GRATITUDE………….

Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him said:

“One who does not show Gratitude to people, does not show gratitude to Allah Zojal”

Excerpted from the retreat on Tazkiyah Nafs 09 with Shaykh Mokhtaar Magroubi

TAWAKUL & MERCY 10:85-86

Supplication around the Universe: courtesy www.flickr.com

Background:
When Moses (AS) called his people to the message of Allah, No one answered his call except for some young people.

The older people and others were afraid and depressed by the power and the torment that Pharaoh could perpetrate on the people. Moses (AS) asked them to: have tawakkul (trust in Allah Subhanawataala.

Tafseer by Dr. Farhat Hashmi: (10:85-86 only)

Allah SWT relates their answer to Moses (AS)

This is a potent supplication for the Oppressed:

فَقَالُواْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوَكَّلۡنَا رَبَّنَا لَا تَجۡعَلۡنَا فِتۡنَةً۬ لِّلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ (٨٥) وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحۡمَتِكَ مِنَ ٱلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ (٨٦)

They said: In Allah we put trust. Our Lord! Oh, make us not a lure for the wrongdoing folk; (85) And, of Thy mercy, save us from the folk that disbelieve. (86)

010.085
YUSUFALI: They said: “In Allah do we put out trust. Our Lord! make us not a trial for those who practise oppression;

010.086
YUSUFALI: “And deliver us by Thy Mercy from those who reject (Thee).”

They (The people of Moses) replied we do Tawakkul on Allah and made this dua:

O our Rabb, Do not make us a fitna (a target practice) for the Dhalim people, and release us with Your mercy from the people of Kufr.

Thus they (The people of Moses) first did tawakul (Placing trust in Allah, resulting in inner strengthening of emaan in doing what is right) and then made supplication (dua,) and after that left the consequences to Allah Subhanawataala. Thus, the sequence for a Muslim is: endeavor, emaan, tawakul and dua and then knowing that the consequences are with Allah, and those we leave to Him.

They also made dua:

O Allah do not allow the Dhalim (Opressor) to make us the target for his dhulm (Opression)

The Pharaoh, was a Dhalim, and thus the prayer from the people of Moses “ to be released from becoming a target of the Dhalim and for Allah Subhanawataala’s mercy”

Sometimes when Muslims become the target of Dhulm, (as has happened in the past, in the times of Prophet Muhammad pbuh) they also ask not to become the target of kaafirs as by the success of the Dhalim (oppressor) of his Dhulm (oppression) on the Muslim may empower him and thus may increase the kufr of the Kaafirs.

Do not make us (the Muslims) a test  (target) for the Dhalims, if we lose then this will further empower the Dhalims.

End Tafseer

My take:

HOW TO PLAN AN ACTION?
The chain of events before any action is carried out by a Muslim (i.e. one who declares that Allah is One and that He is the one who has power over us and the entire worlds) is as follows:

1.    Prepare to the best of ones abilities all the means, and qualifications to carry out the action needed.

2.    Do Tawakul: put our complete and sincere trust in Allah as to the outcome of our actions

3.    Make supplication for His mercy, to ward off evil, and to help us in our endeavor, (as long as it is an action in the path of Allah and His Deen)

4.    Know that the consequences lie in the Divine Decree that Allah Subhanawataala has made for us and as per his promise in the Quran, He only enjoins what is good for us. Even though it may not be immediately apparent to us in the eyes of this dunya.

5.    If the consequences are not what we desired, not to blame its failure on the aspects of Deen that we follow (wearing hijab/beard etc), but to know that either: I did not prepare adequately for it (thus make an effort to improve qualifications) or it was not meant to be for me (Divine Decree).

6.    If the consequences are not what I expected then I do not blame my Deen or its expression of it in myself as a reason for failure.  For by doing so I may put off or weaken others in the practice of the Deen.

My act of blaming my failure on some aspect of the Deen that I practice may deter people from being attracted to the message of Allah.

I would thus end up doing a great disservice to people by robbing them of the opportunity of knowing the beauty, security and peace in Allah’s message in the Deen of Islam.

ORDERLINESS…………….

“To be orderly is to seek to have Divine characteristics. Allah Subhanawataala is orderly in His creation and the working of His creations is also orderly”

My take on this: Every thing on earth including the movement in the Universe of its components is punctual and orderly.

The sun comes out punctually in a predictable and orderly manner and the day follows, it sets in an orderly fashion and the moon follows……..

There is orderliness in how cells divide for each human and animal and what they become. This orderliness when not followed in quality or quantity becomes a cancer.

