Apply This Concept To All In Life...

The longer the believer must wait to meet their Lord, the sweeter the union.

Apply this concept to all in life and let your heart be sound.

Be calm. The beauty is in the strength and passion that leads you to your desire. Let there be passion.

Time means little in light of love, for love transcends the boundaries of time. Let longing empower the heart...strengthen the soul.

Soon you will meet your Lord and you will wish you’d used the time prior to increase your love for Him and perfect yourself in His eyes.

Apply this concept to all in life.

Sleepless Nights

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

I sit awake in the dead of the night after hours of restlessly tossing and turning.

I wonder why it is that I can't sleep. Perhaps I'm worried, concerned? Nervous?

About what?

Everything I suppose...yet nothing at the same time...

Earlier discussions resonate in my mind, nay...in my soul.

The people I speak to say things my head can't understand but I know somehow my heart can't forget.

Words, feelings, regrets, pain...they mesh together into a glorious chaos that consumes me.

It all begins to make sense. Through the rapture of everything good and evil I begin to see a purpose beyond the tangible.

I feel the comfort of a blanket around the coldness in my soul.

Why have I been so blind these past years? I ask myself this question angrily...daily.

Why could I not have seen...?

All this time I should have been asking myself....why was I not looking?

There is indeed a profound difference between the two.

What I see now I see because it is my time to realize. What I experienced before I experienced because it was my time to learn.

Great lessons aren't just handed in textbook style notes. Great lessons are lived.

Profound changes in heart are not just products of everyday happenings...they're products of the unusual, the extreme, the unexpected.

Who am I to question why? When does that question become irrelevant?

I realize it became irrelevant...or rather...dangerous...when it began to consume me.

When my happiness became an instrument of my regret.

Happiness...why should I experience happiness when I feel I have lost myself so many times?

Am I deserving of happiness I wonder...

Then I realize once again...

My regret has become my Shaitan.

I pray Istighfar.

The mistakes I made...the Sins I committed....they exist only in the past...and the past is no longer my life...it's paid time...it's gone.

...and I venture to waste my given time in sadness and regret instead of in happiness and gratefulness...

Allah gave me, in His infinite mercy, more minutes, hours, days to make up for things I regret.

I regret them still because I have dwindled that gift from the Al-Mighty.

Astagfurallah. May Allah forgive me my sins.

I search for happiness in my present state...

Its source is no where around me...its within me.

The condition of my heart is the measure of my happiness.

The condition of my soul is the gatekeeper of my sadness.

I hear the Qur'an from the lips of a loved one and I feel my heart being slowly repaired.

I hear the words of wisdom from my advisers and the walls that protect my soul are strong once again.

Who am I to question happiness? Who am I to define it?

I am merely a desert traveler with a parched soul.

The Qur'an is my water.

Allah is my sustenance.

I realize now....that it is not my inability to sleep that is my worry...

It's my inability to awaken.

Ya Allah help me to awaken from my slumber and be aware of the trials of this Dunya and their insignificance in light of Your blessings.

Ya Allah give me the strength to put aside this Dunya and find true Happiness in Your praise and Glory.

Ya Allah....forgive me my sins and those of my friends and my family and the ummah.

Ya Allah, help me to rest tonight in a manner that allows me to awake tomorrow with a deeper understanding of this world and a greater more powerful longing for the next.

Ameen.

Make Change: The Darfur Relief Initiative

Bismillah.

I took the long route from work today to allow myself some time to think.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to think about or if there was even anything in particular but I just felt the need for some summer time contemplation.

As I got closer to home I started to think about my future and my future home insha'Allah.

What did I want in my house? I asked myself this question half-heartily at first.

Then...I began to really think...

I want my future home to be full of blessings and beauty. I want it to be full of life and happiness and comfort. I want it to be a sanctuary from everything ill-fated and uncomfortable.

Most of all, I thought, I want it to be a place of truth, honor and inspiration.

If I could create an atmosphere that brought out the best in myself, my family and my friends then my house would be the home of my dreams.

My phone rang...interrupting my thoughts. I looked down at my caller ID and next to my phone sat fifteen cents.

At that moment I new what I wanted...what I NEEDED in my home.

A place for my change.

But no...not just my change...a place for me to make a change.

I decided that I'd keep a jar sitting on my dresser, or my kitchen counter, or my entryway table...anywhere. I would keep all the change I found in my car, under the cushions of my couch, jingling in my pockets and I would place it in that jar.

At that end of the month or maybe even every few months I would empty that jar and donate that amount of money to a country where relief is a sacred word uttered only by the incredibly lucky.

My first initiative I thought...would be Darfur. With the inhumane and utterly disturbing things occurring in that region, I knew it was something I could not ignore and could never be excused for not doing my part to help stop the tragedy that is the lives of so many.

A dollars amount can help feed someone who has nothing.

I emptied my the loose change from my purse into the little butter container I recycled and labeled "Darfur Relief."

Two dollars. Two meals...perhaps for the child dodging bullets and hiding from rape on her way to a dirty pool of water for a drink.

I placed the container on my counter and explained my initiative to my family at dinner.

Quietly afterwards they reached in their pockets and pulled out change they didn't even realize they had.

Three dollars...four...five....as the change clinked and clattered in the jar I realized how so little..can make such a real difference.

With a smile on my face, I picked up my phone and texted my fiance. I shared the idea with him and he excitedly agreed to adopt it it himself and pass it on.

He thought...maybe one household can only produce a small amount each month...but if all our friends and their friends placed a little jar labeled "Darfur Relief" on their dressers or counters or tables...perhaps then something small could make a world of difference...

...make a difference in the world.

Insha'Allah.

