Inspirations n Opinions =)

Dear Farid

2011-12-29T20:50:00.001-08:00

*Farid*

My friends and I were on a road-trip around California for the winter break. One of the stops that we went to was Long Beach in San Diego, and it was certainly beautiful and breath-taking, with the sea breeze and warm weather. :)

There were lots of yachts, as well as families having fun at the beach and enjoying the sea. My friends and I decided to try the funnel cake with ice cream which really looked delicious!

We then looked for a table nearby to sit and eat our funnel cake with ice cream :)

As we sat down and started to eat the funnel cake, an elderly man around his 40's or 50's that was sitting right next to our table suddenly asked us where we are from. We said Malaysia, and he said he's from Pakistan.

He then asked us whether we were muslims (because all five of us were wearing hijabs) and we said yes, and then he said he's a Christian convert, and he was a Muslim.

When he said that it wasn't much of a surprise to me, but then he continued by asking us 'Are you mad?'

I looked at my friends and they looked at me back. I think we were thinking of the same thing; of course we feel sad that he had converted out of Islam, but I don't think we have the right to be absolutely mad and angry at him for converting, because we don't know his full story aite?

And then we continued to eat our ice cream and funnel cake, until one of my friends asked us in Malay whether she could ask the old man why he converted. We agreed that the man seemed friendly, so maybe he wouldn't mind our question.

So my friend asked him why he converted, and he said he will tell us why, and started to have teary eyes.

He told us his story while having tears coming down his eyes, and a tissue in his hand to help wipe away the tears.

He said that he once worked for the airlines, and he was also a writer. But he said he became homeless at one time, and he went knocking on masjids and mosques to ask for help; at least for a roof to sleep under.

But alas, no masjids or mosques opened their doors for him. He said that he went to more than 20 masjids, but no one accepted him or offered him help. He then turned to a church, and they helped him out. The priests even gave him a key to the church for him to be able to live there as he wish.

That's why he converted to Christianity.

We didn't know exactly how or why he became homeless, or how he came to the States from Pakistan, but we certainly knew that that period when he became homeless was certainly a very hard time for him as he was literally dropping tears to the floor when he told us his story.

He then moved on to telling us that he did umrah at Mekah many times, but felt empty. He also started to question us on why Jesus, Moses, Muhammad and all the prophets were mainly from the Middle East. Why weren't there any prophets from Asia or from the West?

We know that there are many other prophets from all over the world, but not everyone is recorded in history and the prominent ones are mostly from the Middle East.

But at that very moment, my friends started to feel uncomfortable and decided to leave the table. My friends bid farewell and we started to leave the elderly man.

But as my friends left, I decided to stay just for a little bit to talk to him.

I told him that for what have happened to him, for when the people of the masjid and mosques turned him down and did not help him in his time of need, I said I am very sorry. The people of the masjid and mosques should have helped him when he needed help, and they shouldn't have turned him down.

That's not what Islam is about! Nor is it in any religion in my opinion.

I told him that Muslims, like myself, are not perfect, but Islam is :) I then apologized to him again for what they have done.

I then said that if he was my father, then I would have hugged him.

It completely breaks my heart to see him shed tears like that, especially when you hit rock-bottom, and you desperately need a place to just spend the night, or you will be in the streets at night :(

His eyes turned red and he shed a little more tears when he heard me say that. He then asked how old I was, and I told him that I was 21. He said his twin daughters are 24, and they still call him everyday to keep in touch :)

He then offered me to take his number. I hesitated for a while because if I were to take his number, he would definitely expect me to call him right? And I think his intention was so that just in case I need any help, I could just ask him for it and he will definitely be there. But I declined his offer kindly, and he asked repeatedly are you sure? (he was really more concerned and worried about me, as he was asking like will you be alright?)

I said I will be alright, and asked him right back will he be alright? And he said yes he'll be alright, and we bid farewell.

During his talk with me and my friends together, he did mention that even though the priests at the church preached to him, he still did not accepted 100% what they say. He even said that he might revert back to Islam, but he might not too. He also mentioned that it was very recent that he converted; in 2009.

Insya-Allah, he will revert back to Islam one day. It is indeed a very huge challenge given by Allah that he is facing right now; imagine if you suddenly became homeless, with no money, no family or friends, and you walked up to masjids and mosques to ask for help and they turned you down. Most normal human beings will do what he did; convert into the religion of the people that actually offered him help.

I think most of the masjids and mosques that turned him down that he was referring to was mostly small prayer rooms (but they do call them masjids or mosques), which are only open during prayer times (maybe like 30 minutes for prayer, then it'll be closed again. It's not open 24 hours for safety reasons). Only bigger masjids and mosques are open 24 hours. It is indeed such a difficult challenge that Allah has given this dear old man.

I managed to get the old man's name; Farid :)

I hope that Farid will be able to forgive those who turned him down at the doors of His house. Indeed, humans including muslims are not perfect. But Islam is :)

Only those with strong faith to Him, with a very strong heart, could be able to endure His great challenges.

None of us could anticipate or know what will happen to us in the future. But whenever we do, remember that Allah gives us challenges because He loves us. It might be hard for us to see it that way, but there is always a blessing in disguise.

So keep your heads held high, don't give up on Him, and know that when all else disappoints, Allah is and will always be there for you :)

You might say that He is not there when you needed Him most, but He is always there; it's actually up to you to be able to see Him there or close your eyes and not feel His presence.

It's a challenge, I know. It is not as simple as it seems. But, have faith in Him :) And you will notice His presence. Insya-Allah :)

And I hope you will too one day, Farid :)

Assalamualaikum :) <3

Country Invasion

2011-12-02T19:29:00.001-08:00

Q: Does America have any rights to invade another country?

Any country in this world definitely do not have the right to invade any other countries without a legitimate reason. And oil is not one of it. I would actually give my support to America if America has the intention to buy the oil from other countries, or even collaborate or make a deal for trade of oil, and not go to war for it. It is just history repeating itself; wasn't the wars in the past were simply based on greed? Greedy of wealth, land, oil, women, pride or even just for revenge.

I think the only time a country should invade another country if the people of the other country is suffering under their current rulers and it is obvious to claim so; hence invading that country is the only way to save the suffering people. A country should also go to war if they are indeed in danger and they need to protect their country and people. The war should only be between the warriors and soldiers sent by the respective countries; civilians, children, the elderly and women who are not participating in the war are not to be injured as they are not within the war zones. This is the war etiquette that should be followed, as how the Qur'an has prescribe it to be.

Even though it is true that Qur'an has verses talking about war, those who do not read the whole verse or the chapters that do talk about wars will definitely misinterpret the Qur'an as 'promoting' wars; what is prescribed in the Qur'an about wars is actually the many many rules and etiquettes of war, hence making war as a last resort to solve disputes.

Once a war is over, there should not be any further killing on the losing end, just as how our Prophet and many other great leaders had shown mercy and kindness to the civilians even though they were of the losing side. I am not saying this to convince anyone that Islam has the best war etiquette; there indeed has been Muslims that have misused the name of the religion to commit terrorism and even horrible crusades in the past.

*9/11 is an example of people misusing the name of Islam for world peace*

But if you were to really study the Qur'an verses on war and how Prophet Muhammad conducted and led the wars based on the true verses of Qur'an, you will be surprised. Study the history of Islam in their early days, study how Prophet Muhammad started his journey on bringing Islam to the world.

The internet is definitely a great place you can find lots of data from both views of the the war verses in the Qur'an. Hence be prepared to evaluate which sources is the one we will trust and believe to be true.

*Misunderstanding could lead to more misunderstanding*

I might seem to be regressing from the main question of this vlog, but I truly believe that if one were to really follow and practice the war etiquettes based on the Qur'an, these issue of countries invading other countries for resources, based on greed, causing death of hundreds and thousands of innocent lives,.. Might finally come to an end. God willing.

"Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loves not transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter... But if they cease, God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful... If they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression" (2:190-193).

PennState Crisis: Lessons?

2011-11-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about the crisis, it was when the issue was just started to rise and Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier (President of Pennstate) was still a part of Pennstate alumni. At the beginning, I only heard about Pennstate facing a crisis. Later on I soon heard that it was something about a sex scandal. Truthfully, I was not very concern about the issue as we always hear about sex scandals and affairs in the news. It is true what Sam has said in class; victims are often silenced and will never speak out. But we do know that sexual abuse and assaults are common. Little did I know that it was such a huge deal for PENNSTATE when two most respective idols of Pennstate were involved.

*Joe Paterno (JoePa), the head coach of Pennstate's football team for 46 years.*

When I started to hear that JoePa's job was on the line, the first question that popped in my mind was 'Was he the one who did it?' Soon to find out that JoePa wasn't, really left me feeling that the whole news coverage on JoePa much more instead of the real offender, is really absurd and ridiculous. Finding out later that the university board of trustees had fired JoePa and the president of Pennstate really set an uproar across pennstate students.

*Graham Spanier, President of Pennstate before the crisis.*

The riot then quickly followed. The Candle Vigil was for Pennstate to redeem itself in a way and to show support of the victims of sexual abuse. We also managed to witness a very mature Pennstate when Pennstate lost it's last football game to Nebraska, but nobody was going nuts downtown like they would use to.

Being from thinking that this is just another sexual abuse case into thinking that Pennstate's reputation might be tarnished forever and into this is how it feels to be labeled and stereotyped as how muslims and middle eastern students faced day to day, is quite an amazing journey within a short amount of time.

The first thing that I've learn from this is how ridiculously everything is just about politics, well in my opinion that is. I do not see the reason why we need to bring in the higher authorities that actually did try to do something about the matter when they knew about it, while leaving the real culprit being the 'sub-topic' of the matter. Why do I see more people condemning PENNSTATE as a whole, condemning JoePa and the president compared to the culprit if he is indeed guilty of the charges? Very interesting display of politics, I must say.

I was only aware that this scandal could indeed harm Pennstate's reputation and the students when we discussed the issue in class. And also when the media started to ‘attack’ Pennstate. To add to that, class last week also made me aware of another thing: 'American' Pennstate students are actually experiencing what muslims and middle easterns had been experiencing over the years since 9/11. Despite being a muslim myself, I have only been in this country for 3 years for studies, hence I have yet to really experience discrimination if I were to plan to migrate and live in the U.S. for good. Plus, I am indeed studying in State College; thankfully, the community here does not discriminate as much as incidences that I have heard of in different states of the country.

Come to Pennstate, and you will know how friendly and peaceful this community is. Even cars will stop for pedestrians who might not be crossing the road at the right time or right place! Try crossing the road in New York or back at home in Malaysia. You are certainly putting your life on the line if you were to do just that.

Going back to what Sam said in the 2nd class to discuss about the crisis, I could not agree more with what he concluded in class. We should not just ‘Deal with it’, or face the problems that we are facing in life, but GROW from it.

Remember the sweet memories, but don’t forget the bad memories either; learn from them so that we may move on to look for new sweet memories :)

Hang in there Pennstate.

We are.... PennState!

Why So Judgemental?

2011-11-11T17:25:00.001-08:00

Innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent? Does the first only belongs to optimists and the latter to pessimists? Or does the latter practices 'better be safe than sorry' or the first 'don't judge a book by it's cover?'

As Sam has mentioned many times, everything in this world, especially humans, is not simply black and white. We are all grey, and very complex creatures with various and diverse complex matters and problems.

Gray :)

Even though intellectually we all know that 'innocent until proven guilty' is the optimists road, preserving human rights and all, but we still can't avoid passing judgement very quickly on everyone we meet, or on every matter we encounter. This is simply because we are human in nature. We have those natural mechanisms of caution and survival whenever we encounter something, regardless of it being harmful or harmless. Yes, not everyone reacts or pass judgement the same way towards the same matter; we are indeed complex creatures. However when we do pass judgement rather quickly on others, it is simply due to our defensive mechanisms kicking in.

Say for example you meet a new friend through friends at a party. He/She seems to be the attention getter, and just started acting wild because of alcohol, and started bashing you for really embarrassing matters. You would almost immediately take him or her as a jerk and start to defend yourself; especially in front of your group of friends.

For the most of us this judgement might only last until that person is sober. But for the first hour that we have met the drunk-jerk, we made a judgement (of the person being a complete jerk) simply to enable ourselves to defend our dignity and honor.

The same goes for 'judging a book by it's cover'. I could honestly say when I was traveling with in Philly, we will be extra cautious of black men. We are not being racist, but we were only afraid and worried of our safety as a result of hearing rumors of the ghetto area of Philly. I myself have met black men who are the most gentle and intellectual individuals. However when we were in Philly, my friends and I passed judgement for our safety.

I could say that it is not easy to overcome this quick judgmental side of our human nature. I even struggled with it for a bit myself for quite a long time. A few years ago, I struggled with having the 'first impression' that muslim boys and girls that were social, drinking, leaving their five time prayers, eating pork, and could care less off their aurah and sleep around were all extremely 'bad' people. But over time, I learned that I have no right to judge.

They all are still Muslims, and they still have the chance to repent and turn a new leaf, because Allah is the All-Forgiving. In fact, they are facing huge challenges by Allah; where their ignorance of the religion and towards sin is also a sign that Allah still loves them.

Who knows they might have had a bad childhood, or dark horrible stories that caused them to be that way today. I think the main root that we pass judgement very quickly on people is because we assume that they are like us. We assume that they have the same opportunities and chances to know what we know, to learn what we learn and be able to overcome ignorance. Not everyone has the same childhood, the same family, the same house, and even the same friends! Then we start passing judgement when someone else has different values, different believes.

Learning this changed my life. I no longer pass judgement on a person ultimately because he or she is different from me even for the slightest bit, because I am now aware that they may not have the chances that I had to learn what they have yet to know; or maybe something that they do know that I am ignorant of. Hence if we do encounter those who remain ignorant, it is our duty to TELL them what we know before passing judgement. Teach it to them. Then if they still reject it, it is between them and Allah.

I am still learning too. So if I am ignorant of something, please do share with me your knowledge, and I'll gladly share you mine :)

Let us share the knowledge, then maybe the world will be a better place.

Rasulullah(saw) said "The best of charity is a Muslim who learns a knowledge and later teaches it to his Muslim brother."

:)

Your Race

2011-10-14T13:54:00.001-07:00

*Part of 5 Usaha, 2006 :)*

Since I was little, I had always been aware of my skin color and my facial features that categorize me into a certain racial group, and with the things and stereotypes that comes along with it. This is because I am from a multiracial family: my mother is Chinese while my father is Malay- the majority group in Malaysia.

Being born in a multiracial family could be a blessing, and also a curse. My older brother inherited physical features from both my parents; he could blend in a Chinese or a Malay group of friends without anyone identifying him as a 'black sheep'. My younger sister only inherited my mother's side, hence she has all the physical features of a Chinese. She almost always will experience someone at the cashier or in a shop talking to her in Mandarin, even though she does not understand the language at all; she would simply smile back in return. There was once that my brother and sister went into a Chinese barber shop together, and the Chinese lady spoke to both of them in Mandarin (or other Chinese languages) and even mistaken them to be a couple. :p

*my siblings and I :) <3*

I followed my father's physical features almost a 100%; you could say that I am the 'girl' version of him. With that being said, my 'race' is definitely a Malay; so is the race of my siblings despite them having Chinese physical features.

*my parents :) <3*

Whenever we would go back to my mother's or father's families hometown for holidays, celebrations or even just for a visit, I had always felt different because of my 'race'. Whenever I would go back to my mother's side, everyone there were Chinese, even though they spoke English, Malay (our mother tongue) and Hokkien very very well, and they were all very very warm and friendly people. Even so, I couldn't help but always feel 'left out' sometimes during those family gatherings just because of my physical features.

*angpows given at CNY :)*

It has been a while since I've gone back to visit them since I am here in Pennstate for studies, but I do hope I will be able to overcome the differences, and focus more on what I actually have; warm and loving relatives. :)

*My parents and my mom's siblings :)*

Another different story happens when we visit my father's family side; none of my cousins were in my age range (they were either my brother's age or my younger sister's age) so I am often left out without anyone to play with haha :p but things do get better once we get older.

*delicious Raya cookies! YES DOLPHIN SHAPE specially for me ;p*
*MORE COOKIES :P*

Being a mix, I had always had friends of the three racial groups in Malaysia without much hesitation; Malay, Chinese and Indian. During elementary school, some of my friends of all races and I spoke English more fluently than Malay (surprise!). As I moved up to high school, most of my Malay friends talked more Malay than English; hence the start of my 'social education' in speaking our mother tongue as I also speak English at home with my family.

*my elementary school best buds! Reunion ;p*

Even though my friends and I have no problem with our differences, the education system back at home certainly separates us by our race. There is a scholarship to further our studies abroad specifically for Malays, which is the scholarship that I am under. The Chinese and Indians do have opportunities to apply for other scholarships, but it is definitely much tougher for them to get one compared to Malays because of the limited quantities and high competition.

It is no doubt that Chinese students often get amazing grades and are even more qualified to get a scholarship compared to others, but Malays have that sort of 'White privilege' that Whites have the U.S. There has been protests and disagreement on this inequality; even my friends and I of different races do not agree with the inequality.

*together we stand in uniforms :)*

Despite benefiting from my Malay 'privilege', I would still root for equality of education because I know some of my friends are more qualified for opportunities like these. And besides, if I keep getting great privileges without much of a fight, I will tend to take it for granted and not do my best to achieve what I am capable of. Hence the reason why our Malay stereotypes are people who are lazy, never on time and ignorant. I am absolutely positive that if everyone had an equal amount of opportunity to further our studies and in any matter in that case, we will be working our butt off to fight for those opportunities.

In the end, everyone will definitely benefit; Malays will no longer be lazy and will become more productive individuals and will not take opportunities that they have for granted, and that Chinese and Indians will also prosper in our country without facing discrimination. Then only we may be, proud Malaysians. :)

*My high school classmates! graduation Day :) 2006*

"And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned." Qur'an (30:22)

Why Do Women Dress A Certain Way?

2011-10-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

Women dress in a certain way for various reasons; it could be to gain respect from others, to fit in with their peers or society, to get potential soul mates and attract them, to feel confident and beautiful, to go to a party, an interview, etc etc.

*Every women wants to look beautiful on their wedding day :)*

Most of the time, all girls will tell you that they dress a certain way simply because they love that dress, they love their shoes and feel beautiful in it, and feel confident. I really do think that this is the main reason why all girls dress the way they do; to feel beautiful and confident. For guys that label girls with short skirts and revealing clothes as either sexy or slutty; most of the time the girls are looking to just feel sexy in those clothes, and not to 'sell' themselves.

I am not saying that wearing short skirts is okay if you just want to feel beautiful and sexy, or dressing just the way you want because you want to feel beautiful and sexy is wrong; girls, we must find the right balance between the two.

Sometimes we would feel and say that "I feel beautiful in this dress, I don't care if it looks slutty for others." I will give a thumbs up for your confidence in following your heart, but a thumbs down in executing it. You might feel beautiful in that dress, but others will get the completely different, and most of the time the wrong idea.

Once again, I STRONGLY encourage everyone to follow your heart and in no means that I am saying that other people's opinion of you is more important than your own heart. Do follow your heart, but start listening to others when almost everyone is saying the same, incorrect thing; you are dressed to feel beautiful and look beautiful, but your guy friends, girl friends and maybe even younger children are telling you that is sends another message to the world.

It's just the same with everything else like attitude; be tough and strong to others so that they won't take advantage of you, but start listening when almost everyone is telling you that you are hurting others and arrogant; it means that you are executing your values the wrong way.

With that being said, everything needs it's balance. It is not easy to find that right balance in what to wear that makes you feel beautiful and look beautiful to others, but once you find it everything will be worth it. Doing this is not to in any way to please others, but to please yourself and be safe with it; you feel beautiful but you are also sending the wrong message which could endanger your life if the wrong type of guy gets the wrong message.

*My Malaysian friends and I :)*

I am a Muslim, and I do wear the hijab or head covering. I can tell you from experience that even though I dress all covered up, I do still feel beautiful, confident and safe :) Just ask any guy on how he acts with a girl fully covered compared to a girl who has a pretty and sexy dress on. You will find that most guys automatically have a certain level of respect for a fully covered girl without even knowing who she is personally.

*Hope this will open your mind! :)*

This also applies to girls who dresses modestly even without head covering, compared to a girl who dresses up ready to party all night. There is a difference in the level of respect between the two.

*compare this lady with the picture below. Which one has your respect?*

I am not implying that all girls who dress all sexy and fun are bad girls, and that girls who cover up has 100% perfection in her attitude, but what I can say is that why dress in a way that can cause harm to yourself, when you know deep down you are a much better, beautiful and intelligent person :)

Dress to please the most important factor in your life, and you know who He is :) when you have that intention, you will almost always never go wrong :)

"O Children of Adam! Indeed We have sent down to you a garment which covers your shame and provides protection and adornment. But the finest of all is the garment of piety. That is one of the signs of Allah so that they may take heed." (7:27)

*Me :P*

Haiti Project

2011-09-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

*Figaro and my lecturer, Sam :)*

I’ve always heard Sam mentioning about the Haiti Project that he and a bunch of his other friends are working on, but I have never actually get the real details of it.

It surely touched my heart that such inspired and committed people of Haiti are trying to bring Haiti back to it’s own two feet through their business they are working on; creating more job opportunities for the people of Haiti, as well as goods to consume or use. Even though they know they have such limited resources to begin with, such challenges did not let the people of Haiti to give up. Sam and the others who are involved in this project to aid these entrepreneurs are definitely people with warm hearts.

I really see that these small businesses could truly help a damaged country like Haiti recover from her wounds. Even though some might not think that such small businesses are able to help such a LARGE country with poor resources to recover, what more advance into a more modern and developed country. These people should know that small things do matter and they do make a difference. It is only a matter of time that these businesses will become big, creating more job opportunities for the people of Haiti and providing food, clothes, decorations and many more to the people of Haiti without relying on imported goods which might be more expensive. In the long run, everything will be worth it.

*Figaro and her business :)*

Regarding the rice issue that Sam had discussed in class, where the US government subsidizes the local farmers to sell their ‘unwanted’ rice to the Haitians at a lower price, it surely had more negative effects on Haitians that its positives. Even though the people of Haiti do get to buy the cheaper rice from the US than purchasing the local rice, this results in a lower demand in local rice, hence affecting the agriculture industry as a whole! Jobs are lost as local farmers could not produce rice as much as they did before due to the cheaper imported rice from US. This has not only caused the people of Haiti to lose their agriculture and job opportunities in the field, but this has also caused the MONEY of the people of Haiti to go straight to the US, and not to the people of Haiti. The money flowing out of Haiti is damaging Haiti herself, rather than helping the country or the people.

In the end, only the US benefits from this ‘relationship’.

I am very sure that most of my American classmates hearing this issue are either in disbelieve or even disgusted with what have been going on with Haiti, and even with Africa in that matter. The 3 billion dollars that was supposed to be used to aid the people of Africa, 2.5 billion of it ‘returned’ back to the US itself. Who knows, maybe even the 5 billlion left did not even reach the people of Africa.

Hence, I know that not all Americans are responsible for this. But we should not just stand back and say “Even though I did not do it, I apologize for behalf of America.” But rather say “I’m sorry they did that, it is absolutely not right. I WILL FIX THIS.”

This corruption does not only apply to America alone, but other places around the world as well, especially if there are people of power with lots of money who misuse them for their own selfish reasons.

So here we go, youth of the world. Let’s make this Haiti Project a stepping stone for us to change the world. :)

*Figaro and her home*

Link to the main page on Haiti Project : http://www.worldinconversation.org/our-projects/haiti-entrepreneur-initiative/

Obama: Christian or Muslim?

2011-09-08T18:17:00.001-07:00

I am sure that almost everyone who had one glance at Obama would immediately classify him as Black, even though he is actually multiracial. Even so, his race did not change my opinion of him negatively, but rather positively I must say before and after I learned from class that he is multiracial.

Everyone was indeed talking about how he is the very first Black president of the USA (even though he is not black 100%). Despite not being an American citizen, I could understand how the locals feel proud of their country as they finally took a step further to go against racism, to finally get past that ugly history of slavery. In addition to that, I managed to get a chance to hear one of Obama's speech on television before the election. Honestly speaking, I find Obama to be a very intelligent man, with so many words of wisdom that he had spoken during that speech of his. His skin color did not leave a negative impression in me, but after listening to his speech, I had double the respect for him for being so courageous to walk into the path that I'm sure he knows will not be an easy one.

There was once where Sam (my SOC119 lecturer) asked us vote on what we think Obama's religion is, and Sam got really upset when some of us said he was Muslim, and not Christian. Just because Obama was black, the whole nation questioned his religion even though Obama said that he was Christian. Racism, in America, still strongly exist, even towards the president of America! Sam said that if Obama was white, such a question will never be raised against the president of America.

I must admit that I was one of the person who voted and thought that Obama was a Muslim. I did it not because I questioned Obama's religion of him not being a Christian just because Obama was black, but I did it because I did hear rumors that he was a Muslim, and I was actually very happy about this. This is because if Obama was indeed Muslim, he would be the man who will be able to fight Islamophobia, the stereotypes of Muslims being terrorists and Islam being a violent religion after the horrible incident of 9/11. I believed that he was an intelligent and respectable man that could deny all the false news on a religion of peace. It wasn't, as Sam indicated in class, because I saw Obama as a person of color.

