THE KHALIFAH DIARIES Be The Best Muslimah For Allah SWT

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Our habits make up a huge part of who we are today. Just look at yourself, if you are not the person you would love to be, then you would have to check your daily habits.

The problem is good habits often take time to build and oftentimes they are harder to stick compared to bad habits.

So how do we build good habits as practicing Muslims?

Here are 8 simple and easy tips for you to build good habits starting today!

1. Go slow and steady

“Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise, and that the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little” [Sahih Bukhari].

Starting a new habit slow and steady gives you the benefit of not feeling overwhelmed from the get-go. 

Studies have also shown that small habits done consistently can lead to incredible results.

Some small but powerful habits you can start with is:

• Read 1 verse of the Quran each morning before starting your day.
• Say “Thank you Allah”, the first thing upon waking up.
• Saying “Bismillah” before you do anything.

Little things will add up and Allah SWT told us that He loves these precious little deeds that we do for Him every day. So, as long as you’re doing them sincerely and consistently, you’re off to a good start in sha Allah.

In the Hadith above, Allah told us that even if these deeds are done well, they will not make us enter Paradise. This is because we can only enter Paradise by the mercy of Allah alone and nothing else.

So, just keep in mind, anything you do on this earth is essentially to gain Allah’s mercy and in return, enter His Paradise in sha Allah. 🙂

2. Have a clear vision

Did you then think that We had created you without purpose, and that you would never be returned to Us? – [Surah Al-Mu’minun, 23:115]

While it’s good to go slow and steady, you need to have a clear vision of who you would like to become at the end of the road. 

If you noticed, your past daily habits are the single most powerful determinant of the person you are today. So, when you have a clear vision of who you’d like to become, it will help you reach your destination and avoid getting sidetracked.

For example, if you brush your teeth every day, your current teeth condition shows it. If you read a book a month, your current level of knowledge shows it. If you drink enough water every day, your current skin condition shows it.

A lot of the things we do make up the person we are today. So, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now, what kind of person would you like to become?

Here are some ideas:

• If you want to be a servant of Allah who understands the Quran deeply, read the meanings of the Quran every day.
• If you want to be a slave of Allah who performs the most beautiful Salahs, read up on articles and books on how the Prophet Muhammad SAW performed his salah.
• If you want to be a person who has the character of Prophet Muhammad SAW, read up on Prophet Muhammad SAW’s seerah and practice embodying his character as your own every day.

3. Do it just for Allah

Everyone acts according to his intention, and Your Lord is best aware of him whose path is right. – [Surah Al-Isra, 17:84]

This goes back to your intention. You need to remember to do everything in this life solely for Allah SWT, only then will your deeds be accepted as ibadah by Allah. The best part is when you set your intention to do everything sincerely to please Allah, automatically you will also get what you wish for in this dunya.

For example, let’s say you change your diet in order to lose weight. If you set your intention to lose weight to please Allah because He ordered you to take good care of your body, then you’ll instantly get the reward from pleasing Allah AND you get all the perks of having a healthier body.

Win-win, right?

So, just do it for Allah. Every other benefit will come as a result of it.

4. Beware of your temptations

Have you seen him who takes his own desires as his god? Then would you be responsible for him? – [Surah Al-Furqan, 25:43]

Temptations are our weaknesses. We all have them. 

Let’s take the example of losing weight again. What are some of people’s temptations when losing weight? Is it sweet food? Junk food? Carbonated drinks? Everyone has different temptations, right?

So, what you want to do is, you need to plan ahead how you might handle the situation when you encounter these temptations.

Here’s a suggestion. You can set up a reward or punishment system. Every time you give in to your temptations, you get punished and each time you resist it you get rewarded. 

Action steps:

1. Take a piece of paper and draw a line in the middle. 
2. Write down ‘Rewards’ on the left column and ‘Punishment’ on the right. Whenever you get rewarded for resisting your temptations, put a tick in that ‘Rewards’ column. Similarly, whenever you get punished for giving in to your temptations, put a cross in the ‘Punishment’ column.

You get to determine what reward and punishment you’ll get. The easiest is to use money, 1 reward = 1 Dollar to spend on something you love, 1 punishment = giving 1 Dollar to your annoying brother (hands up if you have one haha).

