Islamic Self Help – Islam + Self Help = Success in Both Worlds

Jan

2025

Themes of Surah Yaseen

Heart of the Quran

One of the most beloved Surahs in the Quran is Surah Yaseen. It is known to many of us as the heart of the Quran, and it is our culture to recite Surah Yaseen for the dead, and it is recommended in the hadith to recite Surah Yaseen for those who are passing away. This is a Surah that many of us are familiar with, but do we take the time to study its meanings and reflect on its lessons. Today I want to share with you a short explanation of this Surah based upon its primary themes.

Surah Yaseen is an early Makkan Surah, and this shapes its themes. During the Makkan phase of the Dawah, the Prophet (pbuh) was primarily preaching to a pagan community that rejected prophethood, the afterlife and the oneness of Allah. This Surah focuses on these three core themes: Prophethood, Afterlife and Oneness of Allah. If there is one theme that runs throughout the Surah as its central message, it is the reality of the Afterlife and the importance of preparing for it.

The Message and the Messenger

Let’s go through some important sections of this Surah to see how to calls on us to reflect on these key ideological themes.

The Surah begins with a reminder that:

The Quran is revelation from Allah
Muhammad is the messenger
Calling to the straight path
And Warning to those who reject the message about the punishment of the Afterlife

This opening passage brings forward the themes of the Surah regarding prophethood, tawhid, and Afterlife, in a few short powerful verses. These three concepts make up the three core elements of Aqeedah (Islamic Theology): Tawhid, Risaalah, Akhirah.

This is followed by a story about three prophets being sent to a nation. The nation rejected those prophets, aside for one man, and that man was killed by the disbelievers. The Surah ends by reminding us that this martyr is in Paradise, and those disbelievers were destroyed and punished for their rebelliousness. Note some key lessons from this story. In this story, Allah draws out attention to the fact that past nations also received messengers and that this is not something new.

This story also reminds us about the Afterlife, and that the believer made it to Paradise and wished he could change people’s minds so they too could choose the path to Paradise. The story ends with a reminder that Allah destroyed this nation for its rebelliousness. This is a reminder both to the pagans of Makkah at the time of revelation and to leading civilizations today. Never think that you are too powerful and cannot be defeated. All it takes is a single instance and Allah can reduce an entire nation to dust, as he has done in the past.

Signs of God

The next portion of the Surah focuses on the proofs of Allah’s existence and oneness. This surah is full of verses calling on us to reflect on the signs around us. Everything in the Heavens and earth remind us about the Glory and Majesty of the One True God, the Creator of Allah, Al-Khaliq, Allah. In this powerful section, we are told to reflect on these signs including three key signs:

The natural wonders of the earth
The magnificent wonders of the universe
The gifts that Allah has gifted humans with our ability to invent and develop new technologies (Quran 36:33-45)

These three sign are brought forward for us to reflect on so that we are grateful to Allah, worship Him alone and dedicate our lives to Him.

The Inevitable Afterlife

The Surah concludes with a lengthy reminder about the Afterlife. We are reminded that we will all leave this world, journey to the next, and answer for our deeds. Those who lived their lives in preparation for the Afterlife will experience great peace and eternal Paradise. Those who neglected their Lord and purpose will face dire consequences in the Afterlife. Note that we recite this Surah for those who are passing away to remind them that death is inevitable and that they are now transferring to the next portion of this journey of the soul.

The surah ends with a beautiful example that serves a double purpose: it is a sign of the existence of Allah and a reminder of the resurrection. The surah ends with these powerful verses:

Does the human being not consider that We created him from a seed? Yet he becomes a fierce adversary. And he produces arguments against Us, and he forgets his own creation. He says, “Who will revive the bones when they have decayed?”

Say, “He who initiated them in the first instance will revive them. He has knowledge of every creation.” He who produced fuel for you from the green trees, with which you kindle a fire. Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them? Certainly. He is the Supreme All-Knowing Creator.