So after learning that Obama is indeed a Christian from class, my opinions of him did not change much (other than letting go of the hope for him to stand up for Islam). But truth be told, the people of knowledge can tell what is right and what is wrong, and take the right path with courage. ;)

Inspire Our Children to Pray

2011-08-23T04:30:00.001-07:00

Assalamualaikum my dear brothers and sisters! :)

Here is a great link on advices and tips on how to teach our children (or future children hihi) to pray to Allah and encourage them! :)

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/worship/prayer/inspiring-our-children-to-pray/

I guess the best way is to set a good example to our children by performing the prayers ourselves! :) And give positive encouragement to our children to pray and not always scold them or get angry at them 24/7 if they have yet to perform their prayers appropriately. Patience has its rewards, insya-Allah :)

Good luck dear parents! May all of us be blessed with solehin and solehah children, amin! :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

One night, in Ramadhan..

2011-08-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

There is one night in Ramadhan that we would like to be able to 'find', which is called Lailatul-Qadr. It is the night full of blessings, where our deeds and ibadah will also be multiplied many many times :)

But there is this one night during this month of Ramadhan, I had experienced something very special from Allah :)

This year's Ramadhan, I had decided to try to do 8 rakaat terawikh prayers and 20 pages of Qur'an everyday. I know it's a challenge, but I'm willing to give it a shot and try my best :)

So after I have done my 8 rakaat of terawikh prayer, I took my small Qur'an and started reading the 20 pages. Just a few pages later, I felt terribly sleepy and fell asleep on my bed (yes I was reading the Qur'an on my bed, bad strategy but very comfortable ;p)

Then I had a very very terrible dream. It was a nightmare about something I feared for so long. I could remember that right after that 'incident' happened, I was crying in my mother's arms in that dream.
As soon as I woke up from my sleep at around 2am, I realized that it was a dream. Even so, I couldn't help myself from crying my heart out as it all seemed so real. "Is this the truth, oh Allah?" I could remember saying this to myself with tears..

I then remembered that I haven't completed the 20 pages of Qur'an, and I also had work the next day so I can't cry too much or I would have puffy eyes at work the next day XD

So I went to the toilet to take my wudhu', returned to my bed, wore my telekung (or hijab) and took my Qur'an back. However, I was only capable of lying down at that moment, and I fell asleep once again.

I then had another dream.

But this time, it was different.

It was about the very same incident, but it was as if the second dream was the complete opposite of the first.

The first was about something I feared so much, while the second was about something I wished and loved would happen, on the very same matter, with the very same people :)

The feeling of happiness and tranquility that I felt in that dream is indescribable. And as soon as I woke up from my sleep, I felt extremely calm, and I could smile happily. I could not bring myself to tears even though I could clearly recall the first horrible dream.

SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah oh Allah.. :')

Some might say that dreams are indeed the games and play of Syaitan or Setan, but then, I have never had two consequtive dreams, which are the COMPLETE opposite of each other, on the very same matter.

The first might have been Setan's play, but I am sure..

That the second was from Allah, consoling this very weak and tiny servant of His. :') I feel blessed, and embarrassed that Allah would consol such a weak person like me.

Thank you oh Allah.. :)

What was my dream about? Well, I guess that would remain between me and Allah ;) But I can give you an example of how the dreams are the direct opposite from each other.

Perhaps one of your loved ones had recently passed in an accident, and the first dream was about how he or she had died, and it was such a gory and painful death. And when you had your second dream, you met him or her, very happy and healthy, telling you that she or he is doing fine and is happy right now eventhough they may have passed.

Allah is indeed, The Greatest, The Most Merciful :)

Dwibahasa

2011-07-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum! :)

Long time no write! :p

I apologize for my Manglish (Malaysian English), but this post is to actually address this very same issue :)

From now on, I will try my very best to post anything on this blog in both of my core languages; English and Malay. This is mainly because there are things that I post that I would like everyone to be able to read and understand (mainly English), but there are also things that are important that I know some readers would understand better if I were to write it in Malay. Hence, I will do my best to post any of my personal posts in both languages, Insya-Allah! :) But I would like to apologize in advance as my stronger language is indeed English ;p

*how we Malaysians have a huge variety of languages = rojak :p*

This is also a good exercise for me; your language or writing skills tends to get messed up when you mix them with other languages (for instance, Manglish :P) so I am also determined to improve my means of communication with you guys! :) so it’s a win-win situation! :D

However, there might be exceptions where if I were to copy and paste other people’s blog/posts/article, there might not be a translation as the original is always better in this case :)

With that being said, I apologize for not posting for a very long time! But I will soon, insya-Allah! :D (even though there aren’t that many readers that comes to visit my blog every now and then ;p) Oh and please do note that the English-Malay versions of my posts ARE NOT direct translations! :D *I tend to add and reduce certain areas, so they will not be exactly the same, but the main message will still be the core :)*

Till next time! :)

*Malay version :)*

Assalamualaikum!

Waah da lame kan tak tulis kat blog ni? ;p Maap2 yek da lama tak menulis kat blog nih! :D insya-Allah nnt akan ade update2 yeeek, amin! :)

Di sini kami ingin beritahu bahawa insya-Allah untuk post2 yg akan dtg, akan kami post dlm dua bahasa utama; English dan BM :) Ini adalah kerana ada post2 yg kami ingin semua org di dunia dpt membacanya dan memahaminya (pakai English la kat sini kn? :D) tetapi ade juga post2 yg kami rasa lebih senang difahami bila baca dlm BM (kdg2 baca English sakit kepala jgak kn klu tak paham XD) jd kerana itu, insya-Allah kami akan usahakn sedaya upaya untuk post ape2 post dlm dua2 bahasa! :)

Kami buat mcm ni pon untuk bantu diri sendiri jgak dlm penguasaan dwibahasa nih :D sbb selalu juga post blog2 nih dlm bahasa Manglish (campur English dgn BM, tp English lebih kuat la :p). Lama-kelamaan jadi lemah la juga penguasaan bahasa ni. Insya-Allah, dgn berbuat begini kita akan sama2 mendapat manfaatnya! :)

*Kami ingin terlebih dahulu meminta maap kerana BM bukanlah bahasa yg kami berjaya kuasai sepenuhnya. Insya-Allah, pada suatu ari nnt! :)*

Oh2 untuk post2 yang kami copy paste dari blog2 orang lain, atau article atau dr mane2 sahaja, kemungkinan besar tidak akan dialihkan bahasa asalnya sbb lagi best dlm bahasa original kn? :) tapi sekiranya mampu, insya-Allah kami akan cuba translatekan juga :)

Stakat ini sahaja! :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

Jihad?

2011-04-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Watching this video, though it may sound funny, made me scared as well despite being a Muslim. Even another friend of mine who is Muslim thought the video was scary.

It is definitely understandable of why Americans (or rather EVERYONE) who watches this video or any type of video on any religions, race or gender that portrays them as being violent based on what they have done, would give us a reason to be afraid and fearful.

Everyone should be aware that not everything portrayed in the media is the absolute truth. Yes, the events cited by the video might all be based on facts, but you could not judge the other 1 billion people just by the few hundreds that showed what is actually against our own religion as a matter of fact. Do a research on what is given to us on the news and analyze them intelligently. A very good example is to see how women are portrayed in the media. Women are often seen as being weak and passive, while men are always seen in masculine roles in an advertisement. Hence, will you judge that a women is incapable of doing tough jobs, while men are absolutely only masculine in character and could not show any weakness or tears? Of course you don't, and the same goes to all religions and race and gender, not just Islam alone.

Do not just accept what is given to us. Sometimes, it is not what they seem to be.

I could be criticizing a lot regarding the video; first off, the word jihad does not have a 'goal' of world domination. Go ahead and google it, and you will find that it literally means 'struggle'. The word jihad is not only applicable for war, but it could also be used when you are facing a 'struggle' to prevent yourself from committing sins or hurting others; I could say that I am in a 'jihad' if I am working very hard to get a good pay to put food on the table. I could also say that I am in a 'jihad' if I am trying my very best to get rid of a bad habit (even like smoking or drinking). Hence, you could quickly evaluate that the person who made the video did not really do much research about jihad or Islam itself rather.

It is true that Islam has been involved in many wars as the video has listed. But once again, you could not judge the rest of the people of that religion based on certain events that was committed by usually the extremists. I believe that if you were to search for the war histories of any country at all (wars do happen even without religion in play), you will also find a whole list of bad events. Hence, I do not think it is fair to simply depict to Americans (in this video) that Islam is a violent religion by showing all the bloodshed. Why is it that other religions and other countries who have also fought in a war not being questioned the same way Islam is put into trial?

For clarifications, it is true that there are verses in the Qur'an that some might say be 'promoting' war against 'infidels' or so they say. However, if you were to really analyze the Qur'anic verses, it only gave permission for one to go into war if one is in a state of oppression; hence war is actually forbidden for us to pursue unless lives are at stake and that is the very last option that we have. If you were to look back on Prophet Muhammad, he would definitely try to work things out peacefully with anyone at all, before finally residing to battle.

As a Muslim, I do feel sad that there are extremists out there willing to kill others (or what they may claim to be 'infidels') in the name of Islam, when what they are doing is against Islam itself. However, I am certain that there is a blessing in disguise. I do not support any act of terrorism, but I am optimistic that even from such bad events, it has opened the eyes of others, opened my own eyes as well. People are curious about who and what Islam is. Is it true that it is a terrorist religion? Is it a violent religion? Oppressing women by asking them to wear the headscarf?

Those who have really opened their eyes and hearts will be able to find out what Islam truly is. And unfortunately, there are still others out there who refuse to see beyond what is out in the media.

I sincerely would like to thank the commenters of this blog (at worldinconversation.org), as when I read your comments and your view of Islam even though you are non-muslims, I am very happy and glad to know that you guys are among those who do not judge others simply from what is portrayed in the media. :) Thank you, may God bless you. :)

Religion Dying Out?

2011-04-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Reading this article certainly made me devastated of the fact that there are indeed more and more people losing their faith in God, losing their faith in religion.

Based on what we have discussed in class, I would completely agree that managing a larger group of people is definitely much more challenging than managing a smaller group of people; this does not only apply to religion, but it could be applied to simply about anything at all. A bigger company with more employees under it faces more challenges to manage their employees compared to a smaller company. The more people present in a certain religious group, the harder it is for the pastor, imam, or head of the religion for that area to be able to reach the people's heart.

Most of the people that I know of who is no longer a believer of a 'superior being', or sometimes do not agree with religions that has been presented to them, are actually just people just like you and I.

They are the people who are brave enough to question the rules of a religion, to question who is God? And we as human beings, being curious beings as well, have the right to do so.

I am also not an exception myself.

Being born into a Muslim family, I was raised as a Muslim with the basics knowledge of Islam. I never did question about the religion since everyone was doing it; it was considered a 'norm' back home. However, as I grew older, just like any other teenagers and young adults, we begin to seek answers to our questions, to our curiosity. However, it was not an easy road to travel on, as I was afraid of taking the wrong turn.

Coming to the U.S., I could sincerely say that I have found Islam here, more than I did back home where majority of the population were Muslims. So far, I have found nothing but answers to my questions. Even though it is not as simple as getting all the answers I want in a day, but all my questions so far has met the righteous answers.

I dare to say that I found Islam here is because when you are out of your waters and travel onto another land, you will be able to see how strong your faith is and to what extent do you believe in yourself, believe in a superior being called God. I am free to not practice my religion, I am free to throw my faith away as it is not the 'norm' over here, and no one is there to prevent you from taking the wrong or right steps. It is all up to you.

Hence, I would certainly encourage everyone to keep your hearts and mind open. Do question what you think is not right, and be brave enough to take one step further to find the truth. I am confident that if you have the intention of finding the truth and not simply to find facts to say that 'My religion is right, your religion is wrong!' or 'You will go to hell and I will go to heaven!', you will definitely find the truth with a good heart, God willing :)

I truly believe that if someone is telling the truth of something good, there is nothing to hide about the truth, there is nothing to be ashamed of the truth, as it is indeed nothing to be hidden, and should be told to every single person in the world.

No one on earth has the right to say that someone is going to hell and heaven, or judge a person just by his or her actions alone. Only He could judge on that day. As the saying goes, 'hate the sin, not the sinner'.

I admit, that I do not have much knowledge about other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or any religion. Hence, I do not have the right to criticize other religions and condemn them to hell, as only He knows who will be sent to heaven. Even Muslims, like myself, are not safe from the fires of hell if we commit a lot of sins. He will only judge us humans on the Day of Judgement, so who are we to judge others?

However, I am glad to know that the more I question about my religion, the more I find the answers. I hope that everyone out there will do to. :)

For me, religion is a part of my life, and it is the food to our souls. I noticed that the more you deny the existence of a superior being, the more unsettling your life would be. It is true that one could still be a good human and do good to others in the world, but they will always be in conflict and feel unsettled whenever God comes into a conversation. I personally feel that if we are indeed right about all religions, why are we always feeling so unsettled about it if we are so sure that God does not exist?

I urge you to investigate the religions out there, find people who has knowledge about the religion, people who are willing to share with you their religion and are not afraid to tell you the truth, and conclude your research based on your findings. God willing, you will find the right answer.

What a man is..

2011-04-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Article from an inmate : http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/

As I was reading this article, I had second thoughts on whether this was actually a letter of an inmate; it seemed more like those articles that give advices for men to be successful in relationships. Even so, it really touched me that all the points written in this article is true and spot-on, and were actually realized by an inmate when he is doing his time.

I completely agree with the inmate; why do people only change when something dramatic happens in their life? Why can't they just admit that they were wrong and change to be better without the need of a dramatic event? Even though the latter seems to be the better option, most of us only do change when something finally happens; usually a traumatic experience.

It is difficult to change. No matter what type of change it may be; finally eating your greens or finally managing your anger, it all requires a huge amount of innovation and emotional strength, where we most often lack off. I myself would admit that I still have bad habits that I would like to change, but changing just the very next second is not humanly possible.

Even so, I still do believe change is not easy, but possible. It WILL require a lot of emotional strength and support, and it also requires a lot of our effort as well. Truth be told, if we have the intentions to change and try our very best to do so, He will help us along the way. We should never give up on trying to improve ourselves even though sometimes it takes years for us to achieve what we want. We will never know that maybe, on the 99th day of our effort we gave up, when He will actually grant our wish to change on the 100th day. So we should never give up trying, never give up hoping, and have faith in Him :)

I could go on and on describing about recognizing what women wants from a man. But I could simply say that men also have fairly similar needs from women; attention, trust and love.

However, I would agree with what the inmate has mentioned; regarding what he has learned about what women wants from men, mostly from the video. As we have watched in class, music videos show the wrong idea of women only wanting sex and money from men, and that they enjoy being treated as a sex object within the videos when the reality is the direct opposite. Newspapers, magazines, televisions and films are doing the same exact thing to our society as well. Men are always portrayed to be the stronger and more masculine figure, while women are more feminine, submissive and passive.

Now, there are exceptions to these claims where in some films, women are the 'heroes' and saves the day. But you could almost always find both genders more in their traditional roles and gender stereotypes.
Once again, it is hard for the media to CHANGE to portray the reality of life unless they would see it to be profitable. Even so, there is still hope that one day all of these would change for the better, with people who are becoming more aware of our surroundings.

Changing, will never be easy. The important people around us could sometimes even be the main reason why it is so hard for us to change, as well as the society. Our friends would sometimes critisize us: "He/She is a horrible person!". And when we finally do change, the same people would give discouraging comments: "He/She is just putting up an act. Remember how he/she was before?"

I hope that everyone would realize that in this world, we could NEVER satisfy everyone. If you would want to change, do it for yourself, for your loved ones that supports you, and for Him. If you set your goals on changing to satisfy everyone, you will never find yourself be able to change completely, or perhaps if you do change, you will never be happy. Do it for yourself, for your loved ones who supports you, and for Him. As only these people and God will be able to see the change in you :)

Learn from the past, do your best in the present, for the better future. Don't judge a person based on his or her past, but judge based on what he or she is doing and has become. Spread the love, as we do not have time to hate :)

Advertising Images of Women

2011-03-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Killing Us Softly-Advertising Images of Women by Jean Kilbourne.

This video shows the reality of our media that uses advertisements more than just simply to sell their product. It also sells values and ideas. Sex and violence. Women are constantly degraded in advertisements, magazines, movies and in television, and we do not realize it.

Please watch the videos, as they are really filled with important messages and it will definitely open our eyes. Share this with your loved ones (both boys n girls!),

To all the ladies out there, you are all BEAUTIFUL :) Do not let the media tell us what beauty is, and do not let ourselves go after the beauty that does not even exist! (photoshop pictures, skinny models that really only exist about 5% of women in this world ;) )

(Al-Mulk- 29:23)
Say (unto them, O Muhammad): He it is who gave you being, and hath assigned unto you ears and eyes and hearts. Small thanks give ye!
Katakanlah: "Dia-lah yang menciptakan kamu dan menjadikan bagi kamu pendengaran, penglihatan dan hati". (tetapi) amat sedikit kamu bersyukur.

Smoga kita tergolong di antara orang2 yg bersyukur :) amin!

Sociology of Love

2011-03-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

This song is definitely funny, but at the same time, some might think this guy is a horrible husband. Even so, like what Sam has said in class, this guy brilliantly incorporated all the sociology of love.

From class, we have learned that we are living our lives heavily influenced by these many many invisible strings; our culture, our religion, our family and our environment. Love is not an exception to these invisible strings.

We might think that we are free to choose our life partner, or that when we see a certain someone and we simply know that he or she is 'the one'. However, it is not entirely due to fate that makes our heart beats faster when we see him or her. It is actually the invisible strings tightening upon us, that is making us attracted more to certain people than others.

We are more inclined to homogamy; where we are inclined to be married to people who are very similar to us. It is true that opposite attracts, but it is logical to think that more people on average get married to people who share things in common; religion, values and beliefs.

Due to this, we will automatically be more attracted to people who we are familiar with, and people who we share common grounds or interests. Take our parents for example, as the people who we grew up with and has a huge influence in our life. More people are inclined to marry the person who shares similar traits with their mother (if they are male) or their father (if they are female). Brothers and sisters would have a higher probability to marry someone that has similar characteristics to their siblings as well. These are all the 'invisible strings' that are at work even when, believe it or not, we 'fall' in love.

It is sad to know that the 'invisible strings' could sometimes really influence us heavily without us noticing it. Sam has mentioned in class that even though some children might have abusive fathers or mothers, and they would even swear that they would never marry someone like their parent, the 'invisible strings' would still be at work: these children will be MORE INCLINED and ATTRACTED to people who are indeed abusive!

I couldn't believe what he was saying at the beginning, but when Sam asked whether we knew anyone who has abusive boyfriends, and whether that person is still staying with that abusive partner despite being beaten up so many times, people did raise their hands in class. Knowing an abusive person myself, made me sad about this fact.

Even so, learning this part of sociology actually strengthens my faith in my religion.
Based on this song that says that there are many other women that would be equal or better than the singer's wife, it actually strengthens the validity of this verse of the Qur'an (24:26):

"Vile women are for vile men, and vile men for vile women. Good women are for good men, and good men for good women; such are innocent of that which people say: For them is pardon and a bountiful provision."

Homogamy and the invisible strings fits into this verse; we will attract people who are similar to us (good for good, bad for bad), and we are also more inclined to be attracted to people who have the same characteristics as the people who have a huge influence in our bad.
It is up to us to be able to pull back these strings, and to be able to recognize which string we should cut off (i.e. the abusive partners).

Hence, the verse perfectly brings the message in this song and in the sociology of love; there is not only ONE person in this world that could be our potential life partner.

'If I didn't have you, someone else will surely do.'

And Allah knows best. ;) <3

Cantik?

2011-03-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Semoga kita bersyukur dengan kecantikan yang Allah sudah kurniakan kepada kita, dan bknnya terpedaya dgn 'kecantikan' yang didefinisi oleh media.

Everyone is beautiful in their own way, and so are you :)

Pregnant Teens

2011-02-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

It is definitely alarming that such a high percentage of students are pregnant in this school, be it expecting or had a child already. The school also gives a certain lunch discount to students who are pregnant.

I could not give much of my opinion regarding my own school life and sex education here in the U.S. as I have no experience schooling in this country before going to college. Even so, I could relate this issue very much to the schools in my country; there is also an alarming increase in students who are involved in sexual activity and getting pregnant. What is worse regarding this issue is as the number increases, so does the number of abortions and newborn babies being thrown into the trash or toilet as they are the 'love child'.

I absolutely support sex education in our young generation today. However, I strongly believe that our system in educating our children about sex does not come with the consequences of sex, be it bad or good. Our children should not only know about safe sex, but they should also know the consequences of getting a girl pregnant, or being pregnant, and how these could affect their lives greatly. We should also emphasize much more on STDs, and the risk of death. How could we decrease the number of pregnancies and death of our young children due to STDs if we are ENCOURAGING our children to have safe sex? They should be taught of the consequences greatly and not emphasize only on how to have safe sex.

In the video, I could observe that the public school is like any other average public schools. I might be mistaken, but there is a possibilty that most of the students in this school are African American. Based on history, African American are usually (not all) more economically distressed. Then again, NOT all African Americans are committing crimes, but they are more inclined to do so due to their economic distress and available options around them that allows them to get quick money. There are African American students who are so much more successful and smart than other races or ethnicity, but I am sure that growing up in a community with a high crime rate and pregnancy rate is difficult as they are more 'inclined' to take the other road; hence the invisible strings are tightening on them.

The same thing goes about sex and pregnancy. Even though girls in this school are aware of how many of their friends are pregnant due to 'unsafe' sex, these girls are still more inclined to be pregnant themselves as well due to the invisible string 'tightening' on them, no matter how hard they try to not get involved in unsafe sex. Yes, there might be girls that will be able to not get themselves pregnant, but the inclination to do so will always be there as long as the invisible string is attached to them. These girls who succeed are those who are able to take control of those invisible strings attached to them.

Other than that, one of the commenters had also mentioned about the discounted lunch policy that will be given to pregnant students. Though this may sound silly, but poorer students might just get themselves pregnant just to get a cheaper lunch. Therefore, the school should not be taking steps that actually ENCOURAGE the students to get themselves pregnant. The school should be giving classes to those students who are pregnant or support group, and not a cheaper lunch. The cheaper lunch, is another invisible string, that are attached to other girls who are not pregnant. They might consider to get pregnant (this string is tightening on them) as they will think that "I will get a cheaper lunch and get to eat more for less if I am pregnant!" Once again, not all girls in the school will get themselves pregnant, but the inclination to do so is, and will always be there.

Therefore, the students are definitely not completely 'free' to choose whether to get pregnant or not, and how to deal with it as long as these invisible strings are affecting them greatly.

Us vs. Angels

2011-02-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

Allah SWT selesai menciptakan Jibrail as dengan bentuk yang cantik, dan Allah menciptakan pula baginya 600 sayap yang panjang , sayap itu antara timur dan barat (ada pendapat lain menyatakan 124, 000 sayap). Setelah itu Jibrail as memandang dirinya sendiri dan berkata:

"Wahai Tuhanku, adakah engkau menciptakan makhluk yang lebih baik daripada aku?."

Lalu Allah SWT berfirman yang bermaksud.. "Tidak"

Kemudian Jibrail AS berdiri serta solat dua rakaat kerana syukur kepada Allah SWT dan tiap-tiap rakaat itu lamanya 20,000 tahun.

Setelah selesai Jibrail as solat, maka Allah SWT berfirman yang bermaksud:

"Wahai Jibrail, ka! mu telah menyembah aku dengan ibadah yang bersungguh-sungguh, dan tidak ada seorang pun yang menyembah kepadaku seperti ibadat kamu, akan tetapi di akhir zaman nanti akan datang seorang nabi yang mulia yang paling aku cintai, namanya Muhammad.' Dia mempunyai umat yang lemah dan sentiasa berdosa, sekiranya mereka itu mengerjakan solat dua rakaat yang hanya sebentar sahaja, dan mereka dalam keadaan lupa serta serba kurang, fikiran mereka melayang bermacam-macam dan dosa mereka pun besar juga. Maka demi kemuliaannKu dan ketinggianKu, sesungguhnya solat mereka itu aku lebih sukai dari solatmu itu. Kerana mereka mengerjakan solat atas
perintahKu, sedangkan kamu mengerjakan solat bukan atas perintahKu."

Kemudian Jibrail as berkata: "Ya Tuhanku, apakah yang Engkau hadiahkan kepada mereka sebagai imbalan ibadat mereka?"

Lalu Allah berfirman yang bermak! sud. "Ya Jibrail, akan Aku berikan syurga
Ma'waa sebagai tempat tinggal..."

Kemudian Jibrail as meminta izin kepada Allah untuk melihat syura Ma'waa.
Setelah Jibrail as mendapat izin dari Allah SWT maka pergilah Jibrail as dengan mengembangkan sayapnya dan terbang, setiap dia mengembangkan dua sayapnya dia boleh menempuh jarak perjalanan 3000 tahun, terbangla malaikat jibrail as selama 300 tahun sehingga ia merasa letih dan lemah dan
akhirnya dia turun singgah berteduh di bawah bayangan sebuah pohon dan dia sujud kepada Allah SWT lalu ia berkata dalam sujud:

"Ya Tuhanku apakah sudah aku menempuh jarak perjalanan setengahnya, atau sepertiganya, atau seperempatnya? "

Kemudian Allah SWT berfirman yang bermaksud. "Wahai Jibrail, kalau kamu dapat terbang selama 3000 tahun dan meskipun aku memberikan kekuatan kepadamu seperti kekuatan yang engkau miliki, lalu kamu terbang seperti yang telah kamu lakukan, nescaya kamu tidak akan sampai kepada sepersepuluh dari beberapa perpuluhan yang telah kuberikan kepada umat Muhammad terhadap imbalan solat dua rakaat yang mereka kerjakan.... ."

