Allah’s Deen Lamp:

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

By Hina Saleem

Awakening to Recitation

I started reciting the Quran and fasting regularly from childhood. I memorized a lot of surahs, but I didn’t know the true beauty of the Quran because I didn’t understand its meaning.

Study Buddies

One of my elective subjects during my first year of college was Islamic Studies. I had to learn the Al-Baqarah and Tafseer (commentary) and their meanings. Luckily I had a good circle of friends who were sincere and hard-working. Most of the time we tried to study together— this way we also had a healthy competition.  We memorized the meanings of Al-Baqarah and thus had our first taste of Allah’s book.

It was addictive— it made us want to know the meaning of the whole Quran!

A Search for Meaning

Three friends and I also joined a morning class about the meaning of the Quran, taught by a lady named Apa Jee Abdur Rahman. We became good students of Apa Jee. She liked that we had so many questions to ask her. We took up a lot of her time, but I never felt that Apa Jee looked tired. She was always fresh.

We took so much time in our classes that other students had to wait for their classes to begin. They started asking to have their classes before us so we could take our time.

That was the best time of my life and the best investment of my time. As much as we learned, we were thirsty to know more.  I realized that Quran is not just a book but also something that connects us directly to Allah.

I felt like this lamp had lit my heart so that I could see what was hidden and become clean. When I cleaned my heart, I found my best friend— Allah:

The most sincere

        The most knowledgeable  

        The most powerful

        The most gracious 

        The most merciful

If I feel upset or disappointed, he always gives me hope or good news. If I’m confused, he guides me so well that I never get confused on that matter again.

And slowly, slowly, I started believing on my duas that nothing is impossible as long as you have a direct connection with Allah.

The Lamp That Lit My Heart

From that time I started calling the Quran “Allah’s Deen Lamp”.  When I was young I had wished for Alladin Jinnie and I felt it was so wonderful that Alladin could fullfill three wishes. Now, as an adult, I realize my Allah’s Deen Lamp can be used as many times as I want! I get whatever I want because my master is owner of all the worlds. His kingdom has no limit.

On top of that, if I ask him for something it is written as ibadah for me and I will get rewards when I die— amazing.

I heard that when a good person dies, he or she will have a good companion to entertain him or her and that that companion will be the Quran. I’m not dead yet, but from the time that I began to understand the Quran I felt that I had a most sincere friend, a friend who knows everything, including how I’m feeling.

” What Do I Need Right Now?”

Many times, I opened the Quran and received the guidance I needed or the answer to a particular situation. Even when I was in the wrong I found the answer and realized that I had made a mistake and would have to fix it.  I feel like my Allah never wants to see me worried; he finds the way to give me hope and peace, alhamdulillah.

The only thing I have to do is to hold on to this lamp.

Understand Quran

One example of an answer to my duas is that this summer I planned to start teaching the Quran with word-for-word meanings to my kids so they could know what they’re reading.

The very next day after I prayed for this we were invited to dinner with one of my friends. She introduced me to the web site: understandquran.com.

I can’t forget how I felt when I put my kids in front of the TV for the first lecture. It was just fifteen minutes, and they had their 3-D glasses on. They had fun, and their minds stayed fresh.

Happily Ever After

I feel that from the time I found Allah’s Deen Lamp I’ve been happy most of the time. I rarely feel hopeless.

May Allah help us and guide us to spread this religion the way it’s supposed to be presented. May Allah lighten our hearts with the light of his beautiful Quran so that we will live happily ever after.

