I’ve had the worst luck lately!
First, my brand new iPhone 3GS was stolen right out of my sling bag at a party I attended.
Then a truck and another car hit my car while I was on my way to work. Thank Allah no one was hurt in the accident. Unfortunately for me, though the truck driver sped off without stopping. I didn’t even get a chance to take down his car number plate. I’ll have to spend approximately RM2,500 to fix my car.
When all this happened to me, I thought to myself: “Why have my luck been so bad lately?”, “Why did all this happen to me?”, “What did I do to deserve all this?”
And then it hit me!
This was all happening to me because I missed some of my prayers throughout the week. I was more preoccupied with other less important things that I took Allah for granted and didn’t thank him for all the blessings and good fortunes He has granted me with. I didn’t ask him for protection against misfortunes.
It was my own doing! I allowed myself to be distracted from the most important thing in life. Allah!
How could I have been so self-absorbed and selfish to only think of myself and not to take a little time off to thank the Big Man up there for everything that I am?!
When I performed my prayers regularly, my whole life just fell into place. I started feeling a sudden calmness in me that made me sail through my days without any difficulties or misfortunes.
I was even calm while driving! For those of you who don’t already me, I can’t stand idiots on the road. I don’t tolerate idiotic drivers who don’t have any common sense on the road. And believe me when I say this, there are way too many of them out there. It would usually make me boil and curse in anger. But thanks to my regular prayers, they didn’t bother me as much as before.
This has truly been a lesson for me. I always knew that prayer was important but never knew how essential it was until now.
I cannot help but emphasize on how important and essential it is for us to engage in our daily prayers. There are many physical, psychological and spiritual benefits of prayer. Not only does it expiate sins, it’s rewarding, purifies the soul, soothes the heart and is said to cure many diseases.
A study conducted by the University of Malaysia’s Biomedical Engineering Department concluded that postures during the prayers are beneficial to the heart, spine and the capacity of memory and attention.
Even the performance of ablution (condition for prayer) can be very beneficial to our physical health. It stimulates the biological rhythms of the body and specifically the Biological Active Spots (BASes). It also has a positive effect on the nervous and reproductive systems and can decrease high blood pressure and relieve throat and tooth pain.
Not only that, performing ablution can even prevent gum problems, skin cancer, eye infections, wrinkles and even athlete’s foot.
Amazing isn’t it the wonders of prayer!
Now that we know how beneficial prayer can be to our physical, psychological and spiritual health, what are we waiting for? Lets all thank the Big Man for showing us ways to life our lives in a morale and healthier manner. He’s given us all the resources to use to improve our lives. Let’s start using it and not abusing it! Let’s all be grateful and ask for His blessings and forgiveness.
I came across a few duas for forgiveness and I personally like them because when I recite them with an open heart and with good intentions, I feel calm and comforted by the thought that Allah has forgiven me for all my sins and that He will never forsake me even if others do. Misfortunes you face are just reminders of what you’re doing wrong in your life. I see them as signs given by Allah to guide us to the right path.
We are all sinners and we never stop sinning till the day we die. Why not ask for his forgiveness, blessings and guidance?
(Our Lord! we have indeed believed: forgive us, then, our sins, and save us from the agony of the Fire)
[surah Ali' Imran; 3:16]
(Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!)
[68:29]
(There is no God but You; Glory be to You, Truly I have been one of the wrongdoers)
[Surah al-Anbiyah, 21: 87]
(Glory be to Thee! To Thee I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe)
[surah al-A'raf, 7:143]
(O Allah! Forgive me all my sins, great and small, the first and the last, those that are apparent and those that are hidden)
[Muslim 1:350]
(O Allah! I ask You, O Allah, You are the One, the Only, Self Sufficient Master, who was not begotten and begets not and none is equal to Him. Forgive me my sins, surely you are Forgiving, Merciful.)
[Abu Dawud, an Nasa'i, ibn Majah, at Tirmidhi]
(I seek the Forgiveness of Allah and repent to Him.)
[to be reicted 100 times during the day]
[Sahih al Bukhari, Muslim 4:2075]
(Glory be to You, O Allah, and all Praise, I testify that there is no deity but You, I seek Your Forgiveness and to You do I repent.)
[3 times] [recommended for at the end of meetings, atoning for infractions during it]
[at Tabari, an Nasa'i, al Hakim]
(Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us, Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against Faith)
[surah al-Baqarah; 2:286]
(O Allah! You are my Lord! None has the right to be worshipped but You. You created me and I am Your slave, and I am faithful to my covenant and my promise as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from all the evil I have done. I acknowledge before You all the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and I confess to You all my sins. So I entreat You to forgive my sins, for nobody can forgive sins except You.)
Shaddad ibn Aws (radiAllahu anhu) relates that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that he (Sayyid al-Istighfar) most superior way of asking for forgiveness from Allah is to say (the above du'a). That "If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it, and dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise; and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the morning, he will be from the people of Paradise."
[sahih al-Bukhari; 8,75,318, at-Tirmidhi; 3393, an-Nasa'i; 5522, Ahmad; 16662]
(O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness for all my sins. I ask You to forgive me for all my wrongdoings [mazalim] against people that You have recorded, for there are many rights [huquq] and dues [mazalim] owed to Your servants that I am burdened with and for which I am hostage [murtahin]. O Allah, even if these (wrongdoings) are many they are insignificant in comparison with the magnitude of Your forgiveness. O Allah, any male or female servant of Yours who has rights upon me, in either that I have unjustly taken from him [ghasabtu] in regards to his land, possession, honor, body; whether he was absent or present; or he or his representatives demanded it from me and neither was I able to return it to him nor did I seek release of it from him. So I ask You through Your benevolence, generosity, and abundance of what You possess that You satisfy them on my behalf, and not give them a position over me that will decrease my good deeds; for You possess what You can satisfy them with on my behalf and I do not possess what to satisfy them with; and do not allow for their bad deeds to find a path over my good deeds on the Day of Judgment.) [From 'The Prayers of Forgiveness that Save from the Hellfire' by Hasan al-Basri]
