Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,
Hello...hello...I am thrilled to be here again after a long hiatus. Nice to see visitor numbers increasing despite my long absence. I pray seekers of guidance will find something useful here. Hopefully, people will eventually recognize that this faqir tries her best to usher people towards good habits and soul-building lessons.
I am delighted to announce one Lordly bounty the generous Al-Kareem and Al-Wahab has bestowed on me. That I had successfully completed my MBA final project! Alhamdulillah for this important milestone. Alhamdulillah that my dissertation had won praises from my supervisor who is also co-editor at an international journal. YaHuuuu!
But the blogger in me has been somewhat impatient to write about the religious aspect of my dissertation topic because not surprisingly there are many similarities, rather principles from the deen that are reflected in the so-called professional field known as Futures Literacy, and its many subsets e.g. foresight and scenario planning. You might have noticed it - future with an S, the future is plural, we are talking about futures not just the one general idea of a distant future. Futures Literacy is an essential competency of the 21st century, says UNESCO. If you think about it, Muslim children are taught about tauhid, specifically the Six Articles of Faith (Rukun Iman) very early in life, and that is an element of Futures Literacy i.e. belief in the Hereafter. The akhirah offers a myriad of possibilities.
There are at least two types of future, Heaven or Hell and if you wish to dive deeper, there are seven levels of Heaven and several levels of Hell too. One undesirable future and God-forbid is the lowest pit of Hell reserved for the munafiqun, so that is one future scenario that we should avoid at all cost.
We learn from the Quran and hadith either directly or indirectly through the scholars, that there are many futures. In the language of the Futurists, you could do a backcasting, that is identify the things you got to do to increase your chances of going to heaven or things to avoid if you want to reduce your chances of ending up in hell. Yes, as simple as that, but not so easy because as we all know, the path to Heaven requires lots of hard work - externally and more so internal work. Notwithstanding the fact that Allah has the ultimate say, regardless of the efforts that we put in because as you all know, His redha (mercy) is the sole key to eternal felicity vis-à-vis Jannah.
Professional Futurists propagate horizon scanning and scenario planning towards achieving one's desirable future. There are four types of futures within the vast future net called 'potential future'. There are possible, plausible, probable and preferable futures. So think about it, think beyond the potential, not just for worldly professional matters but also spiritually. Of course, if you wish to know more about it professionally, you could hire me for consultancy, LOL. But here on this space, matters related to the deen, it is free counsel, take it or leave it.
Ahh...yes I can imagine what's going on in the minds of the haters and stalkers. But I wish to thank them for their generosities, seriously. For believers, we are fortunate because we gain from both the well-wishers and those who harbor bad 'ain towards us.
I must register my gratitude towards the beautiful souls who have been praying and rooting for me because I would not have done it so successfully if God had not answered their prayers for my success. May Allah reward them with His special bounties.
I also wish to remind the loyal genuine visitors of this blog to keep moving forward, keep developing your mental and spiritual capabilities. Fastabiqul khairat applies not just outwardly but also to one's mental model. After all, without proper knowledge, worship has little value. Some of the seasoned visitors to this blog may recall a tausiyah by the venerable Shaykh Al Yaqoubi who elucidated the real meaning of 'to worship Allah' as 'to know Allah', so then ponder why the first Quran word revealed was iqra' (read).
Let us continue to read as much as possible, the Quran and all other useful reading materials and also read His wondrous signs on the horizons and within ourselves.
Rabbi zidni ilma war zuqni fahma
Rabbana atmim lana nuurana waq firlana
innaka 'ala kulli syai in qodir
Until next time, stay safe wherever you are.
- E. Ismail
I hope I am relieved of the blame for not sharing my knowledge. Aamin.
The pic and video clip were captured by yours truly on one beautiful Friday morning in Penang.