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