Jeewan Online

Video Link: Are You Worthy of God’s Forgiveness?

Text Summary:
Sometimes when we reflect on the mistakes we have made in our lives, the wrong doings that we may have committed we see them as being so huge or so much that there is no way to overcome them. Sometimes, people around us make us feel that because we’ve made mistakes that we are not good enough to be around them, that we have no right to be present in organizations or gatherings and that our voices and concerns are not legitimate. They push people away by their tone, their glances and their unspoken words/actions. Almost as if we were some horrible individuals and they were so perfect.

At times the guilt can be so overwhelming that we can almost get lost inside it and we may feel as if we are not only unworthy in the eyes of people, but unworthy in the Eyes of God. This feeling however, is not what a Compassionate, Merciful Lord wants for any of us. Unfortunately, there may be people who want that for us, because their egos are so fragile, because they feel so poorly about themselves that they want to feel better than others. Other times, it’s because they forget their own mistakes and transgressions and so take a overly moral, “super-righteous” tone in their behaviour and actions.
In the end however, it must come back to- “What is my relationship with God?”.

It is important to remember that there is no sin/mistake/transgression for which God is not capable of forgiving us. When we reflect on a narration of the prophet peace be upon him in which he said that God would say to His servants- if you approached me with sins that would fill the earth and ask for forgiveness, I would grant you just as much forgiveness”.

You see, God does not expect us to be perfect. Whatever mistakes we’ve made, whatever wrong we have done, don’t think we are so far removed from God that God will not forgive us. Sometimes we have to humble ourselves and admit that we messed up. We all make mistakes but if we turn sincerely to God and ask for forgiveness, it is there for us, just like He is present for us always.

Does that mean we can intentionally go out and do wrong and say, “its ok, God will forgive me anyway”? No, we cannot. That would be making (trying to) a mockery of God’s Mercy. It means that we are human and we make mistakes and God knows that.

What did the prophet peace be upon him teach us? He said- replace a bad deed with a good deed. And if we are truthful with ourselves, we know that we have made many mistakes and so we need to be busy trying to do good for ourselves, our family, our community and the world around us.

This Ramadan, let us be mindful of God’s ability to forgive us and let us seek it actively. Let us also remember to try and correct our mistakes by putting forward as many good actions as possible.

Video Link: Do You Really Trust Allah?

Text Summary:
Allah says that our rizq or provision is “written” for us. Does that mean we can just sit idly by and our provision will fall from the sky into our laps? No it does not. It means that we do our best and our provision will come to us. But why is knowing this a “mercy”? It is a mercy because it should free us from worrying because we often lose so much time consumed by wondering how we can get more, or fearing that we will not be able to earn enough.

Once we do our best however, we should have a sense of trust in God’s will and God’s plan for us. This should free us from fear. It should also bring a sense of comfort to us because God is saying to us, I am here, I have not abandoned you, though you may think things are difficult, I am here and will provide for you. Know that everything that I put before you is for your best and greatest good. Whatever challenges, that come to you, I KNOW that you are strong enough to deal with them. Not only do I know that you are strong enough, you have the ability to overcome this. Just hold onto Me and I will help you through.

So much times we worry so much, we become depressed or we put ourselves into doing things we should NOT do to earn our livelihood because we do not trust God and God’s perfect plan. We should not erode our relationship with God because of our inability to trust. We should be careful not to put ourselves above God, because we do not depend and trust in the Divine Plan. We do so, when we think that we have to do everything to solve our problems and that is what takes us into despair or into the haram (what is forbidden). Instead, we need to learn to do our best and then TRUST.

We forget that the boundaries that have been put for us, are there to help us thrive. So we don’t need to do something that we’ve been told not to do in order to survive or be successful. Sometimes that may mean leaning on our brothers and sisters- that for many of us is a much needed lesson in humility. Each of us has a moment when we need to depend on those around us. In this struggle to try and do better and be better, it reminds us that we are human, there are times we will need help and when others around us will need help. So our duty from enduring these circumstances is keeping in mind that when we have, it is our responsibility to help those who don’t or to help those who are helping people in need so they may continue that work.

