Isnin, 30 Julai 2012

4 March 2010 - 30 Julai 2012

Jack industrial sewing machine.

2 tahun 4 bulan. More than a hundred carriers. Such a horse. Thank you. Jasamu dikenang. :')


-----
Neeza Zaini
www.fb.com/NeezaneedleS

Jumaat, 27 Julai 2012

Ramadhan 1433


Alhamdulillah. Dah seminggu kita berpuasa. Seriously kejap sungguh masa berlalu. Dan Alhamdullillah jugak pencapaian target Ramadhan this year so far berjalan accordingly.

My target this year pertama-tamanya is to quit coffee, or my version the nescafe. I drink nescafe like I drink water: pagi, tengahari, petang and malam. And I know is not a good practice of food so I decided to trash it from my body system. In fact dh start a week before Ramdhan which I cut my intake to once a day, morning je. And on the last day of syaaban, I didn't even take my morning coffee. Sampai tengahari kepala dh berdenyut-denyut sakit. And petang tu baru minum. Tu pun tak abis one glass. Sakit kepala was berlanjutan sampai hari Rabu. And on Thursday and today, alhamdullillah its gone. I think by now, my body system is detoxified from caffein. Harap dapat terus kekal. InsyaAllah. Ameen.

Secondly, just like others, I want to khatam Quran. And since I know I am a slow reader (sebab nk baca terjemahan lagi) so I start this too, earlier dari March lagi dh start baca. Which at the end of Syaaban, I am already at juzuk 20. I know, mengelat bunyi nya. But with 10juzuk left, semangat nk mengatam tu tinggi. InsyaAllah.

And my third target for Ramdan tis year is to wake up for Qiyam. I know I can do this. Sebab kita org puan ni ada extra kerja nk kena bangun prepare sahur semua, so dengan bangun an hour earlier, bole la nk berteleku disejadah sebentar sebelum prep sahur. And to achive tis, I change my masa tido. Sleep early at 1030 and wake up at 3 in the morning. So far, so good jugak. Alhamdullillah.

And as for terawih, sebab anak2 tido awal dan bangun awal, I don't want to disturb their body clock so I decided to do at home. Mat sorg je gi terawih kat surau.

Semua untuk seminggu ni, adalah Alhamdullillah achievable. Thanks Allah. Semoga momentum ini dapat dikekalkan sehingga ke penghujungnya. Ameen.

Btw, picture is me with my new tudung Siti Khadijah. Love tis tudung buat I nmpk slim di muka. Hehee…

Salam Ramadhan to all ♥

Rabu, 25 Julai 2012

Khamis, 19 Julai 2012

Peluang kedua

Alhamdulillah. Sekarang ni ada tabiat baru. Tabiat yg baik yg suka sy nk kongsikan bersama. Previously kalo menjahit, I will be jahit and concentrate. But then bila ada komputer dlm bilik jahit tu, saya pasang ngaji sambil menjahit. Tapi tula, sebab I am not fluent in Arabic, so ngaji tu dengar seimbas lalu jer… tak de apa2 perasaan. Then Mat ckp, why not u just listen to lectures. Alhamdullillah, I've listen to a lot of lectures from various uztaz and uztadza: Nouman Ali Khan, Yasmin Mogahed, Yahya Ibrahim, Yasir Qadhi. I recommended this scholars. If u guys free, do take some times to listen to their lectures. Kat youtube banyak. Just search their name.

Pass few night, I've been listened to Yasmin Mogahed. Tak ingat lecture mana, I will recall back and insyaAllah embed at this blog. Dlm ucapan dia, dia bercakap, 'Kalo kita ingkar akan suruhan Allah swt, Allah akan tidak mahu langsung bertemu kita di akhirat kelak. Jadila kita hamba terbuang di daerah Jahannam. Kekal di dalamnya'. MasyaAllah, seriau!!!

And I was reading Quran and bumped onto the ayat: surah Mukminin. Ayat 99-100 dan ayat 106-108.
Di mana apabila kita mati, dan bertemu di sana, kita memohon untuk peluang kedua. Di mana, dah takde dah. Tis is a one way journey. Tak ada peluang kedua bila sudah Mati. Dah sadisnya adalah apabila Allah swt sendiri berfirman, Dia tak nk tengok kita: Jangan berbicara dengan Aku!

Aduhai… bayangkan kalo kat dunia ni, our parent atau our spouse tak nk cakap ngan kita, sedihnya berhari2 kan. Tak lalu makan apa semua. Ini, di akhirat, Allah swt, our Master, He create us, tak nk dh ngan kita sbb kita ingkar padanya. Akan kekal di dalam Jahannam… kawan-kawan, masyaAllah.

