Surviving University Life Part 1

A person recently left a comment requesting somebody to write upon the topic of 'Surviving in University' and 'Imitating Idiots'. Abdul Baasit and myself agreed to split this up and so he will be writing about the latter soon inshallah.

Surviving University Life

Every year students make the transition from excited college kids to mature adults. If we were to go back to college for a few days to see the states of people, the first thing that would strike us would be the immaturity of a large amount of people. The reality is, we ourselves were in that immature state but as we grew up, Allah rabbul 'izza gave us understanding and the ability to recognise past mistakes. This is a cycle of life, inshallah when we are 70,80 year old bhudda's and bhuddi's we will get angry at all the youngsters for being too excited. Some of us are cranky as it is and so as time progresses, we should make dua'a that Allah Ta'ala keeps bashfulness and softness inside of us.

The transition from college to uni life is quite a big change. A person suddenly finds himself in a building with thousands of other students - all with their own worries, problems and lifestyle. During this time, it is really easy to feel out of place. For the first few months of university, you might feel like E.T. and really lonely. This is just a settling in phase and soon, it will become easy to blend in. However, it is apparent from the first day that there is huge fitnah for a Muslim in university. It is really important to keep oneself grounded during these next few years as there are many people with different views and lifestyles and if a person follows everything he sees, he will be thrown in different directions like a leaf when it is hit by the wind. And so there are many things to abide by in order to keep yourself spiritually high and aware. I will inshallah write part one and part two on this as there are many tips but I fear people may not have time to read one lambi chori article.

1. Keep good company!!! This is the base of all fruitful things to come in future. If you are very weak spiritually and you need to be with people in order to pray, you must have good friends and abstain from bad friends! It comes in a hadith that, "Man will follow the religion of his friends, so let one of you look to whom he takes as a friend." If you hang around with good people, they will help you be good too. Sometimes, just because you are around them, people will consider you to be a good person too. However, if you keep bad friends, they will want to take you to all the bad places and they will cut off your spirituality.

2. Be punctual on your prayer!!! Never ever let your prayer go. Even if it means skipping lunch or doing an action man stunt routine in order to get to the prayer room or mosque! When Hazrat Sheikh Yunus Damat Barakatuhum recently came to the UK, the morning before his flight he gave the students of our Daraluloom the advice, "Never let go of your pray, in any state." Prayer is hugely important and must be observed punctually five times a day without any fail. The benefits of prayer are huge, please read the posts for more info. (Benefits of Prayer, waking up for fajr)

3. Keep yourself in the rememberance of Allah Ta'ala. Purchase books such as Hizbul Azam, Hisnul Muslim etc, these are books which have dua'as from the Qur'an and Sunnah for every occassion. Whenever a person sins, his heart becomes tainted with a dark spot. This is removed when a person is constantly engaged in the zikr of Allah jalla jalaluhu wa amma nawaluhu and by reading these books, a person is spiritually uplifted. Also, a person should fix himself/herself a penalty. Everytime they raise their gazes towards somebody they are attracted to in a lustful manner, they should fix a 11 istighfaar penalty. This can be increased if a person feels his lust is increasing. Also, travelling back and forth from university is extremely tiring but it is from the virtues of Tasbeeh Fatimah (33 Subhanallah, 33 Alhamdulillah, 34 Allahu Akbar) that your body will remain fresh upon waking up, so make sure you read this. These little books of zikr are highly important. Anyway, this is getting long! Let us move on.

4. Recite Durud in abundance! Story Time: Muhammad ibn Sa'eed Mutraf rahmatullahi alayh was one of the devotees of Allah Ta'ala. He says, "I was very punctual in reciting a fixed number of Durud Sharif before going to bed every night. One night I completed the usual practice and slept on the upper floor of my house. I dream that the Holy Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam came to the upper floor of my house, which was greatly illuminated. The Holy Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam came to me and asked, "Bring your mouth, which which you recite Durud, closer to my mouth so that I may kiss it." I was shy to take my mouth to the mouth of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa salam and I turned it to the other side. Rasul e Paak salallahu alayhi wa salam then planted a kiss on my cheek. Because of embarassment, I got up all of a sudden. My wife, who was sleeping on the same bed, also got up. We noticed that the entire upper floor was fragrant with musk. The fragrance of musk remained on my cheek for eight days!" Sending durud is extremely important! Try to send 300 durood and increase gradually as you become more firm. Try to do durud before you sleep, just say "salallahu 'alan nabeeyil ummeeyi" or "bismillahi wassalamu 'ala rasulillah" in abundance! Search for the book entitled "40 Salat & Salam" by Maulana Saleem Dhorat sahib, this book is very good.

5. Ok this is getting long now, I hope you are still awake. I am. Hmm. Do your work! Many people get into university and they start getting involved in so many things that they are doing just about everything...besides their work! Many people who are more religiously inclined are spending their entire days living in the university prayer room. There is no problem in sitting in the prayer room when a person has two hour breaks between lessons but some people are spending entire days there when it would be suitable for them to stay at home or in another environment. This is not advised as it is just wasting time. When they are questioned as to why they are doing a bogus i'tikaaf, they say, "bhaisaab! There is bare fitnah outside! I'm saving my deen yaar!" This is a load of birds eye waffles (as seen in the picture)! The truth to this is quite simply - "You my friend are an isoc addict!" Some people make it their entire objective to serve the isoc and become die hard members. This is totally wrong! A person goes university to study and attain a degree. Many people are going into university from early in the morning and are sitting in the prayer room for hours on end, coming out with all sorts of akram bakram. I am not sayin isoc mysocs are bad, but a person must limit himself. Your studies are your priorities; you must get good grades and then help this ummat to the best of your ability. The prayer room should be used for its purpose, to pray. Do not occupy yourself with various courses; this can be done outside of uni in various institutes. More can be said upon this particular topic but maybe next time inshallah. Also, the less religiously inclined brothers and sisters may start partying and raving. This type of behaviour is not to be found in the Muslims for a Muslim partying will never match the crowd. It is like putting cow in the middle of hundreds of doggies. While all the doggies are barking 'woof woof' this cow will try to blend in but everyone will know the cow is a fake because of 'mooooooooo!' So don't go to Club Mango and look like a lemon! Many people are into this, "Let's go for Shisha, pool, cinema and disco" but this is entirely forbidden and should be abstained from.

... oh dear...chalo bahot hogaya, we'll continue this gupshup another time. bahot bhook bhee laghi hai.