Bliss In Practice

It's been foggy in Toronto. Although it's beautiful to look at, it causes trouble on the roads. What do you do when it's foggy? You slow down, or at least you should slow down because your vision is impaired by it. When you don't know your route very well, you have to look for the highway exit signs to get to the place you intend to arrive at. When you have a passenger who knows the way, he can tell you the route. When you trust your co-driver you will feel at ease with your driving. Once the fog has lifted, you are able to recognize where you are. Recognition takes practice. We all have our talents and we like to practice them. It is easy for an artist, for example, to recognize good art. Once we become good at something, we can discern what is good. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) and the Sahabah had nuance. They understood their society and the world on a deeper level than most of us understand our own society. Their practices reflected their understanding. The...

Do you remember last Ramadan? That amazing feeling when you were up and praying correctly and on time every day, when you were encouraged and encouraging family and friends to join you in perfecting your Islam? What happened to that feeling we had during Ramadan? How can we get it back in the middle of January when Ramadan is in May? How do we obtain that state of intense concentration required for a perfect salah? Maybe it's time for a little spiritual surgery. There are a few things that interrupt our salah. One is wandering and/or disturbing thoughts. Another is repeating the prayer in a rote fashion. Yet another is rushing the prayer thinking about time. We all want to feel close to Allah and please him when we pray. It's our time alone with our Lord and he is watching and listening to us. We need to make each prayer count. If your thoughts wander, or if you are disturbed by terrible thoughts during salat, you are actually in good company. The Sahabah ...

Music is a complicated subject. Music – say this word and people have several opinions and definitions. Some say it's completely haram, some say certain music is halal if it is only a drum (douf), some say lyrics are good as long as they are in praise of Allah. Those learned in jurisprudence are the best people to make a judgement call. I don't think the fact of music should be left alone, but we should understand exactly what we are talking about. For this conversation, we need to consider a definition of music. The conventional arguments are all considering types of music played on the radio, heard on the street and in concert halls referred to by the Arabic term ghina. I'd like to consider a different idea of music aside from that mentioned above. In the past year I've heard 3 sounds that have never touched my ears before. My first adhan , the recitation of the Qur'an and the Imam leading the prayer with an Allahu Akbar that sounded like hi...

Just recently I thought to myself, if I were to meet me a year ago, what advice would I give? So I've come up with a personal compendium of practical everyday manners and works which I have gathered in my first year practicing Islam. Creating this list has let me reflect on where I started and where I want to go in the next year. Taking stock in what I've learned and realizing where I need to go. Please forgive me and correct me if anything that is said here is wrong. Inshallah I will have another update like this at the end of my second year as a muslimah with more refinement, perfection and community involvement to list and discuss. Once you have taken your Shahada, your past sins are forgiven. You start fresh from this point on. Try your best to keep yourself out of trouble and maintain this state. But also remember, Muslims aren't perfect, Islam is perfect. If you don't believe in Allah's forgiveness, what is the point? Learn how to make w...