{"id":3885,"date":"2012-11-28T11:54:01","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T03:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muzlimbuzz.sg\/?p=3885"},"modified":"2012-11-28T11:56:43","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T03:56:43","slug":"99-names-series-ar-rashid-director-to-the-right-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/99-names-series-ar-rashid-director-to-the-right-path\/","title":{"rendered":"99 Names Series: Ar-Rashid (Director to the Right Path)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Muzlimbuzz has a series called \u201cThe 99 Names of Allah\u201d where writers & readers reflect on one Name from the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah and talk about why that particular Name is significant to them, or how they have seen that Name manifest in their lives. If you would like to submit your writing for this series, please send it to ameera@muzlimbuzz.sg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[divider]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the longest time I\u2019ve felt an emptiness inside of me. An emptiness I tried to fill but no matter what I did then, I didn\u2019t feel satisfied. My achievements felt hollow. There was just something missing and it frustrated me.<\/p>\n

Why was I feeling this?
\nWhat was I missing?<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until the sudden passing of my late aunt that I started on my journey to find that \u201csomething\u201d. The realization that death could come to anyone and at any time scared me.
\n <\/em><\/p>\n

What if my turn came just as suddenly?
\nWhat preparations have I made?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I had NOTHING. Zilch; zero; nada. The only times I performed Salah <\/em>were on Eid and Fridays(Jumu\u2019ah<\/em>). Even then it wasn\u2019t for Him. I only did it because it was the norm. The Quran was just a book in a foreign language I didn\u2019t bother to read let alone understand. How could I realistically hope for a good outcome when I knew I hadn\u2019t done anything to deserve it?<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t ready to leave my lifestyle for something different. I thought I had a good thing going for me. Why would I want to leave all that for the unknown? On and off I felt a \u201ctugging\u201d within the recesses of myself.\u00a0 As my fear of death and what lies beyond it grew, so too did this \u201ctugging\u201d.<\/p>\n

One night, I felt like I was really going to die. Like if I were to go to sleep that night, I wouldn\u2019t wake up the next day. The \u201ctugging\u201d became too strong for me to ignore any longer. I thought to myself: \u00a0If tonight really is my last night here, the very least I could do was to perform one last Salah. Maybe, just maybe He\u2019d forgive me. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>I made my way to the toilet and proceeded to take my wudhu<\/em>. My hands trembled as I washed the different parts of my body. Each step I took back to my room felt heavy. As I laid out the sajjadah<\/em>, the thought of death still weighed heavily on my mind. I steeled myself for my \u201clast\u201d Salah Isha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

During the last sujud<\/em> in the final raka\u2019ah, <\/em>I cried; I cried more than the time I watched Mufasa getting run over by a stampede in \u201cThe Lion King\u201d and Littlefoot\u2019s mother\u2019s last words to him in \u201cThe Land Before Time\u201d combined. It lasted for about 2-3 minutes but it felt like an hour to me at the time. I thought about all the time I\u2019ve wasted and my own heedlessness. The regret translated into tears that wet the sajjadah.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the salam<\/em> and du\u2019a<\/em>s asking for His forgiveness, I just sat there and I realized that restlessness and the \u201ctugging\u201d was gone. I felt at peace with myself as if a burden was lifted from me and I knew that this was what I was supposed to do: To turn to Him.<\/p>\n

I went to sleep and woke up the next morning for Fajr<\/em> with a different view of this life. I was thankful to still be able to draw breath; that I still had an opportunity to fix my relationship with Allah SWT but to do that, I had to make changes but one question still remained.<\/p>\n

Where do I start?<\/em><\/p>\n

I wanted to get closer to Allah but I didn\u2019t know how to go about doing it. More than anything, I was embarrassed to ask. The company I kept at the time wasn\u2019t exactly the kind of people that could help. I began to feel distant from them. What I used to enjoy doing with them hurt me inside because I knew it was wrong Islamically and because of that, we had a falling out. Then I was lost and alone.<\/p>\n

Alhamdulillah,<\/em> that separation allowed me to meet with people who could remind me of Allah SWT and gave me motivation to strive to be a better Muslim. After putting aside my own apprehension and at the encouragement of these new peers, I joined a class to learn how to read the Quran. Since then, it\u2019s been a continuous journey from class to class, lecture to lecture in an effort to learn and improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Allah invites to the Home of Peace and guides whom He wills to a straight path\u201d \u2013 Surah Yunus, Verse 25<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I began to see that I wasn\u2019t alone. I got to know of a few actors\/actresses and singers that had gone through a similar struggle through video interviews or news articles. Even within my own social circle I was seeing it. Some of my female friends were starting to wear the hijab<\/em> and some of the males were frequenting the Masjid<\/em>s more often to seek knowledge.<\/p>\n

There were even some pleasant surprises: Muslim friends who used to be alcoholics or had body art were returning to the deen<\/em>. These were people who were openly defiant of Islam; of Allah, when I had met them earlier in my life. Now they were struggling but determined to strive in the way of Allah SWT because they know first-hand what it was like when they lived their lives without Him.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m reminded time and time again through instances such as these of Allah’s Name, Ar-Rashid, that He guides whomever He wishes and that there is wisdom behind those that he has chosen even right down to the timing.<\/p>\n

[divider]<\/p>\n

Fadhuli Taufek<\/strong>
\nFadhuli is an aspiring writer and believes in putting in the time and effort into meaningful causes. He strives to improve himself as a person and as a Muslim<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muzlimbuzz has a series called \u201cThe 99 Names of Allah\u201d where writers & readers reflect on one Name from the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah and talk about why that particular Name is significant to them, or how they have seen that Name manifest in their lives. If you would like to submit your writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[1871,2133,2131,10,2132],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritualreligious","tag-99-names-of-allah","tag-allahs-attributes","tag-ar-rashid","tag-featured","tag-reflection-on-allahs-names"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3885"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3888,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions\/3888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}