Satan's EGM

Received this from my brother Azman who's in Lahore, Pakistan. Thanks for the reminder Bang!
(Read even if you're busy) 

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, 


'We can't keep Muslims from going to Masjid.' 


'We can't keep them from reading their Quran and knowing the truth.' 



'We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Allah and his messenger Muhammad.' 

'So, let them go to their Masjids; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Allah and his messenger Muhammad.' 


'This is what I want you to do,' said the devil: 'Distract them from gaining hold of their Allah and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!' 



'How shall we do this?' his demons shouted. 
'Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,' he answered. 


'Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.' 


'Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.' 


'Keep them from spending time with their children.' 'As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!' 


'Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.' 


'Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.' 


'To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly.' 

'This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah and his messenger Muhammad.' 

'Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.' 'Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.' 'Invade their driving moments with billboards.' 

'Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.' 

'Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and 

TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. 'Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.' 

(Eee jahatnya setan ni!!)

'Give them headaches too!' 

'If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.

'That will fragment their families quickly!' 


'Give them story books to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Salat.' 


'Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on Allah's creation. 


'Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.' 'Keep them busy, busy, busy!' 

'And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. ' 

'Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah.' 'Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.' 

'It will work!' 
'It will work!' 

It was quite a plan! 

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. 


Having little time for their Allah or their families. 

Having no time to tell others about the power of Allah and his messenger Muhammad to change lives. 

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes? 

You be the judge!!!!! 


Does 'BUSY' mean: 


B-eing 
U-nder 
S-atan's 
Y-oke? 

My Ramadhan Gift for Kak Shahariah

In the name of Allah Most Compassionate and Most Merciful

I was so touched when Kak Shahariah made a plea with us in a particular WhatsApp group chat to share the knowledge from a class we were going to attend. She is at home recuperating after a major surgery so she would have to miss the class. The class was to be held in Kak Mashita's beautiful home in Shah Alam, which she organises on a monthly basis. (May Allah shower her with blessings for her generosity and effort). And the teacher is none other than our beloved Dato' Dr. Fatma Az-Zahra.

Picture taken from Kak Mashita's Facebook without her permission ;-p

My vision is very limited now due to cataracts that developed from over-wxposure to UV light since working on the farm. But I thought I had better make full use of whatever vision I have left for only good things; I have learnt that misusing what Allah Azza wa Jalla has blessed us with is known as kufur ni'mat and I vouch to avoid that na'uzubillah.

So this is it. Kak Shahariah, in a nutshell, this is what I got from the class:

The Quran and the Knowledge is our Nur in dunya and it will ascertain our standing (darjat) in Akhirah.

Allah swt berfirman (sorry I didn't get the surah) "Aku angkat darjat tinggi orang yang beriman dan berilmu."

We often plan in advance our trips overseas, but fail to plan for our trip to the Akhirah.

Preparing for the coming Ramadhan

The doa' which we read during Ramadhan which contains the kalimah " 'afuw" - it is a big difference with "ghafur". In the former, all our sins are forgiven and forgotten, completely deleted from our Book. Whereas "ghafur" means we have already taubat but we will still be questioned about the solah that we may have missed before.

We need to pasang all our niat now before Ramadhan starts because we don't know if we can even live till then. 

1. MUHASABAH 

Sit down and write all the vice we may still be committing, weaknesses and sins. Make a conscious intention to ris of these. Hisab ourselvelves before Allah does it. If we don't survive till Ramadhan, we will at least get the pahala for sincerely wanting to improve ourselves.

Review our habluminAllah and hablumminnas. If you have stopped talking to someone over an argument, patch the relationship. Do not be arrogant and stubborn. Maaf-maafan should be done now too, not just before the Eid.  

2. MURAKABAH

Believing and living by "I don't see Allah but He sees me." and "I don't hear Alla but He hears me. Doing something or saying something wrong then takut dengan manusia, it's wrong.  We should akut dengan Allah. If we are afraid of what people might say towards our behaviou, it shows our aqidah is longgar, and that we are not true believers.

