Have you perform your Salat on time???

I read this story in Facebook and I was really touched. Then, I have a strong desire to paste it in my blog to share with my beloved friends and readers. Please read this story:

He remembered his grandmother’ s warning about praying on time: ’My son, you shouldn’t leave prayer to this late time’. His grandmother’s age was 70 but, whenever she heard the Adhan, she got up like an arrow and performed Salah.

He, however could never win over his ego to get up and pray. Whatever he did, his Salah was always the last to be offered and he prayed it quickly to get it in on time. Thinking of this, he got up and realized that there were only 15 minutes left before Salat-ul Isha. He quickly made Wudhu and performed Salat-ul Maghrib.

While making Tasbih, he again remembered his grandmother and was embarrassed by how he had prayed. His grandmother prayed with such tranquillity and peace. He began making Dua and went down to make Sajdah and stayed like that for a while. He had been at work all day and was tired, very tired. He awoke abruptly to the sound of noise and shouting.

He was sweating profusely. He looked around. It was very crowded. Every direction he looked in was filled with people. Some stood frozen looking around, some were running left and right and some were on their knees with their heads in their hands just waiting. Pure fear and apprehension filled him as he realized where he was. His heart was about to burst.

It was the Day of Judgment. When he was alive, he had heard many things about the questioning on the Day of Judgment, but that seemed so long ago. Could this be something his mind made up?
No, the wait and the fear were so great that he could not have imagined this. The interrogation was still going on. He began moving frantically from people to people to ask if his name had been called. No one could answer him. All of a sudden his name was called and the crowd split into two and made a passageway for him.

Two angels grabbed his arms and led him forward. He walked with unknowing eyes through the crowd. The angels brought him to the centre and left him there. His head was bent down and his whole life was passing in front of his eyes like a movie. He opened his eyes but saw only another world. The people were all helping others. He saw his father running from one lecture to the other, spending his wealth in the way of Islam. His mother invited guests to their house and one table was being set while the other was being cleared.

He pleaded his case, ‘I too was always on this path. I helped others. I spread the word of Allah. I performed my Salah. I fasted in the month of Ramadhan.’ ‘Whatever Allah ordered us to do, I did.’ ’Whatever he ordered us not to do, I did not.’ He began to cry and think about how much he loved Allah. He knew that whatever he had done in life would be less than what Allah deserved and his only protector was Allah He was sweating like never before and was shaking all over. His eyes were fixed on the scale, waiting for the final decision.

At last, the decision was made. The two angels with sheets of paper in their hands, turned to the crowd. His legs felt like they were going to collapse. He closed his eyes as they began to read the names of those people who were to enter Jahannam.

His name was read first. He fell on his knees and yelled that this couldn’t be, ‘How could I go to Jahannam? I served others all my life, I spread the word of Allah toothers.’ His eyes had become blurry and he was shaking with sweat. The two angels took him by the arms. As his feet dragged, they went through the crowd and advanced toward the blazing flames of Jahannam. He was yelling and wondered if there was any person who was going to help him. He was yelling of all the good deeds he had done, how he had helped his father, his fasts, prayers, the Noble Qur’an hat he read, he was asking if none of them would help him.

The Jahannam angels continued to drag him. They had gotten closer to the Hellfire. He looked back and these were his last pleas. Had not Rasulullah [SAW] said, ‘How clean would a person be who bathes in a river five times a day, so too does the Salah performed five times cleanse someone of their sins?’

He began yelling, ‘My prayers? My prayers? My prayers?’ The two angels did not stop, and they came to the edge of the abyss of Jahannam. The flames of the fire were burning his face. He looked back one last time, but his eyes were dry of hope and he had nothing left in him. One of the angels pushed him in. He found himself in the air and falling towards the flames. He had just fallen five or six feet when a hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.He lifted his head and saw an old man with a long white beard. He wiped some dust off himself and asked him, ‘Who are you?’

