As salaamu Alaikum

 

Sister you should remember that Allah does not get tired of forgiving his slave who repents with true sincerity. Your repentance seems very sincere. I am sue at the time of repentance you have no intention on every smoking again but due to weakness you fall into this again. We should never fall into hopelessness and think that Allah will not forgive us for making the same mistake again and again. We should not despair of Allah's mercy. Although Allah hates sin and warns of punishment for it, He does not want His slaves to despair of His mercy.  Despair is one of the tools of shaytaan (satan) to lead man into even more sin. Some people know they are sinning and satan whispers to them that they are doomed and going to hell. Eventually they are lead to believe that they might as well keep on sinning and even increase in their sins. Their sins increase from minor sins to major sins and eventually to even kufr. I have seen people who have committing sins which could take them out of Islam because they do not understand  that Allah's mercy is great. So we should fear Allah and at say time hope for his mercy and repent from our sins sincerely whenever we commit them. No matter how many times we commit them.

Allah says

 

 

Say: "O 'Ibâdî (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Az Zumar 39:53)

 

 

Allah says  : “And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful” [al-Noor 24:31]

 

 

“Seek the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance” [Hood 11:3]

“O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will expiate from you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise)” [al-Tahreem 66:8]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

"If you were to not commit sins, Allah would remove you and replace you with a people who would commit sins and then seek Allah’s forgiveness, so Allah could forgive them." [Sahîh Muslim (2749)]

Seeking forgiveness from Allah shows that we acknowledge that Allah is our only Lord. The worst sin is to deny the Lordship of Allah and to lie against Allah by associating partners with Him or setting up rivals with Him.

 

 It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: “A person committed a sin and said: ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’ His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave.’ Then as much time passed as Allah willed, then he committed a sin and said, ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’ His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave.’ Then as much time passed as Allah willed, then he committed a sin and said, ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’ His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave,’ – three times…”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 7507; Muslim, 2758.

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) included this hadeeth under the heading: “Acceptance of repentance from sins even if the sins and repentance happen repeatedly.”

He said in his Sharh:

We have already discussed this issue at the beginning of the Book of Repentance. These ahaadeeth clearly point to that, and even if the sin is repeated a hundred times or a thousand times or more, and he repents each time, his repentance will be accepted and his sin will be erased. And if he repents once from them all, his repentance will be valid.

Sharh Muslim, 17.75.

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said:

‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez said: O people, whoever commits a sin, let him seek the forgiveness of Allaah and repent, and if he repeats it, let him seek the forgiveness of Allaah and repent, and if he repeats it, let him seek the forgiveness of Allaah and repent, for it is like chains around the neck of man, and doom lies in persisting in it.



What this means is that a person will inevitably commit the sins that it is decreed he will commit, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The son of Adam’s share of zina is decreed for him, and he will inevitably come to that…” But Allah has given him a way out from the sins that he falls into and He erases them by means of repentance and seeking forgiveness. If he does that then he will escape from the evil of sin, but if he persists in his sin he will be doomed.

Jaami’ al-‘Uloom al-Hakam, 1/165.

Although Allaah hates sin and warns of punishment for it, He does not want His slaves to despair of His mercy. He likes the sinner to seek His forgiveness and repent to Him, but the Shaytaan likes it when despair fills a person’s heart and prevents him from repenting and turning to Allaah.

It was said to al-Hasan al-Basri: Would not any one of us feel ashamed before his Lord to seek forgiveness from his sin then go back to it, then seek forgiveness then go back to it? He said: The Shaytaan would like you to feel that way; never give up seeking forgiveness.

The gate of repentance is open. Abu Hurayrah said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever repents before the sun rises from the west, Allaah will accept his repentance.’” (Narrated by Muslim, 2703).

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah will accept the repentance of His slave so long as the death rattle has not yet reached his throat.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, 2802).

 

 

Allah says : "Indeed the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good." [Sûrah al-A`râf: 56]

 

A Muslim is also required to take measures which will help him not to fall into the sins he or she is falling into.

 

 

So you should work hard on kicking this bad habit of smoking.  You try and identify which emotional situations lead you to smoke and which social situations lead you to smoke. Then take action.  Sometimes a person is influence by others which leads him to start smoking again. Best thing to do is stay away from such people. You should also seek medical aids which help people to stop smoking.

