Daily Quranic Inspiration

When you stand in prayer and clasp your left arm with your right, imagine that you are making a symbolic statement, that by clasping your arm you’re restraining yourself from any motions other than what your Sustainer has commanded.

Zakah is essentially giving away money that isn’t yours, except it doesn’t actually leave your possession.

In life, whenever you have a need or if you’re in some troubled waters, it’s really important to go back to the Qur’an and consult it. Read with the intention of seeking help and guidance. From the first descriptions given to the Qur’an is that is it ‘a guide for those who are God-conscious.’

Make time to read and reflect over the Qur’an. After the day is over (or maybe before it’s begun), go and make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, go somewhere warm and cosy in your home, and just sit with the Qur’an for a few minutes, reading and contemplating over it. Make it a part of your life.

The Qur’an will only go where is pure and clean, so if you accompany it, it will lead you to the good and pure insha’Allah.

One of the worst regrets that a person can feel is coming to the end-stages of their life and then realising that they haven’t truly lived. A deep regret overtakes them because they realise that they could’ve done more with their life.

The topic of living with the Qur’an is an incredibly important one because it is essentially the whole reason why the Qur’an was revealed: to teach us HOW to live in a true sense.

…He first turned to them, so that they could turn to Him in repentance. Subhan’Allah, how merciful is Allah, and how arrogant we can be if we think that our repenting was from our own accord – no, it’s all from Allah `azza wa jall. So let’s learn a lesson from Ibrahim, the khalil (close friend) of Allah, and beg Allah to always turn to us, so that we can keep turning to Him.

“…If Allah knows any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-Anfal: 70]

When giving a general charity, it’s fine and good to do it openly – there’s nothing wrong with that (fa-ni’imma hiya). But the discreetness and the word for ‘conceal‘ has been directly linked to when giving charity to a poor and needy person. And some of the scholars said that this is in order to honour the poor person and not humiliate them in public.

The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, “Act upon what you know and leave whatever you don’t know. Beware of discolouring (or colouring over) the religion of Allah. Upon you is to adhere to yourself (i.e. your matters) and leave the matters of the people.” [Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Ibn Majah; declared sahih by al-Hakim]

Living in a society riddled with riba (interest), it’s hard to avoid it at times, but if we knew the extent of damage it has on us, our lives and the lives of those closest to us, we would flee from it like prey in the wilderness.

If there were nothing bad about stinginess except its attendant poor expectations of Allah, it would still be complete destruction.

How brilliant and masterful that Allah should place the honour of the rich in the sustenance of the poor.

Part of the wisdom behind fasting it to expose the body to its own inherent weakness.

The stomach is the king of all desires. When the stomach is full and satiated, the rest of your senses are free to desire; our vision can look with lust, your tongue can speak ill of others.

Part of the wisdom behind Islam’s mandatory fasting is solidarity and empathy with the poor and needy.

What is for Allah we conceal and what is for the people we display.

“Indeed, those who go astray from the way of Allah will have a severe punishment for having forgotten the Day of Account.” (38:26)
At this verse Shaykh Abdallah highlighted the notion in the verse that faith is by definition tied up with restraint and discipline.

Shaykh Abdallah mentioned here that since people are created from the earth they not only resemble the earth in their various colours but also in their varying capacities to accept the truth.