Ramadan Reflections: Day 5

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah my precious readers,

Subhanallah we are fasting our 5th fast today! How quickly time passes! May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the ability to use every precious moment of Ramadan in His remembrance, ameen!

We do our weekly shopping on Saturdays. By the time, we return home it's almost Zuhr time. It is recommended by our noble scholars not to waste time during this sacred month, shopping without any real necessity. We live in a world where shopping is seen as a great pastime. We, the people of the post-modern world, love shopping even window shopping as it pleases our nafs. In this month, we feel more aware of our limited time. Most of us feel reluctant to go shopping. If only its necessary, we should go out and get things done as soon as possible. I know some sisters who do internet shopping to save time and temptation to some extent. If that's not really an option for you ( certainly not for me as I like to see what I am buying, especially fruits and veg) , try to do the dua for shopping. This dua taught by our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam. This is a great way to turn shopping an act of ibadah, alhamdulillah.

When entering a shopping center,
" Laa ilaaha illa 'Llahu wahdahu laa shariika lah(u), lahu 'l-mulku wa lahu 'l-hamdul(u), yuhyi wa yumit(u), wa Huwa Hayyul laa yamuut(u), bi yadihi 'l-khayr(u), wa Huwa 'alaa kulli shay'in qadir(un).

There is no god but Allah. He is One and has no partner. His is the Kingdom and to Him belongs all praise. He gives life and gives death. He is living, not subject to death. In His Hand is goodness and He has power over all things.

Whoever recites this dua, Allah will reward her with a million good deeds, forgive a million of her sins and raise her rank by a million degrees. [Tirmidhi, Mustadrak]

Subhanallah , we can get so much reward just by making this dua before shopping ( only the necessary one, I guess) Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always makes everything easy and full of baraka for us, alhamdulillah. So how many of us will follow this dua? May Allah subhana wa ta'ala give us the ability and easeness to do this dua on a regular basis, ameen! If we do it loudly, then our children can learn it too, just by listening. Sometimes, kids remind us to do the dua. Imagine how much more reward we can get through them, our precious investments bi'idnillahi ta'ala.

N.B The dua above is taken from the excellent book 'Reflections of pearls' by Inam Uddin & Abdur-Rahman Ibn Yusuf, Published by White Thread.
I did do a review of this book couple of years ago.