Musings For The Mind - Ramadhan Edition

We read it no less than 17 times a day. Its importance to our daily religious obligation cannot be underestimated. Yet how many of us actually comprehend the meaning of those beautiful words.

When we listen intently to the imam’s opening verse, are we really digesting the contents  into our hearts, or merely enjoying the rhythmic and melodious tone through our ears? 

Of course, not many of us have mastered the Arabic language. But we must start somewhere and what better way than to begin with one of the chapter’s that we’re most familiar with:-

 

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Universe

The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Owner of the Day of Judgement.

You alone do we worship, and You alone we turn to for help

Guide us to the straight path;

The path of those on whom You have bestowed your grace, not (the way) of those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray.

Surah Al-Fatihah. Simple, yet deep and sublime. Once upon a time we knew the exact definition of each verse. But as time goes by, we tend to get complacent and fill our memories with petty matters. The biggest danger is accepting our ignorance to one of the most important chapters in our lives, and doing nothing about it.

Well it’s Ramadhan.. A good dose of spiritual WD-40 sprayed onto our memories will surely help clear some of that rustiness.        

It was narrated by Abu Huraira that The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: One is not credited with having observed the prayer without the recitation (of al-fatiha). So said Abu Huraira: (The prayer in which) the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) recited in a loud voice, we also recited that loudly for you (and the prayer in which) he recited inwardly we also recited inwardly for you (to give you a practical example of the prayer of the Holy Prophet).

Sahih Muslim

Musings For The Mind

Take a stroll around the streets of KL these days and you'll know notice something quite peculiar. They're much more colourful. Why? Because there seems to be an abundance of flags strung up about in various places. Close your eyes and walk around for about 15 metres, you're bound to run into one these strategically placed party insignias.

So each flag is armed with their different agendas and 'manifestos' if you will. Naturally humans are different, and disagreements are all part and parcel of life. But what's unacceptable is when you hold a different opinion to your so called 'rivals,' and go overboard in terms of your support.

It's a sad scenario when you see people from all quarters publically resorting to personal attacks, and it always seems to be a case of who can dig up the most dirt on their opponents. Why can't we keep things on a rational and intellectual level? Is this the kind of message we'd like to send to future generations? The principle that if you're contesting anything, it's acceptable to do absolutely everything to win?

Yes, winning is important. But let's not indulge in any soul-blackening smear campaigns because in the end everyone's human, and we definitely wouldn’t want anyone airing our dirty laundry in public. I truly believe we’re all intelligent and reasonable enough to take a much more dignified route, without resorting to ‘dirty tactics’ when we pursue any of our goals.

Last I checked, among the hallmarks of a Malaysian citizen were; gentle, polite, gracious and patient.  Let’s keep it that way.

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
Ross Perot

LIFE UPDATE

Hi korang, how are you? Im doing fine.. as long as I'm home, I'm fine hehe. Sekarang aku sudah pon kembali ke UiTM dan kini bergelar final year master studeent. Ohoi aku sudah menjadi senior tahu. Sila berikan tunduk hormat jikalau terserempak dimana-mana. Ohohoho 

Bagi yang bertanya bagaimana pelajaran aku, terima kasih sebab ambil berat pasal study aku. Sweet angat! Alhamdulillah, setakat ini aku pass semua exam..tak pernah resit/repeat lagi. Dont ask me how I do it, I just dont know how i survived that haha! Tapi exam cumalah sebahagian ujian kecil dalam kehidupan, masih banyak lagi ujian yang maha hebat menanti aku di kemudian hari. Setiap hari rasa palpitation, adakah aku mampu untuk mengharungi liku-liku kehidupan ini dengan tenang? Inshaallah, selagi aku usaha, berkat doa ibu bapa dan percaya dengan rezeki Allah, I have nothing to worry :)

Oh ya, cuti 2 minggu ini aku penuhi dengan aktiviti-aktiviti yang menarik. Selain melancong ke USS Singapore, aku penuhi juga dengan siap kan ABR aku yang dah ke laut tu. Banyak le pulak yang nak kena buat..aku ni macam blur blur lagi. Apapon, goodluck buat semua classmate aku EMBA B. Semoga kita sama-sama berjaya menjadi manusia yang berguna dan dapat grad ngan cemerlang. Manfaatkan masa yang ada! 

Sesungguhnya kerana masa, manusia kerugian. [Surah Al-'Asr 103:1-3]

Monday Musings for the Mind

Good Job! Great work! That was magnificent! I like your style!

You made a mistake. What is this rubbish? That’s awful. I hate it when you do that.

Now go on. Tell me which one of these two lines do you prefer? Unless you’re mentally disturbed, you’ll definitely go for the first one. That’s the magic of positive reinforcement. The thing about Asians is, we’ve been conditioned by a culture that prefers not to practice it.

We’re used to hearing about how badly we messed up, since we were little kids. It’s always something like “Ali! Kenapa ujian Sains dapat B?” or “Chong! Bila nak kemas bilik?Macam kena puting beliung je ni!” or “Rajen!Kenapa rambut macam budak samseng?”

Then as we grow older it continues, albeit in a different environment. “Ali! This report is rubbish, I don’t understand a single word!”

“Chong! You missed your deadline. You’re so incompetent! “

“Rajen! That’s the worst presentation I’ve ever seen!”

You see, put downs and criticisms flow through the Asian tongue like water flows through a river. It’s so natural. Almost like combing your hair. But when it comes to giving praise, there’s always a cat that comes out of nowhere and gets their tongue. Darn cat. Shouldn’t it be dead because of its curiousity or something?

Anyway, the reason we're always so quick to berate someone is at some point of our lives we were at the receiving end, and compliments were considered an unnecessary luxury. Therefore when a person actually deserves praise, we hold back because we're so used to dishing out negative comments, the positive ones have literally 'dried up' from our mental vocabulary.

Hence, let's not let that happen and we can start by complimenting someone today. Find something good about the person, and say it like you mean it!

Here’s to a positive 2013!

The praise that comes from love does not make us vain, but more humble. 

James M. Barrie