His command, when He wills a thing, is to say to it, “Be,” and it comes to be. So, glory be to Him in whose hand is the dominion of everything, and to Him you will be returned. (Quran 36:77-83)

The final verse summarizes this theme beautifully, glory to be the One who controls everything and to whom we will return. The main lesson that we should all take from this beautiful surah is that life is fleeting, death is inevitable, and we must spend our lives preparing for and building our afterlife. We will return to Allah, we will answer to Him for how we lived our lives, and we will face a final judgment in which our Afterlife will be determined. Surah Yaseen, therefore, should not just be something we recite mindlessly. Even when reciting it around those who are passing away or those who have moved on, we should recite and reflect on its core message. Life is short, death will happen, what have you prepared for the Afterlife?

Importance of Tabaddur

Just two Surahs after Yaseen in Surah Saad, Allah describes the Quran as follows in verse 29:

كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ

A blessed Book that We sent down to you, that they may ponder its Verses, and for those with intelligence to take heed. (Quran 38:29)

The Quran was revealed to be a book of guidance for us. I just want to remind us all that we must make time to study the Quran and reflect on its meanings. Tadabbur (reflection) is an important act of worship that every believer must engage in. When you recite Quran, take time to reflect on what the message of the Quran is, how it relates to your life, and what you can do to act upon this message. It is only when we develop this deeper relationship with the word of Allah that we will truly begin to appreciate the role that the Quran plays in our lives. Make time for reflection to gain a deeper understanding of the Quran.

Learn more with our Themes of the Quran ebook, on sale here: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/izbAn

Dec

2024

Book Review: The Barakah Effect

The Barakah Effect: More With Less is the latest book from Productive Muslim leader Mohammed Faris. A follow-up to his recent book, The Productive Muslim, The Barakah Effect is a masterpiece and may be the best work written in this field. Combining practical guidelines with deep spiritual guidance, the Barakah Effect accomplishes what many other books in this field only wish to accomplish; it offers a practical in-depth look at how to live a blessed life that is pleasing to Allah and beneficial to humanity. In many ways, this may be the only productivity book you really need to read if you wish to live a blessed lifestyle.

I reviewed The Productive Muslim in the past, and stated that it was an excellent introduction to Islamic productivity, while also criticizing the order of chapters and overall flow of the book. I do not have such criticisms of the Barakah Effect. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book; its core themes, chapter order, art style, diagrams, practical guidelines, and especially its criticism of modern ideologies that negatively impact our work life.

Understanding Barakah

At Islamic Self Help, we have produced two separate books on Barakah, one on time management and another on barakah in wealth. The Barakah Effect combines both these concepts and more and focuses on how to have Barakah in one’s life. Barakah is often translated as blessings, and it is a type of miracle (karamat) in which a person experiences an unexplainable increase or abundance in anything. Whether it is being able to get more work done in an hour than others, influence more people with less effort, earn major profits with small honest dealings, or survive for long on a small amount of wealth, all of these are types of barakah that people can experience in life.

The first few chapters of the book lay the groundwork by explaining what is barakah, how we lost it, the differences between a barakah culture and modern hustle culture, and a framework on how to regain barakah into one’s life. The remaining chapters each focus on specific acts of worship and lifestyle changes that attract barakah into one’s life including starting any action with Bismillah (in the name of Allah), having pure intentions, living a God-centric lifestyle, being grateful, focusing on what is in one’s control, trusting God with what is outside one’s control, caring for one’s parents, praying to God for assistance and success, embracing mortality, and sending salawat (blessings) upon Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Overall, the book flows beautifully taking the reader on a journey from learning new concepts to unlearning modern ideologies to learning practical steps for increasing barakah in one’s life.

Why Barakah Matters

We write a lot about barakah at Islamic Self Help, and for good reason. It is a miracle that any believer can experience with small amounts of effort, yet its impact in one’s life cannot be measured. Barakah brings peace, purpose, contentment, happiness, and abundance to one’s life in ways that no worldly means ever could. Too many people chase happiness in the wrong places. We seek happiness and pleasure through amassing wealth (capitalism), buying many luxurious products (consumerism), and fulfilling desires (hedonism) yet none of these paths leads to real joy. Many people become trapped in a soulless cycle of work, entertainment, sleep and repeat, without their lives having any read purpose or value.

