Why the exams?

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,

Hope to be reaching my dear readers in the best state of health and iman. InsyaAllah.
I am really sorry to not being updating this page as often as i wished i would. I've gotta learn to be disciplined and better use the time that has been given to me for i do not know when it would run out.

Verily, Priorities are to be managed tactfully. Currently, I am in my exam period, as is many others. InsyaAllah, i would try to get this site up and running once those things are done.

Just for us to ponder on something, i came across this site while googling. Its a compilation of some incidents that had happened in the life of our dear Prophet Muhammad S.A.W (Peace and blessing be upon him)

Compilation

Till then, good luck for the exams and ...
'...Allah is with those who patiently persevere.'
(Excerpt 2:153)

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best

Why not hope from The Most Generous?

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim. In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Verily, humans are always engaged in a chemical warfare in their brain. These shots are called by the emotions that haunt him, the concerns that are ever lurking and needs that are always growing. Due to this and many other reasons, people often find themselves lost or depressed. Every new day brings with itself, its own worries, troubles and problems.

But, do not despair, remember that you have Allah. The Most Generous, The Most Affectionate, The Most Kind and Giving and The Most Merciful.

Know that Allah is so Forgiving that Allah is
al-'Afûw
al-Ghaffâr
al-Ghafûr.

From the collection of forty hadith by al-Imam al-Nawawi, the last hadith (no 42) is as follow...

From Anas, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:

"Allah the Almighty has said: 'O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me, and hope in Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds in the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I shall forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with an earthful of sins and were you then to face Me, without having associated anything with Me, I shall grant you an earthful of pardon.'"

[Recorded by Al-Tirmidhi, who said that it is a good and sound hadith]

Hadith number 37 tells us of another great news. Allah, the Most Merciful

Ibn Abbas, radiyallahu 'anhu, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, related from his Lord (glorified and exalted be He):

"Verily Allah has recorded the good deeds and the evil deeds." Then he clarified that: "Whosoever intends to do a good deed but does not do it, Allah records it with Himself as a complete good deed; but if he intends it and does it, Allah records it with Himself as ten good deeds, up to seven hundred times, or more than that. But if he intends to do an evil deed and does not do it, Allah records it with Himself as a complete good deed; but if he intends it and does it, Allah records it down as one single evil deed."

[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Thus,

Have no fear, for Allah is with us
(Excerpt from verse 40, At-Taubah)


I think that should be enough for now.
Thank you very much.

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best

Why My Brothers and Sister?! Why! (UPDATED)

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Let me begin with a verse from the Quran, our ultimate guidance. Verse 10, Surah Al-Hujurat.
English Translation
The believers are naught else than brothers. Therefore make peace between your brethren and observe your duty to Allah that haply ye may obtain mercy.
Malay Translation
Sesungguhnya orang-orang mukmin adalah bersaudara karena itu damaikanlah antara kedua saudaramu dan bertakwalah kepada Allah supaya kamu mendapat rahmat.

Also, let me share a hadith too. The following is narrated by Anas and recorded in Sahih Bukhari. (Volume 1, Book 2, and Number 12)

The Prophet said, "None of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself."

The words of the Creator in the verse above are very clear and I am quite sure most of us know very well about the demands of the verse. Also, the words of the greatest man ever lived in the world (Prophet Muhammad S.A.W) is clear too and most of should already know the hadith above.

Now, a verse on the importance of Iman, Verse 82, Surah Al Baqarah
English Translation
whereas those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds -they are destined for paradise, therein to abide.
Malay Translation
"Dan orang-orang yang beriman serta beramal saleh, mereka itu penghuni surga; mereka kekal di dalamnya."

May Allah bless and guide us all. InsyaAllah.

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best

THIS POST HAS BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY EDITED AND UPDATED.

