"Travelling When Home: The Art Of Inward Journeying

بسم اللَّه الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Hello everyone. I pray that all of you are in the best state of health and Imaan. In shaa Allah. For today's post, I will be sharing some points from an online webinar delivered by Ustazah 'Alimatunnisa A Ghani and Aida Azlin as the moderator. 

However, there are some points in the content that is more relevant for women than in men but in shaa Allah no worries, it's either you can just skip it or you can also read it as another 'ilm to tell your wife/mother/sisters. In shaa Allah, may we get most of the 'ibrah and effectively apply them in our everyday life.

"Travelling When Home: The Art of Inward Journeying" - Ustazah 'Alimatunnisa A Ghani & Aida Azlin (Online Webinar, 16 April 2020)

We are indeed in a special time.

How many times have you told yourself that you just want to take a break from everything and just stay at home?

Subhanallah. Allah has granted your du'aa, my dear.

Have we been appreciative for this answered du'aa?

...

During Ramadhan, Rasulullah SAW and his companions would call this month as the 'Special Month' where they would be in the state of Iʿtikāf.

A state of Ibadah 24/7.

A state of devoting yourself to do ibadah that comes with an intention, solely for Allah.

It's Sunnah!

During Iʿtikāf, we are not supposed to play phone or any worldly affairs. Completely no distractions. You know how when we usually wanted to reply to 'one' text message and it ends to be ... –the rest is history.

It's time to find our inner self. How many times have we thought about our inner self?

Whatever Allah gives us, it's always good.

 Jigsaw Puzzle Analogy 

Our life is a big Jigsaw Puzzle. 

Every day we try to match the pieces together. Doing 'trial and error' to match everything. It will take time, maybe a long time even.

Have faith, it will make sense eventually.

Whatever we feel right now, in shaa Allah one day, you will see how amazing Allah had planned out your journey. 

Some people whenever they want to release tension, they would go for a trip. But looking at the situation right now, we are advised to stay at home. We cannot travel physically but we can travel inward.

When you want to travel, what is the first question you want to ask yourself?

That is, "Where do you want to go?"

 Travel Essentials: 

1. Destination
2. Companions
3. Travel Method
4. Itinerary/Plans


 Destination 

Since we are now in our house, link our destination for our journey at home.

Now, where do we want to go?

This is a good time where we discover ourselves, –our spirituality.

• What are our goals?
• Where do you expect to go?
• What do you want to learn? 

What it means by Inward Journey is: 

To find Allah SWT. To learn how to be a better servant.

That's our goal. Our ultimate goal.

We have to acknowledge this goal, what's our Niat?

Where's the venue of this Niat? Where do we place it?

The place of Niat is in the Heart.

But it's also sunnah to speak it out. Say it out loud so that we acknowledge it. Intentions are extremely important. If you want to motivate yourself (self-affirmation), make sure you have the right intentions; to reach Allah, to get closer to Rasulullah, etc.

"Say it out loud"

When you speak your Niat out loud, your body will acknowledge it. Your ears will hear it and they will avoid hearing harmful things. Your eyes will glance away when you see something inappropriate. Your mouth will immediately do dhikr. 

"Astaghfirullah.. Astaghfirullah.."

Your whole body will listen and respond, in shaa Allah. May Allah always protect us. Aamiin ya Rabb.

We're Insans, we forget things. 

At least after our 5 prayers, renew our Niat. We always need the reminders to travel inwards. Put up reminders in your room, on your door, on your mirror or beside your bed, whichever areas you think you would 'singgah' and easily look at.

Attitude to travelling

Whenever we want to travel or have a road trip, we can't help but to countdown right? It's the same excitement we want towards travelling inward.

It's very important to ask yourself what we want. Allah is giving you this opportunity for your outcomes. Ask yourself, what do you want your outcomes to be. Try setting up your goal.

Hafaz the 99 names of Allah? Learn the seerah of Rasulullah? To focus on understanding the meaning in the Quran for a week?

You know how when we travel, our destination usually have so many 'landmarks' but you're still in the same country.

It's the same as Inward Travelling. 

A week to learn the seerah, the next week is to learn Allah's names and the other week is to learn more about the Sahabahs and at the same time, all are from different areas but are still linked to Allah.

