The Sinister...'Far Away, Distant' Feeling

That ‘far away, distant' feeling is something that comes to us all every now and then. This is that feeling, where everything feels blurred and everything seems distant. It seems that everybody is getting on with something or the other and you seem to be standing still; it just feels that you are stuck in a time and place from which you can’t get out of! An example of this to a lower degree can be seen in a student who is sitting in an exam hall; he sees everybody around him doing something but his brain feels to blunt to think of something and his stomach begins to churn as he sees his time is running out.

The reality of this all is that different incidents in a person’s life can trigger of this feeling. Sometimes, an abundance of work and pressure could be the cause; at other stages panic and anxiety could be a reason. Sometimes desperation could settle into oneself and many times, all these factors come together to hit insaan for a six! He then becomes like that cricket ball which has been hit out of the stadium and is sitting outside in the car park all by itself, waiting for somebody to pick it up and bring it back to its rightful place (i.e. the pitch). Similarly, when life is moving so fast around us and we feel completely dazed, we too need someone to take us by the hand and put our hearts’ at ease.

This feeling is an emotion that comes to us regularly and perhaps more so as we grow up and less so as we reach an elderly age. As a person grows, his responsibilities increase and he finds himself juggling between those actions which he must do (whether he likes it or not) and those actions which he likes to do (as a hobby). During his life, he will find himself constantly balancing between the two. When a person starts taking too much on, he finds himself bewildered at the sheer pace of life. There seems to be too many things happening and too little time to analyse them all.

In some instances, an issue of great magnitude such as a person’s death is placed in front of us which totally sweeps our feet from beneath us. Another example could be of a person who is planning to get married; he may be preparing for months on end but as the time to tie the knot approaches, he begins to feel that there are many things which he hasn’t dealt with! In both situations, a person is left befuddled and perplexed.

And in some instances, a person can want to feel far away from everything! When a person constantly sees ‘snakes’ from amongst his dear ones and dark evil in his surroundings, one naturally wants to curl up into a ball and stay in one corner. Sometimes sadness comes to us in abundance and the only reprieve seems to be in the darkness of a silent room. Thus, the far away feeling occurs because a person doesn’t want to feel close to the action.

Finally, you have others who experience the far away feeling because they are quite simply potty! This is when a person is just to foolish to do what is good for himself and continues doing stupid things which prove to be a hindrance to his existence! An example I hear you say? Take the example of a person who wastes his life in a shisha cafe; everyday he wakes up, he does the same thing. He brushes his teeth, wears his jacket, takes money from his parents and follows his friends (who may also be potty) into a shisha cafe. He thereafter wastes pound after pound in buying drinks, coals, snacks etc. The most bizarre thing of all is that this very same person has a career defining exam the following day and he should be revising! As a result, he sits in the exam hall the next day and all he can do is squirm in his chair when he sees his classmates around him pencilling in their exam papers at speed.

So how can a person stop this feeling or get out of it? There are a variety of things he can do. Below are just a few:

• Stop feeling sorry for yourself – sometimes a person needs to slap himself (not literally) and pull his socks up. For how long will a person feel sorry about himself and watch the people around him be successful and not be a part of that success himself? A person must produce unyielding efforts to break away from the vicious cycle of self pity and sorrow.

• Grab hold of a good friend to help you – sometimes we can’t see how deep we are in a situation. At times we exaggerate our problems and at other times, we play matters which are of huge relevance down. When we have the ‘far away feeling’ we should confide this matter in a close, loving, knowledgeable friend. We should explain to him, “I need you to help me pick myself up and make use of my time.” This feeling can bring much sadness to a person which in turn brings a fatigued, lazy ethos. We need to tell our close friend, “When you see me wasting my life away, pull me together and slap me (literally)!”

• Get up and go – have some ‘get up and go’ about yourself. You may find that nobody can help you; that should not send you into a murky abyss. Rather, fortify your intentions and make something of yourself.

• Take the advices from the Qur’an and the Hadith - While the Qur’an cheers up a saddened soul, it also has great advices to push a person in the right direction. Similarly, the words of our Nabi salallahu alayhi wasallam have great blessings; he himself would say, ‘I am a source of peace for my companions’. Thus, if we engross ourselves by becoming his companions (i.e. by studying his words), his invigorating shadow will extend over us also.

