[fluffy-appa]

‎There is nothing you can do to pay for what your Mother has done for you

‎A man came to ‘Umar [ibn al-Khattab] and said: 'I have an elderly mother who has reached such an old age that she cannot relieve herself except that my back serves as her mount. I perform her ablutions (Wudu) for her while turning my face away [out of modesty]. Have I fulfilled her right over me?'

‎‘Umar replied: 'No.'

‎The man said: 'Have I not carried her on my back and devoted my very self to her?'

‎‘Umar said: 'Indeed, but she used to do the same for you while she prayed for your life to continue, whereas you do this for her while you wait for her to depart [death].'

‎عن زرعة بن إبراهيم، أن رجلا أتى عمر، فقال: «إن لي أما بلغ بها الكبر، أنها لا تقضي حاجتها إلا وظهري لها مطية، أوضئها، وأصرف وجهي عنها، فهل أديت حقها؟ قال: لا.

‎قال: أليس قد حملتها على ظهري، وحبست عليها نفسي؟ قال: إنها كانت تصنع ذلك بك وهي تتمنى بقاءك، وأنت تصنع ذلك وأنت تتمنى فراقها

‎— البر والصلة لابن الجوزي – ابن الجوزي

[abu-firas]

“Forgive me when I prostrate while my mind is distracted. Forgive me when I repent and then return to sin, for I have no other refuge than You, O Allah.”

[strangerindunya-403]

Reminds me of a poem:

I fear my prostration to God may lead me astray, Though I worship God and pray in His name, For in every prostration, despite my devotion, My heart is occupied by another.

May Allah forgive us , Ameen

[julaibib]

ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb would say, “A man should be [playful] like a young boy with his wife, but when it is required of him, he is proven to be a man.”¹

al-Mujālasah wa-Jawāhir al-ʿIlm, vol. 3, p. 431 (Ibn Hazm: 1998)

[julaibib]

Palestine - فِلسطين

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Allah says in surah Aal 'Imran [03]:

[لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ]

"You will never achieve goodness until you spend out of what you love." [92]

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-'Uthaymeen said: "Following from this, people ought to put this ayah into practice even if only just once, that if a certain part of his wealth has captured his attention, then he should give it in charity so that he could achieve this goodness."

[Tafsir Surah Aal 'Imran pg. 526]

[fluffy-appa]

In surah al-Sajdah [32], Allah puts the following two ayaat side by side:

[تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ ‎*‏ فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ]

"They rise from their beds, supplicating to their Lord in fear and longing, and they spend out what We have provided for them. * And no soul knows the comfort of the eyes that has been hidden from them as a reward for what they used to do. [16-17]

Ibn al-Qayyim wrote:

Contemplate how Allah has contrasted the night pray which they have hidden away with the reward which no soul knows that He has hidden away for them. 

And contemplate how He has contrasted their apprehension, fear and getting up from their beds when they perform the night prayers to the pleasure of the eyes in Jannah. 

[Hadi al-Arwah pg 223]

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Renewing Eemaan

Shaykh Abdurahman Bin As-Sa'adi said:  ❝When the Companions [رضي الله عنهم] and those after them used to find themselves negligent or their Eemaan was being scattered and weakened, they would say to each other: sit with us so we can increase our Eemaan for an hour.

‌‏

They would remember Allaah, they would remember the religious and worldly blessings, and by that they would renew their Eemaan.❞

[At-Tawdhi Wal-Bayaan Lishajaratill Eemaan, (Page: 80)]

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In one of his writings on the Qur'an, ibn al-Qayyim mentioned the following beautiful point:

Allah said:

[إِنَّ رَبِّي رَحِيمٌ وَدُودٌ]

"My Lord is certainly Merciful, Loving" [Hud 90]

and He said in surah al-Burooj:

[وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ]

"And He is Forgiving, Loving" [al-Burooj 14]

How kind it is for Allah to pair the name al-Wadood - Loving - with al-Raheem - Merciful - and al-Ghafoor - Forgiving! For a person might forgive someone who wronged him without loving him. Likewise, a person might show mercy to someone that he does not love. But the Lord forgives His slave when he turns to Him in repentance, shows mercy to him, and in addition to that He loves him, for Allah loves those who repent. When one of His servants repents to Him, He loves him, regardless of what he did.

[al-Tibyan fee Ayman al-Qur'an pg 146]

[wayfaringmuslimah]

You’re rich

And you don’t even know it

You look at your bank account

& you’re just about making ends meet

- But you hear the laugh of your family

- ⁠You’re not in chronic pain

- ⁠You have access to knowledge

- ⁠Allah (SWT) has granted you guidance

- ⁠You have clean water

- ⁠The roof over your head is not damaged

- ⁠You have sisterhood or brotherhood

- ⁠You can pick up the phone and call your mum

- ⁠Your father still makes dua for you

- ⁠You have eyes that can read the Quran

- ⁠Ears that can hear the Quran

- ⁠A tongue that can recite the Quran

- ⁠You don’t need to wonder where your next meal is coming from

You are rich.

