Reminders!

Maybe it’s a good thing Egypt lost against Argentina. When the game started, most prayed for them to win, it’ll look good for us wouldn’t it? But when they lost, it made me reflect. Millions of muslims around the world watched this match, on a weeknight, knowing they have work or school in the morning. Amongst us, how many wake up for a meeting with Allah سبحانه وتعالى with the same enthusiasm in the middle of the night? He created us, He nurtured us, He provides for us, He’s the One closest to us, and yet we choose to watch grown men kicking a ball around instead of talking to Him? What happened to our shame, my beloved brothers and sisters? Don’t we realise how much we’re lacking, don’t we see how we’ve fallen in our service to Allah, to His Messenger, to His religion? Amongst us, there are those amongst us who follow the matches closely, familiarising themselves with the players, putting in all that effort, yet we slack when it comes to improving our worship to Allah سبحانه وتعالى. For those who agree with this message and feels that there’s room for improvement, be it seeking more knowledge about the different types of worship, or waking up more during the nights even if it’s for 10 minutes to speak to Our Creator, then start today. Let today be the turning point for us, to turn away from what doesn’t benefit us, to what does, and that’s Allah سبحانه وتعالى. We have to busy ourselves with Him, so we don’t find ourselves in heedlessness anymore. Heedlessness kills the heart, truly. For those who feel the resistance in accepting this message, we pray Allah fills your hearts with the light of acceptance, tawfiq, and hidayah, and we ask Him to increase us in these as well. Reflect on yourselves, have we fulfilled our mission as servants of Allah, The Most Merciful who’s shown us limitless mercy? If no, then good, you’ve realised and now’s your time to start. May Allah forgive us for not making Him our priority, may He make it easy for us to turn to Him, to seek Him, to strive for Him. May He place His beautiful mercy and love into our hearts, and make our hearts manifest the true realities being a servant of His. May He gather us with those who constantly remember Him, and is honoured with His remembrance 💚

On this day of ‘Asyura, look back at the stories of the prophets (may peace be upon them). If we look back at the story of Sayyidina Musa, Sayyidina Ibrahim, Sayyidina Isa, Sayyidina Nuh, and the other prophets, we’ll realise that the essence of this day, is to remind us of how weak we truly are, and how much we need Allah سبحانه وتعالى. He says in the Qur’an, وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفً “and mankind was created weak.” When we admit our weakness before The Most Powerful, the One power belongs to, only then do we realise the importance of Allah سبحانه وتعالى in our lives. إذَا سَأَلْت فَاسْأَلْ اللَّهَ، وَإِذَا اسْتَعَنْت فَاسْتَعِنْ بِاَلله “If you ask, then ask Allah; and if you seek help, then seek help from Allah.” Be confident that when you ask from Him, He’ll answer you with better than what you’ve asked. Who’d you think moved you to ask in the first place if not Him? Once you’ve asked, then place your reliance upon Him, just like He commanded His beloved to do so; فَاِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُلْ حَسْبِيَ اللّٰهُ لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ ۚ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَهُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيْمِ “Allah is sufficient for me. There is no god but Him. In Him I put my trust, and He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.” May He ease the affairs of those who put their full trust in Him. May He grant all of us good health, ‘afiyah, and hikmah to continue being His servants. May He heal those unwell amongst us, and forgive our sins fully with His beautiful mercy. May He grant us His love, and the love of His beloved ﷺ, and love of deeds that pull us closer to Him 🤍

