TODAY'S HADITH
"Virtue is a kind disposition and vice is what rankles in your heart and that you disapprove that people should come to know of it."
TODAY'S REFLECTION
Someone walks in and the thumb moves before we've decided anything. The message closes, the screen tilts, and our voice comes out a little too normal.
"Nothing, just looking something up."
Our heart is going a bit fast. Over what? No one has accused us of anything.
We were seven, with our hands behind our back and the biscuit already in our mouth.
We're grown now, and the biscuit has changed. It might be a message we shouldn't still be answering, or what we said about a cousin, or what we watch after everyone's asleep.
We've become very good at explaining it. Then it's two in the morning, the house is quiet, the reasons have all gone to bed, and we're still awake.
We wish someone had told us sooner that the flinch is good news.
A heart that had given up wouldn't bother. Ours still jumps, which means it still knows the way home.
A private thing can be perfectly clean, of course. Our health, our grief and what was done to us can stay private with no wrong in them at all.
Allah saw the screen every time we tilted it, and the door to Him is still open tonight.
So when the house goes quiet, there's wudu (the washing before prayer), two rak'ahs, and then we say it. The plain name of it, out loud or under our breath, to the only One we never have to perform for. We ask Him to forgive it, and we mean to leave it. No one else needs the details.
Some of us will cry. Some of us will feel very little and go to bed. Either way it's been said, and we won't be carrying it alone.
On days when we can't pray, the du'a is just as open. If it touched someone else's rights, like money we owe or what we said about a cousin, putting that right is part of the repentance too, and a local imam can help us work out how to do it kindly. If the same worry loops all day, a counsellor can help with that.
FIRST RIPPLE
Tonight after Isha, make wudu, pray two rak'ahs (on a day we can't pray, just make the du'a), tell Allah the name of the one thing, ask His forgiveness and mean to leave it.
REFLECT ON THIS
What would I hurry to hide if someone walked in right now?
QUICK QUESTION
How do you like the new look?
A DU'A FOR YOU
May Allah shower Sister Amna Sabree with His infinite mercy, forgiveness, and blessings. May He pardon her shortcomings, overlook her faults, illuminate her resting place, expand her grave, and fill it with light and peace. May Allah grant her the highest place in Jannatul Firdaus without reckoning, and reunite her with her loved ones in the gardens of Paradise. May He grant patience, strength, and comfort to her family and loved ones during this difficult time. May Allah make their hearts firm through faith and reward them abundantly for their patience. Ameen Ya Rabbal Aalameen.