Husnul Niyyah

On the authority of Ibn Abbas (RadhiyAllahu ‘anhuma), from the Messenger of Allah (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam), from what he has related from his Lord is: “Verily Allah has written down the good deeds and the evil deeds”, and then explained it [by saying]: “Whosoever intended to perform a good deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred fold, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed.” [Reported by Bukhari & Muslim] This hadith points towards Allah (SWT) great blessings and generosity. Allah wants us to do righteous deeds and he rewards us for it even if it is just an intention. Alla...

  وَ إِذْ نَجَّيْنَاكُمْ مِنْ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءَكُمْ ۚ وَفِي ذَٰلِكُمْ بَلَاءٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ عَظِيمٌ (Quran 2:49) And recall that We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh. They inflicted on you terrible persecution, killing your sons and sparing your women. Therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord.   وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ فَأَنْجَيْنَاكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ (Quran 2:50) And recall that We parted the sea for you, so We saved you, and We drowned the people of Pharaoh as you looked on.   وَإِذْ وَاعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ (Quran 2:51) And recall that We appointed for Moses forty nights. Then you took to worshiping the calf after him, and you turned wicked. Here in all these three ayahs Allah asks the people of Bani israel to recall their blessing , we have to understa...

    وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ As Abraham raises the foundations of the House, together with Ishmael, Our Lord, accept [this] from us. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing. (Quran 2:127) Allah reminds us that Ibrahim and Ismail (A.S) raised the foundations of the Sacred House, the Holy Ka’abah by the command of Allah. While they were building the House they were asking Allah to accept this deed of theirs as a deed exclusively done to achieve His pleasure. Many narrations speak of Adam (A.S) being the first to build the Ka’bah, however the most sound among these narration is mentioned in the hadith of Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Aas (ra): The Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said, ‘Allah ( SWT) revealed to Adam and Hawwa: “Build for me a house.” So Jibreel (as) drew the lines and Adam began to dig while Hawwa would move the sand. When he hit the water, a voice called from belo...

  وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لَا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ. And beware of a Day when no soul will avail another in the least, nor will any intercession be accepted on its behalf, nor will any ransom be taken from it, nor will they be helped.  (Quran 2:48)   A major reason for the degeneration of the Israelites was the corruption of their beliefs about the hereafter that since they were related to those venerable saints and pious men who had dedicated themselves entirely to the service of God in the past, they would be forgiven by the grace of those great men. They believed that once they had bound themselves firmly to those pious men, it would become impossible for Allah to punish them. Such false reliance made them negligent of true religious piety and enmeshed them in a life of sin and wickedness. Hence, as well as reminding the children of Israel of Allah's  favour  upon th...

يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ O Children of Israel, remember My favor that I have bestowed upon you and that I preferred you over the worlds (Quran 2:47) We have already read a similar ayah before, and here also this ayah is specifically referred to Bani Israel. Allah asks the people of Bani Israel to recall the blessing he has bestowed upon them and he reminds them how he preferred them over the other nations. Here are some ways how Bani Israel were blessed:- 1. They were given the books in their own language. As we see that all the books that Allah had previously sent were sent to the people of Bani Israel in the language they can understand.  2. Allah sent many prophets among them eg. Musa AS ,Isa AS, Yahya AS ,Ibrahim AS etc . 3. They witnessed many miracles by Allah.  Prophet Musa AS himself was blessed with many miracles to make his people believe,  Prophet Suleman AS had jin...

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “ Part of the perfection of a person’s Islam is his leaving that which is of no concern to him ” A hasan hadith. Recorded by at-Tirmidhi and others in that fashion. This hadith nurtures a person to have proper manners and etiquettes especially when it comes to other people's affairs. Personal and private matters of our muslim brothers and sisters is not our concern unless and until a person is found committing a sin upon which it becomes incumbent upon us as a muslim to correct that person in a gentle and polite way or if the opposite person asks us for advise then it becomes his right that we guide him according to the Quran and Sunnah. But otherwise we meddle in other people's affairs for no reason. We ask a couple about when they are going to have a baby. We interfere into private lives when they never asked us to. We advise when...

  وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ And seek help through patience and prayer. But it is difficult, except for the devout. (Quran 45:2)   الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ Those who know that they will meet their Lord, and that to Him they will return.( Quran 46:2) The purpose of this directive is to urge man to develop this quality and to reinforce it from the outside by means of Prayer.  Allah commanded His servants to use patience and prayer to acquire the good of this life and the Hereafter.  The companion  of our Rasool , Umar  i bn Al-Khattab said,  "There are two types of patience: good patience when the disaster strikes, and a better patience while avoiding the prohibitions of Allah." Man saves much treasures for himself, but he does not contemplate that the best treasure he can have for himself is prayer and patience. We search for help in...

