Islam, December 1997

Refreshing the Belief, Allegiance, Determination, Love and Yearning

Prof. Dr. Halil Necatioglu

Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, December 6, 1997

On a brilliant, warm, spring-like day, I am writing to you from Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, the blessed city of the Prophet Muhammad. In a Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "The belief and the hearth wear out in time; refresh your belief repeating the words la ilaha il-lallah."

Our beliefs, love, and yearning need to be refreshed time to time. To refresh them we must read a lot, observe the unfolding daily events with a mindful eye, read the important articles written by major writers, and ask ourselves every morning: "What can I do for Allah today? What kind of good and rewarding deeds can I do?"

We must perform our prayers, remembrance, and Qur'an recitation with proper attention, with thought and meditation, and without any rush.

We must seek the poor and the needy to comfort them morally, to support them financially, and to earn their blessings spiritually.

We must visit the hospitals and orphanages to sympathize with their pain and suffering and support them with their treatment. We must thank Allah day and night for the health he has bestowed on us.

On special days, holidays and especially if possible on every Friday we must visit the graves of our relatives and friends who passed away, and recite Qur'an for them, for they need the prayers, love, and visits as much as the living ones do. The death is not the end of everything; the friendships, relationships, help and needs continue to grow even stronger, purer, and more frankly.

One of the most important, rewarding and fruitful deeds is to love and protect friends, brothers and sisters, believers, even animals and vegetation. We must keep our good relations with them at the highest level, treat them nicely, and please them whenever possible. We must ask for the salvation of the Nation of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and work towards this goal with all our might wholeheartedly.

Especially in these blessed months, we should try to visit the sacred places in Makkah and Madinah and perform 'umrah. We should try to wash our misdeeds by repentances, visits to the Prophet's mosque, kissing the Black Stone in Ka'bah, and renewing our allegiance to Allah and His Prophet. We should replenish our determination in becoming good and righteous servants of Allah.

At every opportunity we must turn to Allah, ask good things and deeds for ourselves, for our relatives, for our neighbors, for this world, for the hereafter, for the country and the nation, for the benefit and well being of all Muslims. We must keep asking for these and shed tears in prayers.

In these blessed months, may Allah protect all of us from all kinds of evil, loss, destruction, and hazards. May He change all sorrows into happiness, evils into good, and sickness into health. May He be our helper at all times.

I wish you a blessed Bara'at Night, also, health and happiness in this world and in the hereafter. May Allah grant you with many happy blessed nights and months in the years to come.