Reflective Perspectives: October 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

on the queens of our hearts :)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

on reflections on reflective perspectives

This is, according to my dashboard, the 200th post.

This blog is like a time capsule, chronicling the evolution of my life and thoughts.

Anytime is apt for reflection, but people tend to reflect on certain memorable dates or events, you see.

For example, everyday we should be thankful that our mothers gave birth to us, but we choose to celebrate that on our birth dates.

Politicians like to declare special days, so people would get holidays.

And then there those weird days, like 'hug a friend day', 'tomato-throwing day', 'suit-up day'..

So today is '200th post day', 26th October 2011. Unfortunately, you still need to go to school tomorrow.

So yeah, I was going through my life so far. This blog started in November 2008, and in the early days i wrote things like

'Theme Park Fever'

'Jalan-jalan cari makan'

and a few other stuff that elicits the response

'Was i really like that??' *blush*

Then more teenage stuff..

and some more teenage stuff...

and some more teenage stuff..

"ngee~"

Starting February 2010 there were glimpses of hope.

Then there was a 3-month hiatus until May. What happened? Probably it was about this time that i realised

a) you were put on Earth for a purpose.

b) that purpose is not to work so you can eat, and eat so you can work.

c) why write about Theme Parks and food when you can write to save humanity.

c) Don't just read the history book, BE the history book.

وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَى شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْقَذَكُمْ مِنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

"And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allâh, and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allâh's Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islâmic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allâh makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided." (Ali Imran: 103)

So Allah gave a 2nd chance, when we were on the brink of a pit of Hell.

A poem we learnt back in MRSM said

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

And what a difference indeed. All the words in the world could not describe the joy of living in the light of islam, and the peace that it brings. When we occupy ourselves with work, with toys, with money, it never lasts. The workload will always increase. Toys become damaged. Money runs out.

But Allah never sleeps and he never tires. He's always there when the work gets too stressful, the things go bust and the money runs out, eventhough we never remember him before that.

So on "200th post day", i hope that these tiny efforts bring a difference to your lives also. These are tiny efforts, but collectively - there are lots of brilliant D&T bloggers and out there, and even people who don't have blogs but are super-brilliant - we are like a pounding river.

p/s: i don't know how the name 'reflective perspectives' was chosen, even before 'the 180-degree turn'..coincidence? but nothing is.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

on looking at things

Different people will look at different things with different light, depending on how you view the world.

Let's take a simple object, for example a tree.

A profit-oriented capitalist will say

"Hey look! Let's cut down that tree and make paper. We'll get lots of money for that."

A communist will say

"Comrade! That tree, if we sell it to the capitalist, we'll get money to distribute evenly amongst all our comrades."

An environmentalist will say

"What profits?? That tree is home to all the birds and squirrels. Cut me down first before you cut this tree."

How about us? I mean, i don't know about you, but i hope that after following this blog for a while, you'll get some idea of how to look at things with the light of islam.

"That tree, it is a creation of Allah, and it brings shade for those who sit underneath it. It drops fruit when people throw it with stones. When the lumberjack cuts it down, he sells it to feed his family. The paper from the tree is used to write down knowledge. So much benefits from a thing that could not even move. We humans move a lot, talk a lot, yet what do we give to the world. Allah is magnificent."

How do you look at things?

p/s: I like this poster..its a great illustrator of how we see things.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

on detention; we're all being detained, awaiting trial in the hereafter

Today, we have a chance to take action.

A concerted and intensive action to create a new revolution and rid the world once and for all of injustice!

i exaggerate, but yes, we do have a chance to take action.

basically yeah, in the UK now there's a huge ongoing effort to petition against the extradition to the US of Babar Ahmad, a UK citizen accused of (what else)? But here's the thing. He has been imprisoned for 7 years without any trial, and we thought only malaysia does these things. He is, at 7 years, the longest prisoner detained without trial in the UK.

In our khutbah at LSE today, we were told about the situation of Babar Ahmad. The evidence provided against him is insufficient to charge him in the UK, so they are trying to put him on trial in the US. And if found guilty, he will be sent to a Supermax prison into a solitary cell, where he won't be permitted to meet other prisoners, is only allowed 1 hour outside, and will only get 15 minutes to talk to his family once per month.

And the worst part is, during his first arrest he was subjected to abuse and torture, and one of it was being forced to go into the sujood position, while the police taunted him with cries of "Where is your God now?"

So, our part. If we can get 100,000 signatures before 10/11/2011, the parliament will rediscuss his case and hopefully he will get a fair trial in the UK, and not be subject to further unfair detention. this petition is especially for people currently in the UK.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/885

The ummah is like one body; if one part gets hurt the whole body feels it.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

on honouring the qur'an: put it high in our hearts, not high on our shelves

Salaams all,

Interesting article:

http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Lautbergeloraberubahtenang/Article

Basically, old copies of the Qur'an were burnt and their ashes were going to be disposed of in the sea.

And the choppy waters turned calm when they threw the ashes into the sea.

1) Even the sea turned calm receiving the qur'an. But we still don't want to read it.

2) The qur'an appears in the Malaysian media if:
- americans burned the qur'an
- pages of qur'an suddenly go missing
- youth trample on the qur'an in a show of disrespect

But rarely do we hear about the message of the qur'an in the media. Is it just an ornament to keep away spirits and jinn (genies)?

Or a guide to a complete system of living, now and in the hereafter?

You see, we 'step' on the qur'an everyday, without even realising it.