from heaven, with love

THE SCROLL

Peace be upon you, holder of the scroll.

All praise be to God, for He has chosen you for a very special task. He has chosen you to be the bearer of good tidings and a warner to mankind. 

If you accept this mission and carry it out faithfully, you will be rewarded with rewards that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no hand has ever touched. If you turn back on your heels, then beware a severe torment. 

This task is not strewn with flowers, and you will be inflicted with hardships, faced with obstacles and be attacked on all sides. Bear it with patience, for in every bitter medicine is the cure.

Persevere until your last breath, and we will be waiting for you in gardens of everlasting pleasure. We have spilled blood, sweat and tears carrying the torch to you, do not disappoint us and let the flame die.

With love,

The enlightened ones who came before you.

lessons from a dinner table

Today i'll tell you a story about my family.

I come from a family of mixed lineage. My father's side is chinese and my mum's is malay. So naturally i have uncles and aunties and cousins of colourful backgrounds.

I have an uncle, and his family is christian. Today we had dinner together and

this dinner inspired me to write this blogpost. You see, in our country there's not a lot of interaction between people of different cultures, religions, etc. even if we see each other everyday. Yes, you talk to the ahsoi if you go to her shop, you see the mamak and have his roti canai everyday, but its all 'professional interaction', and there's not much 'genuine interaction', getting to know the person, knowing what his hopes and fears are, caring about what he feels about, etc (maybe there is a lot of interaction, it is only me who's been living in a bubble huhu)

Like some time ago, there was this major fuss about christians using the word 'Allah' to describe God. There was a lot of protests by muslims back then. "people will be confused!" "a lot of people will be converted!" marah-marah pulak. Have you tried your best in spreading the Message and being a good example to others? You see the germ across the river, you don't see the elephant in front of your eyes. (during the Prophet's time, everyone used 'Allah' for God, polytheists, christians and jews alike)

Where was i? oh yes, this dinner. so i'm quite fortunate to have a colourful family, you can learn of things if you open your heart and mind to people and throw away the prejudices. You see, my uncle and his family are some of the most decent people i've ever met. They are very religious and it shows in their words and their manners. He keeps to his promises, is VERY punctual, cares for the well-being of his employees, and.....(the list can go on and on). In fact, he is even more 'islamic' than most muslims. 

Which saddens me to think about the state of the ummah, and to think about people in D&T including myself. You don't want to be serious in improving yourself and improving mankind? Its okay, there are lots of decent people out there, Allah can replace you anytime.

Which brings us back to a very valuable advice that my uncle gave before we parted : "Start with yourself first. If you can't be an example, you can't lead".

you are a star, if only you knew

*still don't want to do da'wah

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
He it is Who created for you all that is on earth. Then He Istawâ (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything. (2:29)

'innocence' of muslims

*hisap rokok dulu = i'll smoke first

Muslims. responding aggressively to provocations and insults, while remaining innocent of everything they themselves do to insult the Prophet.

lions don't hide, they roar

Were they actually running away from people? 

If i was planning to hide for a long time, i'd have brought along supplies. At least some food. They didn't even have food.

And the youths of the cave thought that they were asleep only for a day. A day! And they straight away sent one of the guys to buy some food. People wouldn't forget you if you only disappeared for a day. 

That means they weren't hiding from people. Recharging? Strategising? Allah knows best. 

But du'aat (callers) don't hide. They are like shining lanterns in the middle of a dark and lost people. Happy friday dear readers :)

its, you know, 'that' season

'Tis the season. Lots of people around my age are getting married. assuming you know my age, which is almost as anonymous as my identity (aha!)

Which means

Erkkk *sweats*

I'd respond with an ambigous 'hee hee'. what hee hee means, God knows.

In my opinion, a lot people getting married spend a lot of time, energy and money on unnecessary pomp and ceremony. 

- If you've known each other for ages, why 'merisik' or bertunang anymore??? 

- why must the presents be a specific number like RM8,888??? for good luck??

If it was up to me, i'd be like

Alas, our society hasn't reached the point where one could just slaughter a goat and that would be sufficient. That one goat as 'hantaran' and that same goat as 'kenduri'. I remember what a teacher of mine said;

"imagine if all that money was spent on D&T programs".

thankfully some of the ceremonies i went to are starting to become more sensible. Like the one yesterday. Usually an agent would wed the bride on behalf of her father. But in the one i went to yesterday, the bride's father herself wed her. I think that's better. Just imagine, your father-in-law himself shook your hand and gave his daughter in marriage to you. Its like saying, "you better think really hard before doing anything silly".

cut out the unnecessary stuff. traditions don't have to be followed if they make life hard. God gave us beautiful minds, we should use them to think. 