• Make lots of dua – only Allah Ta’ala is the One who can take us out of the darkness we see before us. Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an, “When My servants ask you about Me, then (tell them that) I am near. I respond to the call of one when he prays to Me; so they should respond to Me, and have faith in Me, so that they may be on the right path.” The court of Allah Ta’ala isn’t like a shop which has opening and closing hours; it is open all hours. The court of Allah Ta’ala is like that shop which has everything a person could need and more; he just needs to pre-order through his dua and Allah Ta’ala will send him what he requires. The postage, packaging and delivery depends on that person’s sincerity in his dua but when does eventually receives it, five star customer satisfaction is guaranteed!

May Allah Ta’ala grant us all aafiyat and make our hardships easy for us. Ameen, ya Rabbal ‘Aalameen.

Poetry: It will all be alright in the end

It will all be alright in the end,
Your tears will begin to dry.
You’re life will be on the mend,
There will be no need to cry.

How many times have you been in pain,
To notice that sympathy seems to sound the same.
The clouds always seems to drizzle with rain,
Yet there is nobody to withstand the burden of blame.

The heart begins to cry, searching for someone to implore,
In every direction you walk, there seems to be a locked door.
The eyes begin to burn, a river of desperation wanting to trickle,
When loneliness becomes a companion, the mind becomes fickle.

Lift up your hands and use them as a key,
Cry, beseech, request – you will be showered in mercy.
Your Lord knows very well of your immense sadness,
If you do not ask of Him, it is your own madness.

How many a time before, have you lost all hope,
With feelings of despair, more than you can cope?
Yet He helped you then, and He helps you now,
By ways and means which left you asking how.

Use not your hands for sins but raise them to converse,
When you reveal the contents of your heart, you need not rehearse.
He hears what you ask for and sees what you make apparent,
You cannot hide your feelings, your heart becomes transparent.

Your tears will being to dry, when His light illuminates your life,
You will find an escape, you can bid farewell to your strife.
But first, recognise Him; let not your intelligence rot,
He was always caring for you, you were never forgot.

"Whoever fears Allah, He brings forth a way out for him, and provides him (with what he needs) from where he does not even imagine. And whoever places his trust in Allah, He is sufficient for him. Surely Allah is to accomplish His purpose. Allah has set a measure for everything." [Surah Talaq 65:2,3]

Don't Be A 'Quitter'

Different people are affected mentally by different things. Different situations bring out different characteristics from within a person. Sometimes people are presented with a task which they are not comfortable with but they still dig deep (make huge efforts) in order to complete it. On the other hand there are other people who maintain a ‘give up’ mentality; and that is when a difficult situation is presented before them, they immediately feel it is impossible and beyond the boundaries of reality. As a result, they quit at the first hurdle and decide not to push themselves towards the attainment of their goals. This mentality can be simply put as, “When the going gets tough... I quit.”

As Muslims, when we do not understand how to do something our mentality should not be ‘I quit’. Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa salam and the Companions radiallahu anhum were presented with the severest of tasks. They were presented with tasks of huge magnitude but they did not carry this ‘I quit’ perception in their pockets. Rather, they had unerring fortitude and belief that they will complete their goals. Had they quit at the first hurdle, then how would this deen come to us? Likewise, it is seen over the period of history that the religion of Allah ‘azza wa jal has not been carried by people who had low self esteem and will power. Rather Allah Ta’ala has specifically chosen special souls to do the service of His religion because of their resolute nature. The greatest honour a person can have in this world is to serve this faith we have been gifted with in whatever way possible; whether it be that a person becomes a doctor and helps humanity or that he becomes a scholar and guides people towards the straight path, the basis of our existence is to serve the deen and this can only be done by men and women of strong, resolute, pioneering character.

When a person is presented a task which is outside of his ‘comfort zone’ he immediately begins to think about all his weaknesses. For example, sometimes a person may be asked to read a book out aloud to his class as part of class reading. As soon as this task has been delegated to him, he immediately begins a conversation within his own self along the lines of, “What if I make a mistake? People will laugh at me and think that I am stupid. Some of these English words are looking really big, what if I say it funny and people giggle?” These types of thought are all fuelling and whisperings from shaytaan khabees and should be ignored (say a’uzoo billahi min ash shaytaanir rajeem). When a person begins to think too much about a specific task, he makes it more complex than it really is. One dear friend of mine once advised me to make big things appear to be small so that the pressure is also reduced.

