He Granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message but men of understanding - Al-Quran Al-Kareem (2:269)

Alhamdulillah, this new semester in July will see me coming back to work as a learner, teacher, educator, giver, facilitator, researcher and co-ordinator and etc at full fledge. Its good to remind me, my colleagues, and my students-to-be this one prime do’a, one of the things that keep me going at this crucial situation and also invaluable piece that I profoundly pleased to insert it at the 2nd page of my Ph.D thesis :

Intention for studying from Imam Abdullah Al-Haddad (may God be pleased with him!) translated from Arabic to English by Shaykh Abdul Aziz Ahmad Fredericks (may God be pleased with him!) of Glasgow, as:

All praise to God, Lord of the Worlds. And salutations and greetings upon our master Muhammad and upon his family and companions. I intend to study and teach, take and give a reminder, take and give benefit, take and give advantage, to encourage the holding fast to the book of God (the al-Qoran) and the way of His messenger, and calling to guidance and directing towards good, hoping for the countenance of God and His pleasure, proximity and reward, transcendent is He.

I would give this du’a to the very first of classes with students throughout the batches and InsyaAllah, we will recite it together before commencing each lesson hoping for barakah of our most beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him!) (teacher of all teachers), the composer of the du’a Imam Al-Haddad waliyullah and of Shaykh Abdul Aziz, teacher that we directly learned the du’a from.

May God grant us all success in the world and in the hereafter, ameen…

Beloved teachers and friends…kindly pray for me.

I come in many forms, but there’s one you know best
Surely you have seen me, smelled me on someone’s breath.

My power is awesome, try me and you’ll see
But if you do, you may never break free.
Try me once and I might let you go
But try me again, and I’ll own your soul.
When I possess you, you’ll steal, you’ll lie
You do what you have to - just to get high.
You’ll forget your morals and how you were raised
I’ll be you conscience, I’ll teach you my ways.

tbc….