Ok, I cried. The last time I cried at a Raya commercial (or any other commercial) is the 2006 Petronas ad by Yasmin Ahmad.
So many trivial things we question Him. Lack of this or too much of that. When some people in this world lack basic human rights or even basic necessities. Yet, even though they don't have the best of everything, they make the best out of everything. And find peace in relationship with God, and solace in companionship.
We may think that because we have wealth and health that we are better than them or better off without them. Life in this world is a test. Blessings we are bestowed with is a test. Hardship we have to endure is a test.
One day, while the Prophet was with his Companions who gathered around him, he prayed,
"O God, grant me life as a poor man, cause me to die as a poor man and resurrect me in the company of the poor." (Tarmizi)
Even the Prophet Muhammad himself prayed to God to die in poverty, and He was always keen to help the poor by giving them what he had, and when he could not find anything, he would ask his companions to help, and not to leave a poor man without help.
It should not be perceived that by the Prophet's giving and encouraging his companions to give would mean that he would accept that the poor may continue to ask for help for the rest of their lives. On the contrary he was keen on teaching the poor the importance of working to fulfill one's own needs. He wanted them to avoid the disgrace of asking and begging and enjoy the sweetness of giving.
In the end, our ibadah, our iman, our sincerity and our deeds to the community is the yardstick that matters to Him and nothing else.
Reference:
1. Link
2. Aisyah Ummul Mukminin: Keanggunan Sejati by Sulaiman An-Nadawi (gift from Cik Su)
Here are some excerpts but, do read the article by full. Trust me, it will be time well spent.
"I’d like to start by addressing what I believe is the least important factor in this equation, and that is ‘what other people might think.’ It should never be the case that we alter our practice of Islam or our worship for the sake of other people, or what they might think or assume. People may be quick to judge or jump to conclusions, but whatever thoughts or opinions they have are strictly their responsibility, and not something we should be overly concerned with."
"Every single one of us has deficiencies and weaknesses, has made mistakes, has taken missteps or is presently taking them. We only do the best that we can, and any good deed that Allah grants us the opportunity to perform should be considered a blessing that we take advantage of. Instead of worrying about not being good enough, we can instead consider this as an opportunity to be thankful to Allah for concealing our negatives, and pray, “O Allah, forgive me for what they do not know about me, and make me even better than what they think.”
"About punishment from Allah: a better way of looking at this issue is not considering the smallness or pettiness of the sin, but the greatness of the One whom we are sinning against. "
"I remember a quote attributed to Yusuf Islam: “Islam is not a state of being but it is a process of becoming,” – becoming more, become better, striving to reach that state of perfect submission and connection with Allah Most High, and May He help all of us achieve that, ameen."
The second article holds so much truth. It made me realize why it is so hard to attain true constant happiness, because when our happiness is defined by something that is changing, something that is not temporary, something that will someday perish; our happiness and our inner peace will do so too. How can we hope to find constancy if what we hold on to is inconstant and perishing?
To attain true peace, don’t let your source of fulfillment be anything other than your relationship with God. Don’t let your definition of success, failure, or self-worth be anything other than your position with Him (Qur’an, 49:13). And if you do this, you become unbreakable, because your handhold is unbreakable. You become unconquerable, because your supporter can never be conquered. And you will never become empty, because your source of fulfillment is unending and never diminishes.
Too much things spiraling inside my head tonight to put me to sleep. Perhaps of the aftershock of basking in the Hunger Games trailer's awesomeness might contribute some in this equation, but this doesn't usually happen. Sleep comes naturally for me. Perhaps too naturally Why is it so easy to make peace with anyone else, but with myself? I know I'm inclined to judge myself too severely. But I'm immensely flawed to begin with anyway. Sometimes I wonder why am I thrusted upon all these responsibilities, that seem to be too far within my reach and abilities. These responsibilities involve the very future of the very people I care most about in the world (in both states of being). Initially I came to the conclusion to improve myself first, more than anyone else, then only I'd sought out to help them to come to their senses. Unfortunately, it seem to take a much longer time than I anticipated. And as it seem to be happening in a very slow pace, I'm starting to think if it really happened at all. Maybe constantly improving myself and trying to help others should go hand in hand. But I don't know if I can do that. Ya Allah.
