What if your Salah is Nullified...?

Assalam Alaykum Dear Readers!

May the Peace and Blessings of Allah Almighty be upon you all.

Let me begin by asking you all to imagine a situation…

Imagine you are given a project in school. If you complete it on time and with perfection, you will be rewarded. So you start working on that project everyday…You put in all your time and effort and mind to it. You gather information, make a report, print the papers, arrange it and complete it on time. And when you submit to the incharge, they point out certain things which you may have left unnoticed.

For eg: The incharge had asked you to file your details in the front page and you happen to attach it at the last.

You lost your reward just because you missed out on your incharge’s instructions. If you had paid a little more attention perhaps you would have achieved your reward.

In the same way what if our prayers are being nullified because we don’t pay much attention to it…? We’ll be missing out on a huge reward here which is the Jannah!

Many of us are oblivious or unconscious of the fact that our Salah maybe nullified. Since Salah is the most vital fundamental things in a Muslim’s life, it is very important for us to analyse every aspect of it.

Let’s look into the 3 main reasons which can nullify our Salah;

1.   First and foremost is while making Wudu, we are in a rush. Sometimes we forget to wash the elbows or the ankles or we forget to wash the face completely. If you have a single hair span width left dry while making Wudu, then your Wudu is invalid and so your Salah is invalid.

2.  Another thing we don’t pay attention to is exposing the awrah. Again if a single hair span of our awrah is exposed, our Salah becomes invalid. The awrah of a man is the area between the navel and the knee. The awrah of a woman is everything except the face and the hands from the wrist.

3.  The third and the most prevalent one is excessive movement. Some of the jurists say that anything above three consecutive movements that are not part of the Salah for an individual during the Salah would nullify their Salah.  

The first thing Allah Azza wa jal will be asking us on the Day of Judgement is our Salah. It is the distinguisher between a Muslim and a Kaafir, keeps us away from sins and is one of the obligations of Islam which when performed on time and with perfection will lead us to Jannah.

So let’s give Salah the lil more attention it deserves and pray to Allah that He accepts and rewards us for all the good deeds we perform and forgive our sins and shortcomings. 

Ameen.

As Salam Alaykum.

 

A Call From Allah!

As Salam Alykum! 

May the peace of The Almighty be upon all of you!

Let's begin with a question. 

Whom do we usually turn to in sadness or in happiness? 

Our friends might get the majority of the votes! And maybe 10-15 % might say their parents. But whom should we turn to in times of grief or ecstasy..?

My answer would be pretty obvious but let's look into some facts that we may have ignored.. 

Let's deal with sadness first since that's kinda like the elixir for teenagers or rather the youth. When we are told that there won't be sadness in Jannah, we go like "Really? How come there's a life without sadness???"

But why do we face sadness or depression? Why is there a feeling of frustration and disappointment? If our Creator loves us so much then why does He burden us? Isn't there enough already?

Allah says in the Quran in Surah Baqarah, verse 286; "Allah does not burden a soul beyond that which it can bear."

A verse we've heard like a thousand times, but have we reflected on it atleast once..? Wallahi if we did, we wouldn't hold Allah responsible for our sadness. Because He knows what each and every soul's capacity is. He would NEVER ever burden us, or give us tests beyond that which we can bear. If He has tested us with something, it means we're strong enough to overcome it. Tell me. Would you or your Creator know best of what you're capable of? If we're saying we cannot bear it, are we trying to say that Allah's claim is wrong...? Remember what Rasulullah (SAWS) said? No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were a prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that.

Sadness is a part of life just like happiness, anger and love. It cannot be neglected or avoided in this world. This world, as we know it is temporary. So the sadness in it is also temporary. But that doesn't mean it has no solution. There is an amazing way to get out of it....

At times of trials and tribulations, we have a decision to make. Either we can get closer to Allah or we can decide to live with our pain, restrict it to ourselves, prolong it for no reason and let the pain get worse.

When we are sad and we feel pain, our first reaction is, we wana isolate ourselves. And this is NOT what you want to do. It is the Shaytan telling you that you will feel better in isolation just because you're the only one that understands what you're going through. It is a deception from Shaytan! 

What happens during isolation is, our Deen starts to disappear. The content of our Salah, the Khushoo of our Salah starts to disappear. Our ability to recite the Quran is no longer there. What did we do differently? Well we gave ourselves to Shaytan. And Shaytan's promise is he will lead us astray, away from the path of Allah. 

Pain and suffering becomes negative if it creates a barrier between us and Allah. But it becomes positive, pain becomes positive - a motivation for us when it brings us back to Allah! And this is what each and everyone of us going through pain and suffering need to realize. The point of pain and suffering is not that Allah wants to punish you but rather it is a calling from Allah! This is one of the wisdoms of trials and tribulations.  

There is actually a blessing inside trials that we don't perceive. Trials and tribulations are a means of purification. They are a means of purifying us so that we can go to the purest of places. They are not out of Allah's anger or wrath. They are a means of cleansing us of our sins. It is a preparation so that we can go into the purest and noblest of places, Jannah. 