So, dikesempatan bulan Ramadhan ini, sy just nk menyampaikan ilmu sy yg serba kurang ini: Hidup dunia sementara. Akhirat jugak yg kekal. 'Apabila Allah bertanya, berapa lama kamu hidup di dunia? Kita akan menjawab satu hari atau lebih. Tapi Allah swt kata, tak, kamu di bumi sebentar shj. Jika kamu betul2 mengetahui' (Al-Mukminin ayat 112-114).

This life is like a dream. Pangkat, harta, semua tu tak penting. How we worship Allah? Di mana Allah di hati kita?

Kawan2 yg masih tak bertudung, aurat kurang terjaga (untuk saya jugak ni) sempena Ramadhan marilah kita ambil berkatnya bulan ini untuk berhijrah. Bukan untuk bangsa Melayu, untuk keluarga, atau untuk menjaga pandangan lelaki. Bukan! Ia satu suruhan. Allah swt dh gariskan buat perempuan Muslim. Kita sayang Allah, kita Cinta Allah swt, buat la apa yang digariskanNya. Jangan nnt kita mengucapkan celaka ke atas diri kita sendiri di akhirat kelak. Nauzubillah.




-----

Neeza Zaini

www.fb.com/NeezaneedleS

Isnin, 16 Julai 2012

Islam and Ego

To add on the sickness of the heart (refer previous post: Heart Therapy).

Penyakit Riaq dalam beragama by Uzt Nouman Ali Khan.


Bro Yahya turut bercerita, zaman Nabi saw dulu, para munafiqun (Abdullah bin Ubai and his fellow) will wake up every Fajr to pray at the mosque if Nabi saw is the Imam, just to show off to all that their praying Fajr.

Sadly, today, there is a lot of muslim,  tak tahu la munafiq ke tak, nk bangun Fajr pun tak larat apatah lagi nk berjemaah di masjid. Mebe muslim nowaday dh hilang sifat riaq beragama sbb kita lebih kepada riaq keduniaan.. *think! huhuu..

Self-chk: If somebody correct u, whats ur 1st reaction? If u said, how dare he said that to me, then u hv an ego problem...

Heart Therapy

14-15 July 2012, UMalaya
Al-Kautsar Institute
Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim

***

Alhamdullillah. Syukur pada Allah di atas kesempatan dan peluang untuk menghadiri kelas ini. I was literally pray asking for Allah, I wanna new heart: sbb aku rasa hati yang ada sekarang ni kotor, dan bila Mat ckp, 'there is a course conducted by Al-Kautsar that u should go' dan bila tengok kursus tu bertajuk Heart Therapy: Purification of the Soul, I cried... Terharu, sbb pantas jugak Allah swt makbulkan doa.

Ok, berbalik kpd kursus, we've been given a note folder, which cover the whole course.. so I will just share with u some of it, the penyakit-penyakit hati. Secara keseluruhan nya, penyakit hati ni memang dikaitkan dengan syaitan.. tapi bisikan syaitan tu sikit sangat.. hembusan dia memang sikit sangat-sangat la.. yang menakutkan sebenarnya ialah nafsu kita sendiri. Contoh yg dia bagi, kita kunci jam kita untuk Fajr.. the moment we wake up, utk matikan jam, that moment Syaitan dah pergi.. kekuatan untuk bangun, ambil wuduq, berdiri mengangkat takbir.. itu adalah moment kita dengan nafsu kita.. samada nk ikut nafsu tido, atau takut akan Allah dengan mengerjakan suruhannya.. 

syaitan mmg ada memberi cucukan but its like 20% out of it.. another 80% atas diri kita sendiri..

ok berbalik kepada penyakit hati, diuraikan dengan agak terperinci setiap satunya:
1. Marah
- sifat semulajadi manusia.
- para nabi pun ada marah pada kaum mereka
- semasa marah kena cuba belajar untuk mengawalnya: perkataan yg dikeluarkan apabila kita tengah marah, tengok: adakah kita perlu minta maaf kemudiannya. Jika Ya, then we really hv an anger management problem.
- kena lebih bersabar. Kalo rasa nk marah, beredar.. seems rude but kata kesat yg dikeluarkan oleh lidah far more rude.

2. Menceritakan hal orang (ghibah) atau membawa fitnah
- sah-sah lah haraam.
- elakkan berkumpul, sebab punca utama bila berkumpul nk borak, borak hal orang
- be in good companian
- ingat: kalo org tu suka bercerita ttg hal org depan kita, he/she might as well do the same, depan org lain dia cerita pasal kita plak.

3. Hasad dengki
- yg ni apabila kita tak bole tengok org lain lebih dr kita.
- kalo ia perkara yg baik, org tu dh khatam Quran, kita belum, then takpa go ahead..
- but masalah nya bila perkara duniawi, this will eat us. Org yg kita envy tu, dia takan effect sedikit pun, tapi kita yg akan sakit hati, insecure disebabkan kejayaan that particular person.
- so how to cure, count our blessing. Mcm kononnya org tu pakai kereta besar dan kita jeles, just fikir, with my small Mivi, my monthly installment tak la bnyk sngat, nk parking pun senang, minyak pun murah.. Kita akan berpuashati dengan hidup kita. Kalo org tu pangkat besar, just tengok, tanggungjawab dia lagi besar, if anything happen, people will find him first.. by this kita akan bersyukur dengan apa yg kita ada.. Allah jadikan mengikut kemampuan setiap orang. kena bersyukur.

