All The Best

Finally, went again to the office for the third time and mission accomplished! Alhamdulillah...

That was last week. This week I went again to the library to look for some more books and did some works. In the morning it was easy to find a suitable seat, but after lunch I was surprised to see the hustle and bustle there..then I realized..it's the final exam fever..
As one of the students there confessed, " It's the exam, madam...this only happen during the final exam week.."

It's a bit late, but I would like to wish 'All the best', to all my students there and those students following this blog..
Do the best that you can and leave the rest to Allah.
You can't bring your grade or GPA or CGPA to Him, it is your sincere and honest effort that counts.
Your true success depends on your effort, not your result.
Each time you open your books to read, start with His name, for you are following His command, His first command, "Iqra'...Read.."
He is Al Alim, The Knower of All, all knowledge belongs to Him, ask from Him, pray to Him..

May Allah make it easy for you.
All the best, everyone... :)

The Fight Continues..

He (Satan) said: 'I swear by Your Might, that I will seduce all of them, except those among them who are Your sincere worshipers. '
(Saad: 82-83)

Satan sworn in the name of Allah, that he will continue to lure, coax, entice human into his doomed end. Satan lurks behind our wealth, our loved ones, our ambition. Satan disguises as friends, a caring and loving friend. Beautifying the journey to his way with enjoyment, fun...

Until one day, on the day that everything is clearly exposed, no more camouflage, no more pretension.
On that day Satan say, "You are on your own...I am not responsible for you.."

And when the issue has been decided,
Satan will say (to them):
'The promise which Allah made you was true. I promised you, but failed to keep it. I had no authority over you except that I called you, and you answered me.
Do not blame me, rather, blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I disbelieved in your associating me (with Allah) before. ' Indeed, for the evildoers there is a painful punishment.
(Ibrahim: 22)


Until that day, the fight continues...

Dear self,
Don't be deceived..

Ya Allah, Ya Rahmaan, Ya Rahiim,
Ya Muhaimin, The Protector
Ya Aziz, The Al Mighty, The Powerful
Ya Jabbar, The all Compelling
I beg You..
To help me..
To send me your angels
To guard my way
To expel my enemy
Amiin..Ya Rabbal Aalamiin.

A Quality Day

It was another day in the campus again. And another failed attempt to settle the pending errand.
As I arrived at the office, I saw the sign "Office Closed", but I pushed the door anyway.
"Oh...it's Quality Day, we are closed..please come later this afternoon, but not sure if we can serve you, do call in first, ok?.."
"O...ok..thank you.."
I know, it's Quality Day, that's why I am here. I walked out slowly.

Well..at least this time I won't be wandering around since I ought to attend this official program. Besides, I have three other appointments, to meet three students, interestingly from three different programs, BAR, ENMS and Law, for three different reasons.

Met the first student. After having breakfast together, I walked with her to the building where Quality Day will be held. At the registration counter, I signed my name and was presented with a souvenir and a lunch coupon to be used here, at the campus for today or tomorrow, they reminded me.
" What about KLCC? Can I use this coupon there?....oo...cannot aa?...too bad.." I joked with them.

The souvenir was unique.
It was a copy of the Holy Qur'an(in Arabic, of course) with translation, also in Arabic!
One of my colleagues walked towards me with a somewhat mischievous smile while opening the pages of the Qur'an.
"Look..look at this..." she said.
"I know...it says here.. laa taqrobu..and the translation is, laa taqrobu..."
We laughed together at our minimal Arabic proficiencies. She was my room mate during our hajj few years back, where we had quite a bit of fun practicing our spoken Arabic.
I should have given the Qur'an to the student who was with me at that time. Why didn't I think of that...she is doing a degree in Arabic Literature. May be next time.

We continued our conversation while I waved my hand to some of the other colleagues who passed by. It was a good day, seeing many friends and colleagues whom I had not seen since the last Quality Day.
Under the palm tree, I took the opportunity to share with her about the continuous struggle that human had to endure in order to be on the right path. Physically young and beautiful, she would need a tremendous amount of spiritual strength to guard her soul from the deceiving whispers of our worst enemy. The enemy who took pride in his physical attribute that lead to his cursed destiny, and subsequently luring human to his trap through physical attraction.

He (satan) replied: 'I am better than he. You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.' (Saad:76)

Trying to find a more comfortable place, we walked to the library only to find that it was closed. Why? It's Quality Day..So we just stood there, outside.

By then I realized that she chose to remain quiet most of the time. I continued by reminding her that at her age, she is now at a critical juncture in character building process, and that she should pray for a trusted teacher to be the guiding hand. Her current world is surrounded by academics, lecturers, professors, but a true teacher, a 'murabbi' is granted only to those who sincerely seek and pray for one.

