A conduit of blessings

Bismillah.

Did you know that 17th May is World Telecommunication and Information Society Day? Well, I work in this industry so it's been etched on my mind for many years already and I wish to say something in support of telecommunications technology. It is evidently, a conduit of blessings, provided that our usage or involvement in it does not harm other people, either with our words or actions.

It seems that this year my work is grabbing me away from this space more than ever. As much as I want to hang out on the Blogosphere every day, I need to spend more time at work so that other people could have access to this conduit of blessings, especially those living in rural areas in Malaysia. I feel blessed that in conjunction with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, this year, the organization where I work has been granted millions of dollars to spend so that more people could be in touch and be counted as a Netizen. And since my superiors were all occupied, I was entrusted with receiving the valuable grant while I am a nobody in the company. MashaAllah walhamdulillah. What I am trying to say is that there will not be as many blog postings as previous years due to work commitment. Still, we pray Allah would grant the strength to put our time and energy to good use.

I was at a seminar recently and it was comforting to learn that research conducted by a local uni showed that people have been using the internet to search about religion more than any other topic. Indeed, many good things come out of this conduit called the Internet: understanding, wisdom, opportunities, happiness,  friendship, peace and love. Well, that is if you view the glass as half full and not half empty.

May Allah reward you for your generous praises and appreciation for this space. The only reason why people seem to favor us is that Allah has made our weaknesses and flaws hidden. And verily He honors and dishonors whom He wills.

I humbly ask for your prayers so that I keep steadfast on the right path and hold fast to the deen and that Allah will strengthen any incompletes, purify any blemishes and fulfill all needs. I shall pray for the same for you. Ameen.

See you when I see you InshaAllah.

-E-

     

Inspiration | The Spirit in us

Bismillah.

Glory be to Allah, we have no knowledge except what He has taught us. He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. So we learned that invocation from the Qur'an. Thus, we are resigned to the fact that He is the Only Teacher. 

With that let's hope that some of the students on the path of Allah will not be too stingy and overly possessive of what "their teachers" have taught them. I had been told not to share some of the teachings of a certain guru. I said, why all the fuss? At the end of the day, the knowledge that gets accumulated in our hearts is from Allah. All knowledge belongs to Him. He is the ultimate copyright holder.

On the other end of the spectrum, some people asked me, "What can I get from attending a majlis conducted by those habaib/shuyukh? What do they do there?" Hmm....how do we answer that? If there is one word I could use to describe the habaib and the shuyukh, I would say, they are utterly inspiring. What does that mean? 

Lately, I have been listening to Dr. Wayne Dyer and I must say that I am very impressed and surprised at the same time that he could articulate very eloquently some aspects of Sufism, although he did not use such a term. He said the word inspiration comes from two words: "in" and "spirit". Being inspired is to be in spirit, that is to be in touch and connected with the Spirit from which we came. According to him, "to live an inspired life is finding a way for you to be in harmony with the spiritual essence from which you originate. And not just in feelings but in behavior and in every single thought that you have. It's about living in spirit at all times and catching our self when we are disconnected from where we originate, from that divine source." The core underlying theme of many of Dr. Wayne speeches is that we are connected to God because His spirit is in us. It is, in my interpretation, very similar to what we learned from the Qur'an in Surah As-Sajada: "...then (He) formed him and breathed His Spirit into him and gave you hearing, sight, and hearts. What little thanks you show!"

Now coming back to the question posed earlier. Why do I find the habaib and shuyukh so inspiring? I reckon and I believe it's because they are so very in spirit. They are deeply connected with the Spirit, the Divine Source, they are closely in touch with Allah in their zikr, in their remembrance, perhaps in each of their breath that their speech, in fact, their presence alone could make you feel calm, secure and inspired. When we are in their presence, we are often reminded not to forget Allah, not to lose touch with our Source, so much so that when we see them, we remember Allah. When we are at their majlis, we are often reminded of the true purpose of our being. They would recite lengthy and meaningful prayers that could bring us to tears and we seek solace in that because they being so in Spirit, their du'a is likely to be more maqbul than ours.

Let's think about it a little deeper. Think about the Spirit that has been breathed into us. We have the tendency to take that for granted, to forget it so easily, to be so fragile and get disconnected from it. 

