24 Jamadilakhir 1431

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh!

Insya-Allah, from today onwards, I want to try to turn over a new leaf. Takmu tido balik lepas solat Subuh. Actually a lot of time is wasted when we tido balik lepas Subuh. Datz wat I feel ah...n not onli dat...it oso makes us malas..coz like wen we slp, den we wanna follow ur nafs n dun want to get up so early n so on...*shrugz* well, in my case, datz how itis i tink...d onli thing dat I hafta makesure is dat i get enuf rez...so dat i'll haf d energy to do things lillahi ta'ala. =)

So, new aim: make sure I dun slp too late, lepas solat subuh, mayb i can plan my time for de day...or i can even do my reflections on this blog...masih ade banyak bende yg nak dikongsikan? =) Insya-Allah..will try my best...i hope it's not another 'all talk no action' I'm relli guilty of dat. always haf so many plans, but i usually dun follow thru...

which brings me to another topic dat was once covered in my P.A.D.A. class. Ustadz was discussing abt the benefits of our ibadah. wat we can gain from de various ibadah...namely de 5 rukun Islam...our syahadah, solat, puasa, zakat and hajj. benefits can be in terms of individual or de community. mite as well i say out wat we've discussed rite?

k, here goes..test how much i remember from my claz..=)

basically de syahadah directs a muslim's life. y? bcoz de syahadah is the acknowledgement of god's power-no god but Allah and dat rasulullah s.a.w. was god's messenger. so, how does it direct a muslim's life? well, if u truly believe dat there is no god (powerful being) but Allah, then u wud truly want to please Allah, knowing that he's most powerful, all-knowing and so on.. Besides that, u wud also follow Rasulullah s.a.w.'s sunnah bcoz u blif dat he's the messenger of Allah. The syahadah is also a form of pledge. hence, if we pledge with our hearts, we should be dedicated and commited in doing everything lillahi ta'ala.

next, solat benefits- it trains one to be disciplined as our prayers have timings to adhere to, and we should always aim to solat as early as possible in that waktu. It also enables one to be able to feel content, bersyukur with what we haf. Also feel humble as we know how small we are compared to Allah. Juz compare us to the universe, and the universe is Allah's creation...Subhanallah...so, wen we pray, we praise Allah, and that reminds us to be humble as we know that no matter wat, we are not the best as Allah is the almighty. Solat is also supposed to act as a barrier to maksiat. This is because if we want to do something bad, and you think of ur next solat...would it be accepted? It allows you to be constantly reminded of Allah and that will insya-Allah stop us from doing things that Allah doesn't like..y constantly reminded? well, we will check our times for our next solat...in whatever we do, prayers should never be missed...so, if we truly jaga our solats, insya-Allah, discipline, humility and to feel bersyukur will be instilled in us.

Puasa benefits-discipline again. being able to wake up early morning for sahur and go without food and water till the time we break fast. empathy. being able to understand a bit of how people who may not be as fortunate as us feel wen dey go without food and water. learn to better control our nafs.. rase bersyukur. wen we break fast, we praise Allah for the rezeki dat we haf. and the feeling of being able to put food in our mouth after a day of fasting...Masya-Allah..

Zakat benefits-we get to bersihkan our harta and help people who are less fortunate than us. Besides that, we are also spreading love...kasih sayang sesama umat manusia...zakat also reminds us to think of people who are less fortunate than us and not be so selfish and self-centred.

Hajj benefits-reminds us of the unity of umat Islam. no matter what background we come from, we are equal in the eyes of Allah.

So...ask ourselves...are we receiving these benefits when do our various ibadahs? If not...it means that there's something not quite right about our ibadahs...we are probably not doing it the rite way...na'uzubillah...

After that lesson, it relli did made me reflect on the way I did my ibadah...am I receiving the benefits? If I'm not...aren't I so rugi? It made me relli feel like improving the way I did my ibadah. We can c how much Islam values discipline in the way the fundamental ibadahs in Islam, the rukun Islam does emphasise on discipline. So, how can a Muslim say he is not disciplined? Astagfirullah...

So...i hope to improve myself by insya-Allah correcting my ibadah....

Ya Allah...let me be closer to u...

