ASTAGHFIRULLAH – DHIKR

Asalaam aleykum fellow creatures on earth,

I think I will start this post with a common scenario we have all been through at several points in our lives.

Feeling like sh@#, down, tired, confused, lost, anxious of the future and the present, sometimes the past too, regrets …

 Let’s pause here for a second.

Yes! regrets, I know people say if you are happy with were you are now then you shouldn’t regret the things that happened before…since when?? I still get day-mares from some stupid stuff I have done in the past that send chills down my spine…but I guess most people are damaged somehow, it’s part of  becoming an adult. I think eventually we just learn to live with the regret and accept it…sort of.

Unpause:

fear, frustration, anger, you know the whole package.

Signed, sealed, delivered.

Now my usual MO in these situations is to open that bloody package and break it down to a science to find out what is actually wrong? fix it… move on, and quarantine it in my special room labeled “Gifts from Satan”- with no freaking return address.

But sometimes I’m too drained to even do that, I do eventually do it, but it just takes longer. I figured out a faster way to go about it recently, I’m sure most of you must have figured this out years ago, but I found out your secret now so you got nothing on me.

So in case you didn’t read the title of the post,  the fastest way to get out of these situations is istighfar, saying “astaghfirullah” continuously… and not only when the package arrives but even before it does…just every time we can remember… it’s like an antivirus. A very efficient one, with so many bonus features in one.

Here are some of the advantages that I have experienced after installing this new program to my system.

1) Humility / Humbling: Every time I say it, I think of all the wrong doings I do everyday and realize it’s a lot, it shows me I still have a long way to go.

2) Increases Tawakul: This part is mainly because, as I say Astagfirullah, I’m becoming more conscious of Allah and His attributes.

3) More Khushu in prayer: again due to being more conscious of Allah during the day it’s easier to stay focused in prayer.

4) More Calm: This is a side-effect of Tawakul, less anxious about the future, money and others

5) Peace of mind: No Muslim at any point can be asked, are you ready to meet Allah? and respond  “I am sooooo ready mannn” (Bouncing up and down, shadow boxing)… Yeah, NO. But at least if you are asking for forgiveness most of the time, you feel like you are walking around with a possibly clean slate every time you ask for forgiveness.

So this is what I have experienced so far, however there is much more promised by Allah in the Quran that will happen to you from doing something so simple as saying Astaghfirullah continuously.

And here they are:

Quran verse: HUD 11:3

“And [saying], “Seek forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him, [and] He will let you enjoy a good provision for a specified term and give every doer of favor his favor. But if you turn away, then indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a great Day.”

Quran Verse: Nuh 71: 10 -12

“And said, ‘Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers. And give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers.”

Quran Verse: HUD 11: 52

“And O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in showers and increase you in strength [added] to your strength. And do not turn away, [being] criminals.”

Quran Verse: Al-Anfal : 8:33

“But Allah would not punish them while you, [O Muhammad], are among them, and Allah would not punish them while they seek forgiveness.”

Quran Verse: Sad: 38:35

“He said, “My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower.”

Yes, you can drop your jaw now…

That’s all folks,

ABD

OUR PEOPLE

Asalaam Alyekum my people,

I think I spent about a month deciding whether to name this post “Our duty to our people”, “Our duty” or “Our people. #Truestory

About a month ago, starring at the passing palm trees outside while on a cross country bus ride…a thought popped into my
head. “Why do we judge people?” not in the “someone did something bad that affected someone else” bad, but in the “how someone
decides to lead their lives” part.  A few thought trains later came to; what is a Muslims duty towards people in this world?

Long story short, it definitely wasn’t to judge people…like this one is Christian, Jew, Atheist, gay, good-Muslim or bad Muslim,
that is really not our concern nor is it something we should pay attention to, our main duty  to the people is to promote and keep the peace. I believe that is why Islam is called the religion of
Peace, it is for it’s followers to show tolerance and patience towards others and to lead by example.

Quran verse: 3:110

“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in
Allah . If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most
of them are defiantly disobedient.”

This means our duty is to all man-kind, “our people” is every human being on earth, not just Muslims, not just those that we like and agree with or approve of their life choices, and our duty is to live in peace with them, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.

Before someone uses that as the reason to judge and fight someone who might be doing wrong.

Quran verse: 2:256

“There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.”

