DAN KERANA ALLAH, BERSABARLAH (74:7)

Assalammualaikum wbkt,

Tajuk akhbar utama media pada hari ini, semakin hari semakin sukar kita fahami. Aisyah terkesima dengan berita-berita yang menggemparkan, yang menyayat hati dan tidak kurang juga yang merisaukan kita.

SOMALIA

Dari kisah kebuluran di Somalia, afrika, euthophia dan kawasan seangkatan dengannya, di mana mereka mengalami kemarau yang sangat teruk dalam tempoh 60 tahun, dan habis tanaman mereka semuanya mati, serta haiwan ternakan mereka semuanya juga mati kering dan mereka tidak lagi mempunyai bekalan makanan, dan di landa krisis kebuluran yang amat dahsyat.

Bila terkenangkan nasib mereka, bila lihat apa yang mereka alami, terpaksa berjalan kali sangat jauh untuk duduk di khemah2 penempatan, terasa sangat yang diri ini sungguh beruntung berjuta-juta kali ganda, jika hendak di bandingkan dengan mereka yang berada di dalam keadaan tersebut. Mayat bergelimpangan, kebanyakkan mereka adalah Islam, warak, menutup aurat, aisyah kagum dengan kecekalan mereka dan ketabahan mereka, serta kesabaran mereka apabila di timpa ujian.

Sememangnya ini adalah sebahagian ujian dari Allah untuk mereka, dan sekiranya mereka bersabar, insyaAllah, ganjaran yang hebat menanti buat mereka.

Hakikatnya, bukan mereka sahaja yang di uji...kita yang duduk di negara yang senang ini [air senang dapat, takde kemarau, buka fridge semua makanan ada, etc etc], hakikatnya kita juga sedang di uji. Ujian kita [mungkin bukan lah dalam bentuk kebuluran], tapi ujian kita adalah dalam bentuk nikmat...dan nikmat yang Allah beri boleh menjadikan kita insan yang bersyukur atau boleh juga menjadikan kita orang yang kufur.

Yang lebih menakutkan, RAMAI orang PASS ujian miskin, ujian kebuluran, ujian kesusahan, tapi SANGAT sedikit orang yang PASS ujian nikmat..

Kita jangan ingat bahwa orang somalia tu sahaja yang sedang di uji, hakikatnya kita nie lagi lah sedang di uji, dan ujian kita sangat berat sbb ramai orang GAGAL ujian ini..

Bila kita dalam kesusahan, kita sentiasa ingat Allah, kita sentiasa doa pada Allah dan dalam kesusahan tiada lain yang kita dapat buat selain dari bersabar..

Bila kita rasa serba cukup, kita kurang ingat Allah, kita jadi leka dan kalu solat pun kurang khusyuk dan hakikatnya kita jadi orang yang kurang bersyukur kepada Allah...dan bila kita dah sampai satu tahap [yang kurangnya kita bersyukur] , maka kita akan banyak buat komplen & banyak membazir & merendah-rendahkan orang lain...

Seperti mana ikrar iblis:

Iblis berkata: oleh kerana Engkau (wahai Tuhan) menyebabkan daku tersesat (maka) demi sesungguhnya aku akan mengambil tempat menghalangi mereka (dari menjalani) jalan Mu yang lurus. kemudian aku datangi mereka, dari hadapan mereka serta dari belakang mereka dan dari kanan mereka dan dari kiri mereka dan Engkau tidak akan dapati kebanyakkan mereka bersyukur (Al-Aaraf-ayat 16-17).

Hakikatnya kita nie mmg sedang di kerumuni oleh iblis...iblis datang dari segenap arah untuk melalaikan kita, dari kiri kanan depan belakang, nauzubillah, dengan misinya supaya kita jadi orang yang tidak bersyukur [cuma kita je yang tak nampak]. nauzubillah. Tak salah menjadi orang yang hidup senang. In fact, Nabi sulaiman tu pun hidup senang dan mewah, tapi Nabi Sulaiman sangat mensyukuri nikmat Allah dan ada banyak doa Nabi Sulaiman yang berkaitan dengan kesyukuran beliau atas nikmat yang Allah beri. Dahsyat sungguh tipudaya iblis ini, mudah-mudahan Allah lindungi kita dari tipudaya iblis/ ikrar iblis ini, dan kita berdoa semoga Allah menjadikan kita hamba yang bersyukur.

p/s: baru berjumpa dengan rakan baik yang dah selesai VIVA. Aisyah sangat kagum dengan sikap rendah diri yang beliau miliki. Semoga beliau sentiasa di bawah rahmat Allah dan di beri ilmu pengetahuan yang luas serta dapat menyumbang masyarakat insyaAllah :-). Mudah-mudahan kejayaan menanti beliau di dunia dan akhirat insyaAllah. :-)

THE STORY ABOUT PROPHET MUSA A.S AND A KNOWLEGEABLE MAN (FROM SURAH AL-KAHFI) PART 1

Picture Source: learnalquranonlineacademy.blogspot.com

Assalammualaikum wbkt,

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I like to share one episode in Surah Al-kahfi, that really inspiring me in my life. When i am in the state of trials or hardship, I will apply this story to my self and it really help me much in understanding the wisdom behind what Allah had determined for us in our life. I met a lot of good/ excellent people in my life. When they shared with me their experiance/ trials, I suddently feel humble to Allah, because some of my collegue were hardly tested by Allah and still they are very positive and never lose hope to Allah - with that I realised that how less i am in thankful/grateful to Allah who always love me, always listen, always pay attention, always protect me, care about me, give me sustainance, money, food, shelter, health, good family, good resources, and everything.

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In the surah al-kahfi, there is a story of one man [Prophet Khaydir] and Prophet Musa as. There is a long discussion actually about who this man is [khaydir] and why both of them met. I will not focus to that part - because it be related to another interesting discussion that I intend to share with you next time.

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In short, Prophet Musa a.s wants to learn something from this knowledgable man [prophet khydir] which Allah bless him with knowledge and wisdom [as instructed by Allah swt]. This man was reluctant in the first instance, [because he said that Prophet Musa a.s. might not able to understand the wisdom behind all of his actions, and he might lost his patience later on], but Prophet Musa a.s guaranteed that Allah will make him to bear patient with what Prophet Khydir is about to do. Prophet Khydir did 3 things. First, he make hole on the ship they are in, second, he killed a boy and third he repaired a wall in a town - and although Prophet Musa a.s promised not to complain [about whatever action taken by Prophet Khydir], he did not able to control himself and he was complaining/ rejecting/disagree with all Prophet Khydir action. And finally, before they adjourned, Prophet khydir interpret what he did [and the wisdom behind all actions that he took].

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Lets look at Prophet Khydir explanations and lets understand them - hopefully we can learn something out of this story. Surely this story is beneficial to us, because it is in the Al-Quran that was decended from the seven heaven!

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Bismillahirrohmannirrohim

18: 78 [Al-Khidr] said "This is parting between me and you . I will inform you of the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience

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[my note: First Action: Al-Khidr make a hole in the ship]

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18: 79 As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force

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[my note: Second action: Al-Khidr kill a boy]

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18: 80 And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief

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18:81 So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy

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[my note: Third action: Al Khidr repaired a wall without receiving any payment]

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18: 82 And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a tresure for them, and their father has been righteous. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their tresure, as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience".

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Masya Allah, how perfect He is in planning. SubhanaAllah.

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Alright, lets have a look at the first action did by Prophet khydir. He make a hole to a ship [and it belong to a poor people working at the sea] and he explain the interpretation behind it, that there will be a tyrant king that will take all good ship by force.

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Ok, lets imagine that we are the poor people working at the sea, and the ONLY source of income is the ship [that might be used to carry people or to catch fish, etc] and suddently we found that someone make a hole to our ship and we might not able to use the ship for few days and it need to be repaired. Lets imagine if we are that "poor people". How do you feel?

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We must be very very sad right? We are already poor [as mentioned in the ayat], so what else we have? Of course we dont have enough food, or do not have enough savings etc, so basically our rezki depends on the ship that we use everyday. And if something happened to that ship, we probably will have no food for the next few days. It is human nature to feel upset right?

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But what is the beauty behind this test. Masha Allah, only Allah knows. There was a king, a tyrant king, which will take all good ship by force later on. And of course his ship will not be taken away, because it got hole in it. And of course, when the owner of the ship discovered that his friend's ships were taken away by the bad king, he will be very grateful because Allah save his ship - at least it is not too bad to have imperfect ship rather than it taken by force [by a king].