Verily Allah altereth not that which is with a people until they alter that which is with themselves. (Verse 11 of Surah Al-Rad)
* Edited: A few months later. I found this. Mashaallah :)
"Anas relates that, “We asked the Prophet ﷺ, ‘O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, shouldn’t we refrain from calling others to goodness if we don’t practice all good things ourselves, and shouldn’t we refrain from forbidding wrong things until we ourselves have abstained from all the bad?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘You should call others to goodness even if you don’t do all good, and you should forbid bad things even if you don’t abstain from all of them yourselves.’” (Al-Tabarani)"
It means way more than having every type of similarity there is to be, from the same preference of shade of lipstick lol omg i dont even wear lipstik ew i dont like the way it feels like and the first and last time i wore lipstick in public was when i was 10 or something for a school choir colour to the same passion to set out into the country to propagate the idea of an ideal world free of war and destitute.
It means way more than going out all the time, to the hippest malls and coolest hang-out spots in the dead of the night, and putting it on Facebook to show the world that we have a life, and a seemingly good one at that.
It means way more when we forsake our time with friends and appreciate more that of our family's, for whenever and whatever, family comes first, and have an understanding of that together.
1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets - starring Ben Kingsley as Al-Jazari
How dare we say that we have all the knowledge in the world when all we do is sit so comfortably on a chair with mountainous stacks of homework and undone assignments spread all over the table? How dare do we say that we are superior than those living from hand to mouth and that it serves them right for not studying hard while they were still in school? How dare we say that by having a degree, we have more knowledge than those around us?
Have you ever put thought how scholars of the old ventured out into the deepest realms of the world, battling their lives and wealth to gain an inkling of knowledge? How they learn from masters of knowledge from every nook and cranny of this world?
Yet, they remain ever so humble, and say that they have much to learn.
And all we do is sit on our butts on a chair all night long and get a scroll after a few semesters and bragging about it, preferring to say our title first ever so boastfully when introducing ourselves. I'm sorry, I'm not degrading anyone, pursuing a degree is no easy task, and of course not all people do this, but rather, I'm just reminding you (and myself first and foremost inshaallah) that we always have much to learn. The more knowledgeable a person is, the more humble he or she became as he or she realizes how much he or she didn't know before, and sought to gain more knowledge.
I've seen a TV show "Ilmuwan Islam" on TV3 and I can't remember much of the details but I've learned that al-Jazari who lives in the 12th century is a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, astronomer etc who made amazing inventions that contribute much heavily to this modern world. I can't remember much of the details but he made an ingenious method to present his inventions to the public, for the fear of being accused of magic. He could fool all the people that he want, but he remained humble because of his imaan, his firm belief in God.
It was also revealed that the Pharaoh used practical engineering to fool his people like pointing his finger to his majestic gate to open it but the true fact is he used steam power or something of the sort to do so. He did this so as to make his people to believe that he is (a) god. This is not true for other Muslim scholars, their firm belief in God and the concept of 'islah' (to constantly improving oneself) lead them to use their amazing discoveries for the benefit of the people for God.
If I'm not mistaken, AL-Jazari's work is still being utilized in Oxford, and much of other Muslims scholars' work too.
P/S: Do spend 10 minutes or so to watch the video above.
When he was a boy, Lionel Messi was playing for Newell's junior team. He was late for a match because he was locked in a bathroom. His team was down 0-1 at half time. Leo arrived at the match at half-time by breaking the glass window of the bathroom. He turned the match upside down by scoring two goals to make it 3-1.
SPM is just a few days away, and the anxiety is building up by the second (pretty obvious eh?). Well, here I am, blogging after almost a month, to remind all of us to be strong to face this part of the equation. Great stories always start with a toil, with a problem, with a situation that seems impossible to break free. For example, Leo's above 8D
These things make good stories. Like, for instance, people certainly don't want to hear you boasting on being on top of the world and filthy rich just because you simply inherited your father's hard work, right? So just keep your chin up and charge the mountain, but still remain your down-to-earthness (-.-) by remembering the people who stood up for you and who was there for you all this while. And do keep a reminder that everything happens for a reason, no matter how unjust it turned out to be for He is the All-knowing. Insyaallah we'd all get through it. Fightingg!
