Ramadhan 29 / Juzz 29 - Worldly benefits of seeking forgiveness

Ramadhan Day 29 / Juzz 29

"And said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers. And give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers."[Nuh:10-12]

In these ayahs, Nuh (as) is telling Allah what He did with his nation, what he accomplished, and how things didn't really change in the ways of his people. But Allah chose tthis passage and in it is a beautiful gift.

The gift is, what do you genuinely get when you seek forgiveness, in addition to having your sins forgiven?

There are a few of those gifts mentioned in these ayah.

"He will send rain upon you in [continuing] showers." Notice, rain used to come upon the people of Nuh (as), but it was full of death. But Allah is saying, if you seek forgiveness, I will give you rain that is full of life. If you're living in a city of drought, from this ayah we learn, one way for you to get rain to come is to make Istighfaar (repentance).

"And He will increase you in wealth and children." Meaning, you will live a good worldly life, full of all the blessings you can enjoy, and "He will provide for you gardens and rivers."

Our deen comes with worldly packages too. Genuinely asking Allah for forgiveness means Allah will shower you with worldly blessings whilst you are getting ready for the blessings of the Akhirah. What a beautiful religion.

You didn't have to ask for rain, children, money or gardens. You just had to ask Allah to forgive you, He is so happy with your repentance that He will give you the gifts that mean so much to you. For Him, these things are nothing, but forgiveness to Allah is treasured. He loves when you seek forgiveness from Him.

Also, today perhaps may be the last day of Ramadhan. Increase in your repentance and your Du'aa and ask Allah sincerely to forgive your sins in these precious moments.

 O Allah, accept our Ramadhan. Accept from us our Qiyaam, Siyaam, Ruku', Sujood, and Du'aa. O Allah, allow us to witness many more Ramadhan's for years to come, ameen.

Ramadhan Day 28 / Juzz 28 - Calamities

Ramadhan Day 28 / Juzz 28

"No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah. And whoever believes in Allah - He will guide his heart. And Allah is Knowing of all things." [64:11]

"No calamity of any sort ever strikes..."  مصيبة in Arabic means calamity, but can also mean 'to target.' Allah is teaching us by the use of this word, that nothing ever happens to you that wasn't actually meant for you. It was specifically targeted to you and that difficulty hit its target. And a مصيبة is not necessarily a bad thing. It's something Allah wanted to happen to you.

The ما at the beginning of the ayah is a refutation. Its like Allah is saying 'Don't you ever think that it was anyone other than Allah that put you through what you were going through!' In other words, it was Allah's will directly, good or bad. If your happy with Allah's will, whether through suffering or overjoy, then you are truly pleased with the decree of Allah.

Allah then says "and throughout that calamity whoever keeps their *faith*..." You know why Allah said this? Because it's when calamity strikes that people lose their faith. They begin to question Allah. But Allah is saying if you can maintain your faith through this calamity, if we can all be strong and keep our faith through these tests, this oppression in Gaza, in Syria, and in all parts of the world. Then Allah says He will gift us. How?

"He will guide your heart."

There is nothing more valuable in this world than Allah granting you guidance. If you go through hardship and remain patient then Allah will give you Imaan in your heart. He will guide your heart in everything you do. Every beat that heart takes will be with the remembrance of Allah.

Where do we feel the pain of calamity? In our hearts. Allah will remove this pain and fill it with Imaan.

Ya Allah, those Muslims that are suffering in all parts of the world, ya Allah, guide their hearts, and keep them and all our hearts, strong in faith, ameen.

Ramadhan Day 27 / Juzz 27 - Reviving the dead heart

Ramadhan Day 27 / Juzz 27

"Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient." [Hadid: 16]

These ayahs are very powerful. They are supposed to take nations of Muslims that are weak in faith, and they are supposed to shake them up and revive their faith. And Allah has this way of speaking to us, such that it is life - changing.

Allah says: "Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth?" Meaning, that just listening to the Qur'an should fill us with awe and overwhelm us. Allah is asking, isn't It time you felt something? Felt in awe that Allah is talking to you through these words? Allah says, don't be like those whose hearts became hardened because they weren't emotionally connected to the book. We're supposed to have a relationship which moves us to tears. That Allah Is talking to ME. We shouldn't only have an intellectual relationship with the quran but emotional relationship with too. Why? Because this Is the rope that connects us to Allah; the Qur'an.

Part of the meaning of Khushu' is that mucles/limbs become numb. That you feel this sense of overwhelm and awe of Allah and His Majesty.

