The Beauty of Existence

Mindful Muslim Pt 2

As I we make the most of the last ten days of Ramadan by showing our devotion, I wanted to share a few things I had on my mind, well actually in my heart.

I always thought that people who understood Arabic were so lucky. So you mean to tell me that you can just read the Quran and understand it? And you can pronounce the words correctly? Wow.

I mean I later learned about the different dialects and all but you get my point right?

When I was younger, I used to write down the transliteration of the Surahs of the Quran on a piece of paper to memorize it and then act like I’m reading the Arabic words in front of my Quranic teacher. The days when my brother and I didn’t memorize our “homework” we would ask our teacher to tell us stories about the prophets and then we would ask a bunch of questions so class would go by faster. Ok before you guys give me a BOMBASTIC side eye, he would come to our house at 9 am on Saturdays so just a side eye will do. Now that I think of it I really played myself.

Access to the transliterations and translations of the Holy Quran has helped me get closer to my deen. However,  I must say that the additional learning I’ve been doing on the side has also helped me have more of a personal and relatable connection with my religion. We all love us some Mufti Menk because thank you for addressing those questions and feelings I didn’t know I had. I can spend hours listening to Omar Suleiman, the way this man so beautifully articulates his knowledge about Islam, MaShaAllah. There many others out there facilitating our spiritual and religious growth for us.

I learned that without the proper understanding and knowledge, literal translations can often be misunderstood. It’s okay to ask for a little help from proper sources, its actually preferred. Ask your Islamic community, search for the the response and sometimes even the questions in Islamic literature. And if all of that still seems “complicated” you are only a google search away from better understanding yourself and your relationship with Allah.

This journey of mine is a continuous one just like the other journeys I’m on. However, this journey is my foundation, where I get the motivation, the understanding and the will for anything and everything I do.  As a student of life or whatever I’m calling myself these days, I take the classroom approach. Expect that instead of hoping for good grades I hope for Taqwa, something worth more than a million credits.

What is Taqwa?

Well the literal translation of the word is “piety, fear of God”. I never fully understood the word “fear” in the explanation because fear is an emotion caused by something dangerous and painful right? Well don’t quote me on that English isn’t my first language.

I’ve learned to understand it beautifully though, it’s to be conscious of Him.  During Ramadan, we are extra conscious about everything we do and say. We pay closer attention to ourselves and our intentions.

In “Allah Loves", Omar Suleiman explains the merging of love and fear. He quotes Ibn-Al Qayim:

“When you fear something you run away from it, when you fear Allah you run back to Him”. This is the truest form of love I could ever imagine. This fear allows us to be cognizant in our daily lives not to do anything that would spiritually stir away us from Allah’s love. The worse punishment is not always the consequence we see in this world but the feeling of being estranged and far from Allah. Oh how lucky are we to be loved by Him.

Before I get into this a bit more, I would like to share the books I’ve been reading these past few weeks:

1. Prayers of the Pious by Omar Suleiman

2. Allah Loves by Omar Suleiman

3. Secrets of Divine Love by A. Helwa

These are the light reads that I will be quoting in this text. I’ve been going back and forth between these books and in no particular order. I take a look at the table of contents and flip to the chapter that speaks most to me at that moment. Last year, I focused more on reading about the history of Islam ( let me know if you want the book recommendations, I’m sure I still have the list somewhere).  I’ve been doing this thing lately in the morning where I read a few pages of an Islam related book or listen to a Islamic podcast before I start my day.

This method reminds of school when I would study all night but still walk into class with my notebook staring at my notes. I know the information but I just need a refresher, to confidently or semi-confidently get through the test. It’s pretty similar to getting through the day, we need that reminder of Allah's love for us to set the tone for our day.

“You are closest to Allah in your prostration. So when you go into prostration, that’s the time to make special prayer."

You can’t say you want peace in your heart and not pray. It’s actually pretty simple manifestation of humility, no need for us to complicate it. Life may not always be easy but one thing is for sure, we have our one on one time with our Maker. When the words escape us, He already knows whats in our hearts. On the days when we don’t know what we want, He knows whats best for us. On the nights when we don't recognize ourselves, He sees His creation. A gift that we can’t buy but is offered to us in the most beautiful packaging possible.

“I have not created the invisible beings and humankind except to worship Me.” Qur’an 51:56

Life is a test.

Hmm Leyla do you miss school or something?

The Quran describes life as a test, which is pretty amazing because you mean to tell me that there can be a reward after all of this.

Seeing life as just Heaven and Hell can be a bit limiting, the journey is so beautiful. We are unveiling who God created us to be, so that we can know who God is. This path to God allows us to see all that God is doing for us and not to us.

“He gives you people to love you, to leave you, to inspire you, to doubt you and to believe in you.” This is all done out of His love for us, who are we to doubt the process?

It may be that you hate something and that it is good for you and it may be that you love something and it is bad for you.” Quran 2:26.

But what do I know? I’m just a girl sharing her maniere de vivre….