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Understanding about this simple story really touches us to the core. First, as a human we cant never predict Allah's plan. We think sooo short. We are unable to grasp a meaning behind what had happend. The fact is that, we are unable to differentiate between which one is GOOD FATE and which one is BAD FATE. In the eyes of Allah, all fate are good, because he destined that with full of wisdom and reason.

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Second, as in the case of this poor people, of course this is a hard test for him given by Allah. But the beauty is that Allah give him a test, that will save him from bigger test/ bigger calamity [save his ship from taken away from the king]. So for the people that being tested by Allah, lets exercise patience. Lets exercise patience for the sake of pleasing Allah. And put a whole trust in Him, only. Allah may test us, because He wants to save us from bigger calamity in the future.

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Third, we are completely unreasonable to question about Allah's plan. We are arrogant if we complain about Allah's destiny upon us [as if that Allah is not good enough in planning everything], astagfirullah hal adzim, nauzubillah hi min zalik. Whatever it is, whatever the test is, exercise patient and learn to teach ourself the tawakkal to Allah, that Allah by his mercy will show us the beauty of the test later on. InsyaAllah.

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We as human always make mistake. When we received a blessing from Allah, we think that we DESERVE IT. Astagfirullah. Do we think that we are good/pious/solehah enough to receive Allah's blessing? Hey, wake up!. Hey Aisyah, wake up! People in Palestine are much much better than you, people in Libya, in Egypt are million times better/ more pious than you. They are hafidz/ hafizah and Al-Quran is all in their heart. Four million people in Libya memorised Al-Quran and Allah test them with no food, war, poverty, famine, loss of life etc. And yet, when you receive a lot of blessings from Allah, you less thankful and YOU THINK that you are good enough to deserve it??? Guess what? In terms of iman they are much much more better than you Aisyah - they are supposed to be more qualified to take your position, despite of Allah give you good sustainance, over the 31 years of your life, what did you do??? Are you grateful to Allah? [I m not lecturing you the reader, I am lecturing myself actually].

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And when Allah test us with little things, we start TO COMPLAIN. Astagfirullah. But when Allah give you more blessing over the other; we NEVER complain. Astagfirullah. Do not complain/ blame Allah when Allah is testing you, because it is a footstep of SATAN. He blamed Allah when Allah curse him. Be patient. Be steadfast. Accept it with humble heart and be patient. Walirobbika fasbir [AlQuran; 7:74] [exercise patience to please your Lord].

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InsyAllah we will have a look at the other two stories [Al-Kydir killed a boy and repaired a wall] in the next part insyaAllah. And lets us discuss it in a simple way on how to apply this story in our life. May Allah Al-Qawiy always bless us with stregth to face a challenge in our life and may Allah Al-Wahhab bless us with his mercy and kindness.

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Love

Aisyah

RABBANA 'ALAIKA TAWAKKALNA

Salam,

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I would like to share one supplication from Al-Qur'an:

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RABBANA 'ALAIKA TAWAKKALNA WA ILAIKA ANABNA WA ILAIKAL MASIR

Our Lord, to you I put My Trust, To you I repent, and To you I will return (60:4)

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Cool isn't it?

All doa from Al-Qur'an/ hadith are really "cool stuffs".

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While the non-believers said that the coolest stuff in this year might be IPAD2, we as muslim have a lot more coolest stuffs (and cheap too) than them.

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Sometimes, we ignore the 'magic' of doa. It is a weapon for us - as a muslim. Cool isnt? We dont need bodyguards, etc etc, - just put 100% trust in Allah. Cool...reallly cool! :-)

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Hasbi Allah wa nikmal wakil, nikmal maula wa nikman nasir

Cool...really cool! No fear, No panic, No freak-out - whatsoever.

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It is cool to be a muslimah!

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Love

Aisyah

YA HAYY YA QAYYUM

Salam,
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Alhamdulillah. Today is Friday. It is a special day for us (as a muslim) and we are encourage to do more ibadah - read surah al-kahfi & surah al-insan and salawat & doa. I would like to share about one doa that our prophet (Nabi Muhammad saw) taught us (for sure this doa was inspired by Allah).
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This doa is very special, because we let Allah to make any decision on our behalf, and we humble ourself to Allah- and we acknowledge that we have no knowledge about "what is the best for us" in our affairs. Since Allah is the MOST WISE (Al-Hakim) and THE KNOWER (Al-Alim), we pray that Allah will set the best for us in our life.
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I am sorry I am not able to type the doa in arabic. InsyaAllah you can get the arabic version if you google it. I get myself from Dr. Asri (MAZA) lecture in you tube (and the title is about tawakkal)
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Ya Hayy Ya Qayyum (Yang Maha Hidup dan Maha Berdiri dengan sendirinya)
Birahmatika Astagheez (dengan rahmatmu aku bermohon)
Asd lihli syakni kullah (perbaikilah segala urusanku)
Wala takilni ila nafsi (dan jangan lah engkau serahkan urusan ku kepada diriku)
Torfata aini (walau sekelip mata)
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wassalam
Aisyah

IT IS COOL TO BE A MUSLIMAH

Salam, . I found this poem in the internet few years ago. I printed it, and stick to the wall close to my study table, and I still found it is very interesting. I like it much and I want to share the poem with u. To the original owner of this poem: I'm sorry I lost the reference, and I would like to take this opportunity to say- "Thank you" ;-) . .

IT IS COOL TO BE A MUSLIMAH .

It is cool to be a muslimah.. . .

We stay calm even in difficult situation...coz we know, Allah has His own plan for us...and He will never leave us. . .

We don't do gossip...we think it's cheap...we don't talk rubbish - as such, no bad words...no cursing. . .

We are not mannequins, showing off our bodies as if we are displayable .

We mix with other women, no matter how bad they are .

We are easy going - we don't get angry easily (patient is our weapon) .

We depend on Allah alone - thus...there's no need to beg from others . .

It is cool to be a muslimah! . . .

Love, Aisyah

SABR

Salam,

Very good article about sabr from the perspective of Al-Qur'an. I love to share this with all of you.

Enjoy reading!

Regards

Aisyah

Source: http://quranicteachings.co.uk/sabr.htm

SABR has been described in the Quran as one of the great virtues of the believers

What is SABR?

SABR has the following meanings:

Patience: the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience with calmness, self-control and without complaint

Forbearance: Tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation

Composure: A calm or tranquil state of mind

Equanimity: The quality of being calm and even-tempered

Steadfastness: Quality of being, firmly loyal, unswerving and unchanging

Firmness: determination and resolution

Perseverance: Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose

Endurance: The act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress

Self-constraint & Self-control: fettering, shackling of various urges, violent emotions and bad desires

In the Quran, SABR has been used in all the above meanings at different places as well as in the following meanings:

- To maintain patience, composure, equanimity, self-control and endurance in the face of difficulties, hardships, stress or inconveniences that may come in living and doing things in the way Prescribed by Allah

- To maintain determination, resoluteness, steadfastness and perseverance in abiding by Allah’s commands

- To steadily adhere to the statutes of the Quran

- To maintain constancy with Allah

In 70:5, Allah commands:

Faisbir sabran jameelan

Which means:

- Persevere with the beautiful perseverance
- Be patient with a beautiful patience
- Be steadfast with the best steadfastness

Allah says in the Quran:

-O you who believe ! Be steadfast and be supreme in your perseverance [3:200]

-For your Lord’s [cause], be patient and steadfast [74:7]

-For every hardship, there is a relief or ease [94:5-6]

-Allah does not impose on any self any more burden that it can bear [2:286]

When to show SABR?

- In harm, injury, mischief, damage, poverty, bodily affliction, distress, lack of means of subsistence, misfortune, calamity, a state of pressing want [show patience, endurance, equanimity and adherence to the Laws of Allah] [2:177]

- In the state of war [show steadfastness] [2:250]

- In fear

- In hunger

- In case of loss of money

- In case of loss of lives

- In case of loss of fruits [of your toil] [show patience, endurance, equanimity and adherence to the Laws of Allah][2:155]

- On whatever may befall [of calamities] [show patience, endurance, equanimity and adherence to the Laws of Allah] [22:35]

- In the face of rejection [show patience and endurance][6:34]

- When people make you a laughing stock for your True convictions [show equanimity and composure] [23:110-111]

- In seeking your Lord’s Countenance [show steadfastness and perseverance][13:22]

- When wealth, fortune, plenty or ease comes after poverty, misfortune, scarcity, or hardship [show equanimity and adherence to Allah’s laws][11:9-10]

- While waiting for Allah’s judgment [and results of your actions] [show patience, calm and tranquility of mind] [7:87]

- In sexual matters [show Self-constraint and self-control] [4:25]

What are the Rewards for SABR?

