Ramadhan Day 24 / Juzz 24 - A message of hope

Ramadhan Day 24 / Juzz 24

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." [39:54]

Allah addresses us in this ayah as “My servants.” Ebaad is different from Abeed. Abeed is used in the Qur’an for those slaves who do not obey Allah. However, Ebaad is used for good slaves, and even though this ayah is about sinners, Allah still addresses them as His slaves to give them hope.

Then Allah says “Those who have transgressed against themselves” or those who have crossed the line. Here, Allah is addressing the one who got close to the sin and fell into sin, so much so that he has piled sin upon sin. Yet, Allah is reminding, I know you’ve sinned, I know you’ve done so much wrong, but don’t cut your connection with Me, because you are still My slaves. You might even feel that your sin is too huge, but Allah is saying, “Do not despair of the Mercy of Allah.” In other words, don’t lose hope, don’t be depressed from the mercy, love and care of Allah. Don’t think that His love, care and concern is so small that your sin is bigger than that, because there is never going to be a time in your life where you can inhale and exhale, and that Allah’s Mercy will be closed, His door of Mercy is wide open. Remember that.

If the people who are going to be in the lowest pit of hellfire (the hypocrites), if they even still have hope, then what about you and I? You should never ever think that you are beyond the Mercy of Allah. People might think you’re bad and write you off, but Allah will never write you off.

There are people who are messed up totally, but they might pray one prayer every Friday, that’s the only connection with Allah they have left, but at least they left that one door open. That door is enough, because you can now turn back and repent to Allah.

Allah is telling you He loves you. He wants you to turn back to Him and re-think your life.

Now is the time to turn back to Allah. Just sit there at night and cry your heart out to Allah. Talk to Him and tell Him everything you’ve done. Allah says He will forgive ALL of them. It’s done. He will forgive all your sins, but you just admit them and turn back to Him.

May Allah make us sincere in our repentance and accept our Taubah, ameen.

Ramadhan 23 / Juzz 23 - The doors of Jannah

Ramadhan Day 23 / Juzz 23

Allah says in Surah Saad:

“Gardens of perpetual residence, whose doors will be opened to them.” [38:50]

Here, Allah uses the word, مُفَتَّحَةً , which means ‘held open.’ So the way Allah describes the gates of Jannah is that they are left open already, they won’t be opened on the Day of Judgment, they are already open. Allah doesn’t use the word مفتوح, which means just to leave open, He uses مُفَتَّحَةً which indicates that the door is open wide. It suggests that someone has been assigned to hold the door open.

Imagine this scenario. A guest comes over to your house and you're so worried about making things convenient for them, you leave the door slightly open so they don't have to wait outside. But even then, the guest might hesitate seeing the door slightly open. So, you assign one of your children to stand by the door to let them in, to make them feel more welcome, and so that there is no inconvenience for a wait. How would they feel? So much more honored and welcom right?

This is the Mercy of Allah towards us. This is what Allah does for us! He has kept the gates of Jannah open to make us feel more welcome and honored.

Now if we move on to the next Surah, Zumar, Allah talks about the people of the hell fire. He says:

“And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups until, when they reach it, its gates are opened and its keepers will say, 'Did there not come to you messengers from yourselves, reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?'" [39:71]

The word سِيقَ here means, rushed. The people of hellfire, they will be pushed towards Jahannam! The closer they get, the more reluctant they will be to go further. Allah says that these people will be separated into groups. People will be broken up according to their sins.

Then Allah says “Until, when they reach it.” So once the people get to the hellfire Allah says “its gates are opened.” What this indicates is that the gates of Jahnnam were not open already, they're being opened now. Allah has left the gates of Jannah open because He wants us to go into Paradise, He wants to welcome us in! But because He doesn’t want people to go into the hellfire He keeps its gates closed. How beautiful is that?

Ramadhan Day 22 / Juzz 22 - Honesty in speech

Ramadhan Day 22 / Juzz 22

"O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth (or that which is right.)" (33:70)

In this ayah, Allah is saying be cautious of Allah. He then follows this commandment of Taqwa with another commandment, and that is, "and say that which is right."

Allah uses the word سديد which comes from the word سد. The meaning of this word سد is 'something that closes a gap which prevents water from leaking through.' It also means a Dam.

