Daily Reminders

Reminder#14 Remembrance of Allah Almighty

"[Prophet], recite what has been revealed to you of the Scripture; keep up the prayer: prayer restrains outrageous and unacceptable behaviour. Remembering God is greater: God knows everything you are doing."
(Surah Ankabut: Verse 45)

Allah Almighty is not only addressing our beloved Prophet(Peace be upon Him), he is addressing all of us. The scripture here refers to Quran so Allah Almighty is telling us to recite the Quran. But just think for a moment. How do we recite the Quran? We just read it and we understand nothing at all. The word used for recitation in this verse is ٱتْلُ. This word has 3 roots:
1.Ta
2. Lam
3. Waw
The roots of Arabic words are very important to understand their meaning and every word has roots. These above roots give the meaning of "to follow, imitate, walk behind, to read, rehearse, bond or obligation."
Just ponder over these meanings. So now did you understand that Allah Almighty is not just telling us to read the Quran like we do. Allah Almighty is telling us something else. We have to follow the Quran. We have to copy the Prophets' way of life which have been mentioned in Quran like how they were patient or how they were obedient to Allah Almighty. So in order to imitate, we have to understand the Quran. So make an effort to understand Quran from a RELIABLE source. You can listen to the lectures of Nouman Ali Khan on youtube. Start today. Even take a start from one verse. For first twenty one days, understand and write somewhere the explanation of only one verse and then act upon what ypu have learnt. Then after 21 days, move to 2 verses per day for next 21 days. Similarly increase it. But don't take a break in between because break will not let you develop the habit. Also keep in mind to bring whatever you are learning into to your life. Another amazing meaning is rehearse. The synonym of rehearse is "practise." So what does it mean? It means that if we have understood the explanation of Quran once, it does not mean that now it's enough. No! You have to practise it. Practise here means you have to repeat it regularly till your death. Don't be of those people who recite Quran but their recitation does not change their life. According to one hadith:
"They will recite the Quran, but the Quran will not go beyond their throats; they will leave the faith just as the arrow leaves the bow." (Bukhari, Muslim, Muatta).
Once you start learning Quran, try to teach it to others. You can start by creating instagram or facebook page where you can post the explanation of verses. But remember do it only for the sake of Allah because you never know when shaytan comes to you and you start showing it off. Ask Allah to make your intentions pure.
Now the next part is about prayer. We are told to keep up the prayer. We have to develop the concentration in namaz. When you stand in front of Allah, just leave everything behind and think that you are standing in front of the King of the kings. We often complain that no matter how much we try we can't develop khushu in namaz. So how can we do it? Just look what you are doing outside the prayer(when you are not praying namaz)? Are you watching haram things? Are you always gossiping? Are you listening to music? Or any other bad habit? Wishful thinking? Overthinking everything? Living in fantasies? If you don't leave these habits, you won't develop complete khushu.
The word which is used here for establishing your prayer : أَقِمِ. It also has three roots:
1. Qaf
2. Waw
3. Miim
These roots also give different meanings. One meaning is stand still or firm. Have you ever seen a person who moves so much in his prayer like he is constantly moving his hand here and there or he is continuoulsy revolving his eyes? Don't do this. Will you do this if you are standing in front of your teacher during viva or if a president is standing in front of you? No, we won't. Nobody would do this. So don't get into this habit while you are standing in front of your Lord. Don't move your feet up and down while standing in namaz as some people have this habit of constantly moving their feet here and there. Just peacefully go to ruku and go to prostration and then stand up. And in the next part Allah Almighty is saying that indeed namaz prevents you from immorality and wrongdoing. So if you are praying namaz but you are still indulged in evil deeds and immorality then it means you have not actually ESTABLISHED the prayer. You are just praying it. You are delaying it till the end of prayer time or you are praying too quickly or you are not properly doing your wudu. Think about it! You are told to establish the prayer. Then Allah Almighty is telling us to remember Him. We have to establish prayer and daily recite Quran for His rememberance. In addition to namaz and Quran, we have to learn different duas like dua befor sleep, before going to toilet, before leaving house and different duas which our Prophet (Peace be upon Him) told us. We have to do different tasbeehats. Such things develop the love of our Lord in our hearts. And adopt these habits for the remembrance of Allah. The remebrance of Allah will change your hearts. Allah Almighty himself is telling us that the remembrance of Allah is far greater than everything in your life. Nothing is more important than your salah, Quran recitation and His zikr. So leave everything when the time of prayer comes. Don't delay it. It is greater than your sleep. So if you are reading this and you have not prayed your salah yet. Go now! Leave everything. If you are working and the time of prayer comes, don't think that salah is distraction in your work. No! Your work is actually a distraction in your salah! And Allah knows evrything you are doing. He knows every little thing. Just keep this in mind!
May Allah make us His obedient servants.