Where are you heading to?

Say, "Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. (Al-An'am: 162)

We always recite this verse during our daily prayer before al-Fatihah. If you recite this wholeheartedly, in shaa Allah you will have khusyuk in your solat. This verse shows how much it is linked to your 'puzzles'. In this verse, each and everything in your life is supposed to be for Allah. Every food you consume is for Allah, every breath you take is only, and only for Allah.


 Companions 

After you have found out where you want to go, you would think of the next question which is,

"Who will be my companions when I travel? Who will I bring?"

Who? and How?

Being alone at home, is it linked to Allah?

How does it affect the 'travel' to Allah?

Sayyidina 'Umar Radiyallahu'anhu's questions:

- Is he your close neighbour, whose day and night is known to you?
- Did you deal with him in monetary affairs, which could give an idea of his piety?
- Was he ever your companion in journey, from which you could have seen his character?

In this hadith, it was a story about this man where he wanted to bring Sayyidina 'Umar to travel but he declined. Instead, Sayyidina 'Umar RA said, "Bring someone who does know you" by referring to the questions above.

When we travel, we will be out of our comfort zone and by facing it, we have to give sacrifices. This is usually where our true colours reveal during travelling. In travelling inwards, bring along or choose your companions wisely. Bring your sahabah to do this 'inward travelling' with you. It's always fun to do things when you have 'companion(s)' and especially with your family. It's also a self-awareness. There are things where you want to fix or improve yourself in certain areas, by not having to do it alone, at least you will have the motivation and support to continue on improving yourself. Have someone to check your hafazan, your recitation, etc.

As a son/daughter, reflect ourselves. Have we been doing good for our family? Have we been giving a helping hand when needed by our parents? Have we been doing our best to fulfil our responsibilities?


 Travel Method 

In travelling, based on your 'budget', how will you travel?

By bus? Car? Plane?

Again, it's the same for Inward Travelling.

Firstly, our transportation will definitely be Solat because it's an act of one-to-one communication with Allah, where we are free to tell everything to Allah, to tell all of our problems. But what if we can't pray (Ma'zurah)?

This is often the problems with women. Whenever we have reached the peak of desired 'consistency' in performing our ibadah, have you ever feel like after you get your ma'zurah, you lost the 'motivation' and you're back to square one.

It's frustrating, right?

Alhamdulillah, dearest Aida and Ustazah 'Alimatunnisa have shared beautiful tips on how to overcome this problem. May Allah bless them endlessly.

 Dhikr mode 

(As for the men, you may skip this part in shaa Allah)

During our ma'zurah, usually, it's our fitrah to say we miss reading the Quran, you miss praying because the syaitan is gone by then (I mean not literally but you get it haha). But when your ma'zurah ends, bam! the syaitan is back again. But, worry not.

Good news ladies!

Did you know? Even if we can't pray we can still be in our praying area (just like we're praying) but instead of praying, we do dhikr!

Freshen up. Sit on the prayer mat (or just face the kiblat if you're not confident to sit on it), wear your most comfortable telekung and start reciting dhikr!

If you don't do anything during your period time, your travel is paused, –stranded.

Even if we're on our period, we should still wake up early so that our routine will not break once our period ends. We should not make our period as an excuse to wake up late.

Time is always moving.

So if you stopped, you are not on 'paused'. You are regressing.

Because when else do we have time to do dhikr. We often say we don't have time to do dhikr during the normal days. Dhikr is also a communication with Allah. In a month, we usually have at least one week of ma'zurah. Imagine, at least in a month you have a week to spend your time just doing dhikr. 

It's your golden opportunity because the syaitan will hate this so much (haha).

- (Okay gentlemen, you may stop scrolling down now) -

 Pirates 

May Allah bless Ustazah 'Alimatunnisa. She loves analogy so much and no, we are not talking about real pirates on the sea.

Pirates = Hijacks = Stopping our journey = Syaitan

We have to acknowledge the existence of this.

Remember whenever we want to go somewhere and our parents would always say,

"Be careful! Read Surah Al-Kursi before you go out from the house!"

Same concept. Inward travelling will have the struggles and challenges too. In our case, our challenges will also be the Pirates. Distractions and even, Social Media.