However, what I want to emphasize the most is that we can’t judge anyone’s choice in life, we aren’t equipped to do it nor do we have the
authority to. God judges people because HE has absolute knowledge of people and their circumstances, we don’t. So whenever we try
only hate and pointless fighting follows.

It is utterly useless to sit and hate someone else’s choices in their life or even try to fight it, instead of focusing on one’s
own flaws and shortcomings, given we don’t know how God will judge between any two people.

What we should hate and fight against
is oppression and injustice not differences.

To you and yours…

– ABD

The Precious Ones

Asalaam Aleykum reader.. yeah you, aren’t you going to say Aleykum Salaam back?…say it, say it…tsk tsk tsk I can’t believe I had to tell you twice, you are something else I tell you… something else.

Ok so the drill here is ; explain my absence, blame my laziness, apologize and move on to the topic… Yeah let’s assume I just did that, and move on.. so here we go.

Quran An Nisa (4:34)

“ Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband’s) absence what Allah would have them guard.–”

I feel like most people use this verse to somehow imply that men are better than women or above women in value or something. If you have ever felt that way then this post is for ya… and if not, it’s still for you.

Let’s start with the simple premise of what it means when something is assigned to “protect and maintain something else” tell me what is usually more precious, the thing being protected or the thing protecting?

Ever heard of the jewellery store heist where the perpetrators broke in and stole all the windows, doors, bullet proof glass and left the stones untouched?. No? really??  me neither… because that would probably land the thieves a solid position in the Guinness book of records for the dumbest idiots that ever lived.

Men were made stronger than women in whatever aspects  in order to protect them and to guard them not to oppress and belittle them. And when men fail to perform their duties, it’s understandable that women feel betrayed and try to distance themselves from men and “make it on their own” (Hence feminism, or radical feminism) .(I feel like I’m treading across a landmine with that statement but heck it’s already out there).

Which begs the question, why are our Muslim sisters so precious?, our mothers, daughters, sisters and wives.

Well a good guess might be because they are the key to our nation. They are the ones who toil for nine months carrying the next generation and there after feed and nurture them. Raise them.  They are the ones that pass on the teachings of Islam to our children, they are the ones who back up even their husbands who are meant to protect them, they give them peace of mind, support and love… in more ways than one…. Yes I said it! Sue me.

They are the Nations care-takers.

They are the MVP’s of the Muslim world and the World at large, but in all fairness, other than religion this applies to all our sisters in the world, Muslims and non-Muslims, so let’s treat them with the respect, tenderness and caring that they deserve.

Yes sometimes they will get emotional and irrational and you might hear things that would make you wish your super power was memory editing, but hey no one said this God-given protecting and maintaining gig was going to be easy. Yes… occasionally we might need to protect them from themselves too.

It comes with the territory. Cowboy up! We were made strong for a reason

 Our Muslim sisters are the most precious things on earth. They are worth it!

And sisters, take it easy on the brothers, you guys don’t come with a manual (no matter how much we pray you did) so technically speaking we have been winging it since Adam (AS). We will slip up every now and then, but eventually we’ll come around, so be patient with us.

Love you all for the sake of Allah.

• ABD

SERVANTS!

It’s been 5 months since my last post….wooowww. Time flies when you are lazy.

Ok, Let’s get straight to it, I’m going to assume that by now it is public knowledge that that humans in the Holy Quran are usually referred to as servants (this isn’t some level 5 classified: for scholar’s eyes only thing). I believe the reference to humans as servants truly reflects the true nature of humans; we are at our best when serving others. The happiest of people in the world are those who are devoted to serving others.

The obvious question that follows is, given the fact that we are servants, who is it that needs our service? We already know that Allah is clearly not in need of our service, hate to burst anyone’s bubble… so the question remains, who is?

Some might hate to admit it but the answer to that question is… fellow homo-sapiens… Ba dum tsss.  Most of us forget this and some of us are completely oblivious to it, but it is especially sad when Muslims forget this.

BECAUSE… REASONS:

Quran Surah Al- Imran 3:110 .

You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient. – Sahih International

Although I personally like this translation more:

You are the best nation ever brought forth to men, bidding to honour, and forbidding dishonour, and believing in God. Had the People of the Book believed, it were better for them; some of them are believers, but the most of them are ungodly. – Arberry

It has a more old school feel to it.

The thing is, apart from worshipping Allah, the number one duty bestowed to Muslims is to lead the rest of the world by example. By bidding to honor and forbidding dishonor *while I twist the end of my imaginary handlebar moustache* and make no mistake, we will be questioned about this duty given to us that we so often neglect.

