Monday, July 21, 2008

Culture? Religion? Way of life?

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalamu'alaikum (May peace be unto you)

Begin with all praise is due to Allah s.w.t, we seek his help and we ask for His foregiveness. And we seek refuge from Allah s.w.t from the evil of ourselves and for the evil consequence of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah s.w.t guides, there is none to misguide, and whomsoever Allah s.w.t leaves to fall astray, there is none to guide. And I testify that there is no diety that is worthy of worship accept Allah s.w.t and Muhammad s.a.w is His last and final messenger. After that, the best speech is the book of Allah s.w.t and the best guidance is Muhammad s.a.w. And the worst of all the affairs are the matters that are newly introduced in the religion. Every matter that is newly introduced is an innovation, all of the innovation is misguidance, all of the misguidance is going astray, and all the going astray is in the fire.

People walk through life adopting many forms and sets of the way most of them desire to live by it. People talk about cultures, religion, and their way of life daily and as a routine. As how people 'talk' about their way of life can be in a form of language that is spoken, through the actions of our limbs, as well of the intentions of the heart. Thus, people lead their life based upon principles and this may vary from culture to culture, race to race, or even from individual to another individual. We talk and share about alot of amazing things about our life(culture, religion, etc.) in general and sometimes we also may adopt certain attributes from a different cultures and so forth. Indeed, all this varies from places to places, but then what about religion? People have dissimilar sets of beliefs and what not, certainly we should respect one another and not to mock each other. However, with regards to religion which seems to be a very controversial topic nowadays to be brought into discussion, whereby religion is suppose to be followed upon the truth. Because in a religion it consists with alot of aspects with our everyday life, as a matter of fact it is a way of life that we are practicing. So do we follow our religion blindly? following without seeking knowledge on how to perform or practice our religion? Do we follow this 'way of life' because our parents, grandparents, and our ancestors practices? Perhaps, we should ask ourselves with these questions and find out what is our reason for doing so.

Religion as defined from wikipedia: "A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. In the frame of European religious thought,[1] religions present a common quality, the "hallmark of patriarchal religious thought": the division of the world in two comprehensive domains, one sacred, the other profane.[2] Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion is also often described as a "way of life" or a Life stance"[cut and pasted from wikipedia.org]. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianism, Judaism, Islam, etc. are some of the few religions that are widely known throughout the world. What about atheism? secularism? humanism? or any "-ism"'s that is practiced as a way of life, can all of these be qualified as a religion? Certainly I am not here to define what it means, it is just to have a better understanding insyaAllah(through Allah's will) on the weight of the term 'religion' actually carries. Certainly not a subject that should be taken lightly for it is a way of life that is at stake here my brothers and sisters. Perhaps at the very least we, including myself, ought to contemplate and to ponder about.

One of the few things in life that we are particular about, is when we tend to be extra cautious and concern when trusting something, someone, etc. For instance, if a guys comes knocking on our door wearing all this leather jacket, leather pants, leather boots, t-shirt that has a skull on it, bald headed, and big beard, just to deliver a mail for example and he claims that he is from the established mailing company in your country. Most of us wouldn't even open the door, or atmost we would call the mailing company and check with them whether or not such guy wearing such and such is making the deliveries from one house to another. We would call and ask for identification so that we can check with the 'suspicious' person knocking on your door. Well this is just to illustrate the situation. It may not be the best example in the world but I hope the point is delivered insyaAllah.

Look how particular or careful a person can be, but when it comes to religion there seems to be a double standard. Perhaps the majority would follow the masses of people because everyone is doing it, or otherwise, Allahu'alam(Allah knows best). But think for a moment, sit back, and spend some time thinking on this very serious matter I must say because it will affect the end results. Negligence, ignorance; that most us would deny that we actually are. Just the thought of it, how arrogant have we become? What ever happen to humility? Having the sense of respect towards our brothers and sisters instead of pulling them down and pushing them away, what has become of us?

So what is our purpose really? Do we have a sense of purpose in life? Do we really? For those brothers and sisters who understands our purpose in this life, Alhamdulillah (praises be to Allah Azza Wa Jal), then share and deliver the message to others insyaAllah. So much time wasted when so many things that could have been done but heads up. While there is still time, fill it with knowledge and share it with others insyaAllahu ta'ala.

Glory be to Allah Azza Wa Jal, I testify that there is no diety that is worthy of worship accept Allah s.w.t and Muhammad s.a.w (peace and blessings be upon him) is the last and final messenger, I beg for His (Allah Azza Wa Jal) forgiveness in all the shortcomings that I have made.

May Allah Azza Wa Jal increase us in knowledge and guide us to the straight path that He(Allah Azza Wa Jal) loves, Ameen(May it be so).

Fi Amanillah
Wassalamu'alaikum wa rahmatuLLAH hiwa barakatuh
Monday, July 14, 2008

The Journey

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalamu'alaikum (May peace be unto you),

Begin with all praise is due to Allah s.w.t, we seek his help and we ask for His foregiveness. And we seek refuge from Allah s.w.t from the evil of ourselves and for the evil consequence of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah s.w.t guides, there is none to misguide, and whomsoever Allah s.w.t leaves to fall astray, there is none to guide. And I testify that there is no diety that is worthy of worship accept Allah s.w.t and Muhammad s.a.w is His last and final messenger. After that, the best speech is the book of Allah s.w.t and the best guidance is Muhammad s.a.w. And the worst of all the affairs are the matters that are newly introduced in the religion. Every matter that is newly introduced is an innovation, all of the innovation is misguidance, all of the misguidance is going astray, and all the going astray is in the fire.

