A muslim got to do what a muslim got to do

If you want to ensure that you;ve done a good effort, consider these principles. These may be rough, but I think rough ways often benefit the most as long as we do not reach the extremes of it.

Aim high. Aim for the best and work towards it. Even if you might not achieve that aim, the end result is more likely to be sufficient enough for you to be considered as successful. If you aim low, you might end up low or even lower.

Good planning. If you fail to plan then you are planning to fail. Plan your time and work wisely to ensure systematic undertaking of tasks. This increases productivity.

Work hard. There’s no subsitute of hard work. Be strong and determined to work all-out in order to achieve your goal. Remember, sacrifices often pays off. If you are tired, get a rest, have some fun and release your stresses. Only then you continue again the hard work.

Be persistent. Be at the full potential always and maintain it as much as you could.

Be consistent. Never stop half-way. Fulfill your determination and never surrender to laziness.

Never give up. You might lose momentum after working for so long, or getting bad results even after working very hard. Whatever bad things that happen, never give up and you’ll always be in the right track. Failure is not really a failre, but just a delayed success for those who are unwilling to give up.

Lots of du’a. Remember, all matters are controlled by Allah and only Him can decide the outcomes of our effort. So, lots of du’a to Allah is vital and shows how humble we are to Him. Without Allah’s help, we are always weak.

Assalamua’laikum.

Di sini diumumkan bahawa saya dengan tidak sengajanya telah terdelete 26 latest comments dalam blog ini. So, kepada sesiapa yang comments dia tak ada kat sini (sebab dah terdelete), maaf banyak-banyak la ye.

Harap maklum. Wassalam

As a medical student, I am seeing deaths more commonly now. I’ve seen young people died suddenly, due to causes that were unexpected.

Many unexpected deaths can happen: accidents being the most common. Can we avoid death? No, our death will inevitably come, and it is Allah Who decides that. We have no idea when and how we will die. It could be when we reach old age, next few years, next month, today or even the next moment.

Readers, I urge you to take some time to think about this. Forget whatever you are doing for a while. Relax, breath slowly, close your eyes and think about yourself and what you have done throughout your life.

If you die today, are you well-prepared? How about your deeds, are they good enough to make you a candidate to enter paradise? Check your intentions, were they clean? Were you being nice to other people? Were you arrogant? Do you look down to other people of the lower classes? Do you take care of your prayers and other responsibilities of a muslim? Do you concern and care for the hardships faced by other muslims? Do you strive for the benefit of the ummah and this world?

As yourself these fundamental questions, “Am I worthy of being a servant to Allah? Am I being the vicegerent on earth? Am I forgetting that one day I will return to Him and will be judged?”

Ask all these questions to yourself. Check your heart out. My friend, as long as you are reading this article, as long as you are still breathing and your heart still beats, we still have time! Let’s talk to and improve ourselves while we still can.

So many people are so busy with their lives, having fun all the time without sparing some moments to prepare for the next world. What if they die suddenly? My God, please don’t make this happen to them. Maybe we cannot avoid being busy, but even in this situation there’s no way we never have time to spend time for Allah. At least to be polite and kind, avoiding sins and maximizing good deeds are always possible.

This reminder serves me the most, as one who already made a lot of mistakes. To Allah I seek repentance. Then I turn this reminder to you. May we all enter paradise together.

I would like to share a personal ‘mental’ experience.

Sometimes in my life, there were moments whenever I am determined to do something beneficial or important, the spirit I had was short lived. I transformed myself into a sluggish and lazy person. Things weren’t done the way it should be. This became worse when the workload was too much for me to handle, whereby I did not only became demotivated, but even felt stressful.

Alhamdulillah, somehow a thought came to me and helped me to overcome this problem of short-lived determination and motivation. Guess what the inspirational thought was about?

“Living your life is a constant battle. Once you lay back, you’ll lose, but if you fight on, you’ll never lose and infact you’re making your way closer to victory”.