Marilah sama2 kita fikirkan dan berusaha lakukan... Sesungguhnya Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan enam perkara iaitu :

* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan redha-Nya dalam taat.
* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan murka-Nya di dalam maksiat.
* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan nama-Nya yang Maha Agung di dalam Al-Quran.
* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan Lailatul Qadar di dalam bulan Ramadhan.
* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan solat yang paling utama di dalam solat (yang lima waktu).
* Allah S.W.T telah menyembunyikan (tarikh terjadinya) hari kiamat di dalam
semua hari.

Semoga kita mendapat berkat daripada ilmu ini. Wallahualam

*Ingatlah yg walaupun solat kita tidak begitu sempurna, tetapi jgnlah bersedih kerana solat kita sgtlah disukai dan dinilai oleh Allah :) Jom berusaha untuk meningkatkn quality solat kita! :D*

SOC 001

2011-02-17T21:01:00.001-08:00

Assalamualaikum! :)

Just a quick heads up to any readers out there about future posts that I will be posting in this blog :)

I am currently taking an introductory class to sociology; SOC 001. Part of this class includes responding to blog posts posted in the World in Conversation website. I find the blog posts by my lecturer and the TAs on the blog is very2 interesting! I will try to save my comments on those blogs and reblog them here.

I really liked that these blogs are indeed sensitive issues that not everyone would know or talk about daily. And to some extent, I know that some of these issues might be important on how we view life, how we view others, and basically, on how we think.

Feel free to browse through those blogs, but what I will copy and paste in my blog here are entirely my own comments on those blogs. Hence you do not have to take in on everything that I have commented :) But please do feel free to have a look on those blogs, and tell me what you think; what is your own comment on the issue? :)

I think I already posted one regarding the soldiers suicide once they get back from wars.

Look out for further posts! :)

Aku, Lim dan Islam

2011-02-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

Aku punya seorang rakan baik dari zaman kanak-kanak. Lim Wei Choon. Sama-sama bersekolah rendah hingga ke peringkat menengah. Selepas SPM. Aku masuk ke Tingkatan 6, manakala Lim dihantar keluarganya melanjutkan pelajaran ke Amerika Syarikat. Kenangan sewaktu kanak-kanak hingga ke zaman remaja terlalu banyak yang dikongsi bersama. Setiap kali Hari Raya menjelang, Lim pasti berkunjung ke rumah ku untuk menikmati dodol arwah ayahku yang amat digemarinya.

Kadangkala, jika ada kenduri kendara dirumahku, pasti Lim akan turut serta. Aku jarang ke rumahnya kecuali untuk beberapa sambutan seperti harijadi dan juga Tahun Baru Cina. Aku takut dengan anjing peliharaan keluarga Lim. Dengan Lim juga aku belajar matematik manakala subjek Bahasa Malaysia sering menjadi rujukannya padaku.

Kenangan-kenangan seperti memancing, mandi jeram, ponteng sekolah untuk melihat pertandingan 'breakdance', semuanya kami kongsi bersama-sama. Apa yang ingin kunyatakan ialah, warna kulit dan perbezaan ugama tidak pernah menjadi penghalang persahabatan kami.

20 tahun telah berlalu, Lim telah menetap di Amerika setelah berjaya mendapat Green Card, beliau bekerja di sana. Itu yang kuketahui dari kakaknya. Hubungan ku dengan Lim terputus setelah dia melanjutkan pelajaran. Maklumlah, dizaman kami dulu tiada internet, email atau telefon bimbit, yang ada cuma sesekali menghantar poskad bertanya khabar. Untuk menulis surat kepada lelaki amat malas kami rasakan.

Suatu pagi. Aku bertembung dengan kakak Lim di pasar , kakaknya memberitahu Lim akan pulang ke tanahair. Dan aku amat terkejut dengan berita yang kudengar dari kakaknya. " He's name is no more Lim Wei Choon. He's now Ahmad Zulfakar Lim since 5 years ago. ..Subhanallah! Syukur Alhamdulillah, rakan baikku telah menemui hidayah dari Allah S.W.T. Memang aku tak sabar untuk berjumpa dengannya lebih-lebih lagi setelah menjadi saudara seagama denganku.

Hari yang kutunggu-tunggu telah tiba, dan petang itu aku berkesempatan bertemu dengan Lim di rumahnya. Ada satu keraian istimewa sempena menyambut kepulangannya. Ketika aku tiba, tetamu sudah semakin berkurangan.

....Itulah kalimat pertama dari mulutnya, wajahnya sudah jauh berubah, air mukanya amat redup dan tenang. Aku menjawab salam dan berpelukan dengannya dan kami menangis umpama kekasih yang sudah terlalu lama terpisah.

'Ini dia olang memang sudah manyak lama kawan, dari kecik ini dua olang" Ibu Lim menjelaskan pada beberapa orang tetamu yang melihat peristiwa kami berpelukan dan menangis itu. Tetapi aku bukan menangis kerana apa, tetapi kerana amat sebak dan terharu dan sangat bersyukur melihat keislaman rakanku.

Lim mengajak aku duduk dibuaian dihalaman rumahnya untuk berbual-bual. beliau masih fasih berbahasa melayu walau sudah lama berada diperantauan. "Talha, kau kawan baik aku kan? betul tak?..." Lim memulakan bicara.

"Memanglah..Kenapa kau tanya macam tu?" aku kehairanan.

"kalau kau kawan baik aku, Kenapa kau biarkan aku diseksa?"

"Sorry Lim. Aku tak faham..diseksa? What do you mean?" aku bertanya.

"Cuba kau fikir, kita ni kawan dari kecil. Aku ingat lagi, rumah kau tu, is my second house. Tapi, mengapalah kau tak pernah ceritakan pada aku tentang Islam? Mengapa aku kena pergi ke US baru aku dapat belajar tentang Islam? Mengapa bukan di Malaysia, negara Islam ni? Dan mengapa aku di Islam kan oleh seorang bekas paderi kristian?"

Aku terdiam, kelu tak mampu menjawab. Dan Lim terus berkata-kata.

"Kalau betullah kau kawan baik aku, Kenapa kau cuma nak baik dengan aku di dunia saja? kau suka tengok kawan baik kau ni diseksa didalam api neraka?"

"Kau tahu, kalaulah aku ni tak sempat masuk islam hingga aku mati. Aku akan dakwa semua orang melayu Islam dalam kampung kita ni sebab tak sampaikan dakwah dan risalah Islam pada aku, keluarga aku dan non muslim yang lain."

"Kau sedar tak, kau dah diberikan nikmat besar oleh Allah denagn melahirkan kau didalam keluarga Islam. tapi, nikmat itu bukan untuk kau nikmati seorang diri, atau untuk keluarga kau sendiri, kau dilahirkan dalam Islam adalah kerana ditugaskan untuk sampaikan Islam pada orang-orang yang dilahirkan dalam keluarga bukan Islam macam aku."

Aku masih tunduk dan terkata apa-apa kerana sangat malu.

"Berdakwah adalah tugas muslim yang paling utama, sebagai pewaris Nabi, penyambung Risalah. Tetapi apa yang aku lihat, orang melayu ni tiadak ada roh jihad, tak ada keinginan untuk berdakwah, macamana Allah nak tolong bangsa melayu kalau bangsa tu sendiri tak tolong ugama Allah?"

"Aku bukan nak banggakan diri aku, cuma aku kesal..sepatutnya nikmat ini kau kena gunakan dengan betul dan tepat, kerana selagi kau belum pernah berdakwah, jangan kau fikir kau sudah bersyukur pada Allah. Dan satu lagi, jangan dengan mudah kau cop orang-orang bukan Islam itu sebagai kafir kerana kafir itu bererti ingkar. Kalau kau dah sampaikan seruan dengan betul, kemudian mereka ingkar dan berpaling, barulah kau boleh panggil kafir."

Aku menjadi amat malu, kerana segala apa yang dikatakan oleh Lim adalah benar! dan aku tak pernah pun terfikir selama ini. Aku hanya sibuk untuk memperbaiki amalan diri sehingga lupa pada tugasku yang sebenar. Baru aku faham, andainya tugas berdakwah ini telah dilaksanakan, Allah akan memberikan lagi pertolongan, bantuan dan kekuatan serta mempermudahkan segala urusan dunia dan akhirat sesorang itu.

Petang itu aku pulang dengan satu semangat baru. Aku ingin berdakwah! Lim yang baru memeluk Islam selama 5 tahun itu pun telah mengislamkan lebih 20 orang termasuk adiknya. Mengapa aku yang hampir 40 tahun Islam ini (benarkah aku islam tulen) tidak pernah hatta walau seorang pun orang bukan Islam yang pernah kusampaikan dengan serious tentang kebenaran Islam?

Semoga Allah mengampuni diriku yang tidak faham apa itu erti nikmat dilahirkan sebagai Islam.

Nukilan Abdullah dari Jeram Pasu
disampaikan oleh Roslan Abdul Hamid

Link: http://johor.ikram.org.my/Tazkirah%20Santai/Aku%20lim%20dan%20islam.html

*semoga kita semua akan cukup kuat dan berani pada suatu hari nnt untuk menyampaikan hakikat yang Benar, kepada rakan2 kita yang kita sayangi, rakan2 kita yang Belum Islam :) Amin!*

Soldiers Suicide

2011-02-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

The suicide rate and death due to overdoes of drunk driving within the soldiers once they get back home is larger than the death toll of the soldiers within the battle field. This statistics did not really surprise me as well, along with a few commenter's of this post. Based on the video, it is good that the military is indeed making changes in making sure that the soldiers are getting more help such as providing more chaplains and such. Even so, it is quite disappointing to know that it took them more than a year to really start helping out these soldiers.

If we were to look from the soldier's point of view, they have indeed endured or will eventually endure the cruel environment of war. I am sure that this has already been included in the intense training that these soldier had even before being qualified to be able to go into the battlefield. I am also quite positive that they would take pride in being able to take down the enemy. Some horrors that they might not have been prepared for are losing their own teammates, or perhaps regarding to what extent killing really means.

To look from a completely different perspective, soldiers who are trained extremely well to handle war-extreme conditions might be completely caught off-guard when they have prisoners held; inhuman tortures and procedures executed on the prisoners or hostages are something that the soldiers are most probably not taught to handle before hand. THEY themselves might have been trained to ENDURE those tortures themselves if they were captured by the enemy, but it is a whole different experience when you are the one performing the torture.

Having these shocking and bad experiences either from the battle field, or simply from the prison or place where the enemy was held captive and tortured, returning home to his or her family would certainly not aid to simply wash those experiences away. With these bad images and experiences, the soldier would not want to burden his or her family by talking about it with them; hence they tend to keep it to themselves. When this happens, the soldiers will feel isolated and feel that no one could help them or understand their feelings (other family members are not soldiers like them). He or she might also be afraid to seek help with this problem as they might see it as a 'weakness' for a soldier. Hence the alcohol, drugs, drunk driving and suicide.

Even though the video mentioned that they are indeed doing something about this issue, but I am still doubtful about to what extent is help actually being provided to these soldiers. As a matter of fact, they should actually change their training pattern to better prepare the soldiers to endure bad experiences, and not to simply tell them to 'man-up' and forget about it. They should be more well informed of what they could ACTUALLY experience besides the basic 'bloody' warzone. In addition, they should also be told that it is okay to admit that they have nightmares or problems due to what has happened to them or what they have seen or experienced. By doing this, they do not have to feel ashamed to admit that they have nightmares; they are indeed human beings like us. Providing a support center for the soldiers to go to BEFORE they go home, right after a war should be executed as well to help decrease the suicide rate, drug and alcohol abuse within the soldiers.

As a side note, improving the military procedures will most likely be favorable to all parties. Torturing prisoners or hostages definitely has its limits, but crossing these limits has caused these soldiers to also commit suicide as they could not handle the inhumanity. Though this might seem to be favoring the enemy, (whoever the enemy may be), but it is more in favor of our own troops and soldiers. So which one would you choose?

Nak pilih yang cantik ke, yang beragama?

2011-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

Mencari pasangan hidup bukan mudah. Pasangan hidup maknanya pasangan untuk hidup bersama, bukan sekejap.

Jika umur panjang mungkin bersama sehingga 50 tahun.

Bangun bersama, makan bersama, berbual bersama, tidur bersama.

Berkongsi anak, berkongsi rumah, berkongsi rasa, berkongsi kasih.

Maka, mencari pasangan hidup ini memang perkara serius. Serius. Memang serius.

Jangan akibat si dia mengurat anda, maka anda terus terpesona dan bersetuju. Jangan semata si dia comel atau glamour, maka anda terus mengambilnya.

Fikir betul-betul. Solat istikharah dan banyakkan berdoa. Selagi belum tenang jiwa, tunggu dulu. Usah tergopoh gapah. Mencari jodoh, perlukan panduan. Perlu ada sandaran ilmu dan petunjuk.

Dalam banyak-banyak penulisan saya suka memetik sebahagian dari artikel Ust Hasrizal (Abu Saif) dalam lamannya SaifulIslam.com.

Antara yang menarik tulisan berikut:

Hadis Nabi SAW yang diulang-ulang sebagai slogan memanifestasikan keinginan berumahtangga.

Bukan tidak banyak penjelasan tentang hadis ini di pelbagai sumber maklumat yang ada. Tetapi sering anak muda kecundang dalam mengimbangkan kefahamannya dalam konteks TEPAT dan JELAS.

Selagi mana tidak tepat, selagi itulah jalannya tersasar ke sana sini. Kehidupan yang tidak ditentukan arahnya, adalah kehidupan yang tidak tentu arah.

Apa Tujuan Berumahtangga?

"Begin with the end in mind", adalah slogan kita untuk menepatkan matlamat kehidupan dan segenap peringkat perjalanannya.

Soal menentukan matlamat yang tepat, tidaklah begitu susah.

Berkahwin kerana harta? Harta bukan sumber bahagia.

Donald Trumph yang kaya raya itu pun pernah mengeluh dalam temubualnya bersama John C. Maxwell, "aku melihat ramai orang yang lebih gembira hidupnya dari hidupku.

Padaku mereka itulah orang yang berjaya. Tetapi semua orang mahu menjadi aku"

Harta bukan matlamat atau pertimbangan utama dalam menentukan pemilihan pasangan.

Berkahwin kerana keturunan? Keturunan bukan jaminan sumber bahagia.

Syarifah hanya boleh berkahwin dengan Syed? Puteri hanya layak untuk Megat?

Atau pantang keturunan berkahwin dengan ahli muzik bak kata Mak Dara?

Soal keturunan bukan penentu mutlak kerana setiap manusia lahir dengan fitrah yang satu dan murni, lantas setiap mukallaf dan mukallafah mampu kembali kepada kemurnian itu, biar pun lahir ke dunia tanpa bapa yang sah sekali pun.

Keturunan bukan matlamat atau pertimbangan utama dalam menentukan pemilihan pasangan.

Berkahwin kerana kecantikan? Ahh, yang ini rumit barangkali.

Cinta itu dari mata turun ke hati. Maka mata pemutus pertama.

Jika berkenan di mata, mudahlah mata memujuk hati.

Tetapi selama mana kecantikan menyenangkan kehidupan?

Kecantikan, biar secantik mana pun, akan pudar dengan perjalanan masa. Kecantikan, biar secantik mana sekali pun, boleh dicabar oleh naluri manusia yang mudah kalah dengan alasan JEMU.

Mahu berkahwin sementara cantik, dan buang selepas cantik dan kacak bergaya itu dimamah usia?

Cantik bukan sumber bahagia, ia bukan matlamat atau pertimbangan utama dalam menentukan pemilihan pasangan.

"Maka pilihlah yang memiliki agama... nescaya sejahtera hidupmu", pesan Nabi SAW.

Benar sekali, pilihlah yang beragama.

"Maka saya kena kahwin dengan ustazah, saya kena kahwin dengan ustaz!", kata seorang pelajar 'bidang bukan agama'.

Penyakit "Tidak Jelas"

Setelah begitu tepat sekali kita menolak harta, keturunan dan rupa paras sebagai sebab untuk memilih pasangan, tibalah kita kepada masalah paling besar menguruskan fikiran tentang perkahwinan, iaitu penyakit "tidak jelas", apabila tiba kepada soal beragama.

Apakah yang memiliki agama itu mesti seorang yang ustazah atau ustaz?

Maka berkahwin dengan golongan ini, jaminan bahagia. Benarkah begitu?

Di sinilah penting untuk kita bezakan golongan yang TAHU agama, MAHU beragama dan MAMPU dalam beragama.

Soal mendapatkan ilmu sebagai jalan beragama, adalah prinsip besar di dalam Islam. Lihat sahaja langkah pertama proses wahyu, ia bermula dengan perintah BACA sebagai wasilah menggarap pengetahuan.

Tetapi apakah TAHU itu merupakah maksud kita beragama dengan agama Islam ini?

Sejauh mana gred 'A' yang digarap dalam subjek "PengeTAHUan Agama Islam" menjadi bekal dan perisai generasi Muslim dalam beragama?

"Yang memiliki agama" itu lebih luas dari sekadar sempadan tahu agama. Ia adalah soal MAHU yang menjadikan pengetahuan agama itu dihayati, dan MAMPU dalam erti dia sentiasa bermujahadah untuk memperbaiki diri.

Maka janganlah disempitkan maksud mencari yang beragama itu hanya pada mereka yang berlabelkan "jenama TAHU agama" tetapi apa yang lebih penting adalah mereka yang MAHU dan terbukti pada perbuatan hariannya dia sentiasa berusaha menuju MAMPU.

Dia mungkin seorang ustazah.
Dia juga mungkin seorang jurutera dan doktor.
Dia mungkin bertudung labuh.
Dia juga mungkin belum bertudung tetapi sentiasa mencari jalan untuk menuju kesempurnaan kebaikan. Dia seorang yang membuka dirinya untuk dibimbing dan diajar. Seorang yang 'teachable".

Hanya 'Beragama'?

Ada pula yang menyangka bahawa kebahagiaan rumahtangga itu terletak pada beragamanya pasangan kita. Soal harta, keturunan dan rupa paras tidak punya sebarang makna.

Maka jadilah seorang perempuan itu fasih lidahnya tentang agama dan rapi pakaiannya sebagai isyarat dia beragama, tetapi dia tidak mengetahui nilai harta.

Dia boros dan tidak bijak menguruskan harta rumahtangganya.

Dia nampak elok beragama, malah mungkin seorang pejuang agama, tetapi dia tidak peduli nilai keturunan dan kekeluargaan.

Dia tidak menghargai keluarganya sendiri, tidak menghargai keluarga suami atau juga keluarga isteri.

Padanya, soal keluarga dan keturunan bukan urusan agama.

Dia bijak dalam memperkatakan tentang agama, tetapi dia menjadikan alasan agama untuk tidak peduli kepada penampilan diri. Pakaiannya selekeh atas nama agama, kulitnya tidak dijaga bersih, beralasankan agama.

Jika perempuan, dia tidak peduli untuk mewangikan diri atau bersolek mengemas diri, kerana padanya itu semua bukan kehendak agama, dan si suami menikahinya bukan kerana itu.

Saban hari mukanya bertepek dengan bedak sejuk dan tubuhnya bersarung baju kelawar. Hambar..

Jika lelaki, dia biarkan diri selekeh dan sentiasa berkemban di dalam kain pelekat dan baju pagoda, membiarkan bau peluh jantannya tidak berbasuh, kerana semua itu tiada kena mengena dengan agama.

Jadilah agama, sebagai alasan untuk sebuah rumahtangga itu menjadi rumahtangga terhodoh, terburuk dan terselekeh... atas nama berkahwin kerana beragama.

*the Conclusion is, amalkanlah agama seimbang dengan perkara2 lain! :) And jika kita benar2 paham akan agama Islam yang indah ini, kita mesti akan tahu bahawa Islam juga mementingkan kebersihan, hubungan silatulrahim sesama saudara dan rakan2.
Islam itu Syumul, jadi ayuhlah rakan2! :)*

-article quoted-

Extreme?

2011-01-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

The Prophet (SAW) said:

"Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded."

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38

:)

The secret to Happiness

2010-12-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

That's Not Hijab

2010-12-05T18:39:00.002-08:00

Lots of good reminders regarding hijab :)

Like what he had said, don't be discouraged to wear the hijab! And for those who are wearing it, Alhamdulillah :) Let us wear the hijab properly to please Him, insya-Allah :)

Nag to Allah

2010-12-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

The more we nag to Allah, the more He LOVES it!! Subhanallah! :D

Allah is indeed so Merciful and Loving :')

Selamat Hari Raya Haji/ Aidiladha!

2010-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

*article taken from iluvislam.com :)*

Don't forget that Nabi Ibrahim and Nabi Ismail, dua2 telah menitiskan air mata dgn banyaknya ketika ingin melaksanakan perintah Allah. Walaupun susah, mereka tetap melaksanakannya. Kerana itu mereka tergolong dlm orang2 yg taat kepadaNya :)

Selamat Hari Raya Haji/Aidiladha! :D

****************************************************************************
Suatu hari, ketika Nabi Ibrahim a.s. berada di Mekah sedang dalam keadaan tertidur. Dia mendengar suara daripada Allah s.w.t. yang memerintahkannya agar dia menyembelih anaknya, Ismail. Nabi Ibrahim a.s. bangun daripada tidurnya dalam keadaan terkejut dengan mimpinya yang aneh itu. Nabi Ibrahim a.s. meminta keampunan dan perlindungan kepada Allah s.w.t. Dia kembali tidur. Mimpi yang seperti awalnya terjadi lagi. Dia bangun lagi dan tidur lagi. Akan tetapi, mimpinya masih tetap sama.

Nabi Ibrahim a.s. mengetahui bahawa perintah tersebut merupakan ujian yang harus dia jalani. Amat berat bagi Ibrahim a.s. untuk memberitahu isi wahyu itu kepada Ismail. Ismail pada saat itu menginjak dewasa dan boleh mencari nafkahnya sendiri. Nabi Ibrahim a.s. sangat senang kerana Ismail sudah besar. Nabi Ibrahim a.s. memberitahu perintah Allah s.w.t. tersebut kepada Ismail.

Allah s.w.t. berfirman yang bermaksud:

"Maka tatkala anak itu sampai (pada umur sanggup) berusaha bersama-sama Ibrahim, Ibrahim a.s. berkata, 'Hai anakku sesungguhnya aku melihat dalam mimpi bahawa aku menyembelih kamu. Maka fikirkanlah apa pendapat kamu!' Dia menjawab, 'Hai bapaku, kerjakanlah apa yang diperintahkan kepada kamu. Insya Allah s.w.t. kamu akan mendapatiku termasuk orang-orang yang sabar.'"
(Ash-Saffat: 102)

Ketika Nabi Ibrahim a.s. hendak pergi melaksanakan penyembelihan puteranya itu, beliau berkata kepada Siti Hajar, ibu Ismail a.s.: "Tolong kamu pakaikan anak kamu Ismail pakaian yang paling baik dan cantik kerana aku akan pergi berziarah dengannya."

Siti Hajar memakaikan pakaian yang paling cantik kepada Ismail, memberinya minyak rambut, lalu menyisir rambutnya. Kemudian, Nabi Ibrahim a.s. pergi bersama Ismail dekat dengan kota Mina. Dia juga membawa tali dan pisau yang tajam. Waktu itulah, iblis terkutuk datang menggoda Nabi Ibrahim a.s. Mereka tidak pernah sesibuk seperti hari itu. Menyaksikan perkara itu, Ismail ketakutan dan berlari ke hadapan ayahnya.

Iblis lalu berkata: "Apakah kamu tidak memerhatikan badannya yang gagah, parasnya yang tampan dan perilakunya yang santun?"

Nabi Ibrahim a.s. menjawab: "Ya, tetapi aku telah diperintah oleh Tuhanku untuk menyembelihnya."

Apabila iblis terkutuk itu putus asa kerana tidak dapat menggoda Nabi Ibrahim a.s., dia pun pergi menemui Siti Hajar dan berkata: "Bagaimana boleh kamu hanya duduk-duduk sahaja, sedangkan Ibrahim pergi dengan anak kamu dan hendak menyembelih anak kamu?"

Siti Hajar menjawab: "Jangan berdusta! Aku tahu seorang ayah tidak akan sanggup menyembelih anaknya sendiri!"

Iblis berkata: "Suami kamu membawa pergi anak kamu sambil membawa tali dan pisau. Dia mengira Tuhannya telah menyuruhnya untuk itu."

Siti Hajar mengelak: "Nabi tidak diperintahkan untuk mengerjakan sesuatu yang sia-sia. Tapi, jika memang Allah s.w.t. telah memerintahkan perkara itu, aku sendiri bersedia untuk menurut perintah itu dengan jiwaku. Bukan hanya jiwa, malah anakku rela kukorbankan demi Allah s.w.t.!"

Apabila iblis terkutuk berputus asa kerana tidak boleh memujuk Siti Hajar, maka dia pergi menemui Ismail seraya berkata: "Hai Ismail, kamu nampak bersenang-senang, sedangkan saat ini ayah kamu membawa tali dan pisau untuk menyembelih kamu."

"Jangan berdusta, hai iblis. Mengapa ayahku hendak menyembelihku?" tanya Ismail.

"Dia mengira bahawa Tuhannya telah menyuruhnya demikian."

