Eid Mubarak and a lil thought.

First and foremost, Eid Mubarak.
It's been such a long time.
Taqabal Allah minna wa minkum.

It's always been a case of sitting infront of the Egyptian/Saudi news channels waiting for the announcement of Eid to be made. The Saudis had the luck of the draw this time around and I sat there with my mum trying to understand with the limited Arabic I knew, I figured it was indeed Eid al Fitr the next day.

I'm sure you all know the feeling, the one I cannot describe where all your happiness seems to gel together as you realise your month of abstaining from things has come to an end and the reward and delights are ever-present. You know, that feeling which you are certain another billion are sharing with you. I wish I could continue but that is not the point I wish to draw your attention to.

I captured that moment and kept it in my mind for a while because it led me to imagine something greater. I imagined the delight the Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh) would feel as Allah entered them into Jannah. The similarities are rather striking. The Muslims striving throughout the month and inshAllah, their striving throughout life. The reward and joys of Eid and the infinitely greater delights that await us as we receive our treat in Jannah, God willing, if Allah chooses us to be among the successful. Imagine entering Jannah with Muhammad's Ummah as we enter into Eid with the Muslims of the present time.

It's a beautiful feeling and even with our limited understanding and knowledge of the Ghaib, I can still conclude that indeed what we feel as we enter Eid every year can only be an infinitely minute snapshot of what it'd be like entering Jannah if we have attained that reward.

Did you imagine?
Can you imagine?

Blessed is Allah, rabbil 3alamiin.

Ramadan Kareem

So I made it through the other side...

...all praise and thanks be to Allah for

(1) getting rummage through her exams

(2) peppering the Earth with knowledge for the taking.

wasalamu alaykum

A simple request

The heart requested of its fellow guide, the eyes.....

By Allah,
you have been granted
a huge trust

So forgive me
For the request
I ask of you

My guide
My guardian
My deliverer

At times,
I must humble myself
For I am under your influence

Be gentle with me
For I am weak
And I carry a heavy burden

Lighten my load
By following the advice
From the Lord, Most High

Lower your gaze
For the resulting arrows
Penetrate me so frequently

And I cannot bear
A burden greater
Than has been granted me

I am forever occupied
with the affairs
of one's emotions

So do not add to that
The weary load
Of wishful fantasy

I am under His control
By Him, I beat
Through him, I sustain

So do not deny me
Space to worship Him
Devotion to thank Him

By occupying me
With frivolous thought
And daydreams

Do not let that gaze
become a charriot
for desire

For, often a times
I have experienced
the anguish of love

Rather, let me occupy myself
with the love of Him
He, who created you and I

Yes, I am vast
and this vessel can contain
a sea of emotions

But I am overworked
And wish to feel
tranquil again

For that, I humbly ask you
To guard that which you fall upon
And curb the effect it has on me

Dear eyes
Dear windows
Work with me

Towards righteousness
Towards calm
Towards devotion

So that we may attain nearness
To our Lord, Most High
Creator of both you and I

Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.

And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof, and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or the male servants not having need (of women), or the children who have not attained knowledge of what is hidden of women; and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may be successful.

-Holy Quan , 24:30-31

Spring!

image source

Life's worries must have taken me for a fool
For I have missed the sweet change of seasons

When did the grey clouds humble themselves in submission?
When did the sun gain its courage to shine so bright?
When did it transform from rendered trees to a symphony of rustling leaves?
When did the ground give way to the overwhelming bloom?

Life's worries must have taken me for a fool
For I have missed the sweet change of seasons

Just like the winds send rain.

- ease shall follow today's hardship.

So verily, with the hardship, there is relief, Verily, with the hardship, there is relief.

- 94:5-6

Allah, al Rahman

When Allah decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: My mercy prevails over my wrath.
-Muslim

O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it.
- At-Tirmidhi

Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people.
Surat Yusuf:87

He said: "My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, so forgive me."
Then He forgave him.
Verily, He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
-Surat Al Qasas :16

-he was Moses and the Forgiver was Allah, Al Ghafur. The verse was concerning Moses' supplication to Allah concerning the Copt he had killed earlier. And remember Aadam (alayhi salam) - our father , our first Prophet. Did he not commit a great sin that resulted in him being placed on Earth from Paradise?

Never despair of Allah's Mercy, His Infinite Mercy. Think for a moment, if it wasn't for His Mercy what state would we all be in. Remember , we're human, insaan, which is derived from the arabic word nasiya - to forget. My, what copious excuses we have simply for being humans, momentary excuses, that is.

Point is, try not to forget Allah's Mercy when asking for forgiveness. Remember the kindness he provides for those of us who are constantly heedless if His Mesage.Remember the Mercy He has granted us simply being able to ask for forgiveness.

wassalamu alaykum.