Refresh Your Imaan

Some of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “We eat but are not satisfied.” He (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Perhaps you eat separately.” The Companions replied in the affirmative. He then said: “Eat together and mention the name of Allah over your food. It will be blessed for you.” [Abu Dawud] Islam promotes a family culture. All the members of the family should sit together to eat. Normally, each person is busy doing their share of work, men outside the house and women inside the house. Meal times are the time that they can all get together for a little while, talk to each other, exchange their thoughts and increase each other in their love of Allah and Islam. This hadith tells us some benefits of eating together. When Muslims eat together their hunger gets satisfied and Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) blesses their subsistence. If they live individualistically, and eat separately, then they can expect the opposite to happen.

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Allah has forgiven my followers the evil thoughts that occur to their minds, as long as such thoughts are not put into action or uttered.” [Sahih Bukhari] Sometimes evil thoughts come to us the occurring of which we have no control over. When Shaytaan or our nafs puts such thoughts in our minds, and we do not entertain them, then Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) in His Infinite Mercy and Justice does not hold us accountable for them. Not entertaining such thoughts means to not continue to think about them, not speak of them, and not act according to them.  If our mind keeps mulling the thoughts over, or God Forbid takes pleasure in such thoughts, then we will not automatically be forgiven them, for we chose then to think on such lines. In order to stop thinking about something it helps to get up and start doing some physical work.

Abu Huraira narrated from the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) that once while a man was traveling in the wilderness he heard a voice in a cloud ordering the angel of the cloud to pour its rain on a particular farm. So the man followed the cloud and saw that it poured its rain on a rocky volcanic plain. All the water gathered in a stream and poured into a farm. The man saw the owner working in that farm and asked him his name. The name was the same one that he had heard from the cloud. The man then related what he had heard and seen, and inquired from the owner of the farm what was special about him that would explain all of this. Given the reason for the inquiry, the owner explained that he would plant his farm and then split the harvest into three equal parts. One part he gave as sadaqa, the second part he kept as food for himself and his family, and the third part he replanted. [Muslim]   There are two important lessons that we obtain from this hadith: 1. The importance of con

Once when Umar (radi Allahu anhu) was in the house of Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) he looked around and saw nothing of importance except three hides. He narrated, “So I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! Invoke Allah to make your followers rich, for the Persians and the Romans have been made prosperous and they have been given (the pleasures of the world), although they do not worship Allah.' Thereupon the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) sat up, as he had been reclining, and said, 'Are you of such an opinion, O son of Al-Khattab? These are the people who have received the rewards for their good deeds in this world.' I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! Ask Allah to forgive me.'” [Sahih Bukhari] Unfortunately, many Muslims today get similarly confused by the prosperity that they see non-Muslims in. They say that it is the non-Muslims who must be the beloved of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) as they have been bestowed with His favours. It is implied that th