The Reader

Nikmat syurga yang berkekalan..

Marilah kita menghayati(tadabbur) makna ayat-ayat berikut sebagai peringatan kepada diri kita yang sentiasa terpesona dan dilalaikan olih nikmat dunia yang sedikit dan sebentar ini...

Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang bertaqwa adalah ditempatkan di dalam beberapa taman Syurga, dengan matair-matair terpancar padanya.

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:15) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

(Keadaan mereka di sana) sentiasa menerima nikmat dan rahmat yang diberikan kepadanya oleh Tuhan mereka. Sesungguhnya mereka di dunia dahulu adalah orang-orang yang berbuat kebaikan.

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:16) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Mereka sentiasa mengambil sedikit sahaja: masa dari waktu malam, untuk mereka tidur.

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:17) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Dan pada waktu akhir malam (sebelum fajar) pula, mereka selalu beristighfar kepada Allah (memohon ampun).

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:18) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Dan pada harta-harta mereka, (ada pula bahagian yang mereka tentukan menjadi) hak untuk orang miskin yang meminta dan orang miskin yang menahan diri (daripada meminta).

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:19) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Dan pada bumi ada tanda-tanda (yang membuktikan keesaan dan kekuasaan Allah) bagi orang-orang (yang mahu mencapai pengetahuan) yang yakin,

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:20) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Dan juga pada diri kamu sendiri. Maka mengapa kamu tidak mahu melihat serta memikirkan (dalil-dalil dan bukti itu)?

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:21) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Dan di langit pula terdapat (sebab-sebab) rezeki kamu, dan juga terdapat apa yang telah (ditakdirkan dan) dijanjikan kepada kamu.

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:22) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Maka demi Tuhan langit dan bumi, sesungguhnya (apa yang tersebut) itu tetap benar, (tidak patut diragu-ragukan) sebagaimana (tidak sepatutnya diragukan) benarnya kamu dapat berkata-kata.

(Adz-Dzaariyaat 51:23) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark

Satisfied heart

Everyone of us wants satisfaction in all aspects of our life.The question is what is satisfaction to the body,the mind and the soul? Satisfaction is the state of meeting one's expectations ,needs and desires according to the Oxford dictionary.If asked,I don't think anyone would say they are satisfied with their lives.IMHO,the levels of being satisfied vary from person to person and also varies when one life station moves to the next.

via adib.typepad.com

In the last 30 days,three persons that I knew them personally passed away-two of them were my wife's cousin and uncle.Last week,it was my neighbour who lived 50 metres from my house.He was 63 years old and I am 60 years old.These deaths reminded me of my own mortality.

Let me share this tazkirah I wrote about 8 years ago to remind us of our goals in life.Our hearts have a lot of desires but let us re-align them back to the right direction and never let them go astray.

To my peers(who are 60+),let us set our priorities right.

Power to rule

Katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): "Wahai Tuhan yang mempunyai kuasa pemerintahan! Engkaulah yang memberi kuasa pemerintahan kepada sesiapa yang Engkau kehendaki, dan Engkaulah yang mencabut kuasa pemerintahan dari sesiapa yang Engkau kehendaki. Engkaulah juga yang memuliakan sesiapa yang Engkau kehendaki, dan Engkaulah yang menghina sesiapa yang Engkau kehendaki. Dalam kekuasaan Engkaulah sahaja adanya segala kebaikan. Sesungguhnya Engkau Maha Kuasa atas tiap-tiap sesuatu.

(A-li'Imraan 3:26) | <Embed> | English Translation | Tambah Nota | Bookmark 
Say: "O Allah. Lord of Power (And Rule), Thou givest power to whom Thou pleasest, and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleasest: Thou enduest with honour whom Thou pleasest, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: In Thy hand is all good. Verily, over all things Thou hast power.

In two days time Malaysians are going to vote in the 13th General Election i.e on 5/5/2013.Barisan Nasional is fighting hard to retain its power for the last 55 years,and Pakatan Rakyat is equally putting up a good fight.Both are confident of winning but there is one winner.May Allah guide all of us,muslims and non-muslims to choose the right leaders and parties to form the new government of Malaysia.