Soon afterwards, seeing other students came, she politely excused herself and left. She was never in any of my classes before but was somehow sent to me by Him. I was dragged into her personal life by some unexpected events and now I felt responsible to share with her what was part of the 'spiritual syllabus' that I had always incorporate in the lesson in my class. May Allah guide and protect her always.

While chatting with the other students, two more came. I recognized one of them immediately, he is already in the fourth year. The other one looked at me from afar while scratching his head and courteously asked,
"Do you know me, madam?"
I had to admit that I don't, but slowly his face turned familiar.
" You were cuter back then.." I blurted out, and he gave a sheepish smile.
He is also in the fourth year. I have to say that both of them looked more matured now with an aura of confidence on their faces. Alhamdulillah..They will be graduating soon and the challenges of the real world awaits. May Allah bless them with true success in their life.

The next appointment was a lunch date with a small group of ENMS and Law students. It was simply fun and joyous moment, eating while catching up with their latest grievance of having endless quizzes, assignments, exams etc etc. What else can we expect from a student's life? Been there, done that...

Going back to the library after lunch, we discovered that it was still closed, so I decided to leave and said my goodbyes to them. It is always a pleasure spending time with these cheerful students.
When I drove out of the campus I heard the azan for zuhr prayer from the university's mosque at the background.

I ended up not attending the program that I was there for in the first place, and I would have to come back for the unaccomplished mission, but it was nevertheless a quality day for me, in my own special way.

Alhamdulillah..
Thank you Allah for giving me the honour to be a teacher to these wonderful students.

Let's Have Mercy

Bismillah, In the name of Allah
Ar Rahmaan, The All-Compassionate
Ar Rahiim, The All-Merciful

Alhamdulillahi rabbil aalamiin. All praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

It is indeed so soothing and comforting that of all the 99 beautiful names of Allah, He chose to introduce Himself as Ar Rahmaan, Ar Rahiim, as in the first chapter of the Qur'an, Al-Fatihah.
He is The lord of the heavens and the earth, The King of all kings, the All Powerful, The Greatest, The Magnificient, The Giver of Life, The Taker of Life... but He is The All-Merciful.

The creation of us, human, is a manifestation of His mercy. We reside in our mothers' womb, another symbol of mercy, for the mothers' womb is called 'rahim'.

Hence, a mother's love for a child, a love so pure and unconditional, is an extension of His love and mercy.
But, what makes a person a mother?
If having a child makes a mother, how could a mother have the heart to hurt their own child to death? Newly born babies left to die by their own mothers.. how could that happen?

And those who are not blessed with a child, are they 'unqualified' to be mothers? What about those who lost their child?

I believe it takes more than just having a child to be a mother. And having a child is a blessing and also a test. A mother does not own a child, it's not an ownership. A mother is trusted with a child. That child belongs to an owner. The Merciful owner.

It breaks my heart to read news, one after another, about babies being left by their mothers. Innocent children being abused by the very person who are suppose to protect them. The recent one is about a 3 year old Syafiah Humairah who died in the hands of her mother's boyfriend. Have they forgotten that The Merciful Owner is watching over them? The Merciful Owner would surely held them accountable.

However, I take consolation that even though the number is growing, these type of 'mothers' are still minorities. There are many mothers out there who continuously love and care for their children with immense patience. May Allah be pleased with them.

Ya Allah, Ya Rahmaan, Ya Rahiim..
I plead to you Ya Rahiim
To lend me Your Mercy

Whenever there's hatred
Let me bring the love
Whenever there's despair
Let me bring the hope

Whenever there's darkness
Let me bring the light
Whenever there's sadness
Let me bring the cheer

Allow me Ya Rahiim
To be your medium of mercy
For the day will come when I would be desperately
in need of yours..
For only through your mercy I would enter
The gate of your paradise

For it was your mercy
I was named after

Amiin..Ya Arhamarraahimiin..

The Dark History

When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am creating a human from
clay, after I have shaped him and breathed of My spirit (I created) into
him, fall down prostrate before him. '

So all the angels prostrated themselves,
except iblis (satan, the father of the jinn), he became too proud,
for he was one of the unbelievers.

He (Allah) said: 'iblis, what prevented you from prostrating
yourself towards that which I have created with My Hands? Have you become
too proud, or are you among the grand? '
He (satan) replied: 'I am better than he. You created me from fire,
and You created him from clay. '

'Begone! ' said He, 'you are stoned'.
'My curse shall rest on you until the Day of Recompense. '

He (satan) replied: 'Respite me my Lord till the Day of Resurrection. '
He (Allah) said: 'You are among those that are respited, till the Day of the known time. '

He (satan) said: 'I swear by Your Might, that I will seduce all of them, except those among them who are Your sincere worshipers. '

He (Allah) said: 'This is the truth, and I speak the truth:
I shall certainly fill Gehenna(hell) with you and every one of them that
follows you. '

(Saad:71-85)

Matters of the Heart

She sat next to me on my right. As the speaker continued his talk explaining about the reality of death, I noticed that she kept a serene look, a very peaceful one. Whereas I found myself to be holding back tears most of the time.