So by Allah using the word سديد here He is telling us that when we speak, we need to speak in a way where we don't leave any room for misunderstanding and that we must mean what we say. Allah is advising us to be clear and honest In our speech.

One of the most powerful implications of this is one of the things Allah commands us to say when we meet someone, which is 'assalaamu alaykum' where we're declaring to the other person that I am in peace with you, there is no grudges and I have no issues with you.

However sometimes, even when we give Salaams to others, we don't really mean it from our heart, we're not clear and honest because our hearts feel something else whilst we utter something else.

So in this ayah Allah is reminding us to to be honest in our speech and to say what is right. That includes speaking the right words and not holding grudges and meaning peace when we greet one another.

May Allah enable to say what us right and enable us to remove any grudges from our hearts towards our brother or sister, ameen.

Ramadhan Day 21 / Juzz 21 - Love and Mercy

Ramdhan Day 21 / Juzz 21

"And among His Signs is this, that He created for you wives from among yourselves, that you may find repose in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy. Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect." [ar-Rum 30:21]

"that you may find repose [taskoonoo] in them."

The word in Arabic for repose is; Sukoon.

Sukoon = Tranquility/calmness. Anyone who has been in love has felt this strongly when they are with their lover. This is one of the strongest feeling of love a person will feel.

This feeling of joy, contentment and tranquility makes the person have extreme love for their spouse.. So Allah after explaining the first attribute of Tranquility describes the next stage;

"..and he has put between you affection (Mawaddah).."

Mawaddah is love with passion, an extreme liking to something.

So the lover;

1) Feels at ease [feels calmness] with the person.

2) Has an extreme passionate liking to them.

This Mawaddah stage usually lasts for around 2 years in marriage.

As the couple continue living together, the passion gradually becomes less and less. Both partners mature a bit more and the fantasies die out a bit more.

So many obstacles come within their way because they are living with each other. Before they were both blinded by passion, but now they see each others' mistakes and errors.

So Allah tells us;

"and He has put between you affection and MERCY (rahmah).."

So now that the passions have slightly died out, and the calmness isn't always there in the relationship (arguments do happen in marriage) - Allah tells us that He has placed between the lovers Mercy.

So even though they might argue with each other, they have mercy on each other and forgive. This mercy keeps their relationship going, because deep down inside you still care that your partner doesn't get hurt.

"..Verily, in that are signs for people who reflect."

May Allah allow us to be merciful to our spouses and enable us to live tranquility with one another, ameen.

Ramadhan Day 20 / Juzz 20 - "He bound her heart"

Ramadhan Day 20 / Juzz 20

Every one of us, at some point in our lives, will feel emotional turmoil or emotional pain. For some, they may have to face traumatic experience which will leave them feeling scarred for life, heartbroken and lost in this world.

However, when we feel we can't get on with life after an experience we may have faced, then it's time for us to recall the story of Ummi Musa - the Mother of Musa (as). In Surah Qasas, Allah talks about how Musa (as)'s mother had to throw Musa into the river and in doing so, her heart felt empty. She felt no emotion because of it. Imagine. She had two options. To either watch Musa be slaughtered by Firaun and his army, or throw him into the river, in a basket, whilst placing her trust in Allah.

This was no easy task for her, and by taking it upon herself to do it, by walking into her biggest nightmare, her heart became empty, and void of any feeling, like a person who is in shock. The worst of thoughts were occupying her mind. Would her child drown? Would she ever see her dear Musa again? Yet, who was it that calmed her heart? Allah.

He says: 

"And the heart of Moses' mother became empty [of all else]. She was about to disclose [the matter concerning] him had We not bound fast her heart that she would be of the believers."

Allah says, He "bound her heart" meaning He calmed it and strengthened it through faith.

This is so beautiful as it teaches you, that whatever emotional turmoil your facing, whatever sorrow, grief, fear or loss, it is Allah who is capable of healing your heart. There is no such thing as "I am scarred for life", when you truly believe that Allah will bound your heart with the sweetness of Imaan and will soothe your burning heart with the coolness of faith. Believe that Allah will intervene in your emotional traumas and will give you peace of heart and mind and remove your every sorrow.

May Allah soothe burning hearts with the coolness of faith and may He remove our sorrows and replace them with ease and the sweetness of 'imaan, ameen.