format_quote Originally Posted by
balance
Salaam to all.
So I will get straight to the point.
To be honest, I am not the perfect muslim girl out there, I went through a phase where I questioned my own religion but I'm glad that I went through that it will probably make more sense later on after I'm done typing everything out.
I have reached a point in my life where I just want to do the simple things that god asked all of us to do, like pray 5 times a day etc. It went through my head so many times like how difficult is it do include prayers in my life, how hard can it be?
I went from a religious little girl who never wanted to commit sins who was paranoid about making something that is against my religion and from that I went through the phase where I did some things that I never though that I would do.
I am all about balancing things in life, I've learned that you can't be too much of this or that.
Lately I've been having this confusion and probably one thing that stopped me from starting to do my prayers months and months ago, the problem is that I feel like I am not a muslim anymore, I feel like I have to go through the entire process when a muslim is born like reading azaan in the child's ear etc I feel like I have to do all of that to be considered a muslim again, as you can see I feel like I want to do it right, I am too scared that if I just go straight to prayers and ask for forgiveness it won't be taken seriously by god, I'm a bit paranoid, like if I do something, I want to do it the right way.
So does anybody got any advice how to just start fresh and if I should I actually go through the the procedures of what a new born or a muslim convert goes through to feel right again or will simply asking god for forgiveness be enough?
Anyways thank you all in advance I'll be looking forward to your replies.
XoXo.
Asalaamu Alaikum Wr Wb, my sister Allah is wanting to guide you that is why you are feeling inclined towards coming more into Islam and wanting to be closer to Allah. But as with anything in life we have to work towards it and put our FULL effort into whatever we want in life.
Just like we have to study day and night to achieve good results for our degrees and achievements. The sameway you have to put in FULL effort if we want to coming towards deen and closer to Allah.
Please rest assured that you are not the only person grappling with this problem. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said, "Every son of Adam is a sinner, and the best of sinners are those who repent."
Allah Most High created us and He knows our natures. He knows that we are weak and prone to error and sin. He knows that we are faced with temptations everyday of our lives.
Yet, He is the Most Merciful and the Most Clement. In the words of Allah the Most High, "Say: 'O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped."
(Az-Zumar, 39:53-54)
Allah's mercy, compassion and forgiveness are all encompassing and his mercy is one of his most important and significant qualities of the almighty in the Qur’an, as well as in the saying and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh).
In a Hadith Qudsi Allah states: "My mercy prevails over My wrath."
The Prophet also once said:
Allah, the Almighty, says: Whosoever does a good deed, will have (reward) ten times like it and I add more; and whosoever does an evil, will have the punishment like it or I will forgive (him); and whosoever approaches Me by one span, I will approach him by one cubit; and whosoever approaches Me by one cubit, I approach him by one fathom, and whosoever comes to Me walking, I go to him running; and whosoever meets Me with an earth-load of sins without associating anything with Me, I meet him with forgiveness like that.
(Sahih Muslim)
Approximately 113 chapters of the Holy Qur’an begin with: "In the name of Allah the Most-Compassionate; the Most-Merciful".
This is a constant reminder to all who read the Qur’an of the great mercy, compassion and forgiveness of almighty Allah. So do not despair my sister for whatever wrongs we have done if we repent sincerely with the intention to NEVER commit it again then Allah will forgive us.
Allah Most High gives us countless opportunities to repent. We must avail ourselves before it is too late. Alhamdulillah, you're fully aware of this fact. So why not do something good for your heart and your soul and turn to Allah in true repentance? None of us knows when we will be called back to our Creator. So don't let another minute pass.
Alhamdulillah, you have the gift of youth. So take advantage of it. According to a saying of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, "Take advantage of five things before five others occur. Your youth before you grow old; your health before you become sick, your wealth before you become poor, your leisure before you become busy, and your life before you die."
A lot of people put off repentance until they are very old or very sick. But no time is better than the present. Every second of your youth is going by and being wasted, will you ever get this precious time back?
We should be truly repentant for our sins. True repentance is repentance that brings you closer to your Lord and further from the sin. True repentance means that you sincerely and diligently take the means to move away from this sin. You get to the point where even the idea of committing this sin is loathsome. That's what you should strive for. So we should constantly ask for forgiveness every single day.
My Sister if we don’t keep consistent with our deen then our imaan (faith) will decrease and we will be far from Allah and our deen. My sister I'm sure you have achieved something in your life like a degree of education etc When you were revising for your degree or an exam you must have worked SO SO hard and you revised for hours on end, that truly showed that you have got a lot of determination inside of you because not many people can work that hard and with that much consistancy like you did, so why not transfer that determination and motivation and come FULLY into Islam and go FULLY towards Allah?