AMEEN

Reference:

understandquran

Sami Yusuf - Make Me Strong:

I know I’m waiting
Waiting for something
Something to happen to me
But this waiting comes with
Trials and challenges
Nothing in life is free

I wish that somehow
You’d tell me out aloud
That on that day I’ll be ok
But we’ll never know cause
That’s not the way it works
Help me find my way

My Lord show me right from wrong
Give me light make me strong
I know the road is long
Make me strong

Sometimes it just gets too much
I feel that I’ve lost touch
I know the road is long
Make me strong

I know I’m waiting
Yearning for something
Something known only to me
This waiting comes with
Trials and challenges
Life is one mystery
I wish that somehow
You’d tell me out aloud
That on that day you’ll forgive me
But we’ll never know cause
That’s not the way it works
I beg for your mercy

My Lord show me right from wrong
Give me light make me strong
I know the road is long
Make me strong

Sometimes it just gets too much
I feel that I’ve lost touch
I know the road is long
Make me strong

Sami Yusuf - Healing:

[Verse1:]
It’s so hard to explain
قد يصعب عليّ أن أعبر

What I’m feeling
عمّا يختلج في قلبي

But I guess it’s ok
لكن اعتقادي

Cause I’ll keep believing
ينبع من إيماني

There’s something deep inside
هناك شيء في الأعماق

Something that’s calling
ينادي

It’s calling you and I
يناديني ويناديك

It’s taking us up high
يرتقي بنا إلى الأعلى

[Chorus:]
Healing, a simple act of kindness brings such meaning
الشفاء … قد يتجسّد في عمل بسيط لطيف

A smile can change a life let’s start believing
بسمة قد تغير حياة الإنسان

And feeling, let’s start healing
فلنبدأ بعمل يكون فيه شفاء

[Verse 2:]
Heal and you will be healed
شفاء بشفاء .. ومع كل شفاء شفاء

Break every border
اكسر القيود والحدود

Give and you will receive
اعط تُعطى .. فالعطاء يوجب عطاء

It’s Nature’s order
نظام كوني رباني

There is a hidden force
هناك قوى خفية

Pulling us closer
تجذب بعضنا لبعض

It’s pulling you and I
تجذبني أنا وأنت

It’s pulling us up high
تجذبنا للأعلى

[Chorus:]
Healing, a simple act of kindness brings such meaning
الشفاء … قد يتجسّد في عمل بسيط لطيف

A Smile can change a life let’s start believing
بسمة قد تغير حياة الإنسان

And feeling, let’s start healing
فلنبدأ بعمل يكون فيه شفاء

[Middle 8:]
Hearts in the hand of another heart and in God’s hand are all hearts
قلب بين يدي قلب و بيد الله كل قلب

An eye takes care of another eye and from God’s eye nothing hides
عين ترعى عينا .. وعين الله ترعى، و لا شيء عنه يخفى

Seek only to give and you’ll receive
إسع نحوالعطاء… و ستلقى و تعطى

So, heal and you will be healed
إشف.. و سوف تشفى

[Outro (X2):]
قلب بين يدي قلب و بيد الله كل قلب

عين ترعى عينا، وعين الله ترعى

كلمة طيبة صدقة

تبسمك لأخيك صدقه

كل معروف صدقة

اللهم اشف شفاءً لا يغادر سقماً

Sami Yusuf - Forgotten Promises:

Tonight the world will sleep
But hunger will not wait 
For promises we made 
We share one soul 
We share one land 
We have one time to understand

We are one humankind 
Brothers side by side
We'll have no regret
We will not forget
We are one humankind
Sisters side by side
We'll have no regret
We will not forget

[Arabic]
Samihna ya allah
Forgive us o lord

Wa irrhamna ya rabbah
Have mercy on us o lord

Wa imnah rizqaka lil-afwah
Give your bounty to the mouths

Wa abi'd anha kul al-aah
And keep away from them all the moans and groans

Our words must count
Hunger will not wait 
For promises we made
We share one soul 
We share one land 
We have one time to understand

We are one humankind 
Brothers side by side
We'll have no regret
We will not forget
We are one humankind
Sisters side by side
We'll have no regret
We will not forget

[Arabic]
Samihna ya allah
Forgive us o lord

Wa irrhamna ya rabbah
Have mercy on us o lord

Wa imnah rizqaka lil-afwah
Give your bounty to the mouths

Wa abi'd anha kul al-aah
And keep away from them all the moans and groans

Our words must count
Hunger will not wait
For promises we made

Sami Yusuf - You Came To Me:

