Who comes first?

I recently received an e-mail asking “who comes first in your life, if it Allah stop what you are doing immediately and forward this e-mail to twelve people”, I was highly motivated to prove to myself that Allah does come first in my life, and I will forward this e-mail to twelve people, but for now I will have to settle on marking it as unread (I’ll get back to it later) and tackle the mound of work that my ‘colleague’ aka boss is busy raising on my desk.

I have also come across such a question on one of my friend’s Facebook status. ‘Does God come first in your life?’ For some people the answer is instantaneous, a bold YES. Hence again I was tempted and highly motivated to also type a bold YES. As my fingers approached the keyboard I was forced to control that knee-jerk reaction and think, no matter how much we may lie, this was no lie to tell myself or put on Facebook. I really just sat and pondered about the question, looking into my life and daily activities. Other than the allocated prayer time, do my other actions really speak to God?

Every day I wake up pray, then start with the usual, shower, get dressed, prepare the lunchbox, off to work. When I get to work, well I work the pile on my desk, break for prayer & lunch, and get back to work. In this time I have already prayed twice but where does God fit into all this work? Did I even pray when I was praying or was I thinking of the work I have to return to, to complete.

Each passing day we run through this routine like programmed robots, even though we start and end our days with prayer but are our actions in-between God related? Is He really a priority in your life? Let me ask myself... “Sakina, would you resign today from your job to serve God?” “Well, it’s not really ok to just leave work, I need the money for the blender, my savings and of course I do my share towards charity (the I do good justification), ummm come on I really need the money right now, and besides you don’t have to be drastic to be God conscious(more justification),” blah blah blah Sakina!

Well yes, you do not have to travel miles and miles to be God conscious, but we have to examine our daily action on how they relate us to The Almighty so that even when you are working, He is your priority and you are serving Him while offering a service to others, while accumulating wealth, while eating etc.

Just sit and ponder for a while, take time and look into your daily activities and ask yourself “Who comes first?”

PS I will not be forwarding the e-mail until I feel that fully Allah comes first.

Peace.

What is my soul hungry for?

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim
"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness" (Qur'an, 2:183)
One of the disciplines I have come across in Tasawuf is to check your intention before, while and after an action. As our bodies get used to the fasting and our hunger pangs are no longer reminders, we tend to carry on with fasting for the month of Ramadhaan forgetting the purpose of the fast. When you are no longer hungry for food, it is time to turn to your soul and ask it “what are you hungry for?” At the beginning of the month of Ramadhaan, each one of us should have a clear goal in mind of what do we want to achieve by the end of the month. Yes, we all want to be in the Heavenly Garden and perhaps more, but there are a great number of steps we have to take to achieve any ultimate goal. As focused as you are on that final destination, you have to put together a list of items that will help you reach your destination safely. According to the verse I opened with, fasting is supposed to teach you piety and righteousness. I will not get into details of the deeper disciplines that come with fasting, but your list of items should be in line with these lessons (Piety & Righteousness). This list can include performing the Dawn Prayer in its best time, being more forgiving, stretching out your hand further to help the poor, increasing your Dhikrullah (remembrance of Allah), you know best what you need to start doing (or not doing). I believe that daily you should ask yourself the following questions:
1. Why and what am I fasting today?
2. What are my goals for Ramadhaan?
3. What am I going to do to increase my good deeds?
4. What evil trait am I going to get rid of today?
5. How am I going to help God’s servants/mankind today?
6. What is my soul hungry for?

May Allah make it easy for us, and help us reap all the rewards that come with this blessed month.
Peace