HOPE.

 

Assalamualaikum! I hope things are doing great with all of you even with all of the things that is going on right now. Today, we are going to be discussing about duas or easily known as prayers in English.

You see, for the longest time, I feel like I haven’t really been the best version of myself when we’re talking about faith. My relationship with duas was almost non-existent. They were really just a habit that had been almost ingrained in my go-to every time I prayed. It felt mechanical; it felt like something I would do because I had to. And I know that I shouldn’t find faults as to why this has happened but looking back, it was probably because I was never taught otherwise, you know. All my life as a child, I was never taught that duas should be the very core of everybody’s life. It would always be “you need to read this dua before you eat, this dua after you’ve prayed, this dua before you enter the toilet” and so on. And I have never got the chance to embrace the whole idea of these duas especially due to the fact that it’s in Arabic. As a child, I was always taught to memorise them and recite them whenever I do the things mentioned. From there, I realised that I had been apparently taking goodness from myself – by not comprehending the depths of it all.

As I grew older and relearning Islam at my own pace, I have never failed to make this one specific Dua. It was very personal and every chance I have to make this Dua, every time I was in a rut or whenever Allah SWT moved my heart to make that Dua, I would grab it and pray for it. Although admittedly some days would be more sincere than the others, and some days it would be longer and more personal, but I am always confident that He would always hear my prayers and would eventually answer my pleads. The Duas would always start with “Ya Allah, please….”, and then I found myself tearing up as I surrender to my Lord for help. It has been almost 6 years now, and while there have been a few times where I’ve seen a glimpse of hope, the thing that I’ve been hoping for has yet to happen. Of course, as a powerless human being, there were many times where I had doubts, where I would think “What’s the point of all this?” because let’s be real, we’re talking about Him, you know, God of all Creation, He wouldn’t just leave me out here point-blank, right? And it’s funny cause we would always give up the second we don’t see a purpose to it. As a human, we would always make this grave mistake of bringing Allah down to a “human” level so that we could comprehend everything better. We forget that He is the Most Supreme, the Most Divine, and there is nothing that we could actually do to comprehend all of this other than just surrendering ourselves to Him.

A few years later, as I continue to utter this very same dua, it finally dawned on me. The 15 years old me would probably never look at this the same way I would now but I finally understood why God has moved me to make the same dua time and time again and why He has not “answered” the prayers yet. It has always been there, but it took me years to see it. SubhanAllah, imagine, all these whiles of desperately asking Him to just show me a sign, it has always been there. Allah SWT wanted me to experience how it would feel like to be so close to him. Every desperate calling for an answer, every time I cry to Him, Allah just wanted me to feel the peaceful and soothing consolation of being able to totally surrender to Him. He wanted me to develop and flourish during the entire process as I learn to rely only on Him.

Surah Al-Fatihah; snippet of a page from the book published by iLuvQuran

And indeed, Allah continuously reminds us that He is the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful every day, we recite it day-in and day-out. In the first verse of Surah Al-Fatihah, He mentions that He is the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful, and again in the third verse, He reassured us that again.

Verse 1 and Verse 3 of Surah Al-Fatihah; snippet of a page from the book published by iLuvQuran

You see, even when I was on the brink of giving up and was so negative about the fate of my life, He forgives me and still provides me a lot of good in my life; I’m still alive, I’m still surrounded with the people who loves me, I’m still able to pray among other things, Alhamdulillah.

Rasulullah SAW said in a beautiful Hadith, "There is no Muslim who calls upon Allah, without sin or cutting family ties, but that Allah will give him one of three answers: He will quickly fulfil his supplication, He will store for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an evil from him similar to it." (Ahmad)

At iLuvQuran, we teach and empower children to embrace religion and understand the true depths of values and ideas they are learning in their classes. We make it our effort to ensure that your children are in a loving, sincere and motivating environment to learn about and welcome Islam into their lives. With the sincere work and love poured towards your children’s education by our teachers, your children will be powerful caliphs in the future, InshaAllah. 

We have recently launched our Online Islamic School and if you want to be a part of our adventure, feel free to join our free trial class this Saturday at 4PM with Teacher Amira!

Class: Free Trial - Quranic Discovery

Date: 10th July 2021 (Saturday)

Time: 4pm

The Online Islamic School starts on Sunday, 11th July all the way to 22nd August 2021, a total period of 6 weeks! For more inquiries, feel free to contact or WhatsApp the number +60176411786 or register at iLuvQuran!

I guess the thing that I want to address in this blog post that you should never give up on that Dua that you’ve been making since Day 1. God’s timing is as perfect as it is and it’s always reassuring. That's all the time I have for now, and until then, I hope you'll find the strength to believe in Allah and His timing, InshaAllah, things will be better. 

 

 

 

THERE’S A NEW WRITER IN TOWN

Hi there! The name’s Mira and I just turned 21 today, Alhamdulillah. Can you imagine? I am twenty-one years old now. Honestly, it felt like it was just a week ago that I attended my first religious school class, and now I am in my final year pursuing an International Business degree. I used to be THAT kid who would cry at the school’s gate because I wanted to be with my parents, and honestly, I think if we were to go back in time, I would do that time and time again, 100%.

Growing up, I would always think how life would be now, if they have made schools interesting – not interesting the way, you know, teachers will not give you homework kind of interesting, but like an experience that makes you want to learn the things that you are learning, an experience that keeps you motivated to learn more and lets you discover what it means to you. I don’t know about you guys, but my memories of my religious school were not particularly good because the first thing that pops to mind is the time where I got scolded by my teacher for the things that I couldn’t even control then and now. It was constantly demotivating to be in a place where my teachers could not accept me. I wish no such thing to happen to anybody else as it was honestly just sad to think about, even now.

With understanding parents like Umi Irah, the founder of iLuvQuran, we now have schools that optimizes on the learning-based experience; catering more to piquing an interest, nurturing motivation, and personal values to your child’s education. iLuvQuran creates a passionate environment for students to embrace by targeting four key values:

1.     Each message is taught in a loving manner where patience and acceptance are at its core.

2.    Creativity is key in catering to different personalities since everyone finds personal connections with religion in their own respects.

3.     A fun atmosphere where enjoyment can be correlated to learning.

4.     Engaging activities to retain attention and interest.

These four values are persistent within iLuvQuran's methods with the goal of nurturing critical learning where students can choose their own connection and love with the Qur'an and Islam.

If you are interested but you’re not sure if we are the right pick for you, feel free to register your kid for a free trial class with us at any day and time preferred by you! More information is on our website at iluvquran.com!

With that, I hope for a future where children can find religious learning to be a safe and secure place for them, to be personally connected with the religion and not judged upon. That’s all for my first post, and I hope to catch you again soon!