4. Menipu
- nmpk mcm masalh kecil je, tapi menipu ni dia bole merebak.
- let say, a husband ckp kat isteri dia blk jm5, but then ada kawan ajak pergi minum, dia smpi rumah jm7. when the wife asked, 'pergi mana? kata jm5 balik', sebab malas nk bercerita panjang, he just said, traffic jam.. then the wife dapat tahu, org kasi tau... dekat sini akan ada bisikan syaitan: your husband lie to you.. then the next time balik lambat, ckp traffic jam, wife tak percaya dah.. then ada hal2 lain berlaku, perkara awak tipu sy awak pergi minum akan ungkit balik.. yada-yada..
so, if anything just tell people the truth.. kepala otak pun tak pening nk fikir alasan apa aku nk bagi nak bohong ni..
- the problem w menipu, sekali sekala buat, lama2 jadi habit.. melekat kat lidah.. 

5. Riya' (angkuh)
- rasa diri ni bagus
- this must be very careful: the hidden syirik.. jadi kita worship ourselves by forgetting that everything happen by Allah will (lahaulawalaquwataillabilla)
- ini juga terjadi bila kita buat sesuatu perkara bukan kerana Allah swt.. contoh: kalau solat sendirian, Lepas baca Fatihah, baca Mana-mana surah 3Qul, then bila disuruh jadi imam, lepas Fatihah, baca surah yasin.. dalam hati ckp 'i dont wanna show them that I only knew 3Qul'..
- to overcome riya', betulkan Niat: i do this because of Allah, He commanded me to do this, I hope He accept my deed, and Reward me.. Semua kerana Allah. Allah yg suruh, Allah yg terima, dan Allah jua yg reward.. bukan sebab buat ni nk naik pangkat, org puji..

6. Cinta dunia
- this is when, dunya in your heart and not in your hand
- kena ingat: everything that lead u to Allah then that is a blessing, evrything that turn you away from Allah is a curse. tak kira la kaya, miskin, kawin, cerai, hidup, mati..
- remember that we live in the dunya for akhirah.. so when the dunya leave us, we will not die..

7. Kedekut
- ingat setiap apa yg kita ada bukan milik mutlak kita. Allah bole tarik balik bila2 masa, hatta jari di tangan sekalipun
- Jangan kedekut sebab itu tanda cinta dunya.
- Generous to other, Allah will be generous to us
- bila kita berderma, kita buat bukan utk that particular person, kita buat utk Allah.. contoh kata ada sindeket minta derma, kita bagi, kita tak dapat apa pun dengan sindeket tersebut.. but we just do it because later Allah will reward us.. bagila walau 10sen sekali pun.. tak jadik miskin dengan menderma.. 

8. Benci
- islam menganjurkan kasih sayang
- benci bole merosakkan hubungan
- kenapa benci? kala ada tak suka, let him/her know.. 
- benci can lead to malas nk amik tahu, mcm bila org yg dibenci tu ditimpa kesusahan, kita jadi gembira

Ok itu antara topik yg dicover sepanjang 2 r hujung minggu.. seperti biasa my notes is based on my pemahaman.. berada di dewan kuliah lagi bermakna.. ketawa, nangis semua ada..

Mcm Bro Yahya cerita (the story quite long actually), datuk dia semasa hayat, memang cintakan Quran.. will read it 2juz after Fajr, 1juzuk after Zhur, Asr, and Mghrb and another 2juzuk after Isyak.. 7 juzuk per day sepanjang hidup for 60years.. So waktu mati tu, masa nk mengebumikan jenazah, ramai yang datang.. nearly 100buses come to give penghormatan terakhir.. Kalo kita ikhlas dengan agama Allah, jalan nya tetap tak mudah.. but Allah tunjuk di pengakhirannya.. He rewards! 

Ok, thats all.. need to go back to my daily chores.. Semoga yg membaca mendapat manfaat..
Terima kasih.

Jumaat, 13 Julai 2012

How to make this Ramadan the best Ramadan - Zohra Sarwari

Life Webinar
**

Take advantage that Ramadhan is the month Allah swt gives us Oppurtunity to refresh our imaan. Not all got the opportunity to meet Ramadhan.

Step 1: Preparation for Ramadhan:
1) Decorate house to welcome the Ramadhan- its so special, let all the member of the house know about it.
2) Buy gifts / eid prepare early - so that when Ramadhan comes, its time for ibadah.
3) Start reading Quran now so that we can finish when Ramadhan end. Read with meaning, translation. Useless reading the Quran without meaning. We cannot act on it if we dont know the meaning. Its Allah words, how we gonna talk/understand what Allah said without the translation.
4) Makes dua list. Goal what u want to change about urself.
5) Prepare physically and mentally by fasting Monday and Thursday.