 

On trust

Malaysian 13th General election is around the corner.(5th May,2013).It is our duty as responsible and accoutable Malaysians to vote only those we trust and can be trusted.Below is my posting I did almost 10 years ago..

Friday, October 03, 2003

Delivering trust

Delivering trust is A BIG TASK! It is more than just talking about whether I trust you or you trust me. It is more than that. This excerpt below I took fromFriday Nasiha is a good point to begin to ponder of our roles in delivering the trusts put on our shoulders.The roles and resposibilties are well articulated in the book entitled The Ideal Muslim or The Ideal Muslimah( please refer to my earlier blog):-

Al-Nisa (Women)
Chapter 4: Verse 58

Delivering Trust
"Allah commands you to deliver whatever you have been entrusted with to their rightful owners."

The basic and most important trust is that which God has implanted in human nature. This is the one which the heavens, the earth and the mountains refused to accept, but which man undertook. It is that of willingly and deliberately recognising Divine guidance and believing in God. Giving testimony in favour of Islam is an important way of delivering this trust.

* This takes the form firstly of striving hard within oneself so that one's life, feelings, actions and behaviour become a practical translation of faith.
* Another way of giving testimony in favour of Islam is to call on people to believe in Islam, explaining its values and principles.
* Testimony is further given by taking steps to help implement Islam as a code of living for the Muslim community, and in human life in general.

Another trust which is implied in the above is that of dealing with people and delivering to them whatever they have entrusted to us. That includes honesty in daily transactions, giving honest counsel to rulers and ruled, taking good care of young children, protecting the interests of the community and defending it against hostile forces and observing all duties and obligations outlined by the Divine code.

The verse can also be translated as "Allah commands you to deliver trusts to those worthy of them." This forewarns Muslims against the evils which had afflicted the Israelites. One of the fundamental mistakes committed by the Israelites was that in the time of their degeneration they had handed over positions of trust (i.e. religious and political leadership) to incompetent, mean, immoral, dishonest and corrupt people. The result was that corruption spread throughout the nation. The Muslims are directed to take heed of this, and to entrust positions of responsibility only to those who are capable of shouldering the burdens of such positions.

On anxiety..

Let me share this Hadith:

This world should not be the main concern of the Muslim. Worry about his provision should not find any room in his heart or mind, lest that make his sickness and his anxiety worse. 

It was narrated that Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever is mainly concerned about the Hereafter, Allaah will make him feel independent of others and will make him focused and content, and his worldly affairs will fall into place. But whoever is mainly concerned with this world, Allaah will make him feel in constant need of others and will make him distracted and unfocused, and he will get nothing of this world except what is decreed for him.”

(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2389; classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 6510). 

Here are a few words of wisdom from Manuscript Found in Accra:

Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind.And since we will never be able to master it,we will have to learn to live with it-just as we have to learn to live with the storm.

For those who cannot learn to do so,life will be a nightmare.

Therefore,although anxiety is part of life ,NEVER let it control.

It(Anxiety) will never disappear, but the great wisdom of life is to realize that we the masters of the things that try to enslave us.

 

 

Sebaran fitnah

PRU #13 hampir tiba dan setiap hari kita membaca atau terbaca pelbagai berita dan cerita di media cetak dan elekronik.Berikut ialah satu ayat untuk peringatan kita semua.

Dan apabila mereka mendengar perkataan yang sia-sia, mereka berpaling daripadanya sambil berkata: "Bagi kami amal kami dan bagi kamu pula amal kamu; selamat tinggalah kamu; kami tidak ingin berdamping dengan orang-orang yang jahil". (Al-Qasas 28:55) | <Embed> | English Translation 

Dengan bantuan teknologi maklumat terkini,kita di hujani pelbagai maklumat yang banyak terdapat penipuan dan kepalsuan.Kita perlu ilmu untuk membezakan yang haq dan yang batil.Kita perlu berhati-hati supaya minda dan hati kita tidak di kotori olih manusia jahil dan jahat.Sama-sama kita mendampingi orang-orang yang benar-benar berilmu.