I leave you with some thought-provoking and encouraging words from Dr. Wayne again: "How could you have a body that comes from a divine source that created you, be anything other than beautiful, and divine? It is a perfect creation of God, of Source that you carry around with you." He said because of our connection to the Spirit, we should feel empowered and recognize ourselves as a genius with unlimited talent and that anything we may intend to have, is on its way.

O friends, let us all be in Spirit always and be inspired. We welcome anyone whose words and actions inspire us and make us grow in our thinking capacity. And we say no to anyone who tries to delimit our knowledge receptivity.

# Watch "Inspiration: Your ultimate calling" by Dr. Wayne Dyer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj_RGvDRJRE 
# Pic credit: Brother Hamid Iqbal Khan
http://www.redbubble.com/people/hamidsart

Almarhum Shaykh Raja Ashman | 40 Hari Berlalu Pergi

Bismillah.

Tiada sesuatu pun yang terlepas daripada perancangan dan kekuasaan-Nya.

Ternyata malam ini mengundang ingatan dan rindu yang mendalam padanya. Tatkala saya menerima tetamu di rumah sebentar tadi (seorang jemaah Naqshabandi), saya di-ingatkan tentang 40 hari yang berlalu pergi setelah kemangkatan Yang Mulia Almarhum Shaykh Raja pada 30 Mac 2012. Masing-masing mengimbau saat menerima berita hiba itu. Yang jelas, karamah Almarhum nampak lebih ketara setelah beliau tiada.

Ramai jadi diam terpaku mendengar kisah awan mengukir nama Allah di saat persemadian Almarhum. Malam ini pula saya terkesima mendengar cerita bagaimana seorang berbangsa India yang rapat dengan Almarhum membuat keputusan memeluk Islam sesudah mengalami sesuatu yang luar biasa ketika menziarahi makam beliau. Subhanallah!

Sungguh ramai yang dahulunya tidak mengenali Almarhum dan aktiviti spiritualnya jadi semakin terbuka mata dan minda. Betapa Allah berkuasa menyembunyikan sesetengah waliNya ketika hayat mereka. Allahu a'lam.

Esok genap 40 hari Almarhum meninggalkan kita. Tuhan jua yang lebih tahu makam yang bagaimana Almarhum duduki di alam barzakh. Sedangkan kita yang ditinggalkan sekadar dapat mengenang dan cuba menilai keistimewaannya yang pergi dengan mudah, di malam Jumaat yang indah, sesudah majlis zikir secara husnul khatimah. MashaAllah!

Benarlah kata-kata: sesiapa yang tidak merasai sesuatu itu pastinya tidak akan mengerti. Perasaan kasih sayang itu sukar dimengerti kecuali bagi mereka yang merasainya sendiri. Kenapa hati jadi terpaut pada seseorang? Kenapa hati merasa rindu padanya? Terlalu seni...sehingga tiada kata-kata yang dapat saya nukilkan lagi dalam mengimbau memori pemergiannya setelah 40 hari.

Sekadar berdoa agar Allah akan kumpulkan kita bersama-sama mereka yang kita sayangi di hari kemudian nanti. Betapa hebat natijah kasih sayang yang tiada kan terputus, dari dunia membawa ke syurga, dengan izinNya.   

Al-Fatihah

Almarhum Raja Dato' Seri Ashman Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Shah

28 Disember 1958 - 30 Mac 2012

''YA MUHAMMED''

Bismillah.

Wishing all of you a blissful Jumaah.
With love,
-E-

Working for no god but Allah

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah for this labor day holiday so we get to relax and reflect on our life as an employee and ponder on the One and Only Employer.

And again we recalled the daily affirmation which we had mentioned before: "I do God's work in peace and harmony." We are indeed grateful to be gainfully employed. We have had the experience of being unemployed for about three years so we know better how to appreciate and enjoy our present occupation. Alhamdulillah, with every hardship comes ease. 

As we examine our present state a little deeper, we realize we are happy that our worldly job allows us to have a better and more meaningful occupation, which is to blog about the people and a subject that we care about. We are thankful and grateful for this opportunity. And surely we draw inspirations from many people out there especially the habaib and the shuyukh who labor tirelessly in the cause of Allah in a much greater way. May Allah keep our intentions pure and accept our little actions for we try to contribute in our own way. Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi said, "Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart."

Let's pray so that Allah would give us plenty of wealth through our work so that we could give away plenty to the people we care and love, all for the sake of Allah. He knows our intentions and our plans and in Him alone, we harbor our hope for success. Verily He is the Most Generous Giver, He has let us score a 1 in our intention and we hope He will manifest the desired results and let us score a 10 for carrying out our intention. This deen is beautiful indeed.

