Islamic Ethics: Meeting with an Adversary or a Powerful Ruler

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). Subahanallah (Glory be to Allah) we are currently in the second half of December of 2010 and soon 2011 will set into our lives. Time surely passes us by fast. As humans, we are always busy with worldly matters all day long. As usual, life starts after Subuh and sometimes does not even seem to end unless Isyak comes. It is natural to stumble into many kinds of people everyday especially when we work in office and deal with a human network. We cannot help to feel uncomfortable and often scared with someone who has a higher position compared to us since we don’t know what they feel about us in their heart.

     Islam teaches us how to confront with this type of people and deal with them appropriately without losing our dignity and faith. Sometimes, people feel afraid too much more than it is necessary. It keeps going till people think their superiors have power to control almost everything in their lives and future – how they carry themselves and future career development. On the contrary, they are nothing but mere creations of Allah, just like we are. Allah is the Almighty. He is the only sole Entity who has power over anything that has happened, is happening and will happen in this world. Not a single piece of leaf will fall without His knowledge and His realization.

     So, what is the best way to face our superiors? The answer is supplicating invocations (doa) to Allah. There is a bunch of invocations that Islamic scholars suggested us to recite before having any contacts with these people. The verses were derived from the Quran or Hadiths. They are as follows:

Invocations when dealing with a powerful ruler/ an adversary

   May Allah protect us from any evil intentions and deeds of humans. Insyaallah (With Allah’s will).

p/s: The invocations were quoted from a book entitled 

Fortress of the Muslim by Said bin Wahf Al-Qahtani 

and published by Darussalam

Pix

Muharram and Hijrah: Resolutions and Migration for the Better

      Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah). We are given another opportunity to enter a new Islamic year of 1432. Entering this month of Muharram, many of us are preoccupied to jot down a new, long list of resolutions. To be honest, I am doing that too. Yes, we have to reinvent ourselves sometimes to check whether we are on the right track or not. We cannot help falling into Satan’s traps and listening to its bad whispers when all those things are constantly happening around us all the times.

    The question with the long list of resolutions is how efficient it is on us. Did it ever change us to be better people? (or Muslims?) How many times we hear that resolutions have no effects on people. They change for awhile and relapse to be the persons they used to be or, in other words, just stay the same. It is because people pay so much attention on how many resolutions they have instead of how capable they are to make and adapt to the changes. So I would suggest we just make one resolution or two and start working on them first. Then, after feeling comfortable with the changes, then add some more to the list later somewhere down the road. It doesn’t have to be on the magical night of the New Year. It is actually in you. Happy Maal Hijrah. May this year give you more time to think about Allah and investigate His great creations. InsyaAllah (With Allah’s will).

Pix

Love: Always and Forever...

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). This time I want to spend some time talking about what is continuously spreading in our soul. It’s L…O…V…E…. Yeah right guys, LOVE. It is short, simple and easy. Yet it is long (time), complicated (feeling) and hard (giving it up). As human beings, we cannot deny this nature bestowed by Allah. We always fall in love with someone (it's OK if you follow Islamic guidelines- I mean after got married) or something (hobbies and interests). When we do, we are willing to do anything and lose everything to make the person happy or the interest become a part of something great. At last, those will eventually die and fade away.

    Fortunately Muslims who have strong faith in their heart know who they should devout their LOVE to. It is LOVE between HUMANS and their CREATOR. Yes you heard me. Other than love between humans, we always forget this. I don’t want to mention much about this because it is much well-written in a nasyeed (Islamic-oriented song) by Saujana. I would really suggest you guys to listen to this new nasyeed. It has very nice lyrics. You can hear it in Youtube (Click here to hear it). For those who don’t understand Malay, it’s OK. I, with my best ability given by Allah, translated the lyrics into English.

Nota Cinta                               (Love Note)

Album: Nota Cinta                                               (Album: Love Note)
Artis: Saujana                                                     (Artist: Saujana)

Andainya dapatku menulis                        (If I can jot down)
Nota-nota cinta buat diri-Nya                   (Love notes to Him)
Ingin ku titipkan bersama                         (I wish to compose them with)
Semua kuntuman bunga                           (All petals and buds)
Yang indah berseri                                  (That are strikingly beautiful)

Ku sembur haruman mewangi                    (I spray good perfumes)
Bersama kata-kata puji                            (On the praising words)
Sedang Dia tahu kasih dan cintanya aku     (Although He knows my affection and love)
Menjalin ikatan menuju ke Syurga              (Tied pure to Heaven)

Cintaku kepada Dia                                 (My love to Him)
Rinduku hanya pada-Nya                         (My longing only to Him)
Kasihku tulus buat-Nya                           (My sincere affection to Him)
Setiaku balas kasih-Nya                          (My undivided loyalty to Him)
Kasihku kasih yang setia                          (My passion, undying passion)
Pada yang punya                                   (To Him who deserves it)

Dambaku pada Yang Esa                         (My devotion to The One)
Pujian hanya buat-nya                            (My Praises only to Him)
Akurku kebesaran-Nya                            (I submit to His greatness)
Teragung Maha Suci-Nya                        (The Greatest, His Most Holy)
Taatku hamba yang hina                         (My trueness as a mere servant)
Pada Pencipta                                       (To Lord)