If we are struggling to perform a certain task than our state should not be that we hold our hands up and say, “I can’t do this!” Rather we should look at the task and say, “I do not have the knowledge on how to do this properly just yet but I will learn very quickly and then attempt to do this again.” It is very important to be optimistic at all times as opposed to being pessimistic and negative. When a person is optimistic and hopeful, he begins to brim with confidence and self belief. This will aid him hugely in completing his difficult task as he has already won half the battle which is within his mind. If our condition is such that we begin shaking at the mere possibility of each task then we will run away from it for as long as we live and we will never gain the experience to overcome our ‘teething troubles’ so as to speak.

Sometimes, to produce a resolute and stalwart characteristics within oneself is really hard, especially if the person is a soft person by nature. In situations such as these, my humble advice would be to use my ‘goli maro bhai’ (fire a bullet to the world) method. A person should not think too much and work by the spur of the moment. It is like when we get an injection from the nurse. We look at the needle and begin to get so scared. Sometimes people begin to cry just by seeing the needle that Allah bachai, this nurse is going to do my zabah (sacrifice)! Then when the time comes we know we can’t get away from it so we close our eyes and hope for the best but as soon as the needle comes in and out, the first words we say are, “That didn’t hurt you know.” This is spur of the moment ‘goli maro’ theory.

May Allah Ta’ala give us all the ability to strengthen our resolve and be from those people who achieve our ambitions. May He take great service of deen from us. Ameen.

True Success - Nothing Comes Easy

With the name of ALLAH the All Merciful, the Very Merciful,

What is real success? How do you define real success? When the prophet Muhammad (PEACE BE UPON HIM) started his work of dawaah, his first message was, "Say there is no god but ALLAH and you shall succeed." My brothers and sisters this life is only for a few days and we must realise this fact as soon as possible. Why? Because ALLAH says in the Quran ,"Every soul shall taste death". We don't know when we will breathe our last breath,we are getting so invloved in the wordly matters that we are forgetting about our death, we hear people nowadays saying, "We have one life only so lets enjoy it!" but we should know the real purpose of this life which is to worship our lord ALLAH. If we want to be amongst those who will get the glad tidings of Jannah then the change has to come now. Obey your Lord and follow His commandss. Of course we can have our inspiration of being a doctor , lawyer etc but the real goal is to worship ALLAH.

On the day of Qiyamah when ALLAH will ask us, "I gave you this life, what did you do with it?" "hat will be our answer? Well my brothers and sisters if we lived our life obeying ALLAH's rules and we followed the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) then by ALLAH's mercy on us we will be given the glad tidings of Jannah, this is the real success - attaining Jannah. But unfortunatetly we see nowadays that we are forgetting where the real success lies and the beauty of this world has made us blind. In reality this world is nothing to compare to the beauty of the Paradise.

We should fight our nafs and fight shaytaan! We should know that nothing comes easy, we can't expect to get rewarded by just sitting down, we should work hard , go through trials in order to attain succes. We can see from the story of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and the Sahabas (May ALLAH be pleased with them) they went through a lot of trials. We can see from the story of the family of Yassir (May ALLAH be pleased with them) that they went through a lot and when the Prophet (Peace be upon him) saw the persecution that the family of Yassir (May ALLAH be pleased with them.)was going through he said to them" Be patient O family of Yassir! For you have an appointment in Jannah." The wife of Yassir , Summaiya(May ALLAH be please with her) was the first woman to die for the cause of ISLAM. People gave their life for this deen , they knew that this life is nothing compare to the life of the hereafter, they understood, that true success lies in the obedience of ALLAH and following the sunnah of the Prophet(Peace be upon him). Today we see that there are lot of facilities to learn about this beautiful deen of Islam, we should grab these opportunities and learn about Islam. Islam has come to us on a plate, we didnt have to shed blood for this deen.

