The Light On Sirat

Imagine being stranded on a bridge, without a light, under which there is a bottomless pit and you are dead sure there is a fire ablaze down there. The bridge would sound familiar to anyone who has read the Quran, or was paying attention while an elder or a scholar was speaking, and has come across the word Sirat. It is the very bridge that each human being has to cross on the Day of Judgement. There's a catch to it, a deal, which like any other has a profit and loss scenario. If you've been a Believer, a brilliant one, you shall pass. If you have been anything otherwise, your chances are slim. As I moved on with reading the tafsir of Surah Al-Baqarah I discovered the meanings of the verses that expose the traits of hypocrites and how they would be the ones stranded on the Sirat without a light. Conclusion: doom!

Allah (swt) has spoken of the strength of faith and belief as a light for those who believe and as a fierce thunderclap for hypocrites who turn a deaf ear and give a blind eye to guidance when it comes to them. Hypocrites, unfortunately, come from within Muslims themselves and they are all around. They can be identified from their deviant deeds. Words of faith do not effect them, they will listen to goodness for hours and days but remain unchanged, and furthermore they will manipulate the words of goodness to create doubts, conspiracies, innovations, and confusions. 

"Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind." - 22:46

A strong faith, a powerful Islamic lifestyle, and a knowledgeable voice are characteristics of a believer. One can develop them and use them to counter the confusions such as sectarianism, innovation, manipulation of Islamic meanings, and etc. created by hypocrites. A powerful Muslim's words and deeds shock the hypocrites because faith stuns disbelief. It strikes like a powerful bolt of lightning that blinds the deviant sights of disbelievers and hypocrites with which they see the world. It mutes the words of conspiracy and innovation. 

Hypocrites, therefore, are folks at a loss.

For such folk there is serious bad news because they will either have no light with them on the Sirat because they were staunch disbelievers, or their light will be very small and would go off if they have been hypocrites with faulty beliefs. Poof!

"They (the believers) will pass on the Sirat according to their deeds. The light that some people have will be as big as a mountain, while the light of others will be as big as a date tree. The people who will have the least light are those whose index fingers will sometimes be lit and extinguished at other times." - At-Tabari 23:3179

"Rabbana Atmim-lana Noorana"

"Our Lord! Keep perfect our Light for us."

Al-Hakim 2:495

Make sure it is the mountain you head for and not just the date tree. 

How I Overcame The Post Ramadan Writer's Block

The Writer's Block is a pet peeve of the devil himself, especially when you are writing for a good cause. The post-Ramadan writer's block had been doing an annoying dance on my nerves lately. Last night, at about Isha time when all was said and done, I ransacked my mind for fresh ideas. Alhamdulillah, they came and I spent the day today getting the resources together.

The past previous months have coaxed me into thinking more about the workings of the Muslim family, relationships, and how a family unit can function effectively. I was at a restaurant, waiting for a pizza in a never ending line, when a major fight broke out between two Muslim families because of some young adult boys who chose to misbehave. 

"Don't you give me the look, now!" The boy, about 17 or 18 years of age, shouted at his mother.
The mother, in an undertone, asked him to hush.

"Who're you telling to keep quiet?" The boy raged, "I will not keep quiet, I will not shut up, you shut up, you always give me that look."

The mother, louder this time, asked the boy to sit back down at the table. 

"No! I will not sit down!"

A man, apparently his father, came in to intervene all the way from his place in the waiting line. He asked him what the problem was and he ridiculed his mother.

"She always does this! She gives me the look! What are you going to do, hit me?" He glared at his mother.

This is when an appalling thing happened. The mother withdrew a toothpick from its holder on the table, and poked it multiple times like a dagger on her son's shoulder. He still didn't shut up!
That was when I saw the void that needs to be talked about. The distances in relationships, the mannerisms, the lack of personal connections. So I'd be putting together some thought-provoking articles. Hopefully, if my editorial team at Productive Muslim.com agrees, I shall be contributing the articles to their website.
Secondly, I had been meaning to put together an entire bunch of entries in Ramadan about soul searching, inner reflections, connecting with oneself and eventually finding Allah (swt)'s good will by connecting with Him. It is obvious that these entries will focus a lot on self-help issues.

Fortunately, I found out that Yasmin Mogahed's new book 'Reclaim Your Heart' touches a lot of such issues that can help serve the purpose. I'd be purchasing the book to benefit from it, inshaAllah. These articles would hopefully be coming up on Sisterly Yours, inshaAllah.
A third series that I am estimating, inshaAllah, is about women exclusively. I intend to attend 'Complicated? - A to Z Of Women's Modern Fiqh', a seminar by Al-Maghrib which aims at explaining the modern stance of a Muslim woman in the global community. The issues discussed in the introductory summary of the seminar are very practical and elaborate. There are always doubts in one's mind pertaining to the role of a Muslim woman and how much liberty she can enjoy. There are issues of socialization, public speaking, participation in the community, and many more.
I feel that as a writer for the Muslim youth, I definitely need to attend this seminar in order to understand my own scope and flexibility under the light of Quran and Sunnah.
Conclusively, I figured that when writer's block strikes it is best to gather resources which inspire creativity. The blankness is natural because of work overload, emotional stress, and exhaustion. Good books, good speakers, good movies, and websites are a refreshing feed of information that has the potential to become one good creative write.