Our shaykh, may Allah preserve him in goodness and raise him in rank, advised us, “Whatever amal you do, whatever amal people give you, while telling you to do it for so and so reason, or to achieve so and so, do it for the sake of gaining closeness to Allah.” In following this, whatever it is you do, you gain closeness to Allah. If someone (with a proper sanad) tells you to do a certain amount of dhikr, for it leads to something, for example, an increase in rizq, then do it. However, instead of that intention, change it to seek closeness with Allah. If you’re close to Allah, what else you could possibly ask for? Being close to Allah answers every prayer and every intention, before you even ask. Being close to Allah encompasses everything in this life, the next, and the one after that. What better status is there when you’re someone close to The One, The Creator, The First and The Last? Nothing beats this truly. Let’s start with changing our intentions in whatever we do, to gain closeness to Allah and His beloved ﷺ, and make this a priority. If the deed we’re about to do isn’t something He loves, then leave it. If we struggle with certain sins, then know that Allah is there for you, Allah calls you, Allah yearns for you, yes you. If you fall into temptation, get back up, turn to The One who created you, The Most Merciful. Allah knows we’re weak, He created us, of course He’s going to be there for you, don’t you think so? اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنِّ O Allah, You are The One Who Pardons, and You love pardoning, so pardon us. Talk to Him with utmost presence, because He is with you wherever you are. He hears, He will respond. He moved you to remember Him, He’s remembering you. Strive for Him, and you’ll find Him. 🌱

Ya Allah, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim. You are my Lord, You have selected me to be from amongst those who believe in You. You have honoured me with belief, never having worshipped any other than You. You’ve invited me close to people whom You love, people who remind others of You, people who do everything for Your sake. I’m convinced, that You haven’t done this except that You want goodness for me, in this dunya and in the akhirah. Allow our hearts to find comfort with Your mercy, especially through Your two beautiful names, Ar-Rahman, and Ar-Rahim. We ask through Ar-Rahman, that You pour great amounts of Your mercy on us, in everything we do. Ya Rahim, You have granted us belief in You, we ask through this beautiful name, that You grant us limitless mercy, indeed Your mercy never runs out. Ya Rabb, we know You as the Most Merciful, the Kindest, the Most Generous, allow our perceptions of You to be the truth. You are as we think of You, allow our thoughts to always think good of You, allow our minds and our hearts to be filled with the beauty from Your beautiful traits. Keep us busy in remembering You, Ya Rabb. If not You we ask from, who else can we ask from? We are weak, we don’t have any power. Everything comes from You my Lord, we ask sincerely for the strength to please You, and we ask that You open up doors for us to gain closeness to You and Your beloved ﷺ. Allow our fragile selves to meet You in our best states, raise us in Your gaze, Your merciful gaze, so we’re gathered from amongst those who are successful, in this world and the hereafter. Ya Rabb, You hear this du’a from my heart and the hearts of those reading this, and only You have the power to accept this from us. We ask sincerely, O Merciful One, that You honour us with closeness to You and Your beloved, with Your contentment and the contentment of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ upon us, with nothing but khayr and barakah in our lives, and grant us salamah and ‘afiyah in this current world and the one we’ll spend an eternity in. امين اللهم امين، في خير ولطف وعافية 💚

Khidmah. What a beautiful gift from our Lord, a favour, from His enabling grace upon us. To serve, is an honour. To do it well, is a sign He has decreed goodness for us. In serving others, we gain more than we’d expect. As our teacher Sayyidil Habib Kadhim says, “We won’t see the effects of khidmah after only once or twice, or even after a few times, but rather we’ll see the effects of our khidmah if it’s done continuously, if it’s sincere. If not here in this dunya, then later on in the akhirah, but khidmah, sincere service, will have its effects on you.” (paraphrased) Someone once advised me, and there’s truth in this nasihah, so i’d like to share this with all of you. He said “In khidmah, look at what intention(s) you come with. If you come with a certain intention, especially if it’s a good one, your sincerity will be tested, in accordance to your intention. If you come with anything other than pure sincerity, you’ve failed before you’ve started.“ Khidmah takes lots of sincerity, patience, and good intentions. When serving others, you’ll be entrusted with an insane amount of amanah, lots of doors for your ego to overtake you, and situations you experience that’ll alter how you perceive things. There’s lots to understand in this path words can’t justify, it’s experiential. Through these experiences, you’ll realise deeper depths, deeper understandings and deeper meanings of how things work and how people are. There’s lots to share, but I’ll leave this as short and as simple as possible, a reminder for me before anyone else, to be truly sincere, to be patient, to constantly fight my ego, and to keep renewing good intentions. It’s a great blessing, truly, and i urge everyone to start if you haven’t, from your homes, with your families, friends, and loved ones. We ask Allah ﷻ for true sincerity, mercy, and wisdom to tread this path, an honourable one. May we be from amongst those who benefit the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ, and may we attain the beautiful contentment of our Lord, The Most Merciful 💚

