Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A gentle reminder ^^

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Alhamdulillah, in just a few days Ramadhan will come, InshaAllah, and I hope I am still able to breathe and live throughout this precious month. Only once per year, it is a rare opportunity. You have 11 months to live normally, do the things that you always do that sometimes can either make us welcoming or feeling dejected with the news of Ramadhan approaching. Yes, for the rest of the year, we either be a better person or we make no change in our life. This month is an opportunity, a 'training period' which, if we make full use of it and train ourself well, we might be able to carry on our life well equipped, for the real challenges after Ramadhan. Quoting from Ust Nouman's word, the training period usually easy, so Allah chained down the Shaytan so that we can go through and complete our program without distraction. So after one month completed the training, then only we are qualified to face the real challenges, which is to face our Ultimate Enemy, who will always try their best doing what they can to distract us.

Really, I have never think about it that way. So, it is true, change the way we look at things and we will understand the meaning- quote from Prof Tariq Ramadan from his speech yesterday. Yes, that was another thing I want to talk about. Alhamdulillah, thank You Allah for giving me the opportunity to attend the event yesterday. And the best thing is that I just completed reading his book 'In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from His Life' just a day ago. Much of the content from his talk yesterday are related to the book. But of course, since the time is limited he only had to deliver the messages which are essentials. And until now, I am still thinking the answer for his question: What do we have,  as Asian Muslims to produce and represent ourselves if we are to counteract the challenges from globalization or westernization? hmmmmmm...that's a really a long thought.....hmmmmmmmmm

Anyway, another thing that came to my mind is about consciousness. Be conscious. If we get so used to do something, we might be doing it without thinking, without having the full consciousness of what and why we are doing it, that we will lost its meaning. It could happen to anything in your life, even in your prayer. Yes, as a muslim when you hear the call of adhan you remember it is time to pray. But then if we are so used to it,as if it was just a daily routine, we might just perform salah without realize the meaning of it. Especially in times that we are rushing on to do something. We don't want to miss our salah so we perform it first, but because we are rushing, we don't get the essence of our prayer. We feel satisfy that we have prayed, but then when we are finally have some time to our self, we might be thinking, did I pray right just now? Did I make the du'a today?We lost the connection to God. It was as if we are using the phone but talking through the voicemail, not sure whether the other person going to listen to our message or not. Of course, Allah is All-Hearing and All Knowing, but if we make our prayer merely a daily routine, performing the rituals merely for the sake of doing it, not as an act of worship, we won't be able to understand the real meaning to it. It will be a waste, the only time we can use to speak directly to God, but we lost the opportunity just like that. It's the same as fasting, we held in our desire to eat and drink because that's what fasting mean to us, but, the real meaning of fasting and the whole celebration of Ramadhan is lost because we look at it merely as a fasting month. There are so much deeper meaning to it, which for this time, InshaAllah with Allah's guidance I would like to learn more through Islamic teachings. 

This is only as a reminder to myself, whom I know very well at some point will tend to forget and turn away. So, let's make full use of this training month, be among those who will complete it successfully, not the losers who do it without understanding the real meaning of it. May Allah s.w.t guide us all. Ameen :)

Saturday, July 7, 2012

the second half of the year

Assalammualaikum..
first time I'm giving salam in my post. Anyway, salam means 'peace'. And when we give salam to others, the real meaning behind it is, "You are safe from me", or "I won't harm you". It is a word of peace that's why if we receive salam, we should feel at ease :) but there are people who take the word salam as a joke because i remember i read a title of a news that a robber gave salam before he robbed a house. I don't read the whole story, but from the title I can say that the robber obviously doesn't know the meaning and think it's funny to give salam before you harm another person. And another thing that is common now, if people see someone else that looks religious (wearing hijab and all), they give salam as a way of greeting, but to their own friends they simply say "Yo, wassup?". Hm, well, I'm not trying to write the whole thing about salam, I'm just writing based on my experience and my own thoughts. I am also still trying to get myself used to giving salam. :)May Allah s.w.t guide us all

Anyway, I've not been writing for the past 1 month. Many things happened that initially I was not able to understand, but Alhamdulillah at least I got the idea of how things went wrong in the first place. Obviously I think it was my fault, because I opened 'the back door' and things start to take place. So it's true, Shaytan will definitely inspire you to do sins then he will console you 'Alhamdulillah, at least you didn't do something worse' or maybe by misguiding you as if you are on the right path that make you feel at ease while committing the sin. When Allah shows you the obstacles only you realize how wrong you are, and how wrong things are in the first place. It is definitely the mercy of my Rabb, for guiding me after I got lost, again and again. I really pray that Allah will give us the full understanding of the wisdom behind it.

Alhamdulillah, I was given the chance to attend Rays of Faith. It is definitely an 'imaan-booster' session. To have the knowledge to the world of the unseen, to learn about your ultimate enemy, to understand the concept of Qada' & Qadar and to be reminded of the Judgement Day, it is definitely a mind and heart opening session. I can't describe more..I hope I will always be steadfast on this path. It is definitely different when you become more alert and aware about your God and His Mercy and also His Punishment that now you will try your best to please Him more. When you always thank Him, you will appreciate more things round you and will try your best not to complaint. And I really like to think that Allah has created an enormous number of angels, the creations that commit no sin towards Him, and will not get tired of worshipping Him, yet Allah still give His Mercy towards us, the humans, who commits sin and sometimes forgot the purpose of our creation- to worship Allah, the One and Only and to rely only upon Him on any matters. I hope by writing all this, I will not go away from Him, please always guide me, ya Allah. Ameen :)