My brothers and sisters know that one day we will meet our Lord, we need to prepare for our meeting with ALLAH. This life is a test, if we pass this test then Inshallah by ALLAH's mercy on us we will get the best reward which is Jannah. Indeed we will have to face trials in order to enter Jannah and by having full trust in ALLAH in times of difficulties and knowing that only ALLAH can help us is a great method to succeed. ALLAH says in the QURAN,"And surely Paradise- it is the goal" (an-Naziat 79:41 ), "Indeed the next abode-it is truly the life"(al-Ankabut 29:64). We see from the two verses that our goal should be attaining Jannah and that the real life is the life of the hereafter. ALLAH also testifies in Surah Asr,"By the time, Verily! Man is in loss, Except for those who believe(Islamic monotheism) and do righteous deeds, and recomend one another to the truth and recomend one another to patience".

My brother and sister we should realise that true success lies in the obedience of ALLAH and following the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). We should grab every small opportunity we get to do good deeds. Why? Because on the Day of Qiyamah only your good deeds will be able to help you, your family, your wealth and your status amongst mankind won't come to avail on this day - the day when there is no shelter and good deeds are your only helper. We need to ask ALLAH to guide on the path of Imaan and make us realise as soon as possible where true success lies .


May ALLAH guide all of us along the straight path and make us amongst the dwellers of Jannah.

AMEEN

Remember me in your duas

TRUST and FAITH in ALLAH

With the name of ALLAH the All Merciful, the Very Mericful...

Having trust and faith in ALLAH at all times is very important. We can see from the stories of the Prophet peace be upon and the Sahabas (May ALLAH be pleased with them) that they had full trust in ALLAH, that is why ALLAH rewarded them with victories on the battle field. In the Battle of Badr, the Muslims were only 313 in numbers and they were poorly equipped; they were facing an army of 1000 men fully equipped but ALLAH rewarded the Muslims with victory. Why? Because the Muslims had full trust in ALLAH , they had the fear of onlyALLAH in their hearts and they had full trust that ALLAH would give them victory. This is because having trust in ALLAH is a SIGN OF IMAAN, which they undoubtedly had.

A true believer must always know that only ALLAH can help him, in times of distress we should seek ALLAH. Why? Because ALLAH is the Creator of this world and He has control over everything but we human beings would rather put trust in the creations rather that the Creator. ALLAH says in Surah Talaaq."And whosoever put his trust in ALLAH , then He will suffice him. Verily ALLAH will accomplish His purpose.Indeed ALLAH has set a measure for all things."

My brothers and sisters, we can see from this verse of the Quran that ALLAH is enough for us. We just need to put our trust in ALLAH. By doing this, we are showing that we have Imaan(faith). Thereafter, ALLAH is giving us the guarantee that He will suffice us, so why not put ur trust in your Creator and let him deal with your matters? Having trust in ALLAH is also an act of worship and what is our purpose in this life? ALLAH says in the Quran "I have created mankind and jinns only to worship Me". We see nowadays in the modern societiy that people are facing a lot of hardhsips but few of us are turning to the solver of all problems - ALLAH.

We should realise that our money, our contacts, our connections will not solve our problems or avail us, only the Creator of the heaven and earth will solves our problems. We see nowadays people say, ""e make dua but our dua are not getting accepted.", but my brothers and sisters ALLAH does not have problems accepting our duas, its the way we ask. When we ask dua we should have full trust and conviction that ALLAH will accept our duas.

There are various verses in the Quran where ALLAH tell us how close He is to his servants. Whenever the servants ask for Him, He (ALLAH) is willing to accept our duas, so why don't we ask ALLAH for help? We can see from the above verse of the Quran that ALLAH will suffice you. We need to understand that ALLAH is the solver of all of our problems, we need to work on our Imaan, we need to get closer to ALLAH! Indeed there are a lot of distractions going on nowadays but know my brothers and sisters that this life is only for a few days. We wish to be among the successful ones and who are the succesful ones? They are those people who have full faith and trust in ALLAH ,and they follow the rules of ALLAH. We need to turn back to ALLAH, and realise that true succes lies in the obedience of ALLAH.

May ALLAH give us all the ability to keep faith and trust in Him alone. AMEEN