It’s different now that the beautiful month of Ramadhan has left us, isn’t it? Nights feel empty, we aren’t rushing to catch tarawih, witr becomes a sunnah we no longer strive to perform. Ghaflah (heedlessness) becomes apparent once again, dhikr feels heavy, we aren’t constantly keeping ourselves in check. Were we worshipping the month of Ramadhan, or the One who created it and sent it down upon us? سبحانه وتعالى. The month may have left, but Allah doesn’t leave us. He’s with us every day, every minute, every millisecond. It’s normal for us not to feel the same as we did during the month of Ramadhan, but that’s not an excuse for us to start lacking. Why are we straining ourselves to a month when our Creator is eternal? Think you’re lacking now that we’re in a new month? Pick yourselves up, and start again. Shaytan is the least of our worries when we realise this battle is inward, and Allah stays with us throughout our internal struggles. For those who feel better about their states with Allah after Ramadhan, I’m genuinely happy for you, keep going, keep seeking, keep persevering. For those who feel like they could’ve done better, since when did your capabilities stop with a month? Allah has kept you able, opened up doors for you, granted you tawfiq, so answer the call with your best efforts. Show your Lord sincerity, and you’ll see Him in everything you do. Start with intentions, then actions. Actions are based on intentions, and the pious predecessors, they tell us a single good intention opens up at least 70 doors of tawfiq for a person. What we’ve heard from our shuyukh, is that the pious predecessors had up to 70,000 good intentions before doing 1 amal, سبحان الله. Intend lots of good, and be sincere, and Allah will facilitate the rest. Allah loves you, be sure of that. He created you to see you succeed, not to leave you alone. Accept His beautiful invites, and you’ll succeed. We ask Allah for wellbeing and ‘afiyah in this dunya and in the akhirah. May He make us from amongst the sincerest souls, and purify us inwardly and outwardly 🌱

We’re entering the 10th night of this blessed month soon, how’s your states been? Time flies, and almost a third of the month has passed. How have you been with Allah these past few days? Do you feel closer to Him? Have you gotten closer to what He loves? Have you turned away from what He’s displeased with? He hasn’t gifted us this beautiful month except for us to gain closeness to Him and accept the bounties specifically given in this month. The invitation has been given, but have we accepted? You’d know yourself best, if your answer to most of these questions is yes, then know that Allah is pleased with you and has granted you from His beautiful tawfiq and hidayah. If your answer to most of these questions is no, then perhaps take this as a sign from Allah, a call to wake up and turn to Him. I urge everyone, specifically myself, to be real with what’s real, that’s Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Hold ourselves accountable before we’re held accountable. Seek His pleasure and His alone, to Him we belong and to Him we return. Don’t let this blessed month pass and we remain in the same states as we entered the month with, but strive to better ourselves. The one who can change ourselves is none but us, so make the step to Him, accept the invitation, no matter how far you feel from Him. Seek Him and watch how He embraces you, how He facilitates your affairs, how He arranges your future to be with what He’s pleased with. We ask Allah for His tawfiq and hidayah, as well as ‘afiyah to worship Him in our best states. May Allah grant us what’s best for us, and allow us to emerge from this month closer to Him, and closer to His elect servants. If you read this, pray for me, that Allah accepts me and is pleased with me, that i gain closeness to Him despite my uncountable amount of flaws. May He accept from you and i, and grant us a reunion in the highest levels of Jannah, with our beloved Rasulullah ﷺ ✨

