THE FIRST STEP

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatul lahi wa barakah

As i write my blog, it is hard to decide where to start from. I recall the hadith i learnt a few hours ago,

Narrated `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`Aas RA: I heard Allah's Apostle (S) saying, "Allah does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray" {Sahih Bukhari; Kitab-al-ilm; Hadith#100}

I learnt from this hadith that ilm (knowledge) will be taken away from mankind. There will be a day when there will be no scholars to teach deen, to teach islam, to teach quran. I fear that the children of my children would one day want to learn quran and there would be nobody from whom they could learn quran. There would be no islamic teachers. It would really make me upset.

So, my dear sisters and brothers of islam, i start my blog today because i want to share a drop in the ocean of spreading islam.

I fear that I am not a very learned person nor a scholar, but i do not know how much time i have left before the call of Mallikul Maut(Angel of Death) comes to me. I cannot wait to become a scholar first and then start spreading knowledge, because that might take a long time. That might take forever. I pray to Allah swt to save me and save us all from such fears. This is the que where shaitan comes in and distracts us from spreading the message that Allah swt has sent for all of us.

Allah has sent the Quran to us a guidance. It is sent to us as a good news. What good news is this? It is the good news of success. It is the good news of peace. It is the good news of harmony. It is the good news of "Sirat-ul-mustaqim". Sirat-ul-mustaqim means the straight path for us to follow that would make Allah swt happy.

"Then is one who walks fallen on his face better guided or one who walks erect on a straight path?" {Surah mulk V:67:22}

Quran is sent to us as glad tidings so that we may find peace in this world and also after this world. In the duniya(life in this world) and aqirah(life after death). Often, we get so tangled up in this duniya that we almost forget that there is another much more longer life that is waiting for us after we die. It is hard to remember that this is just a test. This duniya is just a test .

Let me give you a parable. Imagine that you are in an examination hall, you are given a text book to prepare yourself and write the test. What happens after you finish your test? You get your result. If you pass you would get good gifts and if you fail in the test, you would be punished. Duniya and Aqirah is as simple as that.

We are given Quran (textbook) to study and learn from it, to recite it, to understand it , to apply it. Quran is sent to us,i.e, all mankind, all human beings born in this world. It is sent for An-Naas, not just for muslims but for all mankind. We are then sent to this world (examination hall) where we are tested. We are tested through good times and hard times. All we need to do is understand what Allah swt has told us to do in good times and bad times. Lastly, when all mankind are dead , Angel Israfil would blow the Sur ( a loud trumpet) which will bring all of us alive again and we are given our result. Allah swt would judge us based on all our deeds that we have done in Duniya and open the doors of Paradise (Jannah) to the good men, and Allah azzawajal would punish the wrong doers and send them to Hell. And He is the best of Judges.

"Is not Allah the most just of judges? " {Surah At-Tin V:95:8}

We all want to be happy? Don't we? We want a solution to our problems. We are tired of our problems. Life is hard. We want the pain to be taken away from our hearts. It is simple , turn to Allah swt. Ask for Allah's help. Allah has already sent us His message. We only need to get up and open His message, understand His message , understand The Quran. Just start by reciting Quran. Then ask yourself "what does Allah swt wants to convey to us through this book in our hands?" . Go on, read the translation of Quran. Alhamdulillah, there are many sources where we can understand the translation of Quran. (Tafsir of Quran)

Go ahead! Browse google and search for translation website, search for a language that you are comfortable with. Also, we could buy books from shops which provide us translations of the Holy Quran. We could also download apps in our mobile. We could search for videos. We could search for places of ilm, (schools of ilm) where islamic teaching is done. Trust me, there are many paths. The paths are only waiting for you to take that first step.

My brothers and sisters in Islam, take the first step. Allah is waiting to guide us , we only need to take that first step sincerely . We need to open the Quran with all our heart. We might feel that we are too busy at this point in life and we have too much in our plate but these responibilities will always multiply.

Just imagine that one of our friend has sent us a letter, in a language that we do not understand. What do we do? Don't we want to read it? Don't we want to know what's written in it? Do we just keep it on our desk? I think that we all would be too curious to know what our friend has sent to us. And we would find someone to translate to us this letter. It is as simple as that. Allah swt has sent to us a message, what we call "The Holy Quran". It is sent by our Creator from high above us. We do not understand the language. ... We need to open that Holy Quran and know what is the message. Understand the message.

"And We have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner. But most of the people do not know." {Surah Saba V:34:28}

Allah swt mentions that He has sent down Quran as a good news (bashira) and as a warner (nazira). It has given us the good news of joy in both worlds and warned us to abstain from evil.

May Allah guide us to follow the straight path , the path of those whom Allah has favored. And may Allah accept all our efforts.

Barak Allah Feekum (May Allah bless you)

Written by : Afifa Abdul Khader
Date : 26 March '16