Min Qolbi

Assalamualaikum wrt,

If I asked you what you thought about exams, what exactly would your answer be?
-"frightening", "scary", "teeth-shattering", "awful"... or you might probably run away from me from asking such peculiar question (must be a real geek to run away from me).

But seriously, what do you think about exams?

Ada seorang budak ni yang sangat2 genius, org kate tak pernah fail sekali pun dlm hidup dia and his marks for exams are always 95% and above (never less), dan dlm satu sekolah die tak pernah dpt nombor lg tinggi dr 3. Hebat betul budak ni kan? (jealouslah pulak...) Berita tentang kepintaran budak ni pun tersebar satu negara, dan di sebuah sekolah yg sangat prestigiouslah kononnya, pengetuanya pun memberi tawaran kpd budak ini untuk masuk sekolah die, belajar for 6 months only untuk SPM - and not only that, semua answer schemes untuk soalan peperiksaan yang besar itu will be passed to him. All he has to do is study that answer schemes for 6 months and jawab soalan2 yg dah diberi jawapannya bulat2. And the great thing about this prestigious school is it has all the facilities you want. Nak tuition? Cikgu sentiasa ade 24 jam kalau nk bertanya? swimming pool? gelanggang tennis, bola sepak, etc? bilik yg sgt selesa n ade air-cond? ape2 sajelah...

Budak ni dgn selambenye pula ckp tak nak... Tak ke bengang pengetua tu tadi? Aduh2, org da bg jln kluar yg senang tp dia tak nak pulak.

And here's the billion-dollar question; takutkah anda semua (yg tgh bace ni...) pada hari kiamat???
-"Mestilah takut, siapa yang tak?", "AAAH!!! Esok nak kiamat ke???!!!" or you might probably run away from me again (this time, I might understand why).

Sepatutnya kite sbg org Islam, patut rase seronok, happy sebab ada hari qiamat ni. Because with every work that we do, every amal soleh, every good deed that we do because of Him... when The Day comes, we will be protected and gain His Blessings to enter jannah. Indeed, we should be motivated to work hard. Setiap amal soleh yang kita buat akan dibalas olehNya. And in some ways we are quite similar to the genius boy I told you about before.

"Hai orang-orang yang beriman, mahukah kamu aku tunjukkan suatu perniagaan yang dapat menyelamatkan kamu dari azab yang pedih?"
"(Iaitu) kamu beriman kepada Allah dan rasul-Nya dan berjihad di jalan Allah dengan harta dan jiwamu. Itulah yang lebih baik bagi kamu jika kamu mengetahuinya."
As-Saff:10-11

The offer has already been made, the answer scheme... well, it comes with the offer as well... It really is up to us whether we want to accept it or not. A few verses from the Quran is not suffice enough? Well, we have the whole Quran in our hands, don't we? Use it, study it... for the Exam to come. And facilities you ask?

"Bukankah Kami telah menjadikan bumi itu sebagai hamparan?"
"Dan gunung-ganang sebagai pasak?"
"Dan Kami jadikan kamu berpasang-pasangan,"
"dan Kami jadikan tidurmu untuk istirahat,"
"dan Kami jadikan malam sebagai pakaian,"
"dan Kami jadikan siang untuk mencari penghidupan,"
"dan Kami bina di atas kamu tujuh buat langit yang kukuh,"
"dan Kami jadikan (matahari) pelita yang amat terang (benderang),"
"dan Kami turunkan dari awan air yang mencurah-curah,"
"supaya Kami tumbuhkan dengan air itu biji-bijian dan tumbuh-tumbuhan,"
"dan kebun-kebun yang subur?"
An-Naba':6-16

And if you make another list of it, I bet you can find a billion other facilities that Allah has granted us. And in the end, it all comes down to us; do we really want to take up on that offer or not?

If we recall the story about the genius boy... Strangely, he disregarded the offer. Maybe he thought why should he go through such hard work when he already has achieved so much? He is now officially the most genius boy, he could get tons of money if he voluntered to get his brains experimented on (ok, that is quite bizarre) or if he has rich parents, he could just sit around all day, playing video games and enjoying himself. There is another possibility that he is scared of failing the exam...

Many of us get too distracted with the world; with our possessions and material wealth. Sometimes, our love for the riches of the world surpasses beyond control and at one point, we become ignorant and arrogant, thinking why should we be tested when we are obviously too good for it (perasan btol)? We forget that this world, this lifetime is temporary and that in the afterlife is something we should be chasing for. And our fear of the Big Day? Our fear of failing the hisab? Why should we fear of failing it? Bukankah Allah itu Maha Adil lagi Bijaksana? Maha Pemurah dan Penyayang terhadap hamba-hambaNya yang soleh... We should be determined to work hard for Him instead of moping and worrying about failing.

Wallahu'alam.