My Imaan has been slipping.
I have been delaying my prayers sometimes even until I miss them and have to make them up later.
I don't feel the sweetness of salaat.
Ive been lax in reading Quran, sometimes going for days without reading.
My heart feels dead
And my eyes have been dry.
Obvious sins seem more attractive to me.
People online curse in their written speech, and in one conversation I almost thought of using explitives. Not even because I was upset or anything, just for teh lulz y'know.
Astaghfirullah.
Music seems more attractive to me.
I know this is all foolishness and that I will InshaaAllah resist going into sins, or InshaaAllah step away from them if I do.
But I am upset because my heart has been dying, and that is my fault.
I have been under a lot of stress lately, and
I know this is the time I should be getting closer to Allah, not further.
I know I should start by forcing myself to pray on time and pick up the Quran and read more.
But does anyone have any advice?
I can't say I'm one of the good guys anymore.
Maybe I am arrogant.
If this were Star Wars:
The dark side, my naffs and the dunya, are pulling at me,
I feel a struggle within me to stay in the light.
May the Force be with you.
Last edited by Cpt.America; 05-29-2016 at 02:10 PM.
I think this is called jihad naffs. Subhanallah. Allahu alem but i'm on a similar path. The difference is I can feel my heart shutting down - physically.
Hang in there brother. What is working for me consists purely of assessing what troubles I am facing (within), and eliminating what I need to fi sa bilillah.
This is where we need to refine our sincerity to Allah subhano wa Ta'ala - inshallah.
I have read quite a few of your posts & Alhamdulilah you give excellent advice.
It’s very normal for our emaan to go up and down so please don’t feel alone. After all we only human beings and we constantly need reminders.
Instead of sticking to your routine daily prayers and acts of worship why not try something different to spark your emaan again? For example if you read a lot of Islamic books why not visit an Islamic conference where you are surrounded by like-minded people. As well as learning something you may be introduced to another brother who has more Islamic knowledge and may inspire you and encourage you?
You must evaluate where you are in life and what has decreased your emaan…By learning about the things that affect your emaan you are able to either avoid or learn how to manage that situation.
Ibn al-Jawzee said: "Being well-versed with evil embodies an alertness against falling into it." [Talbees lblees, page 4 and see al-Fataawa of Ibn Taymiyyah, 10/301 and onwards]
Thus, learning the causes behind the decrease of eemaan and being aware of the factors that weaken it and of how to safeguard one's self from them is a vital matter, which must be looked at. In fact, gaining knowledge of these causes is no less important than learning the causes for the increase of eemaan.
Before I begin to mention and shed light on the causes for the decrease of eemaan, I would like to point out that the non-maintenance of the causes of the increase of eemaan, neglecting to strengthen it and paying no regard to this, is deemed in itself a cause from the causes that decrease eemaan.
To therefore disregard the aforementioned issues and not pay any attention to them, weakens and decreases the eemaan. So just as their preservation is a cause for increase, in like manner, their disregard is a cause for decrease.
Shaykh Muhammad al-'Uthaymeen states: "As for the decrease of eemaan, it has many reasons..." he then them mentioned a number of points, from them: "Abandoning obedience, for eemaan decreases as a result of this. This decrease will be proportional to the significance of the particular act of obedience; the more significant and emphasized it is, the greater will be the decrease resulting from not performing it. It maybe that eemaan vanishes in its entirety, like in the abandonment of prayer." [Fath Rabb al-Barittah, page 66]
This is shown by the saying of Allaah:
"Indeed, he succeeds, who purifies it (i.e., his soul). Andindeed, he fails, who corrupts it." [Soorah ash-Shams (91): 9-10]
This noble Qur'aanic text signifies the importance of obedience and its preservation and that it is one of the greatest reasons for the purification of the soul. In sharp contrast, it also indicates the danger of neglecting obedience and of falling into disobedience and that it is one of the greatest reasons for failure and loss.
Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree, may Allaah have mercy upon him, mentions in his Tafseer.
"His saying, "Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it". Allaah says that indeed, he succeeds who purifies his soul; so he greatly purified his soul from kufr and disobedience and he rectified it through righteous actions ..." [Tafseer at-Tabaree, 15/211-212]
At-Tabaree than related some accounts from the Salaf that support this: He related from Qataadah, ‘Whoever works good, purifies it with obedience to Allaah.’ He also related from him, ‘Indeed, he succeeds, who purifies his soul with righteous actions.’
He related from Ibn Zayd that he said, ‘He succeeds, whom Allaah has purified his soul.’
He related from Mujaahid, Sa'eed Ibn Jubayr and 'Ikrimah, "Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it." They said: "whoever rectifies it."
Pain and hardships allow you to grow spiritually Alhamdulilah so smile when a so called calamity befalls upon you.
Alhamdulilah Allah swt is the greatest.
As humans, we are imperfect beings. Iman fluctuates and this is natural, there is a hadith to the effect that faith is like a garment, it can wear out with time and we should repair and replace it frequently.
Your heart isn't dying, it is just perhaps little worn out and tired from the struggles of life...that very fact you recognise perhaps a decrease in faith, and you are concerned about the state of your soul, shows just how alive your heart is, it perhaps needs a little spark - as we all do sometimes.
Now that you have recognised the reason why you are feeling like this, rectify it. Begin first by reading your salah on time, perhaps read verses of the Qur'an and hadiths concerning prayer to remind yourself of their significance again. Also make sure you read your Qur'an daily, even if it is just a couple of verses a day.
And something which really gives peace to one's heart is Qiyaam al-layl - when the whole word is asleep, and Allah swt is specifically seeing which servants of His pray to Him at this blessed time, it gives you so much tranquillity to prostrate to Him at that time.
Dhikr, lots of dhikr, 'Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.' 13:28
May Allah swt give you peace and allow us all to worship Him in an excellent way.
You have to change up what you're doing and find the things that move your soul. Sometimes we need a break and just get time to ourselves you know? You need time to breathe, to smell the flowers, to feel the rain. Be around people who have less than what you have so you can be sincerely and deeply grateful for everything you have, and help them because there's good in that as well. THere's beauty and greatness in dhikr, but we also have to do good deeds outside of dhikr and salaah. We get caught up in dunyaa and we forget that there is an afterlife, how do we build our home in jannah if we are bankrupt of deeds in dunyaa? Find someone you can compete with in good deeds. Be a role model for someone else.
Even if we're not always sincere in our actions and worship, good can still come from it because it creates good habits. And inshallah Allah will help us with the rest, but we have to put in the effort. Ironically I wrote this as my fb status a few years ago:
It should be essential to have good habits, because even if you might start losing the sincerity in your actions, you'll at least still be doing something useful and kind outwardly out of repetition, and inevitably the sincerity will return to its place from the positive outcomes of your actions. On the contrary, if you are used to bad habits, you will only find negativity surrounding you because bad habits stem out of weakness. Breaking habits is not easy, and no one can do it for you, so it's better to have the right ones that keep your backbone straight when everything else falls apart.
May allah rectify your affairs ameen. Ramadan is coming up so inshallah it will be the iman boost you need to get back on track
you won't fail as long as you refuse to, and as long as you strive for Allah SWT, even when entrenched in sin and disobedience, get up and pray.........
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Iman fluctuates and this is natural, there is a hadith to the effect that faith is like a garment, it can wear out with time and we should repair and replace it frequently.
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