Virtues of Expressing Condolences

I would like to share a beautiful piece of `ilm that was delivered by an ustaz at the nearby mosque. The ustaz delivered the topic of wailing for dead person, as one of kabaair (major sins). As a human being, we are not immune from having calamities and incidents befall on us. Perhaps we can be proud of our happily ever after married life, but we can`t get rid of the fact that some day we`ll be losing people that we love so much. Facing a death of our loved ones can be so tough, and for some it will be like their lifeline is chopped off. As a Muslim, we are given guidelines on how to act and behave when facing a death. Allah has mentioned in the Quran that a servant of Him will be given various kinds of tests in order to measure his level of piety. One of them is in the form of death of loved ones. As a Muslim, we are given permissibility to feel sad and sorrow when our loved ones die, since it is a natural feeling bestowed from Allah on us. Despite how calm he/she appears upon receiving the news of a death, it might be just on the outside. Deep inside, any normal person should have the sad feeling. It is okay to cry. It is okay to keep silent for some time. However, the problem will appear when the crying turns into wailing, shouting in denial, and to the extent of tearing apart clothes, as some cultures do. This is what a Muslim should stay away from. We should never wailing for dead people. 

On the other side of bridge, relatives or friends of the dead should visit and express their condolences to the family of the dead person. The Ustaz mentioned that there is a reward waiting for the people who do this noble deed, which is a special fur coat designed exclusively to these people. The coat as described by Ustaz, is a pride for us in akheerah just like wearing jeans is a pride for youngsters (especially ladies) in dunya. It is an attire that makes us stand out. Subhanallah, don`t we want that? To me, it is indeed an easy thing to do, yet Allah is Most Gracious and Merciful to His servants. Even with that easy deed, He has promised us a great reward! So let`s do it!

The ustaz further said that when calamities befall on servants, one should check if he/she has one of any below reactions:

1. Thanks Allah for not giving down worse test/calamity

2. Thanks Allah for giving us perseverance to endure this test

3. Thanks Allah for not giving worse test, which is test on our religion (diverted from being dutiful to Allah,etc)

Energizer Night Run - I was there too!

The much boo night race Energizer Run had me as one of its 10k disappointed participants. Initially I was sooo refused to join the crowds. However, since it was fully sponsored by my division (except for the gas and toll to Sepang Circuit), i told myself: hey, why not give it a try? So dragging along Azah and Aida, we signed up for the run monthsss before. On that running day itself, I couldn`t help but to blame myself for signing up for the race! Menyesal menyesal hehehe..it was a sudden regret inside myself..but hey there was no turning back!

So three of us embarked on 5.5 night journey on the Sepang circuit. Well, it wasn`t qualified to be a run at all, since both I and Azah walked all the way from the start till the end of the track. I did want to run, but , as a considerate friend, I didn`t want to leave Azah walking alone since she insisted from the beginning that we walked, not ran. Well, apart from badly shamely organized, i did enjoy the experience. A lot of people of various kinds were there: slim, fat, tall, with stroller, with bags, even kids could be found there. 

We finished the run after about 40 minutes walking. Not bad, actually. At least, we didn`t cheat by cutting through green , in which i believed could save us about 2 or 3 kms! we thought of doing that, following a few runners (or better walkers) who did that, as a result of finding nobody manning the point, but I told myself, hey, it was sooo uncool to do that. We have paid RM50 to use the track facility, so we should use it to the full max. So we continued the rest of the journey with integrity to the max, hehe. Alhamdulillah `ala kulli haal. Even though going back empty handed due to laziness to queue for the goody bag , it was an awesome experience though!

A Heart Serene Part 3- Virtual Tour to Jannah

There are so many things that I would like to share about the Heart Serene seminar here. So many beautiful ahaadeeth, verses and advices that I learnt. And the pinnacle of the seminar was the interesting 'virtual' Jannah tour exclusively led by Mr Tour Guide, no one but Sheikh Riad himself. Subhanallah the tour was indeed beautiful despite the fact that our sight was our limited imagination, guided with description of it by Sh Riad where he quoted on haadeth and verses in Quran which describe about features of Jannah. The tour was also aided by nice smell thanks to volunteers who sprayed it and sounds of birds chirping as soon as the gates of Jannah 'were opened', and not to forget the sound of river water flowing down. Sheikh brought us strolling inside the Jannah, well I should mentioned here that our views varied, depending on how our imagination inside our mind took us through. Before setting our feet in Jannah, we were welcomed by its gates.

