Bismillah
Praise be to Allah, The All Knowing The All Seer, and prayer and peace be upon His beloved Messenger Mohamed Ibn Abdullah, his household and companions.
Do u need to make a decision on something? do u need to know what will happen regarding a specific matter? Do u have an unsettled matter that is really troubling and u need it settled in the best manner? Do need to know how to handle a specific situation? Will u resort to a fortune teller? magician? Will u seek consultancy? Will u spend hours talking to a friend on the phone, msn or on email and waiting impatiently for their opinions that sometimes become more puzzling?
How about looking into this amazing book and finding out what Allah Gave us to deal with such situations?
“He said: "O my Lord! Make a sign for me." Allah said: "Your sign is that you shall not speak to mankind for three days except with signals. And remember your Lord much (by praising Him again and again), and glorify (Him) in the afternoon and in the morning." (Quran 3:41)
When did this situation take place? It was when Zakaria (note he is a Prophet) was told that Allah Shall grant him a son, despite the fact that he was an old man with an infertile wife.
After a dialogue with Allah, although he is sure that Allah Is Capable of anything and everything at any time, still he needed a sign from Allah. He is just a human being like all of us. Just keep in mind of course that nothing happens haphazardly and nothing is contained in this book for no purpose. Allah Brought this clear example of a situation that all mankind are susceptible to coupled with the solution.
But only those with working mind, only those who use their brain (the distinction between mankind and other creatures) the way it is supposed to be used can realize this solution and use it effectively.
It is easy, simple, free, not time consuming, u don’t need to spend money on transportation to reach a consultant office, u don’t need to take of your time to adapt to his/her schedule, u don’t need to book an appointment. More important u don’t need to disclose matters that u don’t want to disclose to no one. Instead u only need to connect with Allah Who Is always there not once u will stand on His door and be told off by a secretary.
As I mentioned it is not time consuming but rather time investment u invest your time connecting to Allah which certainly yields amazing results manifested in solving your problem, not only this but also gaining much reward and getting closer to Allah.
Ok how can we analyze the Ayah:
1. Allah first commanded Zakria telling him that the sign or indication from Allah is that he wouldn’t talk to people for 3 days. But as far as Zakaria was concerned this was a real sign from Allah I mean he was not talking but unwillingly he was unable to. Allah prevented him from talking. Insh a Allah we will come to how we can apply this later. He was only allowed to communicate with people through sign language and was only able to talk when he made dhikr.
2. Allah Commanded him to make a lot of dhikr
3. This was followed by another one to do tasbeeh. The underlined part of the noble Ayah in Arabic is Sabeh Rabaka katheeran.
We can conclude that dhikr is different from tasbeeh, but of course tasbeen is part of dhikr. Also note that Allah when He Commanded to do dhikr, He Didn’t specify which type of dhikr that is needed to be made a lot or when. Unlike when He Commanded the tasbeeh, He specifically indicated the time, which is in the evening, and early morning. In other words, before sunset and after Fajr prayer.
Now back to the dhikr part, the dhikr here includes everything, prayer is dhikr, reciting Quran is also so, giving sadaqa is the same, mitigating the suffering of a Muslim, or helping to fulfill a need, even doing something that might trigger Allah’s remembrance at some other party is also dhikr.
Of course it includes fasting, and talking about prayer it certainly covers either obligatory or voluntary which is even more recommdended at such situations.
So Allah Commanded to do a lot of dhikr coupled with much tasbeeh before sunset and after fajr. A very specific prescription. Now this must be accompanied with stopping to talk to people. Surely we can not say fast of talking like Mariam, but u can at least do so for an hour. Like allocate an hour during which u don’t talk to no one and follow the steps.
Believe me brothers and sisters the output is amazing. Just go ahead and apply.
Alhdmulelah may Allah Accept, Forgive my sins, Improve my shortcomings, and have Mercy on me and my parents ameen.