Al-Fatihah MH17

There is probably just one thing I want to say on this. Upon hearing of the terrible tragedy that has befallen Malaysians yet again, I remembered about a video of Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan's which I then played on YouTube. In that video titled " Trials and Tribulations" he mentioned this of us:

Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."

 

Ustaz NAK said that 'He will not give us a trial we could not overcome with our ability" . I only know alhamdulillah of one thing I cannot face if it happened to me and that was my kids going before me in death. I then thought about what I wrote previously on Facebook when I saw countless of Mums crying over their dead children and Huda my dear friend from Singapore who wrote " I feel the same". Immediately that was my response in thought. My kids. Going before me. No no.

 

The sadness stuck with me through all of this morning and I prayed and prayed for the souls of all passengers on board MH17. But then, a friend txted me to say our work colleague was on that flight with her baby and sister. Although I knew her only by acquintance I feel deeply saddened. 

But, above all.. I thank Allah I was not placed in the situation her husband is in now.

 

Rest In Peace JC Ng, work colleague and friend...

Doa supaya hati ditetapkan iman

• 
  يامقلب القلوب ثبت قلبي على دينك
  'Yaa Muqallibal Quluub, Tsabbit Qalbi ‘Ala Diinik'
  
  Artinya: “Wahai Dzat yang membolak-balikkan hati, teguhkan hati kami di atas agama-Mu.”
  
[HR.Tirmidzi 3522, Ahmad 4/302, al-Hakim 1/525, Lihat Shohih Sunan Tirmidzi III no.2792]
• 
  يا مقــلـب لقــلــوب ثبــت قــلبـــي عــلى طـا عــتـك
  'Yaa Muqallibal Quluub, Tsabbit Qalbi ‘Ala Ta'atik'
  
  Artinya: “Wahai Dzat yg membolak-balikan hati teguhkanlah hatiku diatas ketaatan kepadamu”
  [HR. Muslim (no. 2654)]
• 
  اللَّهُمَّ مُصَرِّفَ الْقُلُوبِ صَرِّفْ قُلُوبَنَا عَلَى طَاعَتِكَ
  'Allaahumma Musharrifal Quluub, Sharrif Quluubanaa ‘Alaa Tho'atika'
  
  Artinya: “Ya Allah yang mengarahkan hati, arahkanlah hati-hati kami untuk taat kepadamu.” (HR. Muslim)
• 
  رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ
  'Rabbabaa Laa Tuzigh Quluubanaa Ba’da Idz Hadaitanaa wa Hab Lana Mil-Ladunka Rahmatan Innaka Antal-Wahhaab'
  
  Artinya: “Ya Tuhan kami, janganlah Engkau jadikan hati kami condong kepada kesesatan sesudah Engkau beri petunjuk kepada kami, dan karuniakanlah kepada kami rahmat dari sisi Engkau; karena sesungguhnya Engkau-lah Maha Pemberi (karunia).”
  (QS. Ali Imran: 7)

Orang gila sahaja kata Tuhan itu tak ada

As a microbiologist quite used to streaking bacteria on an agar plate, I find today's supposedly mundane task extremely challenging when the bacteria which you require to show specific characteristics is affected by the time and how much you streak as they each have distinct life-cycle and autolysis phases. How much? What time is best time to streak?? 1 colony. Different growth phases. And 1 have at least 1000 on each of the 5 plates I streaked last night.

Such trademark stamp "This IS ME " created by Him even in minute life creatures like this.. SubhanAllah...

Sesungguhnya mana mana saintis yang kata Tuhan itu tiada; he's a farce. I am still struggling to understand the workings behind such vast knowledge like this. Dent in the boundary of accepted knowledge made by me? Not even close...

Baba's little piece of wisdom for me :-)

Mengadu to my other half today about my rubbish meeting with SV that didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped.. Mengadalah cerita.." I bawak data kat James tunjuk kat dia. Dia tengok, then kata ' interesting, but I don't know what that means'. I said to him 'Imagine that??' (masa ni tunjuk tensionlah)..