Kiranya aku hilang arah                           (Whenever I am lost)
Jalan hidupku berubah punah                   (My path gets rough)
Namun kasih-Nya tak pernah akan musnah (Yet His love never fades)
Belas rahmat-Nya terus mencurah-curah    (His mercy keeps pouring)
Nur Hidayah-Nya semakin cerah                (His light gets even brighter) 

Pix

Self-Improvement: Your Home is enough

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). In this entry of blog, I want to discuss about self-improvement and seclusion from the perspective of Islam. Even though I will write mostly on the benefits of being cloistered and in privacy; yet, Islam does not say that Muslims have to seclude their lives from the world. We also have to take part in the worldly matters like in business, education and dakwah (spreading Islamic teachings). What I mean when I talk about seclusion is about distancing ourselves from haram (forbidden) and syubhah (uncertain) matters, like I said, from the Islamic viewpoint.

     Sometimes, distancing ourselves from the world is not totally a bad option if the seclusion can bring more good than harm to us. In Islamic history, there were many cases reported showing that tons of new ideas, human progresses and knowledge developments took place while arduous Islamic scholars got imprisoned in cells and abandoned wells. There, they spent countless waking moments doing productive things in their lives which have been benefiting lives after theirs. Here is a short list of the people and their contributions to the human race:

•   Imam Ahmad Ibn Hambal - He was severely tortured and flogged and later became a great Imam of the Sunnah.
• Imam Ibn Taymiyah - He was imprisoned and when freed, became more accomplished.
•  Imam As-Sarakhsi – He was kept in an unused well where he produced 20 volumes of Islamic jurisprudence.  
• Imam Ibn Atheer – He was crippled. Yet with his ability, he wrote 2 famous books in the Science of Hadith
• Imam Ibn al-Jawzi - He was banished from Baghdad. Then he traveled and mastered 7 different recitations of the Quran. [mostly quoted from a book entitled “La Tahzan”]

     It is amazing how all those Imam names mentioned turned a lemon into a sweet, nice drink which later quenches thirsts of human beings for knowledge and guidance. MasyaAllah (Whatever Allah wills). These show there are no excuses for a person to fail in his/her life. So the choice is ours. From my point of view, failure is not an option!!! May Allah grant us more opportunities to learn knowledge, educate ourselves and spread it to the human race. InsyaAllah (With Allah’s Will).

Pix

Faith: A Total Trust in Allah

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah), I finished my doctoral exams that took place for 2 months long. I am not gonna lie about this matter. It was the longest 2 months ever in my life. I believe it shaped me in a positive way, in a way that I didn’t even realize it. During the struggle of preparing myself for the exam that caused me excruciating headaches, I really learned to be a better person from every angle that I could possibly see. I used to spend my countless waking hours doing something that I shouldn’t do. Fortunately now, I am more critical at how I spend my time.

     Honestly, I don’t feel really good right now about myself; even though I am finished with the exam. I feel I didn’t do well enough. The feeling of scary failure and not performing up to the bar still haunt me like my shadow. I guess the best thing I can do for now is, to have faith in Allah’s plan. I tried my best shot, I cut my sleep time, I spent crazy hours with “interesting” books (actually not that interesting, more like boring). Now, I have to wait for His plan. Whatever we do, how great we are, at last, we are just a mere servant of Him. Tawakkal Innallah (I put my total trust in Allah’s plan). May Allah grant us with more opportunities to better ourselves and strength in our hearts to face the turbulence in this chaotic world. InsyaAllah (With Allah’s will)

Pix

“When two parties of you almost fell away, and Allah was their Protecting Friend. In Allah do believers put their trust (tawakkal).” ~ (Al-Quran: Al-E-Imran 3:122)

Happy Eid Mubarak : Boundless and Timeless Sacrifices

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). It is my solemnest honor to greet my Muslim brothers and sisters all around the globe Happy Eid Mubarak. Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah), He gives us another chance to experience this important religious event again this year. It is verily His mercy on us. By experiencing this festival of sacrifice, I hope we, Muslims, can reflect all the things we have done in our own lives and try to correct all the wrong things and mistakes we did intentionally and unintentionally. As humans, we are never free from making mistakes and being influenced by Satans (Syaitans). We are lucky because Allah tells us that He is Oft-Forgiving and will forgive all the sins we have made and will make. The proof of that can be seen in this translated verse from Al-Quran: 

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."  ~ (Al-Quran: Az-Zumar 39:53)

     During this festival, we should also recall the history behind it. The festival is designated to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isma'il) as an act of obedience to Allah, before Allah intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead [quoted from Wikipedia]. This sacrifice was already hard as it sounds. Yet, the situation was even harder on Abraham because he left Ishmael in a desert since Ishmael was a baby (due to Allah’s revelation) and reunited with him when Allah demanded Abraham to sacrifice his son. This boundless sacrifice and unbreakable devotion to Allah is beyond  a capability of a human being. That’s why Abraham was named as one of the Ulul Azmi messengers (messengers who have a high unshakeable spirit, strong psychological mental, steadfast in his stands or views). From the event of Ishmael's abandonment, most of Hajj rituals and sites were erected and named. I hope everyone and I have a chance to visit Kaaba (Allah’s house) one day and I again hope that everyone set a goal to be an Allah’s guest.