Why did you work so hard for your degree or exam? Because you wanted the end result to be good, right? Sameway if you work hard to do as much good as possible and abide by Allah's commands then the end result in this world AND the hereafter will be good inshallah! So you have to change your mindset and think in this way that i need to work towards the end result which is in the hereafter just like i worked towards a good end result for my degree.
If we don’t let go of our love for this world and worldly things then how can our imaan (faith) remain high? So we have to forsake the love for this world and realise that this world is just temporary and our life in this world can end at ANY second!
My Sister we should thank Allah so much everyday because firstly out of BILLIONS of people that he's created he chose US and gave US imaan(faith)!
He didn’t have to, he could of created us non believers and he could have created us in ANY time period in history like in the dark ages or in the medieval times or some other terrible time uncivilised time period but he created us in a relatively safe environment in one of the richest countries in the world with luxury, food on a plate everyday, anything we want and all we have to do is look at the unfortunate people who have NOTHING and we will truly realise how lucky we really are and that Allah has given us EVERYTHING!
Many times I have been to Pakistan and seen the poor there and they're terrible condition and I just feel SO lucky of what Allah has given me compared to these people.
I saw a paralysed guy ROLLING around on the streets because he couldn’t walk or afford a wheel chair, that really got to me. When one sees these things that is when reality really hits us of how lucky we really are because living in this country we always seem to forget.
My Sister the amount of poverty that people are experiencing in this world and the position Allah has put us in we should constantly be in prostration to him and thank him SO SO much! We are SO SO lucky my Sister and we still complain about this and that and minor things but we should be ever thankful to Allah night and day!
We take for granted what he has given us! He could have created us paralysed or with a terrible debilitating disease but no my Sister he has given us health, wealth and best of all imaan (faith) and now he is wanting to guide us that is why were want to go towards him!
The ONLY thing stopping us from going towards Allah is ourselves because know that shaythan can just whisper but it is our choice whether we listen or not. We are given free will to choose which path we want to take and we HAVE to make the effort to go towards him and get into our deen.
Every single day we should try to imagine and contemplate the favours Allah has done for us and the everything he has given us and only then we will ALWAYS remain so so thankful and appreciative of Allah because my Sister SO many people are suffering in this world and all around us but were not always aware. We may look at some people around us and think to ourselves they look happy and content but only Allah knows the most terrible hardships that they are going through.
We should ALWAYS look at people who have less than us and NEVER those who have more than us! We may look at a person who we think has more than us and is happier than us, but how do we know what they are going through in life? We don't because it is not always advertised what people are going through.
Look at our poor brothers and sisters in war torn countries and those who are being oppressed by their governments who don’t even allow them to practise their deen, yet where we are our governments do allow us to practise our deen properly without any problems.
Even though we sin day in and day out our almighty creator still provides for us, nourishes us, sustains us and gives us EVERYTHING we need EVERYDAY OF OUR LIVES! He remains patient waiting for us to go towards him everyday but our luck can run out ANY second!
My Sister we are so lucky if ONLY we knew and realised how much so. Even after our imaan (faith) goes down, Allah is still trying to guide us and that is why we feel inclined in our hearts to go towards him and be the closest to him!
All we have to Sister is to make the little effort in comparison with EVERYTHING Allah has given us! But yet we still fail to do the little required of us to change and go towards Allah!
He gave us life, health and working limbs when there are people out there who have limbs missing or are deformed and retarded and look at us! He has given us EVERY SINGLE THING and yet we still struggle to give even a little back and thank him by praying to him for just a few minutes a day.
Even if we were to spend eternity trying to imagine what Allah has given us and the amount of favours he has done for us, we would NEVER be able to even begin to imagine!
My Sister happiness and contentment of the heart ONLY lies with Allah! Whether we gain this happiness and true contentment really depends on how obedient we are to Allah's commandments and how much we really strive to do what he asks of us!
Remember everything that is good comes from Allah and everything bad that happens comes from us and our own wrong doings! Also Allah tests his creations in MANY different ways!
He may test us in any aspect of our lives! Almighty Allah says in the Qur'an as well that do you think that you will not be tested? What is the point and purpose of life if we are not to be tried and tested by Allah?
Allah just wants to see how we will react when we are tested! Will we go closer to shaythan? or closer to Allah?
Why should we let shaythan win? For Allah tests a person so that he may see if the person will go closer to him or further away!
Who were the people who were tested the most? They were the Ambiya(prophets)! Do you know why? Because they were the best of all creation! So the more Allah tests us the more he wants us to be closer to him and if we bare the tests with patience then know that Allah is with those who are patient and the reward for patience can only be jannah (Paradise)! Subhanallah
It is shaythan who wants us to become closer to him and will we let him? He ONLY wants our destruction!
He tries EVERYTHING in his power to try and keep us away from our deen by trying by distracting us with the deceptions of this world but will we let him?