We’re entering upon the month of Ramadhan tonight, a great gift bestowed upon us by the greatest of givers, ﷻ. We’ve been honoured once again with the honour of living during the month of Ramadhan, with the tawfiq from Allah to perform lots of ibadah. Be grateful for yet another opportunity, and don’t miss it. This year, let’s push ourselves more towards our ultimate goal in this life, the contentment of our Rabb upon us. Whoever reaches a station where Allah is pleased with him, he is guaranteed success in this dunya, in the barzakh, and in the akhirah. Don’t let a moment go by without dhikr, remembrance of Allah, in whatever way possible. Increase in glorifying Him, seeking forgiveness from Him, reading the blessed Qur’an which was sent down during this very month, and don’t forget to send salutations and salams to our beloved Rasulullah ﷺ. We pray that Allah honours us a month filled with goodness, never letting us fall into ghaflah (heedlessness), closeness to Him and His beloved, ﷺ. We ask Allah, the One who’s known by His beautiful names, to grant us acceptance in our ibadah, to be gentle with us, to be merciful with us, to be forgiving with us, to not dishonour us by letting this month pass, yet our states remain tainted. We ask Allah to allow us to give our best this month, to allow us to come out of this month as His elect servants, and allow us to be of benefit to the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. Lastly, i sincerely seek forgiveness from everyone, for my wrongs, whether i did it knowingly or unknowingly. I pray that Allah grants us all a reunion in the highest levels of Jannah, with our beloved Rasulullah ﷺ. If there’s any wrongs you need me to correct before forgiving me, i’m always a text away bi’idhnillah 💚

On the month of Rejab. The month of Rejab is a special one, a start of three beautiful consecutive months. The ulama’ (people of knowledge) have discussed about the spiritual significance of these three months; Rejab, Sya’ban, and Ramadhan. Rejab is the month of “planting our seeds”; This is the month we’re advised to start preparing/cleaning ourselves spiritually. It’s a month where we’re strongly encouraged to plant as many good intentions as possible, repent as much as possible, and increase ourselves in good deeds. Sya’ban is the month of “irrigating our seeds”; This is the month where we nurture the good habits we started in Rejab, a month where we continue increasing our good deeds where possible, and most importantly a month where we purify our hearts in preparation for Ramadhan. Ramadhan is the month in which we “harvest our fruits”; This is when we reap and receive the blessings and spiritual rewards from the preparation we’ve made from the previous two months. Let’s start with this blessed month, with seeking forgiveness and pardon for our sins and shortcomings, our lack of adab and akhlaq. Consistently seek forgiveness and do your best to not be in ghaflah (heedlessness) during this month. Let’s keep ourselves busy with the remembrance of Allah and His beloved ﷺ, through deeds like reading the Qur’an (even if you do a few verses a day), seek forgiveness for ourselves and for the muslims, solah tawbah (the prayer of repentance), and other good deeds. It’s perfectly fine to keep the deeds small in quantity, as long as one stays consistent, for the most beloved acts aren’t those that are huge in quantity, but those that are done with istiqamah (consistency). Don’t forget to keep renewing your intentions, for even mere actions when paired with good intentions can reap great rewards.

