Someone once asked me, “When you were in prison, how did you know that God was with you?”
“Because He spoke to me,” I replied.
“What do you mean He ‘spoke’ to you?” he asked.
“I mean He spoke to me. He spoke to me through my dreams and through His Book,” I said.
Throughout my years in prison I saw vivid dreams about the future, about what was going to happen in the world, what was going to happen to those that I knew and what was going to happen to me.
From time to time I would see verses of the Quran in my dreams. I was either reciting them, or I was reading them, or they were being recited to me.
And every night before I lay down to sleep, I would pick up a copy of the Quran, close my eyes, open it at random and point with my finger to somewhere on the page.
The verse that would come up would be the words that Allah wanted to say to me at that point in my life.
One verse that frequently came up was:
“That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, [O Muhammad]. You knew it not, neither you nor your people, before this. So be patient; indeed, the best outcome will be for the righteous.” [Quran 11:49]
So just remember that whatever you are going through, you are never alone. Allah is always with you, whether you believe in Him or not, whether you are “pious” or not.
My story and why I was in prison: tinyurl.com/babarspeaks.
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science has proven that our brains learn in different ways . Some nerves connections change depending on so many things, specifically shock and stess. However im not a doctor nor scientist but from experience in teaching all individuals learn in different ways. This point is not about you or me or in anyway personal, i genuinely believe Spiritual connections are a blessing however theyre are also chosen by God for the rare. As a mother i feel intuition talks however i only act or speak when i feel strongly about points ive learnt from life experience. Some people are in a mental prison in their daily free lives and this does require self help as well as support and faith plays a equal role too.
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Very true Negin, especially the point about those physically free but mentally in prison. “Self help”, spot on because everyone has their own problems and worries in life, even if it appears to others that all is well.
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Your blogs are always so inspiring subhanallah.
As someone who has been blessed with dreams about the future, what advice can you give to one who is in a constant state of fear and dread. I know that everything is in Allah’s hand but still find myself stressing about what the future holds especially as so many seem to think we are living in the end times. I find it hard to live in the moment when I am for so much of my time feeling stressed and freaked out.
Despite knowing that everything is in accordance with Allah’s plan I need help staying present.
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Thank you for reading my posts and for your comments. I don’t see dreams like that now, that was then, when I really needed them!
But I haven’t forgotten what Allah did for me even though my actions do not always show gratitude to Him.
There are three words of advice I can share with you to help you have hope in Allah:
1) Remember the times in your life when you were in a problem of some sort, big or small, and you made dua to Allah in despair and He answered your duas.
The One who helped you yesterday is still there to help you tomorrow.
2) Grief is caused by worries about the past and anxiety is caused by worries about the future.
As for the past it is done and finished, no amount of worrying can change it. As for the future, it hasn’t even happened yet so why kill yourself worrying about it?
In the Torah it says that most of which one fears to happen does not in fact happen.
In other words, our fears are far greater than the reality.
Say the morning and evening words of remembrance every day. You can find them online, they take 5-10 minutes. Morning anytime after Fajr and evening anytime after Asr but before Maghrib.
In there are supplications against both grief and anxiety.
3) Recite some Quran at the start of every day, even just one page, and you will see miracles in your day and life.
That’s it, let me know how you get on!
Babar
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JazakAllah for you reply. I have been making a greater effort with my adhkaar now and I’m in a better internal state. I’m starting to see how the anxiety and distress is a result of my thinking and that at any given moment my thoughts could change through the mercy of Allah.
Your words of support and encouragement mean a great deal. Once again JazakAlah khair. May Allah continue to bless you and your loved ones.
Fatima
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I am happy to hear that things are better for you, may Allah bless you.
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Here is an experience that I have never shared with anyone till I read this post, firstly because maybe I want to keep it to myself and then I don’t want anyone to think I am so pious and it would happen to someone so sinful as me.
I was in a great deal of stress and despair for myself and those around me and other Muslims and I was worried Allah swt may not forgive anyone. Whenever I hear or read stories of righteous pious people of older generations I think I’m not like them. I do the opposite of these pious peoples actions most of the time and all or most of the people around me are also not like this. So I thought all of us including me, we are so so sinful. We sin so much and remember Allah very very little in accordance with his majesty.
So that night I went to sleep and I had a dream, a very vivid one at that. I was standing in the middle of huge, tall, shiny, glossy pillars one on the left and one to the right spaced far apart. It was a very large open building , I don’t even remember a roof as it was so high up and the building was so large that I could not even see it all or encompass it. I was in the imams position leading a group of people behind me. So I was the imam and I was reciting Quran in the middle of prayer. I was reciting surah Al Fath/izza ja’a nasrullahi wal fath.
When I woke up I kept thinking about it and about the victory? My understanding of Arabic was very weak and basic and I did not know the translation of most of the surah in English. I didn’t think too much about it but I felt at peace as to me I thought it’s always good to see yourself reciting Quran in a dream.
Until a time later I realized it was the last 2 ayahs that were significant in response to my stress and despair. At the time I needed it the most, I got the best answer ever.
I’m sure I don’t need to say which ayah this is, as I want the readers to check themselves. Allah hears our duas, always and in everyplace and he always answers them, please remember that.
“Oh Allah forgive all the believing men and believing women every single one” Ameen.
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السلام عليكم
I wanted to ask you a question if you don’t mind:
I wanted to know if you view your time in jail as a positive or a negative part of your life?
I ask this because, for those of us who were on the outside, it pained us to know that yourself & others were in prison unjustly, being tortured, oppressed & isolated. But then you hear about some of the amazing experiences you had & it makes us realise how loved you are to Allah الحمد لله.
Like I said once before, Iqeel & I would always discuss how even though you weren’t in the best of places, you were definitely blessed because we were convinced that Allah would never allow you to be alone. We used to wonder if the angels were keeping you company while in isolation.
What I’m trying to say is that to the public, your situation seemed like a horrific one but how did you see it? Because it seems you experienced so many blessings in that time الحمد لله
I hope that all makes sense إن شاء الله
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Wa alaikum salam and thank you for asking. I definitely see my experience as a positive one, 100%, no doubt in it.
However, that does not mean that it was not horrific and difficult. Yes I had difficult moments of despair, sleepless nights, anxiety, stress, pressure, I had all of these painful moments (it wouldn’t be a “hardship” otherwise, would it?) but the overall picture is that of a rich experience full of meaning, adventure, inspiration, knowledge, wisdom, humour and… fun.
At least that is how I have chosen to remember it and look back on it.
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JazakAllah Khayr for your response.
I pray we can all face our hardships with the same positivity you do and that we benefit from the wisdom and the blessings that come from them, aameen.
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May Allah reward you . Ameen
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Assalamu alaikum, This post and the comments are touching. Brother, may you some time write about your time in Bosnia and the miracles you witnessed there? Did you ever doubt what you saw?
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I have written about some of it, look through the war section of my blog. As for the miracles I have written about them in the book I am writing. I didn’t doubt what I saw for one second.
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thank you, i will look – mA, when does the book come out? where should i look out for it?
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Ma Sha Allah!
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