Let us remember this Ramadan to be humble with each other, to see the many blessings that we do have in our lives and to assist our brothers and sisters in humanity who do not.

Video Link: Does God Think About You?

Text Summary:
In your quiet moments, have you stopped to think how much God may think about you? Does God even think about you and I? Omar, may God be pleased with him, one of the rightly guided caliphs after the prophet peace be upon him used to say, “Take yourself before you are taken to account”. The way to answer this question is by knowing that Allah thinks of us as often/much as we think about God. So when we stop to think about if God thinks about us,really, it helps us to take account of how much we are doing/thinking/being; how much we are remembering God.
In another narration, we are reminded by God, if we think about Him by ourself, He remembers us by Himself, if we remember Him in a group, then He remembers us in a group better than ours.

In your day, when you get caught up in your activities and you’re rushing to get the next thing done, trying to pay your bills are you remembering God? Think about how much work we do in order to buy our houses, or cars, if we want to go on vacation, if we want to go and study at a university or college the effort and time we spend to making sure we do our “homework”. In these ways, we are constantly occupying ourselves. We take on this work because we want to be well prepared and we will do this consciously. What about the time we invest in our relationship with God?

You see the more we remember God, the more God remembers us. And when we acknowledge this, it does not mean that God will forget us because we cannot place God within the finite realm of our understanding. Yet it provides a good indicator for us to know where we are at in our personal relationship with God.
When we work to place God first and foremost in what we do it helps us to ensure that we keep trying to do what’s right, that we maintain justice, that we do not mis-treat people. It helps us to better reflect on our own behaviour and practices and to better accept feedback from others. This is because it is not about “always being right”, instead it is about doing what is best and growing my relationship with my Creator. So if someone corrects me and I know that this will help to improve my character or my relationship with God, I accept it- not walk off being upset, not hurting others, not being rude or disrespectful because I didn’t get what I wanted. It also helps us to be able to compromise with others, because if we want God to accept our attempts, to forgive our mistakes then we need to show that to the people around us.

So one of the things we need to ask ourselves- what are some of the things that I can do in order to improve my relationship with and consciousness of God. This is the purpose of Ramadan. It helps to move us away from thinking about people and what they want and to focus on our relationship with God.
This way whether people like us or not, whether they think that you are too “holy” or not or too much of something or not - it won’t matter. I may listen and reflect on feedback, but I remember I am a human being with many faults who is trying to improve. I also know that I want to be a better person, I want to have a good relationship with God, so I am going to keep on trying. I am going to not listen to those who try to pull me down, instead, I will let the mercy of God pull me up- to be all that I can be.

The way that we remember God is in our prayer, in our actions- when we are just, kind to others, helping those in need- those are ways we can remember God and will help us to be the most conscious of God and ultimately function at our highest potential.

Video Link: Memorizing The Quran Is Not Enough

Text Summary:
As we continue to explore the idea of mercy and being ambassadors of mercy in our communities, it is important that we continue to think about the “how”- how do we do this? The prophet peace be upon him explained in a hadith (narration)- “convey from me, even if it is one line”. Why would he suggest this? It is because this is a way for us to give back, to spread knowledge, to try and make change. It is a verb- an action- something that we do. It is dynamic and encourages us to try and be agents of change in the conditions of our society.
How do we do this? How do we give back? How do we improve our society?

What have we learnt that will help us to know what we should/not be doing? It is no surprise that throughout the Qur’an, generally speaking, that wherever the word “knowledge” is used it is followed by the word, “action”.

Knowledge should be the starting point for action. It becomes the catalyst for us to know what it means to do good, what it means to be a mercy in our societies and HOW we can achieve this. It clarifies for us that, the “feeling of spirituality”, is not enough, just because we memorized Qur’an, is not enough, what people say about us, is not enough. The only thing that will matter in the end, is the good deeds we do that we put forth during our lives. So our knowledge should lead to action.