"Aku memerhatikan dan mentaati perintah Tuhanku!" tegas Ismail

Ketika iblis yang terkutuk itu melontarkan kata-kata yang lain, terlebih dahulu Ismail a.s. mengambil batu dan tanah lalu melemparkannya kepada iblis sehingga menyebabkan mata iblis yang kiri pecah dan menjadi buta. Setelah itu, barulah iblis pergi. Peristiwa inilah yang melatarbelakangi perintah Allah s.w.t.yang mewajibkan umat Islam untuk melemparkan batu di tempat itu untuk mengusir syaitan seperti yang dilakukan oleh Nabi Ismail.

Apabila Nabi Ibrahim a.s. sampai di Mina, beliau berkata kepada Nabi Ismail: "Anakku, aku mendengar dalam mimpiku bahawa Allah s.w.t. telah memerintahkanku untuk menyembelih kamu. Bagaimana pendapat kamu?"

Maksud daripada pertanyaan Nabi Ibrahim a.s. adalah dia meminta pendapat Nabi Ismail tentang perintah dalam mimpinya itu. Adakah Ismail akan tabah dan sabar menerima perintah Allah s.w.t. itu, atau Ismail akan menolaknya dan meminta ampun kepada Allah s.w.t. sebelum perintah itu dilaksanakan. Sekaligus sebagai ujian adakah Ismail akan menjawab dengan penuh perhatian dan taat kepada perintah Allah s.w.t. atau tidak.

Lalu Ismail menjawab: "Wahai ayahku, kerjakanlah apa yang Allah s.w.t. perintahkan kepada kamu. Insya Allah s.w.t., ayah akan mendapatkan aku sebagai orang yang sabar dalam menjalankan perintah Allah s.w.t."

Apabila Nabi Ibrahim a.s. mendengar jawapan dari puteranya itu, beliau tahu bahawa doanya telah dikabulkan oleh Allah s.w.t. iaitu: "Rabbi hablii minash solihiin. (Ya Tuhanku, berikanlah aku anak yang soleh)." Lalu, Nabi Ibrahim a.s. pun mengucapkan pujian dan syukur serta berterima kasih kepada Allah s.w.t.

Kemudian Ismail berkata: "Wahai ayah, aku sampaikan beberapa pesanan kepada ayah! Hendaklah ayah mengikat tanganku agar aku tidak dapat bergerak-gerak kerana mungkin aku akan menyakiti ayah. Hadapkan wajahku ke tanah agar ayah tidak dapat melihat wajahku dan berasa kasihan kepadaku. Hendaklah ayah melipat kain ayah agar tidak dilumuri darah meskipun sedikit sehingga mengurangkan pahalaku dan diketahui oleh ibu hingga dia menjadi sedih. Hendaklah ayah menajamkan pisau ayah dan mempercepatkan sembelihannya di atas leherku agar aku tidak merasa terlalu sakit kerana sesungguhnya mati itu sakit sekali.

Hendaklah ayah membawa bajuku kepada ibu sebagai kenang-kenangan dariku, serta sampaikan salam hormatku kepadanya dan katakan; Bersabarlah engkau menerima perintah Allah s.w.t. dan jangan beritahu kepadanya bahawa ayah telah menyembelih aku dengan mengikat tanganku. Jangan pula ayah memasukkan anak-anak ke rumah ibu, agar kesedihannya tidak terlalu lama. Begitu juga ayah, janganlah kamu melihat anak seusiaku kerana nanti ayah akan menyesal dan bersedih terhadapku."

Mendengar permintaan anaknya, Nabi Ibrahim a.s. berkata: "Sebaik-baik penolong adalah kamu, wahai anakku, untuk melaksanakan perintah Allah s.w.t."

Kemudian kedua-duanya bersiap untuk melaksanakan perintah Allah s.w.t. Nabi Ibrahim a.s. sendiri yang akan membaringkan Nabi Ismail seperti membaringkan kambiing yang akan disembelih. Ada juga yang mengisahkan Nabi Ibrahim a.s. menelungkupkan wajah Ismail dengan syarat agar tidak melihat sesuatu yang akan menimbulkan kasih sayangnya sehingga dapat menghalangnya daripada melaksanakan perintah Allah s.w.t. Kejadian itu terjadi di suatu sisi seketul batu besar yang terletak di Mina.

Ada yang mengisahkan kejadian itu berlaku di suatu tempat di Mina. Ketika Nabi Ibrahim a.s. meletakkan pisaunya pada leher Ismail a.s., beliau pun berusaha memotong dengan kuat sekali, tetapi sekuat manapun dia mencuba, dia tidak mampu untuk memutuskan leher anaknya itu.

Sesungguhnya ketika kejadian itu berlaku, Allah s.w.t. telah membuka tutup mata para malaikat yang ada di langit dan di laut. Ketika melihat Nabi Ibrahim a.s. telah menyembelih puteranya Ismail, mereka tersungkur bersujud kepada Allah s.w.t.

Allah s.w.t. berfirman: "Perhatikan oleh kamu sekalian tentang hamba-Ku ini, bagaimana dia meletakkan pisau di atas leher puteranya untuk mengharapkan keredhaan-Ku, sedangkan kamu dahulu telah menyatakan sesuatu ketika Aku berfirman: "Sesungguhnya Aku akan menjadikan di bumi ini seorang khalifah." Kamu berkata: "Apakah Engkau menciptakan orang yang akan berbuat kerosakan di bumi dan akan menumpahkan darah, sedangkan kami semua maha sucikan Engkau?"

Kemudian Ismail berkata lagi: " Wahai ayahku, lepaskanlah ikatan tali di tangan dan kakiku agar Allah s.w.t. tidak memandang aku sebagai orang yang terpaksa mentaati perintah-Nya. Kemudian letakkan pisau itu di leherku agar malaikat-malaikat tahu bahawa putera Ibrahim a.s. telah mentaati perintah Allah s.w.t. dengan ikhtiar (pilihan sendiri dan secara sukarela)."

Lalu, Nabi Ibrahim pun menelentangkan kedua-dua tangan Ismail dan kedua kakinya yang tanpa ikatan serta memalingkan wajahnya ke tanah lalu menekankan pisau dengan sekuat tenaganya. Namun dengan izin Allah s.w.t., ternyata pisau itu tidak boleh memotong leher Ismail.

Melihat kejadian itu, Ismail berkata: "Wahai ayahku, kekuatan kamu menjadi lemah kerana kamu masih menyimpan cinta kamu untukku. Oleh kerana itulah, kamu tidak boleh menyembelih aku."

Lalu Nabi Ibrahim a.s. memukulkan pisau itu pada batu dan batu itu pecah menjadi dua.

Kemudian Ibrahim a.s. berkata: "Hai pisau, engkau mampu membelah batu itu, tetapi mengapa engkau tidak mampu memotong leher anakku?"

Dengan izin Allah s.w.t., pisau itu dapat berbicara dan menjawab: "Wahai Nabi Allah Ibrahim, kamu memang mengatakan "Potonglah!" kepadaku, sedangkan Tuhan penyeru alam sekalian juga berfirman: "Jangan kamu potong!" Maka bagaimana mungkin aku mentaati kamu, sedangkan aku harus menderhakai Tuhanku dan Tuhan kamu?"

Kemudian Allah s.w.t. berfirman: "Dan kami menyeru: "Hai Ibrahim, sungguh kamu telah membenarkan mimpi kamu. Daripada semua yang kamu lakukan, Aku boleh melihat bahawa kamu bersungguh-sungguh telah memilih keredhaan-Ku daripada kecintaan kamu terhadap anak kamu. Oleh sebab itulah, kamu termasuk golongan orang-orang yang taat kepada perintah-Ku. Sesungguhnya ujian ini merupakan ujian yang nyata. Penyembelihan itu adalah ujian yang nyata untuk mengetahui antara yang ikhlas dan yang tidak ikhlas dan merupakan ujian yang sangat sukar kerana tidak ada yang sesukar ujian ini."

"Maka, Kami selamatkan orang yang diperintahkan menyembelih dengan sembelihan yang besar daripada syurga, iaitu kambing kibas yang dahulu telah dikorbankan oleh Habil yang telah diterima darinya. Korban (kambing) itu tetap berada di syurga sehingga Ismail ditebus (ditukar) dengan kambing itu. Oleh sebab itulah, Kami perintahkan kepada Jibril untuk membawa kambing kibas itu ketika terakhir kali engkau meletakkan pisau kamu kepada leher Ismail."

Malaikat Jibril lalu berseru untuk mengagungkan Allah s.w.t. dan merasa takjub (kagum) menyaksikan perbuatan Nabi Ibrahim a.s. sambil berucap: "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar."

Lalu Nabi Ibrahim a.s. membalas ucapan Jibril dengan ucapan: "La ilaaha illallaahu Allahu Akbar."

Begitu juga Ismail, dia menyambutnya dengan ucapan: "Allahu akbar wa lillahil hamdu."

Kemudian Allah s.w.t. memuliakan ucapan itu lalu mewajibkan umat Islam untuk mengucapkannya pada hari raya Aidil Adha untuk mengikut jejak Nabi Ibrahim a.s. dan puteranya, Nabi Ismail yang sentiasa redha dan taat dalam menjalankan perintah Allah s.w.t.

Judgement Day

2010-11-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

The end, is truly, only the beginning of eternity.

*copied from fb article*

Gambaran Hari Qiamat

✐ Selepas Malaikat Israfil meniup sangkakala (bentuknya seperti tanduk besar) yang memekakkan telinga, seluruh makhluk mati kecuali Izrail & beberapa malaikat yang lain. Selepas itu, Izrail pun mencabut nyawa malaikat yang tinggal dan akhirnya nyawanya sendiri.

✐ Selepas semua makhluk mati, Tuhan pun berfirman mafhumnya "Kepunyaan siapakah kerajaan hari ini?" Tiada siapa yang menjawab. Lalu Dia sendiri menjawab dengan keagunganNya "Kepunyaan Allah Yang Maha Esa lagi Maha Perkasa." Ini menunjukkan kebesaran & keagunganNya sebagai Tuhan yg Maha Kuasa lagi Maha Kekal Hidup, tidak mati.

✐ Selepas 40 tahun, Malaikat Israfil a.s. dihidupkan, seterusnya meniup sangkakala untuk kali ke-2, lantas seluruh makhluk hidup semula di atas bumi putih, berupa padang Mahsyar (umpama padang Arafah) yang rata tidak berbukit atau bulat seperti bumi.

✐ Sekelian manusia hidup melalui benih anak Adam yg disebut "Ajbuz Zanbi" yang berada di hujung tulang belakang mereka. Hiduplah manusia umpama anak pokok yang kembang membesar dari biji benih.

✐ Semua manusia dan jin dibangkitkan dalam keadaan telanjang dan hina. Mereka tidak rasa malu kerana pada ketika itu hati mereka sangat takut dan bimbang tentang nasib & masa depan yang akan mereka hadapi kelak.

✐ Lalu datanglah api yang berterbangan dengan bunyi seperti guruh yang menghalau manusia, jin dan binatang ke tempat perhimpunan besar. Bergeraklah mereka menggunakan tunggangan (bagi yang banyak amal), berjalan kaki (bagi yang kurang amalan) dan berjalan dengan muka (bagi yang banyak dosa). Ketika itu, ibu akan lupakan anak, suami akan lupakan isteri, setiap manusia sibuk memikirkan nasib mereka.

✐ Setelah semua makhluk dikumpulkan, matahari dan bulan dihapuskan cahayanya, lalu mereka tinggal dalam kegelapan tanpa cahaya. Berlakulah huru-hara yang amat dahsyat.

✐ Tiba-tiba langit yang tebal pecah dengan bunyi yang dahsyat, lalu turunlah malaikat sambil bertasbih kepada Allah SWT. Seluruh makhluk terkejut melihat saiz malaikat yang besar dan suaranya yang menakutkan.

✐ Kemudian matahari muncul semula dengan kepanasan yang berganda. Hingga dirasakan seakan-akan matahari berada sejengkal dari atas kepala mereka. Ulama berkata jika matahari naik di bumi seperti keadaannya naik dihari Kiamat nescaya seluruh bumi terbakar, bukit-bukau hancur dan sungai menjadi kering. Lalu mereka rasai kepanasan dan bermandikan peluh sehingga peluh mereka menjadi lautan. Timbul atau tenggelam mereka bergantung pada amalan masing-masing. Keadaan mereka berlanjutan sehingga 1000 tahun.

✐ Terdapat satu telaga kepunyaan Nabi Muhammad SAW bernama Al-Kausar yang mengandungi air yang hanya dapat diminum oleh orang mukmin sahaja. Orang bukan mukmin akan dihalau oleh malaikat yang menjaganya. Jika diminum airnya tidak akan haus selama-lamanya. Kolam ini berbentuk segi empat tepat sebesar satu bulan perjalanan. Bau air kolam ini lebih harum dari kasturi, warnanya lebih putih dari susu dan rasanya lebih sejuk dari embun. Ia mempunyai saluran yang mengalir dari syurga.

✐ Semua makhluk berada bawah cahaya matahari yang terik kecuali 7 golongan yang mendapat teduhan dari Arasy. Mereka ialah:

ⅰ- Pemimpin yang adil.

ⅱ- Orang muda yang taat kepada perintah Allah.

ⅲ- Lelaki yang terikat hatinya dengan masjid.

ⅳ- Dua orang yang bertemu kerana Allah dan berpisah kerana Allah.

ⅴ- Lelaki yang diajak oleh wanita berzina, tetapi dia menolak dengan berkata "Aku takut pada Allah".

ⅵ- Lelaki yg bersedekah dengan bersembunyi (tidak diketahui orang ramai).

ⅶ- Lelaki yang suka bersendirian mengingati Allah lalu mengalir air matanya kerana takutkan Allah.

✐ Oleh kerana tersangat lama menunggu di padang mahsyar, semua manusia tidak tahu berbuat apa melainkan mereka yang beriman, kemudian mereka terdengar suara "pergilah berjumpa dengan para Nabi". Maka mereka pun pergi mencari para Nabi. Pertama sekali kumpulan manusia ini berjumpa dengan Nabi Adam tetapi usaha mereka gagal kerana Nabi Adam a.s menyatakan beliau juga ada melakukan kesalahan dengan Allah SWT. Maka kumpulan besar itu kemudiannya berjumpa Nabi Nuh a.s., Nabi Ibrahim a.s., Nabi Musa a.s., Nabi Isa a.s. (semuanya memberikan sebab seperti Nabi Adam a.s.) dan akhirnya mereka berjumpa Rasullullah SAW. Jarak masa antara satu nabi dengan yang lain adalah 1000 tahun perjalanan.

✐ Lalu berdoalah baginda Nabi Muhammad SAW ke hadrat Allah SWT. Lalu diperkenankan doa baginda.

✐ Selepas itu, terdengar bunyi pukulan gendang yang kuat hingga menakutkan hati semua makhluk kerana mereka sangka azab akan turun. Lalu terbelah langit, turunlah arasy Tuhan yang dipikul oleh 8 orang malaikat yang sangat besar (besarnya sejarak perjalanan 20 ribu tahun) sambil bertasbih dengan suara yang amat kuat sehingga 'Arasy itu tiba dibumi.

✐ 'Arasy ialah jisim nurani yang amat besar berbentuk kubah (bumbung bulat) yang mempunyai 4 batang tiang yang sentiasa dipikul oleh 4 orang malaikat yang besar dan gagah. Dalam bahasa mudah ia seumpama istana yang mempunyai seribu bilik yang menempatkan jutaan malaikat di dalamnya. Ia dilingkungi embun yang menghijab cahayanya yang sangat kuat.

✐ Kursi iaitu jisim nurani yang terletak di hadapan Arasy yang dipikul oleh 4 orang malaikat yang sangat besar. Saiz kursi lebih kecil dari 'Arasy umpama cincin ditengah padang . Dalam bahasa mudah ia umpama singgahsana yang terletak dihadapan istana.

✐ Seluruh makhluk pun menundukkan kepala kerana takut. Lalu dimulakan timbangan amal. Ketika itu berterbanganlah kitab amalan masing-masing turun dari bawah Arasy menuju ke leher pemiliknya tanpa silap dan tergantunglah ia sehingga mereka dipanggil untuk dihisab. Kitab amalan ini telah ditulis oleh malaikat Hafazhah / Raqib & 'Atid / Kiraman Katibin.

✐ Manusia beratur dalam saf mengikut Nabi dan pemimpin masing- masing. Orang kafir & munafik beratur bersama pemimpin mereka yang zalim. Setiap pengikut ada tanda mereka tersendiri untuk dibezakan.

✐ Umat yang pertama kali dihisab adalah umat Nabi Muhammad SAW, dan amalan yang pertama kali dihisab adalah solat. Sedangkan hukum yang pertama kali diputuskan adalah perkara pertumpahan darah.

✐ Apabila tiba giliran seseorang hendak dihisab amalannya, malaikat akan mencabut kitab mereka lalu diserahkan, lalu pemiliknya mengambil dengan tangan kanan bagi orang mukmin dan dengan tangan kiri jika orang bukan mukmin.

✐ Semua makhluk akan dihisab amalan mereka menggunakan satu Neraca Timbangan. Saiznya amat besar, mempunyai satu tiang yang mempunyai lidah dan 2 daun. Daun yang bercahaya untuk menimbang pahala dan yang gelap untuk menimbang dosa.

✐ Acara ini disaksikan oleh Nabi Muhammad SAW dan para imam 4 mazhab untuk menyaksikan pengikut masing-masing dihisab.

✐ Perkara pertama yang diminta ialah Islam. Jika dia bukan Islam, maka seluruh amalan baiknya tidak ditimbang bahkan amalan buruk tetap akan ditimbang.

✐ Ketika dihisab, mulut manusia akan dipateri, tangan akan berkata- kata, kaki akan menjadi saksi. Tiada dolak-dalih dan hujah tipuan. Semua akan di adili oleh Allah Ta'ala dengan Maha Bijaksana.

✐ Setelah amalan ditimbang, mahkamah Mahsyar dibuka kepada orang ramai untuk menuntut hak masing-masing dari makhluk yang sedang dibicara sehinggalah seluruh makhluk berpuas hati dan dibenarkannya menyeberangi titian sirat.

✐ Syafaat Nabi Muhammad SAW di akhirat :

ⅰ- Meringankan penderitaan makhluk di Padang Mahsyar dengan mempercepatkan hisab.

ⅱ- Memasukkan manusia ke dalam syurga tanpa hisab.

ⅲ- Mengeluarkan manusia yang mempunyai iman sebesar zarah dari neraka.

(Semua syafaat ini tertakluk kepada keizinan Allah SWT.)

✐ Para nabi dan rasul serta golongan khawas juga diberikan izin oleh Tuhan untuk memberi syafaat kepada para pengikut mereka. Mereka ini berjumlah 70 000. Setiap seorang dari mereka akan mensyafaatkan 70 000 orang yang lain.

✐ Setelah berjaya dihisab, manusia akan mula berjalan menuju syurga melintasi jambatan sirat. Siratul Mustaqim ialah jambatan (titian) yang terbentang dibawahnya neraka. Lebar jambatan ini adalah seperti sehelai rambut yang dibelah tujuh dan ia lebih tajam dari mata pedang. Bagi orang mukmin ia akan dilebarkan dan dimudahkan menyeberanginya.

✐ Fudhail bin Iyadh berkata perjalanan di Sirat memakan masa 15000 tahun. 5000 tahun menaik, 5000 tahun mendatar dan 5000 tahun menurun. Ada makhluk yang melintasinya seperti kilat, seperti angin, menunggang binatang korban dan berjalan kaki. Ada yang tidak dapat melepasinya disebabkan api neraka sentiasa menarik kaki mereka, lalu mereka jatuh ke dalamnya.

✐ Para malaikat berdiri di kanan dan kiri sirat mengawasi setiap makhluk yang lalu. Setiap 1000 orang yang meniti sirat, hanya seorang sahaja yang Berjaya melepasinya. 999 orang akan terjatuh ke dalam neraka.

Rujukan: Kitab Aqidatun Najin karangan Syeikh Zainal Abidin Muhammad Al- Fathani. Pustaka Nasional Singapura 2004.

☞ Jika sekiranya kalian ingin mengumpul saham akhirat, sampaikanlah ilmu ini kepada sahabat² yang lain. Sepertimana sabda Rasulullah SAW: ❝ Sampaikanlah pesananku walaupun satu ayat. ❞ Sesungguhnya apabila matinya seseorang anak Adam itu, hanya 3 perkara yang akan dibawanya bersama :

① Sedekah/amal jariahnya.

② Doa anak²nya yang soleh.

③ Ilmu yang bermanfaat yang disampaikannya kepada orang lain.

sumber: Amar Sufi

Bible and Islam

2010-10-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

Please do spend some time watching this video =)

It may be about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but it is worth every second! =)
Don't refrain yourself from gaining useful knowledge from this person. Just hear what he has to say, and you be the judge ya? :)

;)

Kisah Benar Solat Berjemaah

2010-10-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Kisah Benar Solat Berjemaah | iluvislam.com + discover the beauty of islam

Ego, and Islam

2010-09-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. :)

-"eeee, kamu ni ego btol!"~**
"You have such a big ego."
"Jgnla ego sgt, nnt diri sendirik jugak yg rugi."

*************************************************

We often hear these statements at times, usually from one friend to another, giving a little piece of advise that is sometimes heard, somewhat heard, or totally ignored and continuing being egoistic :P

however, what does ego actually mean?

According to dictionary.com (kuikuikui) there are a few meanings;
= our own 'image' of ourself, or a thinking of ourself that distinguishes us from the others.

Rather complicated, aite? But I think this definition fits it best:
SELF-IMPORTANCE

a.k.a. ego itu= Pentingkan diri! *sila2kan tepuk pipi anda yg gebu2 tak pon yg kurus2*

You could also relate ego very closely to Pride.
*somehow terigt Prime Optimus from Transformers, or Pride from The lion king (ade ke?) okie sila ignore :P*

*just randomly searching the word pride and found the cover of a graphic novel:colored comic. Looks very interesting! :)*

Anyhow, having ego/pride is not a really good thing most of the time;

"Pride is dissatisfaction with the truth, and belittling the people." [Hadith in Muslim]

"Indeed, He does not love the proud." [The Quran - an-Nahl (16):23]

"So enter the gates of Hell to dwell therein. Indeed evil is the abode of the proud. [ The Qur'an - An-Nahl (16):29]

There you go! To be brutally straight with you guys..
Jgnla egoistic/sombong/riak/berlagak atau yg sewaktu dgnnya.. Tamo ke Allah sygkan korang? (dlm Qur'an ckp nih :P) Ke korang mmg mo masuk neraka? (huuuuuuuu tamooooo)

abode by the way, is staying there more than temporarily. *i.e. proud jd evil, evil masuk itu api2. oooooohhhhh T.T

-"Eeee tamo la jd egoistic, or sombong2 pride nih. nnt Allah tak syg n masuk neraka plak tu! Rugi2.."
Alhamdulillah if you are thinking so right now :)

Tapiiii, egoistic is something that is not always portrayed on the outside of someone. Sometimes, it is something so subtle and silent that lurks within us, that only we and Allah knows that it is there. That it exist in our hearts.

That we have this EGO, that not everyone can see.

*Unless you portray the ego n everyone says u r egoistic, hopefully you do agree with them or you are in a HUGE denial and this might bring problems to you :)*

Well, if you are wondering if you have an EGo, regardless of it being subtle or not, feel free to watch this video by Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan.

He points out what you should look for if you do have an ego, and also ways to overcome it :)

Don't be afraid to watch it, as I know it will only bring great benefit to you :)
Go ahead and find out whether you have an ego or not, or if you know that you already have one, look for how to overcome them in this video.

Do you know that you have an ego?
Because I surely do have one :)

If you do not really have the time to watch the whole video (I highly recommend that you do though :D) I did wrote down important points on the whole talk. I will copy and paste those points here, but it might not make perfect sense as it is just the main points that I managed to catch from the talk :)

But if it helps, I will still post them.

Let us fight our ego, for His love, and for our Loved ones too :')

Islam and Ego
Frustrated with people around even within your family
Among friends too
Didn’t have the same journey like us
Prove them wrong
Amar makruf nahi mungkar
Want to show who is superior
Express superiority
Like others don’t know the religion
promote the ego
religion is to humble ourselves!
youth and elders
we are created for worship
religious honor (Adam a.s.)
you don’t get money or car for religious titles
you think deen depends on us
HE doesn’t need us
death comes anytime
Allah has been taking care of our family
NOTHING DEPENDS ON YOU
Ego comes when we do not appreciate who Allah really us
We appreciate ourselves instead
inside there’s an ego
If we look down on another muslim: QIBR= ARROGANCE
mustard seed/molecule of arrogance, no jannah!
our evil action: inwardly
has punishment
inwardly more harder to fix because we can’t see it
Think of ourselves
counseling of religion Is for ourselves first
rights of husband and wife, parents
religion is NOT TO SERVE OUR NEEDS
but to serve Allah!
on judgement day, a sound heart
To check if you have ego: if somebody corrects you, you get upset: who is he to tell me?? If this is your first reaction=ego!
think of the good
leave the rest
if feel the need to give opinion, feel offended if not taken; EGO
give for Allah sakes, you got credit already by doing so (pahala)
check yourself
HIDDEN EGO: problemmm
heart ego, heart becomes hard
no longer moved by the ayah in Qur'an, solat
words of Allah not enough to shake you? - focusing on someone's tajwid being incorrectly pronounced
in private, prob, outside okie
private life, turns into someone else
monster inside
nobody can fix it for you!
muscles feel weak, heart feel overpowered by the fear of Allah
Quran came down from the truth
after a long time, religion became a routine, not something that moves the heart
easy to become hard-hearted
become corrupt
you were a party animal too hahaha
very edge of the fire
got pulled back
Allah's favor to you!
don’t look at others like that
wipe out all the goodness out of you
sincerety, you will address the concern to that person
FIRST ReMEDY: HOPE
giving life to earth (ayah)
can give life to your heart again
it is possible :)
Remember Allah often?
not only dzikr
if thoughtless, it’s not dzikr!
thank and praise Allah, Alhamdulillah
when you mean it, it’s something else :)
should be uncomfortable with praises by others
put yourself down
give your doa
because you are boosting EGO if you tell someone praises
somebody talks real bad to you
good way to put your ego down
think of it as a gift from Allah, gift of humility
different attitude! :) (optimism!)
learn to serve people for Allah
keep it gradual
get right intention
get credit from Allah :)
results is by Allah
life becomes so much easier then
intentions are not made once
can get rusty
keep fixing it!