Important about Ramadhan:
Teach us Sabar!!! Keep remind urself.. I am fasting.. I'm fasting.. Zikr..
Make dua for self and people instead of swearing or backbiting people.
Jaga lidah, jgn mengumpat.. fasting will not be accepted (hadith add here)
Listen more and talk less.
Obey ur parent even if its inconvenient. Be the best to our parent, family then to the outside people.

Step 2: Write ur goal
What u wanna change. Get rid the bad habits.
- 30mins with the Quran daily
- make full use of the 2/3 night: wake up early before sahur to tahajjud, other solat sunat
- pray right after the adzan
- sabar
- stay away from ghibah and be in good company
- listening to other good islamic lectures

Step 3: Take massive action
Achieve ur goal!

stay in Halaal and beneficial knowledge 
stay away from the bad habit: those that is not good for the soul
Share with community good words- Fb, Twitter

schedule everything u wanna do- 30min Quran after Fajr/Asr
make goal that u can achieve
How to achive: think that tis is the last day/Ramadhan that u hv..
make sure goal are small and achievable.. so that we're not overwhelm..
small thing will create momentum

Give urself a reward - buying urself a good book.. when u achieve something
Preserve the momentum that uve gain during Ramadhan tru out the year till we meet Ramadhan again.

Think: pain vs pleasure 
pain of unable to fast because poor health
pain of not able to reach the nx Ramadhan
Dont take tis for granted.. tis is the best moment to coming back to the deen..
if its go away, it too let..


Ahad, 8 Julai 2012

And thanks kids for being such a charm. :)

While I was busy demostrating.

FRIM, 6 July 2012.

Spread d Babywearing LOVE @ FRIM

Alhamdulillah. I been invited to talk about the goodness of Babywearing at the FRIM last Friday.

Thanks for inviting me. It is an honored to meet everyone and I hope everybody who listened to my talk will gain something beneficial about babywearing. Yang baik datangnya dari Allah swt, yang mana silap dan salah adalah dari saya.. Again thanks so much <3

Isnin, 2 Julai 2012

Do we really Love Allah the most?

Yasmin Mogahed
Being ME Conference, KL
30th June 2012

***

In teaching Islam, I think there’s a point where we went wrong. I think, somewhere along the line we turned Islam into a list of do’s and don’ts. Into “harams and halals.” We teach our children about Hell fire, before they can even say “AlRahman-ur Raheem” (the most gracious the most merciful). Sunday school has become a place to teach you all the things that are ‘haram’ to do and all the punishments that you’ll be dealt if you do them. When someone converts, the first thing they’re told is that they need to change their name and stop celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Somewhere along the line I think we started going about Islam from the outside in. Instead of the inside, out. But, we need to ask ourselves: How did the Prophets do it?

One of the companions relates that Ayesha said: “If the first thing to be revealed was: ‘Do not drink alcoholic drinks.’ people would have said, ‘We will never leave alcoholic drinks,’ and if there had been revealed, ‘Do not commit illegal sexual intercourse, ‘they would have said, ‘We will never give up illegal sexual intercourse.” (sahih bukhari)
She goes on to explain that the first verses to be revealed were about the Day of Judgement and about Allah.
What is our mother Ayesha (RA) talking about here? She is diagnosing, in her wisdom, why we have so many Muslims today saying “We will never leave alcoholic drinks,”  “We will never give up illegal sexual intercourse.” “We will never give up smoking hooka or pot, or pornography. We will never give up dating and all the so called pleasures associated with it.”

We refuse to give up these things because we have not yet understood the heart of Islam. For years we have been bombarded with the self-righteous ‘haram police’, but never have we been exposed to the ‘heart police’.
The Prophet pbuh has taught us why we end up falling into this type of corruption, why we fall into these types of sins which we insist upon.

On the authority of Abu ‘Abdullah al-Nu’man bin Bashir, radiyallahu ‘anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, say:
“Truly, what is lawful is evident, and what is unlawful is evident, and in between the two are matters which are doubtful which many people do not know. He who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless, and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his flock around a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware, every king has a preserve, and the things Allah has declared unlawful are His preserve.”
But we stop there! But the hadith doesn’t stop there.
This hadith begins by talking about staying away from haram and sticking to the halal, and that’s usually where we stop. We are taught that certain things are forbidden and we are commanded by our teachers and parents to stay away from them. But the hadith didn’t end there. And yet *we* end there. We end it at: “Stay away from haram and doubtful matters.” Period.

