reflections

My reflections from the book: "When you hear hoof beats, think of zebras"

Book Review: When you hear hoof beats, think of zebras

This book has been on our bookshelf for ages, so it was wonderful to finally read it. These are some  of the very powerful lessons I took out of this book based on interesting Sufi tales:

  • Seeing Allah in everything and everyone around us – to me this means being in the company of those that remind you of Allah. Everything is a trace of Allah because everything is predestined and from Him. When looking at the creation,even inanimate objects, trace it back to Allah remember to admire the Creator.
  • If you spend your time going after gold in this world, you will have neither the gold nor yourself!
  • Think about what you spend your time, energy and thoughts on between prayers – We think about our life first, and weave our prayers around that. How nice to switch it around to focus on prayers first!
  • Every morning when we get up, we must remember two things- Allah and death – see how different our life will be as a result! We will realise that nothing lasts forever. And this can also be a source of comfort to help us let go and focus on what does matter.
  • A great way to view any situation: say : Maybe it’s a blessing, maybe it’s a curse, only Allah knows.
  • We don’t have to give ourselves totally to everything we do in the worldly sense – like when watching TV, or having a meaningless chat with a colleague at work – retain something of yourself, and with that remember Allah. Don’t get totally lost and immersed in everything ( except  the remembrance of Allah)Hope this was as an inspiring for you as it was to me Insha Allah!

Implementing the Inspiration,
M4Life


Ramadaan 2015 Reflections

Salaams dear readers

Time to reflect post Ramadaan!

I read somewhere that a good way to reflect during Ramadaan is to ask yourself  “What have I learnt about my relationship with Allah?”

For me, it is about attributing everything to Allah. How often do we forget to literally acknowledge that that great idea that popped into our head, or that amazing turn of events, or the beautiful gift we received are all signs from Allah, all made possible by Allah, all given to us by Allah!

I heard a talk by a famous aalim, Mufti Ismail Menk who was talking about this, and he said often we say “Shukr, it was so nice..xxx etc” – but thats not enough, Shukr to who, for what? So I want to be more specific now and when I pray for something, and I get it, I want to close the loop and come back to Allah to thank him, consciously. I have chosen praying a few tasbeehs of “Subhanallahi wa bihamdi” (“Glory to Allah and praise Him) – the most loved words to Allah. Knowing though, that no matter how much we thank Allah it will never be enough, but Inshallah this is a meaningful step that will please Allah.

Abu Dharr reported that the Prophet (sws) said, “Shall I tell you the words that Allah loves the most?” I said: “Yes, tell me, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “The words dearest to Allah are: subhanAllah wa bihamdihi.

By implementing this conscious close-the-loop step as I like to call it, about making this tasbeeh every time I want to thank Allah for something, I noticed that how often once I received something I would forget to actually pause to thank Him! I would just say “Yay, awesome!,” and move on. So Subhnallah, Im really pleased with this new step that Allah has inspired me to take, as I hope it makes me more grateful and consipus of Allah, Inshallah Aameen

What do you do to show thanks, and attrinute everything to Allah? Share your views, I would love to hear  more ideas 🙂

Keeping it real, with all praise to Allah,
M4Life