Min Qolbi

Hidayah itu ibaratnya seperti kita sedang lena tidur dan di luar sana cahaya yang terang benderang sedang mengintip melalui celah-celah langsir yang menutupi bilik kita. Apakah kita mahu bangun dari lena dan tilam yang empuk untuk membuka langsir dan membiarkan cahaya di luar sana menerangi bilik kita atau terus tidur hingga cahaya itu terus lenyap?

Jangan disangka hidayah itu akan terus terpampang di hadapan mata kita... We have to take the first step to reach out for it.

Ya Muqallibal qulub... Thabbit qulubana 'ala deenik.
"Wahai Tuhan yang membolak-balikkan hati, tetapkanlah hati-hati ini di dalam Ad-deenMu..."

Wallahu'alam.

Assalamualaikum wrt,

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

"Ah, Farah Fadhil... kamu rasa kamu ni anasir ke qabil?"

Terkebil-kebil mendengar soalan itu diajukan kepada aku. For all this time, I've been hearing about all the theoritical explanation about anasir taghyir and qabil taghyir but I've never categorised myself. I've never evaluated myself before. For those of you who doesn't know what qabil and anasir taghyir are, they are two categories/types of mad'u you will find yourself facing with in da'wah. Anasir are those who are very influential to their surroundings; they have sort of like an aura where whatever he/she says, everyone is sure to follow. Someone like the president of an organization, ketua geng, the Queen Bee... you know, those type of people. Of course, once you are able to attract anasir to join together and work for Islam, they will be the most productive... They are able to make the people around them to follow them as well, but thing is, you have to work twice harder and they probably will have commitment issues because they are also occupied with other things, like presidenting a club or something like that. And then there are the qabils, those who prefer to lay low in any social groups and they are easily-influenced. Easily-attracted, I daresay.

"Ha? Emmm... Qabil lagi kot...."

Come to think of it, I found this path... the path that I'm walking on right now because of my qabil-ness (is there such a word..?). Syukur lillah because without Him I would never have found the true purpose of my life. Macam seorang ustaz ini pernah berkata... Aku bukan pergi mencari hidayah, tetapi hidayah itu yang datang melanggar aku. Well, something along those lines.

I'm not really good with words. Infact, I've never once found myself good with words. Many times, I've misused words... hurt my friends' feelings, saying really farcical things with no purpose at all and another billion things I've done which I'm not proud of. Sometimes, I get caught up in conversations that I really don't see any purpose of having them in the first place. Astaghfirullah... And at other times, while I'm not talking, I keep quiet. I keep most feelings to myself. Many of my friends have said before that sometimes, I can be very quiet... It's just that to start a conversation that is worth conversing about is not one of my best traits.

"I sent an email to my loved one, just the other day
It's sad communication has evolved this way.
We use so many words but have so little to relay
as angels scribble down every letter that we say.
All the viral attachments sent and passionate insults we vent
It's easy to be arrogant behind user passwords we invent.
But on the day the scrolls are laid, with every word and deed displayed,
when we read our accounts, I know, for one, I'll be afraid."
-Dawud Wharnsby Ali

So, I still find myself a qabil. But I know, I cannot stay in one altitude forever. That isn't istiqamah. To be steadfast, to thabat in this Deen... there's always something we should improve about ourselves. Hijrah. Keep moving forward.

"Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah . That is better for you, if you only knew" (Taubah, 9:41)

Till then, wallahu'alam.

Semasa cuti summer yang lepas, my family had a small gathering with my dad's side of the family. Then, as usual... exchange of greetings, news of recent events in the family, aunts talking about their own husbands, children, grandchildren and uncles talking about business affairs. Agak terasa left out di sebalik perbualan mereka but I really like listening to one of my uncle's stories; he likes theology. His interest in religion is somewhat profound. Tetapi aku akui, pegangannya memang sesat. Tetapi yang menariknya, dia sangat berminat tentang Islam and there was one time, he said that Malaysian education should incorporate teachings of the Quran for the students not only for Muslim students but also for other students too. And economically as well. He admitted that the prophet saw was the best example of how we should live our life, moderately and not too over the top. He was also amazed at how Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. managed to spread Islam more than 2/3 of the world. Aku mengangguk tanda setuju, gembira pula ada orang berfikir sedemikian.

But the part which aggravates me the most was when he talked about how all the religions are the same; they convey only one thing. Truth. Bukan itu sahaja; kadang-kadang dia suka menafsir ayat2 Quran mengikut pandangan dia sendiri. Dia akui yang dia selalu juga berjumpa dgn ustaz2 utk bertanyakan hal2 Islam but when time doesn't really stand on his side, he results to reading it according to his own point of view. Dia berminat dengan Islam tetapi pada masa yang sama, dia tetap pada pendirian Buddhism dan Christian atau apa2 sahaja yang dipegangnya.

