Sunday, January 10, 2010

A wake up call for me

In the Name of Allah, The Most Kind The Most Merciful

One of the things I like about doing dawah is that it often makes me re-assess myself. A few days ago, I got this question: Does Islam teach anything that corresponds to the Christian concept of a personal interaction or relationship to God? So I'm thinking, this is good chance to talk about salat, about dua, about rememberance of Allah, all of which make you get closer to Allah. And then I thought to myself: do I really get closer to Allah thru these things? We all know the importance of khushu in salat, and we all struggle with it. But, in my case at least, the other things are in a worse state. Let's take dua. Dua is a wonderful opportunity to totally open your heart to Allah, feel very close to Him, and ask of whatever you want. But how many of us, me included, just rush thru our duas after we make salat just for the sake of it? The same with rememberance of Allah. After salat, the Prophet(SAW) advised us to say Subhanallah 33 times, Alhamdolillah 33 times, and Allahu Akbar 34 times. But when we do this, are our hearts and minds in the right place? When we say Subhanallah, do we reflect on the glory of Allah, for example by pondering on His amazing creation? When we say Alhamdolillah, do we feel really gratefulness in our hearts for the countless favors He has given us? When we say Allahu Akbar, do we feel the might of Allah? As we say all these rememberances, do we really feel a personal interaction with Allah, as we are supposed to, or do we think about the kids, the cricket score, our meetings at work, what's for dinner, etc? So for me, the wake up call was this: before describing about how close a muslim can get to God thru his worship, maybe I should experience it for myself first.

10 comments:

  1. as salam aleykum brother, can you please provide the reference re the 100 words recitation?

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  2. Ka'b bin 'Ujrah ( may Allaah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, "There are some words, the reciters of which will never be disappointed. These are: Tasbih [saying "Subhan-Allah' (Allah is free from imperfection)], thirty-three times, Tahmid [saying 'Al-hamdu lillah' (praise be to Allah)] thirty-three times and Takbir [saying 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is The Greatest)] thirty-four times; and these should be recited after the conclusion of every prescribed prayer. [Muslim].

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  3. I was just reading an article on MuslimMatters about character wherein the speaker (it was a transcription) had described salah (and the other pillars of Islam) as a means, rather than a goal. We shouldn't see salah as a goal to accomplish but rather as a means to improve ourselves and get closer to Allah. http://muslimmatters.org/2009/12/31/six-cs-of-good-character-part-2/

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  4. Isn't the best time to make dua when you are in sajda? Perhaps you won't rush through it then...

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  5. Salam

    Dua in sajdah can only be made in arabic. I think for most people, they make dua in their own language.

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  6. Do you have any kind of hadith for that? I've never heard that it only has to be in Arabic before....

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  7. When I took a class on Fiqh of Salah with Sh. Yaser Birjas, he told us that du'a "should" be made in Arabic only during the salah.

    However, if a person wants to make du'a in their own language in the salah (in sujood or after tashahhud) it's okay with the caveat, that he strongly recommended only doing it during "nafl" salat, instead of during the "fard."

    So during the 5 fard prayers just make regular du'a in Arabic and then increase in doing nafl prayers if you want to make additional non-Arabic du'a.

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  8. Yes I've read things like that but none of the rulings have daleel. I am looking for proof, not opinion.

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  9. Salam

    I asked Imam Jawad Ahhamd about this, and this was his reply:

    daleel is simple.....the whole salah is in arabic and since sajdah is part of salah, so no non-arabic words can be inserted, otherwise people can start "inserting" whatever they want in whatever language at any place i salah...like why not recite surah fatiha in english translation just because i don't know arabic?

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  10. Yeah, the daleel stems from the ruling that "foreign speech" in the salah might invalidate it, with "foreign" meaning it doesn't belong to the salah. It's from the fiqh on what nullifies salah, and personal du'a in other than Arabic might fall under the category of "foreign speech" in the salah.

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