Preparing for Ramdaan

 

Assalam Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

The blessed month of Sha’baan has arrived and heading towards Ramdaan Kareem,

Are we prepared for welcoming this blessed month?

 What have our preparations been?

Alot of brothers and sisters will acknowledge their efforts for this blessed month but the question arises what kind of preparations have we been making, buying stocks, stictching clothes, renovating our houses, cleaning up our stores, discarding unwanted stuff etc etc etc. Is this all we are supposed to do for Ramadan. Inna lillahi wa Inna ilayhir rajioun

Just as I have stated the above ways of preparation, they are all materialistic and outward preperations. Just the way we clean our houses and bring in stocks before Ramdaan in the similar way we need to cleanse our hearts of all the spiritual illness we are in and we have to start stocking good deeds so that our sins may b washed away and we may welcome the blessed month with a pure soul and clear heart so that we may benefit spiritually to the most of this month.

Our sisters indulge in preparing dishes and freezing them, in order to save time in the blessed Month, have we thought of reading the Quran a couple of times in Sha’ban so that we might be much accurate and fluent with our Quran in the blessed RAmdaan and gain more virtues.

HAve we thought of reading the issues (masaail) regarding the Holy month and go over them repeatedly before Ramdaan so that we don’t have to run to the books for the issues and be in doubt during RAmdaan.

Have we thought of checking our Quran at least before this blessed month and our salaah if it is in perfect accordance with the Sunnah so that we may be rewarded more.

Have we considered about doing the Muhaasibah of our nafs (checking our nafs) and seeing what our loopholes in Imaan are, remember a Shaikh doesn’t have ilm ul ghayb, he won’t know what spiritual ailments you suffer from until you self check your deeds and seek his guidance in the related deeds.

We should spend time in reading material regarding this blessed month and listening lectures about the virtues of this month and as to how we should spend our time in this month.

All this preparation InshaALLAh will lead us to making the most of this blessed month and InshaALLAh will lead to gaining the most blessings of ALLAh SWT – InshaALLAh

for Urdu readers here is a link to Tohfa e Ramzaan

http://www.khanqah.org/books/show/tohfa-mah-e-ramzan

MAy ALLAh SWT take us through Sha’ban to the month of Ramdaan  and may He bestow upon us his blessings so that we may please Him and become His beloved – Allahumma aameeen

TAqabbal ALlah minna wa minkum Ajmaeen

wa Assalam Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

La Tans min Al dua

Pakistan – The Dream Land

 

 

I found Myself lost in a land where celebrations where at heights. It was a beautiful place with a lot of hush bush. People were dressed in traditioonal clothes and chatting around in little groups at various junctions and small hotels. The land was Fertile-green, and light clouds filling the sky . I wandered around teh place for a little while; wondering where I was. The air was filled with the pure scent of freedom and innocence. After a little walk around the place I noticed a group of people staring at me, they motioned me to come to them and in a very hospitable way greeted me. 

 

“What is this place?”  I asked as i sat.

“This is the Land of Dreams”.  one person exclaimed.

“Land of Dreams !!”,  i exclaimed amusingly , I felt reckoned by the joke.

“Yes indeed” they persisted seriously; “This is Pakistan our Land of dreams”.

I waved my hand in the air and grinned “OHH! Pakistan My home land you mean.”

“Might be your Home land but our dream land” the answer was very serious and portrayed anger.

 

I was served lassi (salted Milk) with traditinal fruits. There  was a moment of silence which one man sitting in the corner broke with his thrilling voice.

“We all lived in India, and our dream was a separate nation for the Muslims.  We wanted to practise Islam, have our own community, our own Identity, Live our own traditions and practise our rituals to the fullest without having restrictions. “

A s he ended another person in the gathering spoke up:

“We didn’t want our childeren to be harassed for practising Islam. We didn’t want them to be penalised for sacrificing cattle, and our women be harassed for taking veils. We jsut had one thing on our mind ‘Our coming generations should not be suffocated just because they are practisinbg Muslims. Islam is our true identity which we have justified by sacrificng our lives, wealth and everything for it.”

This person was so excited and his eyes glistened as he spoke, so vigilant and brilliant.

 

I swallowed hard as i prefferd silence.

 

“We are Muslims and we are a nation by ever definition of the word nation”, a very calm voice attracted my attention; “Our dream land is where Islam is the code of life, No two people are differentiated because of their cast or creed. A country whose legislature is outlined as per the teachings of the Quran And Sunnah. A land where the supreme ideology is

 

‘La ilaha Il’lallah Muhammad ur rasool ul lah’   (there is no God but Allah Muhammad is the messenger of Allah )”

 

I picked my glass and gulped the whole  in one shot. They all smiled and invited me to have another glass. Their attitude was so hospitable, and their words so true, all they had totalk about was their Drem Land. I was so Awed at them and their talks.

 

 

After a couple of  serves and hospitability they returned to the topic of their dream Land.

 

“Our Dream land didnt have a name until very long Our childeren only knew that they needed a separate country for themselves, they left their toys and picked up guns, every child fought every mother send her child out to fight Just for this dream land. Its a Land of Sacrifice , A Land of Love , A Land that has Our blood in it, A land that was our dream and now a reality for the generations to come……..”

 

His words were intervened by my alarm clock ringing and i was all drowned in my own sweat.

 

Pakistan~ My home land. Wat has it become today… what have we made out of our ancestors dreams and their blood, what have we made of all their sacrifices. Is this the dream they saw…. Is this what they had fought for…. A place where people are discriminated as per their LAnguage and their casts. Is this the Pakistan where Punjabi’s, Sindhis, Mahajirs and Pathans will not sit under one roof in harmony. I was shaken and their words were ringing in my ears.

I kept on asking my self  is this the Pakistan They wanted. ….

Before partition every child chanted the slogan

 

“Pakistan Ka Matlab Kia …….. La ilaha Illlal lah”

 

now wat is the meaning of Pakistn… Now if a Muslim is Practising Islam; he is laughed upon and  the government detains him for interrogation and tortures him – calling him a terrorist… Is this the Pakistan…..

 I shivered as i thought. I got off my bed and Performed my FAjr prayers and cried for mercy and sought repentance and I asked Allah to teach us the real meaning of Pakistan … that is Islam…

 

Are we practising Islam for what we sought Pakistan ….

are we or are we Not …

 

 we have left the Islamic dress and worn the Non Islamic dress…

 where is our identity..

what is our Identity …

 we ourselves Dont know..

 what is our legislature….

 

 what have we made of the pure dream .. where is the pure scent  i smelt in my dream … where is the innocence… nowhere but replaced by betrayal and hatred

 

Time has changed and scenes have tilted, for a minute ohh Pakistani Brothers and sisters!!! sit down and think…. What will we answer our ancestors when they ask you what have you made of their dream land…. Today as we dance and celebrate our Muslim brothers and Sisters are in the custody of the Non Muslims and are being oppressed with extreme brutality , Is this wat Pakistan was supposed to be? Please ponder!!!!!…

 

Is This PAKISTAN ~ THE DREAM LAND????????????