[User-Luser]

Hi brothers and Sisters im new to this forum yesterday i was would a friend btw im muslim. But not a very good muslim i was making intention to start praying and want to become a better muslim. And was inviting my muslim friend to come to the mosque with me. On my way home i was approached by 3 muslim brothers who iv never met before who invited me to come to the mosque is this a sign from allah inviting me?? this has never happened to me before.

[HonjUopu]

Yes, you have good intentions thats why.

[compiit]

Yes, that could be considered a sign. Listen! Go visit the Mosque, try learning about Islam. It is beautiful, really (I'm a convert, so I can say that!)

[Unoloknovagog]

Hi brothers and Sisters im new to this forum yesterday i was would a friend btw im muslim. But not a very good muslim i was making intention to start praying and want to become a better muslim. And was inviting my muslim friend to come to the mosque with me. On my way home i was approached by 3 muslim brothers who iv never met before who invited me to come to the mosque is this a sign from allah inviting me?? this has never happened to me before.

Asalaam-o-alaikum Warahmatullah brother Juned781,

Welcome to SunniForum. Subhan'Allah, none of us are "very good" Muslims, at least I know I am not. But we can certainly dedicate our lives to attempt to become very good Muslims, and Insha'Allah you are already taking steps to do so.

The 3 Muslim brothers who randomly approached you and invited you to the mosque, in my limited understanding, I would say that was indeed a sign from Allah . Allahu'Akbar.

Allah's signs are all around us brother, day in and day out, with every single breath we take, but one only really starts to notice them when we start trying to get closer to Allah.

Without going into details, I was once also, as you put, "not a very good Muslim", but Alhamdulillah I was guided by Allah swt to stay away from bad and rather go towards good. Similar to what you seem to be going through now. That, by no means, make me a "good Muslim", as only Allah knows who is good and who is not, but Insha'Allah I have full faith in Allah swt that I am now on a much better path, by Allah's grace, than I was before.

So, based on my experience, Insha'Allah here are some suggestions:

- Masha'Allah, you have already made the intention to start making salat (praying), so don't delay any longer. This will be key in your reformation inside and out. Without salaat, a Muslim is hollow from inside, his/her heart is empty, and no matter what sort of wealth and worldly 'happiness' he/she acquires, he/she will never be truly satisfied without guarding their salat. It takes a bit of effort in the beginning, but Insha'Allah, as you keep making the effort, Allah makes it easier and easier for you. So go to http://www.islamicity.com/PrayerTimes/ right now, input your location information, and print a monthly calendar with your local prayer times. Similarly, most mosques also have printed salat schedules available every month (some even yearly) so you may be able to pick one up from your local masjid.

Next, start following these prayer times like they are written in stone (because they are). That means praying no matter where you are, at home, on the street, in school, hanging out with friends, etc. If you know a prayer time is coming up and you are going to hang out, for example, and you know that it is difficult for you to pray when you are hanging out, then don't hang out and rather stay at home or go to masjid. Salat always, always gets priority and our plans and lives must be planned around salat, Not the other way around (salat being planned around our personal lives).

Start by praying fardh only if you are not in the habit of making salat. Just 2 fardh for Fajr, 4 for Zuhr, 4 for 'Asr, 3 for Maghrib, and 4 for Isha. Salat-ul-Witr is also wajib (almost fardh) so that cannot be neglected, so after Isha, even if you are not praying any more sunnah/nafl rakats, make sure to pray 3 rakat Witr before calling it a day. At first, you may have to 'force' yourself to pray.. but as I said it will, Insha'Allah, get easier and easier. For me the "forcing" period barely lasted 2-3 days when I got (back) into making salat 5 times a day. Really all it took was to make one salat, and it was like when the next salat time came, I would start feeling bad, even if previously I may not have had full intentions to pray, but I would start feeling bad and would just go to the bathroom, wudu, and pray. Then I was praying 4 times a day but not Fajr, so I started feeling really bad about that and started putting alarms to wake up, and making constant dua to Allah to help me pray 5 times a day and help me get up for Fajr. Then, I started going to the mosque more, which was usually for Isha and later on, Alhamdulillah, Fajr as well.

Wallahi I am not boasting or showing off but rather trying to make the point that (even though you don't know me) if someone like me can do it, then Insha'Allah anyone can do, you just have to start the effort, be sincere, make plenty of dua, and Allah will take care of everything from thereon.

It comes in a hadith Qudsi (paraphrasing) that the Prophet said that "Allah says if you take one step towards Me, I will take ten steps towards you; if you come to Me walking, I will come to you running."

We have to take that first step. We have to start walking. You took one step by going to the mosque, Allah :swt: sent you 3 random brothers to talk to you and invite you back to the mosque on Allah's behalf. Subhan'Allah! How great is that. You should feel beyond special that Allah especially chose you out of all his creation at that moment in time to be invited back to your masjid. Insha'Allah that should be all you need to go to your masjid every single day.

