Moving on … Ma ‘assalamah!

Right! … its time to move on, move on with my life despite the difficulties and the trials and the mistakes I’ve made.  Time to look ahead and move on.

This will be my last entry for this blog, insya’Allah!

Time for me to move on from the blogging world. I have been deleting some of the posts and whatever remains …. I hope it will be beneficial to those who reads or come across them.

May Allah bless and forgive us all!

Amiin.

10 useless matters

Ten Useless Matters
Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah

Al-Fawa’id
© 2004 Umm Al-Qura

There are ten useless matters:

1.Knowledge that is not acted on

2.The deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others

3.Money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for it in the Hereafter

4.The heart that is empty of love and longing for Allah, and of seeking closeness to Him

5.A body that does not obey and serve Allah

6.Loving Allah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure

7.Time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good

8.A mind that thinks about useless matters

9.Serving those who do not bring you close to Allah, nor benefit you in your life

10.Hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allah and in His hand; while he cannot bring any benefit or harm to himself, nor death, nor life; nor can he resurrect himself.

However the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life over the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Destruction occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope, while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allah.

How strange it is that when a servant of Allah has a [worldly] problem, he seeks help of Allah, but he never asks Allah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.

(source: Ramadhan Reminders)

PLot ???

The last few days, we have been thinking of buying a house in JB …. mulling here and there, calculating here and there and finally decided not to.  Whole family were divided over this matter and I knew husband was just waiting for me to make the final decision. 

It was rather strange that as I sat on the floor with the notes in front of me, kids talking, debating etc over this matter, I was suddenly thinking whether is this what I really want? Another house, another material from this world which later Allah will ask me to account for? Another responsibility which I believe is from “wanting” not from “needing”?

I began to have visions of death. That no matter how big a house I want or have …. ultimately it is at Graveyard Garden, Plot No. ??? and Blk No. ????  that I will finally reside. 

Whooshh!! Can feel me suddenly zapping back to earth with an “ouch!”.

Truly, at that point of time, I began to think that this is a test for me.  A test to see whether I will succumb to the desire of the flesh … for worldly materials or not.

Once I made the final decision not to…. I felt such a release, Alhamdulillah. 

I read this hadith early this morning …. Jazakallahu khairan to Munirfa for this J

It’s another knowledge gained, more reflection and implementation needed.

May it benefit me and benefit those who read it also.  Amin.

“Every man’s heart which inclines to anything but the love of God is afflicted by a disease in proportion to this inclination, unless he loves a thing because it helps him to love God and to practice his religion.” [Al-Imam al-Ghazzali]

Spiritual gem …

 

“The keys to the life of the heart lie in reflecting upon the Qur‘aan , being humble before Allah in secret, and leaving sins.”
 - Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah rahimahullah

May Allah bless her ….

My second child has 2 names. The first was taken after Siti Hajar and the second one was named after Umm Sulaym…. both were great examples of muslim women. When I conceived my girl, it was my wish and still is that she will grow up with beautiful akhlak and iman such as these two women that Allah had blessed. Amin.

Here is the story of Umm Sulaym or Rumaisha as she was known before her marriage.

The Story of Umm Sulaym & Abu Talhah

A visit to the graveyard

About 2 weeks ago, hubby and I plus 2 of our kids went to the graveyard in the evening.  It was rather an unplan visit. 

view of the graveyard from far…

 

Upon reaching the graveyard, we went to my mum’s first.  As usual I felt like its not enough to be just standing and looking at her grave.  I want to hug her realtime. PERIOD!

 

hubby cleaning my father’s grave ….

The kids had lots of questions about the graveyard and what’s going on after we are buried.  I had quite a talk about this matter with them.  The youngest said she felt afraid but who doesn’t right?  Just imagining oneself buried inside the earth, dark, alone, not knowing what will happen to us and all those unwanted visitors swarming around our body …. just creeps me out too!  Reflection time!

Next, we went to my father’s ….. his was always the most challenging one to find cos it was right in the middle and further down the road.  Alhamdulillah, we did find his grave quite easily to our delight. 

By now, it was already almost 6 pm ….. I asked my husband whether its okay to make another stop and he said ok.  Thus, we travelled to another part of the graveyard …. further down and rather new graveyard to visit my late teacher’s grave.

I had a vague idea of how to get there, alhamdulillah we managed to find the plot but it took us rather long to find her grave.  Have to thank hubby for being persistent.  He simply did not give up and in fact he was the one who suggested that I sms to ask for the plot number.

