Doing a Little Extra

Assalamualaikum,

I was watching (actually re-watching) an episode of The Big Bang Theory this morning, the episode where Sheldon's mom visits and the gang excluding Sheldon take her on a tour of Pasadena, California. There's this one scene where they enter a church, and Sheldon's mom gets the gang to pray. Penny asks to have her brother stop drug dealing, Leonard asks to have his long-distance relationship with Priya workout, Howard hopes to not burst into flames, and Raj chooses to ask for help in losing some weight (instead of asking for help with talking to girls). 

So that got me thinking, when we doa', do we only ask Allah for help? I mean sure we're supposed to ask Allah for help as he's our Sustainer and Provider, but how often do we actually thank Him for all the blessings we already have? And how often to we repay Him for those blessings? Praying five times a day is routine. Everyone does it. How often do we do a little extra? How often do we puasa sunat? Give sedekah? We shouldn't be asking and asking and asking, if we are unwilling to give as well. 

My mama has been pushing me and my siblings to do solat tahajjud and solat dhuha regularly, and I'm trying to do what I can. I haven't been able to get up early enough for tahajjud on a regular basis, but these past few days alhamdulillah I managed to get up early enough to pray Subuh at the surau near my house. I've started fasting on Mondays and Thursdays again, some of my friends have too. 

Routine ibadah isn't really enough when you think about it. We should do our best to do a little extra. It doesn't matter whether its fasting, or praying, or giving sedekah, any extra ibadah we do is good. Don't expect Allah to give and give and give, if we ourselves don't do the same.

Tweet

A Disadvantage of Being Born Muslim

Assalamualaikum,

Yes, it has been a long time. Truth be told, I don't get as many ideas as I once did for posts. Maybe its because I wrote so many posts already, its hard to find something I haven't talked about yet. I'm writing this post because my mama pushed me haha. Anyway, since I don't have anything original to write about, I'll share something I saw on Facebook.

This is a true story of a Niqabi sister in France After picking groceries in the supermarket, the Niqabi sister stood in the line to pay. After few minutes, her turn came up at the checkout counter. The checkout girl who was non Hijabi Arab Muslim girl started to scan the items of the Niqabi sister one buy one and then she looked at her with arrogance and said : "we have in France many problems, your Niqab is one of them!! We, immigrants, are here for trade and not to show our Deen or history! If you want to practice your Deen and wear Niqab then go back to your Arab country and do whatever you want!!”. The Niqabi sister stopped putting her grocery in the bag and took off her Niqab… The checkout girl was in total shock! The Niqabi girl who was blond with blue eyes told her: "I am a French girl, not an Arab immigrant! This is my country and THIS IS MY ISLAM!! You born Muslims sold your Deen and we bought it from you And Allaah says: "If you turn away, Allaah will replace you by another people, and they will not be like you." (47:38)".

I think you know where I'm going with this. I said in a post I wrote a long time ago how I feel like most reverts are way better Muslims than us born Muslims. Simply because they appreciate Islam, and because they have lived life without it. Us born Muslims on the other hand, we take Islam for granted. We try so hard to be more like the people of the West, we might end up losing our place in Jannah to someone who wasn't born Muslim. It's like the verse above says, if we turn away, Allah replaces us with others who are unlike us.

As a closing statement, for the sisters who don't cover your aurat, if a female revert asks you, "Why don't you cover your aurat?", what will you say? I know I won't get any answers, but just think about it.

Tweet

That feeling when...

Assalamualaikum,

I bet everyone has experienced at least once, coming home from work/class after a long, tiring, hard day, and landing directly on your bed, only to realise that you haven't prayed yet. Then it becomes a struggle to get up and pray. Its not good when praying becomes like a burden to us. When we go "alamak..kene solat lah", that's a bit of insincerity creeping in when we go to perform solat.

How to avoid this? Easy, pray on time, or as soon as you can. I like to go eat dinner after isya, because normally after I come home after dinner, I'm sleepy and normally fall asleep quite easily. If I hadn't prayed yet, I'd have to wake up again later to pray. So I eat after isya. Same thing can apply in the workplace. Before leaving for home at 5pm, pray asar first. You won't have to rush home in the traffic jam, and after you get home you can land straight away on your bed.

Pray on time when we can. Our daily routines should fit around our prayers. Our prayers shouldn't be squeezed into our daily schedule. 

Tweet

Y U NO COVER AURAT???

Assalamualaikum,

Been a while. Been busy and honestly haven't had much to talk about. Then today I saw this on Facebook;

Amboi budak2 sekarang..selamber update status "Ko takyah banyak tanye cam sial sangat leh tak..aku tak pakai tudong sebab tak dapat hidayah lagi!!!".
Tak malu ke dik mengaku takde hidayah? Abg yg tak brape nak alim ni pon malu dik terbaca status cmtu.

I'm tired of the whole tudung/aurat issue. It's so old. No matter how much campaigning goes on, how many ustaz/ustazah talk about it, there will always be a group of Muslim women who don't cover their aurat. Each will have their own reason (which they think is valid) for not doing so. From "semua org yang pakai tudung x semestinya baik" to "org pakai tudung x tentu masuk syurga" to "Allah x tgk luaran, yang penting hati" to "itu antara aku dan Tuhan..ko jgn sibuk". I mean really, this group of girls will never disappear, no matter how much we hope they would. All those reasons aside, the one I quoted above I think takes the cake, "tak dapat hidayah lagi". 

What "hidayah" do you need? You are Muslim, you pray 5 times a day, you fast in Ramadhan. If you know covering your aurat is wajib, that's all the hidayah you need. What else do you want? You know that for every guy who sees you not covering your aurat, you get dosa, the guy gets dosa, and the men in your family do to (correct me if I'm wrong). What else do you need to convince you to cover your aurat?

OK enough ranting. I'm gonna try something new from now on. Using memes to do dakwah. Most of my friends know I'm a fan of 9gag. So I'll try using memes for good when I can think of something, starting with this;

Hope you guys understand the meme. There'll be more to come insyaAllah. If you have any ideas for posts I can write please do share. I'm finding it hard to write nowadays due to lack of ideas. Thanks!

Tweet

One Video a Week

Assalamualaikum,

I visited the IIUM Research, Invention and Inovation Exhibition (IRIEE) 2012 this past few days. Of course my area of interest was healthcare and science and technology, but I wondered around the exhibition hall looking at research posters from other areas as well. One particular poster caught my attention. I forgot which Kulliyyah it belonged to, but it was a study to see if watching Islamic videos on YouTube would positively influence people who watch it. 

Students were asked to watch one Islamic video a week for 10 weeks, and at the end they were asked if they felt like they were better Muslims because of the videos. Interestingly about 80% of participants said yes. 

So here's my challenge/advice to everyone including myself. Try watching at least one Islamic video a week. And when you feel like you have more time, or you are willing to give a little extra effort, try a few videos a week, eventually one a day. Or even more than one a day. Then evaluate yourself after about a month or two. See if you feel like you are a better Muslim.

Challenge accepted?  

Tweet