 

 

Secoundly

 

With regards to your covering. Many New Muslimahs misunderstand how a Muslim female should cover and the purpose of the covering. They see Muslim women cover their heads whilst non Muslim women do not cover their heads and then they misunderstand what it means to cover because of sometimes inaccurate translations. The whole of a women's body must be covered  in a specific way. This is described in more detail on a detailed article i wrote on this issue on the following link of my website 

 

 

Wearing a short sleeved or even a long sleeved t-shirt defeats the purpose of the Muslim dress code. Sometimes we see sisters who have their head covered , yet the skin is visible or the  shape of their arms, legs, buttocks, private areas, chest, stomach and so on is visible. That makes a mockery of the Islamic dress code and disrespect to Hijab, I have often seen men whistling and beeping their car hones at such sisters who have their head covered but have make up on and are dressed inappropriately.

 

 

You have MashaAllah already been able to cover your hair. Try to also get an abya. You can pick some up for at little as £20-£25. Soon your body will get used to this. Allah has created us in such a way that we can get acclimatized to heat, cold and even low oxygen levels.

 

Winning a place in Jannah does require some effort and undergoing hardships. Winning a millions of gold medal in the olympics is nothing  compared in even the first  heaven. Let alone into the seventh heaven. Yet for worldly goals and praises , look at how much effort we may have made in our lifetime. As you are from Britain , you may have experienced similar situation to what i have experienced.

 

 I remember in secoundry school every one was made to do cross country running in extremely cold weather, Even the ground would be frozen. But just to come first in the race or get a good position, we would  endure aching legs (due to lactic acid build up) and breathlessness and even put our selves in danger of slipping on the icy surfaces and the boys and girls who were overweight were seemed to be suffering much more even though they may be running at less than half our pace. Yet kids ran out of fear of the teachers or because they wanted to please their teachers and get in the school cross country or athletics team. Even on a hot  summer we all tried to run 9000 metres. I remember coming first in my class in that race and the prize was not heaven for such a great amount of effort at that age. I have even heard of some people wanting to win a raise so badly they even collapse and faint. The reward they will receive for winning  some race's is nothing compared to what a Muslimah will Insha'Allah receive for being going through challenges for her Lord.

 

Feeling faint is nothing compared to what Muslimahs when through in the past and even what some are going through at present for their Islam and to please their Rabb (Lord). The great hero of the Muslims, Umm Umara, She fought for Islam and she would use her hands as shields. When the non Muslims would target the Prophet peace be upon him with their arrows, She would stick her hands in the direction of the arrow because she did not want her Prophet peace be upon him being harmed by the non Muslims. The arrows would pierce her hands. Imagine the pain that would cause. But the end reward was worth the pain.

 

Thirdly

As for praying when outside. I have one thing to say "Were there is a will. There is always a way". You can always find a bathroom to do wudhu. If you are shy to wash your feet in the sink. Then before you leave your house, you should do wudhu and put on your socks. When you are outside and time for prayer comes and you need to do wudhu. Do wudhu but when it comes to washing feet you can just wet your hands and wipe over your socks.

If you are out on a picnic and cannot find a bathroom. Then you should take some bottles of water with you. If for some reason you do not have any water available. You can do dry wudhu, the performance of  which is described on the prayer section of the website

 

www.muslimconverts.com

 

You can buy a simple compass from any sports shop for less than £10 From that work out the qibla direction and since Britain is a small Island. The direction does not change that much form place to place. Maybe just a few degrees.

 

Even if you did not have a compass and there was no way of knowing which way qibla is. Then you pray in a direction which you think might be towards the Makkkah.

You do not need huge amounts of space to pray. So you can always find some were to pray. Either inside or outside. The main obstacle is getting over the fear of what others may think. For instance I have prayed in shopping centres, in service stations, train stations, on the grass in car parks, even on a plane. Standing next to the door of a plane. I have even done wudhu in those tiny sinks they have in the place tiolets.

take care

walaikum salaam

AbuUbaida

group owner.

 

Why is having a dog as a pet haram? Can some one place
a hadith where having a dog living outside the home is haram?

Aamina

 

As salmu alaikum

I have answered this question in a detailed article on dogs in the social section of www.muslimconverts.com

 

Click on social section and then click on pets

take care

walaikum salam

AbuUbaida

group owner