Allah then says, "and many of them are defiantly disobedient". Meaning, people will have just a ritualistic relationship with the Qur'an which is a tragedy because the hearts become hard and dead.

In the verse following onto this, He (swt) then says, "Allah gives life to the earth after it has died." In the last ayah the hearts became hard; they were dead. Allah says if I can bring the dead to life, then I can too being your heart back to life. SubhanAllah.

Ramadhan is the spring of our hearts. It's when our hearts come alive because we are connect to the Qur'an. So make the most of these remaining few days to build on your emotional relationship with the Qur'an and let your heart be filled with awe.

May Allah make us amongst the people of the Qur'an, amongst those who are closest to Him, ameen.

Ramadhan 26 / Juzz 26 - "O Allah help whoever helps the religion of Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasallam)"

Ramadhan Day 26 / Juzz 26

"Indeed, We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner.That you [people] may believe in Allah and His Messenger and honor him and respect the Prophet and exalt Allah morning and afternoon." [Fath: 8-9]

To understand these two ayahs we have to understand transition. For example, if your teaching a class and you have a TA with you, your going to be addressing both the class who are plural, and your TA who is singular, all at once.

So here, Allah is addressing the Prophet ( Salallahu alayhi wasallam), and then He is addressing us as singular. As though He is saying, you do this, and you do this, but It's still one conversation.

So Allah says: "No doubt about It we have sent you (salallahu alayhi wasallam) as a witness." Which is something quite scary and instills fear in the heart of the Sahaabah. So Allah quickly fills there hearts with hope sgain by following this with "and a giver of good tidings." He then continues and mentions a third reason why He sent the messenger (salallahu alayhi wasallam), "as a warner."

Then He turns to the Muslims (us), I have sent him (salallahu alayhi wasallam) as a messenger "so YOU could believe in Allah and His messenger." Allah uses the word وَتُعَزِّرُوهُ - meaning honour the messenger out of an overwhelming respect for him. So we should have this overwhelming respect which drives us to help him.

So how are we supposed to help him (salallahu alayhi wasallam) when he is no longer company? Allah teaches us the Du'aa the Rasulullah (salallahu alayhi wasallam) used to make which he taught us to make: "O Allah help whoever helps the religion of Muhammad. "

So when we are serving Allah's deen, we're not only trying to please Him but we're respecting and honouring the messenger at the same time.

Allah then says: وَتُوَقِّرُوهُ meaning, He is a grand personality. Your whole attitude should change when you hear is name. You should be so serious when his name is mentioned that it fills you with so much respect for him (salallahu alayhi wasallam)

Allah then finishes off: "And you should declare Allah's perfection night and day."

Look at this! The first thing the ayah talked about was Allah, then the Messenger and then it ends with Allah. Meaning, if you don't have respect for the messenger you won't know what it means to glorify the perfection of Allah.

May Allah grant us a burning desire to serve His deen and may He make us amongst those who respect and honour His messenger (salallahu alayhi wasallam), ameen.

Ramadhan 25 / Juzz 25 - He will give you better

Ramadhan Day 25 / Juzz 25

"So whatever thing you have been given - it is but [for] enjoyment of the worldly life. But what is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who have believed and upon their Lord rely." [42:36]

Allah is reminding us in this ayah that whatever we have been given is only a temporary enjoyment and what Allah has is better and lasts longer. He then says that these are the people who have trust in Allah, those who understand the value of this Dunyah.

Allah is making us reflect. If you have a house, Allah has a better house for you. If you have a spouse, Allah will give you a better spouse. Whatever you have in this world it will be so many times better in Jannah and will be there forever. For many of us, experiencing change is painful and life passes us so quickly, but in Jannah everything will last for eternity.

Even if you have a good life in this dunya, Allah is saying He will give you better than it in Jannah and it will last longer.

So Allah describes these people who have trust in Allah, and He mentions two things that these people have accomplished in their lives.

1) They avoid major sins and shamelessness. There are two types of sins, major and minor. Minor such as rushing your prayer, or reciting the Qur’an incorrectly, but then there are major sins. Such as the consumption of haram, the zina of the eyes, consuming intrest, saying something that Allah has made haram etc. Allah says if you want to be people of the afterlife, DON’T BE PEOPLE OF MAJOR SINS. You can work on the minor sins and refine yourself but don’t fall into the big sins.

2) Stop all forms of shamelessness. Pornography, Dating etc. Anything that takes you close to it, avoid it all together.

These are the goals we need to set for ourselves, and in order to help us we need to surround ourselves with people who will remind us to do good and to stay away from sins.

May Allah make us amongst those why rely only on Him, ameen.