| My Reflections on Valentine's Day |
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| Sunday, 26 February 2012 04:50 |
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"WHAT did you get this time from your boyfriend?” asked a friend of mine. The question raised an awkward silence for a moment, as I was framing the reply for the question in my mind. “Hmm…dude I don’t have one,” I said after breaking that horrible silence. For a minute or two I felt that same awkward silence again as I did before. “Hmmm…never mind, you know what? My boyfriend gave me a cell phone this time,” she said. “Oh good for you,” I replied with a pretty serious expression on my face. After noticing my serious expression, she thought it was better to leave me alone than to relate her story to me. As I was passing by the school corridor after the exam, I could see cute little red gifts in every girl’s hand probably sent to them by ‘someone special’. Not to mention I could hear their ‘endless stories’ until I reached my house. At home, the first thing I discussed about with my mother was ‘Valentine’s Day’. I narrated to her the bunch of incidents that took place that day in school. After observing me, my mother asked, “What’s with you?” No longer able to keep the secret in my stomach, I said, “Mom, everyone in my school received gifts from their boyfriends, except for me”. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it from your husband InshaAllah,” said mother. After staring blanking at mother for a while, I said “Ah, forget it”. I was sick inside the heart and could feel myself drowning in a river of sadness. After all what did she know about Valentine’s Day? As I was about to get up from my bed on which we lay talking, all of a sudden my mother stopped me and said, “Don’t worry Allah will gift you with something, which will definitely, be far better than receiving roses and chocolates from a bunch of fools”. And her last question forced me to think. “But for how long will they hide it from their parents?” Yes, my mom is right, how long can they hide it from their parents? Someday it will definitely be known, after all it is something that their parents are unaware of. Mother’s words forced me to shed light upon them. As I was contemplating on her words, I recalled my past moments when Allah (SWT) had helped me in my difficult situations, when Allah (SWT) was always there for me in times of both my difficulties and ease. Allah (SWT) was my someone where there was no one, who granted me whatever I’d wished for in spite of my disobedience, who helped me to search for something I had lost, who protected me from all sorts of evils that I was unaware of and who blessed me with the gift of guidance. How can I be so ungrateful? As Allah (SWT) says in the Noble Quran: "They recognize the favors of Allah; then they deny them; and most of them are (creatures) ungrateful” (Surah Nahl…Verse-83) Introspecting, I asked myself: “Why are we so ungrateful to Allah’s blessings? Even though, He deserves to be fully thanked. Why do we seek gifts from our boyfriends/girlfriends? Even though there is someone waiting for us to ask so that He may grant it to us. Why do we search for ‘Haram’ love? Even though there is someone who loves us 70 times more than our mothers, someone who is closer to us than our jugular vein, someone who is always there for us, someone who is waiting for our love and repentance, someone who never leaves us despaired during our hardships and someone who we always turn to during our difficulties….“ALLAH”. “Is there any person alive on this blue planet, who loves his/her lover more than he loves Allah (SWT)?” As Allah (SWT) goes on to say in the Holy Qur’an: “Yet there are some who take others as equal to Allah and love them as Allah should be loved…” (Surah Baqarah Ayah-164) So what’s our duty now? Love Allah more than anyone else and seek His love as He is the only one who deserves to be loved more than anyone else does. How do I gain the love of Allah? Ibn Qayyim mentioned ten causes that result in Allah’s love for His slave and the slave’s love for Allah. These ten are:- Reciting the Quran while pondering over its meanings and what is meant by it Getting closer to Allah by performing voluntary deeds after completing obligatory deeds Continual remembrance of Allah under all circumstances, with one’s tongue, heart and actions Giving precedence to what He loves over what you love when you are overtaken by your desires The heart being avid of Allah’s Names and Attributes, and the heart roaming in that garden of knowledge Observing Allah’s kindness, goodness, and bounties, both hidden and open The heart being soft, subdued and meek before Allah Being alone with Allah during the time when He descends during the last portion of the night while reading His book and ending that by asking forgiveness and repenting Sitting with the beloved and sincere, benefitting from the most fruitful of their speech. And not to speak unless speaking is more beneficial and you know that it will improve your state and be beneficial to others Staying away from every cause that comes between the heart and Allah These 10 causes take the lovers to the station of ‘true love’ and bring them to their Beloved. So what are you waiting for? Let’s strive to join the exclusive club, the club of those who love and are loved by Allah (SWT)… Thoughts to ponder over
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Comments
Keep it up my Daughter.
It's so disappointing to see this in Saudi Arabia of all places and it's all dismissed as "3adi", nothing to be concerned about, when in fact it actually boils down to innovation...sub7anAllah, may Allah guide us all.
Barak Allahu feekee!!! Jazak Allah khayr for the reminders about how to attain the love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah give you a righteous spouse that can walk with you hand-in-hand on the road that leads to Paradise. Allahuma ameen!