Ok why do i like to point at people? -.-
Stolen from Puan Shing Yee's and Sze Yuen's FB! :D
Salam allo. Excuse the shortened term of this 2-verse pantun.
Banyak udang, banyak garam
Banyak orang, banyak ragam.
Now then. Today, I am going to show you on various types of writing, or technically, typing, to be really precise and if you are that kind of person. But actually, "write" actually means to form letter or words, to compose, to express in words and the like, actually. So even if we're hitting on, I mean tapping on keyboards, and for most of us, scorching and overworking our eyes in front of the monitor, "to write" can also be used. I think. Jangan percaya sangat ambo nih. Well, there are many types of writing that I've come across in my years of internetmentation and well, here they are. 1. Exhibit A: Repetitive use of last letters, a space between a word and an ellipsis. And in times, a smiley is included (preferably a wink.)
OMGGG ! That's sooo awesome ! ;D Today ? Meet up at my place yeah .
2. Exhibit B: A rather clever and creative use of pronunciation of other syllables in words that they don't belong to. The English language and Bahasa syllables are frequently exchanged to form words.
cheese! alaaa bowink la camneyh ; wtf weyy. laen carley la keeter hangout . taon depan la kowt.
3. Exhibit C: Notably, this type writing is utilized in the early years of internet usage of a certain person. Numbers and ellipsis are frequently used to replace certain letters that they are seemingly quite similar to.
N4M4 s4y4 AgUsTus biNti 4JnAB! b1N rAFA3L nAdaL. Um0r 14 tah0n. s4yA sek0lah di SmK tAmaN s3Kian. c0m3yL t4k s4Ya? aDD m3 pl3as3........
4. Exhibit D: This type of writing is mostly used by BBC writers and the like that I couldn't put my mind on right now.
As we advance through the odyssey of the 21st century, and witness with our eyes and the image apprehended is evaluated and inverted by our superb integrating center, the brain, we...Apologies, my vocabulary is pretty limited -.- Faham-faham sendiri la.
5. Exhibit E: A "smiley" is used at the end of EACH and EVERY SINGLE sentence.
OMG! :O Kenapa eh dia buat camtu? :/ Serius! >:( memang kesian kat dia :( Tak elok buat camtu kat dia D: dan aku rasa macam nak hentam & marah dia puas puas x( Oh ye, don't forget to meet up this Saturday, kay? :D Bye (;
6. Exhibit F: Plain lazy.
hi nama sy amln umr sy 16 t nk msk 17 t dn sy sklh di smk qwerty sy mrpkn srg yg btgjwb rjn dn bsmgt ptrtk, rjn dn kuat igtn
That's about it I think. I'm NOT insulting anyone (if there are any out there, ehak). Because actually I think I've been all six of them and having a bit of this or a bit of that. The first, being Exhibit C. Yes, I remember that. Wow. Now I know how excruciatingly laborious and utterly abysmal (Exhibit D) it is to read that sentence! x) I think it's kinda c0m3YL at first, but at the same time, it's really hard to decipher all that letters, numbers and ellipsis. But I guess that age is over for most of us!
Like Exhibit E, I also put a LOT of smileys in my sentences. Just look at all my past blog posts. But I don't know why I've recently used smileys a lot less now :/ Pelikkkk. I've also been an Exhibit B, and still am, sometimes. I'm mostly been affected by Baba, he uses a lot of these when we we SMSed with him. Like, "mebbe tumolo" and all that. ehak. Mostly for humor purposes. Spaces between words and ellipsis (Exhibit A), been through that as well, Exhibit F; yes :)
Truth is, we're all copycats. Ever since we were born, our first words, or even swear words we pick up from movies -.- (don't try this at home, kids. not that I swear excessively, I have a lot of siblings to give examples to! ceh.), that catchphrase we use and all. It's the mix of this and that is what makes us the person we are and then we ourselves would churn the mixture our way and add a little bit of something unique of ourselves in. We're all still finding the path we're destined to, but of course, you can't rely on destiny alone because you've got to give in a little bit of effort in the way. Insyaallah, we'd all find it someday. Because you're worth it.