Previously it had lots of misplaced anger and outright suggestions that I myself find it to be ... narrow. It was not something that i should have said. For fatwas, please refer to the corresponding authorities. Again, the author would like to plead all his readers to verify and decide matters for themselves. What i have in my site, are just things that i perceive to be true. Apologies, Sorry and Forgive me. I was young and naive... :)

Why Ramadhan Kareem

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim.
In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

I hope everyone is doing great. I am currently thinking of writing another endeavour of mine. Things that i have learned from the struggles of life. Seeking to understand life, searching for the truth and gaining the pleasure of Allah S.W.T. A continuation maybe, for the previous posts. Well, I pray to Allah that the piece would be ready soon. Till then, let me share with you all a beautiful hadeeth of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihiwas Sallam, peace be upon him)

Salman, Radi-Allahu anhu, reports, "On the last day of Shaban Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihiwas Sallam) addressed us and said, 'O people there comes over you now a great month, a most blessed month in which lies a night more greater in virtue than a thousand months. It is a month in which Allah has made Fasting compulsory by day. And has made sunnah the Taraweeh by night. Whosoever intends drawing near to Allah by performing any virtuous deed, for such person shall be the reward like the one who had performed a fardh in any other time. And whoever performs a fardh, shall be blessed with the reward of seventy faraa-idh in any other time.

This is indeed the month of patience, and the reward for true patience is Jannah ( paradise. It is the month of sympathy with one's fellowmen. It is the month wherein a true believer's rizq is increased. Whosoever feeds another who fasted, in order to break the fast at sunset, for the feeder there shall be forgiveness of sins and emancipation from the fire of Jahannam (hell}, and for such feeder shall be the same reward as the one who Fasted (who he fed) without that persons reward being decreased in the least."

Thereupon we said, "O messenger of Allah, not all of us possess the means whereby we can give a fasting person to break his fast." Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihiwas Sallam) replied, "Allah grants the same reward to the one who gives a fasting person to break the fast a mere date, or a drink of water, or a sip of milk."

"This is a month, the first of which brings Allah's mercy, the middle of which brings His forgiveness and the last of which brings emancipation from the fire of Jahan-nam."

"Whosoever lessens the burden of his servants (bonds-men) in this month, Allah will forgive him and free him from the fire of Jahannam."

"And in this month four things you should continue to perform in great number, two of which shall be to please your Lord, while the other two shall be those without which you cannot do. Those which shall be to please your Lord, are that you should in great quantity bear witness that there is no deity to worship except Allah (i.e. recite the Kalimah Tayyibah Laa llaaha illallaah) and make much Istighfaar beg Allah's forgiveness with Astagirfirul-laah)." And as for those without which you cannot do, you should beg of Allah, entrance into paradise and ask refuge in Him from Jahannam."

"And whoever gave a person who fasted water to drink, Allah shall grant that giver to drink from My fountain, such a drink where after that person shall never again feel thirsty until he enters Jannah."

http://www.albalagh.net/general/ramadan.shtml

May Allah bless and guide us all. InsyaAllah.

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best

Why Never Give Up?! InsyaAllah.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim. In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Hey, everyone. It’s been a busy week, sorry for the delay. Very sorry, cause I did set a deadline, but didn’t make it. Sorry again. I’ll try to not do it again, InsyaAllah. Anyway, guys, I found out something special about ‘InsyaAllah’ that I wish to share.

In Surah Al-Kahf, verse 23 - 24
AND NEVER say about anything, "Behold, I shall do this tomorrow, without (adding], "if God so wills." And if thou shouldst forget [thyself at the time, and become aware of it later], call thy Sustainer to mind and say: "I pray that my Sustainer guide me, even closer than this, to a consciousness of what is right!"

Or in Malay,
"Dan jangan sekali-kali kamu mengatakan terhadap sesuatu: ""Sesungguhnya aku akan mengerjakan itu besok pagi," "kecuali (dengan menyebut): ""Insya-Allah"". Dan ingatlah kepada Tuhanmu jika kamu lupa dan katakanlah: ""Mudah-mudahan Tuhanku akan memberiku petunjuk kepada yang lebih dekat kebenarannya daripada ini"

As the title suggests, the thing that I wanna talk about this time around is on perseverance. Hmm. I think that this post could only be a continuation to the previous one, as the one before talked about self esteem, and now, further into acting on the self confidence. Just having the self confidence, though as high as it maybe, wont mean a thing if it is not acted upon. To start off, I would like to quote a favorite ayat of mine, one that I have quoted many times before. Here it goes…

Surah Al-Balad, verse 4.
English - Verily We have created man into toil and struggle.
Malay - Sesungguhnya Kami telah menciptakan manusia berada dalam susah payah.