Ahlan wasahlan, our beloved teacher. In a time where adab (etiquette) is often forgotten, let us be reminded of one of its most beautiful forms — the way we welcome our teachers and scholars. When our teacher arrives at a gathering, refrain from rushing forward or crowding around them just to shake hands, take pictures, seek for du’a, etc. Their noble character would never allow them to reject your greeting, for the heart of a scholar is gentle and full of mercy. Yet, what we sometimes forget is that our eagerness, though filled with love, might unintentionally cause discomfort or even harm. My teacher once shared, upon attending a gathering to meet her own teacher; “Send your greetings from the heart — and surely, it will reach your teacher.” Know that the physical closeness that risks accidents or burdening the teacher is not greater in virtue than the one who remains afar, yet whose heart is alive with longing, reverence, and love for the sake of Allah. Sometimes, the one who is physically near may not truly see, but the one who is far, with a heart that trembles in awe, is the one truly connected. Because it is not distance that separates hearts — it is the lack of adab that does. And it is not touch that brings blessings — it is sincerity (ikhlas) and respect that do. So when an ‘ulama’, teacher, or a scholar graces our gatherings, let us welcome them with composure and humility. Lower our gaze, calm our excitement, and let silence become our form of respect. Open your heart, for the presence of a teacher is not an ordinary moment — it is a mercy from Allah, a chance for barakah to descend. Do not rush to be seen by them; instead, strive to be seen by Allah through your adab toward them. Let your respect be quiet but deep, unseen by many but known by Allah. Because through adab, knowledge becomes light. Through adab, hearts are refined. And through adab, Allah grants us the sweetness of learning — not merely from the lips of our teachers, but from the light of their presence. So let us be people of adab — for adab is the key that unlocks the treasures of ‘ilm (knowledge), and the path that leads to Allah’s pleasure.

On gathering with the righteous. Gather with the righteous people if you can, the ‘alim, the ulama’, the awliya’ of Allah, those close to Allah, those who remind you of Him ﷻ, those who remind you of him ﷺ. Keep your connections with them, and don’t let go. The knowledgeable, the righteous, they don’t just offer us knowledge from a theoretical perspective, but from a practical one too. They are the inheritors of the prophets, which includes the character and behaviour of the prophets. How will you find these if you only look for knowledge from books and talks? I’m not belittling books and the words of the ulama’ and the awliya’, no. There are immense benefits in them and we regard them with utmost respect and reverence. However, they offer so much more. They offer us a chance to learn how Rasulullah ﷺ was, how he behaved, how he treated people, how he walked, how he talked, how he spread his attention, how he maximised his time, how he adapts to different situations, and so much more. Each of them has a unique trait about themselves, and it’s always a sunnah. You won’t find it if you don’t seek. It could be the smallest things, be it smiling, entering the masjid with their right foot, leaving the toilet with the left, nodding at people in every majalis so each person gets their portion of attention and feels content, making an effort to remember names, fulfilling needs, and so so so much more. Again, you won’t see these if you don’t seek. The effort is on you to find these chances. If you want to know whether the pleasure of Allah and His beloved is on you, then see your efforts to be with the ones whom Allah and His beloved loves. If you’ve made the intention and the efforts to be with them, but it’s not possible due to circumstances, then keep your hearts connected with them. Keep yourselves connected through following their awrad, their litanies, their dzikr, their selawat, love Allah and His beloved ﷺ like they do, and that’ll benefit you greatly. as Habib 'Umar bin Hafidh said: ‎كم من قريب بعيد وكم من بعيد قريب how many are near, but their hearts are far and how many are far, but their hearts are near.

The wait is almost over! 💚 Our beloved teacher, Al-Habib ‘Umar bin Hafizh, will soon be with us in Singapore. Let us prepare our hearts to receive his blessed presence. 🌙✨

Special nasihah from Habib Mahdi bin Abu Bakr Al-Hamid: - Ittaqullah wherever you are, and taqwa is khauf (fear of Allah), to fear doing that which He displeases. - If you’ve done a sin, or something bad, then follow it up with a good deed instantly, whether it be an amal soleh, seeking forgiveness, or sincere repentance. - Keep yourself busy with istighfar, seeking forgiveness. - If you’re bored, or you feel lazy/unmotivated, then think of Allah’s Might. Keep yourself busy with remembering Him, read and reflect upon the Qur’an, send selawat, do any dhikr. Keep yourself connected with Him. We ask Allah to keep us in a state where we’re always connected to Him, to that which He loves, and to make us from amongst those whom He’s pleased with. We pray that He chooses us to be amongst those whose lives have been filled with barakah, unlimited favours, happiness, ‘afiyah, and that He grants us all beautiful endings, amiin 💚

