Covid-19

A POWERFUL dua to say when you’re in difficulty

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Quote from the Holy Qur’an: Al-Anbiyaa (21:87)

وَذَا ٱلنُّونِ إِذ ذَّهَبَ مُغَٰضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَن لَّن نَّقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَىٰ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ أَن لَّآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبْحَٰنَكَ إِنِّى كُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ

Watha alnnooni ith thahaba mughadiban fathanna an lan naqdira AAalayhi fanada fee alththulumati an la ilaha illa anta subhanaka innee kuntu mina alththalimeena

And [mention] the man of the fish, when he went off in anger and thought that We would not decree [anything] upon him. And he called out within the darknesses, “There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.”

Quote from the Holy Qur’an: Al-Anbiyaa (21:88)

فَٱسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُۥ وَنَجَّيْنَٰهُ مِنَ ٱلْغَمِّ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُۨجِى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Faistajabna lahu wanajjaynahu mina alghammi wakathalika nunjee almumineena

So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.

Pray for us 🙂

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Covid-19 Reflections- Time

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In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.

Assalaamu’ alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Dear Community,

Let us think about how we have used our time during our entire life up till today.

Crisis or not. How near are our hearts to the remembrance of Allah? Most definitely it is time to increase in prayer and seeking forgiveness from Allah.

Allah warns us in Surat Al-Asr (Quran, 103:1-3)

“By time,

Indeed, mankind is in loss,

Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.”

Utilising our time wisely will be a worthy investment in both dunya and akhirah. Thus we must purify our intentions and dedicate our efforts in the cause of Allah. No matter what our situation, age and health status we should be optimistic and do what we can even taking inspiration from others facing the same.

Let us ponder upon the advice of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Sahih Hadith:

On the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took me by the shoulder and said, “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer.” And Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say, “In the evening do not expect [to live until] the morning, and in the morning do not expect [to live until] the evening. Take [advantage of] your health before times of sickness, and [take advantage of] your life before your death.” [Al-Bukhari]

So before we lose that we take for granted, may Allah help us to utilise our time, wealth before poverty, youth before old age, health before sickness and life before death. Ameen.

Thanks for stopping by to read.

Take Care,

Thurrock Muslims

Covid-19 Reflections- Selflessness

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In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.

Assalaamu’ alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Dear Community,

I’ve been thinking about how the Coronavirus pandemic can teach us many lessons about our faith and values. Our strengths, weaknesses and capabilities as humans.

As the crisis unfolded in a bid for survival we humans reacted in various ways, some panicked while others kept calm. Then came mass hysteria which resulted in a lot of panic buying. Stockpiling by some led to more panic by the rest, flocking to stores, shortages of shelf stock and hiking of prices by some retailers. A truly bizarre and thought provoking situation.

Thankfully most of us came to our senses and started considering our fellow population.

Allah The Most Merciful knows His creation better than we know ourselves. It is only natural we should be merciful to one another as reported in the Hadiths of Sahih Bukhari and Muslim:

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Allah has divided mercy into one hundred parts; and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and sent down to earth one part. Through this one part creatures deal with one another with compassion, so much so that an animal lifts its hoof over its young lest it should hurt it”.

Sadly despite this calamity it has not brought out the best of humanity in certain shameless opportunists. Please be careful of manipulative scams and take care against thieves and con artists particularly online.

May Allah guide us and make us kind to our fellow humans. Ameen.

Now, it is time we asked ourselves how we reacted and if it was a good way to react. To remind ourselves to be faithful, that everything is in the Hands of Allah, namely life, death, gain and loss. Wealth and poverty can be tough tests of life. But Materialism, greed, selfishness can skew our perception of reality.

Allah warns us in Surah Al Humazah (Qur’an 104:3)

“He thinks that His wealth will make him immortal..”