Somehow I realized that I am inside this battle which I must win. I played some ‘battles’ before, such as in pingpong matches, other sports and video games, and seriously I don’t like losing. Infact, I HATE losing. Now since I realized that I’m in this battle of living my life, certainly I don’t like to lose this one either.

I got the point that whenever I decided to sit back and relax, rather than doing what I have to do, I am losing. So I must fight back by doing completely opposite thing in order to win -WORKING. This is how the thought works for me; it seems the negative behaviour leads to a somekind of ‘reversed psychology’, motivating me to do the completely opposite -the positive behaviour. As long as I follow and listens to this thought, I’m winning! Alhamdulillah.

This thought worked for me, although not always 100%, but at least it does help. I recommend you to try thinking this way, especially when you feel lazy or demotivated (i.e. you are losing!). Maybe it will work for you too.

Getting the job done perfectly, or at least satisfactorily

Here’s another tip to get jobs done properly. FOCUS on what you are doing at the PRESENT MOMENT. For example, if you are studying, focus on the current sentence you are reading. Except for task planning, never dream about anything that you hope to happen in the future, or thinking of anything what has happened.

You own the present moment, not the future nor the past. Thinking about anything other than what you are currently doing causes you to lose your concentration. Without concentration, you are not doing the task with your full potential and competency. You’re just wasting your time and energy,

Another example. This is specific for fellow muslims, if you are determined to pray in khusyu’ ; focusing your mind on what you are currently doing can help you attain this. If you are reciting a surah during the prayer, focus on the particular ayah (verse) you are reciting. Never think about anything that hasn’t come yet to you, it will come to you later if you make use of the current moment well.

You cannot pray in khusyu’ if your mind keeps thinking about ‘praying perfectly’. Your mind should focus on what you are currently doing during the prayer, for both the spiritual and the physical components, step by step, phase by phase, until completion of the prayer. Then only you can satisfactorily feel that you’ve prayed perfectly. Well, RELATIVELY perfect of course, as no one except Allah s.w.t knows whether the prayer is perfect or not. What is for sure, you’ve done your best in doing your obligations.

So, remember, focus on and make the best of the present moment. Do not let it go simply without meaningful ‘intervention’. I hope you know what I mean.

It’s the same troubling sight everytime Malaysian Muslims celebrates raya.

What on earth does a religious celebration for us -muslims- means we celebrate it like non-muslims?

You can get this from some raya songs, TV shows and many people around us. Some raya songs encourage guys and girls to mix together. Young guys and girls having fun together as if they are husbands and wives to each other, or as if close siblings. Aurah exposure? You can tell me about it. Female dresses like kebaya is already showing the contours of the body (which is forbidden in Islam), now they even add it with a see-through-your-arms-and-chest feature. Not only some girls expose their hair, they even dyed it. Some even looked like as if going to a party.

“Hey, this is raya with style!”, they would say. Let’s tell them, “okay, you want this kind of style, then you are just styling yourself to hell, if you want that, go ahead”. Okay okay, perhaps that’s a bit to harsh. Nevertheless, it’s a true fact isn’t it?

Alright friends. We all know all these are wrong. They violate simple basic Islamic knowledge which every sane muslim should know. Never did the Prophet s.a.w taught us to celebrate raya this way.

But Shaytan does. Perhaps after being chained for one month, shaytan would like to have some enjoying moments too. This kind of raya we are celebrating, is a delightful moment for them.

Raya is a moment for us to celebrate the completion of Ramadhan. Enjoy it like a true muslim. Study what our beloved Prophet s.a.w did and wanted us to do and not to do during raya. Be thankful to Allah for allowing us to successfully lived through Ramadhan. Of course, we should be happy and cheerful during raya, but let’s beware ourselves not to exceed the limits set by the religion. Islam is easy, but not to those with troubled, western minds.