{Dua for Purification}
Arabic:
اللَّهُمَّ آتِ نَفْسِي تَقْوَاهَا وَزَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا أَنْتَ
وَلِيُّهَا وَ مَوْلَاهَا
Roman English Script:
Allāhumma Āti Nafsī Taqwāhā wa Zakkihā Anta Khayru man Zakkāhā Anta Waliyyuhā wa Mawlāhā
English Translation:
O Allah, grant my soul its piety and purify it, You are the Best to purify it, You are its Guardian and Master.
{Note}
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا
“Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself, And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself.” (91:9-10)
POINTS OF BENEFIT
We will not enter Jannah unless we purify ourselves. If we do not purify ourselves with good deeds and obedience to Allah azza wa jal, we will be purified in the hereafter. There are some among mankind that are so filthy that the hell-fire cannot purify them and they will remain therein forever. May Allah protect us from such an end.
Jannah is the reward for purification. Allah ta’ala says, “Everlasting Gardens, under which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever: such is the reward of those who purify themselves.” (20:76) The dwellers of Jannah are told, “Tibtum“, “you have done good” (39:74), meaning you’ve become Tayyib, clean and pure.The scholars state that purification of the soul is by obedience to Allah ta’ala and good deeds by way of useful knowledge. Ibnul Jawzi rahimahullah defined it as, “cleaning it [the soul] from sinfulness and rectifying it by obedience.
Tazkiyah is one of the aims of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah ta’ala says, “He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them (yuzakeehim), and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom. And verily, they had been before in manifest error.” (62:2)Ibrahim alayhi salaam and Isma’eel alayhi salaam made duaa to Allah to send to their progeny a Messenger that will purify his followers. “Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall recite unto them Your Verses and instruct them in the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them. Verily! You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” (2:129)In each of the ayaat that mention this description of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam (reciting the verses, purifying them, teaching the Book and the Wisdom), the act of purifying comes before teaching, except in the duaa of Ibrahim and Isma’eel. We learn from this that good manners and purification of the soul come before seeking knowledge.
Tazkiyah was an aim of all of the Prophets. Allah azza wa jal commanded Musa alayhi salaam, “And say to him [Fir’awn], ‘Would you [be willing to] purify yourself.” (79:18)
Tazkiyah is an aim of da’wah. Allah ta’ala informs the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam in surah Abasa regarding the leaders of the Quraysh, “And not upon you [is any blame] if he will not be purified.” (80:7)
Tazkiyah is the cause of success. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala ties success and failure to purification of the soul in Surah ash-Shams. “Indeed he succeeds who purifies his own self, And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself.” (91:9-10) The word for success here is falaah which gives the meaning of striving and enduring with hardship to reach success. Falaah is not by luck, rather it is by putting in the effort and struggling. We learn from this that purification of the soul is a struggle and needs continuous effort from the believer to reach success.
The one who does not purify his soul has ruined it. Allah ta’ala uses the word dassaahaa, “he corrupted it” to describe the one who does not purify his soul in surah ash-Shams. This word has two linguistic meanings. The first one is to bury something in the dirt or mud. The ultimate end of burying something that is alive is destruction, so dassaahaa means the one who hides it, the one who destroys it, the one who corrupts and dirties it. Also, we can derive from this meaning that the person who does this to his soul does not seek to purify it because when something is not cleaned, it will become dirty on its own. The second linguistic meaning is to corrupt, spoil and ruin something so dassaahaameans the one who ruined it, spoiled it, by committing acts of disobedience.
Tazkiyah is only through the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah ta’ala said that he is the one who purifies his followers (62:2). We will never reach purification without the guidance of the Prophet alayhi salaatu wa salaam and following his sunnah.
Tazkiyah is like hidaayah (guidance). It is a blessing that is from Allah alone. He guides and purifies whomsoever He wills. Allah ta’ala says, “And if not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” (24:21)If tazkiyah comes from Allah ta’ala then we must pray to Allah, asking Him to grant us tazkiyah–by memorizing the duaa that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam taught us, we are following a sunnah of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam as well as seeking a means to tazkiyah by asking Allah to purify us.
No one can claim purification of their own souls. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala addresses mankind, “Have you not seen those who claim themselves to be pure? Rather, Allāh purifies whom He wills.”(4:49)Allah prohibits us from claiming ourselves to be purified. He says, “So ascribe not purity to yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him.”(53:32) In this ayah, we see the connection of tazkiyah and taqwa like the duaa. We learn from this that if one had taqwa of Allah, they would not claim themselves to be pure, and that tazkiyah leads to taqwa of the soul.
We ask Allah ta’ala to purify us in this life, to grant us taqwa and to make us among His obedient slaves. Ameen.
Many Muslims have a misconception that having fun is Haraam. Nothing could be further from the truth as having fun is part of human nature and Islam is the religion of Al-Fitrah (Human Nature). Unfortunately, despite the fact that most forms of entertainment are Halal, many Muslims seem to indulge in the Haraam forms instead.
So here are my top ten favorite Halal things to do for fun. But remember even Halal forms of entertainment become Haraam through overindulgence and neglecting your Islamic duties:
10. Eating out:
Everybody enjoys going out to their favorite fast food joint and enjoying a delicious chicken tikka or burger. This is completely Halal and extremely fun, especially when you go with company, so go ahead and enjoy yourself… just make sure the chicken is Halal! ;)
9. Reading:
LIKE THIS?
