Amongst the different radio stations available here, we have one that airs strictly on matters concerning Islam, i.e. Nur Islam. Alhamdulilah. I for one is a frequent listener to this station (and also other radio stations which are labelled as “for the old people” *rolls eyes*). While I was driving back home from a lunch date with one of my girlfriends and her beau, there was this one piece of information on dua that I found really interesting and helpful. The person said that we should always begin our dua with salawat and also end it with salawat. For invocations that do not have this, they are stuck between the earth and the skies. So basically, they do not reach Allah. Subahanallah. Imagine the number of times we forgot to say the salawat before and after our duas.

Below are more information concerning the manners for dua compiled from the books Hidupkan Batin Dengan Berdoa & Berzikir (Liven Your Inner Self with Prayers & Zikir), Al-Ustaz Abdullah Zikay, and Himpunan Doa-Doa Pilihan Dari Al-Quran & Al-Hadis serta Terjemahnannya (A Collection of Selected Duas from Al-Quran and Al-Hadis with translations), Prof Dr. Haron Din & Ustaz Ishak Din:

1. We should begin by praising Allah (Hamdalah) followed by salawat to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.

2. We must lift both hands up to our shoulder level when reciting the dua and wipe our faces after ending.

3. We much believe and feel utmost confidence that our dua will be answered by Allah.

4. We should pray with khusyu’, humility and full of hope. We should also and soften our voice as stated in Al-A’raf:55 -

                  ادْعُواْ رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًا وَخُفْيَةً إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ

  الْمُعْتَدِينَ

“Call unto your Sustainer humbly, and in the secrecy of your heart. Verily, He loves not who transgress the bounds of what is right.”

5. Ideal (Ijabah) times:

a) The remaining 1/3 of the night.

b) After compulsory daily salat.

c) When we are free and calm.

d) During sujud.

May we all benefit from this humble contribution from me. Insya Allah.

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Learning is a lifelong process. That’s what my GP tutor used to say to me. And I concur.

Islam encourages us to gain as much knowledge as we possibly can for the benefit of this life and the hereafter. Such knowledge could help us in gaining a further understanding of the religion, and into becoming a better Muslim. Other than reviewing the Al-Quran and hadiths, there are also camps and workshops that aim to empower Muslims. However, before participating in such activities I think it is advisable to do a background check on the organizers and the courses being offered. There are just so many people out there who’d like to see Islam and its people crumble - both intentionally and non intentionally.  The closest foe being those who claim to be of the Islamic faith but spread knowledge that are far from what’s written in the Al-Quran…and far from the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and Allah’s other Rasul. For instance in Brunei, there is a reason why all books need to be checked and reviewed by the Pusat Dakwah..there’s a reason why Islamic activities and organisations need to be registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

We all want to walk down the right path. We all hope for Allah’s grace, mercy and His everlasting Paradise. But we need to be extra cautious. We need ensure that the knowledge we sought is not against the true Islamic teachings. Please check with the relevant authorities for the authentication of said organisations and activities before participation.

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I think my biggest challenge is myself. My emotions, my rationale, my behaviour. Some people are tested in the form of situations. My last “situational” test of faith was what had gotten me here. That was when Allah gave me his hidayah, and I finally accepted it. Since then on, I’ve been much quicker in seeing the hikmah in every situation, both good and bad. However, at times my iman wavers. Sometimes, it may not show in my actions, but it would be clear in my salat. Like today, it was just so easy to get distracted while performing my salat. Astaghfiraullahhalazim! I feel very afraid and ashamed each time this happens. I fear that Allah would become angry and not accept my amalan. So after salat, I recited zikrallah to sought after Allah’s mercy and acceptance.