In the Barakah Effect, Mohammed Faris encourages us to abandon the hustle culture mindset and to adapt a barakah mindset instead. This means shifting our focus from worldly success to pleasing Allah and building our Afterlife. When life becomes focused on pleasing Allah, we attract great blessings into our lives. Our wealth, efforts, families, and projects experience a higher level of success than we can ever imagine. Sometimes a person may produce one small project sincerely for the sake of Allah and the barakah of that project has ripple effects across the world long after the founder has passed away. Anything that is blessed is going to be more impactful that that which is not.

How to Gain Barakah

One of the most beneficial sections of this amazing book is the appendix which lists over twenty sources of barakah, with practical tips on how to achieve them. I highly recommend taking time to study the appendix and to apply each step to one’s life gradually. This will lead to a gradual increase in barakah in one’s life with each new source of barakah that you introduce into your life.

This list is very comprehensive and includes the following acts of worship; reciting Quran, praying five times a day, praying extra prayers, maintaining family ties, charity, seeking beneficial knowledge, avoiding sins, waking up early, being honest and trustworthy in business, and earning halal income. These are all listed in the appendix with evidences from the Quran and Sunnah, as well as practical tips on how to introduce these practices into one’s life.

The appendix also includes a list of mindset changes that bring barakah into one’s life. I found this list especially beneficial. It includes many important mindset shifts such as: humility, contentment, gratitude, trusting God, optimism, consistency, intentionality, steadfastness, and abundance. In many ways, a mindset shift is just as important for bringing barakah into our lives as the actions we take. We need to develop a barakah mindset first, and then barakah-focused actions become easier to implement.

Book Review: 10 out of 10 – A Masterpiece

The Barakah Effect is the most important book written in the field of Islamic productivity. Nothing else comes close, and I say this as the author of many books in this field. None of my books are as comprehensive as this excellent work by Mohammad Faris. I highly recommend this book to every Muslim. It contains crucial guidance on how to fix our mindset, as well as practical tips on how to attract barakah into one’s life. The book is available in multiple formats here. May Allah bless the author, the publisher, and their team for this amazing and relevant book.

Nov

2024

New Book: 25 Keys to a Happy Life

Why the book is so short?

Our latest book, 25 Keys to a Happy Life, is now available for purchase. One of the first things you will notice is that this book is a lot shorter than the books I usually write. Compared to my previous book on ʿUmar bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz which was over 300 pages, this book is only about 70 pages.

It’s a very short book. Very easy to read, very simple to understand. That was deliberate and on purpose. The reasons why I made this book short are two. #1 I wanted this book to reach people who don’t usually read books. So, one of my goals behind becoming an author is to revive the culture of reading amongst Muslims. And for many people who have not read a book in many years, It’s a bit overwhelming to jump straight into a 300 or 400 page book. So can we produce books that are beneficial but also short?

If we just look at our history, the answer is yes! There have been many short books written throughout Islamic history that are extremely beneficial, and that have gone on to benefit people for hundreds of years. So I challenge myself to keep this book short. For every chapter, there was a lot more than I wanted to say but I forced myself to limit each chapter to 1, 000 to 2, 000 words. I wanted to keep it as short as possible and as simple as possible. So that even people who don’t usually read books would be motivated to read it. It is just 25 chapters. Each chapter is around three or four pages. It’s something that anybody can read and digest in small portions and that would make it beneficial to more people.

#2 I wanted it to serve as a textbook. I wanted it to be a book that could be explained in more details. Islamically, when we write books, our books are meant to be taught, not just read. When teaching a book, I think it’s better that the book is summarized and simple. It should be to the point the teacher should be able to expand upon it. I hope that this book would be something that people teach and explore in more details. I plan to do a full series explaining every chapter of this book in more detail, and I hope others would do so as well.

Why I wrote this book?

There are two reasons for writing this book, one is personal and the other communal. My personal reason is as follows.

