Assalam-o-Alaikum,

This is not an article biased towards polictics, country etc. It is a long article and it is possible that your nafs might not let you read this article completely, but I request you to keep a cool head and read it by doing jahad-bil-nafs. I too had to subdue my nafs while writing this article; may ALLAH accept it, ameen!

Things that I am going to discuss have always been important anyway, but in present national and international circumstances, I am starting to realize their prominence even more. I have no idea how these things will appear to you, but I believe that we should all be following them – if we call ourselves Muslims.

Nowadays, we frequently come to know of news that in a certain country or state, our dear Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) has been ridiculed, and sometimes, they even go as far as jesting at ALLAH. The Muslim community protests (however unconvincingly) in the form of angry processions, or by discussing the issue among themselves and with others, in which different opinions are shared and heard.

Dear brothers and sisters, non-Muslims have always been conspiring against Islam and Muslims since the very beginning, so their present attitude shouldn’t surprise us. According to an ayah of Quran, ALLAH has already declared Jews and Christians not our friends. Therefore, we should see that in the early days of Islam, what used to be the reaction of our dear Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) and his sahabah (companions) (Radi-ALLAH-O-Ta’ala-Anhoma) to such acts of opposition. We can then adopt the same reaction today to confront our and ALLAH’s foes, so that ALLAH would help us.

My brothers and sisters, let us think about ourselves and our following to Islam. Let us view how we ourselves make fun of sunnat-e-rasool (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam), and how we ourselves have forgotten ALLAH’s orders. I regret to say that we are Muslims by chance and not by conscious or practice. We have to make ourselves Muslims in the real sense; we have to understand the purpose of our existence. According to an ayah in the Quran, all jinns and humans are created for worshipping ALLAH.

Now what truly is worship, or ibadat? Is it just praying 5 times a day, when the purpose of our life is to worship our Creator? In simple words, we should be praying 24/7. Let’s analyze ourselves and our acts of praying. We don’t even pray 5 times a day, while according to a hadith, namaz is the pillar of religion.

Can a building remain standing without its pillars? Indeed, no. On the Judgment Day, we shall first be asked about namaz, and we shall fail that very question (failed right in the 1^st semester). Thus, brothers and sisters, say your prayers regularly; all brothers should try to say their prayers with the jamaat and also invite others, because at the time when spirit of our dear Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) was leaving his (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) body he(Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) had willed us to take care of our prayers and our sub-ordinates. Today, many of us say that Islam is not just saying prayers. Surely, it isn’t, but namaz is a very important part of Islam. According to a hadith, the distinguishing characteristic between a momin and a kafir is namaz.

After namaz, the next question is how to engage ourselves in the ibadat of ALLAH for the whole day without disturbing our daily activities. So, brothers and sisters, I give you some examples of making our daily routines into ibadat, with just a little effort and hard work:

• We meet many people everyday, talk to them over the phone, send them text messages, or communicate with them in other ways. Being Muslims, our conversations should begin and end with asslam-o-alikum/wa-aliakum-us-salam.
• We should take care of our eating habits. (I hope most of us know about the related sunnahs.)
• We should smile when greeting someone.
• We should refrain from being rude while communicating with someone, because according to a hadith, a momin might have all vices in him, but he can never be ill-mannered. If someone treats us unfairly, we should be kind to them in reply, and if possible, should try to do a naiki to them, or pray for them. (Many non-Muslims embraced Islam just because of this habit of various Muslim saints.)
• We use stairs or elevators for visiting different floors of many buildings; we should recite ALLAH-o-akbar while ascending, and subhanALLAH while descending.
• We should honestly carry out our work and perform our responsibilities in our offices, shops or wherever we are working.
• We should not hurt anybody. If we wish to inform someone of their flaws, we should not be hurting them. Once Hazrat Imam Hussain (Radi-ALLAH-O-Ta’ala-Anho) spotted an old man who was not correctly performing ablution (wuzu). He asked the old man to see if I (Hazrat Imam Hussain (Radi-ALLAH-O-Ta’ala-Anho)) am doing the wazu in correct way and guide if any corrections needed while doing wuzu. The old man thought to himself that Hussain(Radi-ALLAH-O-Ta’ala-Anho) is the grandson of Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) and couldn’t be wrong in his way of wuzu, and thus corrected himself. SubhanALLAH, what wonderful way of tableegh (preaching) our seniors and ancestors possessed. And here we are, who tell a person that his namaz is of no use to him if he does some other wrong deed as well. Astaghfirullah, instead of stopping him from doing the wrong deed, we tell him that his namaz is of no use to him (indirectly forbidding him of saying namaz.) We should be politely telling him that he is a nice fellow, and if he gives up doing that specific wrong deed (or overcomes a certain flaw), then it would be for his own good.
• We should avoid monetary interest, bribery, telling lies, jealousy/malice, back-biting, and other social mischief.
• We should follow Islam’s guidance and directions for sitting, laying, sleeping – in fact, every aspect of life.
• While wearing clothes/shoes, we should begin with the right side; and while taking them off, we should begin with the left.
• We should learn and recite the duas for entering and leaving the home/mosque, and for travel.
• Besides these, we should daily spend some time doing ALLAH’s zikr and reciting the durood sharif. Whenever the name of our dear Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) is spoken or written, we should also speak and write the durood sharif as well.
• We should do jahad with our lives, wealth, and nafs.
• We should try avoiding every deed and thing that is haraam.
• All these things, little as they may be, will change your lives, and will sort out every act of yours, both for the deen (religion) and the dunya (world), inshaALLAH.
• The Devil and our nafs provoke and tempt us – “such classification of sect; the mullah is like this or that; the society these days is shaken” – but my brothers and sisters, whatever school of thought you might belong to, just follow the things written above according to your school of thought according to the basic teachings of Islam, and seek guidance from ALLAH, and ALLAH will surely help and guide you. Because according to a haidth, when someone seeks haq (truth), ALLAH grants him the understanding of deen.

These were the few things that my humble knowledge possessed about making our whole day an act of ibadat-e-Ilahi.

If we practically start doing them, and invite others to do as well, then ALLAH will bestow us with success.

And ALLAH forbid, if we do not take pity on our withered state, then disgrace waits for us in this world, and eternal punishment in the aakhirat. I give you an example that tells you that we ourselves are guilty of insolence against ALLAH and the Prophet (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam). We use classrooms and labs at university(I am not going to mention its name here), where cleanliness, cooling, and other related matters are taken care of, efficiently. In contrast, the mosque at university is very ill-kept; there are not even fans there, and rows are so dirty that while prostrating your clothes would get filthy with birds’ excrement. In the Quran, ALLAH says that: And keep the house of ALLAH clean for those who bow, and those who stay (do aitikaf).

If this is the importance of Islam in our lives, then isn’t it an act of blasphemy against ALLAH’s house, ALLAH’s order, and even ALLAH Himself? I will not give more examples as I fear that this will make many people rather unhappy. I request you all, for ALLAH’s sake, that please take pity on yourselves and analyze everyday whether you are fulfilling the purpose for which you are created, and if no, then what you should be doing.

It is after this that you can confront and face the enemies of Islam.

In the end, I wish to seek your forgiveness for ALLAH’s sake if this email, or any other word and act of mine, has ever offended you. In fact, please forgive all, and seek forgiveness of those whom you have offended. May ALLAH forgive us all, ameen! A hadith goes something like this: the Prophet of ALLAH (Sal-ALLAH-O-Alah-e-Wasalam) said, “ALLAH forgives and likes those who forgive.”

If I have made any mistakes in this article, then may ALLAH forgive me, and if any brother or sister can better guide me, then I shall be grateful. I pray to ALLAH that He grants all of us with success and happiness in the deen and the duniya, ameen!

Regards and may ALLAH bless you all,

Asslam-o-Alaikum.