Now how do we lead by example, You ask?. Well in my personal opinion (you are free to disagree with me) I don’t see it as going out on the streets and starting to preach about Islam. Being a convert,  I have experienced different kinds of dawah, and I found the “hey have you heard the good news” not to be effective at all and always evokes this mental image.

No one converts anyone; only God can change what is in people’s hearts, which should make our job a lot easier for us. All we really are is just facilitators/ agents. You can’t convert someone who isn’t looking for the truth, you can only try to show the path to someone who is already looking for the truth on their own. Maybe the others will look for the truth later, or maybe not, it’s not up to us.

Our only duty is to be good and to do good to all mankind regardless of religion. To do things that help everyone, make everyone’s life better (Muslims and non-Muslims). Muslims are here to make the world a better place, for everyone.  Islam is for everyone not just for Muslims maybe we forget this fact sometimes. It is not to spread fear, or to discriminate.

 I believe it is enough for us to just work on being the best version of ourselves and being kind to others regardless of their race, religion, gender or age. Being a good Muslim isn’t just about praying, fasting and giving zakat. As the Quran verse below

Quran surah Al Ma’un 107: 1 -7

“Have you seen him who belies the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter? He it is who drives away the orphan and does not urge giving away the food of the poor. Then woe to the praying ones, who are careless of their Prayer, who do good to be seen, and withhold small kindnesses (from the people).”

Acts of small kindness to everyone hold great value. Let us practice this. When we call ourselves servants of Allah, we should realize who we are meant to serve. The Prophet Muhammad, served humanity more than any other human being ever has and ever will, and so that is his Sunnah. Let’s take that as an example of what we are supposed to do.

Oh and before I forget, before we run outside to go serve the world, let us remember charity starts at where was that place?? Uhh that’s right… HOME sweet HOME.  Yup the annoying siblings, the cousins that won’t quit and the Uncles and Aunts who know when the world will end, even if it means ending it themselves.  (This is just a worst case scenario)

ANDDD Yes… most of the mainstream media and many other ignorant and misinformed people are trying to paint Muslims as terrorists and evil. Retards like these have and will always exist to the end of time, the fear mongers and those who promote ignorance and hate.

However that should never stop us from doing what we are supposed to be do, because we aren’t doing it to prove a point or get the acceptance of others,praise or recognition, we do it because it is our duty entrusted upon us by Allah,  that’s all there is to it! In short we do it for the sake of Allah.

Love you all for the Sake of Allah…

HOlllaaaaa

Yes that rhymed.

• ABD

PLEASING AND DISPLEASING ALLAH

 

Asalaam Aleykum Veterans,

Yes I am still around, I have had busy-ness and a little bit of lazy in mixed in my schedule lately, ok maybe a lot of lazy and a little bit of busy. Forgive me.

I have had something on my chest for a while, no not my t-shirts, it’s a bit heavier and on the internal side. That is, I am afraid I keep displeasing Allah and in a rare moment of vulnerability I am going to open up and say… I am scared shitless but then I keep displeasing Allah. Does it make me a hypocrite? Maybe/ probably, (personal opinion), does it mean I am doomed? No, (Again, personal opinion).

I think all Muslims struggle with this issue a sad fact we all deal with and that is; we have all  done things that displease Allah A.K.A  SINS and no matter how many times we sincerely repent we still continue to do sins. If we are still alive by next week we will do something to displease Allah.

It is frustrating… I know, despite trying so hard sometimes and still failing over and over again. Ok ok, enough with the depressing stuff, you know I must be telling you this stuff for a reason, so go on then spill the beans, what to do?

I actually have no idea… I was hoping you guys could let me know, seriously in the comment section. Let me know how you deal with it.

In the meantime I have a theory I am working on, (I know I said I had no idea just two lines ago, but this is just a theo.. let’s not get into the technicalities of what an idea is and what it’s not and…) Khemmm the theory is; Instead of focusing on when we displease Allah, we should focus on when we please Allah, focus on doing more good for the sake of Allah, being sincere and asking Allah to accept our good deeds and to guide us.

Did you know that good deeds erase bad deeds?

 Whaaaaatttt???  Shut the front door!