Not everybody enjoys this but I do, there is nothing like a good book to take your mind of things and help you relax. Of course one must choose a book whose content in Halal and it is preferable to read books by Muslims, unless you have reached the level of knowledge to read Non-Muslim books, and separate the good from the evil.
Don’t forget that the first command in the Quran was to “READ” so enjoy your reading, and may Allah help us all reach
the level where we enjoy reading Islamic books.
8. Swimming:
This one is recommended by the prophet (peace be upon him), and there is no better way to cool off on a hot day! So make sure your Satr is covered and enjoy the water in the upcoming summer.
7. Relaxing:
We all need a break and nobody can pray all day, the prophet (peace be upon him) recommended that we will our lives in balance and said, “An hour for your Lord and an hour for yourself,”meaning that we should split our day and balance between Islamic work and living life. So do not stress, when you get tired, sit back and relax. Its perfectly Halal, just don’t sleep through any salah times.
6. Video Games and Videos:
Not all video games and videos are Haraam; it’s the content that matters. So if you enjoy playing video games and can balance without getting addicted, make sure you only buy Halal games (that means no Grand Theft Auto!). The same with movies and other videos, watch something Islamic or something beneficial and keep away from movies which have shameless scenes and teach bad things.
Most importantly, do not get addicted and sit till Fajr time praying Pro Evolution Soccer, because that would then become haraam. So balance and be careful and responsible when choosing the content, and do not try to fool yourself that a certain movie is halal when you know it is not, because you can not fool Allah or the angels sitting with you watching and writing down every moment into your book of deeds.
5. Nature:
I love nature! Whether it is the ocean, forests, animals, I just love being out in the natural environment. It is one of those times when I feel closest to Allah and feel peace inside me. There is no feeling equal to praying under a tree or on a mountain. Take my word for it and book your next family holiday at some place natural, like the Drakensburg Mountains of South Africa. It is Beautiful!
4. Nasheeds:
I love Nasheeds, in them I have found the perfect replacement for music and a source of both joy and education for myself. It is narrated that Umar (RA) said, “Singing is the companion of the traveler”. I do not know how authentic that narration is, but Imam Malik did say there is nothing wrong with singing while traveling – so load your cars with Zain Bhikha and Dawud Wharnsby CDs, and throw out the Haraam music, and enjoy Halal beneficial entertainment as you drive to work and back!
3. Hanging out with the right crowd:
Your friends either make you or break you. The prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Every person follows the religion of his best friend so be careful whom you befriend”.
Since we are all social beings, hanging out and socializing will be high on our list of ways of having fun, yet it is so important to have the right friends. Your friends are the ones who encourage
you to pray or to skip the prayer and catch a movie. They are the ones who tell you your Hijab looks beautiful or that it makes you look old. In the end, whom you choose to hang out with, makes the biggest difference in who you become.
Sadly, in South Africa we have an added problem in that having fun is looked upon as Haraam as a result many practicing Muslims in this country are B-O-R-I-N-G! So it is even harder to find good friends here who are practicing yet cool and fun, but they do exist. You just have to look in the right places, like at the Al-Kauthar courses and ILM-SA programmes. Hang out with those crowds, you will become a better Muslim and have an awesome time at the time!
2. Playing with kids:
I have two baby boys, two baby nieces, a baby brother, a baby cousin and many other little people in the family and there is nothing that is more fun to me than spending time with these innocent sweet kids and playing with them. Children are a joy and the coolness of my eyes. On this point, I hate people who hate kids and treat them badly, it’s because of such people in our Masjids that many kids grow up traumatized and hate the Masjid and Islam. That is not Islamic at all.
The prophet (peace be upon him) would play with kids even in the Masjid, sometimes when he was in Sajdah, he would be very long because his grandchildren were riding on his back. That’s the Sunnah not banning the kids from the Masjid and growling at them whenever you see them! Playing with children is part of the Sunnah methods of having fun.
One last hadith on this topic, once the prophet (Peace be upon him) kissed his grandchildren in public, a man commented that he had ten kids and never kissed any of them. The prophet (peace be upon him) replied, “What can I do if Allah has removed mercy from your heart, who ever does not show mercy will not be shown mercy,” Think about that next time you mistreat a child.
1. Marriage and all the fun it legalizes:
Being with the opposite gender is the natural desire of every human and it is such a situation that one has the most fun, especially if there is love between them. Islam does not prohibit this but promotes it in the form of marriage while prohibiting it outside of marriage. So dump your boyfriends and girlfriends, get religious and marry a cool religious person!
The prophet (peace be upon him) stressed the importance of marriage many times and also stressed the importance of having a fun marriage. If your marital life sucks, your life in general will be miserable, but if you are happily married and enjoying it (like I am, masha’Allah) then you can cope with every other problem you face. The prophet (peace be upon him) has a fun marital life, he would race with his wives, have food fights with them, joke with them. Study his life with them; he was the perfect husband so let us all follow in his footsteps.
Once the prophet (peace be upon him) advised a young companion who had married an elderly woman, “you should have married someone young (like you) so that you could play with her and she could play with you”. So what are you waiting for?
If you are married, make changes to improve your marital life and make it a source of fun and pleasure for yourself, and if you are not married, get married soon and have a lot of kids so that then do everything else of this list with your wife and kids, its more fun like that than when you are alone.
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I hope you all enjoyed and benefited from this list and I hope that it will assist you in living Halal, practicing Islam and enjoying it. May Allah guide us all to the straight and balanced path and put the love of Islam into our hearts.