Those of you who know me know that the past six years of my life have been very difficult. I’ve been through many trials, one after the other. Often going through many of them at the same time. In Ramadan 1444/2023, when I was writing this book, I was going through two of the most difficult trials in my life. Alhamdulillah, both these trials ended a week ago, one after the other.

Last Ramadan, I decided that I’m not going to write any book during Ramadan. Instead, I wanted to focus on my own soul and helping myself think better, helping myself think correctly and work through these difficult times. So I started writing some notes to myself on how to maintain a happy mindset, how to be more content, how to have inner peace during difficult times. By the 27th of Ramadan, I had written this book, Alhamdulillah.

Originally, it wasn’t meant to be written as a book. It started off in the first week of Ramadan as notes to myself on how to think better. But as I wrote every day for an hour, I found it developing more and more and I realized that this would make a good book. So I shifted how I wrote it and by the 27th of Ramadan the first draft of this book was ready. wrote this during the month of Ramadan to myself to help me get through some difficult times.

The Primary Themes of the Book

The other reason why I chose this topic, 25 Keys to a Happy Life, is that we are living in a time of unimaginable levels of sadness and depression with disturbing rates of suicidal tendencies. It is a time where a lot of people are not happy, particularly in the West. When I was growing up, back in the 90s and early 2000s, the West was very optimistic. It was a time of the pursuit of happiness. There was this idea that modernity is going to bring happiness and all of that failed in our lifetime.

We saw all of that fail and now in post modernity, nihilism has taken over. The younger generation are very pessimistic about life. They have this doom and gloom mindset about the future. Many people don’t have any motivation to live life or to work hard. Many people that I talk to have a very negative and pessimistic understanding of life and the world. They are purposeless and do not have hope for the future. Many don’t want to make anything of their lives and they’re just stuck in this negative mindset. How do we pull people out of this mindset? This book is an attempt at doing so.

My idea was to go back to that which made the early generations better. The early generations followed the Quran and Sunnah, they followed Islamic principles. Those civilizations that were built upon Islam were civilizations in which people, in general, were happier. This happiness comes from a very natural place, and there are principles we can follow to revive this our lives today.

There are very natural sources of happiness that modernity has cut us of from. They have separated us from the natural sources of happiness and tried to replace it with artificial happiness. These new artificial sources of happiness did not work. You can see this in almost every modern ideology. For example, liberalism gives us this idea that the more free you are, the happier you will be.

Yet we see in these lands where people have unrestricted freedoms, they also have the highest suicide rates. Islam is not against freedom, we just have a different understanding of freedom from liberalism. This liberal type of freedom, the freedom to pursue any sin that you like publicly, has not led to happiness. Likewise in capitalism, there is this mindset that the more money I have, the happier I will be.

It has been psychologically proven that’s only up to a certain level. Once you pass a certain level of wealth, more money does not bring more happiness. In fact, it often brings more problems. At what point do you become content? At what point do you say this is enough? This is one of the topics I explore in this book.

Two things that I emphasize a lot in this book are family and community. Living in the age of individualism, where everybody is all about themselves, and all they care about is themselves. People think happiness lies in selfish pursuits. They think that to be happy, they just need to focus on themselves.

I want people to realize that the natural path to happiness is in large families, in traditional families, in Islamic families. That is where you are going to find real happiness. Likewise, with community. To be part of the ummah, to be part of society, to play a role in the community. This brings about a deeper sense of happiness and fulfillment in life.

Life should not be just about work and entertainment. There is more to life than this. You will find more happiness, more genuine inner peace and contentment, if you work towards being part of a happy, united, loving family and playing an important role in your community. The modern world has tricked us into thinking that happiness comes through selfish pursuits but the reality is true happiness comes from being part of something bigger, being part of the ummah, being part of a family, being part of a community and having these loving relationships.

These are some of the themes that I explore in this book and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. The book is available here.

Nov

2024

Work in Silence

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Peace be upon the final messenger.