- Glad tidings [2:155]

- Allah is with those who are Sabireen [2:153, 2:249, 8:46, 8:66]

- Allah loves Sabireen [3:146]

- Allah’s salawat [blessings] and Rahmat [2:157]

- The help of Angels [i.e. the Forces of nature], (as a result of SABR and TAQWA[3:125]

- The reward in full, without reckoning [39:10]

- Double reward (as a result of SABR, repelling evil with good and spending in the cause of Allah ) [28:54]

- The best reward [11:115, 12:90, 16:96]

- Leadership (of nations) [32:24]

- Goodly residence in this world and much better reward in the hereafter [16:41-42]

- The highest place and paradise [13:23-24, 25:75, 29:58, 76:12]

- Success (in the both worlds)[24:111]

- A good end (result)[13:22]

- Victory over the disbeliever enemy even if the enemy is double in number [Twenty believers who are SABIROON [steadfast] can defeat two hundred of those who are disbelievers. A hundred believers who are SABIROON [steadfast] can defeat a thousand of those who are disbelievers] [With limited means and power a thousand steadfast believers can defeat two thousand disbelievers and a hundred steadfast believers can defeat two hundred disbelievers] [8:65-66]

- Inheritance on the Earth [7:128, 7:137]

- No harm from the disbeliever enemy (as a result of TAQWA and SABR) [If SABR[steadfastness] is combined with TAQWA [Careful observance of duties assigned by Allah and the Commanders of the government established in the name of Allah and a sound protection against the enemy], the enemy cannot do any harm ] [3:120]

- Enemies may also become close friends by SABR [41:34-35]

DOA IN SOLAH

Assalammualaikum wbkt,

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A little reminder for me and you.

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I would like to share with you about how meaningful/beautiful is the doa we recites in our solah. We actually recites a lot of doa in solat (but sometimes we just didnt realize that we are actually making doa). Due to our own weaknesses, we sometimes portrays that solat is less important as compared to other jobs and we sometimes less focus/ less or lost concentration in our solat. This is something that we have to acknowledge (that the satan is everywhere during our solah - indeed they send us the best general/ brigidier general/ captain etc to disturb us, to make us half sleep, to make us suddently busy - when we are performing solah).

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Have you experienced, for example, when you are performing solat, then our mind suddently racing about a lot of things (oh, I have to do this and that after this, oh I need to clean the kitchen, oh I have to cook and prepare food for lunch, or I have to read this etc etc) while we are actually performing solah!. But suddently, right after the solah, we feel that we actually dont really need to think about all these things because they are basically routine and practically not very important. Hey, we do cooking everyday, so what's the problem with cooking for lunch, we doing house chores every day so whats the problem with that - we are actually thinking about something rubbish in our solat. I dont like to be hypochrite, but I have to admit it happened to me as well. Many many times!

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Right, let us put some effort to perform better solat everyday. Let us focus on one dua we recite during our prayers. Especially during "duduk antara dua sujud" - i dont know what to say that in english "sitting between two prostration" - sounds weird right. But no problem. Go on.

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In our "duduk antara dua sujud" we recite this doa everyday - and it is dedicated to ourself. Of course there are some little differences, some hadith said our prophet recite "rabbigfirli" and some said longer than that "rabbigfirli warhamni" etc etc. We are not going to discuss about this matter - let the syeikh in this area study more about this. What I intend to focus is about something we practice everyday (but sometimes we disregarded it - sadly!) - (I didnt mean to blame you, but i am actually compaining myself!)

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We recite this doa in our "duduk antara dua sujud":

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Rabbigfirli (My Lord, forgive me)

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We did a lot of sin every day. Really. I am probably make more than 200 sin this morning. Really! But we sometimes just didnt realize it!. It doesnt mean that - "oh, I didnt perform zina, I didnt consume alcohol - so basically I didnt do lot of mistakes so basically I think I dont have a lot of sin". This is ridiculous.

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Yes, of course (most) if not all of us not perform zina, but sometimes we engage in back biting (mengumpat), slandering (memfitnah), degrading others (merendah-rendahkan orang lain) and sometimes we just didnt realize it. For example - we laugh at certain people yang makan budu for example and we think that we are more modern, more affluent, so this is actually the act of degrading others - and it is sinful. (Minta maaf lah kalau ada orang terasa, this is just an example- by the way I admit that I eat budu sometimes ;-) and enjoy it too!). Or we sometimes make jokes about the types of car our friends drive, the types of kampung he is coming from, prejudice against certain ethics/races, the style of their cloth, or they funny way he/she speak, their accent etc, their job for example- if they are working as rubber tapper we do think that we are better because we are "white collar" etc, and we sometimes enjoy make fun of others because WE think that WE are simply better than others. This is dangerous!. Because this is the act of SATAN, who downgraded NABI ADAM - he think that he is better than NABI ADAM because he was created from fire and NABI ADAM was created out of clay. We might commit sin bigger than zina everyday, but just we didnt realize it. So in oour prayer, we have to strive for Allah's forgiveness. Humble ourself to Allah, admit we make mistake everyday so please Allah for give our sin.

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Warhamni (Bless me) -

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remember, how great/importance is Allah blessing for us, as I stated in previous posting- it is more beneficial, more valuable than any worldy stuffs - i m serious, more valuable/ more "cool" than iPAD2 of course!

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Wajburni (Improve me/ cover my "aib" - weaknesses")

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We hope and pray that Allah will improve us everyday - make us better person in ibadah, in character, in judgement, knowledge etc.

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Warfa'kni (Increase me in rank - tinggikan darjatku)

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Common, I dont need to explain much, but who actually dont want this???

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Warzuqni (Give me "rezeki")

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Oh yes! rezeki - money, dollar, pound etc etc. good foods, shelter, good kids. etc

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Wahdini (Guide me - pimpinlah aku, berilah petunjuk)

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We really need this. In surah Al-Kahfi (ayah 17) - "mai yah dillah hu fahual muhtad, wammay yudlil falan tajida lahu waliam mursyida". - "Whom Allah guides is the (rightly guided), but whom He leaves astray never will you find for him a protecting friend". We also recite "ihdinass siratol mustaqim" - show us the right way/ path in al fatihah. Asking for guidance.

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Wa'afini (make me healthy - sihatkan aku)

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This is very very important. Most people agreed that health is more important than money.

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Wak'fu anni (dan maafkanlah aku).

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We absolutely definitely need this till the end of our life.

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This is very brilliant doa indeed! Really very powerful doa. We can also recite this doa every where- when we are driving, cooking etc. We may have some limitations in memorizing doa in arabic - for certain people like me as I dont have a specific knowledge in arabic - but we can practice this doa as frequent as we can since we recite it in our solat everyday. May this simple reminder beneficial to you and me. Please pray for me, hopefully Allah will make me a sincere person in whatever I am doing, forgive my sin, endow me knowledge and wisdom and join me with the righteous in this world and in the Next. May Allah facilitate our affairs, bless us, and save us from the torment of hell fire.

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See u next time :-)

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wassalam

Alcohol To 'Kill 250,000 Over Next 20 Years'

Salam,

It is ironic that the first miracle of Jesus in the bible was he turned water to wine. (Perhaps), this historical lies imbued the overconsumption of alcohol among the non-believers all over the world. Well, since alcohol is one of the core businesses in the west (a lot of alcohol available in hypermarkets as well as small groceries shops- multicoloured, exclusive bottles), the verse related to the FIRST miracle of Jesus is basically under questions as it may be used to serve the political/ economic agenda of certain group of interest/people (as to make sure that the consumers consume alcohol constantly and make the alcohol-related firms super rich). So I can conclude that bible is A VERY SUCCESSFUL BOOK, because of this one paragraph story about the FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS, the whole western countries are fond to WINE. CONGRATULATIONS. MANY CONGRATULATIONS.

While in the Al-Quran, the first miracle of Jesus was he defended his mother against slander while he is a baby in his mothers' arm.

What a stark contrast!

p/s: Amazed with the conclusion about surah al-buruj (concerning the ashabul uhdud- the ghulam and the king), by dear Amalina during sembang petang programme whereby scholars/learned people are supposed not afraid to talk about the truth although it may threatening his own life. Peace.