During a break, I finally had a chance to have a conversation with her.

" That was really touching, don't you think so?" I asked her, referring to the talk.
"Yes, death is very real indeed.." She said with a look that went far beyond the cold hall that we were sitting in.

" We must always be reminded about death, so that we will not lose our way here, right?"
" Yes, it's true..death will always keep your feet firm on the ground.. I deal with life and death everyday..."
No wonder she had that look and I couldn't help asking.

" If you don't mind me asking..what line of work are you in?"
" I am the head of nurse at the Intensive Care Unit of ** General Hospital"
That's the ICU of one of the busiest general hospitals in the country.

" MasyaAllah...you are being reminded everyday then.."
" Yes.....but I can't say that I got used to it because even though I see death many times, mine will happen only once.."

I agreed totally with her.
As we continued our conversation, I realized that she was a very humble person who took her job very seriously and I sensed her sincerity in performing her duty. It was a noble job, taking care of patients, and more so when they are seriously and critically-ill ones.
May Allah reward her for all her effort.

But the talk on that day was not about being in a noble profession. It was about remembering death, it's relation with sincerity and how do we practice it everyday in our profession, whatever it may be. Being in a so called noble profession does not guarantee any reward from Allah. It is not about what you do, but how you do it.

A person might be holding a highly respectable post with huge responsibility and decision making power but in the eyes of Allah all his effort is not even as significant as a speck of dust because he is arrogant. Another person working as a cleaner, humbly doing his job everyday as best as he could, but an enormous reward awaits him in the hereafter because Allah knows his sincerity.

It's all about our hearts again. Remembering death can keep our hearts alive, but it is not the physical hearts that we are referring to. There are many people out there whose physical heart is so healthy, efficiently pumping blood through out the body. But what we can't see is the spiritual hearts, the one that keeps our spiritual 'body' alive and healthy. It could be dying.

Death will always remind us of how temporary everything is, it will remind us that one day we would certainly, definitely return to Him. Remembering death will keep us in constant remembrance of Him.
The heart that remembers Allah will lead us to performing good deeds with sincerity.

One superb example of that is Abu Bakr. Among the companions of the Prophet SAW, he was highly exceptional in terms of doing rightous deeds and his love for Allah and the Prophet SAW is beyond question.

It was reported that Aishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr and the wife of the Prophet SAW said, "While Allah's Messenger was resting on a moonlit night, I asked, "O Messenger of Allah, has anyone done as many good deeds as there are stars in the sky?" he replied, "Yes, Umar has" I asked how about Abu Bakr's good deeds compared with his(Umar's) and he replied, "All of Umar's good deeds are like one of Abu Bakr's good deeds."
On another occasion, the Prophet SAW was reported to have said,
" Abu Bakr was not deemed your superior on account of much praying and sadaqah, but on account of something that was fixed in his heart"


Subhaanallah..

Love

"Love is an attitude that leads to change in behaviour" - Gary Chapman.


Let's observe.
An ordinary person, living an ordinary life.
One day this person found him/herself to be madly and deeply in love.

Then..things start to change.

Smiling, happy most of the time
No anger, no hatred, no sadness
Happiness, sheer happiness

Suddenly, everything is easy, everything is beautiful

As the love grew deeper...more changes took place.

Loyal, extremely loyal to the loved one.
Overly protective of the loved one.
Everything reminded him/her to the loved one.
Obsessed with anything related to the loved one.
Willing to sacrifice anything, everything for the loved one.

Activities, thoughts, feeling, emotion, actions, laughter, tears, money, time....
All for the loved one.

Life is devoted to the loved one
Life is meaningless without the loved one

And ultimately..
Worshiping the loved one.

The question is..
Who would deserve such devotion, such sacrifice,
Loyalty, worship...from you?

Who? Who...


It's only HIM.
The Gracious Ar Rahmaan, The Merciful Ar Rahiim,
The Protector Al Muhaimin
The Source of Peace As Salam
The Forgiver Al Ghaffar
The Loving Al Wadud
The Patient One As Sabuur....

It's HIM
The One you longed for
The One you've been searching
The One you've been missing...all your life
The One True Eternal Love
Only HIM

Learn to love HIM
With all your heart, mind and soul..

He will never let you down.