As we draw closer to the blessed month of Rabi‘ul Awwal, let us not wait until it arrives to awaken our hearts. The month of Rabi‘ul Awwal is not just another month in the calendar — it is the month in which the light of mercy was sent to this world, the month our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born. In his birth, the earth was honored, and in his presence, hearts were healed. He ﷺ is the one who cried for his Ummah, who prayed for us in the depths of the night, who carried nothing in his heart but mercy. As Rabi‘ul Awwal arrives, our hearts cannot help but overflow with gratitude and longing — gratitude that Allah chose us to be from the Ummah of His Beloved, and longing to be near him, to see his radiant smile, to drink from his blessed hand at the Hawd on the Day of Judgment. let us begin polishing our souls, purifying our intentions, and preparing a place in our hearts for the Beloved of Allah ﷺ. Let this be a journey of love, where every salawat we recite is a knock upon the door of his mercy, and every step we take in following his Sunnah is a bridge bringing us closer to him. For how can we claim to love him if our hearts remain heedless of his example? How can we yearn for his companionship in the hereafter if we neglect his path in this world? Oh, how we long to be with him ﷺ… to walk beside him, to sit in his company, to hear his gentle voice reciting the words of Allah. Until that day comes, let our love be proven not only in words, but in deeds — in living his Sunnah, spreading his mercy, and striving to be the people he would recognize and embrace at the gates of Paradise. Let us start today, nurturing that love, feeding it with remembrance, and living by the character he ﷺ embodied. Then, when the month of his birth arrives, our hearts will already be overflowing with light, ready to welcome him with sincerity, gratitude, and hope of reunion at the Hawd. This Rabi‘ul Awwal, let our salawat rise from our tongues, let his seerah fill our hearts, and let our yearning for him draw us closer to Allah, the One who sent him as Rahmatan lil-‘Alamin — a mercy to all the worlds. O Allah, fill our hearts with the love of Your Prophet ﷺ. Grant us the ability to follow his Sunnah in truth, and unite us with him in the Highest Paradise without reckoning and without punishment. O Allah, make us among those who arrive at his Hawd and drink from his blessed hand, a drink after which we will never feel thirst again.

are we a muslim or a mu’min? do you know the difference between a muslim and a mu’min? a muslim, is the one who believes in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, but that’s all there is to him/her. a mu’min, however, is one who has true yaqin and belief in both Allah and His Prophet ﷺ. They are those whom, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble thinking about His Might. The mu’min, when he/she hears the verses of His kitab, listens to the verses attentively and lets his/her iman increase through it. In everything they do, they leave their tawakkal upon Him, to manage their affairs as He deems best. How do we know all this? We see in surah ‘anfal, verse 2; إِنَّمَا ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتۡ قُلُوبُهُمۡ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتۡ عَلَيۡهِمۡ ءَايَٰتُهُۥ زَادَتۡهُمۡ إِيمَٰنٗا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمۡ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ “For, Believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they hear His signs rehearsed, find their faith strengthened, and put (all) their trust in their Lord” There’s another level above this, which is that of yaqin. When one keeps increasing his/her good amal, and works toward good, his/her yaqin increases. When our yaqin is high, we become mountains, rooted in what’s right, and unshakable when tested with winds of whispers from any bad. May we all be from the people of trust, of politeness, of gentleness, of kindness, of the highest yaqin, of the highest iman, and we pray that we never lose Him for anything else 💚