Therefore, as a worker of Allah, we have every reason to be happy when we rise in the morning and leave home for work and then to come home and continue working. In this wonderful religion we believe in, every good thing we do may be considered as ibadah. So, let's plod on.

There is no power and no strength save with Allah, the High, the Great. Glory be to Allah for creating us and our actions.

وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
"While Allah created you and that which you do."
As-Saffat:96

Work for no god but Allah

How do you want to be remembered?

Bismillah.

Our days are numbered, certainly. We have seen people who live among us who have gone to the eternal abode. We know not when our time will come. We have remembered those who have gone before us, we remember them in a good way. We want to be remembered in a good way too. 

We too want to be remembered as one who loves and promotes peace. That we ourselves are considered as peaceful people because we truly uphold and practice Islam as our religion InshaAllah. That we have a good character because we have lived to have Prophet Muhammad as our role model for good akhlak. We know not any other leaders other than him and his noble families. May Allah bless them all and keep us with them. Ameen.

We know not any other teachings other than the one the Prophet has taught us about humility, about gratefulness, about patience, about generosity, about good speech, about respect, about loving our brotherhood, oh so many.

And we learned from his blessed descendants about the significance of gathering at majlis 'ilm, majlis zikr, and mawlid. May Allah keep our hearts inclined towards such gatherings and may Allah continue to give us the tawfiq to do so.

We want to be remembered as one who uses the dunya for akhirah, who thinks farther than this temporary physical world. We want to be remembered as those who know and acknowledge the Prophet's family and descendants, those who are guided by the good examples they have set. We are motivated by the characters of the Prophet's companions too. Sayyidina Abu Bakar radhiallahu anhu, to name but one. We want to shed tears of love for the Prophet as he did when he hid with him in the cave. We want to work towards attaining plenty of wealth, not to keep but to give away as he did. He who gave away 200 gold dinars for the purpose of constructing Masjid an-Nabawi. SubhanAllah.

What about us? What have we given to the religion? How do we want to be remembered? How do you want to be remembered?

"Gather for a good cause." - Habib Hussin Aqeel

Bismillah.

Habib Hussin Aqeel was one of several dignified speakers who addressed the audience at the grand Mawlid Ar Rasul event hosted by Yayasan Sofa on 8 April 2012. He spoke on the virtues of gathering for a good cause. 

He said: This majlis verily is connected with 'alamil ulmi, it is a place of an event for the angels too. About fifteen decades ago the Prophet s.a.w had spoken about the benefits of gathering for a good cause. The Prophet said a group of people who convene, who choose to convene at the House of Allah, at a masjid, who gather to make zikr of Allah and salawat will surely reap plenty of rewards. And we learned from the ulama that the best of zikr is to learn about the deen. So what are the benefits that await those who gather for a good cause? Habib Hussin Aqeel said one could hope for four blessings:

• Allah orders the angels to descend on the place of such a gathering. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders the angels to come down on earth, in Malaysia, at this masjid, ordering them to lower their wings and hover over those who are present. What does it mean to be beneath the wings of the angels? It does not mean that we would become perfect instantaneously. We are weak beings. We do not know what is going to happen thirty minutes from now, let alone five minutes ahead of us, we don't know. We sure hope Allah will grant us something good. But what if He destined a misfortune? We know not! As we are gathered at such a blessed gathering we can hope to take home Allah's bounties, that He would ward off any ill-luck, and that He would protect us.
• Allah orders the angels to envelop us with a 'bountiful blanket' that our life at work and at home will be so blessed. We shall go home and bring with us this blessing so that our family could also benefit from it. Our family will live more harmoniously than before. Allah's blessings will go to our wife. Our children who might have been disobedient would change for the better by God's will.
• Allah orders the angels to shower sakinah, a sense of serenity onto the audience of such a gathering. Sakinah is a priceless and precious gift. Not everyone gets to have a tranquil heart and peaceful soul. Only those who love attending majlis zikr could have such a gift. One who has sakinah would act more maturely when handling afflictions.
• And lastly, our presence at such a gathering will make Allah proud. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes pride in one who gathers to remember Him and He grants pardon to our sins.

May Allah forgive us.

May Allah answer our pleas. 

May Allah heal us.

_______________________________________________

May I be forgiven for any errors and omissions.

Pic credit: Yayasan Sofa