He constantly tries to make us forget our purpose for It is shaythan who wants to make us lose faith in Allah and trying to make us give up hope and get depressed and confused!
He tries to mess with our minds and make us lose hope and self esteem and then tells us that our lives are pointless and worthless so why not give up?
It is shaythan who wants to see our destruction in this world and the next! Will we let him do this to us and let him win? Will we let him jeopardise our imaan(faith) and bring us to total destruction in this world and the next?
All shaythan can do is whisper in our ears and tell us to do something but it is upto us whether we will listen or not! we are beings with free will and free choice to do what we want. So will we follow our desires and the whispers of shaythan and be in loss forever? Or will we ONLY strive to listen to Allah and gain eternal success in this world and the next? Its logical who we should listen to but why don't we?
For us it is easier to sin that to do good, but that is because were in the habit of sinning so much that were used to it. Were in the habit of missing namaz day in day out so its a normal thing for us. We hardly think about Allah and what is to come in the afterlife but continue to think about our life in this world and our future. How do we know we have a future? How do we know whether our time will come now or later? If it does come now what have we got to show for what we have done in our life to try and please Allah?
We need to get into the habit of doing good deeds and praying ALL of our salat and then it will be easier for us to do good deeds and when we get so used to doing good deeds and sinning less then when we do happened to do a sin we would be much more guilty about it and strive not to do it again.
We should NEVER give up hope and give in to shaythan! This is exactly what shaythan wants! He can only whisper but WE HAVE THE POWER OVER OURSELVES! We have FULL control over our mind and body so let us take back control and use our mind and body and focus it towards bettering ourselves as Muslims and going towards our deen and Allah! Let us NEVER give up hope in Allah and NEVER give into shaythan because you are STRONGER than him and you can overcome him it is in you!
This life is a test and what kind of test would it be if there was'nt evil and temptation around us? Life is full of hurdles for the path to Jannah is not an easy one and why should it be? We have to earn our place in Jannah just like we earnt our degrees. If we get closer to Allah then our journey to Jannah will be a very easy one because we would have Allah by our side and when we get tested we would bare it with patience and have full hope, reliance and trust in Allah! But if were far away from our deen and Allah then we will be on a very rocky road to knowhere and eventually destruction!
The problem is because were far away from our deen and Allah it is MUCH harder for us to do good deeds and pray to Allah with full commitment. That is why it is crucial that we get closer to our deen and Allah so that we find it easier to do good and feel more guilt when we do bad.
Even my parents aren't religious at all but when i started to get into Islam my mother also followed and started reading her namaz and then my sisters followed but when i started getting into Islam NO1 at all was practicing! My dad is'nt religious at all and never has been so you should know that i came into Islam from Allah's guidance and i made full effort because i really wanted to get closer to Allah and i really wanted to get into Islam because i know it is the ONLY truth and the ONLY way to eternal success!
Its never easy because we always have shaythan and our desires trying to get in our way but if we keep consistant in our deen and ALWAYS turn towards Allah then NOTHING can stop us! If Allah guides someone then NO ONE can misguide them but if Allah misguides someone then NO ONE can guide them.
Once you start praying properly and coming towards Islam then one wqill bring noor(light) and blessings into the household and other members of the household will also benefit from it, so will you not pray and read Qur'an so that your house gets full with this noor and blessings?
My sister Allah ONLY created us for one purpose and that is to worship him! He created us to provide for ourselves in this world but it is him who has given us the ability to work! He has given us the mental ability and capacity and he has given us the health and energy in our muscles so that we may work! He is our employer and he is our wage giver! He sustains and he has given us the ability to earn for ourselves. This does not mean that we should let this affect our actual purpose in this life! We should always keep a balance between what we do for this world and what we do for the hereafter.
My sister Its just about making a routine for ourselves! If we have a daily routine of work, praying remembrance of Allah, reading the Qur'an and learning about Islam then we are more likely to stick to it and implement it throughout our daily life.
When you get into the habit of praying my sister then everything will become easier for you. It is just right now shaythan is trying to make you think its impossible for you and he is trying to make you think that you can't do it and that it is not in your capacity to do it but he is just trying to knock your confidence in yourself! You have the ability to do ANYTHING!
Once you get into the habit of praying you will NEVER look back again and you will think why did'nt i start earlier! I believe in you sister and know you can do this for you are MUCH stronger than shaythan and you can get into the habit of namaz without any problems but you have to act NOW and NEVER put this off again and say soon or tmorrow because tomorrow or soon NEVER comes but NOW is the time my sister!
My Sister Allah has not asked much from us in this life compared to what he's got on offer for us in the hereafter! Allah has just asked us for full obedience to him for such a short amount of time- (70 years to the most) and in return for our obedience he has promised us ETERENITY of bliss!
