What if this was your last Ramadan?

What if it was my last Ramadan?

Wow, what a simple yet profound question.

I often wonder and think to myself, "what if it WAS my last Ramadan?"..  what if I were to die this year..what if I were to die next week ? Would I be ready to meet Allah? Would I be ready to withstand the greatest fitnah in the grave? *shiver*

My answer still lingers in my mind. I want to answer with an enthusiastic "YES! YES I AM READY!" but then a part of me steps back and reevaluates my current state of imaan, my current list of deeds, and the intentions in my heart. Are they pure enough to earn Allah's pleasure? Does my imaan make me remember Allah 24/7 and what about my deeds? Am I doing enough?

Questions, questions, questions. But where are my answers?

I realised I have been so preoccupied with other priorities, I had taken a step back with my progress with Allah. How easy it is to get caught up with our worldly affairs even if it means with just our daily routines and expanding our social network. How easy it is to replace your passion for your deen with your passion for the culinary, the social, and the arts. Little diversions will lead to bigger ones if you don't stop yourself in your tracks and realise "hey, i'm not spending as much time as I should on strengthening that rope with my Lord." But sometimes, the more diverted you become, the harder it is for you to get back on track and could you just imagine, dying at that moment in time when you are far from Allah?
I often ponder at the thought : " What if I died this very moment ? What would I be doing? How would I be resurrected" I now see the importance of always trying to fill our lives with Islam (every moment of our lives). Even if it is simply making dhikr of the tongue while cooking, reading Qur'an before you do anything or praying two rakkat before you take a nap or go to sleep. You are at least doing something that, if you were to die, you would die knowing that you remembered Allah every moment that you could. We can never physically prepare ourselves for our death, but we can try our best to prepare ourselves earning the Mercy and Forgiveness of Allah when we are in our graves or standing in line on the Day of Judgement. *shiver*

Time is precious and can you honestly say that you are using your time wisely? We are nearing the end of Ramadan soon insha'Allah, and if you haven't done anything but eat and sleep all Ramadan then it's time to start getting your act together as you never know if this will be your last Ramadan. I can't express to you and to myself just how important time is as it states in the Qur'an :

1. By Al-'Asr (the time).

2. Verily! Man is in loss,

3. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf)which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar)which Allah has forbidden), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad, etc.).

Time is a non refundable transaction in this dunya, but can be refunded to you in the Akhirah if you spend it wisely. This blessed month is a time for reflection, solitude, and strengthening your relationship with your Creator.


I leave you with the Hadith of the sermon that Rasulullah (saw) gave about Ramadan :

 Baihaqi reported on the authority of Salman Al-Farsi (Radhi Allah ‘Anh) that the Prophet (‘Alaihi Salat was-Salam) delivered a sermon on the last day of the month of Sha’ban. In it he (‘Alaihi Salat was-Salam) said,
 
“O People! The month of Allah (Ramadan) has come with its mercies, blessings and forgivenesses. Allah has decreed this month the best of all months. The days of this month are the best among the days and the nights are the best among the nights and the hours during Ramadan are the best among the hours. This is a month in which you have been invited by Him (to fast and pray). Allah has honoured you in it. In every breath you take is a reward of Allah, your sleep is worship, your good deeds are accepted and your invocations are answered.
 
Therefore, you must invoke your Lord in all earnestness with hearts free from sin and evil, and pray that Allah may help you to keep fast, and to recite the Holy Qur’an. Indeed!, miserable is the o­ne who is deprived of Allah’s forgiveness in this great month. While fasting remember the hunger and thirst o­n the Day of Judgement. Give alms to the poor and needy. Pay respect to your elders, have sympathy for your youngsters and be kind towards your relatives and kinsmen. Guard your tongue against unworthy words, and your eyes from scenes that are not worth seeing (forbidden) and your ears from sounds that should not be heard.
 
Be kind to orphans so that if your children may become orphans they will also be treated with kindness. Do repent to Allah for your sins and supplicate with raised hands at the times of prayer as these are the best times, during which Allah Almighty looks at His servants with mercy. Allah Answers if they supplicate, Responds if they call, Grants if He is asked, and Accepts if they entreat. O people! you have made your conscience the slave of your desires.
 