With that being said...I'd like to make a proposal.

Grab any old jar or container and start putting your loose change in it.

Count it at the end of the week.

At the end of the month donate that amount to a relief organization helping to send aid to Darfur.

Though you may find that your donation is small...realize that there are many others doing the same thing Insha'Allah...part of the same initiative.

To see that difference...that collective spirit...feel free to comment with the amount of money you saved in change and perhaps we can add it up to see how big of a difference a small initiative can truly make.

We can all do something to help those in need.

Remember that the smallest deeds can be the most favorable and rewarding if done regularly.

Empty your pockets everyday and make change.

Be part of the Darfur Relief Initiative.

May Allah bless you for your kindness and may He make our hearts soft and gentle..and never allow us to turn ourselves away from suffering but rather face it with compassion and generosity.

Ma'salaama,

Wafa

Never hurt the human heart...

Do you want to enter paradise?
To walk the path of Truth
You need the grace of God.
We all face death in the end.
But on the way, be careful
Never to hurt a human heart!

- Rumi

By the River...

Assalamu Alaikum.

The years pass by and with each fleeting moment I realize the reality that exists is far from the world I see. Manifested in some glorious representation of hopes and dreams, my future races towards me as I stumble through obstacle after obstacle. Mistakes, mishaps, miscommunication, misunderstandings line the pages of my life, often times bleeding into the freshly inked words and more tragically...onto the crisp clean pages of anticipation.

I sit back, leaning against the bark of a beautiful tree majestically reaching over the river that poetically twists before me. It's life runs much like mine I think. It races and rages over large rocks and small stones. It curves through the land, working with its environment. At times its chaotic and unruly yet later down the path...it's calm yet again. It soothes and pushes forcefully at the same time. People wade in it...enjoying its presence and taking with them pieces of it as they climb back onto the rocks...dripping. With each turn it is renewed. No part of it is completely the same again. Much like ourselves, its encounters..even with the same obstacles and turns...is constantly changed. The river that you see one day is not the same the next. Much like ourselves. The beauty lies therein. As the river becomes something new with each passing moments...so should our hearts...ourselves...flowing smoothly with the carefully carved path we are set in, yet raging through adversity with no hesitation. Like the river...our hearts must contain both the tranquility of belief and the force of passionate pursuit.

May Allah make us amongst those who awaken everyday with the deep desire to be better and give us the passion to find beauty and wisdom in every breathe of life.

“Everything in the universe is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty.” - Rumi

Ma'salama.

Wafa

Patience is half of your faith...

The messenger of Allah (pbuh) was asked: "What is faith?" He replied: "Patience."

In another traditional hadith he said: "Patience is half of faith." Allah (swt) repeats the word sabr (patience) more than seventy times in the Qur'an, signifying the importance of this virtue.

Allah (swt) promises that He is with the patient: "Surely God is with the patient." (2:153)

"That which is with you comes to an end, but that which is with God endures; and surely We shall compensate those who were patient their according to the best of what they did." (16:96)

The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Patience is a treasure of the treasures of Paradise." He further said: "If patience were a man, he would be a generous man; and God Most High loves the patient."

Patience is a human trait. Animals and beasts do not exhibit this trait and Angels have no need for it because they are completely submissive and without free will, left to glorify the Almighty.

At first a human being is created with animal characteristics, he craves and desires things to satisfy his appetite.

When he hits puberty two angels are appointed to him and he is responsible for all his actions. He begins to understand that all his actions have consequences and that even though he may attain momentary pleasure for doing something he may be subject to long-lasting sorrow because of it.

Fortunately, Allah (swt) has appointed an angel to give him strength and power and to guide and direct him so that he will refrain from which he has learned is harmful to him.

Allah loves the patient.

Holla.

- Omar Khan

"I wanna live in a land called Paradise..."

Contemplation has its ups and downs but the end is always profound.

Life is a journey of contemplation.

Some realizations however are harder on the heart than fear of realizing them.

I think I've experienced that to a whole new level in recent times.

Faith wavers.

Sometimes I look around, inward, and I fall in love all over again. Faith renewed, beauty seen and calmness attained.

Other times I'm too afraid to look inward knowing that what it'll reveal is pain of past mistakes that don't fade away.

Some mistakes never fade.

What do you do when you want something so badly you'd do anything to get it?

What do you do when you need something so badly but you get caught up in what you want that you lose sight of necessity?

What do you do when Jannah is laid out for you and you stop dead in your tracks, your heart stops beating, your feet stop moving....

...when you see the beauty around you but your stuck in moment, in a desire...

...and you want so badly to move forward, to push past it but something is holding you back.

What do you do when your soul and body don't match...when they're not in the same place...in the same state?

...and how do you get them back again?

Questions I've found myself searching for answers to...

The struggles are expected, welcomed at times.

Without them I wonder if I'd fall in love with the deen as much as I have.

My thoughts aren't even coherent. I suppose when so many questions are unanswered, conclusions are hard to come by.

Insha'Allah my life will be full of struggles, big and small, insha'Allah mistakes will be forgiven and hearts will be purified.

Insha'Allah patience will become a virtue I possess and love will be something that I give endlessly.

Insha'Allah Allah will show me a way to Paradise.

Insha'Allah the pain of the past and mistakes of yesterday will melt from my heart and I will soon feel my soul guide my body towards doing all the good that can be done in this world and lead me down that path that only the righteous travel.

May Allah give us all the strength to fight off the temptation of this world.

May Allah give us all the Iman to bounce back from sins committed and race towards making up for them in goodness and truth.

Ya Allah, forgive us our sins.

Ameen.

"The night is always darkest just before dawn..."

Ma'salaama.