The sign of a genuine Muslim is to be orderly in behavior, and actions, and is recognized by his or her trademark:  A Muslim leaves a place in a better condition than he or she found it.

The orderly growth of ferns in the forest

Excerpted from the Retreat on Tazkiyah Nafs 09 with Shaykh Mokhtaar Magroubi (quotes are from the Shaykh)

QURB……………

Qurb is inadequately translated as nearness to Allah, however Qurb has a far more intimate inflection, of being the one who is close to Allah Subhanawataala in many ways and forms.

“Muqarabeen” in the Quran are those who are closest to Allah Subhanawataala.

Qurb is desired, pursued and struggled for by all the Seekers of The Path to Allah, not everyone makes it in their lifetime.

Here is advice for the Seeker of the Path desiring Qurb to Allah………..

Make sure that:

He, Subhanawataala does not find you where He has forbidden you to be
And
He Subhanawataala finds you where He has commanded you to be.

For a beginner like me, my first step is to delineate in my environment what places, people and stimuli qualify for each of the above.

Excerpted from the Retreat on “Tazkiyah Nafs” 2009 with Shaykh Mokhtaar Magroubi

THE TONGUE: AN INSTRUMENT OF DHIKR OR……….

I guess I would now be classified as a retreat veteran and yet when ever I open my notepad with pen poised, what I hear from the Shaykh is never a repetition of before but something new and energizing………

Does this mean that I have come along some, on the path of Tazkiyah? or does it mean that I missed part of what he said last time due to inattention? or my brain and my heart just did not register it as they were not ready to accept this new concept of living?…………..or a possibility that may be true but difficult for me to admit is that my Nafs and my arrogance stood like a wall when some of the things were said?

When I had first started on this path I wondered why I was here at the retreat. What would I learn from a bunch of lectures, early mornings, late nights and patience and prayer that I could not do by myself?

As the time at the retreat unfolded, after the initial discomfort of my body, my heart and mind started to transcend the physical discomfort and dive into the Shaykh’s method of teaching, which he describes as:
“We learn to do” and “We do to learn”
It is only when you have sat for what seems like a very long time between Asar and Maghrib repeating the evening Dhikr that you realize, there is a hyperactive child within you that wants to get up and go………..the hyperactive inattentive child or is it the headstrong brat of my Nafs that want to get it done and be over with it and go out.

It is only when the Nafs is patted down on the head repeatedly, quietened with a consistent discipline and not given attention that it finally calms down. It is then that the first opening occurs in the true connection with Allah Subhanawataala…………..it may last a few seconds, minutes or even longer if you have better control of your Nafs.

Thus it was the “doing” that I practiced and have continued to practice with the morning evening Dhikr after fajr and as often as I could after Asar that finally brought me to a point in this retreat when I actually began to enjoy the Dhikr with the slow passage of light from Asar to Maghrib in the skylights of the musallah.

As the words of Dhikr left my lips and ascended to my Creator, It brought me an intense feeling of being loved and enfolded in a sensation which can be translated into happiness or security…………even though fleetingly.

“Doing, teaches us more than listening to teachings,” said the Shaykh and I am living proof of that. Three retreats ago, I could not fold my feet to sit in Tashahud to do my Dhikr; I changed posture uncountable times in an hour. Overcoming the Nafs in me that pestered me like a hyperactive brat, by “doing” finally got me past the brat.

The morning Dhikr which is my favorite. I guess because it is long and it takes me a little while to get warmed up. This Dhikr comprises of a series of stunningly comprehensive masnoon supplications that engulf the physical, emotional, and personal needs at every level that one can think of. No wonder Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him, did this Dhikr on a regular basis………….

It also is a protective shield from all evil things and obsessive ill thoughts. When I read the translation of the supplications I can recognize why. Hidden in the simple though potent words, are supplications that protect you, bring blessings on you, shower you with spiritual, emotional and physical health and protect you from the arch enemy of our father, Adam (AS) and his progeny.

“Dua or supplication is emphasized as an essential part of being on the Path of the Seeker”

“Thus the Dhikr is………….to beg Allah, to be prayerful in heart, mind, soul and tongue”

“The lack of dua is a sign of “kibr” or arrogance……….says Allah Subhanawataala in the Quran, and recommends the abd (slave) to often be in dua.“

“Prophet Muhammad pbuh had long stretches of quietness…….as he was constantly in Dhikr”

The tongue can either be in idle chatter or in Dhikr…….thus we as Muslims are taught to be reflective of what we say and to say only what is meaningful, true, sincere and beautiful (with ehsaan). Even better is to remain silent and be in Dhikr.

