Kaynat Sarwar

"comparison is the theif of joy" "never compare with each other" "never compare two kids progress with each other"

These are great mottos to live by. Yet i can keep repeating them to myself with little real effect. It still hits me. When I see other kids my kids age or younger than her doing things she is not able to. The grief hits, but its nothing compared to the guilt of perhaps not having done enough.

Then I recite, لَا ٱلشَّمْسُ يَنۢبَغِى لَهَآ أَن تُدْرِكَ ٱلْقَمَرَ وَلَا ٱلَّيْلُ سَابِقُ ٱلنَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِى فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ٤٠ and the effect is immediate. I recite إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ ٤ and the healing sets in.

Everyone has their own path, their own set of strugg

I was reflecting upon this ayah, and the value Allah places upon qualities like sabr and compassion. These are considered people who are ultimately successful. I was also reflecting on how different people around me talk about intellect and being intelligent and how Allah talks about it. Its almost laughable how opposite the two are. People talk of intelligent as the one with a greater IQ, a genius, a kid scoring high marks in school, and eventually landing a good job. Intelligence is always directly proportional to potential to earn more money. While Allah describes a person of true intellect in these two surahs and overall in the Quran as being one who indulges in the world fully, but know

In another world, not an alternate reality but the actual reality. The ones with grit, stamina, determination, the ones that keep going despite it all, are the ones congratulated. The ones without the shiny accolades. They keep going even if they are dragging themselves barely. Often it is the ones who think the least of themselves. Sabr to keep going, sabr for restraint, whatever wisdom dictates.

This ayah has such a beautiful adab that Allah teaches us. The believers were instructed not to say 'ra'ina' but to say 'unzurna' instead. When the people would listen to Rasool SAW when he spoke, some at the back who could not hear would say 'Ra'ina', which meant 'could you extend us some courtesy'. Instead Allah told them to say clearly, 'wait for us'. Such a subtle point, but so profound. At first glance you might think what is the difference? In fact the first way sound more grand and shows exaggerated politeness doesnt it? Allah was telling them, and us, to not use ambiguous words which have multiple meanings and could be misused to insult in a very sly and subtle way. Saying 'p

Todays reminder from surah kahf. One very important lesson of surah kahf, especially from the first story of the people of the cave, is that we accept no supreme authority other than Allah and we have no ilah other than Him. We turn to no one else for help, no one can harm us or benefit us, except what He has Willed. My topic is for people who find themselves in a position where other people try to unjustly control/abuse them. Our merit can never be equal to the people of the cave, neither are our trials as big as theirs, but we can all learn something. Typically, people who try try to control you have a mindset they apply on you and it works. They think it is them who have fed us, nur

I have read this ayah multiple times but today it hit me differently. I think one of the reasons why we are able to have multiple reflections on the same ayah, and are able to see it from multiple unique perspectives, is that when we are going through a specific situation in our life, it colors our view of that ayah in a unique way, and I think that is a beautiful miracle of the Quran. What I see in this ayah today is how Allah honored the human being, by giving him dignity and authority. One of the most painful things in this world is when we are stripped of dignity by people. Being mocked, belittled, shamed, not taken seriously, being invalidated is something that hurts in indescriba

My reflection is a tangent from the ayah perhaps but it is inspired by it. Musa AS and Khidr AS had different world views and different oceans of knowledge, At one point they parted ways. From this we get an adab of gaining knowledge and having opinions and disagreements. Rasool Allah SAW told us, 'Actions are but by intention' Al a’maalu bi niyyah. ANY amal in the world, it has that one important thing that is needed to validate it, which NO human can see, that is intention. Is it possible that I have one opinion and another person has the complete opposite opinion. I think this is the way to success in dunya and aakhirah according to my studies and knowledge from Allah. And the othe

What will make one successful in the eyes of Allah according to surah kahf? One branch of people say we will live in the cities, mix with the general people and give dawah of the quran. We are on the right way, everyone should do this. One branch of people say, study eschatology and world events, see the reality of the world, leave the cities, like the people of the kahf, that is the only way to success, the rest are all failures and losers in the eyes of Allah. Some say this some say that. All say we are on the right way, the rest are all wrong in what they do, they are all misguided and blind. What does Allah say? What is the mark of a successful believer? Is it one who does dawah

Lesson from surah kahf In the story of the two garderners, note that the terms shirk (association with Allah) and kufr (denial/disbeleif) are used for the rich gardener. In the end of the story when his garden is destroyed he says, 'I wish I had not associated with my Master!' Also, his friend says, 'do you disbeleive in the one who created you?' In the whole story do you find him worshipping other than Allah? Do you find him praying to someone else? Do you find some idol he bows down to? Then what was the shirk and kufr? This is a warning of the biggest and most common shirk of the end of times. No longer do people bow down to the stars or other idols and gods. The idol of today

A point of reflection from this story is that often we start a task with the right intention, with the correct purpose, in obedience to Allah. We are very passionate and determined to complete it. Our intention starts of as doing whatever we are doing for the sake of Allah with complete ikhlaas. But as time goes by, we lose ourselves in the mission so much that we forget the true purpose, it gets lost. We do not do this intentionally but it happens. I often feel this happens with me. I got married for the right reasons, I had a child for the right reasons, or I built my career for the right reasons. The reasons were noble, they were to seek the pleasure and rewards from Allah. But where

