The Alarm Clock

I have found out something. Whether it is 15 minutes or 4 hours befor fajr I can now sleep with my mind totally calm because I have found the answer to my prayers. I must put my alarm clock at 15 minutes before the prayer and then exactly the same time the prayer begins and one hour after the prayer has begun.

Now I (most of the times) wake up either the first time it rings or at the second call of my alarmclock. That is the best present I have had ever. I feel much better now. Alhamdolillah. 

Salat al-Fajr and Food

I have talked about it before but it is good to repeat it again. Food is essential to sleep, work and prayer. There is food that can improve your sleep, work and prayer and there is food that does not. Sugar is one thing. Sugar is a threat not only to our health but also our sleep and prayer. How we live affects how well we sleep. 


Changing habits that have become part of a busy lifestyle is difficult. We may not even be aware that the foods we are eating are keeping us awake at night. By adjusting what and when we eat it is possible to improve sleep and feel more alert during the day, without the extra coffee! 


The main sleep stoppers are caffeine, alcohol and sugar. These need to be regulated during the day and restricted during the hours before bedtime.


I usually do not drink coffee and I never drink alcohol, but I still eat sweet food like putting sugar in cakes, the chocolatemilk and I really like fruit. 


Anxiety is one of the main causes of insomnia. So worrying about what I have eaten while I am about to sleep is not good. But I do not do that anymore. Now it is anxiety about salat al-fajr that keeps me awake, and the thought about jannah and gehennem. 


The video is about sugar, fructos and glucos, and the dangerous effects it causes. 

But in the Qur'an we can learn what to eat (the best food is that of paradise):

Yusuf Estes talks about the food chain. 

And do not waste food. 

And at last, but not least, one controversial video about "Dajjal's" food. May Allah protect us from him by reciting surat al-Kahf. 

3rd and 4th day of salat al-fajr

I tried not to eat sweet food and I tried to sleep early. Neither worked well. So I stayed up until 3.15 and prayed salat-al fajr, even though I am sick. I cough very much because of a cold or something and I have allergy so I sneeze all the time. My eye hurts and is very red. But I have prayed all my prayers at time. Alhamdolillah. I only sleep for 4-7 hours per night, and I felt tired yesterday. Today it is better. I do not take any medications except a mix of oliveoil and squeezed lemon before I sleep and also when I wake up. I feel better today and have also cleaned all the house while coughing. I feel much better.

The positive thing to wake up in the morning is that you do not feel like a total hypocrite. I felt much more when I prayed, and I could even cry a little bit, which is positive for me. I want to repent, but my sins keep hindering me. I have to stop that.

I also encourage my self to learn more surahs from the Qur'an together with my children to increase my iman. It is really good, but I have only learned one verse so far, because I am not sure about the other verser of surah al-fajr. In total I now know six verses from salat al-fajr by heart.

You can read more about it in my other blog.

How do you start your morning?

How do you start your morning?

Do you get up early in the morning before sunrise or do you sleep all day long? Do you eat before fajr because you have the intention to fast? Do you pray nightprayer and then also the morningprayer? 

When you do your salat al-fajr, you will be protected for that day until asr and the angels will accompany you. Your soul will smell good, like musk. That is the better day. If you die in this state inchallah, your soul will smell good too, and Allah the most High knows better. 

Allaho Akbar. Allaho Akbar. 

Do you wake up for salat al-fajr?

The iman 

and the strength 

 is not in the body, 

but in the heart. 

Allaho Akbar!

Allaho Akbar!

Allaho Akbar!

Allaho Akbar!

Allaho Akbar!

Hamza Yusuf

How shall I wake up in the morning every day, doing dawah and not being thrown in the hellfire?

I ask this question because it is so important for me to do the fajr prayer now when I am doing dawah, because when a person does dawah about something and he does not do it himself, then he will be thrown into the hellfire by Allah.

Hamza Yusuf is a very wise person who converted years ago. He has founded a University called Zeituna University. I am looking for help to wake up to salat al-fajr and I found his words touching my heart. I will share some of his lectures here.

Hamza Yusuf remember us about this by telling about the prophet Muhammad sws and many other important things. 

This first one is about taking care about my soul. 

The second one is about putting your heart into worship.

The last one is about patience and courage.

How to increase my iman - my faith

To increase my iman I have tried to found some help in a couple of hadiths. I found especially two hadiths that can be helpful for me: 

“Whoever prays the two cooler prayer times (i.e., Fajr and `Asr) will enter Paradise.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. I pray asr most of the times and fajr rarely, so this is a must in my life if I want to have paradise. All is depending om my iman. 

Ibn ‘Allan comments on that Fajr and ‘Asr were specified since they are two times when one can easily miss the prayer: whether they are lost in sleep during Fajr, or engrossed in trade and work at ‘Asr.  It is understood that the one who prays these two, usually prays all five daily prayers.

Finally, the reward mentioned in the hadith indicates that the one who regularly prays Fajr and ‘Asr can be expected to have a good ending to their life: that they die upon faith as a Muslim.  Which of us would not be eager to rise for the Fajr prayer if we truly understood the benefits: a death on faith and eternal success? [Ibn ‘Allan, Dalil al-Faliheen]

Few people, like me, do not find it hard to wake up if there is a plane to catch the next morning, or a lucrative job interview.  This is because I am so desirous to take that trip or get that job, so my eyes open with vigor when the alarm rings.  Sometimes I am awake even before the alarm, due to my anticipation.

The only reason this does not happen as often for Fajr is because I haven’t attached the same importance to the Hereafter as I have attached to the worldly lives.  My awe and sense of duty to Allah Most High is weaker than my desire for the ephemeral things around me.

But I want to be attached to Allah, however, and see Fajr as more important than the rest of the day’s affairs put together. I want to find it easy to rise to worship my Lord, in submission and gratitude. Then I'll find peace, which spurs me to rise again, in a positive cycle.  Thus, its about breaking bad cycles and establishing good ones.

The most important thing to keep iman high is to pray the prayers in the first period of prayertime and remind me of death and the people in the graves and even visit them: 

Source: 
http://seekersguidance.org/ans-blog/2011/04/07/the-importance-of-fajr-prayer-and-how-to-pray-it-on-time/