Our reality today is that a person dies almost every 3.5 seconds due to starvation, 1 in 7 people wake up each day and cannot obtain ONE cup of food, some reports say that there are over 200 million orphans in the world today- where are we Muslims? Where is our ummah- with our intellectual capital, technology, wealth? Where are we in terms of taking on the tasks with which Allah has put before us?

Remember, in surah Maoon (small kindnesses) Allah warns us that those who do things to be seen by people, who are seen in prayer but they neglect the “small kindnesses” to the orphans, the poor, the needy. They will receive God’s justice in the end.

So we should be asking- who are the ones in need in our communities? We didn’t receive our talents, strength, wealth by ourselves. They are blessings from God . When we think about why the prophet peace be upon him say, “convey even one line from me”, because it is, in part, about giving back.

We need to remember that we have a moral duty to give back to our families, communities and the world around us. It is time for us to rise up to our responsibilities and it is a mercy that we have life to do it.

We can begin right now!

Video Link: What Do Your Actions Say About You?

Text Summary:
When we say we believe in Allah- what does that mean? How do we affirm our belief in God? Sometimes we get so caught up in appearances- what we think “holy” looks like that we forget, and how “good Muslims” should look that we lose sight of some more important things. Then we begin to judge people based on how they look and how “Muslim” they are and then start to decide whether we feel they should have a “space” at the table.

At one point a group of Arabs approached the prophet peace be upon and said “we believe” and Allah tells us in the Qur’an, “don’t say you believe, instead, say that you’ve submitted and know that iman has not yet entered your hearts”.
In a hadith of the prophet pbuh said that Iman is something that resides in our hearts and is proven by our actions.
So if we mute out the voices that make us focus on how things should “look” and ask ourselves, “what do my actions say about my beliefs” this can be very telling. This does not mean, that we can simply say- “I believe” and I feel this in my heart and it’s enough. Instead, we need to recognize that, IF we believe, then by following what Allah asks of us, then Iman will fill our beings and we will begin to truly know Allah.

The only one who knows what resides in our hearts- is each of us and Allah. No one else can tell us what is in our hearts.

Sometimes we also get caught up in doing things to be seen by people. It is why we must remember that “actions are judged by intentions”. So when we do what we do, we need to ask ourselves, why? Are we doing it to be seen? To appear to be pious? To make people think we really care or are active?

This is what takes us back to –what are my actions telling of me? Who are my actions for? It also means that sometimes people will not be happy with me. However, as long as we know that we did what is right, that we stood up to make change, to help others and we know that we did it for Allah- then we don’t have to worry about what anyone else thinks or says. Instead we can rest because we have a clear heart.

This Ramadan, let us focus on making sure that whatever we do, we do it for Allah and reflect on our actions to make sure they are in-line with our beliefs.

Video Link: The World Does NOT Revolve Around Me

Text Summary:
Today, the culture of “I” is becoming more and more prevalent. Ideas like, “It’s all about me,” “it’s what I want”. “I don’t have to or need to think about anyone else, only about what is in my best interest”. Forget what our friends, family or community members think or how our decisions affect them- we are constantly being told that it is our life and we can just do what we want.

Did you bring yourself into the world by yourself? Did you grow up by yourself? Did you get everything you wanted by yourself? We did NOT bring ourselves into the world, when we were vulnerable someone looked after us. There were many times in our life that we benefitted from the kindness of others. So how can we be so arrogant to simply think that the world revolves around us? Yes, what we want is important- but if I know what I do can affect others, hurt my family or neighbours- I have to consider these things!

The fact that the prophet peace be upon him not only lived among the people, he often denied himself in order to make sure the people around him had should cause us to reflect. But does it mean we have to be poor? Sleep on a dirt floor on date palm leaves in a hut because he (peace be upon him) lived a simple life?

