I've written before on the unmatched love that Allah (swt) has for His servants. The oft-cited comparison given by our beloved Prophet (saw) is the love of the mother towards her child.
Now can you imagine if ever an individual were to curse the child, how would the mother react? She would lose her senses, 'How dare you utter such nonsense against my child?!', 'Who do you think you are?!', 'Don't you ever say such filth again!' and so on.
No mother can stand to hear anyone cursing her child.
So let us imagine the seriousness of the issue upon which Allah (swt) has allowed both His most favored angel, Jibril (as), and His most beloved human, Muhammad (saw), to collectively curse the servant of Allah (swt).
Angel Jibril (as) prayed, 'Cursed be the man who finds the month Ramadan and fails to attain the forgiveness of his Lord.'
The Prophet (saw) concurred by saying 'Ameen.'
Ya Allah! This is a gravely serious situation. Will we be of those cursed by Angel Jibril (as) and Prophet Muhammad (saw)?
The severity is compounded by the fact that Allah (swt) has made the road to forgiveness so very easy for us.
Hasn't He promised to accept the dua'a of the fasting person when he breaks his fast?
Hasn't He promised to free a number of people from the Hellfire every single night of Ramadan?
Hasn't He ordered the fish at the bottom of the sea to pray for the forgiveness of the fasting person?
Hasn't He given us the last third of the night where He Himself descends to the lowest heavens and asks "Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness so I can forgive him."?
Hasn’t our Prophet (saw) stated "Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven."?
So how fossilized have our hearts become that we have failed to avail these beneficent gestures made by our Creator to entice us towards Him and His Mercy?
It behooves us all to make a sincere effort, a sincere prayer, a single sincere plea to Allah (swt) to cleanse us of all past sins.
Too often I find myself going through the motions of making dua'a. Devoid of passion. Devoid of fervor. Devoid of sincerity.
I liked this short video clip for some insight on how we ought to be beseeching our Lord (h/t to Tariq):
Let us all raise our hands in these last few days of Ramadan and from the bottom of our hearts pray to Allah to wipe our filthy slates clean and give us a fresh start.
He (swt) is more than willing to uphold His end of the bargain. Can we fulfill our end?
WAW
2 days ago
8 comments:
A/A. Jazakallah. Inspiring post.
barak allah feek brother for writing it in such a kind and inviting non-preacing manner, may Allah reward you. Will go get myself some forgivness now!
Hasn't He given us the last third of the night where He Himself descends to the lowest heavens and asks "Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness so I can forgive him."?
...Ya naeem, i suggest you re-word this statement, because someone who doesnt know much about islam or even a muslim who does not know about allah will take that statement in a literal sense...astagfirullah.
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: "Our Rubb, the Blessed, the Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven every night, during the last third of the night, and says: ‘Anyone calls Me, I will respond to him? Is there anyone asking for anything? I will give it to him? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, I will forgive him?’"
"Ya naeem, i suggest you re-word this statement,"
Ya Bilal, are you suggesting I re-word the statement of the Prophet (saw) because someone who doesn't know you will take your statement in a literal sense.... astagfirullah.
lovely entry ,hey what do you know about raising of the hands when making dua ?
"Ya Bilal, are you suggesting I re-word the statement of the Prophet (saw) because someone who doesn't know you will take your statement in a literal sense.... "
haha no of course not,MY wording was wrong,i just meant you should clarify what the hadeeth itself means.because you know,this has become a big shot blog these days.... and the thought of you thinking i was implying what you stated above......astagfirullah wa a'uthu billah.
and this is a totally different subject,but you must have you "u" and "a" mixed up,you spelled "Rubb" with a u just like you spelled humza with a u.hehe :p
and im not trying to take over Naeems job but, to poetic muslim, are you asking why we raise our hands when we make dua?
if so its because there is a hadeeth where the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) said "asamaa' qiblat adua'" that the sky( or heavens) is the direction of the dua.if not then Naeem can answer that one.
And just for arguments sake (i wanna see how long i can last), what you have written here isnt a hadith of the prophet (peace be upon him),it is a translation of a hadith,and translations are sometimes not 100% accurate,so i can disagree with how you or someone else decided to translate a hadith originally spoken in arabic.theres nothing wrong with that.
Salaam brothers and sisters. I would like to add my little part. It is futile to quarrel about such a thing, although I know you guys weren't quarreling. Anyway as bilal suggested it would be great to have the hadith explained so that newcomers would understand. And incase one doesn't remembers the hadith by heart then it is better to add that what you have to say is a gist of the words of the prophet (saw).
May Allah swt bless you all and keep us all happy and contended..and yeah ramzaan is upon us so ask for the whole ummah and ask Allah to help us utilize the blessed month to the fullest.Aameen
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