The old man replied, ‘I am your prayers.’ ’Why are you so late?! I was almost in the fire! You rescued me at the last minute before I fell in.’ The old man smiled and shook his head, ‘You always performed me at the last minute, did you forget?’

At that instant, he blinked and lifted his head from Sajdah. He was in a sweat. He listened to the voices coming from outside. He heard the Adhan for Salat-ul Isha. He got up quickly and went to perform Wudhu.

Isn't it time to start performing Salat on time?

M.P.

Copied from AGAINST "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!"

Kenapa Sombong?

Sudah terlalu lama blog ini tidak di-update, aku sendiri tak sure kenapa, mungkinkah kerana terlalu sibuk? atau buat2 sibuk? I guess I'm more eager to update Neo's Flickr rather than this blog, leaving this blog filling with web and dust, haha.

Alhamdulillah, semalam berpeluang mengikuti kelas tafsir oleh Syeikh Ibrahim, terima kasih kepada adik2 SC yang mencadangkan agar kelas berkenaan dijadikan salah satu agenda SC semalam. InsyaAllah, alang2 dah lama tak update blog ni, why not, aku kongsikan sedikit mutiara2 yang diperolehi daripada kelas semalam.

Syeikh Ibrahim semalam membincangkan ayat 31-39 Surah Al-Baqarah yang menceritakan tentang kisah Nabi Adam yang dicipta dalam keadaan penuh dimuliakan hingga akhirnya dihantar turun ke bumi kerana terpedaya dgn syaitan yang durjana. Apa yang mungkin boleh aku kongsikan di sini, ialah tentang satu sifat iblis yang menyebabkannya kufur kepada Allah S.W.T. lantas menjamin permanent entry ke dalam neraka, itulah sifat SOMBONG!

Sombong, riya', ujub, semua ni satu geng saja, mungkin mudah untuk kita menuturkan kata yang kita ini bukan manusia sombong, tapi kadang2, lintasan hati dan peribadi kita sendiri sebenarnya menggambarkan kewujudan sifat buruk berkenaan dalam hati kita. Kadang2 kita sombong sebab harta yang kita ada, kadang2 kita sombong sebab ilmu yang kita ada, kadang2 kita sombong sebab kemahiran yang kita ada, kadang2 kita sombong dengan kecantikan kita, bahkan, kadang2 kita mungkin sombong dengan ibadah kita!

Kenapa kita tak boleh sombong? Jawapannya mudah, sombong, riya', ujub, semua tu hanya layak bagi Allah S.W.T. sebab seluruh alam ini ada ciptaan dan kepunyaanNya dan tiada apa atau siapa pun yang kedudukannya lebih tinggi dari Allah S.W.T. Janganlah kita jadi seperti iblis yang sombong, akhirnya, dijanjikan baginya azab neraka Allah yang amat mengerikan! Adakah kita mahu sebahagian dari hati kita mempunyai sifat iblis laknatullah itu? Na'uzubillahi min zalik.

Buat apa kita nak sombong? Peranan kita di muka bumi ini cuma satu, perhambaan kepadaNya yang Maha Esa, tiada yang lain. Dan tugas hamba itu cuma satu, taat sepenuhnya pada tuannya. Soal balik diri kita, "Taatkah aku kepada Allah???" Ramai manusia yang solatnya tak dijaga, auratnya tak ditutup dgn sempurna, pandangannya liar, mulutnya kotor, maksiat itu kebiasaannya, Quran malas nak baca, bukankah itu semua ciri manusia yang sombong dgn Penciptanya???

Buat apa kita nak sombong? Cuma sedikit gempa bumi selama 30 saat, sudah mampu membinasakan ribuan manusia, bahkan jutaan! Hanya dengan satu virus yang hanya bisa dilihat oleh electron microscope, satu dunia jadi kelam kabut dan kecoh. Dengan hanya satu ribut taufan, ribuan tempat tinggal manusia boleh hancur begitu sahaja. Allah! Itu semua adalah bukti kekuasaanNya.