FIND BETTER COMPANY
find better people
Learn to keep your mouth shut (shaatappp :P)
see something bad, think of something to help them without hurting them
change heart first, will eventually change behavior
only can remind them
Prophet pbuh
remind them, it’s gonna have benefit
reminds so many times
we may not see the benefit
sincere reminder
you get the benefit
words from you, effect from Allah
syura42, alimran
they didn’t disagree with each other until knowledge came
knowledge in religion
urge to dominate over each other
to inflate their ego
this is a horrible crime
they would have been punished immediately
ego on road, people cuts you
eGo
EGO is worship of themselves
alimran: in position of leadership
special mercy of Allah
if you were arrogant to them, they would have dispersed from you
sahabat running away from prophet
Not run away because truth
but because of TOUGH and HarsH approach
prophet is the most amazing leader
everyone should be able to give counsel
learn to be more tolerant
different ways of saying it (advises in a more soft way :D)
sincerity
Forgive them, ask Allah to forgive them when you’re asking forgiveness for yourself
ask their opinion
Allah commanded him to AsK their opinions
Allah is the key to success
Lailahaillallah brings us closer from the bonds of blood
make best of your ability while knowing the results are in Allah hands
get people advised by others, 3rd party
old friendly person saw two people fighting, kept distance if abusive language to you and they will feel it
silent advice

*Assalamualaikum :)

Iliani, apa hukuman pada seseorang minum arak pada hari akhirat? Kalau dah terlanjur, masih boleh bertaubat kah?

2010-09-15T17:38:00.001-07:00

First things first..
Alhamdulillah, kalau perkara ni adalah utk diri saudara/saudari sendiri, atau utk kwn anda, sedarlah bahawa anda telah menggunakan perkataan 'terlanjur'~ which means anda sedar akan kesilapan anda/kwn anda sedar akan kesilapan dia, dan ingin berubah+bertaubat! =)
That is a good thing ya! ;)

Secondly..
Iliani sendiri tak arif sgt3 dlm hal ni, tp sbb anda telah bertanya, iliani akn cuba jwb dgn sungguh2 ya, no worries! =)

orang2 yg minum arak n tak sempat bertaubat, akan dibangkitkan kelak pada hari akhirat dgn keadaan yg sgt2 lah buruk =(

Abul Laits Assamarqandi meriwayatkan dengan sanadnya dari Abdullah bin Umar r.a. berkata:

"Akan dibangkitkan pada hari kiamat orang peminum khamar itu bermuka hitam, biru matanya, keluar lidahnya sampai kedadanya, mengalir air liurnya, tiap orang yang melihat akan jijik padanya kerana busuk baunya. Kamu jangan memberi salam kepada pemabuk dan jangan melawatnya jika mereka sakit dan jangan menyembahyangkan jika mati." masruq berkata: "Peminum khamar itu seperti penyembah berhala, jika ia menganggap halal khamar."

khamar di sini ialah ape2 yg memabukkan; arak.

Rasulullah s.a.w. juga telah bersabda:

"Akan keluar peminum khamar itu pada hari kiamat dari kuburnya lebih busuk dari bangkai sedang botol khamar itu dikalungkan dilehernya dan gelas ditangannya, sedang diantara kulit dan daging badannya penuh ular dan kala dan memekai kasut dari api yang mendidihkan otaknya, sedang kuburnya akan berupa liang neraka dan menjadi kawan Fir'aun dan Haman."

Orang2 yg minum arak termasuk orang2 yang tak dpt cium bau syurga, n tak dpt minum arak dlm syurga.

Tentang hukuman2 dia pulak iliani carik2 tapi tak brape jumpa yg jelas. Tp besar kemungkinan ini adalah sebahagiannya;

Sedang ahli neraka dibawa keneraka, maka bila sampai dimuka pintunya langsung terbuka pintu-pintunya dan disambut oleh Malaikat yang telah siap dengan pukul besinya, maka apabila ia telah masuk keneraka tiap anggota badannya merasakan siksa sendiri, apakah panasnya api atau gigitan ular atau pukulan Malaikat, dan bila dipukul oleh Malaikat segera tenggelam dalam api itu sedalam empat puluh tahun, belum juga sampai kedasarnya, kemudian dinaikkan oleh wap api keatas untuk diulangi pukulan Malaikat sehingga tenggelam kembali sedalamnya. Sedang kulitnya sebagaimana tersebut dalam ayat (Yang berbunyi):

Tiap-tiap telah rosak (masak) kulitnya maka Kami ganti dengan kulit yang baru supaya merasai pedihnya siksa. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mulia, Jaya dan Bijaksana." (Surah An Nisa ayat 56)

Dijelaskan bahawa penggantian kulit itu tiap hari sampai tujuh puluh kali dan terasa dahaga maka minta minum lalu diberikan air hamim yang mendidih dan bila didekatkan kemukanya jatuh daging mukanya dan bila diminum jatuh giginya, kemudian jika masuk kedalam perut terputus-putus ususnya dan masak kulitnya, segaimana ayat (Yang berbunyi):

"Mencairkan apa yang didalam perut mereka, demikian pula kulit. Dan untuk mereka tersedia pukul dari besi." (Surah Al-Haj ayat 20-21)

Jadi dari sini kita dpt tgk betapa pedihnya seksa di neraka. (iliani baca pon da ngeriii eeeeee takot2) Ni pon anggaran sahaja, seksa yg sebenarnya hanyalah Dia yg tahu.

Tapi jgnlah anda khuatir yek! =)
Selagi matahari belum terbit dari Barat, dan selagi Allah masih mengizinkan jantung anda berdenyut, akal anda masih wujud dlm diri.. Pintu taubat Dia masih terbuka =)

"Katakanlah: "Hai hamba-hambaKu yang melampaui batas terhadap diri mereka sendiri, janganlah kamu berputus asa dari rahmat Allah. Sesungguhnya Allah mengampuni dosa-dosa semuanya. Sesungguhnya Dia-lah yang Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang." (QS. Az-Zumar: 53)

Tentang pintu taubat pula, ni ade sahih dr Muslim:

Abu-Musa Al-Ashari narrated that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "Verily Allah extends his hand at night so that the sinners of the day may repent and verily extends his hand during the day so that the sinners of the night may repent, (He will keep on doing this) as long as the sun does not rise from the West."

Jadi jika benar anda/ kwn anda ingin bertaubat, taubat2lah dgn segera! =) Insya-Allah, jika anda ikhlas dlm taubat anda, Dia akn menerimanya =) It's never too late to go back to the right path, as long as the sun is still rising from the east, and death has not fallen upon you.

..Kalau2 anda/kwn anda mo tangguh2 taubat, mungkin nak taubat esok/ mgg depan/ bulan depan...
Pikir2kanlah,..
yakinkah anda matahari takkan terbit dr Barat pd esok hari?
dan yakinkah anda Malaikat Maut takkan dtg menjemput anda pd saat yg seterusnya?
Ingat2lah yg Malaikat Maut itu menatap wajah kita 70 kali dlm masa 24jam, sedangkan kita nak igt pada kematian tu brape kali sehari yek? =)

iliani akan doa2kan kamu segera bertaubat ASAP! dan juga taubatmu/kwnmu diterimaNya, insya-Allah =)

kalau nak bc byk lg ttg isu ni, boleh tgk kat webstite2 ni:
http://www.al-azim.com/~beringin/agama/hukumarak1.htm

ttg taubat plak:
http://media.isnet.org/islam/Qardhawi/Taubat/Utama.html

=)

Ask me anything

Mercy

2010-09-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

عن أَبي هريرة قَالَ : قَبَّلَ النَّبيُّ الحَسَنَ بْنَ عَليٍّ رضي الله عنهما ، وَعِنْدَهُ الأَقْرَعُ بْنُ حَابِس ، فَقَالَ الأقْرَعُ : إن لِي عَشرَةً مِنَ الوَلَدِ مَا قَبَّلْتُ مِنْهُمْ أحَداً . فَنَظَرَ إِلَيْهِ رَسُول الله فَقَالَ : « مَنْ لا يَرْحَمْ لا يُرْحَمْ ! » . مُتَّفَقٌ عَلَيهِ .

Abu Hurairah (May Allah bepleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) kissed his grandson Al-Hasan bin 'Ali (May Allah bepleased with them) in the presence of Al-Aqra' bin Habis. Thereupon he remarked: "I have ten children and I have never kissed any one of them." Messenger of Allah (PBUH) looked at him and said, "He who does not show mercy to others will not be shown mercy".

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Commentary: To kiss children with kindness and affection is not only permissible but also a means of attaining Allah's Mercy

Don't be shy to show your affection to your children/loved ones! :)

Luasnya Neraka

2010-08-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yazid Ar Raqqasyi dari Anas bin Malik ra. berkata:

Jibrail datang kepada Nabi SAW pada waktu yg ia tidak biasa datang dalam keadaan berubah mukanya, maka ditanya oleh nabi s.a.w

"'Mengapa aku melihat kau berubah muka?"

Jawabnya:

"Ya Muhammad, aku datang kepadamu di saat Allah menyuruh supaya dikobarkan penyalaan api neraka, maka tidak layak bagi orang yg mengetahui bahawa neraka Jahannam itu benar, dan siksa kubur itu benar,dan siksa Allah itu terbesar untuk bersuka-suka sebelum ia merasa aman dari padanya."

Lalu nabi s.a..w. bersabda:

"Ya Jibrail, jelaskan padaku sifatJahannam."

Jawabnya:

"Ya. Ketika Allah menjadikan Jahannam, maka dinyalakan selama seribu tahun, sehingga merah, kemudian dilanjutkan seribu tahun sehingga putih, kemudian seribu tahun sehingga hitam, maka ia hitam gelap, tidak pernah padam nyala dan baranya. Demi Allah yg mengutus engkau dengan hak, andaikan terbuka sebesar lubang jarum nescaya akan dapat membakar penduduk dunia semuanya kerana panasnya. Demi Allah yg mengutus engkau dengan hak, andaikan satu baju ahli neraka itu digantung di antara langit dan bumi nescaya akan mati penduduk bumi kerana panas dan basinya. Demi Allah yg mengutus engkau dengan hak, andaikan satu pergelangan dari rantai yg disebut dalam Al-Quran itu diletakkan di atas bukit, nescaya akan cair sampai ke bawah bumi yg ke tujuh. Demi Allah yg mengutus engkau dengan hak, andaikan seorang di hujung barat tersiksa,nescaya akan terbakar orang-orang yang di hujung timur kerana sangat panasnya, Jahannam itu sangat dalam dan perhiasannya besi dan minumannya air panas campur nanah dan pakaiannya potongan-potongan api. Api neraka itu ada tujuh pintu, tiap-tiap pintu ada bahagiannya yang tertentu dari orang laki-laki dan perempuan."

Nabi s.a.w. bertanya:

"Apakah pintu-pintunya bagaikan pintu-pintu rumah kami?"

Jawabnya:

"Tidak, tetapi selalu terbuka, setengahnya dibawah dari lainnya, dari pintu ke pintu jarak perjalanan 70,000 tahun, tiappintu lebih panas dari yang lain 70 kali ganda.' (nota kefahaman: iaituyg lebih bawah lebih panas)"

Tanya Rasulullah s.a.w.:

"Siapakah penduduk masing-masing pintu?"

Jawab Jibrail:

"Pintu yg terbawah untuk orang-orang munafik, dan orang-orang yg kafir setelah diturunkan hidangan mukjizat nabi Isa a.s.. serta keluarga Fir'aun sedang namanya Al-Hawiyah.

Pintu kedua tempat orang-orang musyrikin bernama Jahim,

Pintu ketiga tempat orang shobi'in bernama Saqar.

Pintu ke empat tempat Iblis dan pengikutnya dari kaum majusi bernama Ladha,

Pintu kelima orang yahudi bernama Huthomah.

Pintu ke enam tempat orang nasara bernama Sa'eir.'

Kemudian Jibrail diam segan pada Rasulullah s.a.w.. sehingga ditanya:

"Mengapa tidak kau terangkan penduduk pintu ke tujuh?"

Jawabnya:

"Di dalamnya orang-orang yg berdosa besar dari ummatmu yg sampai mati belum sempat bertaubat."

Maka nabi s.a.w. jatuh pingsan ketika mendengar keterangan itu, sehingga Jibrail meletakkan kepala nabi s.a.w. di pangkuannya sehingga sedar kembali dan sesudah sadar nabi saw bersabda:

"Ya Jibrail, sungguh besar kerisauanku dan sangat sedihku, apakah ada seorang dari ummat ku yang akan masuk kedalam neraka?"

Jawabnya:

"Ya, iaitu orang yg berdosa besar dari ummatmu."

Kemudian Nabi s.a.w. menangis, Jibrail juga menangis, kemudian Nabi s.a.w.masuk ke dalam rumahnya dan tidak keluar kecuali untuk sembahyang kemudian kembali dan tidak berbicara dengan orang dan bila sembahyang selalu menangis dan minta kepada Allah.

(Dipetik dari kitab 'Peringatan Bagi Yg Lalai')

DariHadith Qudsi: Bagaimana kamu masih boleh melakukan maksiat sedangkankamu tak dapat bertahan dengan panasnya terik matahari Ku.

Tahukah kamu bahawa neraka jahanamKu itu:

1. Neraka Jahanam itu mempunyai 7 tingkat

2. Setiap tingkat mempunyai 70,000 daerah

3. Setiap daerah mempunyai 70,000 kampung

4. Setiap kampung mempunyai 70,000 rumah

5. Setiap rumah mempunyai 70,000 bilik

6. Setiap bilik mempunyai 70,000 kotak

7. Setiap kotak mempunyai 70,000 batang pokok zarqum

8. Di bawah setiap pokok zarqum mempunyai 70,000 ekorular

9. Di dalam mulut setiap ular yang panjang 70 hastamengandungi lautan racun yang hitam pekat.

10. Juga di bawah setiap pokok zarqum mempunyai70,000 rantai

11. Setiap rantai diseret oleh 70,000 malaikat

Mudah-mudahan ini dapat menimbulkan keinsafan kepada kita semua......Wallahua'lam.

Al-Quran Surah Al- Baqarah Ayat 159

"Sesungguhnyaorang-orang yang menyembunyikan apa yang telah Kami turunkan dariketerangan-keterangan dan petunjuk hidayat, sesudah Kami terangkannyakepada manusia di dalam Kitab Suci, mereka itu dilaknat oleh Allah dandilaknat oleh sekalian makhluk."

Disebutkan di dalam satu riwayat, bahawasanya apabila para makhluk dibangkitkan dari kubur, mereka semuanya berdiri tegak di kubur masing-masing selama 44 tahun UMUR AKHIRAT dalam keadaan TIDAK MAKAN dan TIDAK MINUM , TIDAK DUDUK dan TIDAK BERCAKAP .

Bertanya orang kepada Rasulullah saw :

'Bagaimana kita dapat mengenali ORANG-ORANG MUKMIN kelak di hari qiamat?'

Maka jawabnya Rasulullah saw:

'Umatku dikenali kerana WAJAH mereka putih disebabkan oleh WUDHU'. Bila qiamat datang maka malaikat datang kekubur orang mukmin sambil membersihkan debu di badan mereka KECUALI pada tempat sujud. Bekas SUJUD tidak dihilangkan. Maka memanggillah dari zat yang memanggil. Bukanlah debu 'itu dari debu kubur mereka, akan tetapi debu itu ialah debu KEIMANAN' mereka. Oleh itu tinggallah debu itu sehingga mereka melalui titian' SiratulMustaqim dan memasuki Alam SYURGA, sehingga setiap orang melihat para mukmin itu mengetahui bahawa mereka adalah pelayan Ku dan hamba-hambaKu."

Disebutkan oleh hadith Rasulullah saw bahawa sepuluh orangyang mayatnya TIDAK BUSUK dan TIDAK REPUT dan akan bangkit dalam tubuhasal diwaktu mati :-

1. Para Nabi

2 Para Ahli Jihad

3. Para Alim Ulama

4. Para Syuhada

5. Para Penghafal Al Quran

6. Imam atau Pemimpin yang Adil

7. Tukang Azan

8. Wanita yang mati kelahiran/beranak

9. Orang mati dibunuh atau dianiaya

10. Orang yang mati di siang hari atau di malam Jumaat jika mereka itu dari kalangan orang yang beriman.

Didalam satu riwayat yang lain dari Jabir bin Abdullah ra sabda Rasulullah saw:

"Apabila datang hari QIAMAT dan orang-orang yang berada di dalam kubur dibangkitkan maka Allah swt memberi wahyu kepada Malaikat Ridhwan: 'Wahai Ridhwan, sesungguhnya Aku telah mengeluarkan hamba-hamba Kuberpuasa ( Ahli Puasa ) dari kubur mereka di dalam keadaan letih dandahaga. Maka ambillah dan berikan mereka segala makanan yang digorengdan buah-buahan SYURGA. ' Maka Malaikat Ridhwan menyeru, wahai sekelian kawan-kawan dan semua anak-anak yang belum baligh, lalu mereka semua datang dengan membawa dulang dari nur dan berhimpun dekat Malaikat Ridhwan bersama dulang yang penuh dengan buahan dan minuman yang lazat dari syurga dengan sangat banyak melebihi daun-daun kayu dibumi. Jika Malaikat Ridhwan berjumpa mukmin maka dia memberi makanan itu kepada mereka sambil mengucap sebagaimana yang difirman oleh Allah swt di dalam Surah Al-Haqqah bermaksud :'Makan dan minumlah dengan sedap disebabkan AMAL yang telah kamu kerjakan pada HARI yang telah LALU itu."

* Tolong sebarkan kisah ini kepada saudara Islam yang lain.

Ilmuyang bermanfaat ialah salah satu amal yang berkekalan bagi orang yangmengajarnya meskipun dia sudah mati.

' Dan ( ingatlah ) Allah sentiasamengetahui dengan mendalam akan apa jua yang kamu lakukan.' (SurahAl-Baqarah : 237)

Untuk renungan dan amalan bersama ..

DOA Nabi Allah Yunus

"LAA ILAHA ILLA ANTA SUBHANAKA INNI KUNTU MINALZHAALIMIIN"

p/s : Kepada saudara/saudari yg alim dalam ilmu agama, sekiranya ada kelemahan dalam artikel ini sila beritahu. mudah-mudahan ada manfaat untuk kita semua.

Rujukan:

* SYARH DAQOIQUL AKHBAR

5 Languages of Love

2010-08-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Duduk antara Dua Sujud

2010-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

*This is a note on facebook that one of my friend had put up. Azreen, thank you so much for sharing! :)*

I woke up today finding this in my gmail inbox. Thought it's really beautiful and ought to be shared. Take care hommies
------------------

BESARNYA makna DOA YANG KITA LUPAKAN - semasa duduk antara dua sujud
Dalam tidak sedar.
Setiap hari kita memohon didalam solat kita..tetapi sayangnya, kita hanya memohon tanpa memahami.. sekadar tersebut dibibir, tetapi tidak tersentuh dari hati kita selama ini..

Marilah kita mula menghayati ketika kita duduk di antara dua sujud semasa solat..
Dengan rendah hati nyatakanlah permohonan ampun kepada Allah
Rabbighfirli (Tuhanku, ampuni aku)
Diamlah sejenak,
buka dada dan diri kita untuk menerima ampunan dari Allah seperti membuka diri ketika merasakan hembusan angin sepoi-sepoi atau menerima curahan air hujan ketika kita masih kecil

Tetaplah membuka diri kita untuk menerima ampunan Allah
Ulangi permintaan itu beberapa kali hingga kita merasakan ketenangan Kemudian sampaikanlah permintaan kedua,
Warhamni (sayangi aku)
Diam dan tundukkanlah diri kita untuk menerima kasih-sayang Allah yang tak terhitung besarnya
Bukalah dada kita seluas-luasnya agar semakin banyak kasih-sayang Allah yang kita terima
Ulanglah beberapa kali hingga kita merasa cukup Berturut-turut sampaikanlah permintaan2 berikut dengan cara sebagaimana tersebut di atas, satu persatu..

Wajburnii (tutuplah aib-aibku)
Warfa'nii (angkatlah darjatku)
Warzuqnii (berilah aku rezeki)
Wahdinii (berilah aku petunjuk)
Wa'Aafinii (sihatkan aku)
Wa'fuannii (maafkan aku)

Setelah selesai, diamlah sejenak lalu sampaikan rasa syukur kita
Betapa besarnya nilai sebuah doa ini..sebuah doa yang kita hanya lewatkan begitu sahaja..
Dalam tidak kita sedar selama ini kita seperti sedang berpura-pura memohon sesuatu tetapi hati antara tidak dan mahu pantaslah Allah perlakukan kita begitu.

Appreciation

2010-07-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Oh I forgot to mention about the videos below XD
These are the videos of Shane Dawson, a YouTuber who shares a lot of his life at YouTube, and he makes lots of funny n ridiculous videos XD Even though he curses a lot (heads up if u're watching he's videos! XD) but u can tell that he's a nice guy inside.

And the videos below are about one of his loved ones. This only shows and proves that he is human just like any of us. =)

Prostration: men vs women?

2010-06-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

Salam =) I got this message from facebook, which is very interesting and informative. I hope to share with everyone here so that you guys could gain benefit from it too! =)

How Prayer is Done Is there a difference in the way men and women prostrate?
Is there a difference in the way men and women prostrate?.

Praise be to Allaah. Some of the scholars are of the view that men and woman should pray differently, and they quote a number of a haadeeth as evidence for that, but these are all da’eef (weak) and cannot be taken as evidence.

But the correct view is that there is no difference in the way men and women pray. Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, refuting the view of the fuqaha’ that “women should not spread their arms out, rather they should keep them close to their sides and when they prostrate they should press their stomachs to their thighs and their thighs to their calves… because they should conceal themselves, and compressing themselves is more concealing than spreading out.”

Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:This may be answered in several ways:
1 – This reason cannot stand up against the general meaning of the texts which indicate that women are like men with regard to rulings, especially since the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Pray as you have seen me praying,” and this is addressed in general terms, including both men and women.

2 – This reason is redundant because usually, as is prescribed, women pray alone in their houses with no men present. In that case there is no need for them to compress themselves, so long as no men can see them.

3 – You say that she raises her hands, and raising the hands is more likely to uncover than spreading the arms when prostrating. But despite that you say that it is Sunnah for her to raise her hands, because the basic principle is that the rulings apply equally to men and women.

The correct view is: Women should do the same things that men do in the prayer, so they should raise their hands and spread their arms out when prostrating, and make their backs level when bowing and lift their stomachs up off their thighs, and their thighs up off their calves, when prostrating… they should sit on the left foot with the right foot held upright when sitting between the two prostrations and in the first tashahhud.
In the last tashahhud of the prayer there is only one tashahhud, and they should sit mutawarrikan (with the left upper thigh on the ground and both feet protruding from one (the right) side) during the final tashahhud of three- and four-rak’ah prayers. There are no exceptions for women in any of these matters.

Al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 3/304, 303Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, at the end of his book Sifat Salaat al-Nabi (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) (The Prophet’s Prayer Described):“All that has been mentioned of the description of the Prophet's prayer (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) applies equally to men and women, for there is nothing in the Sunnah to necessitate the exception of women from any of these descriptions; in fact, the generality of his statement (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), ‘Pray as you have seen me praying’, includes women

”If we assume that a woman is praying in a public place where men may see her, such as in the Haram in Makkah, or in a park – if she has to pray there – then she should be careful with regard to every action that may lead to uncovering any part of her, and take extra precautions in this case. And Allah knows best.

=)

Syamimi

2010-05-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is a true story about Syamimi and the ultimate challenges she had faced. I've been told about her story first hand by an Ustaz back in Intec, where he was one of the person beside her during her hard times. Please do read this story through though it may seem a little long.

How I envy you Syamimi =) but Alhamdulillah, you managed to pull it through. =))

Dengan Nama Allah Yang Maha Pemurah Lagi Maha Mengasihani. .. Ya Allah..lancar jari ini menaipkan sebuah pengalaman yg amat berharga dari seorang insan yg dipilih Allah utk berjumpa Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. melalui mimpi hari Khamis, 16 Rejab 1427H bersamaan 10 0gos 2006. Nama yg dipilih oleh ayah beliau adalah Syamimi yg bermaksud 'kesayanganku' , jua gelaran Nabi pada puteri kesayangan Baginda, Fatimah. Ketika khilaf memilih nama itu, ayah beliau mengharapkan mudah2an suatu hari nanti anaknya akan menjadi salah seorang mutiara kesayangan Rasulullah s.a.w. Alhamdulillah, doanya makbul selepas 23 tahun kelahiran anak sulungnya daripada 8 adik-beradik. Al-Quran 30 juzuk terpelihara kemas dalam hatinya.