     From my experience as a Muslim who studies in USA, it is sometimes really challenging for me to perform my religious rituals and obligations. They are also some Muslims who confess as Muslims but never act like ones and never perform the obligations like the salats. Even everyday life is often hard. Most of the times when I performed the salats and somebody stumbled into me, the person tended to stare and ask what I did. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind doing the explanations. But when they heard it was about Islam, many lost their interest and started condemning. Not many tried to understand or at least tried be polite.

     That’s one thing. Another thing is festivals like this one. Since the last five years, I always have to miss many religious festivals due to work, meeting, exams and presentations. Rarely can I get away from those, and this inevitable situation always leaves me sad and guilty. I feel sad because I don’t have a chance to experience the feeling that comes with the festivals and I feel guilty because I think I didn’t do my best to get away from worldly matters to celebrate and commemorate this festival of sacrifice. Anyhow, I am grateful because Eid Mubarak lasts for 3 days and at least I still have a chance to celebrate it personally and decently at home. May Allah grant us with more strength and religious devotion to carry His message to all His creations. InsyaAllah (With Allah’s Will). Wassalam.  

Pix

“You should give preference to your brother's welfare over your personal needs. The Quran records the attitude of true Believers: But [they] give preference over themselves, even though poverty was their [own lot].”  ~[Al-Quran: Al-Hashr 59: 9.]

p/s: I personally take back any wrong statements and ideas in this or other post/s. I apologize for any wrong or harsh words used insensitively due to any difference in race, religion or language as long as I live and after I die.

Food for the Soul: La Tahzan (Don’t be Sad)

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). You may notice from my last post, I had been feeling down and upset about life. It seemed I had enough with life. So I tried to lift myself up. I heard a couple of nasyeeds and motivational English songs. They did lift me up for awhile. Then after some time, I needed more and more. So that was not the ultimate solution. I kept wandering in Youtube, searching for a better solution. Suddenly I remembered a phrase that my ustazah (female Islamic cleric) used to say to me. It was “La Tahzan” which means “Don’t be Sad” when I told her that I was struggling with life several months ago. I kept thinking about this phrase and I asked myself, “Why is this phrase so familiar? It must mean something.”

     After I spent some more time hearing a couple more nasyeeds and stuff, I remembered one of my friends back home once told me that there was this good book available in the market and the title is “La Tahzan/ Don’t be Sad”. So I said to myself, “I have to find this book no matter what. I don’t wanna miss on something good like this.” Then I started looking for the book in Malay and yeeesss, I got it!!! The problem was I had to order it from Malaysia and I had a feeling that the publisher didn’t really want to take that much effort sending it here to USA. 

     I didn’t give up there. “OK, why not I find it in English,” I mumbled. I heard the book is one of world’s best sellers. I gotta try. Yeahhhhh I got it and this time in English. I found it in Amazon.com. Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah). But wait, I didn’t know how good this book is. I wanted to know how well-written it is before i buy. I could not just decide from my friend's reviews. Quickly, I used the Google search bar and typed La Tahzan. A bunch of videos popped up from Youtube. Perfecttttt….!!! Now I could have a glance into the book without having to buy it first.

     From the first two videos, I felt kind of OK, not that great but not bad either. Why not try another one. My hand swiftly moved the mouse and I clicked the third video. This one was different. The video maker really brought the essence of the book combined with great background layouts. You know what? When I finished watching the third one, I felt so mesmerized and so impressed with the message. I was so ashamed because I didn’t know how silly I was to give up on Allah’s boundless mercy. I kept watching that video several more times. Trust me, it was extremely good. Good job Dr. Aaidh ibn Abdullah Al-Qarni!!! May Allah bless you with more ideas and more knowledge to write even more. After that, I went straight to the Amazon.com website that I opened and clicked “Buy Now”.

     To those who feel lost and experience like a weight of the world is on their shoulders, I would suggest you to buy this book and crack it. We can read Harry Potter series, Eclipse: New Moon etc. and spend countless hours talking nonsense with friends. Yet we find it hard to read Al-Quran and books written based on Al-Quran that can help us develop our personality in a healthy way. This is what we call a long-term good investment. InsyaAllah (With Allah’s will), we can develop our lives in a manner that is thought by Islam and, most importantly, in the way that Allah pleases. La Tahzan, verily Allah's mercy is unbounded!!!

If you are in Malaysia (Malay version) and you want to buy it. Buy here

If you are in USA (English version) and you want to buy it. Buy here

Example videos from Youtube (Malay) . Video 1. Video 2. Video3.

Family ≠ Education: Split personality

     Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you). This morning I talked to my friend about family, life and things other than education (since lately it has been all about education and school. I am starting to morph into the nerdiest college geek ever). To be honest, it is refreshing and entertaining to talk about something new and livelier than school. Arrgghh… I wish I can spend more time with my friends and family back home. I really miss the times when I didn’t have to worry about the future, especially my future. The times when I just needed to wake up in the morning, go to school, come back home, play with my friends in the afternoon, eat dinner with family and go to bed without any worry whatsoever. Yeah, those were the good times. As we grow older, more responsibilities are on our shoulders. Like it or not, we have to shoulder and make the best out of them.