Buat apa kita nak sombong? Kita hanyalah manusia yang hina, diciptakan dari tanah sahaja, tanah itulah yang diinjak2 oleh sekalian makhluk di muka bumi ini. Asal kita cumalah dari air mani yang kotor yang keluarnya dari saluran yang sama dgn air kencing. Kelahiran kita cuma beberapa inci antara dua lubang kemaluan seorang wanita mulia bergelar ibu. Kelahiran kita juga dipenuhi darah, kesakitan dan kesusahan buat orang lain. Layakkah lagi kita untuk sombong? Jangankan sombong pada Tuhan, sedangkan sombong sesama manusia itu pun sudah cukup hina dan dibenci.

Namun, hakikatnya, ramai manusia pada hari ini yang sombong, sama ada sesama manusia, mahupun dengan Allah S.W.T. Check balik hati kita, ibadah kita, akhlak kita, hubungan kita dgn Allah, hubungan kita dengan manusia lain, adakah hati kita dicemari dengan sifat sombong? Seburuk-buruk kesombongan, adalah kesombongan dgn Allah dan sombong dgn Allah itu, ialah dengan mengingkari perintah-perintahNya dan melakukakn larangan-laranganNya, sekaligus melayakkan manusia itu diazab oleh Allah, Tuan Empunya sekalian alam ini.

Remember, we are just a tiny miny speck in this vast universe, nothing more than that!


p/s: Sesiapa yang ada kelapangan Sabtu malam lepas Isya', boleh join Kelas Tafsir Syeikh Ibrahim, bahasa Inggeris beliau cukup fasih, bahkan mungkin lebih 'fluent' daripada sebahagian lecturer2 kita dan diri kita sendiri! Kuliah beliau juga sangat menarik dan ilmiah, bukan senang nak jumpa syeikh yang mampu memberikan kuliah tafsir dalam bahasa inggeris dengan cukup baik, ayuh manfaatkan peluang yang ada sebaiknya!

Rukun Pertama

"Zainal, tolong tulis artikel untuk Al-Munzir boleh?" tanya Faris Budak Medic melalui YM, aku terkejut sikit masa tu. Pikir kejap, then aku pun jawab, "InsyaAllah boleh, ko nak aku tulis pasal per?"

"Apa-apa pun ok, jgn berat sangat ar..." jawab Faris,
"Ok, bagi aku masa sikit ar, nanti aku email kat ko." aku jawab balik.

Begitulah lebih kurang perbualan aku dgn Faris melalui YM few weeks ago, dan alhamdulillah dalam Al-Munzir(Buletin mingguan Unit Pembangunan Insan PCI) yg latest artikel tu telah dikeluarkan.

Syukran buat Ust. Suhail, kuliah Syari'ah Tanta yg telah menjelaskan ttg Syahadatul Haq dalam muhdharahnya yg telah aku lalui ketika cuti hujung semester lepas. Artikel ini more or less dikarang merujuk kepada nota daripada muhadharah beliau dan e-book Syahadatul Haq tu sendiri. Siapa2 yang nak, boleh download di link ini, Syahadatul Haq e-Book. Jadi aku akan pastekan artikel tu di sini sebagai update untuk blog ini yang dh banyak hari x dapat di-hapdet dek kerana kesibukan yg amat dalam minggu lepas. Jadi, inilah artikel tersebut:

Semenjak kita di bangku sekolah rendah lagi, bahkan mungkin sejak tadika lagi, kita telah mempelajari tentang Rukun Islam. Saya yakin, adalah tidak menjadi masalah bagi para sahabat untuk menyebutkan satu-persatu daripada lima rukun-rukun tersebut. Biasanya, menjadi kelaziman bagi orang ramai memahami rukun kedua hingga rukun kelima, tetapi tidak ramai yg memahami rukun yang pertama sepenuhnya sedangkan rukun pertama itulah rukun yg paling asas yg menjadi tunggak rukun-rukun selepasnya serta asas kehidupan seorang Muslim.