This permission to remain silent has been one of the most stress releasing aspects that I was introduced to at the retreat. I have always been “the mediator” all my life and have taken it upon my self to entertain the wall flower, to be the liaison between two strangers etc etc……….I was happy to learn, though it took quite some time (three retreats☺) before I could actually be happy and not feel guilty, not to talk and be in silent dhikr.

Our voice is an instrument…………we can use it in so many ways……….Allah Subhanawataala  instructs us in the Quran….”shield your voice” or “lower your voice”.
Luqman (AS) advice to his son in the Quran is:
“And be moderate in thy pace, and lower thy voice; for the harshest of sounds without doubt is the braying of the ass.” 031.019 Yusufali’s translation:

The final words of the Shaykh regarding this aspect were “Guard the tongue, it was put behind two prisons (the lips and the teeth) for a reason” It can lash out and say things that cannot be recalled, or say things to fill the sound void and then we become responsible on the Day of Judgment for each word uttered.

Silent Dhikr………………it took me three retreats of “doing” to know what it means and what happens when you actually “do” it!

Excerpts and reflections from the Retreat on Tazkiyah Nafs 09 with Shaykh Mokhtaar Magroub (Most of the the statements in inverted comma’s are quotes from the Shaykh)

The Adhkaars (Dhikr) after Salah can be found at :http://ibnayyub.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/adhkaar-after-salah-sheikh-haitham-al-haddad/

ARRIVING AT THE RETREAT FOR TAZKIYAH NAFS………….

I am at the airport and they are here to pick me up along with the other retreaters. This time, I am not stressed, I know that whatever arrangements Allah SWT has planned for me to get there will happen.
As the car ascends the mountains, in a caravan, packed with the retreaters I feel the tension ebb away from me…………I literally feel that I am going to be deposited at the beginner’s point of the hike to The Path of the Seekers of Allah.

How presumptuous of me……….nevertheless my heart lifts as I go deeper and deeper into the mountains and only the blocking of my ears tells me that I have also made a literal ascent of the body and not only of the heart and soul.

Why do I feel elated?  Is it because this is the third time and I know what to expect or is it because I have dropped all presuppositions and allowed myself to float like a leaf in the river of faith, allowing it to take me wherever the Divine hand guides it.

I no longer try to steer my path, nor try and change behavior of my companions, I make a mental note that it is myself that I will need to adjust. Why am I here for the third time, I know the answer to that……I am a slow learner.

This time I have no need to talk, to get to know others, nor do I feel responsible to keep a conversation going. I enjoy the permission that I have been given, to remain silent.

When I reach our room in the lodge, I do one thing different that I have learned from my travel companion V. I unpack daily essentials and organize them in the appropriate places. I make sure that I have the right things available for the right activities without having to search for them, and I head to the basement or the musallah.

As I step on the last stair that always creaks the loudest when there is a latecomer for salaah, I feel I am home. The room smells musty like a home that has missed its dwellers. The crisply clean green carpet welcomes me; I am told at another time that the Christian camp owners especially fixed this carpet and this room for the Muslim retreaters.

I think of King Nagashi. Did he not help the Muslims in time of dire need and then did his heart not turn towards the ultimate submission to the one God………..I wonder at the red haired man who runs the camp, he sits in one of the salaahs with his feet folded like a Muslim who has spent his life on the musallah and I wonder about his heart…………… And so begins the introduction of the retreat which holds the map to the hiking trail for the Seeker of the Almighty………..

JUNE READINGS 09……….

The flowers of Africa and Karachi

THESE WERE ACCESSED THE LEAST NUMBER OF TIMES THIS MONTH:

THE CHAMBERS OF MY HEART
GIFTS………
CRITICISM
ONE HUNDRED THINGS ABOUT DHIKR (50-74)
HOW DO I RING IN THE NEW YEAR?
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE NOT GOING FOR HAJJ
ON WAKING UP SAY………
WHAT NOT TO TAKE FOR HAJJ THIS YEAR
PILGRIMAGE AND THE STATION OF IBRAHIM 3
REMINDING MYSELF LEST I FORGET……….
How to reverse drought……….

THESE WERE ACCESSED THE MOST:

GRADUATION…….
ENTERING THE CIRCLE OF PEACE…………..STEP ONE AND TWO
Does Islam Allow Muslim Men To Marry Non-Muslim Women
THE CONCEPT OF SABR (PATIENCE) IN ISLAM
THE MOST MISQUOTED AYAHS OF THE QURAN SINCE 911
Hijab a la Syria AND
THE CONCEPT OF ‘EVENTS AT DEATH’ IN ISLAM

THE WALL………….