Okay, I seriously don't know what I was talking about at the last few parts. -.- But it sounded good :D
Salam allo :) Well, by the time I start writing this, it's 0042 hours. Already February 12th then. Usually if I was staying up late (usually studying or performing optional prayers or sunah prayers, insyaAllah, though admittedly, not so much, tho, heh.) I'd succumb to sleep eventually, sooner or later. I was downloading this movie, (500) Days Of Summer about two or three days ago. In blu-ray even! *wink wink* I was doing my homework and after noticing that the movie had fully downloaded, I decided to watch it. Yeah, I'm oredi in the holiday mood oredi. CNY! Hope Uncle Wong would give us angpau again this year. mwaahaah.
So anyway, I watched it just now and well, it's really quite good. Though you should know upfront that I don't write movie reviews that often or that well nor do I fancy criticizing bad movies and just let the bad ones that I just happened to watch whisk away and it won't be engraved in my memory for long. But I guess, I'd just make a short review as an exception. Well, this movie is good :) (good start, eh?) Or is it because I'm a sucker for nonlinear narrative? If you're my classmate and friend (or my English teacher, ehak.) you'd probably know that I usually applicate flashback techniques of the sort in my narrative essays. Don't ask me why, it's just that I like doing so, simple as that. Anyway, albeit its tagline, "This is not a love story, it's a story about love," you probably can guess anyway that it's a romantic film that adds a splash of comedy into the mix. You know, romantic comedy.
"This is not a love story,
it's a story about love,"
Sure it had some a wee bit flaws, but anyhow, the main thing that is that it taught me a lesson. That although something that we had found was perfect, flawless, irreplaceable and that we come to love for it, but it turns out, at the end of the day (or 500 in this case) you lost it, someway or the other. You feel that there's an empty hollow hole inside of you where your heart should've been. But you shouldn't give up on hope, because maybe it's just that it's not meant to be. Allah has fated for it to be the way that it is, and there would be a reason behind it, and we'll find out eventually why insyaAllah and that's it's for the best. Yes, the ending was awesomee :D But anyway, it made me fresh-eyed again! So I was doing this BM essay and seeing more homework in queue... not so much. Solution? Coffee. Yeah coffee.
This man taught the world an inspiring lesson. And you heard of his remarkable abilities, regarding his powerful memory even though his motor skills are lacking. And before, in his young and tender age where his condition's known as "idiot savant", someone (actually the neurologist) said that the infant Kim would never be able to speak or learn and should be taken out of society. And look at him now, touring the world and inspiring people. Regardless of what the society are saying about you, undermining and underrating your abilities in the present and the future, never give up on hope.
Allah is Just, he creates Man, some able and some disabled. The able are given responsibilities and the disabled are not burdened by the responsibilities that of the able. Moreover, Allah bestow them unique specialties like a remarkable intelligent mind or a very kind heart. This proves Allah is The Utterly Just العدل. Nevertheless, although Kim Peek has passed, his inspiration would not fade out regardless, that even though a person is not what the society intended and want him or her to be, Allah indeed has His reasons, for He is The All-Knowing العليم.
Jon McLaughlin. I knew him (ceh macam kenal betoi betoi je) from a song in Enchanted, that is So Close. I was crazy for that song when it came out in the movie and if you noticed he had a cameo in the part where Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey danced in the ballroom.The lyrics were meaningful, and the emotion he displays brought even more depth to that song. Ceh, I sound like a pro (mwahaahha) but really I just loved how the song goes :D
And here's another song that portrays almost the same qualities , Beautiful Disaster. From my point of view (or actually listening) it's about a girl who are still searching for the things that she want to be. She had people in her life (family and friends) but none seemed to accept her in her opinion. She defined their compliments as lies and that it's just a way to be polite and perhaps the "magazine" bit in the lyrics telling her that she's not perfect, that she has to change herself in every way possible. Or perhaps that her appearance is not appealing and she cried when she saw the pictures in the magazine, revealing beauties that she thinks she would never be.