Jannah was flanked by eight gates:

1. For those who constantly establish salaah

2. For those who did Jihad

3. For those who went to Hajj

4. For those who observed fasting 

5. For those who frequently gave sadaqah

6. For those who suppress their anger and forgive others

7. For those who always remembered Allah

8. For those who were saved from reckoning and chastisement. 

From which gate would we enter Jannah? Well, it is possible that we could enter it from any of the 8 gates, just like Abu Bakr when he was given a glad tiding by Rasulullah that he will enter it from all gates. Subhanallh, what a blessed reward! When we entered the Jannah, the smell of musk filled the air, and sound of birds chirping brought the feeling of calm. Then we paused at River of Kauthar, river made of milk and river made of honey. It was funny when Sheikh told us to don our swimming suit and get ready to jump into the river and swim!. He also mentioned that the edge or the bank of River of Kauthar was made by pearls, how beautiful it is! We were told that those who drinks from river of Kauthar shall never feel thirsty again! Then we were brought to fountains of Jannah. One of them is the famous Salsabil fountain.  

Then we moved to a tree whose trunk is made by gold. Also there is another tree in which its length of shadow is the distance covered by a man galloping his horse for more than hundreds of years! Subhanallah! We walked further until we reached a beautiful stunning mansion. That is our mansion. You know, it is so big so much so that the height of its ceiling is ~16 miles! Subahanallah! Also, there were so many trees. Those were the trees planted by Allah for each dhikir that we made in dunyaa. You know, one interesting hadeeth is that every time we say a word of dhikir, be it Subhanallah, Allahuakbar, etc, a plant will be planted in akheerat for us. Thus, the more dhikir we make, the more trees are planted exclusively for us. So, guys and girls out there, never forget to say dhikir, anytime, anywhere! 

We then were served our first meal in Jannah. Do you wonder what is the food that will fill our stomach ? It is the liver of the fish. According to Sheikh, it is a part of the liver that tastes soooo good. It will be our appetizer before we indulge the main meal. Then what happens after eating? Toilet? Hmmmm, well in Jannah, there is no dirt, no impure and filthy things. So where does our food go? Well, we will only defecate by little burping. That`s it. It was funny how sheikh made the sound of burp. And before I forget to mention, the only way to get the food in Jannah is by desiring it, and it will appear in front of our eyes. You know, inside Jannah, there shall be no death. So after we indulge in a bird, or any other animal, it will be re-built and become alive, with Allah`s wills and continue its life inside Jannah. 

What about the women of Jannah? Well, I believe all men inside the hall would be smiling when sheikh mentioned about this. Subhanallh they are sooo beautiful! They are full with lights all over their body. 

Well, of course that was only the surface of what`s there in Jannah for us. More and more and more awaits us. You know, this virtual tour really indeed made me forgot about dunyaa and its fake attractions.Whenever Sheikh described what were there awaiting us, I wished that the tour would turn into reality and that I won`t have to go back to dunya but to remain there. Ya Allah, grant this helpless servant Jannah! 

Nuclear- Why Is It Still A Good Choice

I happened to read this article wrote by someone for Los Angeles Times where he commented about relevance of having to opt for nuclear power despite the Fukushima incident. If the total emission of CO2 can increase much further and if CO2 emission is really the culprit for global warming, I couldn`t agree more with him. 

Happy reading!