No it does not, in fact, the prophet peace be upon him taught us that we can and should own things; that there is nothing wrong with having wealth. However, he taught us that wealth is a “means to an end” and that end is to do good. It is about realizing what we own is a trust from God to help ourselves, families and community members. We should own the dunya (the things of this world) with our hands and not our hearts. This is because wealth is a tool.

Instead, the way we should conceive of this concept of “I”, is from the words of Abraham mentioned in the Quran, “Verily my prayer, my service, my life and my death is for God, the Lord of the Worlds.”

So yes sometimes we have to make sacrifices and we SHOULD make those sacrifices to help those around us. Yet, we must keep in mind, that there is NO sacrifice that we make that Allah would not bless us for. When we sacrifice our daily cup of coffee to sponsor an orphan, or instead of buying something for $100 and we get something cheaper and use the rest of that money to help those in need, we will get this back in our relationship with God. It is a blessing that changes lives and in doing so will change your life as well. Allah also promises that such sacrifices will benefit you and I in this life and the next.

This Ramadan, let us think about what changes we can begin to make in our lives, what we can sacrifice, to give back to those who are in much worse circumstances than we are. Let us become ambassadors of mercy.

Video Link: Stuffing Ourselves and Sleeping All Day Are Not Acts of Mercy

Text Summary:
We know that we can’t expect mercy from Allah, without showing mercy to those around us. When we reflect on the fact that the prophet peace be upon him was a mercy to all of humanity, then we need to ask ourselves, who are the people around us to whom we can show mercy as well? Are they in our homes, communities?

Who are the people who are doing without? At night, who does not have a place to sleep. In my own city, I know that over 60 000 people go to sleep hungry each night. What does that mean to me? We need to be aware of this wherever we live- it is our duty and responsibility to know who the most vulnerable members of society are. Whenever Muslim leaders were just throughout history, they never indulged in extravagance. The prophet peace be upon him never went to sleep if he had even on dirham left until he gave it to those in need.

When we reflect on the fact that the first part of this beautiful month is mercy, we should be thinking of how we show mercy and to whom. Sadly, in many parts of the world, we have belittled this month and made it about eating and drinking.We stuff ourselves at night, we become to tired to pray and then we sleep the day away. We waste our food and we do not spend time thinking about those in need.

We completely lose sight of the fact that we are supposed to be doing more during this month. That this is the month, when we give up the things we often do,the things we are used to, to really understand the nature of our true potential and how this message of Islam is relevant to making our societies better places to be in- because Ramadan provides a training ground in which we actively work for that.

Keeping in mind that the prophet peace be upon him said that a Muslim is like the date palm, people throw stones at it and it gives them fruit in return..what do you give to those around you? “When people may be tough with me eg if my parents/husband/wife/friends make me upset, perhaps instead of reacting, I can forgive and overlook and know that Allah will bless me for being patient.”

This month, what is it that you can do to make a difference in your sphere of influence? Who are the people who need assistance? How can you and I reflect mercy to our families, community and to the world?

Video Link: I Am Just Too Busy Right Now

Text Summary:
As we continue to reflect upon mercy, let us think about the way that we choose to live each day. Many times, we get so busy being caught up in “stuff” and lose sight that we are missing the essence of why we have been created. Does the way you live your life make a difference to you and those around you?

In our high schools and universities, some of us were active in our MSA’s, we were active helping and trying to find ways to give back. Then we get married and we get “busy”, or we start working and we get “busy”. When people ask us for help, when we know of situations in which there is a need, our response becomes, “I am too busy”. Even if we don’t say it out loud, we say it to convince ourselves that this is the case. Soon, we don’t do much of anything because we’ve become so absorbed in our own lives that we forget the purpose of life itself. We also forget that one day we will have to give account for our time and how we used it. Other times, we fill our time with activities and events that have no benefit to us at all.

