Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 18

Assalam o Alaikum. Juma Mubarak. Its that time of the week when we talk about Al Kahf. Kahf is the Cave of refuge from forces of evil. And we need this refuge more than ever before because we are under attack. Whether its day or night, sun or shade, eyes open or shut, shivering cold or simmering heat, plain or mountain, desert or sea, we are under attack. From home to office, from university to market, from functions to funerals, we advertently or inadvertently are being mislead. We are being bombarded and fooled by information sans wisdom. We are being hoaxed by media lies. We are being deluded to look with lascivious eyes. We are being duped to talk in licentious manner. We are being tricked to put God behind material god. How turbulent? How messy? Ability to differentiate right from wrong is inbuilt in our default mechanism. However, it seems that in these tumultuous times, an impenetrable veil shrouds our ability to discern right from wrong. Cutting through this fog of confusion is the greatest challenge humanity faces today. Al Kahf offers those glasses which help us see through this intense mist of confusion. So let's spare some time today to recite and understand this magnificent defensive tool against ruthless offensive of devil.

Moving over to today's Ayah No 18. In last Ayah, Allah swt fondly mentioned that if you were there you would have seen how that miracle was at work. Sun was providing The Boys at sleep with due sunlight and would incline in the afternoon.

Continuing with the same affection on our heroes, The Kahf Boys, Allah swt sketches their state in the cave with his masterly word craft. Human mind at the time of these revelations was not accustomed to pictures or movies and Allah swt had to puff life in to this situation with His magical poetic prose. And how fitting is the quality of language, tone and tenor. How majestic is the manner of Storyteller who loved The Book(the story) and The Boys. If you (us or anyone) were there, you couldn't tell they were sleeping or awake. He swt made arrangenents in the Cave to turn them over from left to right and vice versa to avoid stiffness, bedsoars and maintaining their blood circulation. Whereas, their dog (namely Qitmir) sat at the front edge of the Cave. Though sleeping, Qitmir gave a ferocious look to passersby so that no one would try entering the Cave or in other words disturb The Boys' sleep. Look at the attention to details and care. Allah swt doesn't like to interfere with human freewill, so He swt created a scenario that onlookers would see the dog and wouldn't think of entering the Cave. On the other hand, He swt made arrangenents for The Boys' sustenance like a mother would do except that a mother couldn't sit beside her kid for three centuries and after all the love of a mother was created by Allah swt along with the mother.

Such were the privileges and VIP treatment The Boys got during their sleep in the cave. What happened next, shall follow next week.

May Allah swt make us like Kahf Boys. Ameen

Use of FnF Seeds- Flax, Nigella, Fenugreek

Assalam o Alaikum 

In this blog entry, FnF may differ from our usual understanding of this acronym i.e. Friends and Family.  Here it stands for these three seeds i.e. Flax, Nigella and Fenu which incidentally are like Friends and Family. So let me pictorially introduce you to these very friendly seeds that can help us live longer and healthier lives, just like our FnF:

1. Flaxseeds (السی)

Check out the following to know how effective is use of this wonder seed:

 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-flaxseeds

2. Nigella Seeds (کلونجی)

Following link may help understand some very pronounced benefits of this magic seed:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/kalonji-nigella-seeds#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3

3. Fenugreek Seeds (میتھی دانہ)

Very common, very cheap but very special and highly beneficial is this super seed. To find out, use following link:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fenugreek-for-testosterone#fenugreek

So if you have read all above benefits, it's great, if you haven't, it's even better because you can just start it's use to reap full advantage of these FnF:

Use: 

1 table spoon Flaxseed

Half table spoon Nigella Seeds

1 table spoon Fenugreek Seeds

Put all above in one glass of water before sleep (6-8 hours before)

In the morning, while fasting i.e. نہار منہ drink the water and chew all the seeds

And do share the change you may experience in a month's time

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

Surah Al Kahf- Ayah No 17

Assalam o Alaikum 

Juma Mubarak. Al Kahf Time. Please find time to recite and understand this amazing Surah or part of it.

Like a pearl necklace, every Rukuh contains one complete speech of Allah addressed to you and me. However, we explore one Ayah every week i.e one pearl at a time. Though these pearls make greater impact when put together in garland, yet separately every piece of it remains a pearl. And like a necklace, every Ayah is in contact with the previous Ayah. 

Last Ayah ends with sincere submission of The Boys to Allah swt for all their matters and retreat to the Cave (Al Kahf). And right there their matter was taken over by Allah swt. 

What happens next is explicitly told in an exquisite manner. Like someone misses your lavish dinner and you tell them,' You should have seen the arrangements and food'. Allah swt is talso telling us, if we were there, we would have raved about how laws of physics bent to serve His favourite Boys. He swt arranged sunlight, shade, food and shelter. This was only because they were guided. And only those are guided whom Allah swt guides. And those who miss out on guidance shall remain astray forever. So we can conclude that the most precious treasure in this universe is guidance. The richest is the guided. The Kahf Boys earned their guidance certificate from none other than Allah swt.  They stand tall on victory stand. They are among the most successful in human history. We shall also pray to be guided and stand in the blessed league of our heroes, The Kahf Boys. Ameen.

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 16

Assalam o Alaikum 

Juma Mubarak. Al Kahf Time. A gentle reminder for recitation and understanding of entire Surah or part of it.

In last Ayah, The Kahf Boys questioned their peoples' faith system and asked for some authentication of their beliefs. On listening to their counter arguments, Roman King at the time, Decius haughtily gave time to The Boys to recant their faith. He was mistaken. The belief of Kahf Boys was true and tenable. 

However, it was obvious that they could not live among their people anymore. They were very smart, like people of faith should be. They didn't go for confrontationist approach. Instead, they came up with a flawless plan. 