All of this is about perspective and how we deal with the situation. So it's very important for those of us who are going through trials, to change our perspective of trials. It is not a punishment from Allah, it is a means to get closer to Allah. It is a calling from Allah that He wants us to come back to Him. 

Let not the sadness in this world affect us. We were not made for this temporary life but for an eternal life of beauty and bliss. Let's keep aside this temporary sadness and work towards our ultimate destination, Jannah. 

As Salam Alykum. :)

A Ray of Hope

Peace be on you all!

Since the time I've decided to take Islam as one of my subjects, I couldn't neglect the negative comments passed on this religion. You can see it on every social networking website. And it drives you crazy and you're like "Really?! How come I never came across that one!" And some of them are baseless. 

Like in one interview from some political figure, they were talking about how Shias are different from Sunni. I wouldn't want to get into details but I felt so sorry for them. There's NO SECTS IN ISLAM. If you're a Muslim, welcome to the Deen group buddy! Doesn't matter what group you belong to or what your social status is. That doesn't matter at all! You're a Muslim. No added class to that. 

Anyway coming back to the topic, when one speaks about Islam, chances are almost rare that the person won't raise any question against the religion. It may not be completely against the topic, but it's not even in favour of the topic. On my India trip this year, one girl had asked me why aren't Muslim women allowed inside mosques and especially on Ramadan. I had to give her a glimpse of the Ramadan in Saudi Arabia. Masha Allah the mosques are packed with ladies so much so that they have to raise tents for the ladies.

I have often faced this issue where people have different concepts of this religion in their minds. Concepts that are irrelevant and logic less and proof less. 

Sometimes it's about the comments passed on Islamic articles or videos. And when you're reading it you go like "Nooooooooooooooo!!". It's like they vent out all their frustration of their lives on this religion. "Why is the global economy falling? It's cause of Islam." Umm does that even make sense? No. But again it's a person's choice and May Allah direct every person's choice to what is right. 

So under such conditions, where is the ray of hope? It's around every Muslim. :)

On my recent trip to India, I found out that people are more than curious to know about Islam and our practices. But they won't look into the right sources to learn about our Deen or to get their doubts cleared. If you have a really good non muslim friend, they will ask you their doubts directly. But otherwise they will indirectly try to seek an answer from you. In such cases, it becomes really important on how we portray our Deen.. This is very crucial because they judge our Deen by watching our actions. We need to give something worthy to look forward to. 

To all the Muslimahs out there! We are walking examples of our Deen! We represent Islam wherever we are! Our Hijab speaks for us! One of the most beautiful definition for Hijab is that it makes the world recognize us as Muslims. It regains a sense of morality in people when we walk by. We are respected by men, not because we ask them to but because our hijab makes them respect us. It is a sign of purity and modesty. It is pride for us Muslim women to be gifted by hijab by our Creator, our Lord. So when we're readily recognized as people of Islam, it's really really necessary to watch our actions.. 

Kids are great imitators and adults are great commentators. Give them both something great to imitate and comment. 

May Allah make it easy for us to spread Islam. :)

As Salam Alykum.

Let's Redeem Our Identity!

Peace be on to you all! :)

So far I've been trying to cover up as many topics as I can under Salah... And there's more coming up In sha Allah. ;) :P

But Alhamdullilah recently I got an amazing opportunity to render a speech (more like a talk). As I started speaking, I saw the girls there could easily relate themselves to my speech.. And I thought to myself that I should be sharing that talk to a more wider audience..

As my heading states, I spoke of the importance of a person's identity. And it started this way..

How many of us have ever felt lonely? And how many of us felt the need to be accepted by a group? Especially in the groups during our schooling... As expected, all the girls present there raised their hands.

Imagine this;

You are feeling very lonely. Frustrated because there's nobody you think who can understand what you're going through. You shoo your family away, hide your worries because you feel you're either bothering them or they just might not get your point and instead start yelling at you. Now, you happen to see a phone near you. And you really wana call someone up and share your problems with them. Who is the first person that comes to your mind?

Since my audience was the youth, most of them replied it was their friends.

That's where we start losing our identity. I also made myself very clear that I'm not against friendship. It is human nature to be having the need of someone who can hear you out. But "who" is gonna hear you out, that's very crucial.

As teenagers, we anticipate to becoming a part of the school's most popular group. And in no way they're away from the not-so-islamic lifestyle. In order to join this group and become popular, we start following them.. and in this process we lose our ourselves.. lose our identity.. 

Everyone of us is unique. We all have a different personalities, ideas, ambitions, strengths, weaknesses and instead of representing the person we are, we adapt someone else's thoughts. Do you want to be a part of a popular group or do you want the world to know the person you are..?