Pengucapan dua kalimah syahadah yg bermaksud “Aku bersaksi bahawa tiada tuhan selain Allah, dan aku bersaksi bahawa Muhammad pesuruh Allah,” oleh seorang manusia seringkali dianggap hanya diperlukan ketika memeluk Islam, di dalam tasyahhud dan ketika menghadapi sakaratul maut. Walhal sebenarnya pengucapan dua kalimah ini amat besar ertinya. Ia menjelaskan Islam sebagai sebuah kebenaran yang nyata dan satu-satunya jalan yang membimbing ke arah mardhatillah. Ia juga menunjukkan Islam sebagai sebuah pendekatan yg terbaik dalam mencari sebuah kehidupan yg paling betul dan diredhai oleh Allah S.W.T.

Seseorang Muslim yang telah melafazkan dua kalimah syahadah ini sebenarnya memikul suatu tanggungjawab yang amat besar, iaitu tanggunjawab dalam menyebarkan Islam ke seluruh alam, menyebarkan Islam sebagai jalan hidup yang terbaik. Secara mudahnya, setiap Muslim memikul tanggungjawab dakwah, tetapi sayangnya, ramai Muslim pada hari ini mengabaikan tanggungjawab yang amat penting ini. Ramai yang menyalah ertikan dakwah itu hanya tanggungjawab golongan ‘alim ulama’, tetapi ia sebenarnya adalah tanggungjawab kita semua. Secara dasarnya ia terbahagi kepada dua, rata-rata kita memahami dakwah ini ialah dengan pembahagiannya yg pertama iaitu dakwah perkataan, dgn bercakap, menegur, menyampaikan ceramah dan sebagainya. Tetapi pembahagian yg kedua iaitu dakwah perbuatan sebenarnya lebih penting, dakwah melalui akhlak peribadi Muslim yang sebenar, menjadi qudwah kepada masyarakat sekeliling. Nah! Inilah dia tanggungjawab kita para sahabat, ayuh jangan ditunggu lagi! Hendaklah kita muhasabah balik diri kita dan cuba sebaik mungkin untuk mempraktikkan peribadi Muslim sejati. Dakwah perbuatan juga merupakan asas yg terbaik untuk mengukuhkan dakwah perkataan. Kehidupan seharian kita seharusnya mencerminkan dasar dan prinsip yang kita pegang iaitu Islam menerusi Al-Quran dan Sunnah.

Secara kesimpulannya, kita sebagai seorang Muslim yang berpegang pada dua kalimah syahadah harus mempraktikkan kehidupan kita sebagai hamba Allah secara total dalam seluruh aspek kehidupan, bukan hanya pada hal ehwal ibadah, kahwin-cerai, dan pewarisan harta. Selain itu, selaku umat Muhammad s.a.w. yg terpilih, menjadi tanggungjawab kita untuk menyampaikan keterangan yang telah kita warisi dari Baginda Rasulullah s.a.w. serta mencontohi akhlaknya yang terpuji. Ingatlah firman Allah S.W.T dalam ayat 143, Surah Al-Baqarah yang bermaksud: “Dan demikianlah (sebagaimana Kami telah memimpin kamu ke jalan yang lurus), Kami jadikan kamu (wahai umat Muhammad) satu umat pilihan lagi adil, supaya kamu layak menjadi orang yang memberi keterangan kepada umat manusia (tentang yang benar dan yang salah) dan Rasulullah (Muhammad) pula akan menjadi orang yang menerangkan kebenaran perbuatan kamu.” Ayuh sama-sama kita fahami dua kalimah syahadah dengan sebaiknya dan mempraktikkannya dalam kehidupan seharian kita.

Rujukan: Syahadatul Haq oleh Syeikh Abu Al-A’la Al-Maududi

Occupation 101, how much do you know about it???

