In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Reflection
The Opening
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate,
Praise be to God, the Sustainer of all the Worlds,
The Merciful, the Compassionate,
Lord of the Day of Judgement
Thee alone do we worship and Thee
Do we ask for help.
Guide us on the Straight Path,
The path of those on whom Thou has bestowed Thy Grace
Not of those upon whom is Thy Wrath,
Nor those who have gone astray.
Ameen. (O God! do grant us our request)
***
ON Wed, May 4, 2011 at 8:39 PM, one Asiah Md Sharif
“SALAM (Greetings). I'll keep this short. Last year there was an appeal for donations to help Nawawi bin Hassan, leaving for further studies in Jordan. I made my contribution but called phone number given to verify details.
“The boy appeared to keep my number. Two days ago, I got a message from him asking if I could help him again. He needs approximately RM1,600 to pay for his fees by 1 June to enable him to sit for his exams. I asked for his address but was given a Maybank account number.
“I went online to see if Maybank operates in Jordan and found out there was none. They have business in Bahrain, though. Anyway, he just texted me his address, a P. O. Box 7, Faculty of
Syariah, Mu'tah University 61621, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
“What do you think? I would like to help.”
I opened my e-mail quiet late that night after having a hard day. From early morning to afternoon, I was at the Melaka Hospital to attend to the needs of my mother who has a weekly medical check up there and then rushed off to Bangi from Melaka for an appointment. I reached home at about 7.00 pm and then rushed to a masjid nearby for prayers, followed by the weekly ‘tazkirah’ (short sermon) by one of my favourite ‘ustaz’ (religious teacher).
The ‘ustaz’ talked on the subject about life after death. Actually our lives began after death, in this world many of us were sleeping soundly, we only realize it when we were deep inside our graves, I heard the voice of the ‘ustaz’ faintly and at time I dozed off because I was very sleepy.
Seeing Asiah’s email, I thought I could not just ignore it. She needed a fast solution. With a very sleepy mind, I only wrote this: “Waalaikumusalam Cik/Puan Asiah. Alhamdulillah (Praise to Allah SWT), you are very kind. In your case, I am very sorry I don't have any suggestion. It's up to you, the important thing is your intention (niat), insya-Allah (God willing), Allah would rewarded you, once again sorry, and wassalam.”
Yes, in everything we do, the most important thing is our ‘niat’. If it is in line with what Allah The Almighty (SWT) told us to do or stay away from it, then we would happy to do it with the feeling that He would reward us. If our ‘niat’ (for example to help the needy only for Allah’s shake) but then we realized that we were swindled in the process, just forget about it but to be extra careful in the future. In doing this we would be happy in life, insya-Allah.
Once during a bus journey, I had a good conversation with a young man who was seated next to me. He told me how he was fascinated and influenced by writings of Dale Carnegie who had produced marvelous books such as ‘How to Win Friends and People’.
When I told him, Carnegie had committed suicide, he was stunned. How could such a renowned ‘guru’ take his own life? I too didn’t know that Carnegie had committed suicide until I read a book ‘Enjoy Your Life’ by Dr Muhammad ‘Abd Rahman Al-‘Arifi (Darussalam) who among others wrote: “I contemplated and realized that the author’s only goal was to attain worldly happiness.
“What if he were to have known Islam and the etiquettes it teaches? He would surely have achieved eternal as well as ephemeral happiness! How about if he were to have turned his wonderful interpersonal skills into worship, with which he would have drawn closer to Allah.
“When I later discovered that Carnegie had committed suicide, I knew for certain that his book, despite its merits, had not benefited him.”
One secret to lead a happy life is to live a simple one. Enjoy a simple life, insya-Allah it would lead you to a peaceful life. The problem with us (me included) is to follow the script of the ‘mad world’. A writer once wrote: “In our daily lives, we often rush through tasks, trying to get them done, trying to finish as much as we can each day, speeding along to our next destination, and then leaving so that we can go to our next destination.
“At the end of the day, we realize what madness this all is. We often become exhausted and stressed out from the grind and chaos and business of the day. We don’t have time for what we really want to be doing, for spending time with loved ones, for doing things we are passionate about.”
Once while I was driving, I heard a motivator on Radio IKIM said this phrase that struck deep inside my heart: “In doing good things, don’t bother what other people say or think about you; in fact people are too busy about themselves, only you think bad about yourself.”
She said at the age of 58, she regretted of having wasting so much time chasing for worldly pleasures and have lost those precious moments such as building love with loved ones, those near us and the human race. In fact love has no boundary; the highest is to Allah The Almighty, His Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), one’s mother and father to all His creations including creatures animals and plants.
The rat race has made us what we are today. Everybody is busily chasing something, but almost all of us do not know what we are after. If it is wealth (property for example house), we would not stop after having a house, we would purse for another. If it is a car, we would not at the car we had already owned (for example a Proton Saga) but move on to own an Avanza, Mercedes and so on. If it is money, if we had already RM10,000 in our bank account, we would purse to have RM100,000 or a million ringgit.
If it is about career, we would not be satisfied at being at the clerical level. We would aim to be a CC (chief clerk) and up the ladder to be a manager. If it is about position in politics, we would not be satisfied to be only a leader in our ‘kampung’ (village), ‘kawasan’ (division) or state. We would try our best at any cost to be a top leader, perhaps a minister or even a prime minister. To be on the top, we step on and stab others.
So when all this (worldly) madness ends Ibn Abbas relates, he heard the Holy Prophet saying: “Even if there were for a man two valleys full of wealth he would aspire for a third one, and nothing would fill man’s belly but dust, and Allah turns to him who turns to Allah.
The nature of the human race, they would not realize that they at the lost not until their mouths are filled with earth (they are dead). Abu Hurairah narrates that once the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Let me show you the reality of this world.” I requested him to do that. He took me to a place of refuse outside Medina. There I saw human skulls and bones sunk in filth with dirty rags scattered all around.
Addressing me he said: “These are human skulls that embodied brains filled with greed. These people were like many amongst you who live today. Like all of you they pinned their hopes on things worldly. These skulls are lying without skins and after a few years they will become part of the earth.
“They struggled hard to eat the spicy dishes only to swallow this filth today. The state in which they exist now cannot be tolerably seen by those who have eyes to see. The very sight of those who enjoyed the fragrance to tasty food makes you hate them.
“These dirty rags are the worn-outs of the gaudy dresses that made men proud. Now they are the mercy of winds which move them the way they like. And these are the bones of those animals that carried human beings only to make them feel proud. Anyone can shed a tear or two at the tragic end.” Abu Hurairah stated that the tears welled up in his eyes and he wept bitterly.
In conclusion, lead a simple life, adhere to the teaching of the Prophet s.a.w., insya-Allah you would be contemplated and happy in life. What is more in life than to lead a meaningful one that could lead us to gain and benefited in this world and the Hereafter.
Isn’t that we hoped for when we say our du’a (supplication) - Allah Humma Rabbana Aatina Fid Dunya Hasanah Wa Fil Akhirate Hasanah Wa Qina Azaban Naar. (O’ Allah! Our Sovereign Lord, grant us good in this world and the world hereafter and protect us. from the torment of hell).
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