You are so extremely rich

But you’re too busy focused on materialism

That you feel poor

And distant

And unfulfilled.

[fluffy-appa]

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-'Uthaymeen mentioned the following in his explanation of Riyadh al-Saliheen:

‎[مهما عملت من الأعمال الصالحة لا تعجب بعملك فعملك قليل بالنسبة لحق الله عليك  ]

"Whatever kind of good deeds you do, do not become amazed with your own actions, for your deeds are quite small in comparison to Allah's right over you."

[Sharh Riyadh al-Saliheen 1/575]

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Trials & Difficulties

Shaykh Muqbil Bin Hadi Al-Wada’aee [رحمه الله] said:

❝If you are afflicted with a difficulty and hardship then perhaps that difficulty is good for you.

Whether that difficulty is in your wealth or on your body or in anything which pains and worries you.

Perhaps that will be a means to raise your rank in the worldly life and the Hereafter. Perhaps it will be a purification from Allaah Azza Wa Jal.❞

[Kitab Al-Masara'ah, (Page: 533)]

[fluffy-appa]

Ibrahim al-Taymi said:

Whoever does not experience any grief should fear that he will be one of the people of the hellfire because the people of Jannah say

[الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ]

"All praise is to Allah who has removed grief from us." [Faatir 34]

and whoever does not experience fear should fear that he will not be one of the people of Jannah because the people of Jannah say

[  إِنَّا كُنَّا قَبْلُ فِي أَهْلِنَا مُشْفِقِينَ ‎]

"Indeed, we were previously fearful while with our people." [al-Toor 26]

[al-Takhweef min al-Nar page 17]

[fluffy-appa]

In one of his lessons of tafsir, sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-'Uthaymeen said:

One way to remove hardness of the heart is to engage in a lot of reading the Qur'an with contemplation, and while you are reading to be aware that this is the speech of Allah, the speech of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, not the speech of a human being. When you do this, you will recognize the greatness of this speech and benefit from it.

[Tafsir Surah al-An'aam pg. 224]

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Oh Parents! Be Righteous!

Tafseer al-Baghawi (rahimahullah):

Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (radiyAllahu ‘anhu), used to pray at night (the night prayers) and (when he) would see his small child sleeping then he would say, “this is for your bright future” and whilst crying would recite:

وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا

“And their father was righteous” Surat al-Kahf, 82

lbn Abbas (radiyAllahu ’anhu) said (commenting on this verse):

 “They (the two orphans mentioned in Surah al-Kahf) were protected by the righteousness of their father.”

Saeed lbn Musayyib (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) said: “I worship, and then when I remember my child(ren), I increase in my worship"

[Tafseer al-Baghawee (rahimahullah), vol. 5, pg. 196]

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Allah commands the believers in surah al-Tahreem:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحًا]

"Oh you believed, repent to Allah with a sincere repentance..." [66:8]

Ibn Kathir mentioned the following narration in his explanation of this ayah:

Ibn Abi Haatim said ... that Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Alaa' heard al-Hasan say: Sincere repentance is that you hate the sin just as you had previously loved it, and that you seek forgiveness for that sin whenever you are reminded of it.

[Tafsir ibn Kathir 8/169]

[fluffy-appa]

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali once wrote:

‎[دخل بعضهم غيضة ذات شجر ، فقال : لو خلوت هاهنا بمعصية من كان يراني ؟ فسمع هاتفا بصوت ملأ الغيضة : ألا يعلم من خلق وهو اللطيف الخبير]

A man once entered a densely forested area and said to himself, "If I committed a sin privately here, who could see me?" but then he heard a loud voice that filled up the whole forest:

‎[أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ]

"Doesn't the One who created - The Intimately-Acquainted, the Fully-Aware - know?!" [al-Mulk ayah 14]

[Jaami' al-'Uloom wa'l-Hikam 1/410]

[fluffy-appa]

Allah says in surah al-Kahf [18]:

[الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا]

Wealth and children are just the adornment of this worldly life, but the enduring good deeds are better in the sight of your Lord in terms of reward and better to put one's hopes in. [46]

In one of his lessons, ibn 'Uthaymeen said:

[الذي يبقى للإنسان هو العمل الصالح ، وأما المال والبنون،  فإن استعان بذلك على طاعة الله صارت من الباقيات،  وإلا فهي من الفانيات تفنى بفناء الدنيا.

The thing that lasts and endures for people is their good deeds. As for wealth and children, if a person uses those to help him obey Allah, they becoming enduring and lasting things. If not, then they are merely fleeting temporary things that pass away with the passing of this worldly life.

[Sharh Bulugh al-Maram 15/447]