I was asked by Mr. Maro to prepare a summary on the famous documentary Occupation 101 for PCI's website. The summary might seem long since I'm not very good in summarizing. So here I'll just paste the article as an update for the the blog, please note that this is a summary so 50% or more of the sentences are a direct copy from the documentary itself. If you care about Palestine, this is something that you must read and you should watch the documentary for more details and better explanation. Those who has watched the documentary are very welcomed to leave your comment about it in this entry. I'll start this entry with the link to the documentary in case u want to watch it directly without reading this summary:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11

The issue of Palestine’s occupation by Israel is not something new. We all know that Palestine today is oppressed and invaded by Israel. The definition of occupation is when a foreign army occupies your land physically and controls your life. What happens in Palestine is the country is both under military and settler occupation. The citizens of Palestine no longer have their civil right, they are under a military rule, while their homes were demolished and bulldozed to build new settlements or towns for the Jews. The settlements of the Israelis were strategically built that are connected by a network of roads which separate each Palestinians community from the next and confined their ability to expend. Furthermore the settlements were often constructed around best farm land and water resources. The bottom line of all this is to make the Palestinians leave their land, in a way it is an ethnic cleansing.

Lots of people believe that the Arabs whether Muslims or Christians and Jews are fighting each other from a long time ago and will continue fighting till the end of the world, but the truth is, with a little bit of reading of the history, you will find that the Arabs and Jews used to live together peacefully in Palestine before the occupation. The big question is, what actually the root cause of this conflict? How did it start? It began with a suggestion of forming a Jewish state from a Hungarian journalist named Theodore Hertzl as a solution for the European Jews for the anti-Semitism problem in Europe. He was the founder of the World Zionist Organization which held its first conference in Basle, Switzerland on 27^th-29^th August 1897 which decided to make Palestine as the Zionist/Jewish State.

Following British rules after World War I, the Belfour Declaration on 2^nd November 1917 promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine which conflicted with Britain’s previous promise of self-rule for Arab inhabitants throughout the region in The McMahon Hussien Agreement of 1915. Britain was extremely supportive to the Zionist movements. It was the beginning of massive immigration of the Jews into Palestine disregarding the presence and wishes of the existing Palestinian citizens. From 1882 until 1945, 467 625 Jewish immigrants have entered Palestine with the climax during Nazi’s ruling in German and the holocaust. The Palestinians were not the one who did the holocaust, but they were the one who pay the price.

In 1947, United Nations decided to divide the land into two states, an Arab’s State (43%) and a Jewish State (57%), despite the fact that the Arabs occupied more than 2/3 of the land and own over 92% of the land. To make the condition worse, not just the Jews were given the most of the land; they were also given the most fruited land. On 15^th May 1948, the new State of Israel was officially announced with David Ben-Gurion as its first Prime Minister. About a month before the announcement, one of the most devastating tragedy occurred in Palestine, The Deir Yassin tragedy where 254 people including old people, women and children were systemically killed. The tragedy has traumatized the whole Palestine, causing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled from their home.

The Arab countries and other Muslim countries failed to react to help restore peace in Palestine. In the end, the Palestinians decided to take matters with their own hands, launching the first Intifada in Dec 1987 until Dec 1993. 1100 Palestinians were killed during that time. The second Intifada which also known as Al-Aqsa Intifada was launched in September 2000 until early 2006. 5500 Palestinians were killed. During that time, Israel had 3930 Tanks, 362 F-16 Jets (largest fleet in any country in the world behind the US)

America has been Israel’s strongest ally until today. The total US aid (Direct Aid only) from 1949-2006 were totaled around $108 billion. Out of all dollars aid that US government gave annually, Israel received 1/3 of it. In March 2003 alone, $10 billion to aid Israel while withholding $3.5 billion grant to help the training of first responders, those who will first respond in terrorist attack. The US has used its Veto power more than 40 times in the U.N. to defend Israeli violations of International Law.

The issue of Palestine is no longer an issue of the Arab’s world only, it has become an International humanitarian issue. It is our responsible to help Palestine, to free them from the occupation.