Each one of us has the power to influence. That's how strong our personality is. Allah (SWT) has blessed us all with intellect, not to follow others blindly but to be able to make our own choices and decisions and create an identity of ourselves in this world. Do we want to live as a nobody when Allah has given us the power of creating a difference in this world?

Reminds me of the beautiful example my teacher had given. She spoke of one of the rightly guided Caliphs, Umar Ibn Al Khattab (RA). Prior to Islam, he was among the mushrikeen, a nobody. Following the practices of his people and ancestors. But after his acceptance of Islam, he is somebody about whom we talk about to this date. Even after a thousand years, the Islamic world takes his example for piety, strength, intellect, generosity and wisdom and so much more! Rasullulah (SAWS) spoke of him saying, if there was a Prophet after Muhammad (SAWS), it would be Umar (RA). 

Islam has already raised your status above all! All you need to do is to prove you're worthy of it. You were not created to blend in a group with messed up thoughts. But you were created to stand out. 

I know it's easy to speak than to follow. But all of which I've talked about so far are the things I've practiced and experienced myself. Let's not become so weak and vulnerable for anybody to make us feel that we're not worthy as individuals. 

Let us build our personality and beliefs so strong that we're able to influence others and become living examples of this amazing religion, Islam. :)

May Allah make this path easy for all of us. Ameen. :)

As Salam Alykum. 

Why me?!!

May the peace, blessings and mercy of The Almighty be on you all! :)

Imagine this scenario.

"Why me? Why do I always get yelled at by mom? Why does everyone blame me? There are 36 girls in the class but why does the teacher always pick on me! Can't I have a normal day? Unlike the other girls, I offer Salah and that too 5 times a day!! Why is life so unfair...?"

This is normal to any teenager. We expect immediate results in our favour. Something similar to the magic wishes in fairy tales.. Like you wish for a flying horse and it's right infront your sight! Patience is just not in our blood! :P

I've had the same attitude for few years of my life and it's completely understood but... cannot be justified. That's not the purpose of Salah. Salah is supposed to make you patient and trust Allah all the more because you are directly seeking His help. He is right there infront of you, listening to all your duas.. even the silent ones..

Everybody in the world can ignore you but not Allah! Allah Himself states in His Glorious Book that He will respond to the call of 'every' caller!! (Surah Baqarah, Verse 186)

Doesn't matter who you are and where you come from or what your life history is! It's a promise from your Creator that He will answer you whenever you call out to Him.. 

An amazing example that comes to my mind is our relationship with our parents. Since our birth and to this day when we're islamic-but-not-islamic-brats, our parents have always tried their best to fulfill all our needs and wants.. Even if it meant to sacrifice their comforts, they've done everything in their power to beautify our lives.. Take a minute to reflect on all those times when the only reason they smiled was seeing us happy..

Even though we do lil things like give them a glass of water and getting back to our techy games or share a joke and get back to texting our friends, we're still indebted to our parents.. Yet if we make silly demands to our parents, no matter how we treat them, they're gonna get it done for us anyway; Ofcourse that depends on whether that demand has any negative effects on us. 

Now that's what happens when we ask them for something. But what about all those times when they've surprised you..? What about all those times when you couldn't figure out how to get that teddy bear in the store but magically found it in your bedroom the next day..? What about all those times when you wanted money for your field trip but always got more than what you asked for..?

Reminds me of the day when my dad handed me an iPad when I couldn't imagine having one of my own!! It was the best day of my life!! (*feeling nostalgic*)

Yes they do yell at us. But have we ever thought 'why'..? It's either our fault or they've just had a bad day.. How many of us haven't had a bad day and yelled at somebody..? Then why is it strange if our parents go through the same issue.. they aren't supernatural beings ofcourse!! They're humans too! And anger is as natural to them as it is to us! Have we ever thought of all those times when we've been rude to them and yet they responded with kindness..? Does that stop them from fulfilling our wishes..? Ofcourse not!! 

There's a beautiful Hadith by Rasulullah (SAWS),

The Prophet (SAWS) said, "Allah is more merciful to His slaves than a lady is to her child". (Sahih Bukhari)

Now how can we ever doubt the response of Allah, who loves more than our parents..! It's all a matter of trust. Trust Allah and be hopeful of a response for nothing is impossible for Allah.. :)

 

That raises a question in my mind.. When we are fond of somebody and we love them, what do we expect from them..? (Apart from gifts that is.. :P)

How would we feel if that person shares their thoughts and desires with us and talks to us endlessly..? Will we ever ask them to 'shush'?? Now can we relate as to why it takes sometime for our duas to be fulfilled...? Rings a bell? Yes it does! :D

So it's okay if you're teacher picks on you or you are yelled at by somebody.. That doesn't make your day bad.. What makes your day bad is if it pulls you away from seeking Allah The Almighty.. We need to always remember that no matter what, Allah loves us. And when somebody loves you, you are the only thing in their mind, all they want is the best for you.. Allah wants only the best for you.. He has His own way of granting our wishes.. ;)

So trust Him. :)

As Salam Alykum.