07.29.06
We Must Strive to Serve Him
When one tries to cleanse him or herself in order to please Allah (swt), it is a beginning of a journey that will ultimately lead to salvation. When one tries to forget and let go of old habits, change their way of thinking for the better, and try to spiritually uplift themselves to serve God, he or she will be greatly rewarded and will ultimately succeed. We will be on trial and we will be tested greatly. We will be put in situations where we feel helpless and feel like giving up, but we must be persistent and continue the struggle. The key word is persistence. We must be consistent with whatever we try even if its something very minute. And we must also remember, God will never test us if we are not capable of succeeding. Just the fact that we are striving, will mean that we will be successful, inshaAllah.
With that being said, the month of Rajab has begun, alhamdulillah. Rajab marks the beginning of the spiritual season of every believer ending with the end of the fasting month of Ramadan with the Eid Al Fitr. These three months are unmatched in their importance.
Praise be to the Almighty and thanks to Him for granting us yet another opportunity to cleanse ourselves of our sins and oversights.
Darius Said:
July 29, 2006 at 6:11 pm
That idea of persistence, will, desire for God, is also very much present in the Christian tradition - especially in Christianity’s contemplative aspect. To me it’s unfortunate that the doctrinal aspect is stressed so heavily among many Christians today that what to me is its infinitely more significant contemplative dimension - which Christianity holds in common with other great world religions - has been lost sight of by millions.
naqvia Said:
July 30, 2006 at 10:37 am
Darius,
Very true. I think the political nature of historical events that transformed this shift. In fact, certain ideologies in the Muslim world also tranformed - like the psuedo-Salafi movement.