Pesan saya untuk diri saya dan para pembaca blog ini: Jangan kita pula jadi penyebar ajaran sesat,maklumat palsu dan fitnah.Kalau tidak pasti,diam lebih baik!

The best of people..

I have posted this tazkirah about ten years ago and again I post it today as a reminder to me and my fellow muslims:-

A man stood up whilst Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was on the minbar and asked:"O Mesenger of Allah,which of the people is the best?"

He said:"The best of the people are those are most well-versed in Qur'an,those who are most pious,those who most enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil,and those who are most respectful towards their relatives".(Reported by Ahmad and al-Tabarani).

There are five criteria mentioned above. Just check ourselves against them?Are we qualified to be the best ummah?The reality manifest itself...

Many of us muslims are capable of doing good deeds but only a few are capable to speak against evils or prevents the evil deeds.

Another Hadith:" The fear of people should never prevent any of you from speaking the truth when he sees it or pointing out its importance.Doing so will not hasten one's appointed time of death or lessen one's rizq".
(Reported by Ahmad and Abu Dawud.

May Allah forgive me and my fellow muslims for our failure to follow the sunnah.

Posted on 22/8/2003

Link to On Lies.

Surah Qiyamah

May I invite my fellow muslims and muslimahs to listen to recitation of this surah and read the tafseer and ponder on every ayat in this surah.Then jot down what lessons can we learn from these surah...

Here is a link to what I wrote before.

 

Dakwah on Youtube

Lately I am spending more time watching and listening to great Islamic scholars and da'i on Youtube.Some of them are really world class and I hope to see more Malaysian da'i doing this to reach more young people in my country.Not many youngsters go to masjid to learn about Islam but most of them watch youtube in their smart phones and computers.

Islam is the world fastest growing religion and more Europeans are embracing Islam,Alhamdulilah.Herewith I attach the CNN's video.

Talking about da'i,it reminds me of one day I was having my lunch at a restaurant next to Masjidil Haraam in Makkah,Saudi Arabia.While having lunch I was browsing a book I just bought from a bookshop nearby.Then came an Arab gentleman and asked me whether I am a student.I told him I am a Haj pilgrim.He asked me about the book I was reading and I told him that I love to read and wanted to learn more about my religion Islam.Before he left me,he told me that he is going to Masjidil Haraam to du'a for me to become a da'i.I thanked him-jazakallahu khairan.This short conversation really motivated to do something on dakwah.Since then,I kept writing tazkirah every week at my blog,insyaAllah.Thank you Allah.Alhamudulilah.

All of us have different ability and capacity to do dakwah;let us spread the words of Allah even with one ayat.

Learning with a teacher..

From my experience in learning and coaching,one to one is the best!The photo on the right shows a participant of a lecture seeked clarification from the speaker.When I decided to re-learn to read Qur'an about 15 years ago,I engaged a teacher to come to my house and taught me and my family members.

Nowadays,muslims are very lucky where they hear and read Islamic lectures from the web.Some of world reknown Islamic scholars do give outstanding lectures in youtube.I do spent hours listening to them and to muslim converts who embraced Islamic based on their researchs on Islamic religion.This adds more 'yaqin' to my belief(iman),insyaAllah.

Most masjid in Malaysia have their own weekly series of kuliyyah(lectures).Donot stick with one masjid near your house  only.Please go to other masjid to listen to different speakers.No one is expert on everything.At the same time,please bring along a notebook to write what you have learnt from the teachers and do some reading at home.I have a few good Islamic books,a collection of hadiths and tafseer al-Qur'an for my reference at home.

A good mureed(student) selects his/her own teachers.Time is limited and we can't  be listening to every speaker.At the same time,get to know your teachers at personal level.You shall learn more.If I may quote Tan Sri Prof syed Naquib al-Attas,knowledge comes with the arrival of meaning.You shall know it when it touches your soul.InsyaAllah.

Last but not least,get close to your teacher to learn more and get the barakah of his teachings.InsyaAllah.

The photo below is my tasawuf teacher Dr Musa Fatullah Harun and me taken on 21/9/2003.After his lecture,we had a chat over a cup of morning coffee.His Ph D is on tarikat.