Glossary
merisik = where the family of typically the guy goes to the family of the girl to get to know her and her family
bertunang = engagement
hantaran = presents given by each party to the other party on wedding day
kenduri = feast/banquet

L.I.F.E as a muslim - honk if you're malaysian

raya sakan

sakan in malay = vigorously

sakana in arabic (سكن) = pacify, lull

heart diseases that cardiologists can't cure

Salaams and

eid mubarak! :)

We're now in the month of Syawal, and this is where we start testing whether we can successfully apply what we've learnt in Ramadan. 

And by the looks of it, things are not looking good for me.

Sobs.

It is hard isn't it, getting our desires under control. Especially if we have become addicted to our desires for years and years and years.

A lot of people are addicts in one way or another. Addicted to food, addicted to money, addicted to facebook, addicted to one style of drawing, addicted to..(insert your favorite addiction here)

That's why i sometimes think of D&T as a rehabilitation centre. It's full of ex-addicts and addicts who would like to come clean. Some habits are easy to cure, while others

*Mr Magistrate, if this is your behaviour, then i'd better give you an injection

Take a very long time.

Luckily, Allah sent us the cure for EVERY disease of the heart through His Book and His Messenger.

Tie ourselves to the Quran and to the Sunnah, and God willing, we will find a cure for that affliction inside the heart. 

For example. A few days ago i came across this hadeeth: 

"The person who falls in love ('ishq), remains chaste, conceals this (from others), and dies is a shahid"

This is a wonderful hadeeth. It is very soothing, especially for the young people of our generation. A lot of people do this  : 

- they see someone they like

- then text messages flow back and forth. And when a man and a woman are alone, the third person is? 

- then they start calling

- they change the status on facebook to 'in a relationship', which is supported by a 100 likes

- "let's meet up somewhere" and they start going out.

- by this time the third person is probably laughing. He's saying "gotcha! i didn't have to tell you go and do zina. I just had to make you send that first text message". 

This is how a lot of boys and girls fall. And how a lot of babies end up by the side of the road.

And our young people do not have the means to overcome this temptation. it takes a strong character to resist when everyone's asking "don't you have a boyfriend?" and a lot of people are posting their 'happy moments' on facebook.

So we need to help people from falling into black holes. Find ways to take them back to the truth. Give them the motivation to overcome their addictions.

Dying as a martyr. That is an awesome motivation, and very soothing indeed.

dignity, restored.

They said,

"He faces stiff opposition from other islamists, liberals, former regime members.."

They said,

"He's a back-up candidate who lacks charisma"

They said,

"Its a depressing choice"

But they can only comment and criticize and opine. Allah gives victory to whomever He wills, and try as much as we like, we human beings have no power except by Allah.

He was the one who willed for a country to be ruled by iron-fisted dictators for over 50 years. Why? Only He knows why, we can only, at best, make educated guesses. My guess is that this long period of repression was a training ground.


Heat and pressure turns coals into diamonds.

And a wise man said,


كونوا عبادا قبل ان تكونوا قادة 


"Become slaves before you become leaders"

That long period of repression and imprisonment was a test. To see who would be sincere in the face of hardships. To separate the black dirt from the white flour. To make them humble. Because only humble leaders can have empathy with the poor, the weak, the downtrodden.

May Allah be with you, Dr. Morsi.

million sins gathering

"im happy the way i am", are you?

Is Allah happy with the way you are now?

D&T is about

improving one's character. The Prophet pbuh once said

"I was sent to perfect good character"

So it is on this journey that we hope to, but not necessarily achieve, completeness.

If we used to complain and whine a lot, (hopefully) Allah makes us a bit more tolerant and patient.

If we used to fill our time with 'just for fun', (hopefully) Allah fills our time with preparations for the Hereafter.

If we used to brag and boast, (hopefully) Allah turns us into humble, obedient servants.

Hopefully. Because we're always at the mercy of our Creator.

What do we do? we stick to the righteous path no matter what the obstacles, and hope that Allah admits us into his Paradise.