So that's: Obedience to Allah for the duration of our short lives = Eternity of bliss in the hereafter
Is that not the most amazing offer one can EVER imagine or comprehend? On top of that Allah has given us everything we need, life, shelter, wealth, food, clothing I can go on and on on the favours of Allah FOREVER!
So not only has Allah provided us with everything we can imagine but he has asked us to do a little in return for an eternity of bliss and we still can't manage it? Were pathetic its as simple as that!
There is 1440 minutes in a day and on average all the salah if we add it up takes around 40 minutes in total a day so thats 40 minutes for Allah out of 1440 minutes in a day thats just 3% of our day that we need to pray to Allah and we still can't manage that! We are truly pathetic and we will truly regret it on the day of judgement FOREVER and by then it would have been too late!
My sister for EVERYTHING Allah has given us can we not even manage to spend 40 minutes out of 1440 minutes for him? He does'nt need us at all sister for we need him!
Allah just wants the best for us in this world and the next and he tells us in the Qur'an that righteousness and piety is the path to success in this world and the next!
Simply following Allah's commands wholeheartedly will lead to success in this world and the next!
This life for us can end at ANY second Sister as we have seen for ourselves and still see on the news and all around us people dying and those people are not old at all they are people of ALL ages, ethnicities, backgrounds and religions! No matter who we are and what our situation or position is in life when our time is up then death will take us for death does not wait a second more it will take us when our time is up and NO ONE knows when that will be but Allah!
We know too well how temporary our life is and we should realise that if we waste our lives away more than we have already done then surely we will surely regret all the time we wasted on the day of judgement because ONLY then will we realise the true value of the time we had and the amount of GREAT opportunities we missed out on to do good and go towards Allah!
There will be MANY on the day of Qiyamat that will ask Allah for just one more chance and opportunity to have another shot at life and another chance to do things right this time but NO ONE will be given another chance for THIS is our ONLY chance! If we waste this opportunity then we WILL regret it FOREVER! That's a guarantee!
Allah will say have i not given you enough chances in this world to change and be obedient to me?
We wouldn't want to die at this point in our lives right now because we know that we have prepared NOTHING! What have we prepared to show Allah when he asks us what we did with our lives? We have NOTHING to show! We should be VERY worried indeed!
One time the Prophet (Pbuh) saw some people laughing out aloud and they were laughing a lot and the Prophet (Pbuh) said that if these people knew what was to come then they would NOT laugh at all! This proves that the Prophet (Pbuh) knew what was to come and he knew that if we had the knowledge he did then we would be VERY worried indeed but we don't realise because were asleep and we by the time we wake up it will be too late!
So we HAVE to wake up now! Otherwise if we die and have nothing to show Allah of our lives then we are doomed and we would not be able to handle a second of punishment.
My Sister my dear friend died this past Ramadan and and he was only 28 years of age and just a couple of weeks ago my first cousin sister died and she was only 26.
My Sister life is just so uncertain. How do we know when our time is up? The thing is we don't know that is why we HAVE to prepare now! Otherwise there may not be a tomorrow!
If we CONSTANTLY remind ourselves of death then we will NEVER slack in our deen because we would know that the angel of death may take us ANY second! Just as i was writing this to you my friend text me and told me that his father has just died! What can i say my sister? How much more do we need until we change ourselves? How many more warnings do we need until all our warnings are up?
We get SOO many chances from Allah everyday but yet again and again we don't take those opportunities for we keep letting them pass but what if at ANY second our last chance is up?Then we will not get anymore!
So it’s best for us to try and change ourselves now! Lets do our best to abide by the commandments of Allah and go closer to him because he is our beloved creator and he knows what’s best for us we don't! Allah says in the Qur'an that we humans know not what is best for us but Allah does. We think we do but we clearly don't.
Surely our creator knows because he has created everything we see and imagine! So let us put our FULL trust in him and strive to get the closest to our beloved creator who gave us life!
We should NOT keep dwelling on our past now or the bad experiences we went through because our past has made us who we are today! Let us take lessons from our past and learn from it and do things better now and the future!
It will do us absolutely no good by being down about what has happened in the past! Being depressed or down about the past and life in general and losing hope and faith will NEVER benefit us but cause our doom and destruction because that is what shaythan wants! He wants to mess our heads up and distract us ANYWAY he can!
If we think to ourselves that life is too short to be down or lose hope and faith and that i should spend most of my time working for the next life then this is the best way to live our lives because what is the point of investing time and efforts in this world when those efforts are for something that is temporary and could end at ANYTIME!
Why not spend most of our time and efforts on the hereafter which is for ETERNITY? Any investment we put into the hereafter will benefit us forever and we will wreak the rewards for eternity! But if we put all of our efforts just into this world then how much will we really gain from it? Very little or nothing at all!
