In the plight of fasting

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Wow! Two consecutive updates in two days is a milestone for me. Well, that signifies the free time that I still have to cherish during the second week of uni.

I'm actually quite impressed in how my day today went, الحمد لله (All praise due to Allah). It was really productive in the sense that I managed to complete one small report, did some revision on Mathematical Modelling, did some Dynamics tutorial questions and I managed to have the time to read two juzu' of Quran today despite having four hours of straight lecture in the morning.

What's the secret? How did I have so much time to do all that? Fasting? Bingo! It is very much self-explanatory I guess. 

..... But whoever does good of his own accord, it is better for him. And that you fast, it is better for you if only you know. (2:184)

Pondering on this verse, mankind wouldn't be able to think of such activity that seems tiring is actually very 'energizing' and beneficial. "If only you know." That was what Allah said in the Holy Quran and let's see why it is very beneficial (at least in my point of view).

I don't know if this applies to you guys, but I would like to ask, how many times have you guys feel so sleepy, tired and so forth after having a heavy meal? I'm pretty sure that's common among us. Thus the prophet Muhammad s.a.w. warned us to stop eating before we feel full. That's among our weakest state and therefore easy for the Syaitan (devil) and nafs (desire) to take control of ourselves. Fasting stopped this gateway for Syaitan and nafs to take control of ourselves thus preventing us from becoming LAZY.

Energy is also used to process the food that we eat. If we don't eat, there's nothing for our digestion system to process. Those energy can then be channeled towards our other activities. With respect to time, you don't 'waste' your time preparing / searching and eating meals. Thus you have plenty of extra time to do other things as well.

Fasting makes oneself always on the alert state - I saw some hot chicks walking down the street, "Oh, I'm fasting." One would quickly turn away and look at somewhere else. In that one simple example, fasting provides a really good training for Muslim to be fully obedient to Allah's command.

However, keep your guards on, those who fast! Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. warned us, most of us who fast didn't get any benefit out of it, except for thirst and hunger only. 

It's already the end of Rajab and Sya'ban is just around the corner. Let us all offer voluntary fast more often as that's what Rasulullah did as well during the month of Rajab and Sya'ban. It will also be a good training ground for us before the month of Ramadhan comes. Hopefully we will remain istiqamah (steadfast) in all our 'amal (good deeds). Let's pray to Allah and strive for the best. InsyaAllah.

والله علم

والسلام عليكم

Struck by the 'lightning'.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Last night during Isya' prayer, again as usual the Mt St mosque has some special guests - the tabligh jam'ah. Usually the bayan (talk) that they deliver is pretty much the same, ritual and predictable (but I'm not saying same, ritual and predictable tazkirah (reminders) is wrong anyway).

However this time around, it sort of struck directly in my heart and my mind. One hadith mentioned by the speaker was roughly like this:

A sohabah (companion) was building a house which is made of bricks. He was about to finish and the moment he was about to put the very last brick to complete the construction of the house, He heard the azan (the call for prayer). He put back that last brick to the ground and quickly rushed to the mosque. 

Later after he had finished praying, one of his friend asked him, "Why don't you just put that very last brick to complete the house and then only you go to the mosque?" He replied, " If I were to do that, that means the house is more important to me than answering the call for prayer (the grand call towards remembering Allah)."

I quickly reflected back on myself, whispering to myself. This is the true quality of a mu'min (believer). It was even described in another hadith that prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was very friendly with everyone. One day the prophet was talking to some of his companions. The moment he heard the azan, he immediately stopped talking and go straight to the mosque as if there was no conversation taking place before.

Me? Sometimes, I do respond in such a manner but most of times, I don't. "I will go to pray once I've finished this work." "I will pray later once this TV program is over."

O Allah, give me the strength and give me guidance, and keep me in the straight path.

We might think this is a small thing, whatsoever. But nay! This small example is enough to show how weak our iman (faith) is. It clearly shows that our priority is still with this temporary life, world full of disillusionment. If it stays like this, don't ever dream of becoming the greatest ummah (nation) as described in the Quran in the following verse:

You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and you believe in Allah.... (3:110)

Khaira ummatin is no mere joke nor fairy tale, but the joke now is the Muslims, ourselves!! We have a lot of things to do in order to make sure we do stand up as the best nation, but before that we have to start from the very basic step. We learnt a lot from the past, the seerah (history) and what we should do now is to اصلح (correct and purify) ourselves. 

Wake up people! Stop blaming others when we ourselves don't even live up to the standard of khaira ummatin as described in the Quran. 

.....if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah (the Quran) and the Messenger s.a.w. (the sunnah), if you really believe in Allah and the Last Day... (4:59)

Let's start from scratch, start from ourselves and let's go back to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. It's never too late until the death comes.

والله علم

والسلام عليكم

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Who am I? I'm nobody special and always forgetting my main duty, my main purpose of existence. Currently completing a degree in Mechanical Engineering in University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Firstly, I couldn't believe myself writing (again) after an incident that stopped me from writing many years ago. I wouldn't want to talk about that incident really now, let bygones be bygones.

Anyway here I am again, but I can be pretty sure of something from now onwards - there won't be frequent updates on my blog as I do have other commitments, just like many other people. However  انشأ لله  I will try my best to update it regularly upon certain basis, on which I haven't decide yet.

That's good enough as an intro I reckon' and I'm not just going to write mainly in English I suppose. Let this be a bilingual blog. 

والله علم

والسلام عليكم