As a student, I try to find spaces that feel like home. When I saw the flyer of roots, I was embraced by a sense of peace. It was like an oasis amidst a scorching desert.
There’s a void in us that can only be filled by Allah. We are truly blessed to have been given the awareness, knowledge, and recognition of Allah. To fulfil the spiritual void many people avail the wrong avenues. What a blessing it is to have Iman (certainty), to know about the Prophet (peace be upon him) from a young age, to know and remember about the sahabah (companions of the Prophet peace be upon him) and their sacrifices and endeavours in spreading this deen (religion) to us.
We are forgetful creatures and Allah says in the Qur’an:
Qur’an – The Winnowing Winds (51:55)
“And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers.”
I read this quote from a popular urdu novel, I have attempted to translate it:
Roots sessions are a step in the journey towards getting closer to Allah. To not let the worldly concerns distract us from our final goal i.e. the hereafter. The session is stacked perfectly amidst the weekdays. They’re once a week which makes them easy to absorb, reflect, and act upon. The classes act as a reminder to remain conscious of Allah and to keep taking baby steps towards Allah regardless of the downfalls.
The whole point is to never stop getting closer to Allah. We are sinful beings and He’s the most merciful. As long as we keep trying and making efforts for His sake He will never abandon us.
We try to earn His pleasure, not because He needs us, but because we do.
One of the things that struck out to me during my first class was how Ustadh Mustafa Razzak cared about the folks who sat alone. I was one of those students until he said, “it’s prohibited to sit alone in my class.” This seemingly small gesture gave me a sense of belonging and community.
Takeaways from the first session
Soon after, we dived into the session and we started by discussing the meaning of fitrah (natural disposition). It was a riveting exercise and it paved the way to establishing unequivocally that Allah exists.
Not just that He exists but also the perfection of His knowledge; He created us and hence none can know what’s best for us except Him.
Yet, we find it difficult to submit our wills to Him completely for various reasons.
The most fascinating thing I learned from roots class on Qadr was the backdrop of hadith Jibreel. During week 7 of our Roots workshop where we discussed Destiny and Divine Decree, Ustadh Mustafa Razzak mentioned the context in which one of the most fundamental ahadith was narrated and it blew my mind. Qadr and free will have been a hot topic for a while now but to think that even back then there were people who rejected the concept of Qadr. You can read the hadith by clicking here.
What struck me about the hadith was that there were people who recited the Quran and pursued knowledge and yet rejected Qadr. It’s not a new phenomenon. The hadith shows that it’s a fundamental part of faith. Rejecting the concept of Qadr can be for various reasons. The good part is that these issues have been meticulously dealt with. The only thing we need to do is ask the right people and who is better than your roots instructor to go for such queries.
The only thing we need to do is ask the right people and who is better than your roots instructor to go for such queries.
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