Pada pendapat aku, ilmunya tentang Islam masih di permukaan sahaja dan dia hanya mengambil bahagian2 yang dia rasa "convenient" kepada dirinya. Ibaratnya seperti jika dikatakan sekuntum bunga itu cantik dan diambilnya satu kelopak atau daunnya sahaja, masakan kita tahu sama ada bunga itu cantik atau tidak???

Semoga dia diberi hidayah oleh Allah. Semoga kelak dia membaca Quran bukan semata-mata untuk menambah ilmu atau membuat kajian atau sebagai penglipur lara sahaja, tetapi dia membaca dan belajar untuk melaksanakan, untuk menjadikan Quran sebagai garis panduan hidup dan meng"establish" hubungan yang lebih erat dengan Allah. Kesimpulannya, semoga kita semua mempunyai perasaan sebegitu terhadap Al-Quran Al-Karim.

Seperti kata Sayyid Qutb,"Perasaan ini jugalah yang menanam Al-Quran ke dalam jiwa mereka hingga ia meresap menjadi panduan dalam gerakan mereka, ia melahirkan pelajaran yang menggerakkan aktiviti, pelajaran yang tidak lagi merupakan teori yang bersarang di dalam kepala manusia dan di halaman kertas dan akhbar-akhbar sahaja, bahkan ianya menjadi kenyataan yang melahirkan kesan dan peristiwa yang mengubah garisan hidup."

"Bulan Ramadhan, bulan yang di dalamnya diturunkan (permulaan) al-Qur'an sebagai petunjuk bagi manusia dan penjelasan-penjelasan mengenai petunjuk itu dan pembeda (antara yang hak dan yang bathil)" 2:185

Pada suatu masa tidak jauh dari masa ini, aku sering terfikir cinta dunia itu indah, penuh keasyikan dan aku sering leka. Leka terhadapMu, ya Rabbi.

Maafkanlah hambaMu ini... Maafkanlah diri yang lemah lagi hina ini yang terkadang tidak mampu untuk menepis godaan dunia ini tanpa kekuatan dariMu.

Di saat aku sendiri, aku bertanya pada diriku, bagaimanakah sesuatu yang berada di depan mataku, sesuatu yang selalu aku alami hari-harian boleh membuat aku lebih jauh dariMu? Cinta dunia telah mengaburi hatiku. Perasaan cinta yang aku anggap indah itu datangnya dariMu, ya Ilahi.. Mengapa aku sering terlupa? Cinta yang Kau anugerahkan kepadaku jauh lebih indah, jauh lebih murni dan tiada batasannya. Namun, aku masih mencari-cari cinta dunia yang sementara.

Ya Rahman, aku memohon kepadaMu... di kala aku alpa, ingatkanlah diri ini. Di kala aku asyik, kejutkanlah hatiku ini dari keasyikan dunia. "Letakkanlah dunia di tanganku, bukan di hatiku."

Dan di kesempatan ini, aku ingin sekali lagi kembali kepadaMu..

Farah Md. Fadhil
19 Syawal

Assalamualaikum wrt,

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Finally the end of the week has arrived.. but I doubt I can get any rest from it... indeed, the best rest or the most fulfilling rest we can attain is in paradise. These past few weeks, I can't seem to get any study done during weekends.. maybe it's because of my lack of time scheduling or maybe because I haven't given it my best shot. Maybe it's the combination of both. Hmm.. semoga Allah permudahkan urusan kita...

Suddenly, I have this rush of ideas through my head but I don't really know what to talk about. Anyway...

A week ago, we hosted an "open house". Before the event, we discussed thoroughly about where to serve what, who should do what or what should go where or how much should we pay for what and whatnot, and out of the blue adalah seorang hamba Allah who asked us all,"What is the purpose of us hosting this?" and he wasn't asking sarcastically or just for the fun of it (I think). Maybe he was confused or maybe he wanted us all to check our real intention or niat of doing this. Some answered,"boleh praktis... nnti nak kawen senang..." (I laughed at this) and some answered "Boleh makan2 nanti..." and "Nak rapatkan silaturrahimla..." And that got me thinking of this hadith (perhaps many of you have heard it before)...

Narrated on the authority of Amirul Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:

"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated."

[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Sometimes, even the smallest of actions, when you do it with utmost sincerity and just to get His Acceptance and Mercy, with His will... you will get what you wished for.