On the importance of knowledge, being a student and teacher. 'And [mention] when Musa said to his young boy, 'I will not cease [traveling] until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long period.' Surah Kahf ayah 60. Something to note from this ayah is that personal mentoring of young people especially, is a prophetic legacy. Musa AS went on a quest for knowledge, and he took a youth with him along, so that he too could learn from his experience. We are accustomed to a different kind of education nowadays, where you attend a classroom in person or virtual, to gain knowledge as a consumer. But a much more effective kind of education is when you follow around someone who

I have a simple query. To me it is very simple and obvious. It perplexes me. 'He shares His command/legislation/sovereignty with no one' This is repeated so many times in the Quran in different words. Authority is His. Supreme sovereignty is His. In simple words it is Him who is the ultimate authority above all other authorities. He decides alone what is legal, not legal, what is haram and what is halal. Anyone who competes with that, anyone who claims themselves as an authority above His, who makes halal what is haram, and haram what He made halal, is committing a grave shirk. Isnt this the most obvious and highest ruling of islam? Then my question is, why isnt this practiced

Todays reminder from surah kahf. Surah kahf and its internal message is a protection from the fitnah of the one eyed dajjal. Of one of the meanings of 'one eyedness' of dajjal and his system is as follows: It is something which was termed as 'worship of means' by the late Dr Israr Ahmed. In simple words it means that we get too obsessed with the 'means' of obtaining something and forget the One who is in control of that means. When we only see from the external eye, when we only believe in what the human eye can see, in scientific principles and logic. When we get too obsessed with this and ignore the 'unseen' or 'ghaib' we are seeing with one eye, which is the ultimate fitnah of dajjal.

In todays day and age, the meaning of the word 'worship' is not clear. We proclaim ourselves to be muslims, and feel secure that we are not involved in shirk which will not be forgiven. We imagine worship to mean believing in 'one god' and that's it. And in our extremely limited view we imagine 'shirk' to mean perhaps asking another being for help, or bowing down to a stone. Worship means obedience. Worship means obedience. Worship means obedience. Read that again and again. Whoever, whatever you obey above anyone else, is your ilah. Whether it is a person, ideology, thing, concept, it doesnt matter. Whatever is your highest priority in life is your ilah. It could even be your own des

A recurring point in the Quran is that it tells us not to take awliya other than Allah. Anything we take as awliya other than Allah are shayateen and his followers, who can be from jinn or humans. Whoever you follow/ obey, you are taking them as your wali (protective friend, guardian) Why do we follow/obey anyone? Why do we follow a person? Why do we try to please people? We either fear them as we should fear Allah, we feel they have authority over us. Or we love them, as we should only love Allah. This is why we obsess over this thing/person/idea that we follow and obey. It consumes our mind, we spend our energy time efforts after it. The root reason is that we feel this idea/pers

'On that day, people will move on from the temporary life of dunya, in separate groups, so that they may be shown their deeds' The word يَصْدُرُ has the meaning, not just of any moving, or proceeding, but moving on from a water shed. Like when you are travelling in a desert for a long time, you find a source of water, you replenish yourself, fulfil your needs and thirst, use the water for energy, and then you proceed and move on. This is how the nature of dunya is, we used to exist long before we came into this world, it is like dunya was a water shed, we came here temporarily, we used the dunya to accumulate our deeds, then we died and on the day of Judgement, we will 'proceed' as said

Rush towards forgiveness from your Master, and rush towards Jannah prepared for the people of taqwa. And who are these people? The ones who spend in ease and in difficulty. What do they spend? It is not specified. Which leaves it open ended. Spend from whatever Allah has given you. Spend your money, time, effort, energy, youth, talents, manpower, mental power. Spend love even. Spend in ease and in difficulty. Spend when you have a lot, spend when you have less. Spend when you see results, spend when you don't see results. Spend where you are appreciated, spend where you are not appreciated. Some of you might find it easy to spend on your mother, because she was always good to you,

I have perhaps a silly reflection to make on this ayah, but it is something that crossed my mind while studying it, and it made me happy. The phrase وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ وَٱلْأَرْضُ describes Jannah's size. Its width is like the width of the skies and the earth. We all know that the width is always shorter than the length. So the width is as much as all of the earth, with all its countries, continents, seas, mountain ranges, combined with all of our earths atmosphere, and outer space, and other planets, and all of the universe as we know it. That is how expansive Jannah will be. I was thinking of how much I enjoy travelling in the world, and how exhilarating it is to

If you observe the principle elements of nature, everything in it seems to have two common qualities. One is, if controlled and given to us in the perfect measured doses, it is beneficial to us, so much so that life without it is impossible. And the other is if let go and left wild and untamed they can destroy us violently. The earth itself, where we live, can destroy us with earthquakes or volcanoes. The sun, which gives us daylight, energy, but if too close can burn us. Water, the main element of life, can destroy cities with floods and tsunamis. Winds can offer pleasant breezes, enable pollination and much more, but can destroy us with hurricanes and tornadoes. Fire can provi

'He is the One who made for you the earth humbled/subdued/He tamed it down....' This ayah, as well as several others in the Quran tell us that the default state of the earth was like that of a roaring beast almost. The earth was wild, full of earthquakes and volcanoes and other uninhabitable conditions. We take it for granted that we can just go outside our houses for a stroll and not be thrown about. We take it for granted that the suns ferocious rays do not burn us. We take it for granted that a huge meteor doesn't fall on us and destroy us. We take for granted the several layers of atmosphere that protect us. We take for granted the oxygen present in the atmosphere that lets us breat