'Stabbing' former friends…

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.

IKLAN               IKLAN             IKLAN           IKLAN        IKLAN         IKLAN 

SELEPAS PENCEN (usia 55 tahun pada 17 Februari 2017) penulis (LanH) berusaha menambah pendapatan dengan menjual buku terpakai (second hand) daripada koleksi sendiri. Semoga penulis LanH mendapat kebarakahan daripada usaha ini yang juga bertujuan untuk berdakwah. Untuk makluman, penulis tidak mahir dalam dunia IT, jadi hebahan ini dibuat seadanya. Sila lihat paparan sisi untuk urusan pembayaran dan sebagainya. Alamat e-mel: Lanh14@gmail.com

BUKU TERBUKA UNTUK JUALAN

3. Tajuk: Keadilan Ilahi

Penulis: Prof Dr Hamka 

Penerbit: Pustaka Dini

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Hanya RM10 (termasuk belanja hantaran pos biasa)

Penilaian LanH terhadap buku ini yang sudah dibaca beliau: Sangat bagus

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2. Tajuk: Rahsia Madinah (Jejak Rasul 2)

Penulis: Khalil Ibrahim Mulla Khothir 

Penerbit: Al-Hidayah Publishers

Muka surat: 218 (Harga tertulis di buku RM14)

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Penilaian LanH terhadap buku ini yang sudah dibaca beliau: Sangat bagus

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1. Tajuk: Rahsia Mekah (Jejak Rasul 1)

Penulis: 'Atiq bin Ghaits Al-Biladi

Penerbit: Al-Hidayah Publishers

Muka surat: 300 (Harga tertulis di buku RM15)

Hanya RM10 (termasuk belanja hantaran pos biasa)

Penilaian LanH terhadap buku ini yang sudah dibaca beliau: Sangat bagus

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DURING our Parliament sitting and political incidents outside it such as in 'ceramah' (talks) and postings in in the new media recently; bad, foul and damaging words were spoken and written; friends and leaders in the same or former party or component parties had suddenly become foes. Friends too suddenly turned into ‘monsters’, 'stabbing' their former ‘mentors’ sometimes from front, not from behind!

Suddenly our 'true colors' were exposed. Doing reflections, I remembered a beautiful poem entitled ‘The Arrow and the Song’ written by an American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which I learned in secondary school some 40 years ago.

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak,
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

How true for Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882), when he wrote that the arrow shot (perhaps bad and uncalled words) could not be retrieved, it had pierced into an oak (heart) and would remain there for a long, long period. People, what’s more the accused would remember the damaging words, perhaps until they die!

Once, during a 'tazkirah' (lesson) at a 'masjid' near my house, I heard the 'ustaz' (religious teacher) said bad words spoken to another person is like a nail being hammered into wood. Later on we realized that we had made a mistake - we had hammered the nail at a wrong place - we pulled back the nail; yes the nail was no more there but the 'scars' made on the wood was still there.

Subhanallah, so think very carefully before we uttered even a word to a person especially our love ones, whats more damaging words that would leave scars in the heart of that person for a long period of time; perhaps for life - who knows he/she would remembered it forever! Perhaps he/she would forgive you but your damaging words were intact in his/her heart and would be 'brought along into his/her grave'!

In Malay, there is a beautiful 'peribahasa' (proverb) saying 'terlajak perahu boleh diundur, terlajak kata buruk padahnya' (you can reverse the 'prahu' (sampan), but you can't pull back your bad words). So to all readers (including myself) be careful with what we say and in during this new era, as what we write in the the new media.

In the al-Qur'an (Al-Hujurat 49:12), Allah SWT gave this stern warning: "O you who have believed, avoid much (negative) assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful."

Scholars said Islam is a religion of peace, love and compassion. Lies, suspicion, back biting, slander and gossip are totally alien to Islam. In fact they are considered amongst the most destructive of major sins. This is so because these sins sow enmity and discord among the Muslim Ummah and lead to its destruction. They cause hostilities between people of the same household, and between neighbors, friends and relatives.

They said Islam demands that our relationship with mankind should be one of sincerity and responsibility. It should be one where we have respect for the honor, reputation and privacy of others. Islam teaches us that we are not only held accountable for our own attitudes and actions but also for anything else over which we have control or influence over, in our society or the world around us.

The importance for us to guard our mouth (sometimes mentioned as tongue) and six other parts of the body was taught and discussed at length by one of the greatest Islamic scholar in the field of 'tasawuf' (way to be closer to Allah SWT, mysticism), Imam Al-Ghazali (Abu Hamid al Ghazali Rahimahullah,1058 – 1111).

For example in his 'Bidayatul Hidayah' it was mentioned that we should look after our body, especially after seven parts of our body; for 'jahannam' (hell) has seven doors and for every door there is a part categorized. And these doors are not specified for any person except that person who disobeys Allah Ta’ala with these seven body parts. They are:

1. The eyes

2. The ears

3. The tongue (mouth)

4. The stomach

5. The private parts

6. The hand

7. The legs/feet

Three of the seven parts of our body mentioned are on the face - the eyes, ears and mouth - and as for the stomach too food that enter our body must be first filled inside the mouth. So as for our face, we must be very careful with what we do with the organs on it, because we would be answerable to Allah SWT to what we did with them.

In 'Bidayatul Hidayah', Imam al Ghazali Rahimahullah noted that to know that religion has two conditions; that are (1) to leave that which is forbidden and (2) to do actions of obedience. (The Beauty of Faith)

The leaving of that which is forbidden is harder to do. This is because obedience is carried out by everyone (to some extent) but only the pious leave their desires. This is why Rasulullah s.a.w. (peace be upon him, s.a.w.) said, “The Muhajir (one who migrates) is he who migrates from evil  and the Mujaahid (warrior) is he who fights against his desires.”

Thus, leaving forbidden actions such as sins of the tongue (speaking bad words) is too hard to many. There is a 'hadith' saying, “You all are guardians and you all will be questioned over those things that you looked after.”

Know that your limbs will bare testimony against you in a presentation given by a eloquent tongue on the day of 'Qiyamah'. You will be led by it at the forefront of all the creations. Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an, “On that day, their tongues, hands and feet will bare testimony against them as to what they used to do.” (Surah Nur) and He further states, “On the day there will a seal on their mouth and their hands and legs will testify against them as to what they used to earn.”

Scholars said a Muslim should value himself too highly to be among those who cheat or deceive perchance one might fall in the category of hypocrites about whom the Prophet said: "There are four characteristics, whoever has all of them is a true hypocrite, and whoever has one of them has one of the qualities of a hypocrite until he gives it up: when he is trusted, he betrays; when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he disputes, he resorts to slander." (Al-Bukhari, Muslim) 

Therefore, a Muslim who has true Islamic sensitivities avoids deceit, cheating, treachery, 'stabbing' and lying no matter what benefits or profits such activities might bring him, because Islam considers those guilty of such deeds to be hypocrites.