The journey here as per se is with regards to our journey in this life. First and foremost, I would just like to share a bit of my knowledge with my brothers and sisters insyaAllah (Through Allah's will), for I am still learning and I do not intend to show that I know more than any of you, A'uzubillah (I seek refuge in Allah s.w.t) for I certainly am not. Frankly, I am sure most may know more than I do, perhaps we could share a bit of our knowledge and may we benefit from it insyaAllah.

Everyday, people go through hardships and calamities that may befall them which also may lead them in a state of distress and on the other hand, people tend to seek happiness in various ways to an extend where they desire to obtain instant joy and happiness. Most would say, it is 'life' by its nature, whereby there are times we stumble and there are times we feels as if we are reaching the clouds and there are also times where we are in apathy, void, solitude, lonely, rather oblivious with our sense of direction in life as a whole. Often we reflect upon the period of time which we feel happy and content with in times of despair. Assumingly thousands of questions and assumptions that takes place constantly. Therefore let me just ask you as well as myself, why do we do what we do at this very moment? Is there any real purpose of why we do it? Do we yearn for recognition from the people around us? Are we doing this to feed or fulfill our desire selfishly? Is it just a mere act of conformity of how the society has conditioned us in our decisions? Certainly I am not here to judge others regarding on these matters, rather it is just something to contemplate on. People walk in and out in one's life regularly, and often we are affected devastatingly by it disregard whether they are our close friends, partner in life, and even our family.

The following question would be, how do I prepare myself in overcoming or even when the time comes how do one deals with such matter? Therefore, seeking knowledge ought to be the rational reaction in dealing or to even understand life, our lives at the very least. I do welcome remarks regarding on this 'blog' that I have written as well as what I may write in the future insyaAllah, but again it is something for everyone of us to contemplate on. There are times when we sit with our friends, families, colleagues, etc. and talk about many things in general. Within the conversations that we have participated in, how often do we talk about death? For it is a phase where every single creation will go through without knowing when, where, and even how we are going to die. Death does not discriminate between ages, skin color, level of intelligence, how much money you are making, or any other reason that you may argue. Verily death is certain, even for those who do not believe in the unseen (things that cannot be sense by our human senses). Of course, there are voices of opinions out there who proclaims that we only live once, therefore live life to the fullest. It is our own choice with regards of how we want to live our lives, so I urge you and as a reminder for myself to think, to ponder, and to contemplate about this subject although it may be a cliche for many people. Do the thinking for your own sake and not for others insyaAllah. Do not let other voices cloud your thinking, as this is just a reminder for all of us indiscriminately. We are forgetting that death is catching up to us, death can just sneak up just around the corner and it occurs when we least expect of it. Bare in mind when we have taken one step forward in life, death takes two to catch up unto you. Everything that we love and own in this life will eventually begone.

Human tends to worry about the future alot, regretting of the mistakes that they have made in the past or stuck with the achievements that they have made in their pasts, and how we have taken lightly about the present. People voiced out about what that can or want to achieve in the latter, but what about the things that you can do right this moment? We usually would say, "I am going to stop this bad habit, or start doing good deeds in the near future, so on and so forth...". Do we actually think that we are going to live untill then? Na'zubillah (We seek refuge in Allah s.w.t). 'Think before you act' - one of the most popular advice used by many people today. Before we point fingers and blaming others for not doing so and so, let us reflect such accusations and ask ourselves instead. When someone is doing a deed, why put them in shame or to humiliate them for what their deed (sincerely) when deed is suppose to be encouraged amongst us humans yet we trivialized even for the smallest deed that one may do Na'zubillah. It is amazing when one can be so conscious about others but severely ignorant when it comes to their own, and how we triggered in fury when others criticize about us but we enjoy doing that to others.Enough with the sarcasms, enough with the slanders, enough with backbiting, enough with all thoughts and actions that could harm another person deliberately. Correction comes from within.

This is just a reminder for you and myself. May Allah Azza Wa Jal (Mighty and Majestic is He) protect us and guide to the righteous path, Ameen (May it be so).

May Allah Azza Wa Jal forgive me for the shortcomings from what I have wrote.

Glory be to Allah Azza Wa Jal, I testify that there is no diety that is worthy of worship accept Allah s.w.t and Muhammad s.a.w (peace and blessings be upon him) is the last and final messenger, I beg for His (Allah Azza Wa Jal) forgiveness in all the shortcomings that I have made.

Fi Amanillah,
Wassalamu'alaikum.
Sunday, July 13, 2008

Opening

bismillâh ir-rahmân ir-rahîm



In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful



Begin with all praise is due to Allah s.w.t, we seek his help and we ask for His foregiveness. And we seek refuge from Allah s.w.t from the evil of ourselves and for the evil consequence of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah s.w.t guides, there is none to misguide, and whomsoever Allah s.w.t leaves to fall astray, there is none to guide. And I testify that there is no diety that is worthy of worship accept Allah s.w.t and Muhammad s.a.w is His last and final messenger. After that, the best speech is the book of Allah s.w.t and the best guidance is Muhammad s.a.w. And the worst of all the affairs are the matters that are newly introduced in the religion. Every matter that is newly introduced is an innovation, all of the innovation is misguidance, all of the misguidance is going astray, and all the going astray is in the fire.



This is my first experience in 'blogging' therefore May Allah forgive me for any defeciencies in it.



Fi Amanillah (May Allah s.w.t protect you),
Wassalamu'alaikum.