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AlMaghrib Seminar : A Heart Serene Part 2

Sheikh asked one question today that makes me ponder : If your boss asked gave you job promotion offer with the condition that you have to form a team of fajr prayer, where you have to go to the masjid and perform the prayer, would you do that? Silently in my heart : Yes inshaAllah i`m willing to do it. But if Allah asked you to do the same, with the promised great reward from Him, would we be willing to do it with the same amount of willingness? Well you see brother and sisters, we all very quick in getting tangible results/ rewards. But here Allah`s commandment an orders carry much weight than those tangible things we get in dunya. But we tend to forget the rewards that awaits us in the day of judgement if we do all good stuff here in dunya, just because it is intangible and not immediate. Subhanallah. Wallahi it`s true. Wake up sisters! Wake up brothers!

Another to ponder: Are you really pleased that Allah is your lord, and Prophet Muhammad is our prophet, and Islam is our religion? If we say yes, well..we`re in trouble. Say instead: InshaAllah, i`m trying. Why? It is because we many times ignore Allah`s orders and commit sins over and over again, the same sins. We find it hard to obey Him and not being watchful of Him. So do not claim that we are pleased with Allah as our lord, instead all of us are trying to attain it.

In a hadeeth, Rasulullah s.a.w said there are 70,000 people will enter Jannah without hisaab. In another hadeeth , Rasulullah asked Allah to increase the number since it is little, then Allah granted it by making in each one of the 70,000 people, another 70,000 will be granted the jannah without hisaab. That makes up a total of 4.9 billion. Man! 4.9 billion! It`s a huge amount! Don`t we wanna be one of them? Don`t we? InshaAllah we will. All what these people do is go die and enter the Jannah. Joke by the sheikh. Well, to be granted such a big blessing, in the hadeeth it narrates that, it is the person who doesn`t do Ruqyah, believe in superstitious, but to put total reliance and trust in Allah. So here the importance of total tawakkul of Allah is so magnificent, that Allah grants us with such reward. Subhanallah. Let`s strive to be one of 4.9 billion!

AlMaghrib Seminar : A Heart Serene Part 1

Alhamdulillah...Sh Riad Ourzazi is sooo gorgeous and awesome! AlMaghrib has finally kicked its first seminar off last weekend at Faculty of IT, Uni. Malaya. At last I did register and attend the class after thinking over whether to go or not to go due to financial reason. Well, in simpler word, yeah...I`m broke! But I told myself, well why not just go to the free class session on Friday night and let see how it goes...money can be forked out, but this golden opportunity is tooo much to be missed! So I went and listen to the opening lecture of the seminar. Sh Riad talked about what ihsaan is, and how important it is to execute ihsaan to our parents. Basically this topic is based on masterpiece of Ibn Qayyim ibn Jawziyyah: Madaarij Salikeen or Stations of Travellers. Sheikh introduced the hadeeth of jibrael which is about Jibrael, in the guise of a man, cloaked like a traveller, came to see Rasulullah,pbuh and asked him about 3 things:

1. What is Islam ?
Rasulullah said Islam is shahadah, 5 daily  prayers, Ramadhan fasting, zakah and hajj at Mecca.

2. What is Iman?
Rasulullah said Iman is believe in Allah, angels, Quran, Rasulullah, Day of judgement and believe in qada and qadr.

3. What is Ihsaan?
Rasulullah said is to worship as if you see Allah. If it`s not, Allah sees you.

Every time Rasulullah gave the answer, he said, true!

Ihsaan can be done to: oneself, to parents, kinship, etc. Sh did stress on the importance of doing ihsaan to our parents as he quoted a couple of verses from quran which Allah enjoins us to do good to our parents right after the command not to take any associate besides him. He also mentioned that it is a grave sin to dishonor our parents and our other deeds will not be looked at by Allah if we fail at this stage. Subhanallah. Father is the middle of gate of Jannah. We have to treat them well regardless of his treatment to us. It is his right to be treated well by his children. As for mum..well, what more to say then..In quran, Allah forbids us to say even 'uff' to our mom, whereby in real world, it is so hard to find a child with that uniqueness. The sheikh even gave us homework , which is to call our mom and ask her to make 1 du`a for us for a mom`s du`a is very mustajab. Well i did the homework, but on Sunday and it was done by texting my mum, rathen than calling her :)