It is an established fact that The Boys were extremely intelligent as they fully adopted the only true belief system on God's earth i.e. Oneness of Allah. Second, most impressive indicator of their conscientiousness was their plan to deal with the situation wherein they were already up against the wall. They submit their entire matter to Allah by inciting His mercy and with the firm belief that their Lord would facilitate in all their affairs.

What happened next shall unfold in later part of the Surah but what had happened thus far deserved some reflection. What made Kahf Boys so intelligent? How could they come up with such ingenious plan? Of course, their unwavering faith in Allah. So the million dollar question is that was it their intelligence or faith? None. Their sincerity. 

Lesson for us to take home is to be sincere in our thought and act. Our inbuilt dormant consciousness can exactly differentiate right from wrong, sincerity from insincerity, good from evil, truth form lie and vice from virtue. And we are so lucky, if there were iota of ambiguity, Al Furqan was gifted to us a millennium and half ago which vividly distinguished right from wrong. We might have to let loose our consciousness from inactive to active role in our thought process and decision making. By decision making I mean choices. Faith is one of those choices. Rest is easy, believe and submit. Stop worrying about taking the wheel anymore, just sit back and enjoy the ride of life in cruise control mode.

May Allah help us achieve the tenaciousness of Kahf Boys sincerity and faith. Ameen 

Surah Al Kahf- Ayah No 15

Assalam o Alaikum 

Juma Mubarak. Al Kahf Time. A gentle reminder for recitation and understanding of this amazing Surah or part of it.

All praises to Allah swt who taught us speech. Ability to process information and speak is the greatest gift and miracle of Allah. It was so important to Him that He swt took time to teach our Father Adam AS the art of speech all by Himself. Then to prove superiority of this masterpiece (finest of creatios(Al Teen 4:95)), He swt asked Adam AS to speak infront of Angels and Jinn. Angels submitted, Iblees' ego failed him. Like Iblees, any shade of his sunnah i.e. ego fails us rather relegates us to the lowest of the low (Al Teen 5:95).

Now let's connect dots as to why so much emphasis on importance of speech and its relevance to today's Ayah No 15. Pondering on the Ayah it crossed my mind that The Book was written way before any other creation except pen. Which means this Ayah and these words uttered by our heroes, The Kahf Boys, were written in Loh-e-Mahfooz before the World of Creation (عالم خلق)right after the World of Order(عالم امر). So these words about Oneness of Allah, were taught by Allah swt, uttered by His favourite Boys written in His best and final Book, could not be ordinary speech. It has to be extra special. 

Before we look at Ayah 15, let's see the quality of literature we are discussing. People of literary sense could appreciate it Like high octane drama, the scenes keep shifting back and forth. Two Ayahs before, The Boys went to sleep and woke up wondering where they were and how long did they sleep? Scene changes in previous Ayah (14) and we see them standing in the court of polythiest tyrant. But they don't budge. In this Ayah, they are wondering why their people have taken deities as gods. Also feel the compassion they express by asking their people to give evidence of their claims. They seem sincerely poised to do good to their people. They wish to bring them into the fold of Tauheed. They also exclaim in last part of the Ayah by remarks that there was no greater injustice than associating lies with Allah swt.

These finest words were infact taught and registered way before our creation and they trickle down like mountain spring and seamlessly fuse into next line with pearls of logic and wisdom. May we never keep ourselves long from uttering these words. May Allah swt make us speak what He swt would like to hear. Ameen 

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 14

Assalm o Alaikum

Juma Mubarak

Nothing is in our control. Even our own control is not in our control. This may conflict with our concept of freewill. Let's examine this. Our capacity is limited. So if we submit, the control is completely passed on to the Safest Hands(As we understand from Quran that Allah swt has hands with which he took time to make Adam AS) in the Universe. As specie, none of us has the capacity to stand any pressure (social, professional and financial), trouble (invited advertently or inadvertently), illness (physical, psychological and spiritual). But if we insist on keeping the control in our hands, we falter eventually to exhaust and perish ingloriously. And this tug of control is ongoing. As much space we give to Allah swt, space of our open enemy shrinks and vice versa. As we know, Allah swt lives in our hearts where he puffed the most beautiful thing i.e from his Rooh. Likewise, the enemy has the permission to run in our blood. It is a serious situation. We tend to take is very light. Resultantly, our enemy, plays tricks on us. His eavesdrops work like magic (the wrong type of magic). And straight talk of Allah swt makes us uncomfortable. We tent to avoid it. We avoid paying heed to it. Like a cunning salesman, Iblees sells his merchandise to us on cheap price and we get sucked into his fancy false promises. But Allah swt can't adopt the tactics of sales cadre, He swt is the King of Heavens and Earth. He swt is straight talker. He swt differentiates right from wrong for us. Gives us the choice to submit (what we think is freewill). And being the King that He swt is, also gives us freedom to try our luck, knowledge and tricks. But this course of action is surely leading to doom.

Above pretext in mind, Allah swt, while continuing story of our heroes, The Kahf Boys, tells us what distinguishes them from others i.e their sincere submission.

   

 What our heroes did, they solved the riddle of life. They must be the most intelligent of the lot who identified their Lord amid reign of polytheism. They stood witness to Oneness of The Only One. Also emphasizing that anything other than that would be excessive transgression. It boils down to the same point, if we submit, if we give control to the King of Heavens and Earth, He swt will definitely make good of us. Look at Kahf Boys, we may not know their exact names (which may be known to many, as their details including name of their dog is given below in a poster), but we still celebrate their act of sincerity today as I write these lines and you read them. 

May Allah swt give us the gift of submission like the way He swt bestowed it upon Al Kahf Boys. Ameen 

Names around circle are of our Heroes. In center, Qitmeer is Dog.