Hadith

Anas r.a. relates that, “We asked the Prophet s.a.w., ‘O Messenger of Allah s.a.w., shouldn’t we refrain from calling others to goodness if we don’t practice all good things ourselves, and shouldn’t we refrain from forbidding wrong things until we ourselves have abstained from all the bad?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘You should call others to goodness even if you don’t do all good, and you should forbid bad things even if you don’t abstain from all of them yourselves.’” (Al-Tabarani)

if only....

Sometimes in our lives, we would find ourselves lamenting, "IF only we had done this, it wouldn't have happened! "

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Seek out that which benefits you, seek help only from Allah and never say you can't do it. If any adversity comes to you do not say: 'If I had only acted in such-and-such a way, it would have been such-and-such;' but instead, say: 'Allah has decreed (it) and what He willed, He has done,' for verily, (the word) ‘if’ opens the way for the work of Satan." [Sahih Muslim]

Through this hadith Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) tells us to:
1. Seek the beneficial.
2. Ask Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) for help.
3. Be optimistic. Nothing is impossible if Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) wills it for you.
4. Don’t cry over spilt milk.
5. Trust Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) in what He has willed for you.

Time is like a river . . . You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow has passed and will never pass again. If there is something that will benefit you, make every effort and go after it! Seek it out! There is no failure, only lessons.

Reflections on Marriage(part 1)

A hadith states: ‘Marriage completes half of your iman (faith).’

“When the servant of Allah marries, he has fulfilled half the responsibilities laid on him by the faith (Islam), let him (therefore) observe Taqwa (the consciousness and fear of Allah) on matters concerning the remaining half.”

And you can always find this in books like Tranquil Hearts & Muslim Marriage Guidance; and most teachers or friends would say to you when they want to encourage you to get married if you are still ‘available’.

But how is that? How does marriage accomplish that?

After reading up on materials related to marriage, it didn’t state that if you do this… or do that….or any of the following, would complete half of your iman.

Faith, is something intangible right?

I’m almost entering my 2nd year of marriage. And strangely, somehow I never felt any boost-up of my iman level. Instead, I felt down or low-spirited at certain times of my life. I felt like I was worse than the time I was single. When I stayed with my parents, the trials and tribulations came from the ‘clash of interests’. Now, I find myself in a state of trials and tribulation with my spouse. When I’m not in my state of ‘taqwa’, I find myself going against what a wife should observe. But when I’m conscious of Allah swt, I can do what a wife is supposed to observe. Of course, the problem doesn’t lie with him. I know it’s me, and I’m really trying to fix it. Just that, in the midst of fixing it, I entangled myself with the question I mentioned earlier.

I hope Allah swt will send someone to enlighten me on this topic of maintaining a marriage with love and tranquility.