Beliau menghabiskan masa 3 tahun utk menghafal 30 juzuk Kalamullah ketika berada di negeri kelahirannya. Beliau hafal sendiri utk memenuhi harapan ibu ayah yang mengharapkan ada dalam kalangan anak mereka menjadi seorang hafiz atau hafizah. Sebagai anak sulung, beliau mengambil tanggungjawab ini utk menjadi contoh kpd adik2 yg lain. Setiap hari beliau hafal 2 muka surat Al-Quran dan tasmi' dgn ustaz di sebelah rumahnya. Sekarang beliau pelajar tahun 4 jurusan Undang-Undang Syariah di universiti ini. Akak ni memang diuji dengan sakit yg tak tahu apa punca sejak lebih setahun yg lalu. Sakitnya rasa seperti ditikam-tikam dengan pisau di bahagian belakang tubuhnya, tambahan pula kaki yang sakit di bahagian lutut sejak 8 tahun lalu tidak pernah sembuh. Pernah satu ketika, selepas makan, beliau muntah bersama segumpal rambut dari kerongkongnya.

Penderitaannya hanya Allah dan dia sendiri yang tahu. Sudah lama beliau tidak terdaya ke kelas kerana sakit itu membuatkan dia tidak dapat berdiri atau berjalan. Hilang selera makannya hingga badannya susut hampir 13 kg. Beliau hanya menggagahkan diri untuk pergi berwudhu' 2 hingga 3 kali sehari. Wudhu' itu dijaga sebaik mungkin untuk ibadah sepanjang hari. Hari2 yang dilaluinya dipenuhi dgn membaca Al-Quran dan qiamullail sebagai pendinding daripada gangguan yg terus2an menyakiti diri. Diceritakan makhluk2 halus itu akan mengganggunya terutama pada waktu sebelum Subuh, Zuhur dan Maghrib. Beliau telah banyak berubat di merata tempat, berjumpa doktor2 pakar, malah ulama' yg faqih dalam ilmu perubatan islam serta akhir sekali bertemu sorang lecturer di sini. Tapi beliau hanya mampu bertahan. Pesan ustaznya, setiap kali beliau sakit, banyakkan baca Surah Al-Baqarah.

Pagi Khamis itu, beliau berniat utk hadir kuliyah sebab sudah terlalu lama tidak mampu ke kelas. Beliau bangun kira2 jam 4.30 pagi utk solat. Berbekalkan sedikit kekuatan yg digagahkan, beliau ke bilik air utk berwudhu' dgn memapah dinding dan segala apa yg mampu membantu beliau untuk berdiri. Habis berwudhu', beliau jatuh tersungkur, rasa seperti ada yg menolak keras dari belakang. Tika itu beliau sudah tidak mampu berdiri, justeru beliau merangkak ke bilik. Sampai saja di bilik, beliau ketuk pintu dan rebah di depan bilik tersebut.

Disebabkan sakit yg mungkin dah tak tertanggung, dengan spontan beliau niatkan, "Ya Allah, kiranya mati itu baik untukku, aku redha, tapi kiranya Engkau ingin aku terus hidup, aku ingin dengar kata-kata semangat drpd Rasulullah s.a.w. sendiri.." Kemudian beliau pengsan. Sahabat2 sebilik mengangkat beliau ke dalam biliknya dan di baringkan di sana . Waktu itu, sahabat2nya telah pun 'forward message' pd rakan2 yg lain agar dibacakan surah Yasin kerana beliau nampak sudah nazak. Malah mereka telah sedia dgn nombor2 ahli keluarganya utk dihubungi kiranya ada apa2 berlaku dengan izin Allah. Kira2 jam 11 pagi itulah, ketika tertidur dgn tenang dalam waktu qoilullah, beliau bermimpi.

Beliau sedang terbaring dalam keadaan memakai telekung dgn tangannya diqiam seperti dalam solat di suatu tempat asing yang sangat cantik. Beliau terbaring di sebelah mimbar dan kelihatan banyak tiang di sekitarnya. Tiba-tiba datang seorang Hamba Allah dgn wajah yang bercahaya dari arah depan dan berdiri hampir sekali, kira2 2 meter dari beliau. Wajahnya SubhanaLlah. .indah sekali, tak dapat nak digambarkan. Beliau tertanya2, siapakah orang ini? cantik sekali kejadiannya dan hati beliau rasa sangat tenang dgn hanya melihat wajahnya. Dirasakan seluruh kesengsaraan yg ditanggung selama ini lenyap begitu sahaja. Kemudian, Hamba Allah itu mengatakan, "Assalamu'alaikum, ana Rasulullah.. " Subhanallah. .baginda Nabi rupanya! Nabi memakai jubah putih dan kain serban berwarna hijau di atas bahu baginda. Beliau nampak dgn jelas mata Baginda Nabi, janggut Baginda, rambut Baginda, kain serban di atas bahu Baginda dan tubuh Baginda. Kemudian Nabi katakan "Enti fil masjidi" (kamu sekarang berada di masjidku, Masjid Nabawi)..

Allahuakbar! Kemudian Baginda Nabi s.a.w. berkata: QalAllahuta' ala; "InnaAllahama' assobirin" (sesungguhnya Allah bersama orang2 yg sabar). Ketika mendengar suara Nabi mengalunkan Kalamullah, terasa bergema suara merdu Nabi di seluruh alam. Sememangnya Baginda sebaik-baik kejadian dan diciptakan dgn penuh kesempurnaan. Nabi katakan (dalam lughahl arab, tp diterjemahkan di sini) ; "Ya Syamimi, dengan berkat kesabaran enti, dgn sakit yg enti tanggung selama ini, dan dgn berkat Al-Quran yg enti pelihara di dlm hati, maka Allah bukakan hijab utk enti nampak ana.." Ketika Nabi menyebut Ya Syamimi, terlintas di hatinya "Ya Allah..Baginda kenal ummatnya!". Ya Rasulullah.. . Ketika itu, beliau dapat merasakan baiknya Allah, memberikan nikmat yg begitu besar buat dirinya. Kemudian Nabi katakan lagi; "Sampaikan salamku buat sahabat2 seperjuangan Islam. InsyaAllah, kita semua akan berjumpa nanti.." Nabi s.a.w. kemudian melafazkan; "Ummati.. ummati..ummati. .." dan beliau nampak jelas Nabi menangis saat itu. Beberapa titisan airmata Baginda yg suci mengalir utk ummat Baginda! Kemudian Baginda Nabi melangkah pergi.

Beliau merintih, "Jangan pergi Ya Rasulullah.. " tetapi Baginda tetap pergi. Subhanallah, walaupun kita tak pernah bersua dgn Nabi yg mulia, Baginda kenal dan sentiasa ingat akan ummatnya. Beliau sendiri tidak pasti, apakah Baginda menangis kerana rindu kepada ummatnya, atau mungkin saja baginda sedih dgn ummat akhir zaman ini? wallahua'lam. .. Sedar daripada tidur yg amat indah pengisiannya itu, beliau masih dikelilingi oleh rakan2 yg turut terdengar rintihan beliau dalam tidurnya "Jangan pergi Ya Rasululah... " Beliau kemudian menceritakan kpd para sahabat tentang mimpinya sekaligus menyampaikan salam Rasulullah buat ummat Baginda. Semua yg mendengar menangis lantaran rindu pada Nabi. Rasa malu pada Nabi krn kita jarang2 ingat pada Baginda sedangkan kita amat terhutang budi padanya. Lebih2 lagi kita sedar bahawa hanya syafaat Bagindalah yg dikejar di akhirat kelak.

Ya Allah..ketika itu, tiada kata yg lebih tinggi drpd kalimah Alhamdulillah utk di rafa'kan pada Allah atas ni'mat yg begitu besar yg Allah berikan pada dirinya. Rasa tak layak dirinya menerima anugerah dgn ujian yg hanya sedikit berbanding insan2 yg lebih berat diuji oleh Allah. Kiranya ada kalimah pujian yg lebih tinggi dr Hamdalah, pasti akan beliau sebutkan buat Allah Yang Maha Kaya. Semuanya terangkum dalam Rahmat-Nya yg melimpah ruah. Rasa sakit masih menular di tubuhnya. Cuma kali ini dia bertekad tidak akan menangis lagi utk kesakitan ini. Usai solat Zuhur, rasa sakit yg ditanggung makin hebat. Tak pernah beliau merasakan sakit yg sebegitu rupa. Terasa panas seluruh badan dan seluruh tubuhnya rasa ditikam pada setiap penjuru.

Kalau dulu, beliau akan menangis dalam menghadapi kesakitan, namun pada waktu itu beliau pujuk diri utk tidak menangis. "Apa sangatlah sakit yg aku tanggung ini berbanding nikmat yg Allah telah bagi utk melihat Baginda Nabi s.a.w.." Kemudian beliau tidur. Beliau terus rasakan berada di tempat tinggi, tempat yg biasa hadir sepanjang beliau menerima gangguan. Beliau katakan "Ya Allah, apa lagi yg hendak Engkau berikan buat hambamu yg hina ni, rasa malu sangat dengan-Mu Ya Allah..." Kemudian dgn izin Allah, datang empat orang yg berpakaian serba hijau. Salah seorang daripadanya mengatakan; "Assalamu'alaikum Ya Syamimi..Rasulullah s.a.w. sampaikan salam buatmu. Kami utusan Rasululah..Nahnu khulafa' ar-rasyidin. Ana Abu Bakr, ini Ummar Al-Khattab, Uthman bin 'affan dan Ali.." Subhanallah. .Saidina Abu Bakr memperkenal dirinya dan ketiga2 sahabat yg mulia. Beliau nampak sendiri, Saidina Abu Bakr yg amat lembut perwatakannya, Saidina Ummar dgn wajah tegasnya, Saidina Uthman yg cantik sekali dan Saidina 'Ali yg agak kecil orangnya. Para Sahabat mengatakan; "Kami diutuskan oleh baginda Nabi utk membantu enti.." Kemudian keempat2 mereka membacakan ayat 102 surah Al-Baqarah yg bermaksud: "Dan mereka mengikuti apa yg dibaca oleh syaitan-syaitan pada masa kerajaan Sulaiman. Sulaiman itu tidak kafir tetapi syaitan-syaitan itulah yg kafir, mereka mengajarkan sihir pada manusia dan apa yg diturunkan pada 2 malaikat di negeri Babylon iaitu Harut dan Marut.

Padahal keduanya tidak mengajarkan sesuatu kepada seseorang sebelum mengatakan 'sesungguhnya kami hanyalah cubaan (bagimu) sebab itu janganlah kafir.' Maka mereka mempelajari dari keduanya (malaikat itu) apa yang (dapat) memisahkan antara seorang (suami) denagn isterinya. Mereka tidak akan dapat mencelakakan seseorang dgn sihirnya kecuali dengan izin Allah. Mereka mempelajari sesuatu yang mencelakakan, dan tidak memberi manfaat kepada mereka. Dan sungguh, mereka sudah tahu, barang siapa membeli (menggunakan sihir) itu, nescaya tidak akan mendapat keuntungan di akhirat. Dan sungguh, sangatlah buruk perbuatan mereka yang menjual dirinya dgn sihir, sekiranya mereka tahu.." Selesai membaca ayat itu, para sahabat Nabi menghembus pada makhluk2 yang sedang mengganggu beliau dan mereka semua hancur terbakar.

Subhanallah. .waktu itu terus terasa seolah2 tubuhnya yg sakit dahulu ditukarkan Allah s.w.t. dgn tubuh yg baru. Hilang segala kesakitan yg setahun lebih ditanggung beliau dgn sabar. Saidina Abu Bakr mengatakan; "Inilah ganjaran besar dari Allah buat orang-orang yang sabar.." Kemudian, para sahabat Nabi yg mulia pun pergi meninggalkannya. Selesai mimpi indah yg kedua ini, beliau bangun dr tidur dan terus duduk. Rakan2 sebilik pelik, kenapa beliau dapat bangun dan duduk dgn mudah . Kemudian sahabat2nya itu menyuruh beliau bangun berdiri dan alhamduliLlah. .dgn mudah beliau bangun berdiri dan berjalan d sekitar bilik. "Ya Allah, penyakit ana dah sembuh.."

Semua sahabat yang ada di situ bergembira dan menangis. Kemudian beliau segera ke bilik air untuk berwudhu'. Dengan tubuh yang 'baru', beliau sujud syukur pada Allah s.w.t. "Ya Allah, kiranya di beri tempoh sujud 100 tahun pun belum dapat diriku menjadi hamba-Mu yg bersyukur atas nikmat yg telah Engkau berikan.." Beliau berpesan pada kami; "Adik-adik, wajarlah para sahabat Nabi yang mulia sanggup mati demi mempertahankan Baginda. Akak yang diberi rezeki melihat Nabi tak sampai pun 5 minit dah rasa tak sanggup berpisah dengannya. Kalau boleh, nak duduk je di bilik untuk beribadah pada Allah dan mengenang wajah Nabi yg mulia. Tapi menyedari banyak lagi taklifan dan tanggungjawab kita atas muka bumi Allah ini, maka hidup mesti diteruskan.

Sekarang ini hati akak tenang sangat..kalau boleh, nak je akak pinjamkan hati ni walau hanya sesaat agar adik2 dapat merasakan betapa beningnya hati ini. Tapi itu tak mungkin kan , mungkin ini bahagian akak, bahagian kalian? Hanya Pemiliknya Yang Maha Tahu. Akhir sekali akak ingin katakan, tak rugi kita bersabar..." Keperibadiannya indah. Cerminan al-Quran katanya 'Aisyah ra. Dari semua aspek kehidupan, diperagakannya hanyalah kesyumulan. Allah mengajar manusia berkehidupan di muka bumi ini melalui baginda. Menuruti sunnahnya adalah pahala. Kasih sayangnya tiada bertepi, dari yang kecil hingga yang tua, dari hamba hingga ke bangsawan, dari dulu sampai sekarang, hingga ke akhirnya.. Dialah peribadi unggul sepanjang zaman. Mencintainya suatu kemuliaan...

Pernah suatu ketika Rasulullah berkumpul didalam satu majlis bersama para sahabat.
Tiba-tiba bergenang air mata baginda s.a.w. Para sahabat gelisah melihat sesuatu yang tidak mereka senangi di wajah Rasulullah saw. Bila ditanya oleh Saidina Abu Bakar ra, baginda mengatakan bahawa terlalu merindui ikhwannya.. Saidina Abu Bakar sekali lagi bertanya Rasulullah saw, "Bukankah kami ini ikhwanmu?" Rasulullah menjawab, "Tidak, kamu semua adalah sahabatku.. ikhwanku adalah umatku yang belum pernah melihat aku tetapi mereka beriman dan sangat mencintaiku. .. Aku sangat rindu bertemu dengan mereka.."

Sesungguhnya Allah dan malaikat-malaikat- Nya bershalawat untuk Nabi. Hai orang-orang yang beriman, bershalawatlah kamu untuk Nabi dan ucapkanlah salam penghormatan kepadanya (al-Ahzab:56)

p/s: sungguh...berderaia n air mataku mengalir..daku rindu akan dirimu..Ya Rasulullah!

(kisah ini dinukilkan oleh sahabat Syamimi hasil pengalaman benar yang telah dilalui..pernah disebarkan melalui e-mel & blog sebelum ini..) sesungguhnya, ana sangat bersyukur kerana dilahirkan didunia ini sbgai ummat nabi Muhammad S.A.W... banyakkan lah berselawat dan mendengar zikir..insyaAllah kita semua akan mendapt syafaatnya di Akhirat kelak..wallahu' alam..(*_ *)

Kita sudah bertunang =)

2010-04-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

*Story cited from http://niqobgirl.blogspot.com/2010/01/saya-sudah-bertunang.html*

Hari-hari berlalu yang dilewati seakan sudah bertahun lamanya, namun yang perlu diakui ialah ianya baru beberapa minggu lalu. Iya, hanya beberapa minggu lalu. Berita itu aku sambut dengan hati yang diusahakan untuk berlapang dada. Benar, aku berusaha berlapang dada. Terkadang, terasa nusrah Ilahi begitu hampir saat kita benar-benar berada di tepi tebing, tunggu saat untuk menjunam jatuh ke dalam gaung. Maha Suci Allah yang mengangkat aku, meletakkan aku kembali di jalan tarbiyyah dan terus memimpin untukku melangkah dengan tabah.

Aku hanya seorang Insyirah. Tiada kelebihan yang teristimewa, tidak juga punya apa-apa yang begitu menonjol. Jalan ku juga dua kaki, lihat ku juga menggunakan mata, sama seperti manusia lain yang menumpang di bumi Allah ini. Aku tidak buta, tidak juga tuli mahupun bisu. Aku bisa melihat dengan sepasang mata pinjaman Allah, aku bisa mendengar dengan sepasang telinga pinjaman Allah juga aku bisa bercakap dengan lidahku yang lembut tidak bertulang. Sama seperti manusia lain.

Aku bukan seperti bondanya Syeikh Qadir al-Jailani, aku juga tidak sehebat srikandi Sayyidah Khadijah dalam berbakti, aku bukan sebaik Sayyidah Fatimah yang setia menjadi pengiring ayahanda dalam setiap langkah perjuangan memartabatkan Islam. Aku hanya seorang Insyirah yang sedang mengembara di bumi Tuhan, jalanku kelak juga sama... Negeri Barzakh, insya Allah. Destinasi aku juga sama seperti kalian, Negeri Abadi. Tiada keraguan dalam perkara ini.

Sejak dari hari istimewa tersebut, ramai sahabiah yang memuji wajahku berseri dan mereka yakin benar aku sudah dikhitbah apabila melihat kedua tangan ku memakai cincin di jari manis. Aku hanya tersenyum, tidak mengiyakan dan tidak pula menidakkan. Diam ku bukan membuka pintu-pintu soalan yang maha banyak, tetapi diam ku kerana aku belum mampu memperkenalkan insan itu. Sehingga kini, aku tetap setia dalam penantian.

Ibu bertanyakan soalan yang sewajarnya aku jawab dengan penuh tatasusila.

"Hari menikah nanti nak pakai baju warna apa?"

Aku menjawab tenang.. "Warna putih, bersih..."

"Alhamdulillah, ibu akan usahakan dalam tempoh terdekat."

"Ibu, 4 meter sudah cukup untuk sepasang jubah. Jangan berlebihan."

Ibu angguk perlahan.

Beberapa hari ini, aku menyelak satu per satu... helaian demi helaian naskhah yang begitu menyentuh nubari aku sebagai hamba Allah. Malam Pertama... Sukar sekali aku ungkapkan perasaan yang bersarang, mahu saja aku menangis semahunya tetapi sudah aku ikrarkan, biarlah Allah juga yang menetapkan tarikhnya kerana aku akan sabar menanti hari bahagia tersebut. Mudah-mudahan aku terus melangkah tanpa menoleh ke belakang lagi. Mudah-mudahan ya Allah.

Sejak hari pertunangan itu, aku semakin banyak mengulang al-Quran. Aku mahu sebelum tibanya hari yang aku nantikan itu, aku sudah khatam al-Quran, setidak-tidaknya nanti hatiku akan tenang dengan kalamullah yang sudah meresap ke dalam darah yang mengalir dalam tubuh. Mudah-mudahan aku tenang... As-Syifa' aku adalah al-Quran, yang setia menemani dalam resah aku menanti. Benar, aku sedang memujuk gelora hati. Mahu pecah jantung menanti detik pernikahan tersebut, begini rasanya orang-orang yang mendahului.

"Kak Insyirah, siapa tunang akak? Mesti hebat orangnya. Kacak tak?"

Aku tersenyum, mengulum sendiri setiap rasa yang singgah. Maaf, aku masih mahu merahsiakan tentang perkara itu. Cukup mereka membuat penilaian sendiri bahawa aku sudah bertunang, kebenarannya itu antara aku dan keluarga.

"Insya Allah, 'dia' tiada rupa tetapi sangat mendekatkan akak dengan Allah. Itu yang paling utama."

Berita itu juga buat beberapa orang menjauhkan diri dariku. Kata mereka, aku senyapkan sesuatu yang perlu diraikan. Aku tersenyum lagi.

"Jangan lupa jemput ana di hari menikahnya, jangan lupa!"

Aku hanya tersenyum entah sekian kalinya. Apa yang mampu aku zahirkan ialah senyuman dan terus tersenyum. Mereka mengandai aku sedang berbahagia apabila sudah dikhitbahkan dengan 'dia' yang mendekatkan aku dengan Allah. Sahabiah juga merasa kehilangan ku apabila setiap waktu terluang aku habiskan masa dengan as-Syifa' ku al-Quran, tidak lain kerana aku mahu kalamullah meresap dalam darahku, agar ketenangan akan menyelinap dalam setiap derap nafas ku menanti hari itu.

"Bila enti menikah?"

Aku tiada jawapan khusus.

"Insya Allah, tiba waktunya nanti enti akan tahu..." Aku masih menyimpan tarikh keramat itu, bukan aku sengaja tetapi memang benar aku sendiri tidak tahu bila tarikhnya.

"Jemput ana tau!" Khalilah tersenyum megah.

"Kalau enti tak datang pun ana tak berkecil hati, doakan ana banyak-banyak!" Itu saja pesanku. Aku juga tidak tahu di mana mahu melangsungkan pernikahan ku, aduh semuanya menjadi tanda tanya sendiri. Diam dan terus berdiam membuatkan ramai insan berkecil hati.

"Insya Allah, kalian PASTI akan tahu bila sampai waktunya nanti..."

Rahsia ku adalah rahsia Allah, kerana itu aku tidak mampu memberikan tarikhnya. Cuma, hanya termampu aku menyiapkan diri sebaiknya. Untung aku dilamar dan dikhitbah dahulu tanpa menikah secara terkejut seperti orang lain. Semuanya aku sedaya upaya siapkan, baju menikahnya, dan aku katakan sekali lagi kepada ibu...

"Usah berlebihan ya..."

Ibu angguk perlahan dan terus berlalu, hilang dari pandangan mata.

"Insyirah, jom makan!"

Aku tersenyum lagi... Akhir-akhir ini aku begitu pemurah dengan senyuman.

"Tafaddal, ana puasa."

Sahabiah juga semakin galak mengusik.

"Wah, Insyirah diet ya. Maklumlah hari bahagia dah dekat... Tarikhnya tak tetap lagi ke?"

"Bukan diet, mahu mengosongkan perut. Maaf, tarikhnya belum ditetapkan lagi."

Sehingga kini, aku tidak tahu bila tarikhnya yang pasti. Maafkan aku sahabat, bersabarlah menanti hari tersebut. Aku juga menanti dengan penuh debaran, moga aku bersedia untuk hari pernikahan tersebut dan terus mengecap bahagia sepanjang alam berumahtangga kelak. Doakan aku, itu sahaja.

.......................................

"innalillahi wainna ilaihi rajiun..."

"Tenangnya... Subhanallah. Allahuakbar."

"Ya Allah, tenangnya..."

"Moga Allah memberkatinya...."

Allah, itu suara sahabat-sahabat ku, teman-teman seperjuangan aku pada ibu.

Akhirnya, aku selamat dinikahkan setelah sabar dalam penantian. Sahabiah ramai yang datang di majlis walimah walaupun aku tidak menjemput sendiri.

Akhirnya, mereka ketahui sosok 'dia' yang mendekatkan aku kepada Allah.
Akhirnya, mereka kenali sosok 'dia' yang aku rahsiakan dari pengetahuan umum.
Akhirnya, mereka sama-sama mengambil 'ibrah dari sosok 'dia' yang mengkhitbah ku.

Dalam sedar tidak sedar...

Hampir setiap malam sebelum menjelang hari pernikahan ku... Sentiasa ada suara sayu yang menangis sendu di hening malam, dalam sujud, dalam rafa'nya pada Rabbi, dalam sembahnya pada Ilahi. Sayup-sayup hatinya merintih. Air matanya mengalir deras, hanya Tuhan yang tahu.

"Ya Allah, telah Engkau tunangkan aku tidak lain dengan 'dia' yang mendekatkan dengan Engkau. Yang menyedarkan aku untuk selalu berpuasa, yang menyedarkan aku tentang dunia sementara, yang menyedarkan aku tentang alam akhirat. Engkau satukan kami dalam majlis yang Engkau redhai, aku hamba Mu yang tak punya apa-apa selain Engkau sebagai sandaran harapan. Engkau maha mengetahui apa yang tidak aku ketahui..."

Akhirnya, Khalilah bertanya kepada ibu beberapa minggu kemudian...

"Insyirah bertunang dengan siapa, mak cik?"

Ibu tenang menjawab... "Dengan kematian wahai anakku. Kanser tulang yang mulanya hanya pada tulang belakang sudah merebak dengan cepat pada tangan, kaki juga otaknya. Kata doktor, Insyirah hanya punya beberapa minggu sahaja sebelum kansernya membunuh."

"Allahuakbar..." Terduduk Khalilah mendengar, air matanya tak mampu ditahan.

"Buku yang sering dibacanya itu, malam pertama..."

Ibu angguk, tersenyum lembut... "Ini nak, bukunya." Senaskah buku bertukar tangan, karangan Dr 'Aidh Abdullah al-Qarni tertera tajuk 'Malam Pertama di Alam Kubur'.