     Frankly speaking, we spend countless hours working on worldly matters and sometimes we got too carried away with life. This kind of mirage often makes us forget and less sensitive about what the most important things are. As a Muslim, I believe I should put my religion, family and education first. I am probably doing OK at school which makes me truly preoccupied to a point I don’t balance my life the way it should be. No wonder most of the times I feel something is missing in me. I need to balance daily life.

     A couple of days ago, my roommate asked me, “When did you leave for school this morning?” and I simply answered him, “Probably at 8 this morning”. He stopped for awhile and I thought our conversation ended there. Then he asked again, “And you just got back now? At 10 pm?” and I answered without hesitation, “Yeah, what is the problem, dude?”Obviously, I was wrong. He stopped for awhile just now because he was astonished that I spent almost all my waking hours at school. He realized I had been spending all time I had at school doing research for the last several months. He didn’t say much after that but I knew he wanted to say more; but he couldn’t care more because it was my life he talked about. He might not realize how much the questions he asked affected me from the inside.

     On that night, it was hard for me to fall asleep compared to the other nights after crazy days. I usually fell asleep in less than 5 minutes after I climbed into my bed. A lot of thoughts came across my mind. Two major matters conquered me – family and how much longer it’s going to take for me to finish school. You probably don’t get why I had a hard time about this. Let me enlighten you about my education history. I started to go to boarding schools when I was 12 years. Since then I have been spending more than 80% of my life at school educating my mind and polishing my brain. It sometimes feels extremely personal when I think about this matter, especially when I think about how much love I miss at home.

     Some may consider me lucky to come this far. Some may consider me brilliant to further my studies to this level. Some may consider me strong to go to USA to pursue knowledge when I can just get it in Malaysia. Some may consider me brave to be outspoken when the stake is high. In reality inside of me, I feel sad instead of lucky, silly instead of brilliant, weak instead of strong and tired instead of brave. I am sad because I am far from home. I am silly because I cannot understand what I am feeling right now. I am weak because all I do is facing life not facing my family. I am tired because life is always crazy. Yes, I have a split personality in me. Oh God, save me from these feelings.

 

Pix

Road Less Traveled…

    Assalamualaikum, readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you). Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah). I just finished the second phase of my doctoral qualifying exam. Yet I still have another phase coming soon on Nov 22^nd and that will be the last one. Right now I am so jaded with struggles and sleep time rations that I put myself into for the last several months. While the exam seems to be a past thing to me, my life is not getting any easier. Believe me, it is not. Last week I went and met with my super-strict advisor. Guess what? He started doing something that he’s really good at. He lectured me for solid half an hour. He put me to shame when all the things he nagged are right about me. Yeah, life is hard. It never cuts you any slacks. It has no mercy on you. I wish I can bury my head in sand just get away from shame.

     Since I kind of have a lot on my plate, I have to start re-planning my next moves soon. I guess I have to make some minor and major changes to meet a better goal in this ever-changing world. I always believe that life is a moving target and we have to be sensitive with the upcoming changes and future demands to be top players, unless you just want to be a passenger in your own life that you deserve. My advice is, start living life worth living. Yes, life needs an active participation from you. Everyone knows, you get what you work for. Don’t be like fools who think that everything has been predestined and they just need to wait. When they realize it, it is too late for them to make their moves.

    If you learn about great people in history, you’ll realize all of them took active actions in conquering problems that life threw at them. They stood tall during good and bad times. They weathered freezing storms and scorching heat just because they saw a ray of hope and wanted to grab it. Challenges are not problems. Instead, they are stepping stones for them to reach a higher ground, a better success. Great people consider challenges as walls that separate between the ones who want to succeed and the ones who are just not brave enough to face life.

      In other words, success doesn’t come free. It comes with a price tag. It’s sometimes cheap and sometimes priceless. So it is us who put the price on it. It costs us time devotion, monied sacrifices and unbearable bitterness. How much of those does it cost for a great one? Nobody knows; but you can invest how much you are willing to risk. Many say weird stuff like these - “I see some people who don’t have to do much to become successful” or “I am not that lucky like those guys. They are blessed with generous fortune.” They sound familiar right. I know they do. Trust me, those successful guys secretly risk opportunities and work hard in a way we don't realize it. When a great story is being written, lazy guys just say “what a lucky guy” to the person who makes it happen. Is it fair? I do believe no such things as instant-noodle solutions in life. Every progress is a sum of decades of sweats.  

     When asked about a recipe of becoming successful, most of successful people tell their stories of hardship and failure. That’s normal. They don’t really tell us successes they earn over the years because they are just too obvious. When listening to the shameful failures and unbearable hardship, people who think that success comes in an easy way quickly change their mindsets and become, like they always are, lazy cowards. They don’t really have what it takes to become successful guys and work as hard. That’s why the road traveled by successful people is the road less traveled by many. It is thorny and it has never been easy. InsyaAllah, may Allah grant us strength and opportunities to become one of the successful guys.