The person who chases this world will only get what is destined for him but the person who chases the hereafter will get more from this world and from the hereafter! So who is the winner?
We have all done mistakes in our lifetime and sometimes we wish that we can get hold of a time machine and do things differently! We wish we could go back into the past and change things so that things could have been different now but what is the point of thinking this way? whatever has happened has happened and will NEVER change! Even if the world was to be created again whatever will happen will keep happening!
We are wasting even more time thinking this way when we could be using this precious time in doing things better now and the future because that’s what really counts not what has already happened!
Let’s move on and NOT think and dwell about the past because our life experiences make us who we are and have made us wiser people when in the past we were inexperienced in life and naive!
Sometimes in life we have to learn the hard way because the hard way is the best way to learn at times and we have to just accept what’s happened and move on because life goes on but we don't know for how long! We have to realise how precious time is!
So lets forget the past now and move on and do the BEST we can now and the future in pleasing Allah and trying to be the closest to him and repenting our past sins because if we repent with full sincerity with the intention of NEVER doing it again then Allah almighty will forgive us inshallah that’s how merciful he is!
We can work our WHOLE lives 24/7 and build a wonderful life for ourselves here and then the next day we die before we can even enjoy the fruits of our hard labour! What was the point of all that investment just in this world when it can end at ANYTIME!
Let’s ONLY invest the very minimum into this world lets invest as much as we can to the next world which is our final and ultimate destination!
The Prophet (saw) says to that we should treat this life as if it were just on a journey! This life is not a very long stop until our final abode which is the hereafter!
When investors are looking to invest in a business venture do they look for short term gains or long term? Obviously long term my sister and that’s what we should be looking for because the cleverest person is the one who makes arrangements for the hereafter and not only for this world!
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t have our share in this world of course we should but we should invest most of our time in the next life which is for ETERNITY!
We would NOT be able to handle a single second in the hell fire my sister, we cannot even imagine how terrifying this will be so we should do our best in this life to seek protection from it and make our good deeds balance as heavy as possible!
Sometimes i find it very hard to imagine when i think of the concept of FOREVER! It’s hard to imagine something that will last forever! That it will never cease but will go on and on! It’s not hard to think of temporary because most of the things around us goes through a cycle of life and then ceases to exist!
We see people die all around us and everything will have to come to an end, but the concept of forever is just unimaginable because it will keep going and going and NEVER end.
We cannot imagine there hereafter that is why you may find it difficult to comprehend but if we believe in the hereafter then of course we must believe in the full descriptions of heaven and hell!
The disbelievers have nothing to live for! They go through life ONLY living for this world and are confused as to why they are here and they don't have a purpose in life but we know our purpose but what are we doing to achieve it?
Allah guides who he wants and he says in the Qur'an that if he wanted to he would guide all of mankind but that would go against the whole point of this creation and testing mankind!
Allah knows best who is worthy of having faith and guidance! But it is truly a sad life for those who have no purpose in this life! They live just for this world! This is their paradise! This is their bliss! But ours is in the next world for this world is the prison for the believer!
One of the main reasons why we lack in imaan Sister is also due to a lack of knowledge of Islam!
Knowledge always makes things clearer to us! If we constantly gain knowledge of Islam and especially the akhirah and at the same time contemplate and ponder over it then my sister our imaan will remain strong because we know what is to come.
My Sister our enemy shaythan wants our destruction and he will stop at NOTHING until we desire this world and live for this life but my sister this life is SO SO short that we cannot imagine.
A hadith to the nearest meaning says that when we will be in the akhirah we will be asked "How long were you on the earth for?" We will say " Only for a few hours" because the comparison of this world to the akhirah is NOTHING! So when we are in this next world this world will seem like a few hours!
My Sister we will regret every second we wasted! In the akhirah we will wish that we went back to the earth and done things better but this is our ONLY chance! My Sister we can't waste our one chance that we have in this world!
What is this world but an illusion and a deception? Allah says this in the Qur'an that this life is like a veil over your eyes its a deception! We have to wake up Sister and keep reminding ourselves EVERY day of our purpose!
My Sister Allah loves us 70 times more than a mother loves its baby! Look at how much love our almighty has for us! He looks after us, sustains us and cherishes us but what do we do? We run after this world! We are truly sad and we will be the losers on Qiyamat(Day of judgement)unless we change NOW!
My Sister Ramadan left us a few months back and it was the month of mercy where praying became so much easier and the doors of forgiveness open but my sister as long as we have life and our soul is in us then the doors of mercy and forgiveness are open for us and Allah can forgive us for EVERY sin but we need to make the changes in our own heads first and change our mind set!
We need to make sincere vows to Allah that we will ONLY go towards him and we will ONLY put everything into the Akhirah to please him!
