My Lord, Increase me in knowledge

Tonight, I am supposed to be partying and hanging out with friends, yet here I am, all alone, thinking about the time that has gone by. The more I look at the past, the more hurt I am, at the way I have spent all these years. In Holy Quran, Allah says

“By the time, surely man is in loss, except those who believe and do good, and exhort one another to Truth, and exhort one another to patience”.

And I look at the time I have spent, I am certainly at loss. So much at loss that, I feel ashamed at myself. Every minute and every day that I have wasted, today appears as the mountains of gold that I failed to make my own. And with time, I am becoming more and more ineffective. The confidence to produce big ideas is diminishing. The ability to self-assure on the possibility of big break-through has drastically decreased. I don’t know, how far I can push myself. Mediocrity has been creeping into my actions and words.

Surely, I have had lot of opportunities in life that I have failed to convert into big. Laziness, distractions, lack of persistence and so on, have all contributed to my failures.

I have categorized the issues that are impacting me and have formulated a plan to overcome them. The most damaging issue has been laziness. Life is too short to be lazy. Following is my plan to combat laziness and distractions:

• · Perform Salah five times a day, on time. Among the thousands of advantages of Salah, one of them is ‘discipline’. Excess the progress after every Salah. I am accountable to every minute I spent.
• · Supplicate Allah to increase knowledge. Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) used to supplicate Allah by repeatedly saying “Rabbi Zidni Ilma” (My Lord, improve me in knowledge”)
• · Supplicate Allah to make me part of His plan. Found this beautiful prayer of Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) in Abu Dawud Book 8, Number 1505, narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to supplicate Allah: "My Lord, help me and do not give help against me; grant me victory, and do not grant victory over me; plan on my behalf and do not plan against me; guide me, and make my right guidance easy for me; grant me victory over those who act wrongfully towards me; O Allah, make me grateful to Thee, mindful of Thee, full of fear towards Thee, devoted to Thy obedience, humble before Thee, or penitent. My Lord, accept my repentance, wash away my sin, answer my supplication, clearly establish my evidence, guide my heart, make true my tongue and draw out malice in my breast."

I pray to Allah that, to accept my prayers and make me a better person.

O’ Allah, the King of the universe, the Master of the universe and the God of all mankind, I am your humble slave. I am nothing but Your creation. To You I worship and to You I ask for help. Make my stay on the earth meaningful. Grant me knowledge to overcome ignorance. Make me powerful to help the weak. I have done things that are unworthy and deeply shameful, O’ Allah, kindly forgive me. You are repeatedly forgiving. You are the best forgiver of Allah. O’ Allah, you have said that, your kindness precedes anger. Don’t make me part of your anger. Forgive my sins and lead me to the right path. Direct me when I am lost and energize me when I am on the right path. Push me away from the distractions. Give me refugee from the evil whisperings of Satan. You are the best planner of all and Your plan never fails. Make me victorious as part of Your plan. I want to make discoveries and inventions. I want to lead this civilization towards knowledge. My Lord, improve my knowledge. Make me the most knowledgeable among the men that are alive.