Another long weekend this week. I don't feel like cooking and has yet to regain my appetite for outdoor adventure although some of my friends are already going for trekking and diving. I think, partly it's because of my current responsibility. Although these activities are already allowed at this point, I still prefer to stay at home as advised. I still have to be ready if there are to be another surge of cases (Palis2...).
I started 2020 with a lot of plans and goals and now nothing is going according to plan hahaha. In fact, I've been busy with reorganizing my schedule and emailing for refunds (luckily not much because most of my scheduled travels are work-related). For the first time in my entire life, I have nothing planned ahead! I'm learning to live life as time goes by hahaha If you've been reading my blog, you might've learned that I've been since forever a busy person with so much going on in life. Even as a kid, my schedule was always full. Not only with tuition and 'mengaji' but with sports clinics and trainings, with free art classes or sometimes I would just be at a best friend's house to do homework or play.
At my 20's, I was so eager to satiate my curiosity and tried many different things to discover if there is any hidden talent or will that something be a new passion. And at 30s, I have a thirst for progress, especially in my career. I've always been passionate about my career although I don't usually talk about it. I'm afraid if I started to, I'll turn all blue like a Super Saiyan God mode sebab terlampau bersemangat hahaha. My definition of 'settling down' has always been to be in a HALAL (must emphasize this first lol), stable and purposeful relationship so I can focus on important things in life. This has always been one of my main principle thus I tend to be blunt in asking a guy what is his intention in approaching me. I get misunderstood as a desperate, man hunting woman all the time hahaha but I don't care about what they think, as long as I uphold the 'covenant' I made to myself and with Allah.
It's really easy to think that this Covid19 has made my plans come into a standstill. The international congress that was previously postponed to a later date has now been cancelled. And the professional exam that I was looking forward to sit is also now still uncertain and I figured it is safe to not register yet due to the travelling restriction (the test center is in KL). However, Alhamdulillah, my friends and I were engaged in some fruitful 'stay at home' activities in Ramadhan that somehow have enlightened me that Covid19 will only be the cause of stunt if I allow it to be. So here goes the main point of this post after 4 paragraphs of rambling because I have so much time hahaha
In the Ramadhan edition of my Recipe for Success, I mentioned about this tadabbur videos in Yaqeen Institute webpage that I've been following. I'll try my best to post the points that resonate with me and I hope whoever get to read them will learn something and benefit from them too. We will start with the first juz' which starts from surah Al-Fatihah and extend to surah Al-Baqarah verse 141
I remember my cousin once asked me, "Cuba teka, doa apa yang paling banyak kali kita baca?"
Of course ustajiah answered it confidently,
ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us to the straight path.
In surah Al fatihah, the Al Quran starts with glorification and praises for Allah followed by doa asking for guidance. This surah is a concise yet very comprehensive as it sums up our relationship with Allah in entirety and it is a surah that we repeatedly read in our 5 daily prayers.
This is then followed by Surah Al-Baqarah which is the longest surah of the Al Quran. I studied the first 5 verses quite extensively back in the university however every time I hear someone expound the gist of these verses, I'm spellbound over and over again. This essential part of the surah, besides introducing the basic tenets of Islam, it actually emphasize that the Al-Quran is the book of guidance.
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِۛ هُدٗى لِّلۡمُتَّقِينَ
This is the Scripture in which there is no doubt, containing guidance
for those who are mindful of God
Sh. Abdullah Oduro in his explanation highlighted the importance of sincerity in seeking guidance when reading the Al Quran. That is to read the message from Allah to find the path to Allah and not to find 'evidence' to justify our wrongdoings by misleadingly self-interpreting the content. He also focused on the phrase 'those who are mindful of God'. He explained that not only should we be contemplating the message in the Al Quran, we should always be aware of our surroundings, of the things that happen in our life and be able to associate them with the attributes of Allah and be in constant remembrance of Allah.
ٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱلۡغَيۡبِ
Who believe in the unseen
The context of 'the unseen' that I've always understood in this part of verse 3 is the nature of Allah, the angels, the Hereafter and predestination. And as I said before, previously I took the point just as it is. What amazed me was when the sheikh explained that this part is a reminder that we should always have a strong believe in Allah and only upon Him we rely on for the things that are uncertain in life. This doesn't mean that we should just wait for things to miraculously work out for us. But this should be the reason for us to push ourselves to do things in excellence and then leave the rest to Allah. So if in the end the result do not turn out to be as what we expect, the strong believe in Allah's wisdom and grace will hold us steady in facing failure, inshaAllah.
And then the surah talks about hypocrisy. During the first few episodes, the sheikhs actually didn't mention clearly the verses number so I was a bit lost but the discussion on hypocrisy starts at verse 6. What I like about this part of the discussion is Sh Justin Parott (who is actually a revert!) talked about INTROSPECTION. He began with how the companions were most afraid of hypocrisy for themselves and always prayed that they don't fall into that. I won't go into detail on the types of Nifaq here. His main point was, for the parts where the characteristics of hypocrisy is mentioned, we should do self reflection whether there are signs of hypocrisy within ourselves. We might not be aware of it if we don't self-examine ourselves. Then if there is, we should improve, pray to Allah to make us firm in our faith and always be humble....
Since we are already talking about hypocrisy, I like to share this scene from the Omar al-Khattab series. After the Prophet's (pbuh) demise, Abu Bakr (ra) was facing with a lot of challenges especially hypocrisies and apostasies. This series made me appreciate the companions even more and I adore Abu Bakr's (ra) firmness in handling hypocrisies and apostasies. This scene was when a tribe came saying that they will still be Muslims and practice Islam except pay zakat. My favourite dialogue for this scene is this,
"Islamic principles constitute a single line. The whole line will soon be shattered
if you undo one of them today"
This is very common in this modern world where Muslims who called themselves the 'liberals' would accept some portions of Allah's message and deny what is not convenient for them. Honestly, I do not judge such people. To me that is totally between them and Allah. But what I dislike is when they preach their ideas and get more people to accept and follow them. This part of history depicted in the series shows that we should not take some portions of the religion and disregard what is not in our favour. Islam is timeless and each and every part of Islam will always be relevant because Islam is not a rigid religion...
Okay to be continued~
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