Content Soul

May, 2020

• 7 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 14: Raised Voices

  

  “Ramaḍān is the last of times to argue or raise our voices.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 6 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 13: Higher Awareness

  

  “One of the spiritual benefits of a proper fast is that it creates a higher level of consciousness and awareness of Allāh.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 5 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 12: True Fast

  

  “A true fast is also of the heart and mind: to observed a true fast you do not entertain any thoughts or feelings which are harām.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 4 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 11: External Carriage

  

  “For eleven months of the year we starve the rūḥ and lavish all our attention on the external carriage (our physical body).” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq  
• 3 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 10: Curb the Nafs

  

  “Fasting curbs the cravings of the lower self, for when the body is hungry the nafs is full but when the body is full the nafs is hungry.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 2 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 9: Expiation

  

  “The five prayers, Friday to Friday, and Ramadan to Ramadan are all expiators of what’s in between them if one avoids major sins. (Muslim)” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 1 May

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 8: Miracle

  

  “Millions of children being able to memorise the Quran, a book of over 80,000 words in a language they can’t understand, is truly a miracle.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

April, 2020

• 30 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 7: Immune System

  

  “The Islamic purpose of fasting is to create taqwa: the soul’s own immune system, which develops resistance to spiritual diseases and sin.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 29 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 6: Sacred Hours

  

  “The hours, days and nights of Ramaḍān are sacred and one should be mindful of their sanctity just as one is mindful of the sanctity of the Ḥaram.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 28 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 5: Solitude

  

  “The Prophet’s ﷺ practice of i’itikaf began even before Quranic revelation when he would seclude himself in the cave of Hira during Ramadan.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 27 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 4: Bodily Seclusion

  

  “Fasting itself is a form of i’tikāf whereby we retreat into a bodily seclusion, renounce food, drink and desire, and focus on the spirit.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq  
• 26 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 3: Spiritual Retreat

  

  “The original meaning of i’tikāf was to devote oneself and focus oneself on something to the exclusion of everything else. Ramadan is a form of iʿtikāf for the entire month. We should treat the whole of Ramaḍān as a spiritual retreat where we devote ourselves to, and focus on, the ibadah of Allāh to the exclusion of everything else.” – …
• 25 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 2: Quarantine

  

  “Ramaḍān is a quarantine: a sanitised and blessed atmosphere in which we spiritually recuperate, and immunise and heal our afflicted souls.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 24 April

  Ramadan 2020 – Day 1: Du’a

  

  “May Allāh make this Ramaḍān Mubarak for all of us, adorn our tongues with Qurʾānic recitation, and accept our deeds and supplication. Āmīn.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
• 16 April

  Provisions of Taqwa

  We should always prepare for, and be mindful of the terminator of all pleasures: death. Below is an English translation of a beautiful Arabic poem where the author reminds us to prepare provisions of Taqwá: Oh Man! Prepare your provisions of Taqwa For indeed you do not know when the night settles with its darkness if you will remain alive …
• 9 April

  Let No One Pride Themselves on Their Strength

  We as human beings have mastered so much. We have dived to the depths of the ocean and landed on the moon. We have sent probes to Mars and are planning manned missions to Mars. We scan the heavens. We have huge satellites and observatories. We have controlled the atom. We have made almost all the animals subservient to us …
• 2 April

  The Product of Allah is Expensive

  Living one’s life in a good manner, achieving good and doing good, and gaining paradise is not simple. In a hadith the Prophet ﷺ says ‘Lo and behold! The product of Allāh is expensive’.  What is the product of Allāh? Jannah. In a verse of the Qur’an, Allāh says أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن …

March, 2020

• 26 March

  The Fear of Loss

  Allāh has made many promises and Shayṭān has made many promises. These are covered in the verses of the Holy Qur’an. In Sūrat al-Aʿrāf we learn that Shayṭān made a promise to Allāh. Shayṭān said to Allāh that, “I shall surely sit on the straight path before them, and then I will surely come to them from in front of …
• 5 March

  Who do we Object to?

  Rasūl Allāh ﷺ warned us against envy and encouraged us to be true believers. True īmān cannot reside in the same heart as hasad (envy).  When we are envious of a person, we object to Allāh’s choice in bestowing his favour on that person. A poet says in Arabic, “Say to one who has remained envious of me, do you know who …

February, 2020

• 27 February

  Showing and Telling

  In a hadith narrated from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin ‘As the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: “When the treasures of Persia and Rome are conquered, what kind of people will you be?” ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awf رضي الله عنه‎ said: “We will say what Allāh has commanded us to say.” One of the meanings of this is that ‘We shall be grateful …