Heart of a Muslim

By Zain Bhikha

Looking up at the sky, searching for Allah most High
He rejected the way of worshipping Gods of clay
Prophet Ebrahim knew that Allah was near
And that the heart of a Muslim is sincere

Under the hot burning sun, he declared God is one
Though with stones on his chest, his Imaan would not rest
The Muadhin knew that right would conquer wrong
And the heart of a Muslim must be strong

It’s the heart of a Muslim through the guidance of Islam
That makes you fair and kind and helpful to your fellow man
So living as a Muslim means that you must play a part
Allah looks not at how you look, but what is in your heart

In our poor meager state, little food on our plate
Mother said she was glad, always sharing what we had
When I asked how can we share what’s not enough
She said the heart of a Muslim’s filled with love

He said its time you should know, you will learn as you grow
That some people around will do what’s bad to bring you down
Father said to be a star that’s shining bright
For the heart of a Muslim does what’s right

So whatever you are, make sure your words are true

Honesty is the best, because life is a test

Even if it hurts so much you want to cry

For the heart of a Muslim does not lie

be strong with all your heart!

Truly, we can never learn to be strong but we can decide to be strong! And staying strong is another chapter that must be decided too. Some can be physically strong yet still be weak in the absolute sense. Generally, human is weak except when one has decided to be strong and then be it! It may take a while to be strong and it's harder than we may think but it's not impossible.

Whatever you want to achieve you can achieve - if you made up your mind very clearly and if you are sure YOU want to achieve a particular goal. It is not too late to change your inner attitude at any point of your life. Always remember that Allah loves Muslims which are stronger in the sense of their inner-self. May Allah ease us insyaAllah.

Be strong against all odds of life!

Be strong against the devils to fulfill our tasks as a believer!

Be strong in facing any obstacles brought up against us!

Be strong to withstand all pressures!

Be strong against all powerful negative forces we may encounter!

So dear me, be strong girl! ^_^

please stop playing weak to attract pity.

guest who?

Last weekend, I'd a wonderful person stayed at my place for a few days. We had such a great time alhamdulillah though the weather was truly unpredictable, from light shower with hot sunny intervals to gloomy cloudy days. She was the best guest ever! (She must be proud if she read this ahaks) Easygoing, up for anything and just happy to be hanging out together. Thank you Allah for this lovely ukhuwwah, hope you're doing good now that you don't have to walk (nor run) miles and miles just to catch the bus! ^_^

We saw beautiful landscapes of sea coast, lakes and lush greenery nature; enjoyed rowboat on the lake, window-shopped till drop, played frisbee until tired, stayed up late for comfy pillow-talk, cycled to the bay and the most important bits of all would be captured hundreds of professional-like pictures. Thanks for the memories! I'm a happy bunny =)

I remember that our great Prophet teaches us to be generous and how to entertain guests. He wants a Muslim to show gratitude. The Messenger of Allah further guides us by saying: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be hospitable with his or her guests." Hence, we must tend our guest the best as we can.

We deduce from both the Prophet’s verbal declarations and practices that it is a very important moral principle for Muslims to entertain guests and to treat them well. In the Holy Quran Allah has mentioned about Hazrat Ibrahim’s treatment of guests. When guests came he sent a message home to have a meal prepared. He didn’t wait to see if they had come from far, whether they were hungry, or whether they had already eaten. He immediately had food prepared for them. This is how Allah’s chosen ones honour their guests. Our Holy Prophet Muhammad set such high standards of hospitality that cannot be seen anywhere else.

There's even a hadith says:

“A guest comes with his bounties and becomes a means for the sins of the hosts to be forgiven before he leaves.” InsyaAllah. This shows the importance of following the sunnah of the Honorable Messenger (pbuh). May Allah give us the capability to look after our guests to our best capacity so they suffer no hardship. Ameen.

Change

Want VS Need. Which 1 is more important??

Of course the latter is crucial. What we want is not necessary what we need and likewise we often feel that what we need is not what we really want. My dear brothers and sisters, as Muslims, we have to distinguish the priorities in life and make sure we do positive changes in the name of Allah be it in changing our own habits, characteristics and personalities to the way we think and act. Thus, always identify what we need and want to change to better ourselves or in other words we do self-reflections (muhasabah) lillahi ta'ala.

Be the change you want and need!

There are a few tips to change which I'm inspired by the excellent talk by Mufti Ismail Menk during the Fosis Conference 2011 last week.

1) We need to know that every single person has the potential to change. It is our very own nature instinct that leads to positive changes which comes from within and will happen somewhere in life be it now or later.

2) The changes must be based on something solid which will not be affected by any other elements. Say a guy really want to stop smoking, it can't simply because of his girlfriend or parents, but he did it for the sake of Allah.

3) Never lose hope in Allah as He will help His servants who strive to obtain mardhatillah fi dunya wal akhirah (Allah's approval and pleasure in this world and the hereafter). Always pray and ask sincerely from Him, The Almighty.

4) Always have somebody to look upon to aka role models - and of course the best of all mankind would be our beloved Prophet's Muhammad SAW. Role models can be anyone really, those having the great qualities that we also want to instill in ourselves.

5) Never ever underestimate own self. We could never walk properly when we used to be toddlers trying to walk on our own if we don't trust ourselves and believe that we can do like others did. So if we keep on being so negative and pessimist, the desired changes we want and need wouldn't happen.

6) Clear aim and targets. Have long-term and short-term goals in hand. We have to decide on how we're living this life by the will's of Allah - good or bad.

7) Be the people of good characteristics! Don't follow the wrong examples and we must distinguish between the person and their habits - it's the bad habits or mislead actions of the people that we hate, not the people themselves. Train ourselves to be husnuzhon (positive thinking) insyaAllah.

Let's change for the better..don't just cocoon ourselves in our own dark shallow world. Explore life to the fullest, seek knowledge and experiences as much as we can.

May Allah ease us. InsyaAllah ^_^

faith

Faith is trust. Faith is hope. Faith is belief.

All in the goodness or trustworthiness of a person, concept or entity.

"Believing in Islam is like believing in the sun rising. Not because we can see it, but because by it, we can see everything."

Allah withheld the gift of faith from some of the closest relatives of His Messengers like Muhammad's uncle, Ibrahim's father, and Noah's son. Yet He blesses us with the most valuable gift ever since our very first breath. and that is Islam! Hence, let us safeguard it and renew our faith all the time, before we meet our Lord sooner or later in the state of the purest soul insyaAllah Taala...

We may not always understand why Allah allows certain things to happen, but we can be certain that Allah is not making any mistakes! For instance, when Allah subjects us to adversity, He is opening our eyes to reality. Allah is allowing us to change our bad habits in order to appreciate life to the fullest, to give us the opportunity to repent for past sins and correct our future actions, eventually to raise our status in the hereafter insyaAllah ameen ya Rabb.

May He always guide us and give us strength to go on with life and be blessed by Allah.