  مَ نْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقًا يَطْلُبُ فِيهِ عِلْمًا سَلَكَ اللَّهُ بِهِ طَرِيقًا مِنْ طُرُقِ الْجَنَّةِ وَإِنَّ الْمَلاَئِكَةَ لَتَضَعُ أَجْنِحَتَهَا رِضًا لِطَالِبِ الْعِلْمِ Whoever takes a path in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to walk in one of the paths to Paradise. Indeed the angels will lower their wings in great pleasure with the one who seeks knowledge (Sunan Abi Dawud) The first verse that descended on the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) Was  Iqra , meaning "read,” opening the door to read, write, and ponder. The Quran urges the mankind to think, ponder, reflect and acquire knowledge that would bring them closer to Allah and His creation. Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) commanded knowledge upon all Muslims, and urged them to seek knowledge as far they could reach, and also to seek it all times. Islam makes it a religious duty upon Muslims to seek knowledge. Seeking knowledge with the intention of benefiting oneself and the people is rewarded like performing additional pray...

     أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنْسَوْنَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ Do you command people to virtuous conduct, and forget yourselves, even though you read the Scripture? Do you not understand? (Quran 44:2) This is such a profound ayah. Here the religious scholars of the Jews are being addressed. Allah is reprimanding them for a strange contradiction in their behavior. While they asked their friends and relatives to follow the commands of the Torah , command people to obey Allah, fear Him and perform pious acts.  T hey  forbade the people from rejecting the prophethood and the covenant that they made with Allah in the Tawrah, while they themselves have forgotten the covenant that they would accept Allah's Messenger and then they breached the covenant, and rejected what they knew is in Allah's Book.  They did not practice what they commanded.They were enslaved to their desires and was not willing to let go of...

  فَسَقَىٰ لَهُمَا ثُمَّ تَوَلَّىٰ إِلَى الظِّلِّ فَقَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي لِمَا أَنْزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ So he drew water for them, and then withdrew to the shade, and said, “My Lord, I am in dire need of whatever good you might send down to me." This is the dua which Musa A.S made when he was in exile. Musa AS gets involved in a murder by accident. Now the authorities are after him to kill him if they spot him. So the only option for him is to run away and Allah inspires him to run in the middle of the desert towards the direction of Madyan. At this point he see's two girls trying to quench the thirst of their goats by trying to draw water from a well. He was very exhausted from the tiring journey in the desert and had not eaten anything for almost 7 days. He himself was in search of some water and then he see's this sight. So Musa AS out of his good heart , took the goats and drew out water from the well and satiated the goats.I t is reported in some narration...

  وَآمِنوا بِما أَنزَلتُ مُصَدِّقًا لِما مَعَكُم وَلا تَكونوا أَوَّلَ كافِرٍ بِهِ ۖ وَلا تَشتَروا بِآياتي ثَمَنًا قَليلًوَإِيّايَ فَاتَّقونِ      And believe in that which I have sent down   confirming that which is with you,  and do not be the first ones to defy it,  and do not sell My signs for a paltry gain,  and be wary of Me [alone]. (2:41)                                        وَلا تَلبِسُوا الحَقَّ بِالباطِلِ وَتَكتُمُوا الحَقَّ وَأَنتُم تَعلَمونَ      And do not mix the truth with falsehood,   nor conceal the truth  while you know.(2:42)                                      وَأَقيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكاةَ وَاركَعوا مَعَ الرّاكِعينَ And maintain the prayer, and give the  zakāt ,  and bow along with those wh...

   يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ   O Children of Israel! Remember My blessings which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your pledge to Me, and I will fulfill My pledge to you, and fear Me.(Quran 2:40) This ayah is for the tribe Bani Israel (The lineage of Yaqoob A.S ). Allah says remember the favors which I have bestowed upon you. There were numerous favors that Allah had bestowed upon them like they were blessed with the Deen, there were thousands of prophets who were from this lineage, they were given the holy books by Allah etc. Allah says to them you have forgotten My favors upon you , remember that, recall that. Fulfill your promise ( the covenant they took to follow the Prophet Muhammed(SAW)) and I will fulfill My promise(to enter you to jannah).  Then in the last part of the ayah Allah says fear me only, fear Me when you not fulfill your promise, From Me f...

  “A slave becomes nearest to his Rubb when he is in prostration. So increase supplications while prostrating.” [Muslim]   Prostration is sujood in Arabic which we make in every salah we perform. When a person loves some one he tries to spend as much time he can with them, he would try to extend his time. Is our love for Allah so strong that we are excited to be close to him? We know that we are closest to him in sujood, so do we elongate our sujood by minutes or even seconds? It is very important to analyze our Salah every few days as we tend to get busy and our sujood gets shorter without us even realizing it. Sujood is not just a part of salah, but it is an opportunity for us to get closer to Allah.  Make the best of this opportunity. Humble your selves in sujood,  increase your supplication, seek his help and even when you we happy we should make Sajda shukr to thank Allah as in mentioned in a hadith by Thirmidhi :  when the Prophet sallallahu alehi was...