Pix

"The successful man will profit from his mistakes 

and try again in a different way." ~Dale Carnegie~

By Time: We Are In Loss…

     Assalamualaikum readers (May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you). Without us realizing, time has been passing us by fast. I feel like it was yesterday I stepped in the year of 2010 and today it is already in November. Yes time moves really fast without us realizing that it is leaving us. It is actually a sign of the end of time as being reported in these translated hadiths:

Narrated Abu Huraira (R.A) that The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said, “Time will pass rapidly, good deeds will decrease, miserliness will be thrown (in the hearts of the people) afflictions will appear and there will be much ‘Al-Harj.” They said, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is “Al-Harj?” He said, “Killing! Killing!” [Bukhari; Vol.8, Hadith 63]

Narrated Anas ibn Malik (R.A) Allah’s Messenger (P.B.U.H) said, “The last hour will not come before time contracts, a year being like a month, a month like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the kindling of a fire.” [Tirmidhi]

      As Muslims, we have to pay a particular attention on this specific matter because Allah swears about time in the Al-Quran in Surah Al-Asr (Passage of The Time) which can be translated as below:
 

“By Al-'Asr (the time). Verily! Man is in loss. Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth and recommend one another to patience.”  ~ (Quran, 103, 1-3)

     Since time passes us by fast, we have to make it count. Yes, every second counts. Islam advises us to better ourselves. So to make time counts, we can earn some benefits from it by improving ourselves little by little. It doesn’t have to be much but make sure every day we make some simple, better changes in life. Insyaallah (Allah’s Will), we can make a difference in our own life and lives around us.

     I guess I have to start cracking my book and doing my work because, like I said, time passes us by fast.  Let's preach and do what we preach.Wassalam.

Pix

A Characteristic Triad of Post-Syawal Symptoms: Fat, Burnt-out and Jaded

   Subahanallah (Glory be to Allah). We are now in the last 3 days of Syawal. That means the Eid Fitr mood is fading away as the time goes by. I hope that everyone has a chance to finish 6 fasting days after Ramadhan. It is highly endorsed by Rasullallah in his hadith as follows:

   "Ayyub (Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days from Shawwal it is as if they fasted the entire year.” "  ~[Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah]~

   After the hustle and bustle of feting the festival for the whole month, our body can just take so much. It will start becoming worn out.  So there will be a “consequence” we have to face right after that. As usual all the nice sugar, excess fat and extravagant food are not going anywhere. They tend to get accumulated in some notorious parts of our body. Here comes a big belly. That’s not a surprise. The surprise is, we question ourselves from where we get this ridiculous flap around our body. We pretend like we don’t know what we’ve done. Isn’t it great? (haha…)

   In the last several months I have been struggling with preparations for my doctoral qualifying examination. Like a normal college student I have to climb the mountain, go down the hill, turn right and left just to get a grip to my undergrad materials. Not to mention how regret I am about how much time I wasted when I did my bachelor degree. What a nice surprise!!! With all the ups and downs that I have been going through, it really makes me burnt out and mentally jaded. I wish I can have a super power like a superman. Sigh!!!

Research + Class + Eid Fitr = Recipe for No Fun

          Tonight, all Muslims in the US officially celebrate one of the major festivals in the Islamic calendar which happens to be Eid Fitri. I have no words to express how happy I am to join the Muslim community around the globe feting this huge event. Eid Fitr takes place in Syawal – the tenth month in the Islamic lunar calendar. Many Muslims are mistaken saying that Eid Fitri is just on the very first day of Syawal although the designated time for the festival in Islam is the whole month of Syawal. It doesn’t mean Muslims should keep celebrating the feast all month long without cautiously heeding on ridiculously over-the-limit expenses and extremely extravagant food. This kind of behaviors is not welcomed in Islamic ethics -akhlak- and defeating the purpose of Ramadhan trainings itself.

          Muslims should really keep everything moderate and be grateful for having the opportunity to taste last Ramadhan that left us just yesterday. That is the true meaning of Syawal, which is celebrating a new better life that every Muslim achieves after practicing month-long drills of self-reflection, self-betterment, self redemption and Allah-searching. Like everyone else, I pray to Allah to save me from the hellfire since that is the ultimate goal after leaving Ramadhan.

          Most of my Malaysian friends at Stevens are having a congregation to mark the month of Syawal some where on campus. Unfortunately in my case as a graduate student, I am currently swarmed by overflowing research journals and reading assignments on the very night of the first day of Syawal. Not to mention a class I have to attend at noon tomorrow. Believe me, it is no fun to dig in school work on the first day and night of Syawal. Yet, I will be optimistic about the situation. Like I said, the festival is a month long. So why I should go all out on the first night and day of the month when I still have the rest of month. Considering what is happen to me right now, I am not going to be that whiny and sad since a lot of my brothers and sisters in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and some other places who are not that lucky to even have a roof above their heads. Thanks to Allah for at least giving me this life and the comfort of my home.