But the Prophet, pbuh, continues the hadith telling us HOW. How can we stay away from haram and doubtful matters? How can we protect ourselves from the preserve of Allah? Through islah ul qalb. Rectifying our hearts. The hadith continues:  “Beware, in the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and behold, it is the heart.”
The heart is the master. You see, human beings are all about love. We obey what we love. Whatever fills this lump of flesh called our hearts dictates how we act. And when it comes to love, we make a lot of claims. We claim to love a lot of things. But like the great poet once said, “Love is like a law suit. It requires evidence.”

What is the evidence of love? What is the direct consequence of this powerful emotion? Think for a moment about human love. What happens when someone is in love with another person? That person will desire nothing more than to serve, please and be close to the one they love. And this service is not motivated by begrudging obligation, but rather a deep inner drive born directly out of that love.

Love speaks for itself. When you love someone, you do what pleases them. And your greatest joy is in pleasing and serving the one you love. It is an honor to serve the one you love. Imagine if you are in the presence of a famous person. I know I’m not in Southern California, but supposed you met Kobe, how would you act? “Can I get you something?!” “A glass of water?”  “Can I tie your shoe?!” Imagine getting to tie Kobe’s shoe! And then you’d go back home and tell everyone: “I TIED KOBE’S SHOE!!”

You may not care about Kobe, but you understand the sentiment here. There is an honor in serving the one you love. There is tashreef. And it is only once that love is gone or weakened, that serving the person goes from being an honor to just being a burden. It goes from tashreef to only takleef. Sadly, our worship of God is like this: Just a burden.

We don’t pray to seek refuge from the storm of our lives. If we pray at all, we do it to get it out of the way! Or because our parents will keep nagging us if we don’t. Somehow we’ve forgotten that if we don’t pray, we harm no one…not Allah….not our mothers….not our fathers. We harm only our own selves. You see on the Day of Judgment, every man and woman will stand alone in front of Allah. And there is nothing anyone can do for you—except by the permission of Allah. On that Day a mother will be willing to throw away her own child just to save herself!

Please understand the Reality we have forsaken because we are so caught up with our phones, our apps, our friends, our parties, our highs. We’re so caught up with the cute guys and the pretty girls. Please understand, ignoring a Reality doesn’t make it less Real. It’s still going to happen. Being unprepared for something doesn’t stop it from happening. If you chose to stay up all night partying, instead of studying for your final, it doesn’t mean the final won’t happen. It still will. And you only end up failing. If we spend this life just partying, pretending that the final isn’t coming, it won’t stop it from happening. Nothing will stop death. Nothing. Nothing will delay the Day of Judgment. Like that final, the question is only: are…we…prepared?
Or are we too busy playing?

Imagine that the news reported that a huge storm was coming. Imagine that we were told that unless we seek shelter, we and our families would be destroyed. What would we do? If we really believed that a storm was coming, we would run to shelter, right? Only a person who didn’t believe the forecast, would continue playing and ignore the countless warnings. Only if you thought it was a lie. Only if you didn’t really believe. But how could someone KNOW–really know–that a storm was about to hit, and do absolutely nothing to protect themselves and those they loved? Would anyone say, “I’m too busy hanging out”, “I’m too busy on my phone or facebook to run to shelter”, “I’d rather check out this guys’s profile than protect myself from this storm”? No one would say that. And yet, every single time, we put off our prayers, put off wearing hijab, put off giving up dating, put off leaving our poisonous bad company, put off abandoning alcohol…that is exactly what we’re saying.

The fact that we cannot leave these haram things, the fact that we insist: “I will never leave alcoholic drinks,’  ‘I will never give up illegal sexual intercourse.’ ‘I will never give up smoking hooka or pot, or pornography. I will never give up dating and all the so called pleasures associated with it.” That fact that our worship has become only a burden, is a sign that there’s a problem internally. There a problem with our sight. We don’t really see the Storm coming. We don’t really see the Day of Judgment. We haven’t purified and rectified that lump of flesh the Prophet (pbuh) spoke about. And as a result, the rest of our bodies, the rest of our actions, the rest of our lives have become corrupted.
We don’t really see Allah with our hearts. And we haven’t built our love for Him. We haven’t really used our heart for the very purpose for which it was created: To know, to serve, and to love God.

Remember that the first verses revealed were not about haram and halal. They were not about dating or drinking or smoking or pot. They were about the fact that as a matter of certainty, just as certain as I am standing in front of you today, that you and I, will meet our Maker. You and I, will stand in front of Allah and we will be asked.

What did you love most in this world? What did you spend your life doing? What did you run after? Will it last? The things you chase….will…they…last? Will they help you….or will they hurt you….when the illusion of this life has passed?
We need to come back to Allah, before it’s too late. And Often what keeps people from turning back is that they believe their sins are too great for Allah to forgive. To this thought, Allah speaks:

39:53
“Say, ‘O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (Quran 39:53)
39:54

“And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped.” (Quran 39:54)
Brothers and sisters, the storm is coming. Seek refuge in the only place refuge exists. Seek refuge in Allah. I know I was born on March 10th. You and I know what day we were born. But none of us know what day we will die. And many of us think we can live our lives however we want, and then at the time of death just say la illaha illah Allah.