Catastrophe, but not much longer

Today is 15th May. Do you know what day it is?


It's Nakba Day,  يوم النكبة, 'the Day of Catastrophe', commemorating the displacement of thousands of Palestinians as a result of the creation of the state of Israel.


Israel was 'officially' pronounced as a state on 14th May 1948. The creation of this state is analogous to stabbing a knife in the heart of the muslim world. 

its even shaped like a shard of glass

The Palestinian lands started being occupied much earlier, when it was designated as a British Mandate in 1917.  I won't go into the details here, for that you could refer to  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Day.

Palestine is as not a concern for the Arabs, nor is it a concern or the UN, nor is it a concern of palestinian NGOs. It is a concern for anyone who calls themselves 'muslim'. And it is a concern for anyone who has the slightest bit of humanity in them. Imagine if this situation happened in malaysia:

being expelled from our homes, prevented from returning

having our water supply siphoned for the use of 'the State'

..and prevented from being reunited with our families

These are just some of the indignities that the palestinians have to face on a daily basis. No one should have to endure such intentional suffering, even if he wasn't a muslim.

So it is our duty to do as much as we can to to free palestine from oppression. Money, aid, campaigns, changing profile pictures, this is all good. But its mostly short-term and serves to lessen their burdens on a daily basis.

But what is even more important is this : we need MEN. Men like 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and Salahuddeen Ayyubi, men who have, in the past, brought freedom and justice to al-Quds. We need men who are lions by day, and cry in front of Allah at night. And men who are serious about their mission, who dedicate their whole lives to islam and wouldn't do something if it wasn't for islam.

If we allow our time to be occupied by insignificant things, time-wasting things, then don't talk about 'Freeing Palestine'. It will just remain talk. al-Quds wouldn't be free at the hands of those kind of men. 

In fact, the enemies of islam like people who have lots of fun and forget about their mission in life. That is one of the reasons why they feed us with mind-numbing things like movies, songs, football, etc. What really bothers them are men, especially young men, who have only one purpose in life. Now you're talking.

Final note, to cheer us up. The Crusaders entered Jerusalem in 1099. Salahuddeen freed it in 1187. That's a period of 88 years.

If we take 1948 as the beginning of the Occupation, its only been 64 years. another 24 years before we catch up to Salahuddeen.

Assuming someone is 21 years old now, in 24 years he will be 45 years old. At that age, someone will be old enough and mature enough to plan and to lead an army.

Will we be the ones to free al-Quds? possibly. If Allah wills.

palestinian hunger strike

a gift to mothers, courtesy of RP

Question : What is the best gift for Mother's Day?

The answer is already given in the Quran: 

وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً قَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents. His mother bears him with hardship and she brings him forth with hardship, and the bearing of him, and the weaning of him is thirty (30) months, till when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says: "My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my off-spring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims (submitting to Your Will)." (46:15)

this ayah commands all human beings to be kind to their parents, because bringing us up is no easy task.

See, its not an easy thing. Since we first got our legs, we started kicking our moms. After we came out, she needed to change our diapers every few hours. She prepared our food. She helped us walk and talk. In the ayah above, we only reach maturity and full strength at the age of forty. Imagine that looooooooong period of upbringing. And even after forty, our mums will still think of us as her little children. 

I remember one time when we went back to our kampung for Hari Raya. My mum wanted to help my grandma make some ketupat, but she said "takpe, kau tak reti buat ni" (it's ok, you don't know how to make this). Just like what my mum says to us little kids. teehee.

After this period of upbringing, what should be the result? The end product? what should a 'good child' be like?

Allah answers this in the ayah. The good child will ask Allah to "Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my off-spring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims"

He will ask Allah to

- make him and his parents grateful for Allah's blessings

- make him do righteous deeds

- give him good children

- forgive him

- make him a muslim, a person who submits to Allah

Nowadays, when we want to please our parents, we think of

- getting a good job. preferably being a doctor, lawyer or engineer if you're Asian

- buying them all the things they want

- taking them on holidays

- etc

But Allah is saying that material things shouldn't be our considerations. Material things might bring our parents away from Allah. For all their hard work and sacrifice, do we want to repay them with Allah's wrath?

Surely not.

That's not the right way to obey them.

The best gift that any child could give is

To become a child who obeys Allah in everything, and invites his parents to do the same.