          Talking about being a new person after Ramadhan, most Muslims including me forget what Ramadhan has thought. We tend to go astray, forgetting the real essence of lessons we learnt during Ramadhan. So I guess everyone should set the dates for the 6 fasting days in Syawal as a continuation of what we have done in Ramadan. Since Ramadhan has prepared us so much, I hope we celebrate Eid Fitr like newborns and continue our redemption to God. Don’t let all the hard work and sweats in Ramadhan go away just because Ramadhan is not here anymore. On the contrary we should think Ramadhan as a training school for us to reach a whole new level of Allah-worshipping, public charity and becoming better caliphs on earth. Let’s continue bettering ourselves.

         With the spirit of Syawal, I take this opportunity to apologize for all the wrong deeds I have done intentionally and unintentionally on any of you and please consider all the food and stuff I got from you with or without your knowledge as charity. May Allah bless us all. Happy Eid Fitr.

3F: Fear, Freedom and Faith

         Assalamualaikum (Peace be upon you) and hello readers. Lately media have been swarmed by countless news and future events regarding Muslims and Islam. Many irrelevant diatribes, illogical misunderstandings and immoral behaviors bombarded the Muslim community in the USA. Some claimed to be overnight “professionals” in Islam by confidently talking about it. Not less declared to be great “idealists”  by discussing about the idea of terrorists’ triumph if the Islamic Center built near the Ground Zero – the place where the tragedy 9/11 took place in 2001. Unfortunately, all these “professionals” and “idealists” weren’t utterly aware of what had been happening all around the globe. They just had the sudden urge to speak and took so-called leadership to further make the world confused about the already confusing views on Islam. So every one of them came with the best bets they had in hand. That was how the words - fear, freedom and faith – came into the landscape of current discussion. Come on!!! Who are we kidding? Fifth graders? I guess the fifth graders are by far smarter than most of us. Sigh!

         First let me discuss about FEAR and see what is really happening in the dark where no one sees it. Years after the attack of the 9/11, people were still perplexed and clueless about what Islam is, especially in the United States. Out of the bewilderment, they just concluded that Islam is terrorism and abandoned the impulse to understand the religion. Then the word Islamophobia emerged in the American society in the early 21^st century. Islamophobia existed because people are afraid of Islam due to a lack of apprehension about it. (Really? We were already in the 21th century when this thing was happening? How come a self proclaimed well-educated society like Americans becomes so close-minded about a religion?) The misinterpretation about Islam had been continuing until people started to reach the dawn of comprehending Islam. Yet, some politicians wittily manipulated the sensational events for their advantages and shamefully placed their opponents in difficult position. Advocating the Americans rights, condemning/praising the religion and its adherents have been burgeoning up till today. This hot-potato topic really picked up some moment to the stage of reaching to the point of no return. As usual, many huge figures unexpectedly expressed their 5-cent concerns to get cheap publicity without really putting things into action. Read here for more.

         In the meanwhile, FREEDOM also plays a major part in the interreligious debate. The United States has been taking pride in her “sincere” freedom over practically anything we can imagine. Americans always boast about their active participations in setting the world free from any “abusive” dependence according to their eyes. Hence they devise freedom of speech in the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. This freedom is not specifically meant to tackle the speech alone but also to be extended to generally anything unlimited by barriers/boundaries. That’s good but the problem is, the hypocrites take the liberty to bend the rule as they like and try to hide the truth from the uneducated and cynical. So a perfect storm occurs when freedom of speech meets head-to-head with freedom of religion. Hate-mongers and peace-makers look alike and true information stay buried in the crusade. This is what the US Constitution obviously fails to tackle and contain. See what Americans say about the Quran burning event here.

       In the midst of ups and downs of world’s religious troubles, the educated take a brilliant step by staying put and let the turbulence to recede before executing any honest, healing duty. They persist to have a FAITH in mankind. They are the actual advocates who genuinely understand the gravity of the situations. For understanding non-Muslims, they still believe in harmony and try to stay optimistic in this difficult times. Hopefully faithful Muslims take a high road and keep living their Islamic way of life. I think this knucklehead’s programs are not long to stay in the picture. Enlighten about the current event of building a mosque near Ground Zero here.

        In the nutshell, let’s be more critical in judging what is really happening around us. Be more observant and take time in gathering right information, conquering personal fears and getting ready to face tomorrow’s greater challenges. The truth will prevail. Insyaallah (God willing). 

Ramadhan:Leaving or being left?

       Subahanallah (Glory be to Allah), we have reached the last 10 days of holy Ramadhan. Everything passes so swiftly without realizing that we are almost finished with Ramadhan. I hope Muslims have been appreciating this month the way it deserves. Like a norm during this last section of Ramadhan, many Muslims find themselves preoccupied with Eid Fitr preparations as the event is approaching fast. This is a bitter-sweet situation in the Muslim society. We are so obsessed with celebrations, events, and festivals and we forget something more important which is increasing our Ibadah to Allah, especially during this last 10 days of Ramadhan. It is being reported frequently that the Lailatul Qadr most likely to fall on one of the nights in this last 10 days of Ramadhan. The truth behind it stays hidden and no one actually knows when it is. I guess the silver lining behind it is, just do your Ibadah every night in Ramadhan.

