Muslims

[HLM 1]

Tasha- Knowing that you are down is already a step forward in itself. Some people don't even notice their faith is decreasing and they continue with their ways. First thing you have to remember is that life is full of trials and you will always be tested one way or another.Through trials you know how strong your faith is and how close is your relationship is with Allah. You already know that what you are going through is completely out your hands -sickness; money etc.- so the point is you turn to the One and Only provider and protector Allah! Lean on Him and ask Him to help you and strengthen your faith. With patience you are rewarded for every single second of hardship sister; so smile because Allah remembers you and wants to see you to be a stronger muslim. Set a simple plan for this week on the goal of picking yourself up...like you will focus on the prayers again as if you are starting from the beginning. To get motivated think of how helpless you are as a human being and without Him you would be lost!! Look at the blessings He has given you and still is giving you everyday.....Your kids; your family; all the things you want to thank Him for. Then a week after that move on to the next thing you need to work on. One step at a time.

I love waking up -if I'm not awake already- like ten minutes before fajr prayer time when it's still dark and go in a room by myself and just sit there and talk to Allah...Helps a lot! Say everything you want and ask anything of Him! Cry it out to Him and be sincere and insha Allah you will feel like a load has been lifted and you will start your day feeling fresh and happy.

I wish this helps in anyway sister...I'm here for you anytime you need me...you have my number feel free to call anytime.

[HLM 1]

This is a complete & concise dua to be repeatedly recited for any need:

"Bismillahir rahmanir rahim Alhamdo lillahii ala kulle ne'matay,wa astaghfirullaha min kullay zambin,wa asaluha min kulle khair,wa auzu billahi min kulle sharr"

Thank you Allah swt for all the blessings ,Oh Allah Forgive all our sins,give us all that is good & keep us away from all that is bad

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Yes Ameen!

Ladies and Gents....I need a pick me up. It seems like I am having a hard time with my praying and just down right being lazy. I know this is so wrong of me and I shouldn't be like this. It is taking a toll on me also. I am seeing that there are lots of problems in my life with Malek hurting his arm and being sick, issues in the marriage that are not in my control, money etc. I really need an inspiration right now. I have no idea why I feel like I am straying. I know that this is wrong of me. I just feel alone sometimes. I don't want to go into personal details but pray for my family and that I can regain my closeness with Allah.

Salaam sister. I can SO relate to this. I've had my times when I didn't pray at all or I would pray 2-3 times and I would think that was enough. IstagfiraAllah!! After having gone through some "bad times"myself it hit me that, only Allah, sub7anu wa ta3la, will lift me out of it. Without a stronge iman, life will not get better. Remember you are human, but al7amdullilah you see that is not the way you want to be. You are not alone. I and I am certain many other stuggle with what is expected of us.

In the quran surah 96 ayat 5-6 the following is said "inna ma3 al usri yusra." Which means, with every hardship comes ease. It's said twice, so that we are reassured that with every burden a blessing coming. Allah (swt) contantly test us because He loves us. We are here to serve Him, be good Muslims and good human beings.

I always wondered how in the past during Ramadan I can fast ALL day and pray five times a day and the rest of the year, I just didn't do what was expected. Well guilt hit me and hit me hard. Also, besides the guilt I had to remind myself that I have a child that is looking at me for guidance. What kind of Muslim do I expect my son to be, if his mother doesn't do right by God?? I had to change something in my life. I realized praying five times a day is the LEAST I can do for Allah (swt). There are so many people in the world suffering. I have a home, a job, family and friends. Al7ahmdullah, I am blessed! Just remember that although it may not feel like it, but you are blessed too sister Ayms!

I will end this, because I hate when people sound like they are preaching and I apologize if that is the case but remember that not praying pleases Shaytan. Again, I know this is not always easy for us. Try by praying once a day even....build it up until you do it five times a day. You may suprise yourself at how good it truly feels, which may get ya right back on track! Anyhow, I will say a du3a for you and your family. Take care!

Edited May 31, 2009 by 100% Al Ahly Fan

[Aymsgirl 0]

Thank you both very much. I will try and take your advice to heart.

[MrsAmera 41]

Hey ladies,

So lately I've been thinking a lot about this book/devotional/study guide that I would love to find but haven't found. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Now I'm not an expert on Islam and I'm sure that there are ladies out there who know a lot more than me but I am considering putting together a study guide. Something that would focus on topics or questions and then provide some scripture, hadith etc to reflect on and discuss. I can remember having multiple guides like this when I was doing Bible study but it just doesn't seem to exist for Islam. I have a few ideas i've tossed around - does this sound like something anyone else would look for? What types of issues/questions would you be interested in exploring more? I'm trying to decide if it is something valuable/do-able and if anyone would be interested. I may just end up doing it for myself but just thought I'd put it out there.

[Aymsgirl 0]

Hey ladies,

So lately I've been thinking a lot about this book/devotional/study guide that I would love to find but haven't found. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Now I'm not an expert on Islam and I'm sure that there are ladies out there who know a lot more than me but I am considering putting together a study guide. Something that would focus on topics or questions and then provide some scripture, hadith etc to reflect on and discuss. I can remember having multiple guides like this when I was doing Bible study but it just doesn't seem to exist for Islam. I have a few ideas i've tossed around - does this sound like something anyone else would look for? What types of issues/questions would you be interested in exploring more? I'm trying to decide if it is something valuable/do-able and if anyone would be interested. I may just end up doing it for myself but just thought I'd put it out there.