Subhan Allah, how can a pagan, pseudo-Christian holiday that celebrates these illicit relationships be fair-seeming to Muslims??? May Allah guide all of us and protect us from falling into misguidance.
May Allah preserve you, sister!
Great reflection! I am glad you took your mum's comment in a positive light. May Allah (swt) Guide us all to strive for the elusive station of His Love. A'ameen
JazakaAllaah Khayr for this amazing reminder! :)
SubhanAllaah!
Mashalah awessssssome article..... May Allah grant you success in this world and in the hereafter...
Great article... May Allah shower his blessings upon you....
May Allah make us better... :)
Can i SHARE this atrticle on a blog?
I'll give the link as "http://www.saudilife.net/teens/142-advice/28457-my-reflections-on-valentines-day".
Let me know,
JazakAllah khair
Ofcourse buddy... I'll be delighted! :)
Wassalam,
Sayema Zulfeqar
On the balcony she stood, her arms resting on the railing. She could get a good view of what was happening on the street right across her house. There was no power supply. It was normal for the power to be erratic. She had stepped out into the balcony earlier to cool off. The solar street lights made her vision clearer. The street was a bit rowdy as people passed by in pairs, a man and a woman, a boy and a girl. Some held hands, while some had their arms around each other. It was the evening of February 14, the popularly acclaimed Valentine ’s Day. She knew that in Saudi Arabia what she saw right in her front was not possible. Public display of affection was verboten, but she was not sure whether it was a cultural thing or an Islamic thing, but in her thoughts she knew there should be a limit to what displays of affection couples could express in public. A’isha knew the celebration of Valentine’s day was forbidden in Islam, she didn’t celebrate it even though she had been married for about two years now. It was an innovation and she knew quite well that innovations were bad in her religion and that there was nothing like good innovation or bad innovation, it all lead to misguidance. A’isha stood upright and sighed. She looked at the sky and gazed at the stars. She flashed back to when she was little and all she ever wanted to be was an astronaut, she envisaged it was a whole new world out there but now she was all grown up and she was far away from her childhood’s dream. She was a teacher in a school nearby but she had found fulfillment in her new career. She loved children and they loved her too. The popular nursery rhyme was true, the stars were like diamonds in the sky. She recalled how she had imagined when she was little that she would catch a star when she became an astronaut and make a beautiful necklace with it but now she knew that was a fantasy though she really would not mind having a necklace even if it did not have a diamond in it. She recalled the words of her Lord in Suratul Mulk:
‘And indeed We have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps…’
An odd feeling overwhelmed A’isha as she stared into the starry night, she felt envious. It was not the feeling of being envious that baffled her but the very thought of why she was envious. She was envious of what she had seen some moments earlier, the couples she had seen across the street. No doubt she wished her husband was here with her but he was not back from work yet. She decided to return inside. Her laptop was on the center table. She carried it and placed it on her laps as she sat on the sofa. She moved her hand over the touch pad to make remove it from sleep mode. She was browsing on the internet earlier. Her eyes met with a comment someone had made on a blog. It read:
‘for all us Muslims who cringe towards the ideas of all innovations such as mother’s day, birthdays, Valentine’s day etc, how many of us actually make an attempt to care for the person in question in a way to make them feel just as loved without these days? There has to be a balance…’
‘Yes!’ A’isha, muttered. The comment reflected how she truly felt. She made du’a for the person who had reverberated her thought. That was all she wanted, that was all she needed, to feel loved even without these days. The thought that there could be a balance comforted her. She placed her laptop on the table and heaved a sigh of relief but for her today was just another day.
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A’isha turned in her bed as she pressed the snooze button on her phone...http://www.mujeebunleashed .blogspot.com/2012/02/just-another-day.html
One day the Holy Prophet (s) was walking with his companions when he saw a mother bird with her babies in a nest. The mother bird was feeding the small ones some worms. So tender and gentle were her actions, that the companions were awe-struck at this display of love. The Prophet (s) smiled and said, "Are you surprised at the love this mother bird has for her babies? Let me inform you that Allah loves His creatures, the human beings seventy times more than this mother!"
I have no idea if this is authentic.
I know only of the two following ahadith:
“...Allaah is more compassionate towards His slaves than this mother towards her child.” (Reported by Muslim).
narrated by Abu Huraira [May Allah be pleased with him] who said: I heard Allah's Apostle saying, Allah divided Mercy into one-hundred parts and He kept its ninety-nine parts with Him and sent down its one part on the earth, and because of that, its one single part, His creations are Merciful to each other, so that even the mare lifts up its hoofs away from its baby animal, lest it should trample on it." [Bukhari]
Umm Jamila
This statement is not a part of any verse from the Quran or hadith of the Prophet (SAW). This is just a quote...
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