Did you know? (Inspirational Islamic Stories)

The poverty of the soul.

➡"I happened to pray one night with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
The Prophet started reciting al-Baqarah chapter of the Quran and I thought he would stop after 100 verses.

But when he went beyond it I thought that he may want to recite the whole chapter in one Rakah.

When he finished al-Baqarah I thought he would do Ruku but then, he immediately started reciting al-Imran and when he finished he started reciting an-Nisa.

The Prophet was reciting very slowly with enough pauses and would do Tasbih and Dua.

After that the Prophet did Ruku. In Ruku he stayed as long as he did when he was in Qiyam.
After Ruku he stood up for almost same time and then he performed Sajdah and stayed there as long as he recited Quran while doing Qiyam".

(Hudaifa, may God be pleased with him, narrated this hadith as in Sahih al Muslim, Nasai)

➡Aisha R.A, mentions that: the Prophet one night stood up for Salah and he stayed in it for so long that I thought the Prophet had passed away or died.

When I felt that way I stood up shook his toe and I felt the movement then I laid down again.

When he stood up from the Sajdah he asked Aisha, "do you think God's Prophet has betrayed you?"

Aisha responded "No Prophet of God, because of the long Sajdah I thought you had died."

Love speaks for itself. When you love someone, you do what pleases them like the way, the prophet SAWS pleased Allah day and night.

The heart was created by and for God. The heart was created to know and love God.

The heart was created to be given to God.

To be filled with God. 

If our heart is full of love of this life, love of status, love of wealth, love of the creation over the Creator, it is that which will speak.

If the heart was full of grudges, jealousy, hatred…that will speak.

But if it was full of the love of Allah, that will speak.

As human beings we enslave ourselves to different things.

I tell you to ask yourselves what do you love most? Most of us in this room will say we love God most.

We say this with our tongues. We say this in our minds. But our hearts, our actions, say otherwise.

How do you know?

Ask yourself:
what is your refuge?
When you’re most broken, where do you go?
When you’re afraid, where do you hide?
When you need, who do you ask? What do you fear most?
What do you stay up at night worrying about?
Who, what, makes you cry most? What do you think about most? What occupies your mind in salah? Is it really God?

If you allow dunya to own your heart, you will sink down to the depth of the sea. And you may feel as though you are at your lowest point. Entrapped by your sins and the love of this life, you may feel broken.

Your strongest love should be for God. But you can’t love someone you don’t know. We need to know Him.

You don’t know someone you never speak to. Speak to Him.

Ask of Him.

A

nd you can’t love someone you don’t remember. Remember Him. Remember Him often.

Allah says:

“And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped.” (Quran 39:54)

If you seek Him, God can raise you up, and replace the darkness of the ocean, with the light of His sun. He can transform what was once your greatest weakness into your greatest strength, and a means of growth, purification and redemption.

Know that transformation sometimes begins with a fall. So never curse the fall. The ground is where humility lives. Take it. Learn it, breathe it in. And then come back stronger, humbler and more aware of your need for Him. 

Seek God to bring you back up, for when He does, He will rebuild your ship. The heart that you thought was forever damaged will be mended. What was shattered will be whole again. Know that only He can do this. Seek Him.