Wassalam

Aisyah

Source:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110221/tuk-alcohol-to-kill-250-000-over-next-20-45dbed5.html

Health experts have warned of up to 250,000 extra alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales over the next 20 years unless the Government takes urgent action.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show there were 8,664 such deaths in the UK during 2009 - up from 6,884 in 2000.

But three leading experts use an article in the Lancet to claim we are likely to see a further escalation in deaths because current government plans will not address the problem.

Measures proposed by the Government include banning the sale of alcohol below cost price and increasing duty on high-strength beer.

One of the three authors of the article and former president of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, said: "Looking at the evidence, price is a crucial driver.

"We would call for a minimum unit price of 50p per unit.

"That's what the chief medical officer suggested, that's been supported by the health select committee looking at alcohol.

"I think all serious players in this believe that a unit price of about 50p really would save thousands of lives."

At the height of his addiction, Gary Topley would drink 15 pints, 12 bottles of alcopop and 10 shots in a single night.

He is now in recovery and runs a self-help group called the Free From Addiction Project.

"The time I went out drinking was primarily on a Thursday," said the 32-year-old from Chesterfield.

"It was because it was always buy-one-get-two free, so cost does come into it because I could get drunk very, very cheaply."

The Government, who say they will be publishing a new alcohol strategy in the summer, maintain they are tough on tackling problem drinking.

But those within the drinks industry say higher pricing will not work.

Gavin Partington from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association said: "We know that the countries with the highest alcohol prices including some of the highest taxation on alcohol are also the countries that seem to have a problem with binge drinking.

"The UK is one of those countries, (along with) Ireland and the Scandinavian countries, and so really there seems little correlation between the level of price and the problems with binge drinking."

The article in the Lancet says liver disease has doubled in the UK since the mid-1980s.

Professor Gilmore added: "The country that's made the most dramatic progress in reducing consumption and liver disease is France and they've got quite a tough regulatory framework.

"For example, there's a complete ban on broadcast advertising of alcohol and there's a complete ban on sports sponsorship there.

"The industry there has tended to concentrate more on improving quality rather than quantity and they don't seem to have the same 'pile it high and sell it cheap' philosophy which seems to pervade our supermarkets."

MENGAPA ORANG YAHUDI BIJAK?

Assalammualaikum wbkt,

Artikel yang menarik untuk di kongsi pada pagi Isnin nie...penulis artikel menekankan isu mendengar muzik klasik dan memakan ikan bagi ibu yang mengandung. Waulahualam. Pada saya makan ikan memang bagus, tapi kena seimbangkan pemakanan untuk keperluan bayi (perlu ada juga ayam dan daging, telur) sebab tak semua zat ada pada ikan. One more, di sebabkan penulis artikel adalah seorang bukan Islam, muzik klasik menjadi contoh yang baik baginya sebagai agen mengaktifkan otak. Pada pendapat saya, seorang ibu yang mengandung (ataupun tak mengandung) pun sangat penting juga untuk memperdengarkan bacaan al-Qur'an kepada anak-anaknya. Kalau dah penat baca sendiri boleh lah buka cd atau mp3 bacaan Al-Quran (ada banyak Al_Qur'an reciter yang bagus-bagus) seperti Syeikh Masyari Rashid, atau Syeikh Saad Said Ghamidi atau Syeikh Abdul Rahman Sudais etc etc untuk mengaktifkan sel-sel otak anak-anak kita. Bukan kah alunan bacaan Al-Qur'an itu adalah suatu muzik juga? Malahan di sisinya terdapat hikmah dan rahmat yang sangat banyak. Di dalam Al-Qur'an ada banyak ayat yang menekankan bahawa ayat-ayat alQuran adalah suatu hikmah (kebijaksanaan/ pengetahuan).

Contohnya:

Surah Ali Imran: 48

(Muhammad) what we recite to you are revelations and WORDS OF WISDOM

Surah Ali Imran: 164

God granted a great favor to the believers by sending a Messenger from their own people to recite to them God's revelations, to purify them of moral defects, to teach them the Book, and to give them WISDOM. Before this they had lived in manifest error.

Surah Yunus: 1

Alif. Lam. Ra. These are the verses of the BOOK OF WISDOM

Surah Al-Israk: 39

(Muhammad), these are the WORDS OF WISDOM which your Lord has revealed to you

Surah Luqman:2

These are the verses of the BOOK OF WISDOM

Surah Ya-Sin:2

and the Qur'an, the BOOK OF WISDOM

Surah Al-Qamar: 4

They have certainly received the kind of news in which there is a lesson and STRONG WORDS OF WISDOM

So conclusionnya adalah sangat mudah - kalau nak anak pandai/bijak/genius etc suruh dia banyak baca Al-Quran. Dan kita sendiri pun kena membudayakan al Qur'an. Tak boleh lah suruh anak je baca, tapi mak bapak tak baca pula hahahha.

Dan pada saya personally tak payah lah bazir duit hantar anak main piano alat muzik etc sebab rasanya otak budak yang hafal al-Qur'an lebih genius dari yang pandai main alat muzik. Saya juga sangat menggalakkan agar kita menghantar anak belajar hafazan al-Qur'an (dari pada time cuti sekolah habis masa main game atau tengok TV) jadi mungkin ibu/bapa boleh buat projek inisiatif supaya anak hafaz Al-Qur'an (kalau budak nya kecil lagi suruh la hafal juz amma) sebab otak mereka sangat brilliant dan kita pun taknak la tengok dia pandai nyanyi je (semua lagu kat sekolah cikgu ajar semua dia tahu) tapi biarlah ada pengisian yang lebih baik. Mungkin ibu bapa boleh buat projek cuti sekolah (gilir-gilir buat kat rumah sapa dan siapa yang incharge - set target seminggu kena dapat hafal 3 surah ke, then bagi hadiah at the end to motivate the children). Bagi yang ada rezeki lebih cubalah hantar ke sekolah aliran agama yang baik-baik, banyak private school sekarang, so boleh pilih mana satu yang paling sesuai untuk anak kita.

Dan perbuatan 'terlalu menggoyangkan kepala' seperti orang Yahudi beribadat saya rasa kurang sesuai sebab ala-ala head banging pun ada - dan ianya merbahaya untuk kesihatan kanak-kanak atau orang dewasa. Sebenarnya orang Islam yang berpegang teguh dengan ajaran Islam sepertu yang tercatat dalam Al-Qur'an dan hadis memang mampu menjadikannya jauh lebih hebat dari orang Yahudi.

Waulahualam

Aisyah

Dipetik dari artikelhttp://www.facebook.com/l/48a14dYvPc0fJhmafS_UnLiYbeg;iluvislam.com.