One of the disadvantages of the internet is that we are all connected too much and pushed to share too much. As a result, too many people spend a lot of time online talking about their plans, goals, and ideas without actually making time to work on them. It is easy to come up with an idea, post about it on social media, and enjoy the dopamine hit that comes with people liking and praising your idea.

The real challenge is to sit down, and work hard over a long period of time to turn that idea into a reality. Many people today do not have the commitment, patience, and mindset needed to do this. As a result, our ideas remain as nothing more than social media posts that generated a few likes. The real work begins when we break away from the internet and carve out time to work on our ideas.

Avoid Distraction

Being constantly connected is a distraction. It means that we are always consuming, always engaging, and that we are bombarded with an information overload. This also means that we do not have time or space to think deeply, work deeper, and produce better results. A simple tip for a more effective and productive life; spend less time online and more time alone with your thoughts and ideas. It is during these periods of intense focus that you will produce your best work. Away from the noise of the internet, you can think, strategize, produce, and be your best.

Think Long-Term

Besides being a distraction, the internet also tricks us into seeking the fastest path to success. We ignore the long-term and necessary work needed to build powerful businesses, develop powerful habits, and produce amazing products. Instead, we seek out the quickest product, the shortest route to a few extra dollars, and the fastest route to fame and admiration. The results are scams, shoddy work, and businesses that cannot last or generate profits long-term. Greed, impatience, and instant gratification will destroy any chances of success, if we allow them to dictate the speed and quality of our work. Do not allow the speed of online production to trick you into compromising on quality and long-term results. Take your time, be deliberate and be persistent. A business built over a decade will generate much better results than something you pushed too early and too quickly due to online pressure.

Work Deeper

To produce your best results, you must get used to working deeper. This means carving out blocks of high concentration time free from distraction and noise. During these periods, you focus intensely on your primary projects and channel all your energy into your work. It is during these periods of intense deep work that you will produce your best results. Make it a habit to carve out time daily for deep work. Figure out your peak concentration hours, schedule your most important work for that time, block out all the noise, and focus intensely. Do this daily, and you will produce amazing work constantly.

Stay Private

The world does not need to know about your ideas, goals, and dreams. In fact, most people do not want to know about these things, and many people are malicious and will react negatively to your ideas. They do not need to know what you are focused on or why you are focused on. Only inform the few that you trust, that support you, and that can assist you in achieving your goals. Beware of the false sense of accomplishment that comes from talking too much about goals and dreams. Focus instead on the real sense of accomplishment that comes from accomplishing your goals.

I recall when I was a teenager, I told my classmates that I want to be an author. One of my classmates, for whatever reason, reacted very negatively to this. He would mock me constantly about my dream and would always mockingly ask me “where is your book?” Once I broke away from that friend circle, I was able to sit in peace and product my first book in my early twenties. Nearly two decades since breaking away from this group, I have produced over twenty books, Alhamdulillah. I learned an important lesson from this, not everybody needs to know about your goals. Keep most of your goals private and work on them in silence. When the product is ready, then let people know about it. Until then, stay private and work in silence.

Let your work speak for itself

If you work hard in silence, every day, you will eventually produce amazing work that benefits many people. You do not need to self-promote if you feel it affects your intentions. You do not need to talk about yourself, your accomplishments, or your goals. You simply need to show up, produce great work, and let your work speak for itself. At the end of the day, once you produce something great, it will reach who it needs to reach, and its impact will spread through word-of-mouth. Therefore, taking the time to produce quality work is the best move long-term.

Life in the modern world has become too noisy and cluttered. Too many people lack the attention span and skills to focus on long-term projects. We are constantly distracted and tricked into chasing short-term results. We need to break away from any damaging habits that are destroying our productivity. This means learning to spend less time online, more time focused on work, and more time deep in thought. Spend less time on social media, focus on accomplishing your goals, instead of talking about them, and think long-term.

Work in silence and you will unlock more skills, stronger concentration, better ideas, stronger results, more valuable products, and better long-term results. Learn to work in silence, and you will benefit more than anyone else, and your results will speak for you.