In terms of ibadah, maybe you’d like to improve your Quran reading, for example, and your habit is to read 1 page of the Quran a day. For each day that you read 1 page, you would put a tick in the ‘Rewards’ column. On the days that you don’t, put a cross in the ‘Punishment’ column.

Simple and easy, right?

5. Be imperfect

When you set out to change for the better, don’t expect perfection from yourself. You are killing yourself before you even start. Give yourself the grace that Allah has given you to make mistakes. 

That is how you truly embrace who you are. Yes, we can always try our best. But know that our best will never be perfect because we are made to be imperfect. 

Allah told His angels when He created Adam AS that He knows exactly why He created us with this innate tendency for destruction. To be shortsighted and limited intellectually to think beyond what He has taught us.

It is to sin and run back to Allah stronger with forgiveness. So, as long as you sincerely repent (not wanting to go back to your sins), you’re on the right track in sha Allah.

Just keep on ‘trying’ to improve yourself because your occasional slip ups are expected by Allah. 🙂

Corruption has spread on land and sea as a result of what people’s hands have done, so that Allah may cause them to taste the consequences of some of their deeds and perhaps they might return to the Right Path. – [Surah Ar-Rum, 30:41]

6. Appreciate your milestones

Every change needs tremendous effort, especially changes that are particularly good. So, give yourself some love and appreciation at each milestone. 

For example, if you manage to consistently read 1 page of the Quran a day for an entire week in a row, reward yourself with a lighthearted gift that makes you happy, like an ice cream maybe. Ice creams make me happy haha. Whatever makes you happy, do it.

Whoever desires the Hereafter and exerts the effort due to it while he is a believer – it is those whose effort is ever appreciated [by Allah]. – [Surah Al-Isra, 17:19]

Allah appreciates your efforts too. 🙂

7. Make it personal

This entire process will not mean anything if it does not mean anything to YOU per se. 

So, you need to put your emotions into it. What does it mean to you to be able to read the Quran smoothly? What does it mean to you to be able to understand EVERYTHING Allah is trying to say to you in His book?

Do they not think deeply (in their ownselves) about themselves (how Allâh created them from nothing, and similarly He will resurrect them)? – [Surah Ar-Rum, 30:8]

Try to reflect and write down what this journey means to you. We are all unique and special, so search your heart and find the answers for yourself.

When you find it, constantly go back to it in times of despair, that’s your secret weapon. 🙂 

In terms of the process, you can make it personal by being creative and fun. 

Here are some ideas:

• Use stickers to represent the ticks and crosses on your ‘Reward and Punishment chart’. 
• Reward yourself with something you’ve NEVER given yourself, ie. a trip to the Bahamas (haha I’m kidding, but you get my point).
• Collect all your Reward and Punishment charts to look back at them when you need motivation. 🙂

8. Don’t compare yourself with anyone

It’s good to be inspired by other people’s success but know that all of them started from the bottom. Those people who seem so high and mighty where they are right now were once exactly where you are right now.

If you feel like the Sahabahs in the time of the Prophet SAW were too amazing and there’s no possible way you could ever keep up in your lifetime, just remember that they lived in the time of the Prophet SAW, when Prophet Muhammad SAW was right in front of their eyes. 

And if they had any questions or misunderstanding, they could easily ask him directly. It is a totally different world from where we live right now.

Their challenges and ours are totally different.

Our challenge today is more with our own self, fighting our desires (wealth, children, fame) and fitnah, and striving to be a practicing Muslim.

So, never compare with anyone but your past self. If you are better today than the person you were yesterday, you are well on your way towards success and that’s all that matters to Allah. 🙂

Final thoughts

There is nothing certain about this life. One minute our iman is up and the next thing we know we’re doing the worst sins. (May Allah protect us).

As a sincere slave of Allah, the best thing we can do is to try our best every time no matter what that looks like for you because that’s the only way we may perhaps attain Allah’s pleasure and mercy.

May Allah have mercy on us all and accept all our tiny efforts to please Him. Ameen.

If I missed any steps that you think are important, feel free to drop them down below. I’d love to know your ideas. 

Any good from this article is from Allah and any evil is from the shaytaan and me. May Allah forgive our shortcomings in practicing His deen.

Wa billahi tawfeeq wa hidayah

(All successes come from Allah and His guidance).