Hajj, a one-in-a-lifetime religious command requires effort to fulfill its demands-one needs to save money, learn thr rituals, physically prepare ones health and spiritually cleansed up the hearts.
Zakat, a once-in-a-year religious command requires effort to fulfill its demands-income had to be calculated, paid and distributed.
Fasting, a 30-day-a-year religious command requires effort to fulfill its demands-one has to wake up for the pre-dawn meals, be in hunger, suppress all his wants and desires and pray the long tarawih at night.
Solat- a 5-times-a-day religious requirement requires effort to fulfill its demands-one has to leave their work, find a suitable place to pray, do abolution and try to concentrate in the prayers.
Syahadah, a declaration of faith, an all-time-needed religious command requires effort to fulfill its demand. However, apart from the four tenets of Islamw we mentioned above, if you ask any Muslim on what are and how is the effort to fulfill the demand of laailah hailallah, no one would be able to answer!
As we can see from the five tenets, the lesser the importance, the lesser is the frequency that it has to be performed. Zakat is required to be perforemed much more frequently than Hajj. Fasting is required to be done in much more frequency than Zakat. Solat is required to be done in much more frequency than Fasting! What about Kalimah Syahadah? Kalimah Syahadah is required to be present in one's heart much more frequently than five times a day! It is needed every second! In fact, all amaals will be rejected if one's heart is absent or void of Iman! See the importance? See the urgency? To this urgent matter, what effort have we given to fulfill its demand?
Are we saying that something that is required to be present every single second in our heartrs needs no effort for its fulfillment? Are we saying that something that is a pre-condition to the acceptance of all our good deeds is not important and needs no effort to enhance? Are we saying that something that is the key to Jannah is not important to be developed and improved? Are we saying that something that would be the first and only mandatory question checked by Malaikatul Maut is a small matter? Do we know that Malaikatul maut comes to visit us every 23 seconds?
The question now is: What is the effort to enhance our Iman or our Kalimah Syahadah? Is our Iman perfect? Has anyone challenged or test our faith? Are we confident at the state of our Iman? Are we sure we are the blessed and the accepted in the eyes of Allah s.w.t? Are we 100% convinced that Allah s.w.t is the Creator? If so, do we readily accept all that has been created or given for us? Are we 100% convinced that Allah s.w.t is the Sustainer? If so, are we sure that we do not need any other entity besides Allah to care, protect and serve us? Are we 100% convinced that Allah s.w.t is the Provider? Have we experienced leaving our family totally to Allah s.w.t like Ibrahim a.s. did to Ismail and Hajar? Have we totally surrendered our fate to Allah s.w.t? Have we dedicated our self, time and money to please Allah s.w.t and the Prophet, like the Sahabah?
How is our Iman? What is required to enhance and build our iman to the level and state of iman like Ibrahim a.s? What effort have we given in our quest to firm up our Iman? Can we answer Malaikat Maut question?
WHAT IS THIS SITE ABOUT?
This site is dedicated to establish the fact that our ultimate success in this Dunia and Akhirat is only in religion - obedience to Allah s.w.t and following the Sunnah of Nabi s.a.w.
I think before we venture into a sacred and holy issue like religion, we should at least qualify ourselves, right? So, I have posted this three mind-boggling questions for all of us to answer or just ponder.
What are your necessities in life on earth and who fulfilled it?
What are your responsibilities in life here on earth?
This simple qualification is togauge our awareness on our purpose, neccessities and responsibilities.
In this blog, I shall commit to these basic tenets....
-I shall not dwell into hukum hakam, halal haram as those are better handled by an Ustaz or Alim. After all, hukum hakam is just 1/6 of the Quran! What is the other 5/6? Muslims are already engaged in thousands of arguments and we don't need to further fan the fire or "tragedy". I was told, even in Solat, there are more than 200 "point of disagreement"!
-I shall not dwell into furu', Fiqh and other intricacies. Islam has 2 major sects, 4 major Mazhabs, more than 20 types of fikrah, many ideologies, different political affiliations and other trends. Discussions on this is filled to the brim, some already exploded! So, I am not wasting time in any war of words on any issues with anyone.
-I shall dwell into sharing with you some food for the soul. As our body needs nutrients, our soul too needs nur (light) in the form of reminders from the Quran, Hadith, Hayatus Sahabah, provoking questions and fikir to enlighten our hearts! An enlightened heart ( heart filled with the Greatness of Allah and the love of Nabi s.a.w, virtues of amal and promises of Allah etc) will drive us to amal, insya Allah. It is all about our iman (faith) and our amal ( deeds)
-I shall dwell into instilling the fikir, risau and bimbang ( thoughts, worries and anxiety) of Nabi s.a.w towards his ummat and the fikir, risau and bimbang about the state of our iman and the quality of our amal.
-I shall dwell into imparting the virtues of amal ( fadhillat amal) so that we can value each amal and be convinced of the promises of Allah s.w.t behind each amal. Only when we know the virtues of amal would we be encouraged to amal!
-I shall qualify that most posts here are excerpts or notes dictated from the many sermons I attended the last fifteen years and books, audio and video presentations by many Ulama's, Hafiz, Muhaddith, Alims and Maulanas from all over the world. I shall also qualify that the posts here can be referred to many Muktabbar books on Islam.
-I shall qualify that our limited knowledge on Quran and the known Muktabbar books of Islam may lead us to perceptions, misinterpretation and assumptions on some issues. If to understand Quran needs 17 key ilm (knowledge) and with 300000 Hadith in different Books and 4 different Mazhabs with different interpretations, I think we can agree the huge task for all of us to grasp Islam. However, there is indeed, today, although very rare and few, people who are a Hafiz, a Muhaddith and an Alim of the four Mazhabs! Yes! We just need to "identify" their traits and if possible, muzakarrah with them. However, identifying that trait is a different ilm altogether!
-I shall ensure that contents of this blog is about self-correction, not correcting others! It was not intended to be educational nor producing decrees or fatwa! You can't be an Ustaz by visiting this Blog! It is for you and me to gauge the state of our iman and amal. When we know our state of iman and amal, measured against a certified yardstick i.e yardstick in the eyes of Allah swt and Rasulullah s.a.w, we will know "how good or bad we are"! So, from there we would begin to see what we need to do to enhance our iman and amal!
Agree? Are you with me?
I am also happy to hear your comments! By the way, for the benefit of all, I do mix English and Malay in my blog purely to maintain the authenticity of the notes and messages. Please comment...
May Allah give us hidayat. Doa...
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