Setelah berada 3 tahun di Israel kerana menjalani housemanship dibeberapa hospital di sana, ada beberapa perkara yang menarik dapat saya perhatikan untuk dijadikan tesis ini, iaitu "Mengapa Yahudi Bijak?". Memang tidak dapat dinafikan ramai cendikiawan berbangsa Yahudi, dari segala bidang, kejuruteraan, muzik, saintis dan yang paling hebat ialah bidang perniagaan, dimana ia memang paling tersohor. Hampir 70% perniagaan di dunia dikuasai oleh kaum Yahudi, dari kosmetik, pakaian, pemakanan, senjata, perhotelan, perfileman di Hollywood dan sebagainya. Ketika tahun kedua, akhir bulan December 1980 dan sedang saya menghitung hari untuk pulang ke California saya terfikir apakah sebabnya kaum Yahudi begitu pintar? Kenapa tuhan memberi kelebihan kepada mereka? Apakah ini suatu kebetulan? Atau olah manusia sendiri? Adakah bijak boleh dijana? Seperti kilang pengeluaran? Maka saya pun tergerak membuat tesis untuk Phd saya, disamping kebaikan untuk umat sejagat dan dapat hidup secara harmoni. Untuk pengetahuan anda tesis yang saya lakukan ini mengambil masa hampir lapan tahun, ini kerana untuk mengumpulkan data-data yang setepat mungkin. Antara data-data yang saya kumpulkan ialah pemakanan, adat resam, agama, persiapan awal untuk melahirkan zuriat dan sebagainya dan data-data tadi saya cuba bandingkan dengan bangsa dan kaum kaum lain. Marilah kita mulakan dengan persiapan awal melahirkan zuriat. Di Israel, setelah mengetahui yang si ibu sedang mengandung, pertama kali saya perhatikan ialah, si ibu akan sering menyanyi dan bermain piano dan si ibu dan bapa akan membeli buku metamatik dan menyelesaikan masalah metamatik bersama suami, saya sungguh hairan kerana teman saya yang mengandung sering membawa buku metamatik dan bertanya kepada saya beberapa soalan yang beliau tak dapat menyelesaikanya, oleh kerana saya memang minat tentang metamatik, tentu saja dengan senang saya bantu beliau. Saya bertanya kepada beliau, adakah ini untuk anak kamu? Beliau menjawab, "ya, ini untuk anak saya yang masih di dalam kandungan, saya sedang melatih otak beliau, semuga dia menjadi genius apabila dewasa kelak" Perkara ini membuat saya tertarik untuk mengikut perkembangan beliau seterusnya. Berbalik kepada metamatik tadi, tanpa merasa jenuh beliau membuat latihan metamatik sehingga beliau melahirkan anak. Seperkara lagi yang saya perhatikan ialah pemakanan beliau, sejak awal mengandung beliau gemar sekali memakan kacang badam dan kurma bersama susu, dan untuk tengah hari makan utama beliau ialah roti dan ikan tanpa kepala bersama salad yang digaul dengan badam dan berbagai jenis kekacang, menurut beliau daging ikan sungguh baik untuk perkembangan otak dan kepala ikan mengandungi kimia yang tidak baik yang dapat merosakkan pengembangan dan penumbuhan otak anak di dalam kandungan. menurut beliau ini adalah adat orang orang Yahudi ketika mengandung dan ianya menjadi semacam kewajipan untuk ibu-ibu yang sedang mengandung mengambil pil minyak ikan. Ketika saya diundang untuk makan malam bersama orang orang Yahudi, perkara pertama yang saya perhatikan ialah menu mereka. Setiap undangan yang sama perhatikan ialah mereka gemar sekali memakan ikan (hanya isi atau fillet) dan biasanya daging tidak akan ada bersama dimeja jika ada ikan, menurut mereka, campuran daging dan ikan tak elok dimakan bersama. Salad dan kacang adalah suatu kemestian, terutama badam. Seperkara yang pelik ialah mereka akan memakan buah-buahan dahulu sebelum memakan hidangan utama. Jangan terperanjat jika anda diundang kerumah Yahudi anda akan dihidangkan buah-buahan dahulu. Menurut mereka, dengan memakan hidangan kabohidrat (nasi atau roti) dahulu kemudian buah-buahan, ini akan menyebabkan kita merasa mengantuk dan lemah dan payah untuk memahami pelajaran disekolah. Di Israel, merokok adalah taboo, apabila anda diundang makan dirumah Yahudi, jangan sekali kali merokok, dan tanpa malu mereka akan menyuruh anda keluar dari rumah mereka dan merokok di luar rumah mereka. Menurut saintis di Universiti Israel, siasatan menunjukkan nikotin dapat merosakkan sel utama pada otak manusia dan akan melekat pada gen, ini bermakna keturunan perokok bakal membawa generasi yang cacat otak (bodoh atau lembab). Suatu penemuan yang dahsyat ditemui oleh saintis yang mendalami bidang gen dan DNA. Para perokok harap ambil perhatian. (Ironinya, pemilik pengeluar rokok terbesar adalah …… tekalah sendiri..!) Perhatian saya selanjutnya ialah melawati tadika mereka, Pemakanan anak anak tadi cukup dikawal, makanan awal ialah buah-buahan bersama kacang badam, diikuti dengan menelan pil minyak ikan (code oil lever) Didalam pengamatan saya, kanak Yahudi sungguh bijak dan rata-rata mereka memahami 3 bahasa iaitu Hebrew, Arab dan Inggeris dan sedari awal lagi mereka telah dilatih bermain piano dan violin, ini adalah suatu kewajipan. Menurut mereka bermain muzik dan memahami nota-notanya dapat meningkatkan lagi IQ kanak-kanak dan sudah tentu bakal menjadikan budak itu bijak. Ini menurut saintis Yahudi, gegaran muzik dapat stimulate (semacam senaman untuk otak) maka itu terdapat ramai sekali genius muzik terdiri daripada kaum Yahudi. Seterusnya ke darjah 1 hingga 6, anak-anak Yahudi akan diajar metamatik berkonsepkan perniagaan dan pelajaran sains amatlah diberi keutamaan. Di dalam perhatian peribadi saya, perbandingan dengan anak-anak di California, ianya jauh berbeza tentang IQ dan boleh saya katakan 6 tahun kebelakang!! !. Segala pelajaran akan dengan mudah di tangkap oleh anak Yahudi. Selain dari pelajaran tadi sukan juga menjadi kewajipan bagi mereka dan sukan yang diberi keutamaan ialah memanah, menembak dan berlari, menurut teman saya ini, memanah dan menembak dapat melatih otak memfokus sesuatu perkara disamping mempermudahkan persiapan untuk perhidmatan negara. Selanjutnya pemerhatian saya menuju ke sekolah tinggi (menengah) disini murid-murid ditekan dengan pelajaran mata sains dan mereka digalakkan mencipta produk, segala projek mereka walaupun kadangkala kelihatannya lucu dan mengarut, tetap diteliti dengan serius apatah lagi ianya berupa senjata, perubatan dan kejuruteraan, idea itu akan dibawa ke institut tinggi di Politeknik dan Universiti. Satu lagi yang diberi keutamaan ialah fakulti perniagaan. Saya sungguh terperanjat melihat mereka begitu agresif dan seriusnya mereka tentang perniagaan. Diakhir tahun di universiti, para penuntut dibidang niaga dikehendaki melakukan projek dan memperaktikkanya dan anda hanya akan lulus jika kumpulan anda (10 pelajar setiap kumpulan) dapat keuntungan sebanyak $US1juta! Anda terperanjat? Itulah kenyataan, dengan rangkaian seluruh dunia dan ditaja sepenuhnya oleh syarikat milik Yahudi, maka tidak hairanlah mereka dapat menguasai ½ perniagaan di dunia! Siapakah yang mencipta design Levis yang terkini? Ianya dicipta di Universiti Israel oleh fakulti bisnes dan fesyen. Pernahkah anda melihat cara orang Yahudi melakukan ibadah mereka? Salah satu caranya ialah dengan menggoyangkan kepala mereka, menurut mereka ini dapat mengaktifkan otak mereka dan menambahkan oksigen di kepala, banyak agama lain di Timur Tengah, seperti Islam juga ada menyuruh umatnya menunduk atau menggoyangkan kepala, ini guna dapat mensimulasikan otak kita supaya bertambah aktif. Lihat orang-orang Jepun, mereka sering menunduk-nundukkan kepala dan ianya sebagai adat. Ramai orang orang Jepun yang pandai? Adakah ianya sebagai kebetulan? Kegemaran mereka ialah sushi (ikan mentah). Adakah ini kebetulan? Fikirkanlah! Berpusat di New York, Dewan perniagaan Yahudi bersedia membantu mereka yang berminat untuk melakukan bisnes (sudah tentu untuk Yahudi sahaja) jika mereka ada idea yang bernas, jawatankuasa akan memberi pinjaman tanpa faedah dan pentadbir dari jawatankuasa tadi akan bekerjasama dengan anda untuk memastikan yang perniagaan mereka menurut landasan yang betul. Maka itu lahirlah Starbuck, Dell Computer, Cocacola, DKNY, Oracle, Perfileman di Hollywood, Levis, Dunkin Donut dan ada beratus kedai ternama dibawah naungan dewan perniagaan Yahudi di New York. Graduan Yahudi dari fakulti perubatan New York akan disarankan untuk mendaftar dipersatuan ini dan digalakkan memulakan klinik mereka sendiri dengan bantuan wang tanpa faedah, barulah saya tahu mengapa hospital di New York dan California sentiasa kekurangan doktor pakar. Kesimpulanya, pada teori saya, melahirkan anak dan keturunan yang bijak boleh dilaksanakan dan tentunya bukan semalaman, ianya memerlukan masa, beberapa generasi mungkin? Persiapan awal adalah ketika si ibu mengandung, galakkanlah si ibu melakukan latihan metamatik yang mudah tetapi konsisten disamping mendengar muzik klasik. Seterusnya ubahlah cara pemakanan, makanlah makanan yang elok dan berhasiat yang baik untuk otak, menghayati muzik sejak kecil adalah baik sekali untuk penumbuhan otak kanak-kanak, dengan bermain piano dan violin sudah tentu dapat melatih anak-anak mencerdaskan otak mereka demikian juga sukan yang memerlukan konsentrasi yang tinggi, seperti memanah, bola keranjang, dart dan menembak. Merokok menjanjikan generasi yang moron (goblok) dan sudah tentu gen bodoh akan mengikut ke generasi si perokok. Lawatan saya ke Singapura pada tahun 2005 amat memeranjatkan sekali, di sini perokok seperti dianak tirikan dan begitu susah sekali untuk perokok dan anda tahu berapa harga sekotak rokok? US$ 7 !!! Ini bersamaan perbelanjaan sehari untuk makan anda!! Saya puji sekali sikap pemerintah Singapura dan menkjubkan sekali!!! Dan seperti Israel ianya begitu taboo dan cara pentadbiran dan segi pembelajaran mereka hampir serupa dengan Israel, maka itu saya lihat banyak institusi pelajaran mereka bertaraf dunia walaupun hakikatnya negeri Singapura hanyalah sebuah pulau sebesar Manhattan!! Anda mungkin musykil, benarkah merokok dapat melahirkan generasi goblok, saya telah menemui beberapa bukti menyokong teori ini. Lihat saja Indonesia, jika anda ke Jakarta, dimana saja anda berada, dari restoran, teater, kebun bunga hingga ke muzium hidung anda akan segera terbau asak rokok! Dan harga rokok? Cuma US$ .70cts !!! Dan hasilnya? Dengan penduduknya berjumlah jutaan orang berapa banyakkah universiti terdapat di sana? Hasil apakah yang dapat dibanggakan? Teknologi? Jauh sekali. Adakah mereka dapat berbahasa selain dari bahasa mereka sendiri? Mengapa mereka begitu sukar sekali menguasai bahasa Inggeris? Ditangga berapakah kedudukan mereka dipertandingan metamatik sedunia? Adakah ini bukan akibat merokok? Anda fikirlah sendiri. Di tesis saya ini, saya tidak akan menimbulkan soal agama atau bangsa, adakah Yahudi itu zalim sehingga diusir dari semenjak zaman Firaun hingga ke Hitler, bagi saya itu isu politik dan survival, yang ingin saya ketengahkan ialah, mampukah kita dapat melahirkan generasi yang bijak seperti Yahudi? Jawabanya ialah mungkin dan tidak mustahil dan ianya memerlukan perubahan, dari segi pemakanan dan cara mendididik anak dan saya kira hanya memerlukan 3 generasi sahaja. Ini dapat saya lihat sendiri tentang cucu saya, ini setelah saya mengajar anak saya melalui program yang telah saya nyatakan diatas tadi, pada umur 9 tahun (cucu saya) dia dapat menulis esay sepanjang 5 muka surat penuh. Esaynya hanyalah mengenai Mengapa saya gemarkan tomato! Selamat sejahtera dan semoga kita dapat melahirkan manusia yang bijak dan bersifat mulia untuk kebaikan manusia sejagat tanpa mengenal batasan bangsa. Dr. Stephen Carr Leon

