By Anonymous

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil alameen for His guidance and everything He has provided me with. From rizq to nourish my body, to the clothing I use to beautify and cover myself, to the shelter in which I seek refuge, to the great family and companions I’m blessed with, to the teachers who impart great knowledge and wisdom on me (and the list goes on and on and on): all are blessings for which I must foremost be thankful to Allah. For it is Allah who provides us with all that we have today. The reason I decided to take up a few lines for this, is that we are sometimes so lost and caught up in our fast New York lifestyle, going to ‘this event and that class’, that we tend to lose focus and forget to always show humility and be thankful to Allah. We tend to forget to implement that which we learn.

Indeed, it is to Allah we shall return. So, what have we prepared for our meeting with our Rabb, the All-Mighty? Allah says,

“And I created not the Jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me. I seek not any provision from them nor do I ask that they should feed Me. Verily, Allah is the All-Provider, Owner of power, the Most Strong” (51:58).

Allah created us to worship Him but He does not need us. Rather, we are in need of Him. It is for our own benefit that we worship him. So what have we done to fulfill this act of worship? Having already spent two weekends learning about the acts of worship from our Ustadh Shaykh AbdulBary Yahya, we now have to ask ourselves ‘what did we take home?’ Shaykh AbdulBary encouraged us to just pick something from the great actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions and commit ourselves to it. Anytime there’s a deed where there’s a promise of paradise, do them. Try to imitate the people of paradise.

Throughout the seminar, many deeds of the people of paradise or deeds that will help you enter paradise were mentioned. I will start with the one that was most inspirational to me: praying two rak’ahs after each wudu. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard the sounds of Bilal’s footsteps in front of him, in Jennah. So he asked him,

“Ya Bilal, what’s the most hopeful act?”

Bilal responded,

“I do not consider any act more hopeful than that whenever I make wudu’ (or take a bath) in any hour of night or day, I would immediately perform Salaat for as long as was destined for me to perform.”

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also said,

“Whoever does wudu’ as I have done it, then prays two rak’ahs in which he focuses completely on his prayer, his previous sins will be forgiven.”

Now, who wouldn’t catch this bargain? All you have to do is pray two rak’ahs sincerely, after wudu’. You don’t have to worry about having wudu’ because you just made it. All you need to do is take advantage of this and pray before you lose it, again!

In general, it is best to try to always be in a state of wudu’. As Shaykh AbdulBary told us, the best thing to choose (of the Nawaafil actions) is that which enables a person to enter Jennah, and having wudu’ helps one to do good deeds. Thereby, it enables and encourages one to do good deeds and these deeds add up. For example, one can just walk into the Masjid and catch the first rak’ah, pray whenever one wishes to, or read Qur’an whenever one wishes to. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) even used to do wudu’ before going to sleep.

Reciting the dua of wudu’ after completing wudu’ is also an act that can help us enter paradise. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“There is no one amongst you who does wudu’ and does it properly and does it well, then he says, Ashhaduan lailahaill Allahu wa ashhaduanna Muhammadan ‘abduhwarasuluhu except the gates of Paradise will be opened to him and he may enter through whichever of them he wishes.”

Also, repeating what the mu’adhdhin says as well as the du’a after the adhan is highly encouraged. It can become a source of intercession for us, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“whoever says the dua after adhan, his intercession will be permitted for him on the Day of Resurrection.”

In general, dua and dhikr should be done as much as possible in order to strengthen our relationship with Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“He feels shy that when His servant raises his hands towards Him, calling upon Him, that he should return him empty, having nothing.”

But there are certain times in which dua is encouraged and not rejected. Like the time between the adhan and iqamah about which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said

“Dua is not rejected between the adhan and iqaamah, so make dua.”

We are also encouraged to supplicate in sujood and before the tasleem. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said

“…while in sujood be earnest in supplication, for it is most likely that your supplications will be answered.”

We should make dua especially in these times. And the time for dhikr is after Salah, a practice one should revive beyond Sunday School. Now, weeks have passed since the seminar. We learned about many more acts of worship in the two weekends. Have we benefited and acted on that knowledge? Or have we put it aside and returned to our busy lives same as they were before TPA? Insha’Allah we are all benefiting from all that we learned.