Make it free by invoking Allah for forgiveness. Your back may break from the heavy load of your sins, so prostrate yourself before Allah for long intervals, and make this load lighter. Understand fully that Allah has promised in His Honour and Majesty that, people who perform salat and sajda (prostration) will be guarded from Hell-fire o­n the Day of Judgement.
 
O people! If anyone amongst you arranges for iftar (meal at sunset) for any believer, Allah will reward him as if he had freed a slave, and Allah will forgive him his sins. A companion asked: “but not all of us have the means to do so” The Prophet (SAAWS) replied: Keep yourself away from Hell-fire though it may consist of half a date or even some water if you have nothing else.
 
O people! Anyone who during this month cultivates good manners, will walk over the Sirat (bridge to Paradise) o­n the day when feet will tend to slip. For anyone who during this month eases the workload of his servants, Allah will make easy his accounting, and for anyone who doesn’t hurt others during this month, Allah will safeguard him from His Wrath o­n the Day of Judgement. Anyone who respects and treats an orphan with kindness during this month, Allah shall look at him with kindness o­n that Day. Anyone who treats his kinsmen well during this month, Allah will bestow His Mercy o­n him o­n that Day, while anyone who mistreats his kinsmen during this month, Allah will keep away from His Mercy.
 
Whomever offers the recommended prayers during this month, Allah will save him from Hell, and whomever observes his obligations during this month, his reward will be seventy times the reward during other months. Whomever repeatedly invokes Allah’s blessings o­n me, Allah will keep his scale of good deeds heavy, while the scales of others will be tending to lightness. Whomever recites during this month an ayat (verse) of the Holy Qur’an, will get the reward of reciting the whole Qur’an in other months.
 
O people! The gates of Paradise remain open during this month. Pray to your Lord that they may not be closed for you. While the gates of Hell are closed, pray to your Lord that they never open for you. Satan has been chained, invoke your Lord not to let him dominate you.”



 If this was your last Ramadan would you be content with what you accomplished this month?

Time to vote!

Just a little "intermission" between the Project Invitation posts!

Assalamualaikum wa Rahmatulahi wa Barakatu!

It's that time of year again, but this time insha'Allah I have more time in advance to ask for your nominations! Please fill out this form on http://www.brasscrescent.org/ and vote for my blog ! 

Please fill out the form as follows 
Blog Name: One Chinese Muslimah
Blogger: Khadijah
Blog URL: http://www.onechinesemuslimah.blogspot.com
Catergory: best new blog/ best blog/ best posts...or whatever "best" you think it fits under!
Why are you nominating this blog? Well, I can't answer for you but insha'Allah because my blog is informative and insightful! :)

Also please vote for these blogs!
Sweetheart Diary @ http://sweetheartdiary11.blogspot.ca/
The Creative Muslimah @ http://thecreativemuslimah.blogspot.com/
Bake it! @ http://cupcakestocrumbles.blogspot.com/
Dear Little Auntie @ http://dearlittleauntie.blogspot.com/

Subhan'Allah. For the Mothers and the mothers to be !

This is from an excerpt from a famous book of Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 751 AH) called Tuhfat al-Mawdood bi Ahkaam al-Mawlood. One of the most important chapters of his book is the sixteenth chapter, which is entitled Fi fusool naafi’ah fi Tarbiyat al-Atfaal tuhmad ‘awaaqibuha ‘ind al-Kabr (Useful advice on raising children which will have good consequences when the child grows up). What follows is a summary of what Ibn Qayyim says:

1. The child should be breastfed by someone other than his mother, two or three days after birth. That is better because her milk after that time will be thick and contain different ingredients, unlike the milk of one who has been breastfeeding for a while. All the Arabs pay attention to that, and they give their children to desert women to breastfeed, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was given to Banu Sa’d to be breastfed among them.

2. They should not be picked up and carried around until they are three months old or more, because they have only recently emerged from their mother’s wombs and their bodies are still weak.

3. They should be given only milk until their teeth appear, because their stomachs are weak and unable to digest food. When the baby’s teeth appear, his stomach has grown strong and is able to be nourished by food. Food should be introduced gradually.