We were all looking for “Sharifah Badriyah” … but just could not locate the name.  Finally, after I got my answer thru the sms, we realised the name written as “Hjh Badriyah”

It was right in front of us but we were just too focus on finding the word “sharifah”….

 

my teacher’s grave …

Alhamdulillah ….

Visiting the graveyard was soothing and most effective in bringing us down to reality ….. that death is just round the corner

May Allah forgives us and bless us all, especially to those who have departed before us, our love ones …. Amin.

PS : Be generous and recite Al-Fatihah for all of our loved ones …. please do, Al-Fatihah!

Which heart?

Which Type of Heart Do You Have?

The Types of Heart
Author: Ibn al-Qayyim
Article ID : TZK020001 [806]

 ——————————————————————————–

Just as the heart may be described in terms of being alive or dead, it may also be regarded as belonging to one of three types; these are the healthy heart, the dead heart, and the sick heart.

* The Healthy Heart *

On the Day of Resurrection, only those who come to Allah with a healthy heart will be saved. Allah says: “The day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of any use, except for whoever brings to Allah a sound heart. (26:88-89)”

In defining the healthy heart, the following has been said: “It is a heart cleansed from any passion that challenges what Allah commands, or disputes what He forbids. It is free from any impulses which contradict His good. As a result, it is safeguarded against the worship of anything other than Him, and seeks the judgement of no other except that of His Messenger .

Its services are exclusively reserved for Allah, willingly and lovingly, with total reliance, relating all matters to Him, in fear, hope and sincere dedication. When it loves, its love is in the way of Allah. If it detests, it detests in the lght of what He detests. When it gives, it gives for Allah. If it witoholds, it withholds for Allah. Nevertheless, all this will not suffice for its salvation until it is free from following, or taking as its guide, anyone other than His Messenger .”

A servant with a healthy heart must dedicate it to its journey’s end and not base his actions and speech on those of any other person except Allah’s Messenger . He must not give precedence to any other faith or words or deeds over those of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah says: “Oh you who believe, do not put yourselves above Allah and His Messenger, but fear Allah, for Allah is Hearing, Knowing. (49:1)”

* The Dead Heart *

This is the opposite of the healthy heart. It does not know its Lord and does not worship Him as He commands, in the way which He likes, and with which He is pleased. It clings instead to its lusts and desires, even if these are likely to incur Allah’s displeasure and wrath. It worships things other than Allah, and its loves and its hatreds, and its giving and its withholding, arise from its whims, which are of paramount importance to it and preferred above the pleasure of Allah. Its whims are its imam. Its lust is its guide. Its ignorance is its leader. Its crude impulses are its impetus. It is immersed in its concern with worldly objectives. It is drunk with its own fancies and its love for hasty, fleeting pleasures. It is called to Allah and the akhira from a distance but it does not respond to advice, and instead it follows any scheming, cunning shayton. Life angers and pleases it, and passion makes it deaf and blind (1) to anything except what is evil. To associate and keep company with the owner of such a heart is to tempt illness: living with him is like taking poison, and befriending him means utter destruction.

* The Sick Heart *

This is a heart with life in it, as well as illness. The former sustains it at one moment, the latter at another, and it follows whichever one of the two manages to dominate it. It has love for Allah, faith in Him, sincerity towards Him, and reliance upon Him, and these are what give it life. It also has a craving for lust and pleasure, and prefers them and strives to experience them. It is full of self-admiration, which can lead to its own destruction. It listens to two callers: one calling it to Allah and His Prophet and the akhira; and the other calling it to the fleeting pleasures of this world. It responds to whichever one of the two happens to have most influence over it at the time.

The first heart is alive, submitted to Allah, humble, sensitive and aware; the second is brittle and dead; the third wavers between either its safety or its ruin.

Notes: 1. It has been related on the authority of Abu’d-Darda’ that the Messenger of Allah said, “Your love for something that makes you blind and deaf.” Abu Daw’ud, al-Adab, 14/38; Ahmad, al-Musnad, 5/194. The hadith is classified as hasan.

 

(source : Ramadhan Reminders)

Random thoughts ….

Who am I trying to fool????

Only myself … and all because I don’t love myself enough!

********************************

I miss her …. so very much and its only just days since our last “conversations”… *sigh* ..

*******************************

Been having sharp pains on my upper abdomen yesterday …… very painful but no idea what’s the cause

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un ….

******************************

Need to push and cajole myself to get up again … UP!!!! DO YOU HEAR???  don’t leave the existing state longer for it should not even happened!

Definitely not loving myself now…..

 

Khalas!