But at the time of death, the tongue cannot speak—except what the heart commands. Whatever is in the heart will come out. If we don’t remember Allah during our life, how will we remember Him during our death? If our heart is full of love of this life, love of status, love of wealth, love of the creation over the Creator, it is that which will speak.  If the heart was full of grudges, jealousy, hatred…that will speak. But if it was full of the love of Allah, that will speak. If in your life, your heart carried only ‘la illaha illa Allah’…that truly there is no refuge, no shelter, no deity worthy of worship but Him’—then, only then, will the tongue be given permission to say: “la illaha illah Allah, Muhammad rasool Allah. “

Allahuma ajalna minhum, wassalamu alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatu.

How to Cross the Oceon of Dunya without Drowning

=""




A lecture by Sis Yasmin Mogahed

Memang ada kegigihan la nak pergi talk ni. I told Mat on Thursday about the talk when Wardina tweeted about it. Dia kata nk pergi tak? Kalau nk pergi kena naik public la sbb dia pun ada seminar RayOfFaiths kat UM tu and habis dekat maghrib. And I said tengok dulu yg BeingMe lecture macamana.. And Alhamdullillah bcoz I am so in Love w her talk at the BeingMe Conf so I decided to take the public transportation challenge just to be there to hear her lecture. And Alhamdullillah, semua dipermudahkan dan dan dapat duduk depan sekali betul-betul mengadap Sis Yasmin dlm dewan kuliah tu. 

Ok, this is my sharing notes. Things yg sempat ditulis mengikut pemahaman saya. Her lecture is of course in English but I translate most in malay for me to be clear. So nota akan bercampur-campur bahasa.

Definasi tajuk: 
Dunia umpama lautan dan kita adalah kapal yang sedang berlayar di atas lautan tersebut untuk menuju ke destinasi. Destinasi kita adalah untuk berjumpa dengan Allah swt. Untuk kekal terapung, dan mampu berlayar, air lautan mestilah tidak masuk ke dalam kapal. Andai air lautan masuk, maka kapal akan karam dan destinasi yang diimpikan tidak akan dicapai. Untuk mencapai destinasi bertemu Allah swt, dunia mesti berada di tangan bukan di hati.. kerana apabila dunia bertapa di hati maka, kita akan menjadi hamba dunia, seperti mana bot yg akhirnya tenggelam di dalam lautan dan dipukul-pukul oleh arus air yang sepatutnya dikemudikan oleh sang kapal.

Untuk tidak tenggelam dan terus terapung berlayar, kita mesti faham:
1) Destinasi.
Mcm kita nk pergi dari satu tempat ke satu tempat. Mungkin kita akan menyinggah tempat2 lain, tapi kita berbalik kepada destinasi awal, sebab: Kita dah set goal yang kita mahu pergi ke tempat itu. Dan kenapa kita mahu pergi ke tempat itu, sebab kita tahu itu Tujuan kita. Ada sesuatu yang kita mahu di tempat tersebut. Sama juga di sini, Destinasi kita adalah Allah, Sebab kita perlu kembali kepada Nya. Dan utk tetap kepada tujuan, we hv to know Him. We hv to hv fear for Him. Masalah sekarang ni dalam hati kita kita tak kenal siapa Allah swt. Kita tak faham kenapa kita nk kena pergi bertemu Nya. We are like a kids, yang disuruh pergi ke sekolah (untuk menuntut ilmu di mana masa depan akan terjamin) sebaliknya dalam perjalanan ke sekolah tersebut, kita menyinggah kedai mainan, and get caught up.. terus tak nak keluar dr kedai mainan tersebut dan lupa atau tidak mahu langsung ke sekolah.
Kedai mainan- best sbb seronok tetapi tiada jaminan. Seronok sementara. -> Dunia
Sekolah- X best, kena exm sumer But dengan ilmu akn membawa kita ke atas. -> Destinasi
Jadi kita kena kenal Allah swt untuk terus berada di landasan yang betul.

2) Purpose
Tujuan. What am i doing here.
Tujuan kita sebenarnya satu jer. Disebut di dalam Al-Quran, firman Allah swt, "Tidak aku ciptakan Jin dan Manusia tetapi untuk Menyembah Allah". Satu je. 