We need to only live for this world as much as we can survive comfortably but everything we do for this world we should also make the intention of doing it for Allah's pleasure so that we can survive in this world! The prophet (Pbuh) was given the chance to have all of the riches of this world but he rejected it all because he wanted the riches in the hereafter! Similarly we need to want the riches of the hereafter for how can one compare the riches of this world to that of the hereafter? There's NO comparison!
If we keep constantly reminding ourselves of this then we will constantly busy ourselves with Zikr (remembrance of Allah) and we will have no time for being down or depressed.
This life is our ONLY chance to please Allah and gain as many good deeds as we can so that we can build our eternity in the next world. We can't build our eternity once were dead so we HAVE to do as much as we can to please Allah and increase our good deeds now that we are alive before death overtakes us and death can overtake us at ANY second!
You really need to try and find good pious local sisters who are working for the akhirah. I'm sure you can get involved with local sister halaqa's,meetings and sisters circles because there are SO many Muslims in your area and there will DEFINATLY be good sisters doing good work in your area its just a matter of getting in touch with such a group.
You are who your friends are so if your friends are good and pious and of those who ONLY desire the hereafter then those are the right people to be with but if they are the opposite then you need to get away from them because whether we like it or not their bad influence and habits etc will rub off on us gradually.
The true friend is the one who takes us towards goodness and towards Allah and Islam and the bad friend is the one who will drag us towards hell and destruction.
My Sister our aim should be to do EVERY good act especially namaz with khushu (imaging we can see Allah when praying or doing good deeds). We need to imagine him watching us no matter what we do! If we imagine him watching us then surely we would automatically want to stay away from sin and do good actions with more sincerity and focus. For this we need to try and clear our minds of all thoughts and focus SOLELY on Allah when were doing any good action like namaz for example because it is easy for our minds to wander when were praying.
We need to try and gain more sincerity in our hearts in every action we do and clean out the love of this world from our hearts and replace it with the love for the hereafter and wanting to be the closest to Allah!
All this is certainly not an over night process, but my sister our imaan (faith) can remain strong and high if we consistently remember Allah ALL the time and keep in mind our purpose in this world that were ONLY here for such a short period and that we will have to go one day which can be ANY second. We should glorify Allah throughout the day and remember him no matter what were doing in our lives and this way our imaan (faith) will remain high all the time inshallah!
We should imagine him watching us glorify him and think of him and we should do lots of duas throughout the day and gain a close relationship with Allah!
We should read much of the Qur'an and its meanings and contemplate and ponder over its meanings. We should try and spend a little time each day trying to memorise bits of the Qur'an and even make intention that we want to memorise all of it because We will get our reward depending on our intention!
We should try and learn and implement as MANY Sunnahs (Actions and sayings) of our beloved Rasulallah (Pbuh) as possible who is our role model and we should learn the masnoon duas and implement them EVERYDAY in our lives!
We should learn the life story of our beloved Rasul (Saw) and learn about every aspect of his most amazing life! This will surely soften our hearts!
We should learn about the stories of the pious predecessors and the hero's of Islam and take them as our hero's because they are the true hero's of this world like the many hero women of Islam which i will paste you the web link at the bottom so that you can read about their amazing lives!
We should constantly remind ourselves of death and read about it all the time my Sister and read about what will happen to us after death in the grave and in the hereafter! We should learn about our possible rewards in Jannah and our demise in Jahannam if we fail and die without imaan May Allah save us all!
We should try and gain a thirst for knowledge my Sister because it is said that the ones with knowledge and the ones without knowledge is like the distance from here to the star that you can see shining and learning knowledge of Islam will opens up our eyes wider than they currently are.
We need to acquire a taste and a desire to gain knowledge and try our best to act upon it and implement it in our daily lives and share it with others! My brother we need to try and gain the closeness to Allah by reading MANY nafil salah's.
My Sister we need to try and constantly occupy ourselves with the Zikr of Allah and glorify him day and night!
Allah says in the Qur'an "Remember Allah abundantly, in order that you become successful"
Quran (Surah 8: Verse 45)
"Only in the remembrance of Allah (swt) will your heart find peace"
Quran (Surah 13: Verse 28)
"Those men and women who engage much in Allah's praise. for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a Great Reward"
Quran (Surah 33: Verse 35)
"When any group of men remember Allah, angels surround them and mercy covers them, tranquillity descends upon them, and Allah mentions them to those who are with Him."
(Muslim)
We also know that remembering Allah is of the greatest deed:
"The remembrance of Allah (swt) is the greatest (deed)"
Quran (Surah 29: Verse 45)
and of the the worst things we can do is not to remember Allah:
"Satan has mastered them and caused them to forget the Remembrance of Allah. Those are Satan's party; and Satan's party shall assuredly be the losers"
Quran (Surah 58: Verse 19)
"Whosoever turns away from the Remembrance of Allah, He will hurl him into a stern punishment".
