اللهم أعنِّي على ذِكرِكَ, وَشُكرِكَ, وَحُسنِ عِبادَتِك
Allahumma a’inee ‘ala dhikrika, wa shukrika, wa husni ibadatik
Mu`adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) held my hand and said, “O Mu`adh, By Allah, I love you and advise you not to miss supplicating after every Salat (prayer) saying: `Allahumma a`inni `ala dhikrika wa shukrika, wa husni `ibadatika,’ (O Allah, help me remember You, expressing gratitude to You and worship You in the best manner)”.
[Abu Dawud and An-Nasa’i. This Hadith is also known as the Hadith of Mahabba/Love]
On the 22nd December 2007, this pauper put up a post on DeenPort sincerely asking for a book that we had heard Shaykh AbdulKareem Yahya mention whilst we were in his Attaining Good Character class on SunniPath. It was only to be found in Tarim and we wanted to know if anyone was heading out there and if so would they be kind enough to get this student a copy.
By The Ultimate Grace of Allah, a few people emailed me to say that they will look out for anyone going and one particular sister emailed to say that whilst attending the Traditional Halaqa she had found someone who had attended the Dowra in the past and thus had the textbook. Subhan’Allah.
We didn’t know what to expect - how big/small this book would be; whether it would be in English/Arabic; whether we’d need Shaykh AbdulKareem to decipher a few points for us so that this student could make sense of it. All we did know was the books name:
“Kitab an-niyat كتاب النيات (book of intentions)”
by Al Habib Muhammad bin A’lawi al-A’idarus (Sa’d)
We prayed everyday for an opening and today after a tiring day in the hospital, this pauper came home to find a package addressed in her name. A beautiful scent of attar was coming from it and as soon as we touched the package without even opening it a huge feeling of khushi (happiness) hit me. Even the packaging and the label was so nicely written that my eyes became filled with tears. We knew what this was. The book that we’ve waited for had arrived and what a beautiful package it is.
The beauty of this package wasn’t just in the book (as I’ve yet to talk about that) but the beauty was also to be seen in the beautiful sister who had tracked the book down for this insignificant pauper without even knowing who I was, photocopied the pages, bound the book together in a beautiful covering, and enclosed another gift to soften my heart further. It’s amazing that we don’t even know one another and she showed such generosity and beauty in her character that even in the way she wrapped the scarf, bound the book, and parcelled the whole gift is a teaching for this student to learn.
We wanted to email you privately as we wanted your ijazat to place your name here but then we remembered that the best of gifts are those given in secrecy and if this was your intention then we don’t want to damage that. But for sure what we will say is Masha’Allah sister, you have a beautiful soul which we pray Allah intensifies with His Noor and His Mahabba. May Allah enshroud you in His Tawfeeq and Rahma, ease you in your studies, increase you in knowledge, and Grant His Everlasting Provision on you and your family. Allahumma Ameen.