4. When they approach the age where they will begin to speak and one wants to make it easy for them to speak, a little honey and salt should be placed on the infant’s tongue, because they contain substances that will reduce the excessive moisture that prevents speech. When the child begins to speak, one should prompt him to say Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Muhammad Rasool Allaah.

5. When the time for the teeth to appear comes, the gums should be rubbed every day with butter and ghee.

6. Parents should not get upset when the child cries and yells, because he benefits greatly from that crying. It exercises his limbs, opens his intestines and chest, keeps his brain warm, warms his moods, provokes his energy, creates suitable conditions for expelling waste matter, and helps rid the brain of mucus and other waste.

7. The child should be protected against everything that may scare him of harsh and terrifying noises, frightening scenes and disturbing movements.

8. Complete breastfeeding lasts for two years. This is the right of the child if he needs it and cannot do without it. The Qur’aan confirmed that by adding the word kaamilayn (meaning complete or whole, in the verse
“The mothers shall give suck to their children for two whole years” [al-Baqarah 2:233]). If the one who is breastfeeding the child wants to wean him, she should wean him gradually, and not wean him suddenly in one go; rather she should get him used to it slowly because of the harm that may be done by changing the child’s food and habit in one go.

9. It is mistreatment of children to allow them to eat their fill of food, and to eat and drink a lot.
One of the most beneficial ways of training them is to give them less than their fill, so that they may digest well and be in good health, there will be less waste in their bodies and their bodies will be healthy, and they will have less sickness because of having less food waste in their bodies.

10. One thing that the child needs most urgently is close attention to his moral well being. He grows up with whatever the one who is raising him gets him used to when he is small. [If it is] resentment, anger, arguments, haste, being easily led by whims and desires, foolishness, hot-temperedness and greed, then it will be difficult for him to change that when he grows up. Hence you will find that most people are deviant in their character, because of the way they were brought up.

11. The child’s guardian should keep him from taking from others because if he gets used to taking, that will become natural for him, and he will grow up as one who takes and not one who gives. If the guardian wants to give something, he should give it by his hand [i.e., give it to the child to give away] so that that he will taste the sweetness of giving.

12. He should keep him away from lying and treachery more than he would keep him away from lethal poison. Once he lets him get the habit of lying and betrayal,
he will have corrupted his happiness in this world and in the Hereafter, and deprived him of all goodness.13. He should keep him away from laziness, idleness, a life of ease and too much rest, and he should force him to do the opposite. He should not let him rest more than is sufficient to restore his energy so that he can do more work, for laziness and idleness bring bad consequences and lead to regret. Yahya ibn Abi Katheer said:
“Knowledge cannot be attained by letting the body rest.”14. He should get him used to waking up at the end of the night, for that is the time when reward is allocated and prizes are awarded; some will take less and some will take more and some will be deprived. If he gets used to that when he is little, it will be easy for him when he grows up.
[Tuhfat al-Mawdood (194-203).]

A post : My last Ramadan

Assalamualaikum wa Rahamtulahi wa Barakatu! I decided to do a comparison of my Ramadan last year VS. my Ramadan this year. This post was from my last Ramadan which also happened to be my first Ramadan ...Insha'Allah I will be working on my Ramadan (this year) post so stay tuned!  Enjoy!


My first Ramadhan and Eid experience did not live up to that of the Twitter and Facebook status updates. I will share with you my experience and what I thought about this blessed month. The month where The Holy Qur'an was revealed, the month of extra worship, the month of fasting.

I wasn't sure what Ramadhan would entail since it was my very first one. I heard that many Muslims (not all) make it more of a huge event than it really is, in terms of feasts, food being wasted, large family gatherings, and weight gaining. Many individuals would eat before praying Maghrib and many would also experience weight gaining at the end of Ramadhan.  The Holy Month of Ibadah (worship) has turned into, for some, the holy month of eating! 


I am not sure how most of the Muslim's Ramadhan went, but my Ramadhan went a little something like this:

It was quiet and extremely simple.
I had much time alone to reflect on my relationship with my Creator.
I didn't have any big Iftar parties.
I blogged a lot.
I prayed a bit more than I normally prayed.
I took more naps than usual.
I learned how to cook two new dishes.
I thought about ways to work on my Iman.
I truly thought about death and truly dreaded the Day.
I was able to envision in my mind the day the Angel of death came to take me away
I thanked Allah continuously for the opportunity to live each day to worship Him and only Him

As you can see, my Ramadhan was uneventful and quite "boring" compared to most Muslims, but I have to say that I preferred it to be that way rather than loud, hectic, and distracting.