Inevitably we shall all return to Allah and we must pray to be taken in a state of imaan. We must remember that Allah is Ar-Razaq (The One Who Provides) as He tells us in Surah Adh-Dhaariyat (Qur’an, 51:58):

“ Verily, Allah is the All-provider, Owner of Power, the Most Strong.“

Allah is free of need and the Only One that can save us.

Humanity needs one another, a totally self-centred mentality is actually quite self-defeating. Mankind heavily depends on social and physical interactions to stay sane. Having said this, there are boundaries and limits Allah has set out for us to which we must respect in order to thrive. This social distancing is quite refreshing at a time when personal space boundaries have been eroded to near extinction!

Here are some of the small kindnesses that we can do to help others:

> giving within your means

> giving with an open heart

> shopping responsibly (it has been a while since the shopping frenzies and congrats to the supermarkets for responding well to encourage consideration).

> wash hands and maintain personal hygiene (high time a large portion of us should be washing hands after basic human functions)

>share, volunteer, help the elderly/pregnant women/vulnerable groups of people. (Cook food or do groceries, give positive comforting advice.)

>If you have children get them involved as part of their home-schooling to teach them good Islamic character and looking after neighbours… someone’s got to break the ice no?

>heed government advice as much as possible. Stay safe, stay at home. Isolate if needed.

Life under lockdown as restrictive as it can be, is proving necessary to protect the NHS and the population. Many people can be asymptomatic so it is crucial to keep your distance and limit contact to protect the vulnerable such as the elderly, pre/postnatal women, mothers with young children and those with weakened immune systems . In fact everyone should be cautious as we have seen even the healthy and all age groups are susceptible.

Muhammad Rasool Allah (peace be upon him) set us the best example. Let us follow and treat this minor hardship with patience, seeking reward from Allah. Let us maintain social distance to protect others without differentiating their background. Remember Surah Al Maaida (Qur’an 5:32):

“And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.“

Now it’s time to look at myself and see where I am on this scale of selflessness and how to improve, maybe its time for you to evaluate yourself too.

Take care and please share the word.

Thurrock Muslims.

Covid-19 Reflections- Forgiveness

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In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.

Assalaamu’ alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Dear Community,

Recently mankind has been gripped by a global pandemic, the coronavirus Covid-19. As it stands thousands have been affected, thousands deceased and thousands are at risk.

As Muslims we understand that Allah created life with a purpose (for us to worship only Him) and we shall eventually return to Him. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to assess and amend our current ways from one of heedlessness, disobedience and unaccountability to one of virtue, honesty and sincerity.

Allah The Almighty tells us in the Qur’an chapter 67 (Surah Al- Mulk) verse1-2:

“Blessed be He in Whose Hand is the dominion; and He is Able to do all things.

Who has created death and life that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving..”

Allah Glory be to Him is All Knowing and has power over everything. He knows what has, does and will happen and why.

Here is our wake up call. A blessing in disguise.

This is our chance to seek Allah’s forgiveness, follow His guidance and share the message of peace and submission to Allah. This is our chance for self-improvement, enjoining good and forbidding evil. We have long been complacent about the ill doings of society and often very much a part of it ourselves. It is time to leave ignorance and immorality behind and start living the way Allah wants us to.

Sincere repentance requires us to stop wrongdoing, to beg Allah’s pardon, do good and keep it going. We must purify our intention and do everything out of obedience to Allah.

Sadaqa averts calamity so give charity, particularly to our close community, relatives and especially to our displaced brothers and sisters of war torn poverty stricken lands. Now is the time to be the kind stranger and bring our nation together. We have a duty.

This is a reminder to myself more than anything and to share with the ummah in general for the sake of Allah, as Allah says in the Qur’an Chapter 51 Surah Adh-Dhariyat verse 55:

“And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers.“

We too are imperfect fellow human beings. So may Allah forgive us and please let us forgive each other for our shortcomings.

Praise be to Allah. We ask Allah to bless us with good, have mercy on us and guide us to the Straight Path. Ameen.

Stay safe.

Thurrock Muslims