3) Understand the Ocean (duniya)
a) Sementara. Tak kekal. Nabi bersabda bhw setiap kita adalah pengembara/traveller. So mcm kalo kita travel ke suatu tempat, kita duduk hotel, we dont get attached to tht place. Kita tak de la nk beli perabot, cat, hias bilik hotel tu semua. Kita masuk, tidur etc, and then we leave to go to the destination. So sama konsep, jgn attach dengan dunia sbb ia temporary. 
b) We were born to die. Semua yang dihidupkan oleh Allah swt, akan mati. Tiada yang kekal. Perjalanan ini adalah perjalanan Hati. Path of the heart. Not the body. Not physical. So yang bergerak mestilah hati. Hati kena semakin lama semakin tawaduq dan cinta Allah. Di sini jugak, bukan amalan fizikal berbentuk ritual. Mcm seseorang yang kelihatan nya sngt warak, solat, Quran, tapi apabila berlaku musibah (ujian Allah swt) terus melenting, marah, hilang kawalan.. Itu maknanya amalan tak sampai ke hati. 
c) Live is imperfect. Hidup tak sempurna. Di sini, Allah berfirman, "With hardship comes Ease". Duniya: ada masa kita akan gembira, ada masa kita sedih. Tapi dalam kegembiraan, akan ada sedikit kesedihan, dan dalam kesedihan akan tetap ada sedikit kegembiraan. Duniya is just a glimpes of the hereafter. Berbeza di akhirat, if Jannah, ia adalah keseronokan mutlak. Kita akan rasa gembira, tenang. Tak de gusar. And Jahannam, nauuzubillah, kita akan rasa terseksa setiap masa, tanpa sekelumit gembira. All happiness is just a sample so the we yearn for the real thing. 
d) Duniya is a test. Ujian untuk ke destinasi. we were being watch and will be judge. So show the best at all time.
e) Life is a tool, to get to the Creator. Seperti kita diberi toolbox utk membina rumah. Jika kita terlalu seronok dengan toolbox tersebut, jatuh cinta dengan hammer, kita akan lupa tujuan asal untuk membina rumah sebab too distracted w the tools. 
f) Mati sebelum dimatikan. Detachment w the duniya. This does not mean that we dont involve anything in Duniya, but, dunia in our hand not our Heart. Konsep zuhud: is not that we dont own money, but money not controlling us. Contoh, para Nabi semua dari golongan hartawan. Tetapi they know thier mission/purpose so they dont get caught up w the wealthy. We hv to hv an ultimate attachement w Allah swt. Duniya memang cantik, but sekejap, Mcm bunga rose yg sedang mekar berkembang, cantik, harumnya sekejap. Sehari dua, ia layu dan mendebu. Dunia tak kekal. Segala apa yang ada dalam duniya juga tidak kekal. Hanya cinta pada Allah swt shj yang kekal. When Allah swt give gift, we too hook w the Gift, we forget the Giver. We cannot live w/o Allah. But we enjoy the gift, Jika diambil (anak, spouse, parent) hati akan sedih tapi kita lebih redho. Realise that everything temporary exp Allah swt. Is like filling a cup w water. Everything we put in the cup will go into the water. Same concept like when we fill our heart with Allah, everything comes will dilute into the heart that full of Allah, not the other way round.

4) Plan for tomorrow
Tomorrow is the afterlife. Kita kena rancang di mana kita mahu berada di akhirat kelak, Syurga atau Neraka. Jika syurga jadi pilihan. How to get there? 

5) Remember Allah swt Consistently. 
Allah swt adalah umpama: air kepada ikan, udara kepada kita, makanan kepada badan. Necessary for survival. Apabila kita berpaling kepada Allah swt, Syaitan akan mengambil ruang tersebut dan menjadi intimate companion. Solat jaga, jangan tinggal. Kerana jika kita tinggal solat, ia akan membuka ruang utk syaitan. Hidup yg miserable adalah mereka yang tidak mengingati Allah. Allah berfirman, "Dengan mengingati Allah swt, hati akna menjadi tenang". Ingat dengan mata hati. Count ur blessing. 

6) Protect heart from Syaitan.
Consistently remember Allah swt: Prayer, Doa, Zikr, Quran

7) Guard ourselves from lowerself (nafs)
Jinakkan nafsu dengan kerap mengingat Allah. Kurangkan bercakap perkara yang tidak berfaedah, yang bole membalikkan hati> bila kerap bercakap akan tersasar berckp perkara yg tidak berfaedah dan terus akan lupa dr mengingati Allah. Overburden nafs w ibadah. Fasting also starves the nafs.

8) Guide from Sins
Sins is like a blackspot in heart. Veil to get to Allah swt.
Continuosly/ consistenly tawbah. Istighfar banyak2. Even when kita tgh buat kerja, just istighfar in our hear.. Ya Allah, forgive me.

9) Guide our Heart
Heart is the apparatus to get to Allah swt. Lower our gazes. Dont look/hear something is Haramm. It will leave blackspot in our heart. Be in a good company. Surround urselve w those who remember Allah swt. Good company is like entering to a perfume shop. Even u dont buy any perfume, u still smell good when coming out from the shop.