MISSION NOT IMPOSSIBLE

Assalammualaikum wbkt..


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I would like to share with you about something that we can learn from Surah Maryam. Why I am interested in this Surah? Because particularly, i like the way it is structured. And I also love the miracles (in fact three miracles) in the beginning of surah maryam, that might increase our iman and understanding about Allah and His power, and His ability to do all things, including something beyond our logic! I mean, something impossible that (we might think that way), but in the power of Allah, nothing is impossible. And this is happened, and no doubt with the power and will of Allah, the "impossible" can turn/change to "not impossible". In whatever circumstances!

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Of course I am not going to explain the word by word (as in the subject of Ulum ul Qur-an) whereby the sheikh will explain in arabic, word by word and it would be very long and complex discussion and only few have/understand the knowledge. I have to admit that I dont have a specific qualification/formal education about Al-Qur'an, so I would like to discuss about this matter using a layman view (which is still in line with rules and regulations in Islam)

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As Prof. Nouman Ali Khan said, that Al-Qur'an can be explained using complicated way (very long discussion in Ulum al Qur'an subject) and easy way (whatever that you can learn from it). Surely I will choose the second method as I only a layman with very limited knowledge in this area. But hopefully this simple effort will be blessed by Allah swt, beneficial to me and to you.

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In sura Maryam (chapter 19), it begins with the story of Prophet Zakariyya, a.s. Then it continues with the story of Maryam (the mother of Prophet Isa a.s). I will just play around these two stories in this posting since I dont want to make it too long and hopefully we can benefit something out of it.

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In the name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful

1. Kaf. Ha. Ya. 'Ain. Sad.

2. A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zakkariya

3. When he called to his Lord a call in secret

4. Saying: My Lord! My bones grow feeble and my head is shining with grey hair, and I have never been unblesses in prayer to You, my Lord.

5. I fear my for relatives after me, since my wife is barren. Oh, give me from Your presence a successor,

6. Who shall inherit of me and inherit (also) of the house of Yaakub. And make him, my Lord, acceptable (to You).

7. (It was said to him): O Zakkariya! We bring you tidings of a son whose name is Yahya. We have given the same name to no-one before (him)

8. He said: My Lord! How can I have a son when my wife is barren and I have reached infirm old age?

9. He said: So (it will be). Your Lord says: It is easy for Me, even as I created you before, when you were nothing.

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This chapter starts with Kaf. Ha. Ya. 'Ain. Sad (only Allah knows the meaning). Then it continues with the dua of the Prophet Zakkariya, which he recited in secret (which I believe it is far from public- in private area). With a very high marvel language (best selection of word) he recites the doa to Allah. He prayed that Allah will grant him a son that can inherits the prophethood - someone respected/can be trusted with the resposnsibility to carry on the duty to spread the religion. And in fact, he didnt trust his own relatives to carry on the prophethood/responsibility as his relatives diverted far away, further away form God day by day.

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Prophet Zakariyya is a very genius guy. We see that from this sura, he prayed to Allah to have a son for the purpose of - to make sure that the word of Laillaha illa Allah continues. He need a son for him to pass the prophethood, someone with wisdom and righteous, that can be trusted to spread the word of God.

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If we reflect this story to ourself, let us ask each other, why basically we need children? Why it is important for us to have children?

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Have you heard people talked each other .."Oh common, you need to get marry and have kids, otherwise no one will take care of you when you reach old age!". Sounds familiar, right?. Indeed.

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I dont know but it seems that we have to remove the paradigm that "having kids is necessary for them to take care of me when I reach old age". For me personally, it seems that you already expected that- one day you will be old, then probably you get a lot of disease (nauzubillah), you need your kids to take care of you, to feed you, to etc etc..- but I just dont understand why we basically need to have that kind of mentality.

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Why don't we imagine/think/set in our mind about something better than that. Prophet Zakkariya didnt mention that - Oh Lord, I need kids, I am old now, who is going to take care of me now? who is going to feed me? to clean my urine etc? But instead, he said that he need kid/a son for the purpose of religion - prophethood and be someone who Allah satisfied/pleased.

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One more, why must we have a very negative imagination that when we get old, we need someone to take care of us (the dual meaning is that we are unable to do this and that), so what happened to someone who dont have kids? someone who is not married?

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Allah is fair. Is Just. We should not expect our kids to take care of us, because kids are all human, and we cannot expect anything from human. Instead, why not we say that- oh when I am old, I hope that Allah will take care of me, Allah will make me stay healthy so that I can continue worship Allah. Allah is the best caretaker. I need nothing than Allah. Well have kids is important for the survival of Islam, I hope that my next generations (and over generations) will hold the kalimah Laillaha illa Allah, and spread this kalimah to everyone and everywhere and keep it high.

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So basically when we have this kind of mentality- we are not fear of our future as we keep our trust in Allah. Allah, you are my protecting friend in this world and in the next, so please take care of me. Bear in mind that expectations/trust in human will disappoint you. If you trust your husband more than Allah, (you believe that your husband is everything and you need him more than you need Allah), of course one day he will disappoint you, because he is human. But if we put our trust in Allah, he will never disappoint you as he is the most powerful over all things.