Well, this is probably the best time to talk about this matter. The time which most thinks as the hardest ones of the year; the time of exams. But, the again, when are we free from troubles? Think about it. Is there any one instant of your life where you are free from problems? And, if you were once with nothing to do, (maybe the holidays), the fact that you have ‘nothing to do’ becomes a problem. Sometimes the boredom due to this seemed worse.

I think anyone can relate to this, from all background, profession, field, race and country. (haha). Verily, a student of the medicine field would consider his/her life to be very ‘tough’; the engineering students would wanna contest in that view, not to forget the commerce students as well. Put yourself in the shoes of a working man/women, probably they would agree that its tough to be them, with most claiming that their job is the hardest of all. A lawyer would say that the field is too confusing, a doctor would say its too emotional, an engineer might say that his/her machine is too complicated, a farmer would say that its physically too challenging, a driver would say its too boring, a leader would say too much pressure, and this goes on. These people usually have other stressful and demanding roles too, such as being a mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister or even a friend. Basically, everyone would like to think that they are having a tough life; tougher than most of others. But, its true isn’t it? Life is tough. And, this kinda agrees with the verse above, no?

Sometimes these things might just be too much to take. The path might seem so hard, they future might look so dark, and the present might feel so painful. Sometimes, it might seem as just not worth the trouble, sometimes it feels like to just let it go. Its tough to explain this, its one of those things where I have complete understanding but have no idea how to put it into words. Probably, its better left unsaid, and understood, hopefully everyone can relate to this.

This is applicable to anything; studies, work, relationships, money, future plans and even to ‘trivial’ parts of life such as ‘finding a place to stay’ (haha, internal Melburnian joke), keeping the house clean, cooking, etc.

Problems are everywhere, and they are meant as a test for us. To differentiate between the ones who truly believe and the one who do not.

The following verse would elucidate (It’s a new word i learnt. haha) the situation.
Al-Baqarah, verse 155-157
Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere, Who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return" They are those on whom (Descend) blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.

Dan sungguh akan Kami berikan cobaan kepadamu, dengan sedikit ketakutan, kelaparan, kekurangan harta, jiwa dan buah-buahan. Dan berikanlah berita gembira kepada orang-orang yang sabar,"(yaitu) orang-orang yang apabila ditimpa musibah, mereka mengucapkan, ""Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilaihi raaji`uun"""Mereka itulah yang mendapat keberkatan yang sempurna dan rahmat dari Tuhan mereka, dan mereka itulah orang-orang yang mendapat petunjuk.

Let’s now see what some have to say about giving up. Thomas Edison said, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." This is an interesting insight. Christopher Reeves, the ‘Superman’, said the following, ‘A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles’. If you read his life story, you would really understand what he meant. (After being paralysed, he did not give up! Go on, read about him).

Verily the greatest of perseverers, the never-give-up-ers, are the prophets of Allah. Just take a look into the lives of these great men and for will find struggle, suffering, tests, afflictions and hardship. Way beyond our capacity, but they all persevered with the help of Allah.

I shall now continue with some inspiring verses from the Quran on faith, hope and perseverance. (I’ll include only the English translations, for more please go here http://www.islamicity.com/QuranSearch/)

3:200 O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and fear Allah. that ye may prosper.
2:45-46 Nay, seek (Allah's) help with patient perseverance and prayer: It is indeed hard, except to those who bring a lowly spirit, Who bear in mind the certainty that they are to meet their Lord, and that they are to return to Him.
2:153 O ye who believe! seek help with patient perseverance and prayer; for Allah is with those who patiently persevere.

