For a while now, the outlook for this blog has been one of tarbiyyah and self-development. Really, brothers and sisters, I can’t stress how important tarbiyyah is in the life of a Muslim, or indeed in the life of any human being. Tarbiyyah is something which sees us through many things on a daily basis, it affects the way we worship Allah `azza wa jall and work Him in our lives, the way we deal with others, the way we conduct ourselves, the way we cope with the distresses of life, how we run our families, communities and how we perform as individuals in general. If we lack the solid, inside-out type of tarbiyyah, then throughout our lives, we’ll suffer one loss after another. We’ll see a downward spiral in our Deen and we’ll see little to no change in progress or development in our lives- in fact, it leaves us as stagnant beings and leads to our detriment.

A statement of Shaykh Ahmad Farid:

‘Al-Tarbiyyah al-Imaniyyah (training and developing oneself Islamically and internally) is a part of the tarbiyyah which a Muslim needs to take on in order to become a firm brick in the lofty castle of Islam. It is also a part of the tarbiyyah which is required to raise a generation upon the mode and manner of the first generation through whom Allah `azza wa jall permitted the conquest of lands, opened the hearts of slaves and they gave Islam strength and victory for many centuries to come…’

Without tarbiyyah, there’s not much you can do or maintain in your life.

I’ve decided to create a seperate category on this blog for my penned thoughts on this issue (see under ‘Tarbiyyah [Training and Self-Development]), and I encourage everyone, starting with myself, to try and incorporate the topics that are discussed, into our lives so we can really begin to emerge as strong and deeply principled Muslims.

Wa billahi-tawfiq 🙂