Ramadan Reflections day 17

In Islam actions are judged by their intentions. Let me clarify – that’s just for good actions, wrong actions are wrong despite the intention. However good actions can be ruined and instead of being rewarded they can be a source of sin if our intention isn’t correct and sincere. On the other hand having the right intention in whatever we do can mean everything we do is a form of worship.

We should be making this dua at least 5x a day (unless you read a different one in your salah)

Quote:

"Rabbi 'j'alni muqima's-Salati wa min Thurriyati, Rabbana wa taqqabal du'a', Rabbana'ghfirli wa li walidayya walil-Mu'minina yawma yaqumul-Hisab."

"O my Lord! make me one who establishes regular Prayer, and also (raise such) among my offspring. O our Lord! and accept Thou my prayer."

"O our Lord! cover (us) with Thy Forgiveness - me, my parents, and (all) Believers, on the Day that the Reckoning will be established!" (Q 14:40-41)

Tbh until recently I hadn’t focused on and kinda forget the “believers...” part of the dua. However, I still made/make dua asking for the forgiveness of all Muslims in the dua after salah.

And a while back I realised my duas sometimes go on autopilot and I need to stop and consciously think about the words I am uttering. I need to [b]mean[/b] them, I *must* be [b]sincere[/b].

This part of the dua, was probably the most hardest to correct my intentions for. It’s a huge thing I’m asking for. The forgiveness of all the 1.57billion Muslims. Those I know, those who I don’t know. Those who I love, those who annoyed me, those who have hurt me, those who have angered me, everyone. But I had to do it, and mean it. That means I have to forgive them first if I want Allah to forgive them. And I do manage to do it, and it has made me feel somewhat better towards those who I have a reason to not be chummy with. Tbh I mostly think of a few specific people when I make the intention to be sincere because I know I truly mean it for the others, there’s no reason for me not to. With the vivid pictures that are given of hell in the Quran, I don’t know anyone personally that I would want to be eternally punished in such a way so I can say that I say this dua consciously and sincerely.

However there’s one or two people whose actions still make me feel upset or angry when I am reminded of them. Does that mean I haven’t forgiven them? Well I think I forgive them when I make that dua! I dunno what these feelings mean *sigh*.

Back to the point, intentions are important. In everything we do we have to make sure we’ve got the right intentions otherwise all our efforts will be wasted.

Like one good thing about me being sincere in that dua is that hopefully Allah will be merciful to me.

Quote:

"He who does not show mercy to others, will not be shown mercy." (Al-Bukhari)

In doing other actions I may not gain the reward for something because my intentions have been sabotaged by my nafs. If I was to give in charity just to look good, to say things just to show off the (very little) knowledge I have, to help others so I could be popular, all these things would be wrong and will be of no benefit to me.  For me it can be hard ensuring I have the right intention, it can change instantly. Perhaps you’re better than me and you don’t know what I’m on about, but I know this is from the nafs, and I do try to make sure I correct it (and I’m not arrogant, full of myself etc! Lol...it’s just the nature of the nafs getting in the way...wanting to be liked etc)

It helps to make dua. Dua is a must actually. I make dua that I can be sincere in whatever I do and saying bismillah *mindfully*, before an action is vital too. It reminds you of putting Allah into the equation. In fact the equation begins with Allah and would not exist without Him - Therefore whatever I’m about to do *must* be for Him – that is the kind of mindset I should have. If I think I’m really struggling then before starting I say my motives out loud (or in my head, depending on my surroundings), keep saying them, believe them, then start/continue.

I was encouraged to write these reflections because of Zac. I came across Zac two years ago when he, as an Atheist, fasted the whole of Ramadan and wrote daily blogs of his experience. His blogs were *amazing*. I swear he seemed to get more out of Ramadan than I had ever done. It was so surprising and inspiring, it made me realise how much more I can and should be getting out of Ramadan...this also made me feel some shame. Anyway, just before this Ramadan started Zac asked me if I’d write about my experiences and at first I rejected. I didn’t think I’d have anything to write about, I also didn’t want blogging to become my focus and for me to do things specifically so I have something interesting to blog about. I cannot lose any potential rewards in this month, for *this*. This is not worth it! And as I said before, having the right intention  can very easily change so I was wary. Then I thought perhaps if I have thoughts I think are worthy of sharing then perhaps I should. I didn’t have the intention of blogging everyday so that would mean I would blog *only* if something I had thought of something worthy and not because I did it to blog about it. You guys seem to like my blogs and I’m really glad about that. I really do hope you get something out of them and I hope you realise I am trying my best to be sincere even if it sounds like I’m showing off my great thoughts or actions or whatever! Please remember me in your duas. J

And check out Zac’s blogs http://www.zacparsons.com/tag/ramadan/