Quran 11:114

“And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. That is a reminder for those who remember”

This is one of the best news in the Quran (personally speaking) well the Quran is about warnings and glad tidings and this is one awesome glad tiding for me. Mostly because when I think back to all the sins I have done and the realization that I will probably do more, I feel helpless and it can be depressing.  So for a long time I kept asking myself what can I do about it, what do I really have control over? (I thought dying sooner would stop the accumulation of bad deeds to my scale, I thought it over and it was discussed but I was overruled). So I remembered this verse and Ta daaaa here we be. I say I remembered this verse because the first time I read it I thought hmmm that’s interesting to know, but it didn’t occur to me as a solution for this problem. Another reason why reading the Quran should be like a hobby, because trying to finish it once like a task is not doing justice to the Quran or ourselves.

And as for doing good deeds, even smiling at someone is a good deed and I hope this post might be one of them. May Allah accept our good deeds and erase all our bad deeds.

I think the three major takeaways here are:

• Don’t lose hope or kill yourself for your bad deeds, regret them yes, repent, yes. But don’t let them bring you down to the point of giving up.
• Do as many good deeds as possible with the intention of pleasing Allah and erasing your bad deeds, plus adding on good deeds to your scale
• This struggle between good and bad deeds is the whole purpose of life, it is the test.

You don’t believe me??  Ohh you don’t believe me… ok, ok.. here:

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “I swear by Him in whose hand is my soul, if you were a people who did not commit sin, Allah would take you away and replace you with a people who would sin and then seek Allah’s forgiveness so He could forgive them.” [Sahīh Muslim (2687)]

That’s all for now,

Love you all for the sake of Allah

• Abd

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Asalaam Aleykum minions,

“See in this world there are two kinds of people my friend, those with loaded guns and those who dig… you dig.”

Well at least that’s how we want it to be… just two kinds of people, good or bad, right or wrong but the truth is, we aren’t like that, we all have our good sides, bad sides, ugly sides, weird sides, amazing sides and even more sides, our personalities aren’t two dimensional.

But we tend to judge people that way, either someone is good or bad. The person lied once, he is branded a liar, and that’s it, all his good is erased…granted lying isn’t a small thing and it isn’t something easy to wipe off your resume when you do it but the point here is being open to the fact that as humans we err, we make mistakes, we wouldn’t want to be judged solely by our mistakes or by our flaws so let’s not do the same to others. As a metaphor my teacher once told me that; humans tend to magnify the bad that people to do, such that if someone did a mountain of good and one rock sized bad, we wouldn’t be able to see the mountain because we put the rock right in front of our eyes.

As you might have noticed by now, we tend to classify people in our lives, strangers, family, friends… pretty quickly and efficiently from the first meet or from some action they did that stood out to us.  Whenever we meet new people we immediately start evaluating them according to where they fit in our spectrum of “understanding people”, based on what they say, how they say it, their race, their dress-code, their beliefs etc (it’s almost unconscious). Are they funny or boring? Do they think like me or not? Do they believe in what I believe or the opposite? Are they from where I am from or not? Are they educated or not? Are they smart or dull? The list goes on, and according to this we group them in the relevant category in our minds … which I would like to think goes something like this:

1) Nice to talk to

 2) Nice to listen to

3) Avoid but be polite (smile and wave boys…smile and wave)

4) Avoid at all costs

 5) Drawing blanks, Not really sure… wait for more information. (might be CIA)

I think we develop this talent at a very young age and I believe it’s necessary to some degree, because we don’t have the time to get a full psyche evaluation of everyone we meet and then make an informed decision on how to proceed with the relationship.

The problem is we hardly ever do re-evaluation and whenever we get new information about these people we are generally biased and pick only those that confirm our initial judgement and ignore the rest.

Which leads to why I am writing about this, as Muslims we know why judging others is bad, and why negative suspicion is bad

Quran verse: 49:12

” O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.”

With this in mind I think it’s every Muslim’s duty to have an open mind about others, understanding that, yes, we are different from each other but that isn’t a reason for conflict, discrimination or segregation. On the contrary it’s a reason to get closer and get to know each other more and be tolerant of one another.

Quran verse: 49:13

“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.”

Now with the refugee crisis going on, I find it weird that humans will argue for letting other humans die just because they are not from where they are from.  I mean…. Really??? That’s the whole argument??

I have never understood nationalistic pride, I happened to be born here (not out of choice) hence I am better than you or I stick only with “my people” who also didn’t choose to be born here.  Am I the only one finding this borderline retarded?