My Baba quietly replied : ' Ma, when your SV does not know what it means, then that's it. It's your area now. From now on he will just follow you now because he REALLY doesn't know. Who will? You. This is your PhD '

Wow what a statement. Thank you Fendi Arshad for putting things in perspective for me. I'm so lucky I have you who had been on this journey before and can now share the wisdom of it with me. Syukur alhamdulillah.

Zuhud : Probably the most difficult path to tread to gain nearness to Allah swt

Dear Self ,
One of the big things I understand in my journey towards understanding and hopefully wisdom in shaa Allah is Zuhud. It refers to one renouncing all worldly pleasures ( that do not bring benefit towards akhirat) in order to gain nearness to Allah swt.

In a blog I read by thesunnahway.com ( so they are not my words) Zuhud is defined as :


“Zuhud” is an Arabic word and a vital concept in Islam. The English meaning is asceticism which means renouncing worldly pleasures in order to gain nearness to Allah.

whereby some Islamic scholars define:

Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) said “Asceticism is not that you should not own anything, but that nothing should own you.”

Ibn Taymiyyah said Zuhud is to leave alone things which not benefit you in the next life. He also said  ’Az-Zuhd entails abandoning what does not bring about benefit in the Hereafter. Al-Wara’ (abandoning a part of the permissible for fear of falling into the impermissible) entails abandoning what you fear its consequences in the Hereafter.’”

Then, ibn Al-Qayyim commented,”This statement is one of the best and most comprehensive definitions of Az-Zuhd and Al-Wara’.” In addition, Sufyan Ath-Thawry said,”Az-Zuhd in this Dunya entails having a short hope (or avoiding having hopes that one will live long), not by wearing the thick clothes or wearing the garment (as some people who observe fake Zuhd think is a part of Az-Zuhd).” this is part but pls read the attachment to fully understand what zuhd is and insha Allah it will answer the question the perosn who started the thread asked.

Ibn Taymiyyah also said Ikhlaas cannot be achieved except after having Zuhud, and there is no
Zuhud except after having Taqwa, and Taqwa is following the commands of Allaah and His Messenger) and keeping away from prohibitions. (Ibn Taymeeyah – ‘al-Fatawa’ 1/94)
Sufiyaan al Thauri said about Zuhud: “Zuhud is to have limited amount of expectations (very few hopes); it does not mean eating poor or inadequate foods as many think, or wearing a cheap gown or cloack”

Allah swt said regarding Zuhud “Thus, you should not grieve over anything you miss, nor be proud of anything He has bestowed upon you. GOD does not love those who are boastful, proud”. [57:23]
so zuhud in the above verse is defined as: not being over joyed with the glitters of the life of this world and not to regret things which have passed you by.

Ibn Mubarak said about zuhud: “It is having trust in Allah, and being content in times of poverty”

Abdul Waahid Ibn Zaaid said: “Zuhud can be practised by anyone even if he only possesses one deenar or dirahm”
Abi Sulimaan ad-Daa’raam said Zuhud means to leave, those things which distract you from Allah the Exalted and high and many Ulma have said this.

Ruweemul Ja’nayd said Zuhud is to belittle the dunya (this life) and to wipe away its traits from ones heart

Thu’il-Noon al-Misree said zuhud is controlling ones nafs (desires).
The asceticism of the salaf, their abstinence, their honour and rank, their refusal (to accept monies from the people

Shaikh Muqbil rahimahullah; for verily, by Allah, was a model in piety, abstinence and refusal of worldly matters. And he was given insight (by Allah) when he used to refuse money and warned against asking people. He used to launch a fierce attack on anyone who collected money in his (Shaikh Muqbil’s) name