       In this phase of Ramadhan as a Muslim from Malaysia, my society and I have our own tradition in celebrating the upcoming festival, Eid Fitr. Most housewives and moms are super-duper busy with their recipes of crunchy cookies and delectable cakes. It’s like a competition on who can make the most delicious cookies and cakes ever. Don’t get me wrong. I like those treats and I am really looking forward for those. Who doesn’t like Malaysian cookies and cakes, right? The problem is, is it worth it to abandon the call to increase your Ibadah just for the sake of food and treats? If we analyze the reality behind it, it is about the trade-off and we really have to choose somewhere in between. Like a quote that we always hear, “Work like you live forever, do Ibadah like you die tomorrow.” Who says we have to leave the worldly activities and just do Ibadah all day long? So remember, it is about the trade-off.

      Islam is beautiful in every way if we take it as a whole, not just parts of it. That’s why many Islamic scholars promote Islam as a way of life instead of just a religion. It is so inclusive that it starts from the very moment we wake up in the morning to the second we go to bed at night, from the very moment we are born to the second we are buried in the grave. Everything has been delicately and beautifully outlined in the orderly manner.

      Right now I am trying to measure how much different I am as a person before, during and soon after Ramadhan. Am I just the same person that I used to be? If the answer is yes, I am missing the opportunities in bettering myself. If the answer is no, I have to be more than anxious of the answer. Whatever the answer is, it is not too late for me to take this last section of Ramadhan as seriously as I possibly can to further improve myself as a person in general and as a Muslim in particular. For others, let’s decorate this Ramadhan with Quran recitals, prayers, and charity and continue doing those for the rest of our lives. That’s the real teaching behind Ramadhan which is transforming Muslims to be better Khalifahs in the world.  Insyaallah (God will).

This picture is copied from this link.

"Ramadan is the (month) in which the Quran was sent down, as a guide to mankind and a clear guidance and judgment (so that mankind will distinguish from right and wrong).." (Q 2:183)

Celebrating 53rd Independence Day of Malaysia: How Far We’ve Come…

       The Independence Day celebration of 2010 was no less when compared to the previous ones that we had had in the past. Everything was extravagant, loud and vibrant. That is Malaysia. We are proud of who we are and we really want to keep it that way. (At least I want it to be that way). We take pride of every bit and every little difference we have and transform it into a greater thing – more than the sum of individual parts. That makes Malaysia special and unique. It is so special and so unique that I would say no countries in the world are like her. So here I am, proclaiming that I am officially proud to be a Malaysian.

       In Malaysia, we have many different yet amicable races – Malays, Chinese, Indians and aborigines. No one can deny our colorful and harmonious interrelationships between these races. So it is very synonymous to use “Malaysia, Truly Asia” as our slogan to promote Malaysia to the world because we do offer that full package. People from the outside always envy our harmony and say “it is too good to be true”. Yeah… that’s right. It is so because they don’t know how much we have to compromise among us to make it happen. And that’s where our true strength lies.

       Even though it has been 53 years we achieved the independence from England. The real independence is still not fully achieved. The fights and struggles are still far from over. Like the 4^th Prime Minister of Malaysia said “Getting the independence is hard, and it is much harder to fulfill the meaning of it”. Yes I have to agree with him. Many don’t realize how difficult it is to fulfill the independence with a meaningful progress to show that Malaysia is worth of her independence.

      When I look back on what we have and what we do to fulfill the independence, I feel something is missing, something is not right, something is just not that good enough. I keep asking myself what it is, what is the missing jigsaw puzzle in the big picture? Unfortunately it comes to my realization that it is about true independence in us all - how much we’ve grown up not just grown old, and how mature we are in tackling the current turbulences in politics, economy and social.

      Currently we are confronting with a handful of unprecedented troubles - religious feuds, racial incitement, economic instability and political reformations. This train of challenging situations is just a starting point to test whether we are ready to face them up front or not. I hope we really learned from the history. If we can face these problems and rise from the ashes, we can be a lot stronger and more united in tackling any future challenges. Believe it or not, this is just the very first bite of responsibility of having independence. I know it is difficult and please don’t get panicked. Let’s take our time to sort things out. Happy Independence Day, Malaysia. May Allah bless Malaysia with harmony and prosperity.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely  ~Auguste Rodin~

My Heart starts racing again…

          Sigh! I am here to talk about the same old story about my studies. As of now, my studies are not going so well. I guess it is about the feelings of exhaustion, fed up, under pressure and burned-out.  I believe these feelings have been tormenting all grad students throughout the ages, because I have read a lot of complaints in the internet over the “suck”ness of grad studies. Lately the feelings are so overwhelmed and they start to affect my life so much in every way I can possibly imagine.

          I asked a friend of mine about my problems. Thank god, he is the same shoes I am in - doing his PhD (permanent head damage, as I like to call it). He suggested me to return to God and religion and I am doing it right now. It does help a lot; but now I am worried about different things. About what I actually did for the last 12 months since I entered the program. Is my progress substantial? Are my efforts significant? Personally, I like to believe that they are just OK. To be honest, they are utterly not. I don’t really have much of a progress lately. My performance is diminishing. Obviously if I take a diagnostic test I would probably downright FAIL.