Jubair ibn Mut’im reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “He is not one of us who calls to tribalism. He is not one of us who fights for the sake of tribalism. He is not one of us who dies following the way of tribalism.”

And in another Hadith, also referring to nationalism, racism, and patriotism the Prophet (S.A.W) said:

“Leave it, for it is filth.”

On the societal level, the takeaway from this is to appreciate the fact that we are all humans and we are all the same, cultures differ, race, temperaments, dress-codes, beliefs but at the core of it all, we are the same…we all have emotions, sadness, anger, fear, happiness, sorrow,  we all feel hungry when we don’t have any food to eat, we all grieve when we lose a loved one, we feel pain when we are injured, and hurt when rejected and oppressed these are things we all have in common with every human being on the planet. We usually have the same worries as well about the future, our families, life, our goals, ambitions, we all want to survive for one reason or another and that is regardless of all our differences.

On the personal level the takeaway is to be more open to re-evaluating the people we know and the new people we meet, and also keep in mind that a person is not either one of two things or three (the good, the bad and the ugly) but we have multiple dimensions to our personalities. An easy way to put this in mind is to assume everyone has multiple personalities. (With usually one or two main themes that are consistent but multi-dimensional personalities is the best guess)

The only way this thought process actually stays in our minds is if we train ourselves to always look at people that way. Yes, they do wrong, but they also do right, and those that do right also do wrong, that’s just human.

Training means practice so here is an exercise for you; think about the people you already know, and try to think about the possible other good personality traits they might have, that you know or those you don’t know because you haven’t seen them in a situation that would bring it to light. Try it now, Keep away from the bad and the ugly though.

More fun exercise when you see strangers is to try to think what their possible good traits might be, despite whatever your initial judgement of them is from what you see.

Maybe they treat their parents really well, maybe they never lie, maybe they are very hygienic, maybe they are loyal friends, maybe they are very generous, maybe they always think positively about others (you see what I did there?), maybe they are empathetic, maybe they always try to be good, even when they fail, maybe they would take a bullet for their siblings. (Go radical).

My point with all this is as Muslims we should be learn to be more open and more understanding of others and by that I mean every other human apart from ourselves.

Love you all for the sake of Allah.

-Abd

I would like to add that this only applies to normal folk, those who only languish in the normal small mistakes.

This doesn’t apply to rapists, murders, oppressors and tyrants, no, those we need to kick their buckets for them, buy their farms, cash in their chips, get them to assume room temperature etc.  – (This is my personal opinion)

I might be wrong…let me know what you think. (about the whole post not just the killing oppressors part)

DAY 5, 5 pictures 5 stories

Hello Civilian,

Haaaa Day 5, I know it’s way way waaayyyy past due to continue with the 5 pictures 5 stories thing but I said I would do it and I insist on following through. First I guess you are wondering why I went MIA for so long. I wish I had a good excuse, something like; I had chronic writers block, worked the grave yard shift for two months, and finally the internet went down…so I called the cops. They haven’t been returning my calls since then, I guess they are really busy with the case. Tsyeaaa No, that’s not what happened.

I don’t work graveyard shifts, I didn’t have writers block, quite the contrary I have a backlog of things I have learnt over the past few months I wanted to share. So what was the reason then? what was so compelling that I didn’t post for so long? drum rolls please…. Duh da duh da duh… I am lazy…badum Tsss! read that line again, Yes I said it, I am lazy. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of, but something I know we all share, don’t we? with the exception of workaholics…I think.

More like the two firemen putting out the fire while simultaneously enjoying the warm heat in the comfort of those lawn chairs. It’s almost like a metaphor for most of our lives.

Let’s take a step back for a minute and look at this exciting human condition from what I would assume a “cause and effect” angle. Why are we lazy? It’s a pretty curious case right? when you know what to do, how to do it and why to do it  and yet not do it.

We do this all the time, not only in terms of work, but in the broader sense of the meaning of being lazy which now I would like to switch to “sloth”  known as one of the seven deadly sins. It’s interesting to me because sloth isn’t just about physical laziness but also emotional and spiritual laziness. I.e not doing things we know are religiously the right things to do, such as learn the Quran, or even just do something good for someone.

My theory is that laziness happens when we aren’t internally sufficiently motivated, which could be caused by a number of reasons, either we don’t understand our situation well enough to prioritize specific actions, or…ummm yea, that’s all I got.