As for how to persevere, and from where do we get the power to do it, I would say that I need a source that is Great, Infinite, Omnipotent and Magnificient.
Surah An-Nahl, verse 127 - Endure thou patiently (O Muhammad). Thine endurance is only by (the help of) Allah. Grieve not for them, and be not in distress because of that which they devise.

And, I shall put my trust upon Allah, the Lord of the Universe.
Excerpt of Surah Imran, verse 159 - ...Then, when thou hast taken a decision put thy trust in Allah. For Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).

I shall never loose hope, insyaAllah. I shall never give up on the mercy of the Creator. Because …
Excerpt from surah Yusuf, verse 87 - … and never give up hope of Allah's Soothing Mercy: truly no one despairs of Allah's Soothing Mercy, except those who have no faith."

And, yes, I do believe that with every difficulty, every hardship, and everytime I did not give up, I would have happiness. Here is the proof of the good news.
Surah Al-Sharrh, Verse 5 and 6
So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief: Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.

To sum all up, here is another very beautiful verse from the Quran. From surah Al-Baqarah, verse 177.
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah fearing.

Why on Self Esteem?

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim. In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Hey, everyone. I am so sorry for not updating for quite a while. Well, the past two months has been very fulfilling, enlightening and lots of other stuffs too. Mainly, my blog is where I write stuffs that I would like to share with others and also a place where I write things that I would like to say to myself. When I have problems and wanna solve them, I pray and make research on it. I ask people, my parents, friends, wonder lots, think too much and at the end of the day, I would compile the stuffs on to a writing and publish it on my blog.

So, I learnt a lot. This blog makes me remember stuffs that I learnt; make it easier for me to share and as a reference for me later, if I were to suffer from the same problems again. The past two months, I had problems, very complicated ones. The one that I wish to mention now is something that I had lately, and am still having, I suppose (at the time of writing). Hopefully, by the end of this post, I would have solved it. Haha. InsyaAllah.

Well, it’s about the heart, a very small part of it, on self esteem, confidence and love. Well, not love like ‘love’, but, you’ll see.

Self esteem, I am not so sure about the meaning of it, but, what I would like to talk about is as follow. There is this thing inside us, our heart, that we often talk to. The special thing about this heart, is that it talks back to us. It is the source of our feelings, emotions and love. If you read through my blog, you would see that I would like to believe that humans want peace of the heart. A desire that is ultimate and universal. I have argued this in many ways. Using proofs from multiple sources; movies, songs, poem, opinion, quotes, and such. Anyway, let’s move on…

What I like to think as the definition of self esteem is that the way we feel about ourselves. The trust, the believe, the confidence or even the self-love. I’ll list down some quotes to stress the importance of this ‘thing’.

Henry Ford said, ‘If you think you can or can’t, you’re always right.’ While in Rokcy V, Rocky kinda said, ‘The difference between a hero and a coward is that the hero is willing to go for it'. As for Muhammad Ali, he gave one of the best quote on it. He said, ‘It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.’ The pebble in your shoe, as for the doubts in your heart, as for the absence of confidence, trust and love.

I have to say that the boxing world had inspired me quite a lot. (Rocky and Muhammad Ali). Rocky is a series of movies that teach us, the heart is the muscle that matters. IT’S THE HEART!!! As for Muhammad Ali, he proved in the real world of this fact. InsyaAllah. To add to this, another quote from him, ‘It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.’

As much as we need self-confidence, we need to avoid arrogance. We must remember the Source of everything that we have now and acknowledge the Source. I pray that I would never forget from doing this. Everything that I have now was given to me by The One. When my time comes, I would have leave it all and return to the Source, of which I would be held accountable for my deeds. This actually is in my favour. If I have faith in Allah, then I would be asking for the Allah’s help. Why? Check this out!

English: And your Lord says: "Call on Me; I will answer your (prayer): but those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell - in humiliation!"