- Start increasing your knowledge of the deen. Listen to good stuff, stay away from controversies. Start with http://halaltube.com/, they gather a lot of good lectures from YouTube and stuff. Listen to ones which seem to be mentioning stuff which you want to learn more about, and also just listen to random ones as they are all good Insha'Allah. Eventually you will come to like certain speakers and will actively look for their bayans (lectures) all the time.

What I mean by "stay away from controversies" is, don't go to non-Muslim sites where they are speaking of Islam, or trying to make Islam look bad, or trying to "prove something wrong" about Islam, etc. You don't want to pay attention to these types of places. Even on this forum, you will usually see many threads about "such group vs. such group vs. such group", etc etc, don't even open those types of threads. Open the types of threads like the one you have started where Insha'Allah you and others will gain benefit and not get involved in controversy, backbiting, or useless talk.

- Three simple things:

1. If not already doing so, lower your gaze outside. What that basically means is stop looking at girls completely. That also is tough to do in the beginning, but Insha'Allah take that first step and Allah will take care of the rest. When walking outside, just look straight, or down, and don't pay attention to pedestrians etc... only pay attention to the extent of being safe (you don't want to get hit by a car because you weren't looking, or run into someone because you weren't looking, etc), but other than that, if you can see from your peripheral vision that a female is walking somewhere around you, take measures immediately to avoid looking at her (look elsewhere, look down, close your eyes if you are standing still in a safe place (i.e. again where you won't get hit by a car or something). I heard in a bayan at the Masjid that it comes in a hadith (paraphrasing) that when a man keeps looking at non-maharam (i.e. not your wife, mother, sister, etc) women with desire, Allah swt fills his eyes with fire, and on the day of judgement he will be thrown into hellfire; similarly, when a man comes across a woman and lowers his gaze for Allah's sake (doesn't look at her, avoids looking at her to the best of his ability), Allah swt fills his heart with love for Allah and he will be entered in Jannah on the day of judgement. So may Allah swt protect us all and make us among those who will be entered into Jannah on the day of Qiyamah without any reckoning. Ameen.

2. Music. Just stop listening to it. Any and all forms of music. Songs, TV shows, TV advertisements, random things which contain music. The only music which should enter your ears is at public places (such as shopping mall etc) where you have a need to go (such as to buy clothes or food etc) and cannot avoid it. At those places just completely ignore the music and in your heart do Zikr of Allah. Music may be able to enter your ears but you will notice, Insha'Allah, that you will develop sort of a "wall" around your heart which will prevent music from entering your heart when it is unwillingly entering your ears. Replace music with listening to Quran recitation instead. If you own a smartphone, there are plenty of free Quran apps these days, Alhamdulillah... just download a few and see which one is easiest to use, then start making use of it. Always keep headphones on you and listen to Quran whenever you can. Play it in your car while driving (on car speakers, not on headphones of course, that's unsafe ), listen to it on the bus, in the train, etc. There are also plenty of sites online, Masha'Allah, where you can listen to Quran recitation by so many of the world famous recitors. http://quran.com, http://houseofquran.com, http://quranexplorer.com, http://islamicity.com. Insha'Allah you will notice that your iman will improve and your heart will feel cleaner, and you will develop love for Allah.

3. Read up on Sunnah of the Prophet and start implementing as many into your life as possible. Start with simple everyday things, such as saying Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim before starting any task, when drinking water, do it in 3 sips instead of in 1 gulp, when going to bathroom, enter bathroom with left foot and exit with right foot, when leaving your house, exit with left foot and when coming into your house enter with right foot, when enter masjid, enter with right foot, when leaving masjid, exit with left foot, if you currently don't have a beard, start growing one. It doesn't have to be a full beard, but start keep some type of beard to start with, don't be completely clean-shaven, at the same time make dua to Allah to give you the understanding and tawfeeq to keep a full fist-length beard Insha'Allah. These are only some simple examples which we can easily incorporate into our lives. Insha'Allah as you learn more and more and become involved in your masjid, you will start to Insha'Allah implement many more sunnahs in your life.

I know this was a long post (I am now forcing myself to stop writing...lol) but I have been where you are so I felt that Insha'Allah I can relate with you and give you some pointers.

If there is anything good in this post, it is solely due to the grace of Allah and has nothing to do with me personally. If there are any mistakes or inaccuracies, they are purely and solely my own, personal fault.

Please keep us all in your duas brother.

[Manteiv]

Yes, that could be considered a sign. Listen! Go visit the Mosque, try learning about Islam. It is beautiful, really (I'm a convert, so I can say that!)

Good to know that.

Learn Islam from the scholars, if you can tell the mods where you live, they will guide you to them, don't try learning Islam from the Internet. Please.

Applies to bro Juned781 too.

[Manteiv]

@Shuayb Abdul Khaaliq, great post brother

Watch this advice from one of the biggest scholars of the world, its in urdu but there are english subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLyLJs4Ado

I also suggest bro Juned781 to leave in a 3 day khurooj.