 You came to me in that hour of need

When I was so lost, so lonely

You came to me took my breath away

Showed me the right way, the way to lead

You filled my heart with love

Showed me the light above

Now all I want Is to be with you

You are my one true love

Taught me to never judge

Now all I want Is to be with you

Chorus (x2): ALLAHUMA! Sal 'ala Sayideena Mustafa

'Alaa Habeebika Nabieeka Mustafa

(O God! Send Your Blessings upon our leader, the chosen one (Muhammad (peace upon him))

Upon Your Beloved, Your Prophet, the chosen one)

You came to me in a time of despair

I called on you, you were there

Without You what would my life mean?

To not know the unseen, the worlds between

For you I'd sacrifice

For you I'd give my life

Anything, just to be with you

I feel so lost at times

By all the hurt and lies

Now all I want Is to be with you

Chorus (x2)

Showed right from wrong

Taught me to be strong

Need you more than ever

Ya Rasul ALLAH (O Messenger of God (Muhammad (peace be upon him))

You came to me

In that hour of need

Need you more than ever

Ya Rasul ALLAH

You filled my heart with love

Showed me the light above

Now all I want is to be with you

You are my one true love

Taught me to never judge

Now all I want Is to be with you

Chorus (currently X2)

How to Prepare for an Exam:

1. The very first thing to address is when to begin. You must start the process with at least a full night’s sleep between you and the exam. Your brain needs time to subconsciously digest everything you've put into it, so you cannot try to cram it all in an hour or two before the exam. The best time to start the process is between the morning and early afternoon of the day before your exam, a good 24-36 hours prior to the start of the test.

2. Now read through the entirety of your notes that will be on the exam. If it’s two pages or twenty pages, this is important. It will refresh you on the subject matter and help you remember what you learned. It will also help to make you aware of all the little bits of information and where they are located within your notes so that you know where to find them when you begin to organize the information.

3.Once you have a sense of where everything fits together, you are going to want to start thinking about how you can group all the information into relevant sections. You will also want to think about how you want to group them, be it based on a specific theme, chronology or by concept.

4.When you have identified the major themes, now is the time that you can use Wikipedia or other online sources to fill in the gaps of information that either you missed or which wasn't explained clearly. You can now use the theme that you discovered to guide your research and help you determine what information is relevant to the test.

5.By now you should have all the information that you will need to study written out and divided by topic onto separate pieces of paper. This is the point at which you can begin creating a narrative from the information and indexing it in a way that it can be easily remembered on the day of the exam.

6.The method if indexing information can be thought of like creating an information tree. Write the major themes of the exam you came up with onto separate piece of paper. Those are the first branches of the tree. Underneath the themes (which you just determined) are sub-themes, which are the more refined groupings of information within each theme. Below the sub-themes write the topics.

7.As you start memorizing, concentrate on one major theme at a time until you know it well. Once you have the theme and all the information below it pretty well memorized, you can move on to the next one until you have committed to memory everything you need to know for the exam.

8.For the first major theme, start at the top and just read through the tree. After you have refreshed yourself with a general understanding of the information, focus on learning "phrases" for each topic that will help you recall what that information was about.

9.After you feel confident that you know every theme, put down your studying and take a break from the subject. The idea is not to try to cram everything at once into your short-term memory. You want to give your brain time to subconsciously internalize all the information you shoveled at it. For this reason it’s important to start the process at least the day before the exam.

10.On the day of the exam, set your alarm at least two hours before the test. An hour and a half before the exam, start running through all the themes and sub-topics in your head. Like always, check your notes if you get stuck. This is when it’s time to cram—try as hard as you can to commit all the tiny details to short-term memory. You’ll want to try to memorize everything you've prepared, but! 15 minutes before the exam, stop! In the last few minutes you should not be thinking about the exam at all. Relax and take a few deep breaths, if you followed the steps above everything should be fine!

And the Answer is . . . ‪Al-'Atheem‬!

And the Answer is . . . ‪Al-'Atheem‬!