submission towards Allah ﷻ.

Similarly, our prayers shouldn’t only be about the physical movements, but rather how we feel during our prayers about our Creator. Are our prayers just empty movements with a lack of gratitude and feelings of closeness to Allah ﷻ? When a thought about something other than Allah ﷻ comes during our prayers, our hearts have yet to be trained towards submitting wholly to Allah ﷻ.

Fiqh of the heart is a very essential matter because what you get out of your prayers is what you ultimately put into it. If you allow worldly matters to capture your attention in prayers, what you receive out of your ibadah is emptiness instead of reaping the true essence of what prayers should bring us, which is peace and tranquillity.

Our Iman, the six articles of faith, should also facilitate us towards achieving Ihsan. For example, to prepare for Judgment Day, we know that our prayers will be questioned, hence the need to put in immense effort into our prayers.

The absence of our presence in submitting to Allah ﷻ during prayers is not only shortchanging ourselves but also shortchanging the Lord of this World and is a reminder for us to rectify the habits that we are so habituated to in our prayers so that we can move on to the next level of Ihsan; that is to achieve perfection and excellence with Allah ﷻ.