My mistake today was not to ensure that I was calm before performing my salat. I stressed on the word “ensure” because I knew I was not calm, but I didn’t go that extra mile to get rid of it completely. I did my usual rituals and recitations before my salat which often helped me achieve khusyu’, however today it just wasn’t enough. How could it be enough when my mind and heart was still wondering around? Shame on me for my complacency! Khinzab must’ve been really proud with himself. Khinzab is the syaitan who is always with us in our salat. He is one of the reasons why we would sometimes become distracted or doubt ourselves in our prayers. With this realisation, I hope that I will learn from this. I will have to keep reminding myself that I should be 100% calm before I face Allah in my daily prayers. Insya Allah.

Below are a few things that I usually do to ensure kusyu’ in my salat (it works..honest!):

1. When we are performing ablution, there is a syaitan named Al Hulahan who laughs at us. Thawus said that “he is a very evil syaitan. He is the first to arouse apprehension in us. So with that in mind (but was out of mind for me today), we should try extra hard to protect ourselves from the tiny whispers of these troublemakers while performing ablution. I find it very helpful to say it in my heart the different cleansing processes that also takes place with each stage. For instance, when I wash my mouth, I’d think to myself, “I cleanse myself from all the sinful things I have said”. Then, when I was my ears, I’d think to myself, “I cleanse myself from all the sinful things I have heard”…and so on (FYI, today this whole thing slipped from my mind. Sighs).

2.  Say, “audzubillah himina syaitonirojim” and spit 3 times over the left shoulder.

3.  Say “astaghfiraullah” and salawat as many as I can until I am calm.

4.  Recite surah An-Nas to seek Allah’s protection from all things evil.

5. Iqamah.

When I know that there’s too many things in my mind, I do a few things extra such as reciting an invocation specially to calm myself before standing and doing all the things mentioned above. Yes, this is something that conveniently slipped out of my mind today due to my own carelessness. Here’s one that I usually use:

Dua to extinguish the feeling of agitation

U’idzubekaleemaa teellahettammaati nub ghadobeehe waqoo beehewasharee e’baadih, wamin hamazaa tishhayaa teeni wa anyahdoruun.

“I seek protection by invoking Allah’s pen (kalam Allah) that’s perfect and far from His anger, His sufferings, the evil in His servants, from the disturbances of syaitan and when they come to me.” (This is the best I can do with the translation in English. Hee hee)

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It’s been raining terribly around here. Heavy rains, strong gales, thunder and lighting - all of it! I have too keep reminding myself to apply some of that RainX onto my windshields. It’s a horror driving in this weather. Gots to be extra, extra careful (and extra, extra slow). Despite all that, rain is actually a blessing for us Muslims. I once came across a book that mentioned that one of the best times to offer prayers is when it’s raining. Here are a few duas we can recite when it is raining:

 1. Invocation when it has stopped raining

Muthirnaa bifadhlillahi warohmatih

“It has rained by the bounty of Allah and His Mercy”

2.  Invocation to hope that the rain is benificial 

 Allahhumma sayyibann naafi’aan

“O Allah, (bring) benificial rain clouds”

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It’s going to be our tahlil and makan arwah tomorrow afternoon. I was indecisive on what to make or bring for tomorrow. After flipping through the huge piles of mom’s recipe books, I decided on….Raspberry Cheesecake! Yup, made 2 of them this morning and it’s now in the fridge, ready to be eaten. It’s those types of cake that doesn’t require any baking, but only freezing. Will probably post a picture of it later, Insya Allah.

 Here’s the picture I promised. I still need to get used to this wordpress :s

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It’s almost 12am. I’ve brushed my teeth, washed my face, performed my ablution and I’m ready for bed! I can never seem to fall asleep any earlier than 12am. Even my tossing and turning on the mattess takes up over an hour. Yes, the act of sleeping has become a challenge for me. Sighs. But before I join those little bed bugs, I thought I’d blog for a bit.

Lately..(well, it’s been a while really) one of my main agendas has been about getting married. Having finished my studies, I thought (other than getting job, of course) the next thing I should do is tie the knot. The problem is, I have no candidates. There was a boy who I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with (didn’t we all had that once?), but it didn’t work out (for many reasons that I am thankful for today). A particular story, I shall reserve for another time and day. Which then leaves me with no potential husbands-to-be.