"She just needs someone to take her home" may be interpreted err, differently, but really, I think it means that she needs someone to show her the right path because she's always trying to find a way to change herself, in theoretical, to be more perfect and accepted by the others but she doesn't know that she's just perfect the way she is.
"Cause she's just the way that she is, but no one's told her that's okay."
~ John McLaughlin, Beautiful Disaster
Well I think "beauty and appearance" is the one of themes in this song, so I guess girls are pressured by demands of perfection by the world on how they should look like, how they should dress and that they should have the blond and blue eyes thing. and that girls do all this to be accepted by the community, well specifically by err boys.
"Every magazine tells her she's not good enough, the pictures that she sees make her cry." This verse defines the pressure and thinking that we need to be flawless from top to bottom and "what matters the most is inside of you" thing is heck ridiculous. Now that's ridiculous. Outlandish preposterous bizarre. Absurd and contemptible! Queer and unusual! Err,okkaayy looks like I've gone a wee bit far but thanks anyway thesaurus.com.
Thinking that on the outside alone is the only thing that's to be? HECK NO! You may be be flawless on the outside but it will clearly be outshone by what's inside. Yeah I know it screams
"yeah yeah you're trying to make us feel oh so better, whatever dude! go back to the rottenness where you belong! jerk." Err, I might need some practice on witty remarks.. And anyway I'm a girl too (haven't you noticed? -.-) so I understand all this, and had (very) low self-esteem in the past, but Alhamdulillah I now understand of what's more important and that everyone is really beautiful :) I mean really, if you took a moment or two to put a thought about this, EVERYONE and I mean every single thing is beautiful in their own way, everything of Allah's creations are beautiful, and would be even more beautiful it comes from the inside too :) (insyaAllah...)
Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty.
Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty. This verse doesn't mean that you've to be Miss Universe or something! But it means appearance is vital too, meaning that practicing cleanliness (and looking presentable) covering the 'aurah insyaAllah and displaying manners such as speaking in a not-harsh tone and with well manners to your parents or to the community and all those things. This is the true meaning of beauty in my opinion, insyaAllah and acts as an identity to yourself, your religion, your country et cetera.
And do not speak to the people with your face turned away, nor walk proudly. on the Earth, for Allah does not love any self-conceited, boastful person. (18) Be moderate in your gait, and lower your voice, for the most disagreeable of all voices is the braying of the asses. (19) (Surah Luqman:18-19)
For form 4 muslims, you may heard of this verse in Surah Luqman in the Agama syllabus, giving meanings that appearance in terms of manners is important too. This verse teaches us to be in good terms with all people (regardless of race and religion), to not dwell in arrogance and boastings, and speaking and conversing in a well-mannered tone and not like donkeys (ass) like stated in ayat 19.
All in all, don't worry of what one sees you as, because you know who you really are and that you're doing the right thing, insyaAllah and stick to that. And abstain from judging people of what they look like, pretty doesn't mean that she's an evil world dominator (-.-)and a bit less doesn't mean that she's not and vice versa. And the most important thing is, it's not about being who everyone else wants you to be, it's about being yourself and finding someone who loves every bit of it. InsyaAllah, we'll all find someone who will. And err, don't get me wrong, I'm NOT in the lo vey dovey phase! Yet.. But never mind, the point is, being yourself and that's all that matters :)
And I think that it's cute great that it's coming from a guy because these type of songs are usually sung by women, so I think it gives you some kinda comfort to know that some really do understand :) Oye, here's another song of Jon McL's. Beating My Heart. He had a new haircut in this one :DD Here's the links to Flickr users to whom I owe for the pictures thanks :D
I've seen a TV show "Ilmuwan Islam" on TV3 and I can't remember much of the details but I've learned that al-Jazari who lives in the 12th century is a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, astronomer etc who made amazing inventions that contribute much heavily to this modern world. I can't remember much of the details but he made an ingenious method to present his inventions to the public, for the fear of being accused of magic. He could fool all the people that he want, but he remained humble because of his imaan, his firm belief in God.
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