I had a lot of time to reflect on my new life. I had much time to really think about what it would be like in my grave when I die. Really envisioning the confined space, with nowhere to go, nothing to see except darkness. Though I am dead, my soul is still alive in my grave, waiting for the Day of Resurrection. This thought frightens me because I know that after the grave, comes the Day when we will all be judged by our Creator.

So instead of stuffing my face during Iftar and Sahur, instead of worrying what new outfit I was going to wear on Eid, and instead of being busy with family gatherings, I was busy worrying about how to strengthen my iman, how to keep myself focused on the straight path until the day I die, how to live my life day by day until the Day of Judgement arrives.

I would say for my first Ramadhan, it was the most productive time I have ever had in a long, long time. Now that Ramadhan is finished, I plan to live my life with the image of me in my grave waiting for that brutally, scorching, terrible Day of Judgement. May Allah protect me and you from that dreaded day and give us light and ease ameen.

Surah 76 Al-Insan : The Man

Sahih International

Has there [not] come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing [even] mentioned?

76:2

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Sahih International

Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.

76:3

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Sahih International

Indeed, We guided him to the way, be he grateful or be he ungrateful.

76:4

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Sahih International

Indeed, We have prepared for the disbelievers chains and shackles and a blaze.

76:5

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Sahih International

Indeed, the righteous will drink from a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of Kafur,

76:6

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Sahih International

A spring of which the [righteous] servants of Allah will drink; they will make it gush forth in force [and abundance].

76:7

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Sahih International

They [are those who] fulfill [their] vows and fear a Day whose evil will be widespread.

76:8

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Sahih International

And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive,

76:9

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Sahih International

[Saying], "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah . We wish not from you reward or gratitude.

76:10

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Sahih International

Indeed, We fear from our Lord a Day austere and distressful."

76:11

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Sahih International

So Allah will protect them from the evil of that Day and give them radiance and happiness

76:12

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Sahih International

And will reward them for what they patiently endured [with] a garden [in Paradise] and silk [garments].

76:13

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Sahih International

[They will be] reclining therein on adorned couches. They will not see therein any [burning] sun or [freezing] cold.

76:14

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Sahih International

And near above them are its shades, and its [fruit] to be picked will be lowered in compliance.

76:15

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Sahih International

And there will be circulated among them vessels of silver and cups having been [created] clear [as glass],

76:16

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Sahih International

Clear glasses [made] from silver of which they have determined the measure.

76:17

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Sahih International

And they will be given to drink a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of ginger

76:18

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Sahih International

[From] a fountain within Paradise named Salsabeel.

76:19

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Sahih International

There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. When you see them, you would think them [as beautiful as] scattered pearls.

76:20

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Sahih International

And when you look there [in Paradise], you will see pleasure and great dominion.

76:21

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Sahih International

Upon the inhabitants will be green garments of fine silk and brocade. And they will be adorned with bracelets of silver, and their Lord will give them a purifying drink.

76:22

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Sahih International

[And it will be said], "Indeed, this is for you a reward, and your effort has been appreciated."

76:23

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Sahih International

Indeed, it is We who have sent down to you, [O Muhammad], the Qur'an progressively.

76:24

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Sahih International

So be patient for the decision of your Lord and do not obey from among them a sinner or ungrateful [disbeliever].

76:25

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Sahih International

And mention the name of your Lord [in prayer] morning and evening

76:26

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Sahih International

And during the night prostrate to Him and exalt Him a long [part of the] night.

76:27

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Sahih International

Indeed, these [disbelievers] love the immediate and leave behind them a grave Day.

76:28

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Sahih International

We have created them and strengthened their forms, and when We will, We can change their likenesses with [complete] alteration.

76:29

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Sahih International

Indeed, this is a reminder, so he who wills may take to his Lord a way.

76:30

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Sahih International

And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.

76:31

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Sahih International

He admits whom He wills into His mercy; but the wrongdoers - He has prepared for them a painful punishment.