Something like this would help me. Here in my community there isn't a strong Masjid that takes interest and I kind of feel alone in my Islamic Studies.

[Muh and me 18]

Hey ladies,

So lately I've been thinking a lot about this book/devotional/study guide that I would love to find but haven't found. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Now I'm not an expert on Islam and I'm sure that there are ladies out there who know a lot more than me but I am considering putting together a study guide. Something that would focus on topics or questions and then provide some scripture, hadith etc to reflect on and discuss. I can remember having multiple guides like this when I was doing Bible study but it just doesn't seem to exist for Islam. I have a few ideas i've tossed around - does this sound like something anyone else would look for? What types of issues/questions would you be interested in exploring more? I'm trying to decide if it is something valuable/do-able and if anyone would be interested. I may just end up doing it for myself but just thought I'd put it out there.

Something like this would help me. Here in my community there isn't a strong Masjid that takes interest and I kind of feel alone in my Islamic Studies.

I feel the same way you do Tasha. I've not prayed the way i should, i've fallen off to the side and need to reconnect myself. And I agree about a devotional something or another Amanda. That would be a big help to all us converts.

[MrsAmera 41]

Well there is some interest! I'm going to start on this project...anything imparticular that sticks out to you ladies? I'm trying to narrow down how to start approaching this!

[Kenza 1]

Hey ladies,

So lately I've been thinking a lot about this book/devotional/study guide that I would love to find but haven't found. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Now I'm not an expert on Islam and I'm sure that there are ladies out there who know a lot more than me but I am considering putting together a study guide. Something that would focus on topics or questions and then provide some scripture, hadith etc to reflect on and discuss. I can remember having multiple guides like this when I was doing Bible study but it just doesn't seem to exist for Islam. I have a few ideas i've tossed around - does this sound like something anyone else would look for? What types of issues/questions would you be interested in exploring more? I'm trying to decide if it is something valuable/do-able and if anyone would be interested. I may just end up doing it for myself but just thought I'd put it out there.

I think those are called halaqas and some masjids have them. One masjid does but the other doesn't. Not having the support system of other Muslim women is always hard...especially when the masjid is soo far away! I know how your feeling sisters! The masjid that I prefer to go to is 40 min away

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I acquired a few more english translations of the Qur'an recently and have decided to dig in and explore them all. While it's not really a study thing, it may be of interest to people here:

http://rahma.hadithuna.com/line-by-line-a-...ies-inshaallah/

At present, I'm simply working on typing out the different translations + commentary from each of the 14 different translations I have on hand for the first verse of Fatiha. The Unal translation in particular has a massive amount of commentary, so it's taking me awhile.

Is there a particular study bible you had in mind that you'd like to model yours off of? I never had one. The most useful bible I had was from college, the Oxford Annoted NRSV, which is similar to a lot of the quran+commentary that are available out there today.

[MrsAmera 41]

To be quite honest I've never gotten much out of haliqas - most of the time the ones I've been to aren't in English and are so abstract I haven't been able to get anything out of it. Also not many were relevant in my life. 98% of the community here is foreign and very traditional, a new"er" American convert truly doesn't have that much in common from a spiritual perspective.

UmmSqueakster - I did have a workbook for a study that I used when I was like a sophomore in High school - it was great. But I don't remember the name of it just a basic layout. I'm going to Halalco tonight to scour the books and see if I can find something that catches my eye. I know that Zaytuna has some lectures that are based verse by verse- I was thinking of using those since I relate to that style a lot more than other lectures. I'll keep you all updated - maybe I will start a side group for sharing and posting the study as it goes if anyone is interested.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

On my list of "to listen to" is this ongoing tafsir session by Sh. Abdul Sattar (I believe). It looks like it's hardcore in depth, since it's like an hour for 2 or 3 ayat.

http://www.sacredlearning.org/classrooms/tafsir/index.htm

[Muh and me 18]

Rahmaa again thanks for the stuff you sent. My husband has a habit of scrutinizing every thing i buy or print or bring into the house on islam. And I was happy that he approved of what you sent. I try joining yahoo groups and print things i think are gonna be helpful and he gets upset cause its not the right thing. this is part of why i'm having such an issue with my struggle.

[MrsAmera 41]

Turia - I'm sorry to hear about the trouble your facing in your journey. It's my opinion that it's best to have a lot of information from many sources to be able to come to your own conclusions. My husband is of the school of "this is what you're taught this is what you believe". Sure we butt heads but that's life. I would hope he would be more supportive of your path, wherever it takes you. I'm sure that his intention is only that you not be exposed to negative things that he feels are counter to the teachings but I think that you are intelligent enough to do your own searching.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Turia, I'll see about finding some more stuff and sending it your way inshaAllah. Is there anything in particular you're interested in? Maybe AbuS could talk some sense into him about letting you explore on your own?

While AbuS and I have very different ways of interpreting and practicing the deen, he's been fairly accomidating, alhamdulilah. He still will say x, y and z is wrong, but as long as he sees me practicing, he's happy.