"Mereka yang berjuang untuk keredhaan Kami, pasti Kami tunjukkan jalan Kami, dan Allah tetap bersama orang yang berbuat baik." [29:69]

Abu Hurairah r.a. berkata: Bersabda Nabi s.a.w.: Saya telah melihat seorang masuk syurga, dan bersenang-senang kerana ia telah memotong suatu pohon yang mengganggu di jalan kaum muslimin.

(Riwayat Muslim)

Dalam riwayat lain: Seorang berjalan maka terganggu oleh dahan di jalan, maka ia berkata: Demi Allah saya akan menyingkirkan dahan ini dari jalan supaya tidak mengganggu pada kaum muslimin, maka ia masuk syurga.

Betapa penyayangnya Allah kan? I mean, if someone had moved a branch of a tree from the streets, we'd all be thinking... "Finally, org mpsj (majlis perbandaran subang jaya, in case some of you don't know) da buat pun keje diorg.. punyelah lame..." but if that person, pekerja mpsj tu really intended to move the tree branch because of Allah and so it would no longer be blocking a man from going to the mosque, imagine what would Allah grant him? Even if no one knows about what he did, Allah will surely, most definitely know about it.

"Dan semua yang kamu kerjakan dari kebaikan, maka Allah mengetahuinya." [2:197]

So, why waste time performing actions without a purpose when you can do them with exceptionally one purpose-because of Allah, and be granted with twice the good that you did?

provocative thought of the day. (hope this is provocative enough) я надеюсь!

Wallahu'alam.

Assalamualaikum wrt...

On account of not having any particular muse for the time being (and missing home very much), I'd like to introduce you to:

Amir, Ayman, Nuha and Nawal

Aqeel



Adam and Akmal



Alfi Dubies



Laina



Ilyana

Assalamualaikum wrt,

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Alhamdulillah, eventhough the weather today was quite cold and most of us were exhausted, we managed again to perform tarawikh prayers today. Syukur lillah, setakat ini... sejak kita memulakan solat tarawikh di bilik ini, tak pernah sekali pun tertinggal. Harapnya dapat istiqamah.

This week was my second class of Philosophy. Frankly, most of the time I have no idea why we are even studying it. Hm, mungkin ada hikmah di sebaliknya. There was one part while we were discussing about Greek philosophers and there came up the term 'contemplation'. While my groupmates and the teacher were discussing what on earth 'contemplation' is - reclusing oneself and reflecting or thinking deeply and really, I have absolutely no idea what the Greek philosophers were thinking about while contemplating - I remembered that the Prophet pbuh once also often contemplated. And he contemplated about the society he lived in. How during the jahiliyah times, there were all sorts of misdoings and chaos around him and there came a time where he could not stand it any longer. It was then that he received his first revelation as a messenger of Allah. With one very important verb, iqra'! or read!..

But contemplation does not stop there, of course. Being a dai'e, contemplating is also one of the qualities we must have. Yes, mixing around with people is also important, for without mixing around or making new friends, how can one possibly enrich ukhuwwah? And without ukhuwwah, how can a dai'e fulfil his responsibilities of dakwah?

'Uzlah, or contemplating is one of the qualities a dai'e must have. But unlike the Greek philosophers who sit around 'thinking deeply' for hours and hours, a dai'e contemplates to bring himself closer to Allah. It is a way to communicate with Him, be it a prayer or performing namaz, or zikir or just telling Him about everything that you are feeling. As I have heard from an ustaz before, without establishing a strong relationship with Allah, how can you possibly let others see the beauty of Islam? If you are faced with challenges and difficulties while inviting people to the path of Islam (and undeniably, it is never-ending), how can you hold steadfast, how can you istiqamah without the strength that Allah grants you? Thus, our iman and our faith must also be stronghold in order to always continue to tsabat on this path.

Ibnu Taimiyyah once said, "Ada keharusan bagi hamba untuk melakukan 'uzlah
agar dapat beribadah kepada Allah, berdzikir kepadaNya, membaca ayat-ayat-Nya,
melakukan muhasabah terhadap dirinya, berdoa kepada-Nya, meminta ampunan-Nya,
menjauhi tindakan-tindakan yang jelek, dan lain sebagainya.

'Uzlah is also one of many ways to istighfar and reflect on the past mistakes which we have done and learn from them. To ask forgiveness from Allah and promise never to repeat them again... To return to Him...

And lastly, always remember that...
"Verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest." (13:28)

*Meluahkan ketidakpuasan hati belajar Philosophy..*