Malay: "Dan Tuhanmu berfirman: ""Berdoalah kepada-Ku, niscaya akan Kuperkenankan bagimu. Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang menyombongkan diri dari menyembah-Ku akan masuk neraka Jahanam dalam keadaan hina dina"

-Verse 60, Surah Ghafir (the 40^th surah)-

From this verse, I would know that when I ask for help, insyaAllah, I would have the help of the Creator of The Universe, The Giver of Life, The Sustainer of Beings, The Source of All Strength, Power and Love, The Lord of Majesty and Generosity, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful, The Owner of All Sovereignty … (List is endless). I believe that I am much more confident now, after knowing this.

An interesting point to note, as much as Muhammad Ali is confident about himself, for all the, ‘I am the greatest!’ that he shouted, there is one that explains all. At least, I think it does.

‘God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; He is.’

To sum up, lets take a look at an excerpt of a Qudsi Hadeeth, which was narrated by Abu Hurairah, Allah Most High says: “I am as my slave thinks of me and I am with him whenever he remembers me.” (Agreed Upon).

So, i suppose, there is some truth in this, ‘If you think you can or can’t, you’re always right.’

I pray that Allah blesses me and all my readers with high self-confidence. That we are blessed with firm faith (iman) upon him. That we are among those who are guided. That Allah helps us to live life as taught by the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. (peace be upon him). I pray that i would be able to put into practice the things that i have wrote so far.

Amin.

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best

Why: The Heart - Part 3?

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim. In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(please read part 1 and 2 before proceeding)

It’s the 17^th of February, Penang is saying bye while Melbourne is saying hi. My flight is on the 22^nd of Feb, trying to live the remnants of the days to the fullest, spending as much time as possible with family. Well, during the ~ 3 months of holiday, I suffered lots, discovered and learnt lots too. The following would be some of the beautiful things that I have learnt, and I am happy to share the gems with you all.

Hadeeth

Yahya related to me from Malik that Ziyad ibn Abi Ziyad said that Abu'd-Darda had said, "Shall I not tell you the best of your deeds, and those that give you the highest rank, and those that are the purest with your King, and are better for you than giving gold and silver, and better for you than meeting your enemy and striking their necks?" They said, "Of course." He said, "Remembrance (dhikr) of Allah ta ala."
(Muwatta of Imam Malik, 15.7.24)

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, thus stated: I am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better than his (remembrance), and if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw near him by the cubit, and if he draws near Me by the cubit I draw near him by the space (covered by) two hands. And if he walks towards Me, I rush towards him.
(Sahih Muslim Book 035, Number 6471)

Quranic Verses
O ye who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance. (33:41)

And when you have finished your prayer, remember God - standing and sitting and lying down; and when you are once again secure, observe your prayers [fully]. Verily, for all believers prayer is indeed a sacred duty linked to particular times [of day]. (4:103)

Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and (in) the difference of night and day are tokens (of His sovereignty) for men of understanding, (3:190)

Such as remember Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and consider the creation of the heavens and the earth, (and say): Our Lord! Thou createdst not this in vain. Glory be to Thee! Preserve us from the doom of Fire. (3:191)

Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do (29:45)

so remember Me, and I shall remember you; and be grateful unto Me, and deny Me not. (2:152)

And when the prayer is ended, disperse freely on earth and seek to obtain [something] of God's bounty; but remember God often, so that you might attain to a happy state! (62:10)

And do thou (O reader!) Bring thy Lord to remembrance in thy (very) soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and be not thou of those who are unheedful. (7:205)

Remember thy Lord much, and praise (Him) in the early hours of night and morning. (Excerpt of 3:41)

Hence, bear with patience whatever they [who deny the truth] may say, and extol thy Sustainer's limitless glory and praise Him before the rising of the sun and before its setting; and extol His glory, too, during some of the hours of the night as well as during the hours of the day, so that thou might attain to happiness. (20:130)

For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward. (33:35)

“Guide us the straight way” (Al-Fatihah, verse 6). May we all be among those who are guided. Ameen.

-Wallahu a'lam-
Allah knows best
(Sorry for the late update, Was little bit busy. Sorry)