I begin by praising and glorifying Allah subhana wa ta'ala, The Rahman, The Raheem and by sending salawat on His Messenger, peace be upon him and his family.
This surah, subhanAllah, is of the most beautiful words of Allah. Only three verses long, it is one of the three shortest surahs of the Quran. The following words said by Imam Shafi'i rahimahUllah summarize my sentiments for the surah:
“لو تدبر الناس هذه السورة لوسعتهم”
“If people were to ponder on this chapter, it would amaze them.”
“لو لم ينزل إلى الناس إلا هي لكفتهم”
“If this was the only chapter sent to humanity, it would suffice them.”
“الناس في غفلة من هذه السورة”
“People are negligent of this chapter.”
-Imam Shafi'i
It is the summary of the purpose of our life, it is the essence of the message of the Messenger, it is the soul of Allah's commands. The passing by of time is the description of this life, it is the description of our very existence. Time is an endowment. It is fixed by its very nature. We cannot change the amount of time we have to live on this Earth, we cannot change the time of our death just like we didn't choose the time of our birth. It is the very constitution of our slavery to Allah, al Awal, al Akhir, as Samad. "Verily, we are from Allah, and to Him is our return." [2:156] Our purpose in life is to be achieved through making the best use of this time. Three actions are prescribed in this Surah:
1. Doing righteous deeds
2. Advising to truth
3. Advising to patience
Each of these are to be done in accordance with the beautiful sunnah of our beloved Rasul ul Allah peace be upon him.
If we fail to do the three golden acts prescribed in this chapter, we will indeed be in loss. All mankind is in loss, except those who adhere firmly to the three golden acts.
The third is a need for the first two to be implemented. It is not just a consequence but also a pre-requisite. Sabr is of the qualities of the believers. Through sabr, one is able to attain the love of the Beloved and al Wadud, the Loving. "O you who are patient! Bear a little more, just a little more remains." -Ibn al Qayyim
"Patience is that the heart does not feel anger towards that which is destined, and that the mouth does not complain." Ibn al Qayyim
*This is not a tafseer of the surah, it is just a piece of my reflections on the surah.
*My words don't do justice to how beautiful the surah really is, one could write a book on the wonders of these verses. Click herefor a tafseer.
The problem with a lot of us today is that even though we know something is impermissible we cannot distance ourselves from it. It is true that most us cannot take the first step even when we are absolutely sure what we're doing is haram. We keep delaying our tawbah to the next day without realizing that tomorrow isn't certain, we might not be alive and it might be too late to repent. Music is one such sin. The point of this post to help you stop listening to music and overcoming the urge of going back to it.
1. Make tawbah
Making mistakes and falling short are undoubtedly a part of human nature and no one will be free of shortcomings in his or her obedience to Allaah, or free of mistakes or forgetfulness or sins. All of us fall short, commit sins, and make mistakes. Sometimes we turn to Allaah and sometimes we turn away from Him. Sometimes we remember that Allaah is watching and sometimes we become negligent. None of us is free of sin, and we will inevitably make mistakes. We are not infallible. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if you did not commit sin Allaah would do away with you and bring people who would commit sin then pray for forgiveness." Narrated by Muslim, 2749.
And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Every son of Adam sins, and the best of those who sin are those who repent.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2499; classed as hasan by al-Albaani.
Allah says in the Quran:
“O you who believe! Turn to Allaah with sincere repentance!” [al-Tahreem 66:8]
So the first step to abstain from any sin should always be tawbah. Interestingly, tawbah is not just saying astaghfirUllah or saying "Oh Allah forgive me!". Rather, tawbah needs more than just that to get accepted. There are essentially three conditions of tawbah:
Firstly, you should give up the sin, secondly, you should regret having done it and thirdly, you should resolve to never go back to it.
If you fulfill these conditions and then you get waswasas (whispers) suggesting that your repentance is not accepted, then know that its Shaytaan who is trying to put you down. Hope for the best from Allah because Allah says in the Quran:
“And He it is Who accepts repentance from His slaves, and forgives sins, and He knows what you do” [al-Shoora 42:25]
2. Eliminate the source
If its your phone or iPod, just press that DELETE ALL button. Empty your music library and un-like all those singers and musicians on Facebook and Instagram.
I know, I know this is very difficult. But let me tell you what, getting to Jannah ain't a piece of cake either. So how will this help? You will have to Google your music if you don't have it downloaded. That would make the process at least a teeny tiny bit difficult, in shaa Allah. This is a great step to get you started. It's like washing away yourself of all the dirt.
I know you're strong and you can beat Shaytaan on this one. JUST PRESS DELETE!
3. I've deleted all the music, now what?!
What do you do with all the time you have? You have to listen to something right? You're craving music...
Replace music with the recitation of Quran. Wallahi, there is nothing more beautiful than the recitation of the Quran. There are so many qaaris to choose from. For beginners I recommend Qaari Mishary al-Afasi.
Download a Quran app in your phone if you don't already have one, 'Mp3 Quran' (android) offers a wide range of qaaris to choose from. Download 'Quran Reciter' in your laptop/pc. Make sure you have access to the recitation of the Quran at all times. Buy CDs for your car. Next time you want to listen to some music, play some Quran in your ears instead. It will make all the worries vanish and will make you feel at peace. Quran is the word of Allah, IMAGINE ALLAH TALKING TO YOU! Could there be anything more awesome than that?
Doing so comes with infinite rewards and benefits. Imagine the Quran interceding for you on the Day of Judgement and your ears witnessing in favour of you. <3
4. What about nasheeds?
Nasheeds are like Islamic songs. Add some nasheeds in your music library. Make sure you find the ones with no musical instruments and the ones with halal lyrics. Some popular nasheed artists include Zain Bhika, Dawud Wharnsby, Mishary Al-Afasy, Talib Al-Habib and Omer Esa.
Don't listen to nasheeds more often than the Quran though. Listen to a nasheed only when multitasking or when you cannot concentrate entirely on what is being said. Nasheeds will help raise your imaan but not as much as the Quran. Nothing can beat the Quran in beauty either.
5. What else can I listen to?
You can listen to inspirational talks that can motivate you towards more good deeds in shaa Allah. Ustadh Noman Ali Khan, Abdul Nasir Jangda, Dr. Bilal Philips, Bilal Asad, Yusha Evans, Tawfique Chaudary, Sister Yasmin Mogahed are all great speakers ma shaa Allah.
6. What about my habit of singing to myself?
It seems difficult to conquer this one habit, but its not impossible. Shaytaan will bring back your past, he'll remind you of your sins. But you know you've made tawbah. So what to do? -Say aa-'udhubIllahi minashaiytaanirajeem, that will make Shaytaan go away.
-Start dhikr (remembrance) instead, e.g. SubhanAllahi walhamdulIllahi la illaha illAllahu wAllahu akbar or recite the Quran or 'humm' a du'a. One of my teachers used to make us learn du'as in tarteel, so we could humm du'as instead of singing those ugly songs.
On the Day of Judgement you will be really happy to see all that reward in shaa Allah, of abstaining from something as evil as music and doing good instead. May Allah help us, forgive us and have mercy on us, ameen.
May He accept my effort and grant me ikhlaas.
Any khayr is from Allaah and any evil is from me.