Ahmad ibn Hanbal rahimahullah used to refuse money – and he is cited as a model of abstinence in his refusal and dignity when he traveled to Abdur Razzaaq from Iraq to San’aa. On the way, he and his companion, Yahya ibn Ma’een, performed Hajj and found Abdur Razzaaq in Makkah. So ibn Ma’een said to Ahmad: “Here is Abdur Razzaaq. Allah has brought him to us so we do not need to travel.” Ahmad replied: “I have made the intention to travel to San’aa so I will not return.” Then he traveled to Sanaa and on the way he ran out of money. When his companions found out, they offered him monetary assistance. But Imam Ahmad refused and instead opted to work as a porter for the bedouin camel owners, carrying loads on his back – and he was an Imam rahimahullah. He saw that porterage, work and eating from the sweat of ones own hands was better by thousands of times than taking money from the people; because the upper hand is the one that gives and the lower hand is the one that receives. And Ahmad did not want his hand to be the lower one, may Allah be pleased with him.

SubhanAllah. So grand in reward but so difficult to attain. Especially in this war in my heart of devil against malaikat. May I succeed. Amin.

memories of 1988 as told to my eldest son Arian

Eizad Arian : Here is my absolute favourite. This was the phrase my main speaker/rebutter Kak Zalifah said in the semi-finals against STF in the English Debate State Championships 1988:

"The opponents are so myopic that in trying to say we are short-sighted; they have actually made a SPECTACLE out of themselves."

At that time, we could hear a pin drop in the school hall packed full of people; followed by a raptourous applause. The STF students mouths were wide open and then we clinched the semi-finals from them. Just like that. Us from good ole unknown Segamat. Nobody had ever heard of Sekolah Menengah Cannossian Convent Segamat and their debate team until that day.And yes, we took the State Championship trophy home later on that afternoon.

Still gives me goosebumps talking about it today Arian, 26 years later.

Dear SELF 3/3 Surah Al-Mulk

Kelebihan Surah Al Mulk

Ibnu Abbas berkata: “Pada suatu hari ada seseorang menghampar jubahnya di atas kuburan dan ia tidak tahu bahwa tempat itu adalah kuburan, ia membaca surat Al-Mulk, kemudian ia mendengar suara jeritan dari kuburan itu: Inilah yang menyelamatkan aku. Kemudian kejadian itu diceriterakan kepada Rasulullah saw. Lalu beliau bersabda: Surat Al-Mulk dapat menyelamatkan penghuni kubur dari azab kubur.” (Ad-Da’awat Ar-Rawandi, hlm 279/817; Al-Bihar 82/ 64, 92/313/2, 102/269/

Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (sa) berkata: “Surat Al-Mulk adalah penghalang dari siksa kubur, surat ini termaktub di dalam Taurat, barangsiapa yang membacanya di malam hari ia akan memperoleh banyak manfaat dan kebaikan, …Sungguh aku membacanya dalam shalat sunnah sesudah Isya’ dalam keadaan duduk. Ayahku (sa) membacanya pada siang dan malam. Barangsiapa yang membacanya, maka ketika malaikat Munkar dan Nakir akan masuk ke kuburnya dari arah kedua kakinya, kedua kakinya berkata kepada mereka: kalian tidak ada jalan ke arahku, karena hamba ini berpijak padaku lalu ia membaca surat Al-Mulk setiap siang dan malam; ketika mereka datang kepadanya dari rongganya, rongganya berkata kepada mereka: kalian tidak ada jalan ke arahku, karena hamba ini telah menjagaku dengan surat Al-Mulk; ketika mereka datang kepadanya dari arah lisannya, lisannya berkata kepada mereka: kalian tidak ada jalan ke arahku, karena hamba ini telah membaca surat Al-Mulk setiap siang dan malam denganku.” (Al-Kafi 2/233/hadis 2)

Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (sa): “Bacalah surat Al-Mulk, karena surat ini menjadi penyelamat dari siksa kubur.”