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Alright, lets back to the story of prophet Zakkariya. He was a very positive man and very confident with his doa. Why I said that, because basically we do not pray on something that we think we will not achieve (if we think it is impossible, then we tend to avoid such doa). In his case, the situation is very special. He is now reached extremely old age with feeble bones and grey hair - so basically very-very old and his wife is barren. Everyone knows that in this situation (when you are very old, and your wife is barren) it is impossible that you will get a baby. This is something logic, that if your wife is barren, how you are going to have kids? If you have kids, it means that your wife is not barren!. So since he said in the doa that his wife is barren, it means that it is impossible for him to get a child. Having said this, we come to the conclusion that he was in extremely difficult situation (impossible condition) to get a child.

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Let see what Allah's replied to Prophet Zakarriya doa. Allah AlMighty responded to the doa (refer to ayah 7) of prophet Zakkariya and will grant him a pious son named as Yahya. And prophet Zakariya in the first place was not able to accept that fact then he replied again to Allah - how can I have a son, because I am already old and my wife is barren?

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Then in ayah 9, Allah's replied "It is easy for Me, even as I created you before when you were nothing". You see, Allah said "IT IS EASY FOR ME", so no big deal in His eyes, He is most powerful to do all things, He is able to fulfill your doa and my doa and why must we lose hope in Allah? Why must we give up in our doa? Because whatever problem we have, in whatever conditions we are, IT IS EASY FOR Allah to help us. Allah will help us.

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Alright, lets move to the next story, which is about Maryam. Maryam is indeed a very special woman that Allah has chosen her and purified her and make her the best women above all nations. As in surah Ali-Imran;42 ("Behold," the angels told Mary, "God had chosen you, purified you and given you distinction over all women"). Masha Allah, how great is Allah's recognition to Maryam. No woman in this world is comparable to Maryam. Allah give her high rank because of her piousness and righteousness in worshipping Allah. We should feel very jealous to Maryam because of the achievement she had. In fact, we should not feel jealous to our friends who are more stylish, more beautiful, more vogue than us because they are not the woman that Allah satisfied and we should also not simply follow the crowd.
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Ok, let see some of the story of Maryam in this surah:
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18 She said: I seek refuge in the Beneficient One from you, if you are God-fearing.
19 He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord, that I may bestow on you a faultless son
20 She said: How can I have a son when no mortal has tauched me, neither have I been unchaste?
21 He said: So (it will be). Your Lord says: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained.
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Again, in this ayat, the impossible become possible. Allah sent an angel to Maryam, to deliver the message that she is going to have a son, and she herself was terrified - because how can she has a son since she has no husband and she is a very pious women (not a prostitute). It is something unimaginable, something beyond our knowledge that we usually think that this thing will never happen. Let say one day someone meet you and tell you - "you know, I am expecting a baby now, the angel come to me and suddently I realised that I am pregnant". Do you think that you will believe what she said???.

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But you see, Allah replied, similar to the doa of prophet Zakkariya "IT IS EASY FOR ME" and the prophet Isa a.s himself is one form of Allah's sign to mankind, a mercy to mankind and it is a part of Allah decree.

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Alright, let see the third miracle.

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27 Then she brought him to her own people, carrying him. They said: O Mary! You have come with an amazing thing.

28 O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a wicked man nor was your mother a harlot

29 Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy?

30 He spoke: I am the slave of Allah. He has given me scripture and has appointed me a Prophet,

31 And has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive,

32 And (has made me) dutiful towards her who bore me, and has not made me arrogant, unblessed.

33 Peace on me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I shall be raised alive!.

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In this part, Isa a.s. able to defend his mother while he is still a baby in his mother's arm. He told the people (surrounding her mother) that as stated in ayat 30-33. We never expect that a baby can talk, but it happened in the case of prophet Isa, (as well as other stories in hadith). So this is another impossible thing that finally turn to fact in the power of Allah.

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CONCLUSION

Listening/reading about these stories in Al-Qur'an will actually increase our hope/motivation in life. The fact is that, there is nothing impossible in this world. We should not lose our hope in Allah. And we should not feel despair in our doa. Be positive, that Allah will help us, that Allah is able to do all things. We basically of our own self can do nothing, but Allah can do anything, can do everything. InsyaAllah, after hardship will come ease. May Allah grant me and u His Mercy, guidance and forgiveness. Amin. See you next time insyaAllah.

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Aisyah

ALLAH'S MERCY, ALLAH'S FAVOURS

Assalammualaikum wbkt

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This time, I would like to share with you about Allah's mercy, which means "Rahmat". There are many verses in Al-Qur'an mentioned about mercy, and Al-Qur'an itself is one form of Allah's mercy to mankind, and our prophet Muhammad himself is also one of Allah's mercy to mankind. Other Prophet (e.g. Jesus) that born miraculously has also been stated as mercy of Allah to mankind.

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Besides that, there are also many verses in the Al-Qur'an mentioned about the previous generations, or the righteous/pious people who asked for Allah's mercy when they make dua to Allah. In fact, in certain verses, Allah specifically teach us how to make dua to attain Allah's mercy. I found this very interesting because it is stated in different chapters in al-Qur'an, beautifully intersperse and this repetition basically empasize on the importance of seeking for Allah's mercy and guidance in our life.

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Few examples:

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(Surah Al:Mukminun, 118):
(Muhammad), say: "Lord, forgive me and grant me mercy; You are the best of the Merciful Ones".

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(Surah Al:Mukminun, 109)

There was a group of my servants among you who always prayed: Lord, forgive us and grant us mercy; You are the best of those who show mercy.

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(Surah Yunus: 86)

Lord, save us, through your mercy, from the disbelieving people

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(Surah Al-Imran: 74)

God grants priority in granting mercy to whomever He wants. God's favours are great.

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(Surah Ali-Imran: 132)

Obey God and the Messenger so that you may receive mercy

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(Surah An-Nisa: 96)

God will grant those who strive high ranks, forgiveness, and mercy. He is All-forgiving and All-merciful.

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(Surah An-Nisa; 113)

Were it not for the favour and mercy of God, some of them would have certainly tried to make you (Muhammad) go astray. However, they cannot leas any one astray but themselves nor can they harm you. God has revealed the Book to you, has given you wisdom, and has taught you what you did not know. Certainly God's favour to yuo has been great.

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(Surah An-Nisa; 175)

Those who believe in God and seek His protection will receive His mercy, favours, and His guidance to the right path.

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(Surah Al-Aa'raf; 52)

We have revealed the book of guidance and mercy to the believers and We know all of its details.

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(Surah Al-Aa'raf: 151)
Moses prayed, "Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy; you are the most Merciful".

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(Surah Al-Aaraf; 204)

Whenever the Qur'an is recited (to you), listen to it quietly so that you may receive mercy

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I share with you few examples that I extract from Al-Qur'an, and actually there are many many verses that stressed on Allah's mercy, that due to my incapability, is not able to be shared in this posting. Nevertheless, it is crucial for me to highlight that there is seriously large amount of verses in Al-Qur'an focus to this topic - Mercy.

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Allah seriously tell us that we as human must seek, must pray, must hope for Allah's mercy. But why basically, we as human need Allah's mercy?

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Allah explain about this in this verse:

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(Surah Yunus: 58)

(Muhammad), tell them, "To be happy with the favours and mercy of God is better than whatever you accumulate".

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Wow! wow! wow!

God mercy, God favours is BETTER THAN WHATEVER YOU ACCUMULATE!

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WoW! WOW! WOW! I just over excited and at the same time are not able to imagine how valuable is Allah's mercy to his slave, like us. Great! Allah is Great! BETTER THAN WhATEVER YOU ACCUMULATE!

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alright, lets check our list, whatever we accumulated or want to accumulate or whatever luxury stuffs that come to your mind. oh common, as i m not rich and not accumulate lots of assets, it is quite difficult to think/imagine about expensive stuff (never been to Harrods or exclusive shops so I should admit that I dont know much about this).

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Alright, just say anything.

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Uh, ok....what about car? luxury car? which one you mean? Merce, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, or house? bungalows with swimming pools (many pools) and with very impressive decoration, or possibly whatever we have accumulated, like watches collection, shoes collection, clothes and whatever jewellery we have, gold, diamond, white gold, ruby, sphirre, emerald etc, whatever ornaments we have, whatever portmerion we have etc, or probably if you are super rich you may have your own private jet, heli, mansions, palace, you also may have your own island, ...wow...can you imagine, ALLAH'S MERCY IS SIMPLY BETTER THAN WHATEVER I stated above. Masya Allah!