July………….it is for me what December is for brother Anis.
It will be four years this July 13 when the cops came to our house to tell me that Tariq was “deceased”.
As I enter the last days of June, I can hear the anger of the ocean of grief rising with every passing moment. The tumultuous waters I cannot see, nor feel as there is a wall between me and them.

A wall created by the Dhikr and remembrance of Allah. I do not know when it went up, but when ever I hear the rising anger of the wild ocean of grief, I feel the wall separating me, protecting me from the raging waters, from being lost in them forever………my wall……. made to protect me from drowning in the ocean of grief…….made by Him Subhanawataala,

All I can think as I hear the angry lap of the waves of grief on the other side of the wall and feel their aggressive anger is:

“Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?”   055.028

He protects me from the tidal wave gaining strength on the other side of the wall……….it is July again and as the waves of the sea of grief gain strength and crash against the wall …….it stands sentinel, strong and witness to all the grief as it protects me from its thunder.

I have to remind myself to thank Him Subhanawataala for protecting me and say:
002.156 YUSUFALI: Who say, when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return”

If you Pray……………

Palestinian refugees

“I should not make any promises right now,
But I know if you
Pray
Somewhere in this world -
Something good will happen.”

Hafiz

The Cure For Your Heart Attack………..10:57

Dedicated to all my brothers and sisters who have suffered from a Heart Attack…………….

a letter……………….

Asalaam-o-alaikum my dear brother,

You have been in my thoughts and prayers ever since I heard of your near miss with a heart attack, I have read and re read your note updating us on your physical state. In between the lines the sadness, the sorrow, the resignation and fear of disability leak out with the pain and perseverance of being downed physically, and patched in between are rays of hope with supplications.

I have thought about writing a response and have had no words come to me till this morning as I sat down to review the tafseer of Surah Younus with Dr. Farhat Hashmi, and as I reached this ayah I felt, Allah Subhanwataala was putting words where I had none …………

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ قَدۡ جَآءَتۡكُم مَّوۡعِظَةٌ۬ مِّن رَّبِّڪُمۡ وَشِفَآءٌ۬ لِّمَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ وَهُدً۬ى وَرَحۡمَةٌ۬ لِّلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ (٥٧)

(O mankind! There hath come unto you an exhortation from your Lord, a balm for that which is in the breasts, a guidance and a mercy for believers. (10: 57)
and:
17.082
We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after loss.

As Dr. Farhat Hashmi explained, I was rooted to the  spot:
Tafseer:

A man came to RasoolAllah (pbuh) and he complained about his heart and said, “ I have pain in my heart” RasoolAllah responded “read (recite) Quran because Allah SWT says that this Quran is a cure for what is in the breast. (Your heart) “

In the chest resides the heart and it has lots of diseases both spiritual and physical. In The spiritual diseases include envy (hasad) riya, keena, badgumani, anger, badneeyati, arrogance, depression, sadness, sorrow, ujub, Bughuz, and many others.
Allah Subhanawataala has given the cure to Mankind at large and to the Momineen specifically

However, when do the words of God become a cure? This depends on if the cure is known and used, in the therapeutic manner that has been prescribed by Allah Subhanwataala and I paraphrase “for truly in Dhikr do ones heart finds rest”.

If the medicine that is going to cure an ailment sits on a counter and is not administered it does not work. Medicine only works when the medicine is taken at the correct time in the correct dose, and in the ideal frequency. Thus is the Quran it cannot be a cure if it sits unused in both the frequency and doses as prescribed by our Rasool (pbuh). If it remains in a bookshelf wrapped in a cover, it cannot work as a cure for our hearts.

The first step is to believe that Allah Subhanataala has given us the solution of every problem in dunya in the Quran. How does the Quran become a cure? It becomes a cure for our ailment when one honestly and sincerely begins to recite and review the Quran, the answers and solutions unravel as one reads, reviews and connects with yaqeen with Allah through His Subhanwataala’s words.

If psychologically one does not have yaqeen that Allah has sent this as a cure, it does not work. Neither does it work if one is insincere, and the ikhlaas between Allah and me is missing. The wall of cynicism, insincerity and arrogance in ones own abilities has to come down for the cure to be poured on us and instilled in us.

