Live Like You are Dying

Salams people,
               Allah (SWT) has blessed me with an awesome opportunity to write for the SuperMuslims Magazine. The following was my article for the first issue. At the bottom of this page you will find a link to the SuperMuslims; magazine, group, page, twitter, and website. Be sure to check all those links out, and be sure to read and spread the magazine, there are a lot of great articles! =)

                                                                 Live Like You are Dying

                                                                    By: Habiba Ghanem

On the authority of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took hold of my shoulder and said, ‘Be in the world as if you were a stranger or a traveler along the path.” And ibn Umar would say, “If you survive till late afternoon, do not expect [to be alive in] the morning. If you survive till morning, do not expect [to be alive in] the late afternoon. Take from your health before your sickness and your life before you death.” (Recorded in al-Bukhari)

Before I continue further I must admit two things:

1.       I don’t want to be a hypocrite and I need you to know that the things that I am about suggest are things that I am still working on myself.

2.       This article was actually inspired by a song that I heard on the radio “Live Like We’re Dying.”

Now, I am about to say something and I don’t want you to freak out. Please don’t think that I am some sort of pessimistic person, but beware what I am about to say may come as shocking… We are all going to die! Ok, so maybe it wasn’t as shocking as you expected but I bet it is definitely something that most of us block out; dying is a scary thought. But the thing about death is that it is inevitable. Sooner or later we are going to die.

Now think of your life, your daily routine. Can you do more to get closer to Allah (SWT)? Chances are we can all do things to improve our relationship with Allah (SWT). I want you to think of some of your countless blessings, who else can provide you with these blessings but Allah (SWT)? Do you thank Allah for those blessings? Do you show your appreciation? All it takes is one simple word; ElhamduAllah. Always remember Allah (SWT), and a great way to do that is through tasbeeh. To get rewarded for your actions you should have sincere intention. I was at a Productive Muslims seminar, and the founder of the website; Mohamed said that, “In Islam we are rewarded according to the power of intention. Intentions should be the bedrock of our goals and actions.”

What’s stopping us from being better people? Our friends? Family? We can’t put the blame on just those people. Think for a moment of the millions of things that you really wanted and wouldn’t stop fighting for until you got them. Our problems are in ourselves. Sure our families or friends might be an influence but deep down you know that if you set your mind to something you won’t rest until you get it. Let’s start being better!

             Let’s start with prayer. Why does shaytan occupy our minds while we pray? It’s because we are too busy concentrating on worldly things, we forget the reason of our existence. Yasmin Mogahed wrote in her blog; "The heart is like a cup. The more you fill it with love of Allah, the less room there is for dunya.” When you pray how many thoughts cross your mind? We must try to block those thoughts out. We need to REALLY pray. I am telling you all this but I am telling myself too. If for some reason you are up late, how about you pray two raqaa of Qiyam Layl. Also, why don’t you start praying some of the sunnahs?

                We need to get to know the Qur’an, the words of the Divine. The Qur’an has the answers to everything but sadly we don’t take the time to understand it. I am so ashamed that I recognize lots of songs and I can sing along to them but I don’t know many ayas from the Qur’an. So let’s start reading Qur’an. Start with at least one page per day and work your way up. Try listening to Qur’an before you sleep.

There is so much that I don’t know and there is so much for me to learn. For example, I don’t know the months of the Islamic Calendar, so I am going to make sure that I learn them. What do you want to know more about? Let’s educate ourselves about our deen. Try to once in awhile go to a lecture, or watch a lecture off the internet.

Let’s for a moment take a look at a bigger picture; our ummah. As a whole what is stopping us from being as great as we once were? I always remember what Moez Masoud says about this issue. He says that it’s the lack of faith. With faith we are strong and without it we are weak; the more that we turn away from religion the weaker we become. The ummah needs to reunite, we need to stand hand in hand and help our brothers in sisters that are suffering. But in order for us to achieve that we must start with ourselves. "ان الله لا يغير ما بقوم حتي تغيروا ما بأنفسكم" ( سورة الرعد : 11) (“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” Ar-Ra’d:11)

The clock is ticking, every step you take and every move you make pulls you closer to your departure from this world. Ask yourself; the step that I am taking now, is it one step closer to that straight path or one step away from it? Let’s all help each other in becoming better Muslims. Take these suggestions step by step, you don’t have to start them all at once. Keep in mind that whatever hardships we face in this world won’t matter, what matters is the next life; the eternal life. I remember Moez Masoud saying that this life to us will be like nothing but a fleeting dream.

       May Allah (SWT) guide us all in becoming better Muslims and may He grant us all Husn El Khitam.

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