Assignment from TAF 101
Assignment: For this week’s assignment, evaluate yourself. How many things are you doing for yourself or for Allah’s sake?
Response:
Firstly, I would like to express my deep appreciation of Anse Farhana and the TAs/admins. I really appreciate the genuine and encouraging feedback on our assignments. I enrolled in this course because I wanted to develop a connection to the Quran. I know Anse said that at the beginning of every ayat to put our own name there, so that it is personal. I have always struggled with having a connection with the Quran. I really enjoy reciting the Quran, because I am taking Tajwid, but when it comes to its messages, I don’t understand Arabic and find the translations very dry. While I find tafsir very interesting, I have never been able to personalize it.
Until now.
It just hit me that Anse’s reflection questions are that personal connection to the Quran. So thank you for bringing the Quran to life.
I evaluated myself for 3 days.
- This exercise made me aware that my nafs plays a big role in my actions through the day.
- Particularly, I notice it plays a big role in my words and speech—as in, I don’t hold back when silence is the better option.
- I found it humbling to hold my tongue on a few occasions—in doing this exercise, I was intentional about keeping quiet when normally I would have said something or vented to someone. I held my tongue for Allah’s sake when normally I would have fed my ego and nafs.
- I have also struggled with being intentional about the mundane day to day things and work. I struggle to make an intention aligned to what would please Allah.
- If I can link these things to a sincere intention for Allah’s sake, I think everything could be for the sake of Allah and give beauty and meaning to even the mundane.
Prepared by Tabassum Firoz, Ribaat Student