Escapism.

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

So yesterday on the 25th December was the Christmas festive holiday. While others took the chance to go out and have that leisure to shop, eat and dine, I opted to stay at home and engaged in a deep deep slumberland. OK NOT. 

After a hard days work, I thought I'd take this one day off of doing or thinking any heavy things. You know, a day off to rediscover myself and get in tact with my head. Haha!  

Well, my kind of escapism is one when I indulge myself with books. Reading books has been my hobby ever since I knew how to read. Looking back on the years, amazing it was to see the trends of genre that I so involved with based on age and environment. 

From fairy tales to adventures. Mystery to fantasies (Twilight Saga, remember?). But never had I leave the inquisitive side of me away. The one where I wanted to know more about the life's of our Prophets from Adam (peace be upon him) to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). As I'm getting older, I knew that I need a change of wind. I knew that I had to preoccupy my mind with something that is more beneficial and could give positive impact to my life and gradually to my family and insyaAllah to the ummah. 

When I realized that, I changed my reading habits. My preference of genre. There's a saying, "You are what you eat". In this case I'd say "You are what you read" if I may say so. When I adopted to my new books genre and keep to it, there's a thrilling emotion inside that one cannot simply describe. It's like one part of you that was missing has now been restored. For instance, I read a book titled Muhammad by Martin Lings. It occurred to me that each time I spent on one chapter, it felt as if I was there. MasyaAllah :') And I couldn't wait to get to the next chapter and get to know our Prophet (saw) more. 

May Allah Glorious is He accepts our good deeds and give lights to those who seek true knowledge. Allahumma Ameen. 

Beat the Accursed.

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

Never ever underestimate the power of good words that are full of wisdom. That weak heart can be turned around in a matter of seconds with Allah's will. Sheikh Tawfique really is blessed with the talent of powerful speech and writings. One of the many statuses that he posted in FB that has captured mine today came in at the right time. 

Imaan rises and falls. One moment you feel you're so close to Allah (swt) and another moment you feel clueless with your own self. That could be an indicator that you need to seek Him :') 

Oh and this is a reminder to myself first and foremost. Struggle hard and struggle smart to beat the accursed. InsyaAllah Taala. 

Muslims' Mannerisms

In the name of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

Everyday we wake up to new challenges and tasks, be it easy or difficult to face with. What differs us from each other is the way we respond to each situation. Our behavior is actually a reflection of our character. Thus the reason Allah (swt) sent us His mercy through our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as a guidance for a perfect manner.

  "And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds" Al-Anbiya' (21:107)

To read and understand the Prophet's sunnah especially on mannerisms are easy theoretically, but it is hard to implement in our real life. That moment when you want to burst out cursing at the reckless driver, that moment when you see someone's doing something wrong and couldn't do anything about it, so on and so forth, are gripping moments when you realized you're at the wrong seat for getting mad. But so long as we try our best and pray to Allah (swt) to make it easy for us, InsyaAllah all good is going to come our way.

Good Companions.

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

Having wonderful friends who constantly remind you of Allah (swt) is truly a blessing. Its like having a life reminder from time to time when you forget. Quite recently on a wedding, my best friend and I being the hungry elephant took the Nasi Minyak and all the lauks including a few slices of oranges on our plate and started munching through. She though, started eating the oranges whilst I ate them last. When she saw what I did, she said "Next time eat the fruits first, its sunnah" :') Alhamdulillah. 

At the office starting about a year ago, I noticed a colleague of mine performing the Dhuha prayer every morning. Gradually I became more interested to learn the Dhuha prayer and alhamdulillah I've been praying Dhuha ever since. What I need to work on now is to be istiqamah. She also acts as a counselor whenever I feel down by reminding me of Allah (swt). Alhamdulillah :')  

A friend that I just met during a charity event keep sending me information regarding donations and other charity programs that I might be interested in. MasyaAllah. And she keeps making dua for me as well :') 

These are a few examples of the goodness of my friends. I am sooooo grateful to have them in my life. 

Narrated Abu Musa:

The Prophet () said, 

'The example of a good pious companion and an evil one is that of a person carrying musk and another blowing a pair of bellows. The one who is carrying musk will either give you some perfume as a present, or you will buy some from him, or you will get a good smell from him, but the one who is blowing a pair of bellows will either burn your clothes or you will get a bad smell from him." [Sahih al-Bukhari]

So peeps, check who your friends are! Do they take your hands toward Allah (swt) or do they take you away from Allah (swt) ? May Allah (swt) gives us His blessings and give us the best of friends who really wants to see us in Jannah! Allahumma Ameen. 

10 Muharram.

Ibn'Abbas (Allah be pleased with both of them) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)  arrived in Medina and found the Jews observing fast on the day of 'Ashura. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them:

What is the (significance) of this day that you observe fast on it? They said: It is the day of great (significance) when Allah delivered Moses and his people, and drowned the Pharaoh and his people, and Moses observed fast out of gratitude and we also observe it. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: We have more right, and we have a closer connection with Moses than you have; so Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) observed fast (on the day of 'Ashura), and gave orders that it should be observed. 

Source: http://sunnah.com/search/ashura 

Natural Healings.