This is related to the tafsir of the surah that we were about to do - Surah Al-Maa'uun which Allah swt forbids us to ill-treat orphans and encourages us to feed the hungry. Akhlak, good deeds and habluminannas come before ibadah and silaturrahim is of extreme importance.

3. MUJAHADAH 

 Start fasting in Syaaban, this is the month Rasulullah SAW did most of his sunat fasting.Increase and escalate all other amalan too lite taubah and sadaqah.

4. MUTABA'AH

Follow-up on all our deeds after Ramadha. Do the puasa 6 and the puasa sunat on Mondays and Thursdays as well as on the 13th, 14th and 15th of each hijrah month. 

Hope you benefit from this dear Kak Shahariah and all myr Car Pool Gang sisters, and may Allah ease your difficulties. Love you all very much. 

 

Prostration - The Ultimate Symbol of Submission to Allah

In the Name Of Allah Most Merciful and Most Beneficient

This is a recap of the tafseeer class conducted by Ustazah Dato' Dr. Fatma Az-Zahra held at Yayasan Nuh last Friday, the 15th of January 2015.

Prostration, or sujud is the absolute act of total subservience to Allah swt. When we go down on our knees and bow until the highest part of the human form, the head, goes down to the lowest level which is the ground, or earth (which is what we're made of), we admit to our inferiority, our weaknesses and submit ourselves to Him in totality, in all humility.

There are fifteen surah in the Al-Quran where there is mention of sujud, and when we read these ayahs, it is sunnah to sujud. This sujud is called the sujud tilawah. Acording to Dr. Fatma, three things happen when we do this: 1) ten of our sins are forgiven 2) we get ten extra points and 3) the syaitans will cry.

One of the surah which has this sujud tilawah is the 32nd surah in the Quran, the Surah As-Sajadah. Only this surah is named as such, and the reason for this is because the message in this surah is wholly about submitting ourselves to Allah Azza wa Jalla. And the prostration is the sign that we submit to Him, the One and Only ilah that deserves to be truly worshipped. 

The most effective way to be submissive to our Creator is to always remember how and what we're made of (Ayah 8). This realisation would eliminate the arrogance in us and instead we admit to our complete reliance on Allah Azza wa Jalla. 

The most significant and the gist of this whole surah is in Ayah 14:

"So taste, (the torment of the Fire) for your forgotten the Encounter of this Day of yours. Indeed, We have forgotten you, so taste the chastisement of eternity for that you were doing.

Allah Azza wa Jalla had mentioned of people who ignore and forget the Day of Judgement and the punishment that come after. They come to their senses and plead to be sent back to Earth so they can do what they had been commanded to, but of course it's too late.

Then in the next ayah (15), Allah describes those who have faith and submit themselves to Him:

"Most surely those who believe in our Revelations (proof, evidence, verses, lessons and signs), those who, when they are recited to them, fall down in prostration, and celebrate the praise of their Lord, and they are not proud."

This is where we should do the sujud tilawah when we recite this surah.

Further to this, in the next ayah (16) the true believer who is subservient to his Master will  perform the solat tahajjud each night. This is truly an indication of a person's conviction as getting out of his/her comfortable bed in the middle of the night or very early in the morning is a huge sacrifice.

Ayah 16 & 17 reads:

"They forsake their beds as they call on their Lord in fear and hope, and they expend of that We have bestowed upon them."

"No soul knows what joys of the eye have been kept hidden for them as reward for their deeds."

The solat tahajjud is much loved by Allah Azza wa Jalla. It is the only ibadah of which no one knows what rewards will be given to those who perform it. 

If one desires to wake up to perform the solah tahajjud, read Surah As Sajadah and Surah Mulk before you go to sleep. 

It works like magic. Insyaa Allah.