Decide!

Everyone wants a good life. And some badly wants to return to the right path, near to her Creator. Well done sister! :) But...

somehow this might once came across your mind : HESITATION. This arrives involving whether wanting to left off all of your normal doings and start to indulge in good-but-I-am-not-used-to-them doings. 

Source of hesitation :  shaytan..

He'll delay you each and every time your heart tells you that that one thing is certainly right.

It's his job by the way, we have to first be clear on that..

"O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy."

(Al-Baqarah : 208)

*take note! according to dictionary.com, avowed means acknowledged, declared!! 

A dear friend asked me on how to istiqamah in doing good. To be frank, me myself is struggling to istiqamah. But trust me, struggling for something good is surely worth struggling for. Remember what Allah says in surah Al-Zalzalah? :). Just keep on moving no matter how big or small it is. no matter what. 

The issue of istiqamah reminds me of a mass lecture I attended for my study circle here in IIUM..

Istiqamah literally means go straight to the right direction. When you enter the system, (as a Muslim, Islam system that is), you have to follow the rules. 

Next, istiqamah also means acting rightly and allowing no deviation. 

You cannot follow half of the deen and leave half of it away. It is whether you are good or bad. No neutrality or doing both at the same time. It's impossible!

Well, technically, istiqamah means taking the right path, right religion, free from deviation. And include inner and outer acts of obedience.

When someone says, "I am not able to istiqamah in my good doings"

In my opinion, the root to the problem is because we are mixing different things at one time. Mixing things up will only get things messed up. So, please choose one. :)

When we're trying to istiqamah, try to stick to good things no matter what, even in small scales. Be it in the form of talking, giving salam to others or even a smile.. ^__^

And friends do play an important part. What you do in your daily life also gives an impact. Be sure of what you are into on a daily basis. If you're busy, recount back the things that made you busy, is it for the sake of Allah? Because even though it's tiring and exhausting, but you're doing it for the sake of Islam, you won't be nagging about the exhaustion due to the sweetness of doing it. :)

Some other suggestions would be:

• Never-ending struggle/mujahadah
• fill in the gaps of jahiliyyah/wrongdoings with the good ones. for example, if you're used to filling your free time with net-surfing aimlessly and reading useless infos, alternate to surfing websites that can give you more info on Islam. I suggest suhaibwebb.com, igotitcovered.org, onislam.net. In malay language, saifulislam.com and langitilahi.com.
• Pray to Allah, may He provide you with the strength to go through your newly found journey.. :)
• Join halaqahs, study circles. Personally, to me, there are some things that are not taught in our daily academic lectures that we attend. So, halaqahs and study circles is one of the place to generate your iman and to build up a holistic way of thinking. I'm not saying that attending lectures does not generate your iman but... there should be a separate post on this. hehe. coming up insyaAllah

My advice : KEEP ON MOVING SISTA!! ^_^

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala does not expect us to take life-altering steps suddenly, but we do need to start with baby steps; and once we do that, we should put our entire Tawakkul (trust) in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala . Then for sure He will help us, from ways we may never even have imagined!(article entitled adorn knowledge with action from igotitcovered.org)