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

It has been quite a busy October for me with work, work and more work. Hehe. Nonetheless I am so very grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way for the past few months. Alhamdulillah. Nikmat doesn't always come with big house, big money, big car etc. etc. The ability to wake up in the fajr, to be able to appreciate nature, the capabilities to think and most importantly the gift of making ibadah to Allah s.w.t. that matter ;) You know, the usual things we do but we oversee each day. 

Recently I went down south for a project post mortem workshop. It was a three days session and guess what? It was held on a beach! Avillion Port Dickson to be exact. Though I was reluctant for a moment because I had other appointment made beforehand and had to cancelled them last minute, I thought hey! Why notttt. Lets give it a try no? In between workshops and discussions I might as well pamper myself with nature's offerings. So I did :)

"What is in the heavens and the earth is Allah's; surely Allah is the Self-sufficient, the Praised. And were every tree that is in the earth (made into) pens and the sea (to supply it with ink), with seven more seas to increase it, the words of Allah would not come to an end; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise." 

Surat Luqman (31: 26-27)

Both taken from veranda. On the left was in the morning during low tides and on the right was taken during dusk. Imagine sleeping through sounds of waves and waking up to this panorama. Blissful :) 

Took the chance to read one of my favourite books, Purification of The Heart by Hamza Yusuf. I'd be guilty to the max if I didn't. 

Had a dinner with the rest of the team on one of the nights. This was the best outfit that I can come up with to adhere with the Hawaiian Night theme. But much better than having to sew coconut tree leaves as a skirt. Haha! 

All in all, nature really has its power of healing that one might not get from medicine alone. Enjoy the trees, the ocean, the open sky and have your worries disappeared like they were never there at the first place.

So now, where would I head up next?

What The Heart Is Actually Saying

In the name of Allah The Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and Allah only.

The matters pertaining to qalb or the heart could be as complicated as how it may made us feel. But still, could be lighter in understanding once we started learning about our own heart. I used to feel this aching and some sort of crushed in the chest once in a while when things aren't going the way I planned or something that I cannot cope up with. So I ended up trying to be gracefully unperturbed despite all these life matters that I'm surrounded with keep pounding my chest. Oh yeah, I sounded as if I'm the wife of a minister or some sort, trying to figure out every little issues of the world on my head. You see, as the French says À raconter ses maux, souvent on les soulage ( To tell our ailments, is to relieve them). So bear with me ya? =)

This aching heart led me to learn more about my very own heart. It is hurt and the cause of it known. But there is something way beyond knowing its condition and the cause of it that intrigued me to finding out more.

According to Merriam-Webster, heart is a hollow muscular organ of vertebrate animals (which includes us human, yes) that by its rhythmic contraction acts as a force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood.

Now according to Muslim religious teachers and philosophers, mainly Imam al-Ghazali, the term heart is often referred to its fundamental position of intellectual and emotional life which then relate to mankind's purpose in life. Its spiritual in nature, the art of the knowing and perceiving essence of man. How could this be you asked? Well, I had a hard time understanding it the first time as well (still do actually!) but is enlightened bit by bit through time insha Allah. Learning process never does stop doesn't it? =)

We humans are born pure in character and soul, free from sins. And it is by nature that we tend to seek for perfection and beauty. More often than not, as we grow up we search for these qualities in our worldly affair, be it from someone or something material. Along this process we forget that nothing in this world is perfect and nothing is permanent. Nothing possesses perfect beauty but Our Creator. Nothing is perfect but Allah The Almighty. So when we seek completion in something other than Allah (swt), the farther away we are from Him. The farther away we are from Him, leads to a bigger hole in our heart, our soul. Feeling empty of Allah (swt) is something that we all should whole-heartedly avoid if I may say. 

Acts of disobedient tarnishes the heart thus making it yearns for a cure. Yet, we feed it more and more of material ventures until it hardens. For all we know, the true cure of heart sickness is to turn ourself and our soul to its rightly owner, the One who Heals. 

All the sins be it small or big are for surely contribute to a hardened heart, and we can try our best to avoid it as much as we can. But what about the unbeknownst causes? 

Ibn' Umar narrated that the Messsenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not talk too much without the remembrance of Allah. Indeed excessive talking without remembrance of Allah hardens the heart. And indeed the furthest of people from Allah is the harsh-hearted" [At-Tirmidhi]

Even talking tooooo much can harden one's heart :( I don't talk that much but when I do, oh boy what are the words I've blurted out. Astaghfirullah. 

Al Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin once taught us to recite this one particular dua in the Quran, which is from Surat 'Ali 'Imran (3:8). 
  

[Who say], "Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower.

Dua is indeed a weapon that we should use as a means to change our condition to be better besides of course, to quickly spring into action and started on baby steps to purify the heart . So make loads of dua (the above is one of the many that can be recited) and ask Allah (swt) to make us stronger in faith and have better understanding of our creation. 

To talk / write about the heart can go as long as we can but since my knowledge is limited, and I don't really have the intelligence of Imam Al-Ghazali (ambitious Mimi is ambitious), I think I'll stop here. There's a lot more to share actually, and I hope I will have the time to sit down again and write about the heart. 

Mission 101: To reach Qalbu Salim. Its hard, but its worth the akhirah trying =)