Take control to enjoy life's little moments...

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Reflection

The Declining Day (Al-'Asr)
1. By the declining day,
2. Lo! Man is in a state of loss,
3. Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort 
one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance.
***

TAKE control to enjoy life's little moments...I saw a captive poster with this soothing words and a suggestive picture of a grinning 'veteran man' pushing a child (perhaps his grandchild) on a toy bicycle in a park, at a pharmacy recently. I was at the premise to accompany my mother to buy her medication.

Yes, scholars said to enjoy life you need to slow down your pace. Try to enjoy life's little moments...in fact everything around you. And also enjoy everything thrown upon you by Allah SWT, The Most High. If you fail to do so, then you will miss the beauty of life and things 'around' you.

Let us look for an example; nowadays when it is the durian season if you do as always stick to your daily routine of the 'mad,mad world' such as rushing to and fro your office, perhaps you would not realize it is now the local fruits season. When you fail to do so, then how are you going to enjoy life's little moment for example enjoying the sweet and rich taste of the king of fruits at a stall by the roadside? You have no time for them. 

But I had seen families coming from posh cars stopped by to enjoy durian at makeshift stalls by the roadside. They seemed to enjoy their life's little moments even though they had their 'makan' (feast) near a 'longkang' (drain).

Yes it is now the durian season, thus remember a wise man saying that for everything there is a season (so enjoy the season); he continued:

And a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace. 

An 'ustaz' during his 'tazkirah' (lesson) at a 'masjid' near my house which I attended recently said: "Take time to enjoy reading the Qur'an." But how come we could enjoy it when we don't know what we are reading?

He gave a simple example - "Many of us don't understand Hindi but why we were kept glued watching Hindustani movies hour after hour? The same could be said about English and Chinese movies...one factor we could enjoy the films because they have subtitles, therefore we could understand the plot of the story..."

"When reading the Qur'an (which is in Arabic) we too need 'subtitles'...nowadays translation of the Qur'an is available in all the major languages of the world including Malay, but how many among us bothered to spend time reading and doing reflections from it?

"Then how many of us spared time to attend the 'kelas tafsir' (classes held for the explanation and interpretation of the verses from the Qur'an) for us to improve our understanding of the words of Allah SWT?"

The 'ustaz' teased his audience by saying: "Many of us have and had read 'Surah Yassin' (a verse in the Qur'an) every Friday night perhaps for 40 or 50 years now, could you please tell me what's this 'surah' is about?" He said it is good for the Malay community to read the 'Surah Yassin' in masjids every Friday night but why not upgrade it by inviting 'ustazs' to do the 'tafsir'. By understanding Allah SWT's message only then we would ready to turn over a new leaf and our readings (of the Qur'an) would be beneficial in our life.

Perhaps many among us, the writer included, have 'to force' ourselves to read the Qur'an. Why it is so hard to us? Why we failed to enjoy reading the Qur'an? Why we cannot control ourselves to enjoy life's little moments such as reading the Qur'an?

Perhaps we could explain from the feelings we had when we are doing our hobbies such as gardening or fishing. When you are too engross in your hobbies thus there are occasions you forget about time. The same could be said about reading your favourite novels; you forget about time but the question is why when you are about to read the Qur'an, you feel sleepy...that's an indicator you must change your attitude to enjoy reading the Qur'an.

Not only regarding reading the Qur'an, we must enjoy whatever we do; but the first thing we should determine is whether it is in line with the teaching of Islam. We must know whether our activities are 'halal' (permissible) or 'haram' (forbidden). Doing 'halal' activities give us the feeling of tranquility but engaging in the 'haram' ones make our life miserable.

A scholar noted that life has its up and down. But for the majority of us, it is very hard to maintain our composure and feelings when we were down the drain. The scholar advised us to enjoy life, for it is brief and there is no time in it for anguish! Yes, we have no time to be sad on thrifty matters but wake up and be alive to reap His giving and rewards in this world and the Hereafter.

But to enjoy His giving and rewards, we have to be in the straight path. Isn’t that are what we ask from Allah the Almighty in each ‘rakaat’ (units) in our prayers when we read an ‘ayat’ in the Surah Al-Fatihah (the Opening): “Guide us on the Straight Path.”

Enjoy your life by emulating Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. way of life. His life is an example for us to follow and a model for us to refer to at all times. No matter what problem arises in our lives, if we look to the Prophet’s Seerah for a solution, we will surely find it.

If all problems could be solved, then we could enjoy our life in this world and 'insya-Allah' (God willing) in the Hereafter since we live in accordance to what Allah and His prophet s.a.w. had revealed and ordered us in His Holy Book, the Qur’an. But we must work hard for it because 'everything has its price'. 

For example in this world, if we wanted to use a public toilet or a tolled road, we must first make payment (have money); then whats more to enter 'jannah' (heaven)...we must have 'something' that would enable us to enter it.

Of course we could only enter 'jannah' on the mercy of Allah SWT but while living on earth we must perform good deeds as much we could and refrain from 'haram' things only to please Him. That good deeds would be transformed into 'pahala' (rewards from God); hopefully He would please to grant us His 'jannah'.

In the Qur'an, Allah told us to be successful in the world and Hereafter. Muslims recited this du'a over and over again: 'Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil 'akhirati hasanatan waqina 'adhaban-nar' (Our Lord! grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the fire." (2:201)