          My recent situation is kind of unprecedented to me. I am juggling with a million issues at once.  To make the matter worse, I start confronting with my emotional struggles. Qualifying exams, textbooks, classes, research, supervisor, journals - they are just raining on me with no signs of stopping soon. My control over the matters is deteriorating. My performance is plummeting. I am physically exhausted and mentally jaded. I really need a plan, a very good schedule and stick with them. The only thing I can do right now is to hope that the situation is not getting any worse.

Copied from: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1359

Turning your dreams to shames...

     This time I want to talk about thing that we don’t like to hear but it is happening everywhere and many people who listen to it just let that thing haunts them forever. Don’t worry. Let us put a BIG PERIOD to it. It is about people who like to turn other people’s dreams to shames. Yes, you heard me. There is a kind of people who live just to do this because their lives are just miserable and they want other people feel miserable too.

     All these years, I let this kind of people to take control of my life and me. I always play a passive role in my own life. Now, guess what? It is so over. I am taking charge. I don’t care what kind of crap you talk about, what kind of garbage you force into my mind. I am not going to accept them anymore. Sorry Mr. Miserable, you are so not welcome. So friends, let me tell you what kind of people they are. Give me some time to walk you down aisle by aisle. Listen carefully.

• Firstly, they try to be your friends and, of course, friends with benefits. At this very young state you feel you may have found the “bestest” friends in life.

• Next, they can’t help but to know your lifestyle. Not to label them but they are creative and will learn it by heart.

• Then, their greedy fingers get nosy into your life. They pretend to be your friends yet they are just your life-destroyers.

• In no time, you feel comfortable their existence around you. They make sure you feel that you need them. On the contrary, they need you in order to be parasites.

• Now, their little yet working scheme is infecting you. They ask you to do things you don’t want to do, or, things you shouldn't do.

• It is easy to deduce. Their existence is just to see whether you are strong or weak. If you are strong, you rise burning above the ashes. If you are weak, they pull you down into rabbit holes where misery and darkness are the only companions you have.

Then when you talk about dreams, hopes and aspirations to them they laugh. They mock you. They push you flat on the ground. When you get agitated and upset, they get angry at you and say you can’t take jokes. When you say “stop it”, they say you are a MORON. That is a world that you are living in right now. To dream-breakers, the world doesn’t need you.

FEARS, HOPES AND PERFECTION.

As a mundane human being, I fear. So I hope in order to compensate the lack of competitiveness in me. Honestly speaking, I am also a perfectionist as most of my friends may perceive me to be.

I fear, but fear of what? I fear of everything in life that is uncertain. I may never say this out loud. But when I wake up every morning, a sudden rush of fears comes down into my guts, especially when I am already 8 months in my doctoral program and nothing is done yet. Everything is at stake. My research never seems to take off; my studies are not as good as I expected; my life is a mess. What else I can say about them.

So what do I do to make everything better? I hope. I hope that my research is getting clearer and will take off soon rather than later. I hope my studies are a continual progression of completing a big jigsaw puzzle set. I hope my life is undergoing a transitional phase of fitting into a new pattern of lifestyle. Frankly, that’s what I have doing since I can remember.

In the mean time as a perfectionist, I want my life to be as flawless as humanly possible from mistakes and uncertainties. This is actually that causes a lot of friction around me. As I march forwards, it drags me.

Till a friend of mine told me it had to stop or I would stop progressing in life. It hurt me because it was so true. I stopped taking chances, fearing that it would just bring me misfortunes. By doing so, I had been missing many potential opportunities that life had to offer.

This morning I woke up with a fresh start. And I started to hope again. I hoped that I can be a man with courage, a man with hopes. I let the universe find its own course. I let go of my perfection.

Turn Over a New Leaf

Stop thinking what inconsiderate, selfish people think and want. All they want is, bring you down into the rabbit holes, all the way down.

Start taking charge of my life as I should have been done it a long time ago.

Be mentally STRONGER!!!

Live my life to the fullest

I look to YOU

    It has been awhile I didn’t post any writing in this blog. I am so sorry for that and that’s why too I need to write this. For the last several months I have been busy with all my work as a doctoral student. I myself find it hard to cope with the situation that I put myself in. Sometimes I feel a lot of regrets for choosing the road that I am in. I make myself believe that I am so ready with to where this road is going to take me. Now I realize that I am not that ready to give what it takes.

                I cant deny much longer that this doctoral program swallow me in whole in just one gulp. I find it difficult just to remain afloat every day. I try to give all things it may take – time, attention, concentration, and beyond all, my life. But all those things don’t seem to be enough to make me good at what I am doing.

              Everyday when I woke up in the morning one question always bugged my mind; “Do I have what it takes to continue this program?” I dared not to answer the question.  Hearing the question alone in my mind made me petrified and nuts. I couldn't believe what I put myself into.

                Since I had been doing soul-searching. I lost my inner strength to keep fighting this never ending war of mental torments. Then I realized all I needed was there, around me all the time. So I looked for Him in a means that I never used to. I searched for Him each passing moment. My life… keeps falling towards the ground. I tried to grab and hold on to something but it was too late for me to recover from this slippery slope.

                     One morning while reading engineering journals for class, I found an utter peace in my mind and soul. It had been a long time inner peace found its way into my spirit. I looked out the window looking at the emerging light of dawn. I found what I had been looking for all this time. It is YOU. I look to YOU.