"Ya Allah, patut la Insyirah selalu menangis... Khalilah tak tahu mak cik."

"Dan sejak dari hari 'khitbah' tersebut, selalu Insyirah mahu berpuasa. Katanya mahu mengosongkan perut, mudah untuk dimandikan..."

Khalilah masih kaku. Tiada suara yang terlontar. Matanya basah menatap kalam dari diari Insyirah yang diberikan oleh ibu.

"Satu cincin ini aku pakai sebagai tanda aku di risik oleh MAUT. Dan satu cincin ini aku pakai sebagai tanda aku sudah bertunang dengan MAUT. Dan aku akan sabar menanti tarikhnya dengan mendekatkan diri ku kepada ALLAH. Aku tahu ibu akan tenang menghadapinya, kerana ibuku bernama Ummu Sulaim, baginya anak adalah pinjaman dari ALLAH yang perlu dipulangkan apabila ALLAH meminta. Dan ibu mengambil 'ibrah bukan dari namanya (Ummu Sulaim) malah akhlaqnya sekali. Ummu Sulaim, seteguh dan setabah hati seorang ibu."

* Kisah ini bukan kisah ana (Insyirah), ianya kisah KITA (semua yang sedang membaca/tak) *

Mulai hari ini, jangan bersoal tika melihat ana memakai cincin. Kerana, ana sudah bertunang! Bertunang dengan kematian, tidak tahu bila ana akan dinikahkan dan tidak tahu bagaimana rezeki di malam pertama. Tetapi, sekurang-kurangnya apabila sudah dirisik dan bertunang, kita sama-sama akan mempersiapkan diri sebaik-baiknya walaupun bukan yang terbaik untuk hari pernikahan dengan KEMATIAN. Wallahua'lam.

Cukuplah kematian itu mengingatkan kita... Cukuplah kita sedar kita akan berpisah dengan segala nikmat dunia. Cukuplah kita sedar bahawa ada hari yang lebih kekal, oleh itu sentiasalah berwaspada. Bimbang menikah tergesa-gesa, tahu-tahu sudah disanding dan diarak seluruh kampung walau hanya dengan sehelai kain putih tak berharga.

Setidak-tidaknya, Insyirah (watak di atas) sudah 'membeli' baju pernikahannya... Arh... Untungnya Insyirah. (Cemburu! Cemburu! Cemburu!)

~ Kullu nafsin za'iqatul maut ~

Insyirah Soleha,
19 Januari 2010
Baiti

O single Muslim!

2010-04-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

O single Muslim!
How chaste are you!
While others engage in haraam and fulfill their desires,
You shun the many calls to sin,
For fear of the hellfire!

O single Muslim!
How modest are you!
While others are 'alone',
They loose their fear of Allah,
But alone or not, you lower your gaze...,
Refusing to look at haraam!

O single Muslim!
How sensible are you!
While others waste away their hours watching bollywold flicks,
You spend it worshipping Allah,
Fasting and increasing in ilm!

O single Muslim!
How devoted are you!
While others memorize lyrics to the latest songs,
You make an effort to memorize duaas and Quran!

O single Muslim!
How upright are you!
While others foolishly throw Quran and Sunnah to the side,
You strive to learn and implement them both into your life!

O single Muslim!
How blessed are you!
While others gossip,
And partake in useless matters,
You spend your time reflecting,
And preparing for the herafter!

O single Muslim!
How aware are you!
While others fall for the first person who plays the sweet card,
You know the tricks of shaytan,
And remain constantly on guard!

O single Muslim!
How steadfast are you!
While others loose their modesty and dignity along the way,
You remain chaste and honorable,
And your sabr only increases each day!

O single Muslim!
How fortunate are you!
While others rack up sins for forming illicit relationships,
You gain reward from Allah for your trials and hardships!

O single Muslim!
How intelligent are you!
While some make marriage their ultimate goal,
You know it's only a means,
To reach the final abode!

O single muslim,
How wise are you!
While others desire spouses,
With only beauty and riches,
You desire an upright person,
With good character and religion!

O single Muslim,
How successful are you!
While others spend their time in grief,
Regretting their foolishness and haste,
For your steadfasteness and patience:
Allah grants you one of His most righteous slaves!

And O single Muslim,
How honored are you!
While others who lived in sin,
Will be humiliated on Qiyamah,
You will be granted honor and shade,
On the Day when there is NO shade,
Except under the throne of ALLAH!

--by UmmGhareebah--

Mueller Building

2010-02-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Assalamualaikum =)

Since this blog is indeed entitled inspirations~ it is not only limited to nasihat2 or serious things to be shared, to raise one's spirits, but it can also be in the form of.. Laughter? :P

Tension2 asyik ckp serious2, let's loosen up a little with someone's severe forgetfulness ;p

Tadi I was on my way to... Somewhere.. (okie terlupa, maap2) n tgh la jalan2 antara bangunan2. As usual, adela ramai2 orang sedang lalu-lalang jgak sbb mmg interval between classes.

Then adela I ternampak one guy who was walking, tiba2 berhenti tgh2 jalan n was looking around. When I came about he asked me: "Excuse me, do you know where the Mueller building is?"

Right that instant, my brain trus berkata2, hence my mouth as well XD :
"Oh I'm not sure where it is, but it's somewhere around here."
He thanked me anyways and we were on our way.

Then I quickly said to myself; Okay, Mueller building sounds so familiar!! Tp tak brani nak main tunjuk to that guy which building it was nnt tersalah kang kesian dia, but I was sure it was around that area yg that guy stop to ask me where it was.

Jalan3...

Then aha! I saw the Mueller building! (ada the name of the building on the wall)

....It was right beside where that guy asked me where the building was.

Andddd bukannya tak pernah masuk that building. Last sem selalu je masuk building tu, naek tangga to 4th floor utk jumpa TA utk BIOL141.

.......................

*MLR stands for Mueller.. Jaooohnyaaa XD*

Being forgetful ade pros and cons dia,
but this is certainly one of the conssssss!!! XD

*malu2* maap2 ye chinese guy!!! XD Hope u did find the building since it was right beside us XD

*pelupa2 haiiihhh*

Wahai Mereka yang serba Kekurangan..

2010-01-17T16:37:00.000-08:00

Pernahkah sesekali anda merasakan..
diri anda itu tidak sempurna?

Pernahkah anda merasakan..
orang lain sentiasa lebih baik daripada kita?

Lebih Beriman,

Lebih Bijaksana,

Lebih Sopan,

Lebih kurus,

Lebih cantik,

Lebih tinggi,

Daripada kita?

Lebih Beruntung,

Lebih Disayangi,

Lebih Berharta,

Daripada kita?

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi, yang saya hormati, yang saya kenali..
Saudara-saudara saya yang seagama yang mungkin tidak saya pernah kenali.

Ingatlah kamu..

Bahawa Allah lebih menyayangi kalian semua..
Lebih Mengenali kalian semua,

daripada sesiapa pun di muka bumi ini.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi, saudara-saudara saya..

Janganlah kamu semua lupa.

Kamu, termasuklah diri saya ini sendiri,
mempunyai kekurangan yang amatlah banyak.

Rakan-rakan kamu yang kamu katakan

Lebih Bijak,

Lebih Beriman,

Lebih Cantik,

atau apa2 sekalipun yang kamu rasakan
merupakan kelebihan yang dia ada
yang tiada pada kamu

Ingatlah kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi..
Bahawa rakan kamu itu

Juga mempunyai kekurangannya yang tersendiri.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi,saudara-saudara saya sekalian..

sekiranya kamu rasakan diri kamu itu kurang bijak,

tidak berjaya mendapatkan 4 flat atau A di sekolah,

lantas merasakan diri dipandang rendah oleh orang lain..

Ingatlah kamu!

Di akhirat kelak, Allah tidak akan memandang 4 flat atau A kamu di sekolah.

Pahala-pahala dan dosa-dosa kamu,

yang dicatatkan dgn terperinci

Oleh Rakib dan Atid

yang akan dipandang oleh Allah S.W.T.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi,saudara-saudara saya sekalian..

Jika kamu merasakan kamu tidak cantik,

tidak kacak,

tidak tinggi,

tidak kurus,

gemuk,

muka tak licin,

kaki tidak cantik..

Jika benar sekalipun kesemua kekurangan fizikal yang kamu katakan itu

Sedarkah kamu

Bahawa kamu mempunyai peluang

yang jauh lebih tinggi

untuk mendapat pasangan yang mencintai kamu dgn seikhlas hati

yang langsung tidak memandang pada paras wajah kamu?

Sedarlah kawan-kawan, saudara-saudara saya..

Berbanding rakan-rakan kamu

yang lebih cantik,

lebih tinggi,

lebih kurus,

Kamulah yang lebih senang untuk mendapatkan dan menikmati

Cinta sejati.

Sedarkah kamu?

Bahawa rakan-rakan kamu yang mempunyai kelebihan

dari segi fizikal

perlu tempuhi kesusahan

untuk mencari cinta

yang tidak berdasarkan paras rupa?

Daripada kekurangan kita ini

Sebenarnya mempunyai kelebihan yang selalu kita tidak sedari.

Dan ingatlah kamu!

Bahawa Allah S.W.T. tidak mungkin melihat pada fizikal kamu di akhirat kelak..

Tetapi Iman itulah, yang akan Dia sayangi pada kalian.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi,saudara-saudara saya sekalian..

Ingatlah bahawa setiap kejadian,

Setiap musibah

Setiap dugaan itu

pasti ada hikmahnya.

Setiap kekurangan yang kita ada

janganlah biarkan ia mengaburi

kelebihan-kelebihan kita yang lain

yang telah Allah kurniakan kepada kita.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi,saudara-saudara saya sekalian..

Jika kamu merasakan iman kamu itu

tidak setanding Ustat dan Ustazah

Sedarkah kamu

bahawa Ustat dan Ustazah kita itu

telah berusaha untuk menuntut ilmu

untuk meningkatkan imannya

terhadap Allah

dan bukanlah kerana

mereka telah duduk bersenang lenang?

Mungkin juga,

mereka pada waktu dahulu

adalah sama sahaja dengan kita

yang muda dan masih jahil ini.

Janganlah biarkan kekurangan yang ada pada kita

mengaburi kelebihan yang Allah telah kurniakan

kepada kita.

Janganlah berputus asa

untuk meningkatkan iman!

Untuk Menggalakkan

dan melakukan kebaikan

dan mencegah kemungkaran.

Imbangkanlah dunia dan akhirat kamu.

Jangan lupa pada akhirat yang kekal

Namun jangan juga lupa pada dunia yang sementara.

Bagaimanakah kita dapat berjaya di akhirat

Sekiranya mengabaikan tanggungjawab kita di dunia?

tanggungjawab kepada keluarga,

ibu bapa,

anak-anak,

dan umat Islam.

Wahai kawan-kawan yang saya sayangi,saudara-saudara saya sekalian..

Gunakanlah kelebihan yang ada pada kamu,

untuk mengatasi kekurangan yang kamu rasakan.

Tiada yang sempurna di dunia ini,

kecuali Allah S.W.T.

Selagi matahari belum terbit dari barat,

Pintu taubat itu masih luas terbuka.

Allah itu,
Maha Pengampun, dan Maha Penyayang.

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Quran Explorer

2009-12-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

Assalamualaikum =)

Here is a website shared from a friend of mine which is very very very beneficial for everyone! =D

It is an online Quran, complete with it's translation! You are also able to hear the recitation of the Quran, as well as the reading of the translation or BOTH if you wish =)
There is also a hadith online provided, where hadiths from Muslim, Bukhari and many more are available to you on the web!

Please do feel free to have a look at the website, as everything is indeed FREE! =)

I personally really like the website, especially when I am bored with hearing songs from itunes, and I wanted to hear recitation from the Quran~ and this website is perfect! Plus, the reciters have such beautiful voices =))

Please do share this website with your family and friends! =)

http://quranexplorer.com/

My rings, my bags..

2009-10-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. =)

Let's continue with the title of this blog, shall we?

..my stuffed toys, my drawing books, my keychains, my accessories, my PSP, ipod touch..

Adoi byk plak kn, tak abis2 nnt list ni XD

Well, you might have figured out already what the list above implies to me.
Yup2, those are the things that I really like, or somewhat the things you can say that are my favs or considered 'important' to me.

Hehe, since this would be another 'seriuos' blog that I will post, let's make this one more interactive! =D
Go on, take a paper or open up Microsoft word, and list down all the important Things to you in your life =)

I'll give u a minute or two.. Take your time aite? =)

*all u have to do is actually scroll down once u're down haha adoi*

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Okie, da abis da? =)

Alright, let's go through your list, shall we?

Since I do not have any telephatic powers or such, here are a few questions for you to answer based on your list XD :

How many things that you have listed down are alive? How many are of non-living items? (you don't have to count them out, just take note of them XD)

Of the many living things, are they your friends, family, loved ones or pets?

Of the non-living items, are they something that you use daily? Something so convenient to you that you can't live without?

******************

You may have noticed that the things that I listed above~ are indeed just Things. The non-living ones. Harta Dunia.

Give yourself a pat on the back if you have indeed listed your loved ones and families or friends =) *buk3

Alhamdulillah, if you had even listed Allah or Nabi Muhammad S.A.W. or both in your list. =)

If you had listed a few non-living items that are important to you~ laptop, handphone, backpack, wallet, $$ etc etc, fear not I will not hit you with anything for listing them XD
But let's review them, shall we? =)

Out of the non-living items that you have listed..
What would you do if one day, it goes missing or someone stole it?

Would you be really2 upset?
or would you be... aAAaaaaa takleh hidup la klu tak jumpa!!

Would you throw a tantrum or brush off all your friends that day because you simply could not find it anywhere?

If your answer is that you'll be a little bit upset, then that is fine.
If your answer is yes yes yes I will be very very upset!! Mahal tu beli laptop pastu rosak tibe2...

.. =)

You might already be able to figure out the main point of this blog by now.
Cinta pada harta dunia. The love for worldly things.

I am not trying to imply that I am 1000000% tak suke langsung to any worldly things, or not dependent on them at times. Yes, I might be upset if my laptop tibe2 rosak and I can't do any assignments if I could not connect to the internet at all.

However, I do try to reduce my dependency and love for them.

There was this one incident, that made me realize this very important point in our lives.

Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed my family with more than enough rezeki. Whatever we would want, we are able to get.
Alhamdulillah, ini adalah rezeki Allah.
Even so, alhamdulillah once again, my siblings and I do not misuse this great gift of Him.

We do not glamorize ourselves. We do not show off the extra things that we are able to get from His blessings to others. We do not suppress the poor simply because they had lesser rezeki than we did.

To be frank, my siblings and I are actually quite kedekot (kedekot bertempat) and yes, we do go OMG MAHAL GILA when we see a branded shirt, which has only like 3 lines of pattern and tagged at RM80++++
We do go OMG to branded watches of 100+, shoes, handbags that could even reach 500+++
And yes, we do have our moments of;

Wah cantiknya this baju!
*flips price tag*
.....
Jom carik baju laen!!!

XD

Alhamdulillah, I am very glad that my siblings and I, despite being able to be spendthrift and live a luxurious life with our more-than-enough rezeki, we do not do so.
In fact, we do go for buy 1 free 1 stuffs~ OMG murahnya jom beli!! XD

Even so, we sometimes do not realize that we are attached to certain worldly things. As the saying always goes, you will only realize the value of something or someone, when you lose it or him or her.

I had this gameboy color back in the days, and I really liked it. (maen game mana tak suke kn? XD)

But somehow, I left it in the backpocket of the carseat. I think I forgot to take it out when we went somewhere, and had left it there for a few weeks as school was going on and I did not have the time to play it.

One day, that very car of my father's was almost stolen by some carjacker. My father parked the car (note that it was a Proton Saga, not a fancy2 car) at the parking lot for Friday's prayers, and when he got back to the car, his briefcase was missing.

*couldn't find a blue proton saga, but it was this shape XD

Thankfully his briefcase that he left in the car only had unimportant documents. No money or important items. But since the housekeys were in the briefcase, my father had to change the locks in our home.
I couldn't remember whether the car had a broken window or such, but it was obviously broken in by someone, and thankfully, due to a lock at the pedal and steering wheel, the thief was not able to steal the car.

My father got back and told us about the incident, changing the house lock and all.

Then something struck me.

My Gameboy! Could it be..

I went into the car to check the backseat pocket.
And yup, it was gone.
Sempat plak dia nak curik gameboy!! XD
Well I guess since he couldn't steal the car, he ransacked the car for anything that he could find. Cisss pencurik! XD

From that very incident, I realized on how upset I was when I noticed it was gone.
However, I wasn't even really playing it everyday before it was stolen.
So how could I be so upset despite my frequency of using the item?
Imagine what it would be like, if I actually lost something that I really really used everyday and needed so desperately.

Another good example of something I value very much; my drawings. I used to get really really upset when I was drawing something with so much commitment and care, when my sister would simply push my hand with the pen and ssiiiiiikkk~ there goes my drawing! (arghhhhh!!!!!! XD)

I would either cry or get into a fight with my sister.

How ignorant I was back then.
Drawings.. As well as other worldly things, are indeed just things.
Is my sister so much less important that I am willing to scold her for ruining a sheet of paper with just a cartoon drawn over it with ink?

My papers and books of comics and drawings also made me realize..

If you would just grab them all and throw them into a burning fire,..
That's it.
They will be gone. Just like that.

Hours and hours of effort, years of drawing..
They could all be destroyed in an instant.

I guess my mother really knows that I like rings, the cheap ones; stainless steel XD
Even so, whenever one would go missing, I would search for it frantically.

Senang betul cincin sebegitu untuk hilang. Despite it's cheap value (compared to gold or diamond rings XD), I still searched high and low whenever one goes missing.

From both the incident, and my long poundering of all my worldly things.. On how easily they could be gone, either stolen, burned, dikoyakkan, or simply goes missing as you might have misplace it somewhere or tercicir tengah2 jalan,..

Why should I be so upset on things that could go missing or be destroyed so easily?
I should love what is more important.
In this sense.. Our family, our friends, our brothers and sisters, including all muslims and the non-muslims. Humankind.

And what matters the most, the love for what is PERMANENT and could never be destroyed, will never go missing no matter how many times you forget them.

Allah S.W.T.
His prophet, Nabi Muhammad S.A.W.

Why not love Him.. For He will never let us down by going missing, though we may not see him with our eyes.
If we believe that wind exists thought we could not see it, what makes Allah any different? What more He is the creator of that very wind.

Yes, he might give us Tests during our lifetime. But they are only to make us improve ourselves, be a better human being, be stronger, be more patient. He wants to see what we will do under these circumstances. Will we BLAME Him for our mishap, or seek his help with faith and making an effort to overcome the challenges?

Allah itu Maha Pemurah, dan Maha Penyayang..

Yes, He is capable of being angry at all the sinners and he could destroy them in an instant. BUT! His LOVE for all His creations is more than his anger. He could push aside his anger today, for His Great LOVE to you.
He still blesses you with his rezeki. He is still making your heart pump blood, your immune system work, your sanity, your eyes, hands, legs...

Why would they still work if He does not love you anymore?

Allahuakbar, betapa besarnya cintaMu ini pada ciptaan2Mu yang kerdil.

I have heard that the Love that we are experiencing here on earth, is only 1/100 of His Great Love.

Hence, I know that it might be impossible to be 100% not to love worldly items. But do try to reduce them =)
It is a normal thing for us to feel upset when we lose something. We are indeed, just human beings.
But have more love for Him than any other =) It will benefit you in so many ways, insya-Allah =)

I myself, get upset when I lose an item or two. But now, I am able to think and look at them in a different perspective..
Takpelah, tu sume harta dunia. Boleh beli baru, or lukis balik. Tak kisah pon =)

Alhamdulillah, I will not be able to come to this state without His permission and guidance.
I am able to see how unimportant wealth could be compared to other more important things, with being blessed with wealth.

I am still constantly praying to not fall in love too much with things that are not permanent~ as I am indeed very forgetful XD
Insya-Allah, you and I will be able to overcome this until the Day of Judgement, together =)

In my personal opinion, even other living things are not permanent as well, though they are indeed much more important than non-living things. Our families, friends and pets will one day return to Him. We are all going to leave this world. The only difference is how and when, which not all of us know, and not all of us will share the same fate.

Hence, I am loving my family and friends, by loving Him.

Everytime I feel very happy to be with my loved ones, I thank Him with all my heart. For I will not be able to feel this beautiful and wonderful love with my loved ones, if He did not create them in the first place. If he did not create me, as well.
If He did not create you, I wonder if the pieces of my heart would have floated away, into the dark deep ocean. Never to come back, nor recover..

Alhamdulillah. Ya Allah, hamba ini sangat bersyukur... Let me love the people that you have created and given me, by loving and appreciating You.

I love you, very very much.

=)

You work in the most mysterious, yet wondrous ways..

2009-09-02T20:51:00.001-07:00

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

I have always known that He would be there to help us whenever we are in need.
I have known that His challenges for us on earth are a sign of His love to us, as well as to test our Faith in Him.
I have just recently know that maybe, all of our sufferings on earth, are simply a way He forgives our past sins.

Dear Allah,
though at times we might not see that Your tests and challenges, no matter how bad they may seem, actually have more good than bad, Wallahualam.

Dear Allah,
sometimes we do not realize that You have actually helped us in our times of need.

The day seemed so gloomy, with many things on my mind.
Everything was good, Alhamdulillah, except for this one thing I have no clue on how to solve.
With spirits laying low, other responsibilities had to be fulfilled.

Facing the 15-inch screen, it was time to complete another tough quiz of organic chem. Past score was 2 out of 5.
Answering the questions had left me with no hope of getting more than another similar score as the past.

4 out of 5.

Dear Allah,
how you work in such mysterious ways, to ease the spirit of one of your humbled, and tiny creation out of all the wonders of the world and space that belongs to You.
Such a small thing could actually raise my spirit miles away. Oh Allah, You are indeed the All-Knowing. I thank you with all my heart.

Alhamdulillah-hirabbilalamin.

Al-Quran, A Handsome Friend in the Hereafter

2009-08-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Di dalam sebuah hadis Rasulullah saw bersabda yang bermaksud:

"Pada hari Kiamat nanti, di hadapan Allah swt tidak akan ada syafaat yang mempunyai taraf yang lebih tinggi daripada Al - Quran "

Melalui hadis di atas kita dapat mengetahui bahawa Al - Quran adalah pemberi syafaat yang mana syafaatnya akan diterima Allah. Terdapat satu riwayat menyatakan bahawa "Apabila seseorang itu meninggal dunia dan keluarganya sibuk melakukan upacara pengkebumian, seorang yang kacak akan berdiri di bahagian kepalanya.

Apabila mayat itu dikafankan, orang itu akan datang mendiami antara dadanya dan kain kafan itu. Bila selesai dikebumikan, orang ramai akan pulang ke rumah dan datanglah dua malaikat; Munkar dan Nakir cuba untuk memisahkan orang yang kacak itu supaya mereka dapat membuat pertanyaan mengenai iman orang yang meninggal dunia itu tanpa sebarang gangguan.

Tetapi orang yang kacak itu akan berkata :

"Dia adalah kawanku. Aku tidak akan meninggalkannya berseorangan walau dalam keadaan apa sekali pun. Jalankanlah tugas kamu tetapi aku tidak akan meninggalkannya sehingga aku membawanya masuk ke syurga!"

Selepas itu dia berpaling ke arah mayat sahabatnya dan berkata :

"Akulah Al-Quran yang mana engkau telah membacanya kadang kala dengan suara perlahan dan kadang kala dengan suara yang kuat"."Janganlah engkau bimbang. Selepas pertanyaan Munkar dan Nakir ini, engkau tidak akan berasa dukacita lagi" .Bila pertanyaan selesai, orang yang kacak itu akan mengadakan untuknya satu hamparan sutera yang penuh dengan kasturi
dari malaikat - malaikat dari syurga"

Allah telah menjanjikan Al - Quran sebagai pemberi syafaat terulung dan janji Allah itu adalah benar. Dekatilah Al - Quran dan jadikalah ia teman di dunia dan pemberi syafaat di Akhirat.

*~English version*~

Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said:
'When a man dies and his relatives are busy in funeral, there stands an extremely handsome man by his head. When the dead body is shrouded, that man gets in between the shroud and the chest of the deceased.

Thereafter he turns to his dead companion and says, 'I am the Qur'an, which you used to read, sometimes in a loud voice and sometimes in a low voice. Do not worry. After the interrogation of Munkar and Naker, you will have no grief.'

When the interrogation is over, the handsome man arranges for him from Al-Mala'ul A'laa (the angels in Heaven) silk bedding filled with musk.

Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: 'On the Day of Judgement, before Allah, no other Intercessor will have a greater status than the Qur'an, neither a Prophet nor an angel.'

Hence, let us start reading the Qur'an =)

If you have been doing it daily, Alhamdulillah =) Please do continue on your effort =)
If you have not been reading the Qur'an for quite some time, you are more than welcome to read it right now =) It is not too late for you to apply this beneficial daily routine and habit into your busy schedule =)

One page of reading the Qur'an will only take you around 5 minutes. 3 perhaps at most if you are very fluent =)
One page a day would definitely not hurt your busy schedule =)
Alhamdulillah, if you are able to read more than a page a day. This will be Your benefit, and no one else =)

If you still think that you might not be able to have time to read one page of the Qur'an daily, fear not my dear friend. Start with one sentence, if I may propose =)
Insya-Allah, you will be able to increase the amount that you read as time passes by.

