Break Free

Aslmskm wr wb.

There's an Islamic saying which basically goes by 'live with the remembrance of death' or 'live for the after life like you're dying and live for the world like you're living forever'

These inspiring words basically trying to encourage us to increase our 'amal for the akhirah and decrease our sins and also not to mention so that we will not get too attach to this world and it's pleasures.

But if we understand it the other way round it will goes like 'live with the remembrance that you're living'.From this you can really learn a lot from it when you reflect upon it.

I just realise that most of us are feeling stress because we are forgetting that we're living.

Eg. When we're obsessed or hoping etc. on something besides Allah,we tend to forget that we're living

like:when a person are too obsessed to buy an expensive shoe,he would try his best to save up his money and sacrifice his daily food(for a student) just to get that shoe which in reality it isn't worth much as to what he had sacrifices.(if you've seen the movie called "Confession of a Shopaholic" you get what i mean..)

And what i meant by 'we forget that we're living' is that we forget to appreciate what we already have and be thankful for it.

When one is obsessed etc. on something besides Allah, it is like he is attaching himself with a big boulder on his back which makes him harder and burdensome to walk, which is the reason why he is stress.

Sometimes he might even sacrifice his kinship with his family and friends due to his obsession.

But in Al-Quran Allah s.w.t refer us as "ummatan wasatan - ummah of the middle path" from just this two words we can understand that Allah s.w.t command us to live in the middle path,not to be too obsessed or hoping too much of something.And if only we put our hope etc. only to Allah alone,it is like we're freeing and releasing ourselves from the boulder that we're attach to.Thus it is easier for us to walk and we would feel refresh.Because when we're living in the present we will fully concentrate ourselves on what we're supposed to do and forget about the other unnecessary stuff and that will get our job done faster and easier and we wouldn't feel stress.

Eg. like sholah-prayer;sometimes during sholah we tend to think about other unnecessary stuff..like we tend to be either thinking about the past or the future etc. and sometimes our heart would not feel the ni'mah and peacefulness of the sholah and it would feel unsatisfied since we're not fully concentrating ourselves in sholah.

But if we remember to live in the present and fully concentrate ourselves on what we're doing,inshaAllah we will feel khusyu' and our hearts will feel satisfied after it.

Or like a homework/project that have been given to us by a teacher,if we're living in the present,we would finish up the task first before doing any other unnecessary things which by the time the teacher ask to hand up the task, we might be the first one to hand in smiling while maybe some of our other friends are still doing it or maybe copying a friend( like you don't know like that..).

easy to say,when we're living we will get our priorities right(fully concentrate what is most important and obligatory for us to do first than the latter) and so we would not feel that much of stress/burdensome etc.

We just need to remember that we're living (in the present) and appreciate what we already have and be thankful for it and inshaAllah we wouldn't feel stress.

Overall what i'm trying to say is that we need to appreciate everything that we still have and always be gratefull for it,inshAllah Allah will increased His blessings and ni'mah on us.When we're thankfull we will feel qana'ah.

There is a saying goes by Imam Syafi'ee:'A true king is the one who feel qana'ah with what he have and not the one who have the whole world in his hands'.

Also we should not get too obsessed or hoping on something that might take us away from forgetting what is most important for us.

If you're the person who likes to read books,i recommend you to try and read this book called 'The Present' by Spencer Johnson.

It's a great and inspiring book which you can really learn a lot from it.

wassalam.

Power and Worth of Bismillah

Syed Murtadha was a great aalim (scholar) who lived many years ago. He had many students who attended his classes.

At one of his classes he noticed that one of the students always came late. One day Syed Murtadha asked the student "Why are you always late?"

The student replied that he lived across the river and always took the first ferry across but the ferry service did not start any earlier.

Syed Murtadha wrote something on a piece of paper, folded it and gave it to the student. "Keep this with you" he said "and you will be able to walk across the river from tomorrow - but do not open the paper."

The next day the student got to the river and put his foot tentatively on the water. He could not believe that he could actually walk on the water.

For the next few days, he got to the classes on time.

One day, he could not hold back his curiosity. He looked inside the folded piece of paper. On it was written Bismillahirrahmanirrahim (In the name of Allah, the beneficent the merciful).

For a moment he thought - "Is this all that helps me walk on water!" He put the paper in his pocket as usual and went to the river to go to his classes. This time he could not walk on the water and had to wait for the ferry. This meant that he was late for his class.

When the class was over, Syed Murtadha called him over and said "You looked into the paper when I had told you not to!"

With Bismillahirrahmanirrahim (In the name of Allah, the beneficent the merciful) you can move mountains provided you have trust and faith in Allah.

Hope

Allah Almighty says, "Say: 'My slaves, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful," (W39:50; H39:53) and the Almighty says, "Are any but the ungrateful repaid like this?" (34:17)

and the Almighty says, "My Mercy extends to all things." (7:156)

Abu Dharr reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah the Mighty and Exalted, says, 'Anyone who comes with a good action will have ten like it or more. If anyone comes with a wrong action, the repayment of a wrong action is a wrong action like it or I will forgive him. If anyone approaches Me by a hand-span, I come to him an arm-span. If anyone approaches Me by an arm-span, I come to him two arm spans. If anyone approaches Me walking, I come to him running. If anyone meets Me with mistakes equivalent in weight to the whole earth, having not associated anything with Me, I will meet him with the same amount of forgiveness."

Abu Ayyub Khalid ibn Zayd said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'If you had not sinned, Allah would have created other creatures who did sin and ask forgiveness so He could forgive them.'" [Muslim]

Ibn 'Umar said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'On the Day of Rising, a believer will be brought near his Lord until His mercy descends on him and He will ask him to acknowledge his sins and say, 'Do you confess to such-and-such a sin? Do you confess to such-and-such a sin?' He will say, 'Lord, I confess.' He will say, ' I veiled it for you in the world and I forgive you for it today,' and he will be given the page of his good actions."

note to self:
Even if our sins were to be as big as a mountain,we must not lose hope.For losing hope is the work of the devil.

‘We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope’
(Martin Luther King)

‘Do not despair. Be happy in yourself,and call for help from Him who will respond.
Saying, ‘You who love forgiveness, forgive us,O healer of the pain of this old gangrene’
(Rumi)