Quran (Surah 72: Verse 17)
"Whosoever turns away from My remembrance, his life will be made tight and narrow on the Day of Resurrection We shall raise him blind"
Quran (Surah 20: Verse 124)
Allah tells us to remember him no matter what we do whether that be lying or sitting down:
"They are the most wise who remember Allah, standing sitting and lying down"
Quran (Surah 4: Verse 190)
We should remember Allah no matter what we are doing and we should ALWAYS try to keep our tongues moist with his remembrance and glorification.
Here are some VERY quick, easy and rewarding ways of earning good deeds everyday especially easy zikr's:
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html (VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday!)
My sister i would recommend that you start off at your own speed because if one does too much in one go then they may let go of the act quickly so i would say go at your own speed and start off praying one or two a day and progress from there noting down how many salah you pray so that you can check your progress, You need to write it down so that you can keep a tab on how many salah your praying everyday.
Just concentrate on the fard salah for now and eventually my sister you can move onto praying nafil and that is what really makes one closer to Allah.
In the morning when waking up for tahajjud even if its 20 mins before start of Fajr and then wait until Fajr and pray that and then do ibaadah (worship) until ishraaq(Sunrise) and then pray that Salah and then the breakfast salah(Salaatul Duhaa) and then pray Zuhr with all the sunnah and Nafil and same with Asr and make some time to do ibaadah until Maghrib and read the nafils after that (Salaatul Awabeen) and read isha and all the sunnah and nafil and do zikr (remembrance of Allah) throughout the day, So my Sister if we do all of these things then were are implementing Islam FULLY in our lives and we will be SO SO close to Allah and feel the best feeling in our hearts that we can EVER imagine! We will feel the sweetness of imaan!Oh what a beautiful feeling it is!
My Sister we should try and cry to Allah everyday on our duas and feel him close to us in our hearts!
Please click on the link for a more detailed explanation of the many Nafil Salah which we can pray everyday so we can be the closest to Allah!
VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html (VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday!)
We should cry over our sins and ask of Allah for guidance and help in our lives. We should ALWAYS be in the habit of asking of Allah for EVERYTHING we want in life and the hereafter and always remember others especially our family and parents in our dua's!
We should try to make dua especially in this last portion of the night where duas are more readily accepted. Just like how a mother runs to its baby when its crying then will Allah not swiftly attend to us when we cry to him in dua?
We should have hope of his mercy after sincere repentance and make intention not to repeat the sin again but if we do then we should continue to ask for repentance my Sister because Allah is most merciful and his mercy overcomes his wrath! Allah gets angry at those who do not ask of him and don't hardly make dua to him!
We should ALWAYS make dua for our parents and all of the Muslims. If we make dua for EVERY Muslim person who’s ever lived and every Muslim from now until the last Muslim then we will get the reward for EVERY Muslim we pray for. So that's BILLIONS of good deeds every time we do dua for every Muslim that's ever lived! We need to make a habit of doing this!
Dua is the BEST weapon for a believer but shaythan always tries to make us forget to do dua and makes us lazy in dua. Imagine if we prayed to Allah all the time how much better off we would be in our lives? Dua is a VERY powerful tool if only we knew the value of it!
There are SO many good deeds that if we knew the true value of them we would literally crawl towards them! Just because we do not know the true value that is why we are complacent and lacking in the ability to do good deeds.
We should from now on have FULL hope in him and him ONLY! We should have FULL reliance in him and accept the fact that if he tests us then he is wanting us to be the closest to him and we should bare the test with patience! He ONLY tests those he wants closest to him!
My Sister can you feel in your heart how much you desire to be the closest to Allah? It is because Allah is wanting you to be the closest to him and he is wanting you to desire meeting with him in the next world and he does not want you to waste your life and energies in this world because this world is NOTHING but a deception! This life is a proto-type of the akhirah.
My Sister lets get the hunger for good deeds and making Allah the happiest.
My Sister people spend their whole lives looking for peace and contentment in their hearts and ALL the worldly goods and money have NEVER given them that! Allah says that ONLY with my remembrance will hearts find contentment! So my Sister we have to CONSTANTLY remember him and glorify him!
We need to constantly keep our lips moist from his glorification. Keep a tasbih near to you in your hands ALWAYS because a tasbih is the best reminder for one to do zikr. I find that a metal clicking tasbih is really good and practical to carry ANYWHERE.
My Sister Allah is watching us in our prayers and EVERYTHING that we do so we need to imagine he is watching us because he ACTUALLY is! What an amazing feel that he is watching us pray and glorify him! So will you not desire to meet with him everytime you pray namaz? That is so sacred and the most amazing feeling to meet with ones lord EVERYTIME one prays! Subhanallah!