Here;s a little encouragement for you to read the Qur'an =D
If you could spend 50 minutes of hearing a lecture in class,
A few hours of nap or sleep,
Perhaps 2 hours daily to eat,
Time for television, games, fun and entertainment,
Hours of studying for exams....

Why not spend just 5 minutes to read the Qur'an? =)

Insya-Allah, our efforts to get closer to Him will not be in vain. He is indeed the All-Mighty and the All-Giving =)
Hours

Physical Property : Characteristics?

2009-07-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum =)

My dear friends! Since I have posted blogs on serious issues in this particular blog for quite some time, I thought that I might post something a little bit more enjoyable to read for a change! =)

These are the main points that I have gathered from Dato' Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah's show, talking on whether our physical properties actually reflects on our own personality and characteristic =)
:Perawakan Fizikal dan Personaliti

Feel free to watch the video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDw7hZkLxl8
It only takes about 30 minutes, but trust me, watching it is much more enlightening than reading the main points! =D

~*Ini adalah hasil kajian yang telah dilakukan, hanya untuk dijadikan panduan, bukan 100% tepat, jangan percaya bulat2! Dan ingat, Allah itu Maha Besar =)

1. Wanita yang cantik lebih yakin diri, petah bercakap =)
2. Orang badan bulat: pemurah, penyayang, mudah ketawa, mudah nangis
3. Etomorphology; kurus : jimat, prihatin, berjaga2, kedekot XD
4. Shape bdn mempengaruhi perangai =)
5. rambut berombak: lemah lembut, mudah mengalah, pengasih =)
6. Sayang diri utk sayang org lain!! =)
7. Ada pusar rambut 2 3 4, or tahi lalat kat kepala: akalnya banyak =D
8. Tidak ada org dilahirkan jahat XD
9. Dahi luas, pandai banyak berfikir =)
10. Keluasan dahi tunjuk brapa byk grey matter in the brain (oooooo =D)
11. Tuhan pandang amalan n hati ye kwn2 =)
12. Allah itu cantik, Allah suka yang cantik2 =)
13. Hormon testosterone; bulu kening tebal: pengasih penyayang n cemburu XD
14. Bulu kening nipis: pengasih penyayang tapi tataw tunjuk XD
15. Mata bulat: pengasih penyayang, mudah amik berat
16. Mata sepet: tak tunjuk, pengasih penyayang =D
17. Yakni most Chinese n Japan XD
18. Hindustan itu mata bulat (lagu2, nyanyi2, menari2 expressing love =p)
19. Hidung bengkok: arab: passionate, tunjuk perasaan
20. Hidung kemek: pengasih penyayang, baek, tapi tak pandai tunjukkan XD
21. Hidung tinggi; sombong; tunjuk perasaan XD
22. Bibir tebal seperti Nabi Muhammad SAW: pengasih, peka, cakap penuh hikmah
23. Bibir nipis cakap terus terang, laser skit XD
24. Makin tebal n lembut tapak tangan: pengasih, penyayang n romantic
25. Keras macam papan itu tapak tangan: kurang romantic XD
26. bentok jari: Jari telunjuk lagi tinggi dari jari manis: confident, mudah jadi pemimpin, yakin
27. jari manis lebih tinggi: lemah lembut, tolak ansur =)
28. Kuku panjang2, artistic
29. Kuku pendek2, scientist XD
30. Org muka bulat, yakin
31. Muke tirus :manja2, mengade
32. Carik kawan2 positif =)

=))

2 years of Solat

2009-07-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum =)

I have received this as an attachment in my e-mail from a friend of mine~ though it was much nicer in it's original document (got color2 and pictures XD) but I hope everyone of us will still benefit from reading the blog-version of this document =)

*copyright of the original author, copied and paste here! Only added some photos =)*

*for those who want the original copy of the document, just give me your e-mail add =)*

1hari=24jam
Satu TAHUN ?
12 Bulan
52 Minggu
365 Hari
8760 Jam
525600 Minit
31536000 Detik

Kebanyakan manusia meninggal dunia antara usia 60 thn-70thn (majoriti)

Puratanya manusia meninggal ± 65 th

“Baligh: Start untuk seseorang di perhitungkan amal baik atau buruknya selama hidup di dunia”
Laki-laki Baligh ± 15 tahun
Wanita Baligh ± 12 tahun

Usia Yang ada untuk kita beribadah kepada-Nya, puratanya:

Mati – Baligh = Baki Usia, :~ 65 - 15 = 50 tahun

50 tahun digunakan untuk apa?

Catatan:
50 tahun=
18250 hari=
458000 jam

12 jam siang hari
12 jam malam hari
24 jam satu hari satu malam

Gambaran kasarnya:
Mari kita muhasabah bersama………!

Waktu kita tidur ± 8 jam/hari ;
Dalam 50 tahun waktu yang habis dipakai tidur 18250 hari x 8 jam= 146000 jam= 16 tahun 7 bulan; dibulatkan jadi 17 tahun

Logiknya: Alangkah sayangnya waktu 17 tahun habis di gunakan untuk tidur,

padahal kita akan tertidur dari dunia untuk selamanya……

Waktu aktiviti kita di siang hari ± 12 jam
Dalam 50 tahun waktu yang habis dipakai untuk aktiviti:
18250 hari x 12 jam= 219000 jam = 25 tahun

Aktiviti disiang hari: Ada yang bekerja, atau bercinta, ada yang belajar atau mengajar, ada yang sekolah atau kuliah, ada yang makan sambil jalan-jalan, dan banyak lagi.

Waktu rehat ± 4 jam
Dalam 50 tahun waktu yang dipakai untuk rehat 18250 hari x 4 jam= 73000 jam = 8 tahun

Rehat: menonton tv, atau mungkin dihabiskan termenung di buai khayalan……

17 tahun + 25 tahun + 8 tahun = 50 tahun

Lalu Bila Nak Beribadah???

Padahal Allah ada berfirman yang bermaksud;

“Tidak KUciptakan jin dan manusia melainkan untuk beribadah kepadaKU”.

Maut datang menjemput tak pernah bersahut,
Malaikat datang menuntut untuk merenggut,
Manusia tak kuasa untuk berkata-kata,
Allah Maha Kuasa atas syurga dan Neraka,
Terimalah habuanmu seadanya..

Memang benar!!! Menuntut ilmu itu ibadah, kalau niatnya untuk ibadah, tetapi KEBANYAKANNYA BELAJAR AGAR MUDAH MENCARI PEKERJAAN. SEKIRANYA BELAJAR ITU TIDAK MEMBANTU MENAMBAH PENDAPATAN KITA, KITA TIDAK AKAN BELAJAR…

Memang benar!!! Bekerja cari nafkah itu ibadah, tapi bekerja yang bagaimana? Ramai orang bekerja untuk hidup bermewah-mewahan dan amat kurang sedekahnya.

“ Jarang ada yang menolak untuk dipuji dan dipuja tatkala berjaya “

Lalu Bila Nak Beribadah???

Oh! mungkin solat 5 waktu itu dianggap sudah mencukupi…!

Karena kita fikir; solat wajib besar pahalanya, solat amalan pertama yang dihisab, solat jalan untuk membuka pintu syurga…
Benarkah solat kita itu mencukupi dan diterima !!?

Berapa banyak solat kita dalam 50 tahun???

1 solat = ± 10 minit ….. 5x solat = ± 1 jam

Dalam waktu 50 tahun waktu yang terpakai utk solat = 18250 hari x I jam =18250 jam=

2 tahun

Kesimpulan: waktu yang kita manfaatkan dalam 50 tahun di dunia cuma 2 tahun untuk solat ( ini kalau yg solat 10minit! Kalau solat macam ayam patuk tanah..amacam? )

2 tahun dari 50 tahun kesempatan kita….itupun belum tentu solat kita bermakna berpahala dan di terima.

Dan sekiranya pahala solat kita selama 2 tahun tidak sebanding dengan perbuatan dosa-dosa kita selama 50 tahun; dalam percakapan kita yang selalu dusta, baik yang sengaja ataupun tidak, dalam pertuturan kita yang sering mengguris orangtua kita, dalam harta kekayaan kita yang selalu kedekut terhadap orang faqir, dalam setiap perbuatan kita yang selalu bergelumang dosa…

Logiknya:

Bukan satu yang mustahil kita umat akhir zaman akan berhamburan di neraka untuk mendapatkan balasan kelalaian…………

Terlalu banyak masa yang terbuang percuma selama manusia hidup di dunia dan semuanya itu akan menjadi bencana…………

Penyelesaian:

Tiada kata terlambat walaupun waktu berlalu cepat, isilah ia dengan sesuatu yang bermanfaat!!!!!!!

Ingatlah negeri kita…Akhirat

Bukan suatu paksaan untuk disebarluaskan..

Saling mengingati sesama bukanlah hal binasa =)

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever *Mahatma Gandhi

2009-06-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi *kiut jgak eh hahaha*

Assalamualaikum =)

As the title itself serve, we are gonna be discussing about the quote that I really like from Mahatma Gandhi =)

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

My dear friends!! =D Let's discuss about the second part of this famous quote =)

It says that we should learn, gain knowledge as if we are going to use it for the rest of our lives; which could be an eternity. In other words, it also means that we should thrive our best to gain as much knowledge as we can for the long future ahead of us.

I have heard that the knowledge that we have right now, or are trying to acquire, is only as much as a drop of water from the total knowledge available to us; the sea. (This is from an Islamic source if my memory serves me right. See how rich His knowledge is, and how little we know.)

AND Please!! Do not forget, that knowledge that we should acquire or learn, is NOT NOT NOT 100% from textbooks. Experiences, social and communication skills as well as other hands-on experience and field work are also KNOWLEDGE. Hence, do not assume that those who did not go to school, college or universities are not KNOWLEDGABLE.

You could even see how IGNORANT and irrelevant some students could be. (not everyone, but such people do exist.) And I am also not stating that everyone that did not attend to proper education are brilliant as well. Some might just be the same as the ignorant and irrelevant students of higher education. It all once again, depends on who you choose to be.

This is what happens when we are given the opportunity to gain precious knowledge from higher education and not use them for the right reasons, or not use them at all. (for students)

For those who are not fortunate enough to gain higher education (due to poverty, or many other reasons) please do not lose hope. There are many opportunities for you out there, it is a matter of good you are to see that they are available for you.

Yes, it is definitly easier said than done. I am not implying that the road will be easy once you get the chance to succeed. HARD HARD work is a definite necessity. But, it is never impossible.

Please do not choose the easier path; a work well done is never achieved with ease.
Please do not choose the wrong path; turn back whenever you can if you do.
Please do not wrong those who wronged you; it will be a never ending circle or vengeance.

Please do not BEG. As I have mentioned earlier.. There are opportunities for you out there.

Look for them. Find them. And utilize them as soon as you grab a hold onto them.

The easier path and wrong path: I am referring to theft, drugs, gambling and easy money, or perhaps easy grades or A's for students.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with theft, drugs etc etc. But how about the easy grades?

Of course there are some classes or courses that you are fortunate enough to get a very kind lecturer or TA, where you will certainly gain an A for the class (Alhamdulillah XD) But the method to get easy grades that I do not agree with is cheating.

Sure sure it would be a breeze to copy our senior's past years work. Let's just alter a few words to avoid plagiarism.. The lecturer wouldn't know, he has had too many students to remember the past..

My dear friends, where are your integrity? Di manakah amanah kamu?
Of course no one would know, except for your friends you are working with.

What about Allah? Adakah DIA yang Maha Melihat tidak nampak?

It is definitly a challenge for everyone, when cheating is so easily done without the lecturer noticing. But please, think of the knowledge and credits you would be gaining from cheating.

Higher grades, yes. Gaining our degree, yes. Gaining a good job with our degree, yes. Gaining hard-earned money with our job, yes. Putting food, clothes and shelter for our family with the money we earned, yes.

Can you see how these things are connected?

Imagine the food you are feeding your children in the future. The money we have, the job we have earned.

Ya Allah, adakah semuanya HALAL?

Are everything that I am earning now, HALAL in Your Judgment?

Please my friends..
I'm sure that many have heard that even one vote, could make a HUGE difference. The same applies here. Though we might think these things as small matters, but it could bring such a huge impact.

Imagine bringing up your children, feeding them with rezeki that He does not approve of?

Ya Allah.. Diminta dijauhkan daripada perkara sebegini daripada berlaku..

I have once told my friends here attending the same university as I am after our usrah. Since I forgot to tell them during the usrah itself, I wrote an e-mail later on to my friends XD So I'm sorry guys if you have to read this over once again! =) But a reminder wouldn't hurt aite? =)

The title of the usrah was Small Things Do Matter. (something like that, tak ingat haha)

The most important thing that I would like to conclude is; please do remember that 'they' would try their best to make us choose the wrong choices, do the wrong things.

Of course, many of you might think; I would never MURTAD; which is exit from Islam itself. Alhamdulillah, if many of you know that no matter how bad you are, you will never leace your religion.

Perhaps many of you would even know that you will never ever do those unforgivable sins or dosa-dosa besar; berzina, drinking/minum arak, berjudi/gambling.

Alhamdulillah if you guys do not attend to these sinful acts =)

However. Since 'they' know that 'they' could not influence you to do those horrible sinful acts, they would aim to make you do the little ones; talking bad about people/mengumpat, lying, cursing/mencarut, not preserving our aurat, and many more.

What do we say when we do this small sinful acts? ; Ala dosa skit jek!!

Of course, it is considered 'small' among us.

However, talking bad about people/mengumpat is actually among the unforgivable sins; dosa2 besar! But since we are too accustomed to it, we treat it as nothing.

And do you know how 'small' is 'small', and how 'big' is 'big' for our sins? Of course it is stated in the Qur'an itself some of the sinful acts above are indeed 'big' or unforgivable.

But, are we able to measure them with a scale?

Dosa kecik ke dosa besar, semuanya sama saja; tetap dosa!

Hearing this statement from a guy who gave a talk when I was still back in Malaysia really struck me hard. Sins, no matter how tiny or big they may be, are still sins.

Have we not heard of the famous saying among us Malaysians; sikit2 lama2 jadi bukit?

This is what I meant by being ignorant. We know all of the things above. Dosa kecik, dosa besar, peribahasa BM (wlupon tak terer bm pon akan tau). But have we ever gave a thought for everything that should be taken into account?

That is why, my dear friends, we are all still able to fall into the Fires of Hell.
We do not know, and will never know, until Judgement Day of how much good and bad deeds we have committed. What is worse, we might not realize that the small sins that we may have been doing unconsciously might contribute to our chances of falling down.

Please. Be careful and take good care of yourself. Alhamdulillah, if you are very sure that you will never ever commit the 'huge' sins. But be aware of the 'small' sins as well, as we are more prone to fall for 'their' whisper and influence.

Now!! To the first part of the quote; the second part of this blog haha XD

Maaf2 sgt pjg pulak.. I'll try to make this brief ya =)

I have longg and thought of this part of his quote; Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Whenever we see any movies or dramas, where the hero or heroin knows that they could not live long, they would do everything on their wish list; perhaps do a bungee jump, sky diving, eat a whole pizza, etc etc etc.. And the list goes on =)

If we were to imagine that we were in their shoes instead.. We would most probably do the same. Do whatever that we had longed to do for before our time is up.

In one way or another, this quote is also asking us to 'Live our life to the fullest.'

We may never know exactly when we could die, leave the worldly life and enter the other dimension. Therefore, I truly do support this part of his quote and try to live up to it! =)

However, after some time I realized something.

Yes, it is true that we should live our life to the fullest. That is why I find myself spending more time on happy events, and lesser time on sobering on unfortunate events.

But how about living today as if you were to die tomorrow?

You could try to do everything you longed for today, if you knew that you were gonna die the next day. But, would you do the same if you knew you were not going to die just yet?

For example; you hate your boss. He yells at you at everytime of the day, especially during your break hours. If you knew you were going to die the next day, you might smash a cake into his face and yell at him "I QUIT!!"

However, if you knew you are still going to be alive the next day.. "I'm sorry Boss, I'll do it right away!"

Okay, let's say you DID smash the cake and quit your job. And you are still alive the very next day. Hence starts your search for a new job. How would you ever pay the bills without one?

The same thing goes for the most famous last wish of all; expressing your feelings to the one you had loved all this while.

What would happen if you had expressed your feelings, and you are still here the next day?

Alhamdulillah, if you could get a better job with better pay, and perhaps the person you expressed your feelings to actually feels the same way about you. But, things will never be the same before you do these things.

As everyone knows, actions have consequences.

The only difference is, you will be facing the consequences if you are actually still alive XD

Thereforeeeee~

Yes yes we must live our life to the fullest!! =D But if you wish to live as if you were to die tomorrow, be able to face the consequences ;p

Insya-Allah, not all of the consequences will be bad =)

But do think before you leap!!

Assalamualaikum ;)

99 names of Allah =)

2009-05-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

We have always heard of Asma-ulHusna, where it is a song with the 99 names of Allah as it's lyrics. We remember the tune, and I bet most of us have already memorised all 99 names, Alhamdulillah =)

However in my case, I do not exactly remember ALL the names; there are a few that I am not sure how to pronounce whenever I try to sing back the song. What more remember the meaning of each XD

I hope that this could help myself, and anyone else in remembering His 99 names =)

Ar-Rahman -Yang Maha Pemurah
Ar-Rahim -Yang Maha Mengasihi
Al-Malik -Yang Maha Menguasai
Al-Quddus -Yang Maha Suci
Al- Sallam -Yang Maha Selamat Sejahtera
Al-Mu'min -Yang Maha Melimpahkan Keamanan
Al-Muhaimin -Yang Maha Pengawal serta Pengawas
Al-Aziz -Yang Maha Berkuasa
Al-Jabbar -Yang Maha Kuat
Al-Mutakabir -Yang Melengkapi Segala Ke Besarannya
Al-Khaliq -Yang Maha Pencipta
Al-Bari -Yang Maha Menjadikan
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Al-Muzill -Yang Maha Menghina
As-Sami' -Yang Maha Mendengar
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Al-Hakam -Yang Maha Mengadili
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Al-Batin -Yang Batin
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Al-Muta'ali -Yang Maha Tinggi serta Mulia
Al-Barr -Yang banyak membuat kebajikan
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Al-Muntaqim -Yang Menghukum (mereka yang bersalah)
Al-'Afuw -Yang Maha Pengampun
Ar-Ra'uf -Yang Maha Pengasih serta Penyayang
Malik-ul-Mulk -Pemilik Kedaulatan Yang Kekal
Dzul-Jalal-Wal-Ikram -Yang Mempunyai Kebesaran dan Kemuliaan
Al-Muqsit -Yang Maha Saksama
Al-Jami' -Yang Maha Pengumpul
Al-Ghaniy -Yang Maha Kaya serta Serba Lengkap
Al-Mughni -Yang Maha Mengkayakan dan Memakmurkan
Al-Mani' -Yang Maha Pencegah
Al-Darr -Yang Mendatangkan Mudharat
Al-Nafi' -Yang Memberi Manfaat
Al-Nur -Yang bercahaya
Al-Hadi -Yang Memimpin dan Memberi Pertunjuk
Al-Badi' -Yang Maha Pencipta Yang Tiada BandinganNya
Al-Baqi -Yang Maha Kekal
Al-Warith -Yang Maha Mewarisi
Ar-Rasyid -Yang Memimpin (Ke arah Kebenaran)
As-Sabur -Yang Maha Penyabar

Greetings, Farewells, and Prayers =)

2009-02-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah hiwabarakatu.

My dear friends,
Have you ever wondered why it is easier for us to say ‘hello’ instead of our much more appropriate approach of ‘Assalamualaikum’?

*pic= just to cheer things up =)*

I myself, must admit that I too at times had difficulty saying the more appropriate to my muslim friends whom I do not usually say so.

I sometimes envy those who could say ‘Assalamualaikum’ much more at ease, even to strangers here in the States. We might say that those are their usual approach (the Arabs) and they are more at ease with it like we are at ease with ‘hello’. But why not take them as an example and try to make a change?

Changes are never easy, but they are not impossible. Take things step by step, and you will be surprised at the results! =)

Have you ever heard about the rumors that say the word ‘bye’, in Arabic actually translates into “fi hafzil baba”, which somewhat means under the blessings of the priest (Christianity). Some had other ideas of the origins of the word ‘bye’ means sort of like under the blessings of God.

At first, I was told that saying the word ‘bye’ is actually a way Christians are trying to conquer Muslims as it means under the blessings of the priest. I then read another person’s opinion regarding this issue, which I think is much more relevant and thoroughly thought through.

One person gave his/her opinion (it was a nickname back there) and said that it’s really up to you if you want to use the word or not. Because in the end, what matters is what YOU yourself think of the word. If you want to think of it as just simply a medium of wishing farewell, then so will it be. But if you want to not use it just because, then so be it.

In my personal opinion, what matters is what You yourself think about it, as He is the All Knowing and Almighty =) He’ll surely know what u are thinking of =)
And anyways, though it may be ‘under’ the blessings of the priest~ their teachings did indeed originated from Jesus/ the Prophet Isa, which is also one of our beloved prophet, isn’t it? So.. Once again, it’s really all up to you! ;)

That is why sometimes you can hear me say tata or see ya instead of bye bye, but after reading that particular person’s opinion, I trust in Our Almighty’s Judgement =)

My dear friends,

Do you remember how many times a day we must do our prayers?

Yes, it is 5 indeed. Glad you guys remembered =) How about the names of each?
Even though the 5 names may differ a little at other parts in the world, like our usual Zohor is called Zuhr here in the States, Asar is Asr, but the basic 5 is still there.

However, do you take care of your 5 times prayers?

Nobody’s perfect. Yes, this is so very true. The person who is almost perfect, or perhaps he is indeed perfect, would be our dear prophet, Nabi Muhammad S.A.W. (peace be upon him=pbuh)
However, do you think this will be a good excuse for you to give when we will be questioned by Allah S.W.T., during the day of Judgement, when every human being since Adam and Eve will be on Padang Mahsyar, bare naked?

I did not manage to perform my 5 prayers because.. Nobody’s perfect!
What? My prayers? I can just Qada’ later!

Oh my dear friends, how shameful would that be.

Let me share with you my experience that made me perform the 5 prayers. I never really did my 5 prayers, until when I was about 11 or 12 years old; during standard 5 or 6 when I was in primary school.

As usual, we would have the Pendidikan Islam (religious studies of Islam) lessons every year, learning about prayers to recite during our 5 day prayers, basic rules in Islam perhaps in every aspect.

By the way, have you ever noticed the term Agama that we usually mention to refer to our Islamic studies back in primary school and high school? I just realized that it was weird to name our Islamic studies as Agama casually, as Agama does really mean RELIGION. There are indeed many types of religion present in our world today. Perhaps the name is just simply inappropriate then >.<
Whenever our Ustat or Ustazah (the Islamic teachers) question us about some certain Surah or Doa, either the ones we could read before we sleep, before we eat, or the ones we recite in our prayers, most of us would be scared to death. (I’m not kidding!)
I am indeed impressed with my friends back then who knew all the Surah and Doa, which made me envy them.

Oh how I despite the Doa Qunut/ Kunut, because it was quite a long one and I had a hard time memorizing it. It was sort of like the ‘BONUS’ question from the Ustat or Ustazah; recite for me the Doa Qunut/Kunut!

This Doa is only recited in the first prayer of the day; Subuh. If we did not know this Doa… Well, it is then very obvious that you did not do the first prayer of the day. >.<

My Ustat who questioned us about this Doa, then asked how many of us did not pray for Subuh that day? Many did raise their hand, including me. He then asked about the 5 prayers; again, many raised their hand, not excluding me.

Of course, he then sighed in disappointment, but did not stop there. He then explained;

How many hours do you have a day?
We said 24.
How many minutes is there in an hour?
We said 60.
How many seconds are there in a minute?
We said 60 once again.

He then asked us to multiply those numbers; 24x60= 1440minutes a day. Yup, we did not have to multiply it with seconds, and he gave us a very short yet effective speech that made me do the 5 prayers.

How long does it take for us to perform 1 prayer?
We said around 5.
He then said for average, the young children perhaps performed around 2-3 minutes prayer. (You know how kids tend to read VERY VERY FAST)
Now multiply that by 5.
3x5 = 15 minutes.

He then explained; Allah S.W.T. gave us 1440 minutes a day. Can’t you even spend 15 minutes to remember Him and perform the prayers that He had kindly gave us such light responsibilities, when He does not forget about us for 1440 minutes everyday?

When I think back about his statement now, I think he also meant that Allah S.W.T did not forget about making our heart beat, our cells continue to do its’ functions, our lungs allowing us to make every breath, our blood cells to run through our blood veins, and everything that a human could ever think of, or could NOT possibly think of. Imagine what would happen, if HE forgot to make our heart beat for 3 minutes? Or perhaps 15 minutes a day?

Though he may had made that short statement for that very day, it sure indeed give a huge impact to me, and changed my life at that moment =) (well not literally)
Then I started praying 5 times a day.

Yup, doing something new surely is weird for anyone, anywhere, anytime doing anything at all. But I knew I was doing the right thing, and as time passed by, I was over it in no time =) As I have mentioned before.. Changes are never easy, but they are not impossible! =D

That is all so far for my blog this time =)
(Assignments and exams are crashing onto me like.. like.. Pouring cereal into a bowl when you are very very hungry! XD)

Till then,
Assalamualaikum =)

*My dear sister, btw =)