So many teachers, so many examples, so many opportunities to learn. What do all our teachers, be it from our country or from other countries, have in common? they all have good akhlak (good character) and good adab (good etiquettes), سبحان الله 💚 To have these good traits, we need to learn from those who have them. Whoever wants to buy jewellery, doesn’t go to the blacksmith. The best person we should follow to attain good akhlak and adab is Rasulullah ﷺ, but since we don’t have that privilege of following him in our daily lives due to our lowly status, we should follow the ulama’, the righteous, the awliya’, those who strive to emulate the prophet ﷺ. Our teachers, they say out of all the kitabs (books) one can read with his teacher, the akhlak of his teacher is the best kitab he can read. You learn more from one’s actions rather than their theory, and it’s easier to follow by example rather than words. In this generation where Ai, chatbots, and many other technologies are available, the akhlak and adab of Rasulullah ﷺ can’t be learnt without physical teachers, spiritual guides, and those who have already learned. Start with simple things, such as smiling at your brother in islam (if you’re a guy) or smiling at your sister in islam (if you’re a lady). Spread salams to your brother/sister in islam (again, only the same gender). When someone talks/shares something, then give him/her your full attention. There’s so so so many ways to improve your character when you learn from those with good character, so sit in gatherings with the righteous, seek their wisdom, their knowledge, their good character. Only when you strive will you attain, nothing comes free. May we be amongst the people who realise the greatness of good akhlak and adab, and may we be from amongst those with these good traits in us, for the sake of Allah, thru His Beloved, ﷺ

Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb. heal my heart please, heal the hearts of those reading this, heal the hearts of our beloveds, let us meet our beloved too, ﷺ Ya Allah, piece this broken heart with Your love, and connect this heart with those whose hearts are connected to You. Allow us to be sincere, allow us to be genuine, forgive me, forgive us. I’m filled with dzunub, yet You cover me. Ya Arhamar-Rahimin, forgive and pardon us, for the sake of Your Habib, ﷺ. Keep me with You, Ya Allah. Keep us with you, Ya Ghaffar, Ya Ghafoor, Ya Ghafir. Ya Rabb, we admit our lowliness, and we stay by Your door, longing for Your mercy and acceptance. Ya Rabb, by Your limitless mercy, bestow Your mercy upon us. We don’t have anyone but You, we seek You and You alone. Fill our hearts with the light of La illaha illAllah, and with mahabbah (love) towards You and Your Beloved, ﷺ Ya Allah, hear this prayer from my heart and those who mean the same, those who are genuine, those who are sincere. Ya Rabb, grant us openings to You, and don’t shun us away. Keep us amongst those whom You’re pleased with, with no exceptions. And a small humble request from this sinful servant of His, please keep me in your prayers, or at least, say ameen to this du’a, perhaps with your generosity in doing so, He grants us what we’ve asked for and more. May He reward you lots with his never ending bounties

A genuine reminder. The people of hubbud-dunya (love for this world), will make us go astray from our path of chasing the akhirah. If we look at the people who love this world with ta’dhim (utmost reverence), then they will make us from amongst them and we lose our path towards our main goal, the akhirah A person is upon the religion of his/her friend, so one has to look at the friendships he/she has. A person definitely has an influence on his friend. For example, if one sits in the masjid and does zikr, his friend will be influenced with zikr. If one sits and talks about useless things, his friend will be talking about useless things with him. Whoever sits, sits with those of the same character. And a person doesn’t sit with someone except he is at ease with that person. This reflects on the character of a person, and thus, a person is upon the religion of his friend. An analogy some people give me on the regular is, if you sit in a room filled with fragrances, even if you don’t apply a fragrance, you’ll still walk out smelling good. If you sit in a room filled with dung and foul smelling objects, you’ll walk out smelling unpleasant too, even if you didn’t take it and put it on yourself. Similarly, this is the case with one’s companions. Sitting with those of good character, good speech, good akhlak, good adab, will have a positive impact on you. Likewise, sitting with people who are heedless of Allah and his messenger ﷺ, those of bad akhlak and bad adab, will have an effect on you too. Sayyidina Isa a.s. said, don’t sit with those who are dead. who are those who are dead? they are the ones whose hearts are in love with this dunya. Be with them and your heart will die as well. May we always be placed amongst the awliya’, the righteous, the ulama’, those who are sincere, those whom He’s pleased with, those whom He has blessed with tawfiq and hidayah. Most importantly, we ask Allah to make us from amongst those who whom He loves, and amongst those who loves Him and His beloved ﷺ 💚