Let’s make the best of every second we have now and NOT waste it anymore! Let’s learn as much as we can about our beautiful way of life because it is truly amazing and has perfect wisdom in it!
Once we become closest to Allah we will feel more amazing than we have EVER imagined because Allah says that you will NOT find contentment and true happiness in money or anything else but you will ONLY find true contentment and happiness in me and NOTHING else!
So my Sister this is our chance to aim HIGH and gain the HIGHEST positions in paradise! Why settle for the lowest positions? Would you have been satisfied with a third class degree? Sameway why should we settle for the low positions of Jannah? Why not try to gain the high positions? It is possible my sister but we have to put in the effort and when we do i promise you, you will feel more amazing than you have EVER imagined and you will feel true peace and contentment in your heart!
Allah wants you to come closer to him so grab this opportunity and lets keep ourselves strong against the whispers from shaythan who wants our destruction by distracting us with worthless time wasting that will NEVER benefit us but cause our doom!
Allah is beauty itself for he is perfection and the almighty master of the universe and we are is lowly slaves who are insignificant like a speck of dust!
We should make the intention NOW that we will change our lives FOREVER and we go FULLY towards Allah and make our sole purpose and aim in this life to make him the happiest and shun this world which is deception and a jannah for the non believers for this is their temporary bliss and our bliss will be FOREVER in Jannah inshallah.
Life is so uncertain and we can be taken ANY second my dear Sister ands when it is gone then we can't do anything more to please Allah and add to our good deed accounts. We need Allah, he doesn’t need us so lets strive to go towards him FULLY!
We should desire to be the closest to Allah and Allah wants us to be the closest to him because he loves us MUCH MORE THAN WE CAN EVER IMAGINE!
So lets show him how much we love him with action and lets glorify him and thank him day and night because he loves those who thank him constantly and are appreciative of him SO SO much!
Let us make changes to ourselves NOW because we may not live tomorrow! Let's re-evaluate ourselves and realise that we only have ONE purpose and our destination is in the hereafter for our stay in this world is so so short.
Let us spend each day FULL of worship and obedience to him and a life where we will spend it making him the happiest and he will fulfil our needs and give us peace and contentment in our hearts which is the best feeling anyone can EVER imagine!
You have got it in you, just release the determination and give it your all! Don't waste a second more because you have to think to yourself what am i waiting for? You waiting for death to come? Before death comes we have to make preparations and death can arrive at our doorstep ANY second so let us start to make preperations NOW because there may NOT be a tomorrow!
Don't delay it any more sister because NOTHING should stop you now! There is NO time like the present to start! There is NO excuse for delaying it a second more!
The first thing you should do my sister without hesitation start reading namaz and focus totally on Allah as he is in front of you because namaz is a meeting with Allah.
Picture him in front of you ALL the time then your mind won't wonder! You will now start to feel more amazing than you have EVER imagined the closer you get towards Allah! You will feel tranquillity and peace in your heart that you have NEVER felt before and inshallah you will feel contentment which leads to true happiness!
Please ask me anything you want I'm here for you as your brother!
I have pasted some beneficial links for you on various aspects of Islam which i hope you will find VERY useful and beneficial!:
The translation of salat (namaz)- learn what your reading in namaz
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38303
Overcoming laziness and Procrastination
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52097
10 Steps to Increasing our Iman(Faith)
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...man-faith.html
Signs of Weak Iman and How to Increase It
http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/weakimanfix.htm
Overcoming tests from Allah
http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61961
25 Ways to Deal with Stress and Anxiety VERY GOOD THREAD
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43179
Forty Very Easy, Quick & Rewarding Good Deeds for all of us to do Everyday!
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html
VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday!
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html (VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday!)
My Daily Ibadah(worship) check
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...hip-check.html
Advice from a sister on hijaab
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39547
The Role of Women in Islamic Society-Very good article by revert sister
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39901
Hijaab and the Freedom of Women
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39857
Very Inspiring Experiences Of Recently Converted Woman
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40169
WOMEN IN ISLAM
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41377
The Best Role Models for All Muslim Women
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41302
[ Every Thing ] About .. " Woman Rights in Islam " ..
http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58707
A party in Paradise, A party in Hellfire
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39698
The Ultimate Motivation for Muslims
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49243
The State of the People of Paradise in this World
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49125
Major Signs before the Day of Judgement
http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html
Signs before the Day of Judgement
http://etori.tripod.com/dajjalsystem/judgement.html
The Life of this World and the Hereafter
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51739
Beautiful Description of Paradise in Islam
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51707
Practising az-Zuhd in the Dunya
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51738
Everything about Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh)
http://www.mohammad-pbuh.com/
For those wanting to look more into Islam
http://forum.mpacuk.org/showthread.php?t=44392
Please remember me in your dua's and ask me ANYTHING you want and i will try my best to always help you as your brother in Islam. Allah Hafiz