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And for those who are not interested in seeking Allah's mercy, Allah curse them as in this verse:

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(Surah Yunus: 7-8)

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Those who do not have hope of receiving Our mercy in the life hereafter who are pleased and satisfied with the worldly life and who pay no attention to Our revelations will all have the Fire as their dwelling for that which they had done.

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CONCLUSION

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Allah's mercy is so great, and it is much much more valuable than anything that you can imagine in this world. God mercy is in various forms (Al-Qur'an, the prophets etc) and in fact Al-Qur'an also encourge us to make dua, seek for Allah's mercy, forgiveness and guidance. Thus this is something that we should not ignore, and and shouls be one of priority in our life. Probably we can refer back to the Al-Qur'an (on specific verses related to mercy that I stated above) and try to memorise one or two verses related to it and make it a part of Dzhikir in our daily routine (Thanks to my dear amalina for sharing about 10 steps to purify your heart! which include Dzhikr as one of them). Or if we are very busy person (so might forgot to make dua) why not we set the alarm/notes in our phone just to remind us that we have to make dua seeking for Allah's mercy every two hours for example...or if we are alone (cooking, cleaning, doing house chores, or waiting for a bus) why not fulfill our heart with this one simple statement "My lord please grant me your mercy", at no cost but the return is simply AMAZING!.

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Finally, I pray that Allah will give me and you mercy, and guide us and forgive all of our sins. I humbly asked for you to pray for me, my family and my parents hopefully Allah will grant us mercy in this world and in the next. Forgive me if I said anything wrong and may Allah facilite all of our affairs, or whatever we are doing. :)

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wassalam

THE VIVA, THE BOOK AND THE EXAMINERS

Assalammualaikum wbkt,

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What a controversial topic? Well, that is actually not my intention. I came across few stories of old good friends who shared their experience with me. Most of my friends are now talking about all these things. The season has come, and these are among the popular questions. I don't know, (or probably I don't really like to know, not very keen or feel this is rather one of the test among other tests given by Allah) and whatever tests we face, to Allah we put our trust, because to Him we will return.

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I am not very interested to talk about the worldly viva...lets talk about the real viva...this is truly real one (the one that you must must afraid). But the comparison is important as to see better picture.

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THE DATE

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Alright, this is one of the popular questions. When will be "the date"? Do you know when it will be? or whatever questions related to the specific date when your viva take place. So the plain answers would be, (i) yes, it will be in next two months or two weeks or etc etc...(i) no, the school is silent..i dont know yet...(iii) oh common, dont be soo fast...give me some rest!

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Alright...this is the worldly viva, where they will let you know the specific date, time and place. They will invite you, with email normally, to attend the viva examination with specific informations.

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As long as you know when it will be, you can make some or lots of preparation. Right? So basically you can expect the questions, and we can basically make lots of notes, and rehearse and try to add more point from time to time.

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But have we ever thought about the date of our real viva? No one knows, except Allah. He is powerful over all things. He has the knowledge of all seen and unseen things (Surah al-Mukminun:92).

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Given that no one knows about the specific date of our real viva, including you and I, except Allah the Almighty, then when is the best time to make the preparation? Point to ponder.

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THE BOOK

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Alright...let see what is in the book...it took 3 years to write the book...with a lots of quotations (the more the better) and some complicated formulae, with several bombastic words (heteroskedasticity, endogeneity, random walk) hahahahha, funny words that only few can grasp the meaning, and it is written by minah jawa ntah dari kampung mana lah nie...hahahaha what a joke...at the end, there will be a specific section, somekind like a disclaimer, that this book is not perfect, there is a limitations here and there and etc etc etc...due to the incapability of the author, so the book suffers some limitations...that need to be fully acknowledge..

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and what about the book in our real viva...

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some will be given from their right side, amin

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some from their left side! nauzubillah

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some from their back! nauzubillah...

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and let see what is in the book...

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"When the record of every one's deeds is placed before him, you will see the criminals terrified from what the record contains. They will say, "Woe to us! What kind of record is this that has missing nothing small or great?" They will find whatever they have done right before their very eyes. Your Lord is not unjust to any one" (Surah Al-Kahfi:49)

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Every thing will be recorded...will be reported by the virtuous angels. They are very dexterous in their work, very dedicated (never sleep, eat, etc) and perform Allah's command as instructed.

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As the book in the worldly viva is wrote by minah jawa, the book in real viva scribble by the angel.

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"Well, you can refer to Kakabadse and Kakabadse (2007) published in corporate governance: the international review, if you want to get more information about this issue". "Thank you for sharing this information, i will take this into account". -- this is a part of the normal conversation during the worldly viva...

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But not in the REAl VIVA, as everything (small, big, short, tall etc etc) precisely recorded in the book...All deeds over your entire life (not only 3 years) but if you live for 50 years, every second, every split second of what you did, what you said, everything, will be recorded.

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THE DEFEND

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Alright, lets make a lot of rehearsal. Speak in front of the mirror, or probably share the ideas in front of your classmate, and try to make the answer as interesting as possible. Make sure that your throat is ok on that day, and get new cloth and never forget to include several jargon terms as to impress the examiners. And if you are very good in kelentong with confident, that is another credit for you (good in talking, good repo, convincing people).

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funny isn't it.

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In the real viva, our mouth will not speak. It will shut up. Real shut up. Even in this world, we can speak fluently, gossiping, backbiting, read qur'an, but over there, our mouth will never say a word.

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"We shall seal your mouths on that Day, let your hands speak to us and your feet testify to what you had achieved" (Surah Ya-Seen: 65)

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Then our hand, our eyes, our ears, our feet will testify against us (if we are the wrongdoers - nauzubillah) and will defend us (if we are among those Allah guided - the pious).

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THE EXAMINERS

Ok, who are the examiners? We normally have 2 examiners.

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"Oh, have you heard about professor Toya from Hambat University? He is one of the best accounting professor from negeri pasir bedengung!"

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"Oh my internal examiner is very bad. Like a lion/tiger. Everybody hates him!"

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"I am very happy, my examiners are both so kind and soft spoken with no sense of attacking at all" Good!

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Ok ok....it is all decided by Allah. So accept your fate! (the best way!)

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Whatever it is, the examiners are all human. Like us!

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So when they are like us, they subject to certain weaknesses. Right?

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Sometimes they got fever, they forgot the date of viva, they are basically very old, so sometimes got asma, sakit tulang etc, they got migrain, they are practically very busy, with lots of meeting, etc etc....so they may overlook something from our book. Thats fact, because they are human.

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But the examiners in the real viva immune to all diseases. They are angels. Fitness first. Do as per instructed, yet very dedicated. And we have 2 examiners too..in our graveyards...scary huh?

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THE QUESTIONS

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This is very interesting. If you google this information, you will see hundreds of possible viva questions. "Why you did this research? what is the contribution? why it is important? why why why...why not this? why not that? ". "Oh yes, it is important as it is related to the share price which will affect the general welfare of the society"! I choose this methodology because, first...second...third...etc etc

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Ok ok, in real viva, not many questions will be asked. Interesting huh? We live in this world for, let say, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years and only few things will be examined.

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- how you spent your time

- how you spent your money

- how you spent your productive years (usia muda)

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besides of additional questions:

- who is your God?

- Who is your relatives?

- what is your book?

- Who is your prophet?

- What is your religion?

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Scary huh...you dont need to do lot of rehearsal as in the worldly viva, because the answers are very easy (you knew that Allah is God, Muhammad is prophet etc etc) for now, but it is our iman and amal which is going to help us to answer all these questions in the next! Oh Lord, have mercy on us!

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THE RESULTS

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Oh it is depends...without correction, minor correction or etc...whatever it is, all these are temporary matters. You completed it, and you pass.

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In the real viva, the result is permanent. It is eternal. Whether hell or heaven! So which one does matter?

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CONCLUSION

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Well this is just another point for us to ponder. We pray a lot, we afraid a lot for our viva in this world, yet we ignore the importance of the real viva in the next. Allah teach us how to pray for our affairs in the world or hereafter. "Lord, give us good things both in this life as well as in the life hereafter and save us from the torment of fire" (Surah Al-Baqarah: 201). I am sorry if this posting make you unhappy (as I treat that the worldly viva like jokes) as I didnt mean to hurt any of the readers. I pray hopefully Allah will guide me and you, and have mercy on us and facilitate our affairs in this world and hereafter. AMIN. Please pray for me as well in your doa, as well as for all our muslim brothers and sisters.