Have you stopped to consider, “What does God want me to do in my life?”, “How am I supposed to use my life to show mercy to others?”

Think of all the mercy that you have been blessed with in your own life.

“Which of the mercies of your Lord will you deny?” If we begin to count the mercy with which we have been blessed, there are so many that we would not be able to finish count. Our sight, hearing, taste, ability to feel, to learn, to have an education, to have a family, to breathe….the list goes on and on.

So when someone asks you to help or your heart tells you that you should really do something in a particular case perhaps you should re-evaluate, “I’m busy” as a response. You didn’t get to where you are without God’s mercy…how then can you turn away sharing that mercy with others? How can you want and/or expect God’s mercy for yourself when you ignore showing mercy to those of His creation who need it.

The prophet peace be upon him said that, S/He is not a Muslim…the one who goes to sleep with their stomach filled and their neighbour goes to sleep hungry. In fact, we know from how he lived his life that he would often give up things he needed to help those who were less fortunate. What do you and I do? Something for us to reflect on.

Today, let us remember that we have a responsibility to show mercy to those around us in our thoughts, words and actions.

Video Link: Does My Prayer and Life Benefit Me?

Text Summary:
God says in the Qur’an, that He did not create humanity and jinn except to worship Him. What does worship mean?

In Ramdan, we try to improve some of the ritual acts of worship like our prayer. If we don’t pray all 5 prayers we may do them, we may add sunnah, we may rush to the taraweeh prayer at night or even get up and pray Qiyam and Tahajjud. These are important parts of the ritual worship of our Creator. They help to anchor our relationship with God. When we pray, even when we follow an imam, our prayer is a deeply individual thing between us and our Creator. It really is a form of communion because we don’t need any intermediary to negotiate our personal relationship with God. So, we focus on the outward aspects- we need to know what to do when we pray which is important. However, we also need to focus on the internal elements- how is this supposed to improve my relationship with God? What is my prayer supposed to do for me?

This month, let us try to improve our prayer- whether it means, praying all 5, whether it is adding sunnah or our focus in our prayer.

Let us also realize that “worship” is broader than ritual worship. Everything that we do in our daily life, can be a form of worship. When we help at home, go to work, go to school and everything else can be a form of worship. This is why scholars of Islam define Islam as being a “deen” not a religion because it is about a whole way of life.

This month, let us park the voices aside that tell us that we are “not good enough”, the voices that have passed judgement on us, let us think about how we, as individuals can become better human beings. Even more importantly, the fact that we have been blessed with Ramadan once more, tells us that Allah knows that we are capable of being better, of reaching a higher potential and has blessed us with that strength inside us. So, let us work towards achieving this in our ritual worship and in our daily lives.

Video Link: We Begin With Mercy

(time 4 minutes)

Text Summary:
The beginning of Ramadan is mercy and our beloved prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was described as “a mercy for all of humanity”. When we reflect on the fact that he was the most “perfect example” we need to ask ourselves, “What can I learn from him” and “what can I implement in my life that I have learnt from how he, peace be upon him, lived?”.
One of the things he taught us is that, Allah shows mercy to those who show mercy. If we want God to be merciful to us, we need to show mercy to His creation- people, animals, the environment. How can we turn to God and ask for His mercy when we are the least merciful to His creation?

We should also reflect on where/how we show mercy. Do we show mercy to everyone else, except in our own homes? What will our families say about us? Do we show some groups of people mercy and others none- why? Today, we have attained whatever we have because others were merciful to us. Sometimes, we become judgemental and get onto a “moral high horse” forgetting the many mistakes we have made. Abu Darda, may Allah be pleased with him said, ” hate the sin, not the sinner” and Jesus peace be upon him reminded us, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone”. Instead we should remember that we all make mistakes- no one is perfect. You and I have all made mistakes and needed other people to be merciful to us. We need to return this to others, starting with ourselves, our families, our communities and the world. Today, let us focus on doing at least one good deed that reflects the characteristic of mercy.