Acknowledge these challenges and we can battle it!

Ustazah 'Alimatunnisa said, ever since people wear masks, they were so afraid of the virus that they made dhikr wherever they go (esp when they need to go out to work). Whenever they wear masks, it will remind them to do dhikr. But even if there is a virus or not, we have to remember that Allah's protection is always there. Allah will give the virus to whom He wants and He will not give the virus to whom He doesn't want.

It's true, in this tough time, we are spiritually, emotionally and psychologically affected.

This is your time to 'meruah', look into your treasure box and find your best swords, shields, weapons to battle the Syaitan! Fight it, don't give in.

Tafakkur

When you sujood, you are at the nearest position with Allah.

When you tafakkur, sit on your prayer mat. Feel the beat of your heart. You can hear that your heart beats "Allah.. Allah.. Allah..". Try to hold one of your pulses. 

If you want to really feel it, you need to be silent. You can feel it beats twice inside you.

Even when we are being ignorant, minding our own business... Your whole body will still be doing dhikr to Allah.

You cannot reach Allah without tafakkur and muhasabah.

"Allah... Allah... Allah..."

 Itinerary/Plans 

After you have figured out which travel method suits best for you, now think of the plans. How many days is your 'travelling'? What will you do during the days?

What kind of planner are you? 

Are you a detailed person? Day 1. We have to do this, do that. Visit here and visit that.

One who looks at a bigger picture?

Or listers? Listing all the possible 'areas' to explore

Maybe perhaps, bullet journaling?

or just 'wing it'? hahaha

It doesn't matter. It depends on what your plans are. You need to start doing your Ibadah plan. After you have gone to the 'main landmarks', you can't deny that you would roam around here and there, right? Which is sooo out of your initial plans.

But, that's actually what makes your journey more beautiful.

Your main landmarks are your wajib prayers. They are our oxygen to breathe, we need it. If you missed one, your journey will be incomplete.

To make your journey to be more beautiful, you need to decorate and make it more fun which is the sunnahs!

Self-Accounting

Each one of us, we must at least have a roughly ibadah plan. Why we need it? It's important for us to muhasabah. At the end of the day, we would be like "what did I miss??" 

"If I missed something today, I need to cover it tomorrow"

"If I have more time, I will do extra Dhuha"

"I missed a big chunk of it! I need to complete my plans"

Missed a deed → Not covered → Will miss another different deed → Discouraged.

The pirates will make you feel discouraged!

That is why it's important for every night to muhasabah ourselves, at least before you sleep.

"We are travelling this dunya but we always forget about our inner self"

Summary:

1. Look at our essentials (Preparation for Ramadhan)
2. Focus on how we want to utilise it to reach Allah
3. Ramadhan will be different this year.

No masjid. No teraweeh. No outside iftars.

So you need a new 'pen'. Make a list, make a plan. Your opportunity to reach Allah is high because we have more time. In shaa Allah.

Try your best to bring your family too. Do checklist for them, children loooves checklist.

Question and Answers:

"Travel Insurance"

To make sure we stay on track, have reminders from your friends or family. Have them to tasmi' your recitation. When a new opportunity comes, do immediately. It's more effective than to do it later.

"Muhasabah but do not dwell"

When we can't do certain things, don't be too disappointed with yourself. If plan A doesn't work,  there's always plan B.

When things become so overwhelming, not knowing what ibadah to start first. Start off with the most important ibadah: The wajib prayers. After wajib prayers have settled, now look at the nawafil. Sunnah prayers that are suitable to your capability.

"Frontliners, Mothers and Other busy people"

Every breath is an ibadah. Whatever work you do is ibadah.

Before you work, renew your intentions to do this lillah.

There's this story about a person, where she fasts during a day where it's not even the sunnah days to fast. A busy day where you have so much to do in the morning and afternoon and people asked, "why are you fasting today?" and she said,

"I know I have so many errands/work to do, but I'm fasting. At least I'm still in a state of Ibadah"

Know your situation. When you serve people during the day, you need to get some light with Allah in the night time. Don't beat yourself up. Try to find a personal time with Allah, one-to-one with Allah. May Allah sees our effort in trying to spend time with Him.

Wallahu'alam Bissawab.

Assalamulaikum Warahmatullah. x
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