Bismillah.

7th January 2024 / 25th Jumada II 1445 AH

As salaam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu !

I hope you have been keeping well. Alhamdulilah for the gift of being able to write to you today. 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

Two weeks ago, I attended the RIS convention and over the course of three days I had the privilege of listening to speakers who left me yearning to do more for my Rabb on behalf of myself. Although I was spent after the whole conference, I felt Revived! Not only did I feel revitalised, but I also felt hopeful. This in turn solidified my belief on the importance of reminders.

You see, in the three months prior to the conference, I had been in a slump generally but more importantly spiritually. I had been struggling to do extras and my basics although covered were the basic-est of the basics. 😭😭😭

Yet, I say Alhamdulilah kulli haal.

, I don’t know if you can relate to my situation. Perhaps you are in the same situation currently or my words take you back to a time in the not-so-distant past. Whichever camp you fall into, I am writing to you today to tell you that:

Reminder are there for you and me to revive and awaken us. I appeal to you that you hold on to them tightly, desperately, unashamedly!

Without them, it gets easy for Shaytan to infiltrate your mind, thoughts, and actions.

A major worry we have as humans is that we feel like we must ALWAYS be on a spiritual high. This is not a bad thing per se, because as a believer you should indeed have good and high expectations of yourself. Though, it is almost impossible to always be in a state of high Iman as alluded to in this saying:

Abu Ja’far reported: ‘Umayr ibn Habib, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Faith increases and decreases.” It was said, “How does it increase and decrease?” ‘Umayr said, “If we remember our Lord and fear him, it will increase. If we are heedless and we forget and we waste our time, it will decrease.”

Source: Shu’ab al-Imān 55

I am sure many of us fall for the three culprits mentioned above. 😒

What we need to do is; understand the fact of fluctuating Iman and use it to our advantage. We must manage our expectations and use reminders to repeatedly jolt us to reach for a higher level of spirituality. 

While in a state of lower Iman, the role of reminders is to help us hold on to the rope of Allah, avoid major sins while concurrently encouraging us to be better.

, your reminders may come in form of:

1. reciting the Quran and contemplating on its words daily

2.   listening to that lecture or tafsir by your favours Ustadh(a)

3.   dhikr and dua

4.   that one friend that never hesitates to tell you the truth however bitter it might be

5.   really SEEING and contemplating the signs of Allah in his creation and nature

6.   reflection

7.   experiencing positivity and negativity in our daily life

8.   professing gratitude for your blessings

9.   exuding patience in times of difficulty

10. the ultimate evidence of reality - DEATH  

As you can already tell, this is not an exhaustive list. Feel free to think of things and experiences that remind you of Allah SWT and your purpose on earth. Whatever it is {they are} for you though, please hold on tight!

As I round off this letter to you dearest . I want you to remember this:

The best honour you can give a reminder is to allow it to spur you to action.

All my best,

Sekinat

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p.s: don’t relent on praying and donating if you can to our brothers/sisters in Palestine and all over the world experiencing oppression.

May Allah keep us safe and enveloped in his overwhelming mercy. Ameen!