So I keep whining about wanting to get married. I even pressure my parents into finding me a husband. Everytime somebody asks me where I’m going, I would jokingly say, “Mencari laki” (i.e. looking for a husband). Yes, I really do look desperate.  But deep down, I know I’m not ready. Allah knows I’m not ready. It isn’t easy to get over a 2-year relationship. Even after realising that the relationship was all wrong and never that great anyway. But I have faith in Allah, and I know that when the time comes, He will unite me with my other half. The other half that has been promised to me and us Muslims. I pray to Allah that He will find me a man who could protect me, guide me, and make me happy. A man who is deemed best for myself, my religion, my dunia and akhirat. Aminn..

Yes, life is that simple and almost worry free if we have faith in Allah :)

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You know what’s hard? Refraining the self from gossiping, talking about others and everything else that is related to all that. Why do women even gossip, anyway? How did we even turn into these creatures? I used to be a real gossip monger. Serious. I used to know quite a lot of things about other people (and I sort of still do now because people just seem to like telling me stuff), and it was a habit of mine to convey these stories to others I knew. I just gossip by default. Sometimes  (or maybe most of the time), a significant part of my conversations would consist of “The Life of Others”. Of course, I had others who would join in the fun. Living in a small country and community, you tend to know almost everybody and anybody…well at least, know OF them.

Now that I know better, I try my best to self-monitor my mouth when I’m speaking to others. Though, I admit I am not 100% gossip free, but I am now more conscious when I do happen to talk about others. Surrounding myself with others who I could talk about things that actually do matter helps alot. Productive talking works. Staying away from other well known gossipers helps too.

So here’s my question…what do you do with your REALLY close friends who lack iman (very much), or non-muslims? I mean, I don’t want to cut them off totally from my life just because I’ve changed. The only thing I can think of is by limiting my outings with them. And of course, by improving my own iman so I can withstand any negative influences that is against what I believe in.

My latest gossip-free session challenge will be tomorrow. Pray for me!

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I don’t understand why the Imam likes to recite the surah Yassin uber fast. Yes, it’s Nisfu Syaaban. Yes, we were to read it 3 times. But…he read it so fast that I struggle (very much, I say!) to keep up to his pace. Unfortunately, I’m not those many who could read the Al-Quraan as fast as most who actually can. Nor am I that practiced and 100% familiar with the Surah Yassin as many are in my community. Maybe I should start reading the main surah’s on a regular basis so I could just recite them with my eyes half closed, huh? Insya Allah.

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Astaghfiraullah…Astaghfiraullah..Astaghfiraullah.

For years I have been careless with my solat. I prayed only when I wanted something from Allah. I prayed only when I was troubled. I neglected the 2nd pillar of Islam when I was too busy hanging out with friends, watching a movie at the cinema, and dancing at clubs. Even when I recited all the surah, tasbih and doa in the solat, I never really understood what I was doing. I never made any efforts to find out the reasons and meanings of the contents of solat. I was not only careless - I was also ignorant.

Solat is the ummah’s link to Allah. When we fail to pray due to laziness and reluctance, this link is weakend. Our iman is weakend. Our defence against syaitan, iblis and our carnal desires weakens. We’d forget Allah. We’d forget Islam. We’d forget our main purpose in life, which is to serve God, and seek His mercy in this brief life and in the eternal Hereafter. I was foolish. I’ve been so foolish for way too long. Alhamdulilah I realise all this now. I realise the importance of solat and the need to perfect it. I realise how lucky I am to be a Muslim. I realise how beautiful and universal Islam is. I now realise how hypocritical I was as a Muslim back then. Alhamdulilah. I thank Allah for giving me His guidance and letting me return to the right path. Alhamdulilah…Alhamdulilah…Alhamdulilah.

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Today is his day. It’s hard. I keep wanting to do something in hope that things would be better. That things could go back to the way they once were.

Ya Allah. Please help me get through today. Please don’t let me do anything that I would regret. Please give me patience and perseverance to get through this day. Amin..Amin…Ya Rabbla’almin…

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