Remedy? I am not entirely sure if there is a perfect one but I  know what works for me and I hope it works the same for most of us. My remedy is to remind myself that I am the only one accountable for my actions, my decisions and where I am now. I’m in charge and hence I am responsible. This tends to shift my perspective of things, so that I don’t and can’t blame any person, thing or situation, for whatever I am going through. Everything is on me.

I think it is empowering in a way, but mostly it is a reality check. I remind myself that judgement day is going to be a lonely day.

Quran 74:38 ” Every soul will be (held) in pledge (accountable) for its deeds”

There are a bunch of other verses that drive this point home even more, such as no one will bear another’s burden (sins) Quran 35:18, but I would like to keep this post short, kinda.

I apologize for taking such a long time off posting, I am still going to keep writing as much as I can inshaAllah. The good news is  I usually respond to comments even when I’m off, so that’s one way to get to me. 🙂

Yes, I should stop writing now, (I mean for this post, don’t feel too sad)

I love you all for the sake of Allah

– Abd

Day 4; 5 pictures 5 stories

Hello soldier,

So today I am going to share a theory of mine, it has a lot to do with the picture. The picture shows a cup overflowing with water, I haven’t told you anything you don’t know so far, but what might be interesting is its relevance to our own nature; hence my theory:

My theory goes a little like this, (feel free to correct me if I am wrong), see, contrary to popular belief, our human capacity to consume is insanely small as compared to what we think it is. And whenever we gain excess of what we need, we waste it, either wholly or in-part by under utilizing it.

For example, if we are in a desert, aware about how scarce water is, and that death by dehydration is a reality that is measured in liters of water left. When time for prayer arrives the amount of water we would use to take ablution would be record low. Now come back to where we are now, where taking ablution is a mini wet and wild show in the bathroom. Let’s not even go as far as ablution, let’s look at just the simple act of brushing our teeth.

How does that work? Well legend has it that the customary ritual is to turn on the tap and let the water flow for 30 seconds while we look for the tooth brush and tooth paste, then put the tooth paste on the tooth brush and dip it in the running water at blinding speed that would make a rattle snake jealous, (we do this so it doesn’t wash away the paste). However, take a second to realize that during this whole process the actual amount of water that was needed was in that fraction of a second dip…I could go on, but you get the point.

Same applies for food, we can’t eat as much as we think we want to eat, and even when we try,  it’s wasted in one way or another. Either directly by throwing away the left overs or stored as excess fat in our bodies. This applies to everything you may think of really, be it clothing, money, space (as in living area). In a way it makes me feel relaxed knowing that what I truly need is actually quite small and very easy to fulfill. I can’t say the same for the things I want though, but who can. 🙂

Love you all for the sake Allah

– ABD

Day 3; 5 pictures 5 stories

Salaam All,

Ok, you got me, I’m into photography, sue me… 🙂 , I don’t know, there is something about being able to capture a moment, that seems to intrigue me, it’s almost like freezing time so you can further appreciate the beauty of that particular moment in space and time, that you might have otherwise missed. Ever felt that way? Like sometimes life is moving so fast you barely have time to appreciate it or be happy about it?. It’s like, right after this right now, it’s this thing, then there is, and then that other thing and then one more thing… and then… and then…I guess we all feel that way sometimes.

For me pictures and photography is a little escape from that. At the same time it makes it easier to reflect on Allah’s creation, to think how all this beauty came about, how none of it is by mere luck or coincidence, everything has it’s purpose and work together flawlessly. Makes me further feel the word Allahukabar. Really Allah is the greatest.

That’s all for now,

Love you all for the sake of Allah

-Abd

Day 2: 5P 5S

Asalaam aleykum, fellow travelers,

Five pictures five stories, well I don’t have any pictures on my laptop that have any story. Hence going to be getting random pics online. About this pic, well it reminds me, how many times I usually think about the fact that I rarely look up to see the sky. Ok, let me explain that, often a whole week can pass and I haven’t actually looked up at the sky, and when I finally do, it feels so….mmmhhh, liberating? relaxing, because it makes me feel like all my problems are so small.

It’s kinda interesting that both metaphorically and practically it’s the exact same thing, that we walk around focusing on only what is in front of us and forget how big the world is around us and that we aren’t the center of the universe. Whatever we go through no matter how good or how bad, if you look outside life is moving on as usual. Well that’s all for now, so go outside and look at the sky for a minute and have a nice day.

Love you all for the sake of Allah

– Abd