Soooo....continuation from yesterday's post now...haha..still on the subject of ilmu...ok, one of the days that I was trying to find videos on youtube that will be relevant to me as a Muslim, I stumbled upon this video on creation vs evolution. I will include the link in this post insya-Allah...so that u can benefit from it too, insya-Allah. As Muslims, of course we believe in the theory of creation and evolution. And I found the video very helpful as they use Science to show why the evolution theory is not very possible. However, the video referenced some bible verses to convince people of the theory of creation. We can of coz also find verses in the Quran. which then led me to thinking. Pentingnya ilmu.....how to motivate ourselves in mengejar ilmu duniawi. Basically is lillahi ta'ala...when we haf knowledge, dere is so much that we can do wif it...n moz importantly, we can use it for dakwah...y izit dat the christians can come up wif a program that includes sciences as well as their dakwah? ans we make programs on suria that usually is so far away from agame...k...sori i'm generalising...oh sheesh...now I have another point to make...do i mesh it wif dis entry? back to wat we were discussing, my point is...if we haf muslims yg ahli dalam sains...and so on...then we can oso make a similar program and show the world that science and the quran supports the creation theory. My point is...wen we haf knowledge, we can berdakwah more easily. bcoz we know facts, we can debate wif ppl who are also knowledgeable and insya-Allah, dey will be attracted to Islam.

K, before I 4get, here's the link to part 1 of the video...it's part of a playlist, so, u can juz wait a bit wen the part ends and it will go on to the following part.

Creation vs Evolution video

ok...next point...media...I feel that the ad thing about Suria programs is dat dey depict too much of the negative stuff...I know dat sumtimes it's to create awareness that dis is the reality in Singapore...it's wat is happening...but I feel dat dere's too much negatives and too little positives. Are we relli such a bad bunch of ppl? Bcoz I blif dat dere are relli good muslimins and muslimahs out dere but are not represented in the tv programs. Shdn't dere b a positive role model for people who are striving to b better Muslims to follow? Especially kids...when kids are young, datz wen wat dey c are most impressionable...by showing these kind of shows that have too many negatives, it's as equivalent as saying that it's ok to do all this bcoz it's the norm...BUT IT'S TOTALLY NOT OK! I dono...but I'm just irritated at the things that are potrayed. Want me to give example? K, dere was a recent show that was aired...k, not dat recent redi...but anyway, it was relli hot amongst some youngsters...it's cinta ixora. k, it's nice to know that dere is de nice girl character, lemah lembut, pakai tudung....BUT y must she be an orphan? shez the one who respects her elders, can't lie and so on...but shez an orphan...so, r u trying to say that only orphans will grow up good? and normal people are not capable of it...ok2...i just tot of another point...the producers were probably trying to eradicate negative stereotypes of orphans. but wat i wasnt happy about was the way one of the girls talked to the parents. like she was shouting and all like it's ok...it's just dat wen i compare the 2 girls...wat i got from the show was dat the orphan coz she doesn't haf parents, so she respects the 'mum' taking care of her at the orphanage but the girl who has parents doesn't appreciate her dad (coz he juz came out of prison). she didn't even want to gif him a 2nd chance...even wen the dad was trying his best to show that he wants to turn over a new leaf. He's HER DAD! If the family doesn't support the dad, I relli can't imagine how the dad feels....wif her not even being able to accept the dad...Astaghfirullah...

K, my point here is that what other people mite take away from the show...
-it's ok to not respect a dad that comes out of prison. After all, he wasn't responsible to even get into prison. but is Islam like that? Islam mengajar kite untuk berkasih sayang...haix...I know I'm now officially criticising too much...bcoz wat's bad is meant for iktibar...but seriously....I'm not saying you have to make a perfect character...she can have her own struggles, her own conflicts as a muslimah...but essentially, she is a good muslimah....at least can potray to kids how a proper muslimah's image is like....and let them feel motivated to be like dat kakak...bcoz shez strong in her struggles, does things the Islamic way and that the Islamic way is most preferred.

Oh, another thing, a proper muslimah wouldn't hold hands wif another guy. and I feel dat datz another frustrating thing. is the character supposed to be a proper muslimah onot? if she is, can please potray her the proper way? oh ya, and wearing a dress wif tights may b a fashion trend but it's not part of the hijab bcoz tights are ketat. so, please make a muslimah character wear proper hijab attire coz u're telling the viewers out there dat it's fine. so, plz...if any of u youths out dere aim to work in the media industry, remember, try to infuse Islam, the correct way...bcoz it's oso a form of dakwah...

finally, b4 i sign off...I'd like to apologise if I offended anybody in the course of typing out this entry. And kalau ade yang silap, maaf jugak...yang baik datangnye dari Allah dan yang silap, tidak elok datangnye dari diriku..

Wassalamualaikum...

Amal Hayati.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

time for reflections..