Jumu’ah Mubarak! (make a clear intention)

Jum’ah Mubarak! I hope you all had a fabulous day full of tranquility and peace. As part of today’s Friday celebrations I wanted to share the video below.  Make a pot of tea, grab a pen and a blanket, and sit down to the wonderful words of the shaykh..it’s an investment of 35 minutes that will reap beautiful fruits of smiles and reflection insha’Allah! I’ve never heard Shaykh Abdal Aziz Fredericks speak before this, but am so glad I heard this talk-he is a wonderful teacher and there are beautiful pearls of wisdom in what he says. May Allah increase him and his family in all good. In sum, the shaykh talks about his intention in coming to the lesson, the importance of making clear intentions and how that defines what you get from your actions, the intentions for learning that Imam Haddad advises, entering a marketplace and the duas that are advised to make when you are shopping,  how the way in which you dress are part of the mental framework in which you approach certain tasks, the difference between a hal and a maqam (did you know that the root of maqam is the same as iqama?) and repentence as an experience. And there is so so much more in the lesson that I didn’t even mention! Two things I really loved about this class: the way that Shaykh Abdal Aziz absolutely radiated happiness and contentment, and the way that he translated Arabic phrases. It increased my desire to learn Arabic, because I realised once again that translations into English truly convey only a shadow of the Arabic language. Please keep me in your duas as I start my first Arabic course ever in 7 days insha’Allah!

Gratitude:  a new semester/new challenges and things to learn/patterned prayer rugs/mustard seeds/libraries/useful nasihah/heaters/friendship/carrot cake/smiles from strangers/smiling shuyukh/pens that write well.