When we sit and read the Quran, the pain, the fear, the sorrow that is in our hearts and chest eases as Allah Subhanawataala’s words speak to us.
Only if we have approached Him and His words with sincerity with the true belief and yaqeen that He truly does what is best for us, and that He created us and wants us to turn to Him when in difficulty or in pain. It is only then that His words, and instructions become the cure.
As I listened to her tafseer  I reflected on my own experience and I share it with you:

My experience:
If one approaches the Quran in search for a cure, as a solution for pain both physical and psychological, and we place all our symptoms, pains, aches, disabilities, and agonies in front of Him and we recite His words in search…………..of solutions, He turns to us.

He guides our hands and minds to the solutions hidden in the pages of the Mushaf.
Something we may have read before with a closed heart and mind or as a literary interest rather than a spiritual act of seeking help, cure, and treatment, now transforms into a solution to our desperate search.

Suddenly the pages open to the words that seem like they were written for me. Words that are the cure for the pain in my heart, for my tired brain searching for solace, peace and comfort. I wonder how come I had read this ayah before and it had never registered as a solution of my continuing agony and my persistent ailment of huzn.

Being an allopathic physician we are taught to discount all spiritual aspects of treatment. The reason being that some charlatans have used it to dupe innocent people, who are in need of help for either a physical ailment that does not respond to regular medicine or an agony for which they have been told there is no cure. Thus we as physicians have used the either or paradigm and discarded the process as well as the source without really looking into the reasons.

Thus as I read the Quran knowing that all avenues of help and solace are closed and that I desperately need His help, for the pain is unremitting and there is no relief in sight, I am keenly aware that the only way the agony in my breast, of loss, loneliness and separation from my child, can ease, lies in His hands. I realize that I can only get to the cure through Him.

I also know that this time the act of opening the Quran is not like the hundred others in the past. This time it is a focused search till I find it, whether it comes with the first line or last………..

Thus it has been for me, at any time of the day or night.

One morning before work, I am in agony as I find myself standing in the computer room, and the Quran lying on my desk calls to me. I stand irresolute, immobile, frozen with grief near the computer seeing my son in my minds eye, smiling and vibrant with life and then he dissolves in front of my eyes and I cannot even recall an image.
I take a step and I open the cover and randomly open a section…….and read. From the depths of darkness He lowers a rope for me: ”every soul will taste death” and” and the believers who are tested will say: It is from him we come and to him we shall return:
002.155: Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere,
002.156 Who say, when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return”:
002.157: They are those on whom (Descend) blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.

…………and yet at other times I want to find an ayah and I cannot find it .………. someone has told me about it in the passing that it brings relief, and I cannot find it……..it is only when I sit at a spiritual retreat studying the word of the Divine, thousands of miles away from home, that in an atmosphere charged with the words of Allah Subhanawataala, as I listen to Surah Zumar, that I suddenly come upon it.

I am in a room where the Surah is being recited, reviewed and explained, surrounded by pious women that His Subhanawataala’s words of solace,and forgiveness engulf my heart like a poultice of cure, bringing instant relief. The written words are blurred with my tears but now I can find them as they are engraved on my heart “la taknatu mer rahmatullah………..
039.053 Say: “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

039.054: “Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped.

What can I say………………. I have no advice for you. You have to seek the cure with your own efforts.  I write prescriptions for my patients every day for irreversible diseases of the brain and yet I have been searching for a medicine for my own heart in all the wrong places.

So to those ………who have had a heart attack and are struggling with the cardiac drugs know that you too will die one day and that day is fixed, and nothing you do will change it. All suffering before you do so and after you do so, depends entirely on how you conduct the days of your life (with respect to Allah Subhanawataala) after the heart attack.

I am honored that He, Subhanawataala has handed me The Cure to my pain, and yet it is I who must take the correct dose, at the correct time and with the correct frequency, for when I forget in the distractions of dunya, the agony of grief returns with a vengeance.

The Quran………the Divine word in my house, on my desk, needs to be in my heart constantly and consistently to bring me peace, love and purity.

May Allah Subhanwataala give you the cure for your heart and may you use it as instructed by RasoolAllah pbuh, and may it bring you relief, heart health and keep you on the path of Allah, who is The Giver and The Healer. Ameen

Please forgive me for my past mistakes and if I have said or done anything to offend you. Everything correct that I have said is from Allah Subhanawataala and anything wrong is from me and from the wasswassaas of Shaitaan on me and my Nafs. May Allah Subhanawataala forgive me and accept my efforts. I am deeply thankful for all He has given me.

As you read this please remember to keep me in your prayers

Your sister in Islam