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 :)