Do you worship Him out of fear or out of love? This line hits a person trying his/her best to be sincere in this path hard. If you would, ask yourselves this, have we been worshipping out of fear or out love? Many of us grew up taught about the wajib prayers, how Allah would be upset and angry with us if we miss our prayers, and it becomes burdensome for us. It becomes heavy for us to maintain our prayers. some of us pray, but we pray because we’re afraid of losing something, perhaps we think Allah cuts our sustenance, cuts our income when we skip our prayers and etc. However, ya ahbaab (those i love, which is all of you, for the sake of Allah), Allah, Our Lord, is The Most Merciful. He, The King of all Kings, is The Greatest of All. When you truly know and understand who He is, you’ll know the beauty of His love, of His mercy. Which other God do you know of that says to His servants, “I am as my servant thinks i am”? Doesn’t this impact you? He is how you perceive Him. Use the intellect He’s given you, that literally is a cheat code for you. We all have sins, huge amounts of them. What differs the ones who get the forgiveness of Allah and the one who doesn’t is his love and hope for Allah’s mercy. Allah is the One who punishes, yes, but He is also the One who forgives, the One who continuously forgives, the One whose mercy never runs out. Do you see this? His mercy is so amplified, it makes His wrath nothing compared to His real Majesty, and that is His Mercy. He allowed you to live another day, to do another prayer, to talk to Him, to remember Him, don’t let it go to waste. Another opportunity to worship Him, is another sign He loves you, is that not enough for you to worship Him out of love then? When you change your perspective to how He loves you, you’ll taste the sweetness of ibadah, the sweetness of the reason you were created. Instead of thinking “oh i need to pray again” when the time comes for another prayer, think about how Allah gave you another chance to come to Him, to speak to Him, to let out your worries and problems, to ask for ease and comfort. Allah, ﷻ , loves you. yes, you. He loves you without exception, He loves you without conditions, He loves you even with your self full of imperfections. He accepts you, He wants to beautify you, inwardly and outwardly. Accept the call, love Him too. Worship Him out of love. Don’t do things out of routine, just to clear off what’s wajib. Do it with love, that’s another chance He’s given you to get closer to Him. And the ones close to Him, what do they have to lose?

“Innamal a’malu binniyah”. This hadith is such an important one in this religion, it highlights the importance of intentions before actions. Even if it’s a normal action, a good intention increases the reward of that amal. For example, if you just eat because you’re hungry, that’s something normal, an everyday action. However, if you intend to eat with the intention of fulfilling the order of Allah, then the reward increases. Another example is, someone who does a good deed but intends many good intentions before doing that one good deed, will get rewarded for all his/her intentions, even if none of them gets put into practice. If it’s 100 intentions, that person gets rewarded for all 100 intentions. Habib Hassan Al-Attas shared a funny story about a guy who brought a cow to his sheikh (teacher) one day as a gift, and his sheikh asked for the cow to be slaughtered and cooked and distributed amongst the people. So after the meal was distributed to the people, one guy came forward and refused to eat the meat because he claims the cow was stolen before being brought to the sheikh and left the gathering. A few moments later, a man came to the sheikh and started apologising and said “i have come with the intention of bringing a cow to gift you and to feed the people. However, that cow got stolen so i come empty handed”. So the sheikh laughed and told him “don’t worry, your intention has already been fulfilled”. Masya’Allah, look at the importance of intention and how Allah helped facilitate the process for the owner of the cow. I make this reminder to myself and to all of you, we’ve heard this hadith maybe 100 times, but has it impacted you 100 times? has it benefited you 100 times? has it been of benefit to you 100 times? or has the hadith gone in your right ear and leave your left 100 times? start making good intentions, lots of them, before every action we do. take some time to reflect on the possible intentions we should make before making a decision to do something. May we follow the ones on the correct path and be amongst those sincere in this path too, Amin Allahumma Amin 🤲🏻.