10) Maintain Personal Connection w Allah swt
Specifically build the connection. Solat bukan hanya yg wajib. 2/3 night prayer is the best as Allah is so near, so close to Us at that period of time. Berdoa selalu. Always talking to Allah. Anything we want to do, ingat pada Allah. Ya Allah permudahkan, Ya Allah jika tak elok jauhkan. Setiap apa yg kita buat, permulaannnya ingat pada Allah dan pohon utk berada pada jalan yang lurus. Mohon keampunan selalu even kita bukan sedang berbuat dosa sbb kita mahu menjadikan Allah tempat mengadu dan tempat bergantungan. Sucikan hati dengan membaca Quran, kalimah-kalimah Allah.


***
Soalan/Jawapan from QnA session.

1) Kita dah solat, dah baca Quran but we still feel that we're far from Allah. Masih hanyut dalam arus dunia. Bagaimana utk membawa hati utk dekat kepada Allah?
Kdg2 kita terlalu fokus pada ritual, target nk khatam Quran, tapi semua yg dibuat tak smpi dalam hati, jadi hasilnya tak dapat. Build again personal relationship w Allah. Tengok balik diri sendiri. Adakah kita beribadat tapi masih berbuat dosa. Sebab kdg tu ada dosa yang kita addicted dan kita pegang, jadi amalan yang kita buat tak sampai ke hati. Kita lihat balik diri kita sendiri macamana? Adakah kita menutup aurat dengan sempurna, bagaimana dengan solat kita (jaga atau tidak), suka melengahkan solat etc. So, this perkara yg kecil je kelihatannya, tapi memberi impak kepada hati. Increase Zikr. Never compromised the Salah. salah at time.

2) How to boost iman when it is low?
Low iman is like lose hope, give-up, slack in ibadah. We need to know that this is natural. Iman can be low and can be high. First, even in any condition, solat kena jaga. Struggle, lawan nafsu, baca quran, zikr, even kita tak suka. Mesti ada konsisten dlm ibadah, contoh make a habit to Istighfar 100 a day. So when Iman is low, never compromised that. 100 istighfar a day masih dibuat. InsyaAllah, Iman akan naik balik.

3) How to choose friend? We want to be in that bad company to give daawah. Is that ok or not?
Always remember hati bole berbolak balik, sangat cepat terpengaruh dengan sekeliling. We hv to be in good company first then we can go to those bad company to give daawah. kena ada ilmu dan sokongan. Then examine the effect, jika rasa dia yg lebih influence kepada kita and not the other way round, just leave them. Kita tak rugi jika tak berkawan dengan mereka.

4) How to know the hardship that we're going tru is a test or a punishment?
Based on the result. Jika hasil nya mendekatkan kita dengan Allah maka itu adalah bless, jika jauh kepada Allah, itu adalah hukuman. Ini bukan sahaja melibatkan malapetaka, juga kekayaan, jika dah kaya dan lupa pada Allah, maka kekayaan itu tak bermakna. Namun walau apapun, selagi kita masih hidup, belum mati, pintu tawbah masih terbuka. Jika rasa tesasar, balik kepada Allah segera. Allah mnguji hambanya utk menjadikan kita humble, soften our heart and we turn back to Allah, then we hv pass the test. Ujian yang Allah swt beri, bukan untuk kita selesaikan sendiri, pretend strong and try to overcome the obstacle, Allah bg ujian so that kita balik kepadaNya sbb hanya Dia yg bole mend the situation sbb Dia yg bagi pun. Is like we buy a very sofisticated complicated machine, that can do all sort of job, but then the machine rosak, kita normally tak baiki sendiri, kita bawak balik machine tu kepada manufacture. So sama idea kat sini, ujian dr Allah so hanya Allah yg bole membaikpulih segalanya.

5) Setiap masa dan ketika, kita kena membuat pilihan. Bagaimana nak tahu itu adalah dari Allah atau mengikut nafsu?
Kita akan tahu apbl kita buat keputusan yg salah, that thing w bother us. Kenapalah buat mcm ni dulu?
Jika buat kerana Allah swt, walau apa pun keputusannya, baik atau buruk, hati akan tenang menghadapinya. No regret. Seperti doa isthikarah, sekiranya ia baik utkku maka dekatkan, sekiranya ia tidak baik utkku, jauhkan dan redhokan hati ku ini. So apa yg baik itu adalah yg mendekatkan dengan Allah swt. Masalahnya, people always see narrow defination about good and bad. Everything, yg mana close to Allah itulah yang terbaik: perceraian, kematian, kehilangan, nampak seperti 'buruk' tetapi jika mendekatkan dengan Allah swt, maka itu terbaik sebenarnya.


***

Ok thats all about 2hr session w Yasmin Mogahed. I really love this woman. Inspiring!!! Kalo tak tahu sapa Yasmin, go to her blog, read her pieces, go to Youtube, listen to her podcast. Aku suka sbb dia menyuluhkan Islam itu dalam konsep yg mudah, yg relate to what we do everyday, yg menjadikan kita tahu, oh aku buat ni sbb... memberi jawapan kepada kenapa kita begini-begini..