Bearers of the Throne of Allah as Your Witnesses…

We supplicate to Allah, calling Him out with the most beautiful names that He has, asking Him to make things easier for us, to relieve our problems, to ease our hardship, to protect us against the evil traps of the satan.

Part of the etiquettes of making dua is to praise Allah, and thank Him for all the blessings He has bestowed upon each and every one of us. Often, as part of the dua, we acknowledge and bear witness that Allah is the only One God, worthy of all worship, and even recite the shahada in Arabic and in our cultural languages.

What’s amazing is the dua that the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to make to Allah.

Not only would he bear witness that Allah is One, but he would make the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, Himself, a witness for the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)!

Listen to this, my dear brothers and sisters:

“O Allah, I have entered a new morning and call upon You and upon the bearers of Your Throne, upon Your angels and all creation to bear witness that surely You are Allah, there is none worthy of worship but You alone, You have no partners, and that Muhammad is Your slave and Your Messenger.”

(Hisnul Muslim. Reported by Al-Bukhari in Al-’Adab Al-Mufrad, An-Nasa’i in Amalul-Yawm wal-Laylah and Ibn As-Sunni. Nasa’i’s and Abu Dawud’s chains of transmissions are good (hasan), Ibn Baz, p.23)

Can you imagine that? You are making the King of the Kings, the Owner and Sustainer of all beings, the Ever-Lasting One, as your personal witness! You are making Allah, the one who created you, to bear witness that He created you and you will not worship anyone besides Him. It’s almost as if by making the One you are supplicating to, a Witness, to the supplication itself.

As if that is not astonishing by itself, prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in the same dua, used to make angels bear witness for him as well. And these angels are not just any angels that Allah has created, but rather these great angels are the ones responsible for bearing the Throne of Allah. SubhanAllah!

“From Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: ‘I have been given permission to speak about one of the angels of Allah who carry the Throne. The distance between his ear-lobes and his shoulders is equivalent to a seven-hundred-year journey.’” [Abu Dawood].

Can you even imagine this? Surely, this is beyond our comprehension. An angel, a creation of Allah that has such magnificent shoulders is being a witness for you in front of Allah. How fantastic is that?!

“Those (angels) who bear the Throne (of Allah) and those around it glorify the praises of their Lord, and believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah) (saying): ‘Our Lord! You comprehend all things in mercy and knowledge, so forgive those who repent and follow Your way, and save them from the torment of the blazing Fire!’” [40:7]

Truths your married friends won’t tell you…

Dear single Muslimah,

I am going to tell you some honest truths today. The truths your married friends won’t tell you. They will share every little detail about their lives with you but not this. And they shouldn’t either. A good Muslimah should guard the secrets of her marital home and not disclose information about her family life and the relationship with her spouse. Hence, your friends won’t tell you about this. Which is alright for them, but it sucks for you.

You enter the beautiful world of marriage without knowing the reality.

You think you know what your married life will be like. You have seen it in the media, you have fantasised about it since you were a little girl, and have briefly glimpsed into other wives’ lives from the outside. You are searching for a pious, religious, and practising brother, and you think that by marrying someone whose’s deen is sorted, you will be sorted for life. Because that’s what the sheikh said at the fiqh of marriage seminar, and some scholar posted on his facebook page. So you believe it. You believe that if a brother is perfect with his salaah and goes to the masjid everyday, attends Islamic seminars regularly, has long beard that puts Santa to shame, you are sorted. He even applied to study at Madina university so he must be really good. He will be your leader in the deen, he will remind you about Allah, he will encourage you to become a better Muslimah and you don’t have to do much except follow him. You believe that marrying a practising brother is the ultimate success when it comes to your deen. And Jannah will be a piece of cake.

Let me present to you a different side.