Friday, March 26, 2010

Two Unexpected Encounters

Friday morning, 19/3/2010:
I accidentally met one of the two imam of Masjid Universiti, UBD, shopping with his family at Tamu Kianggeh, Bandar Seri Begawan, while jalan-jalan and window shopping with my friends. He and I only 'angkat tangan' with each other and smiled. :)

And then, one week later...

Friday afternoon, 26/3/2010:
I met this imam again masa my cousin bertunang di Jalan Kebangsaan. We talked a little though. I was like, what!? I didn't expect to meet him tadi atu, hehe...

And masa Maghrib, babah and I solat Maghrib at Masjid Universiti, UBD. And masa abis solat, I approached him to shake hands. And guess what, he was shocked to see me. His face expression masa jumpa aku lagi atu still fresh in my mind, hehe...

Brunei is indeed small! I mean, really small! xD

Okay guys, let's return back to the day of Friday, 19th March 2010, masa khutbah Juma'at di Masjid Universiti UBD. This imam baca khutbah and salah satunya adalah ayat ani:

"Dan mereka menjerit-jerit di dalam Neraka itu (sambil merayu): Wahai Tuhan kami, keluarkanlah kami (dari azab ini), kami akan mengerjakan amal-amal yang soleh, yang lain dari apa yang kami pernah kerjakan..." - Surah Faathir, ayat 37

He cried while reading this ayat, and during the explanation of this ayat. In front of the jamaa'ah of Masjid Universiti yang solat Juma'at. Masatu, panuh dalam Masjid Universiti. Hmmm lebih sunyi jadinya suasana masatu because of this event and some people started to cry also. There was macam a 'big soft cry' in the masjid masatu. It's really hard for me to explain. *bow down and ask for forgiveness* Alhamdulillaah, suasana yang menginsafkan that I could feel masatu. And this continued even until masa solat. For me, that was a rare situation to be seen and felt in Brunei's solat Juma'at.

An exclusive reminder to me, and to you all!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Satu Hari Di Petang Rabu... *Malu Me Ehh*

Bismillaah... :)

Rabu, 24/3/10, masa aktiviti MYC yang ke-9 for this semester, kami liat film The Message (for about one hour ja, sambung next week lagi, insya-Allah).

Then, tibalah masanya untuk mengekspressikan diri semasa sesi bengkel where we guys made a circle of guys sat on the floor.

Bengkel punya bengkel, sharing punya sharing, discussion punya discussion, ada tia this one bro shared a hadits:

Rasulullah SAW bersabda: "Tiga perkara yang barangsiapa terdapat (ketiga-tiga perkara itu) padanya nescaya dia memperolehi kemanisan iman (iaitu):

1) Allah dan Rasul-Nya adalah lebih dia cintai daripada selainnya (Allah dan Rasul),
2) dan dia mencintai seseorang semata-mata kerana Allah,
3) dan dia benci untuk kembali kepada kekufuran (maksiat) sebagaimana dia benci dilemparkan ke dalam api neraka." - Hadits riwayat Bukhori, Muslim dan lain-lain


After that, we discussed for a while about this until I noticed ada bros yang hmmm macam kurang faham konsep mencintai karena Allah ani. And so, I explained a little lah to the bros and suddenly, to illustrate one of the ways to show this, I touched the paha (apa Englishnya tu ah?) of bro Khairi who were sitting on the right side of me and said (and smiled):

"Uhibbuka fillaah (I love you because of Allah)..." ^_^

*We laughed*

Then *sharing punya sharing*, bro Nash (who likes to share something and sharing is indeed caring yo!), who were sitting on the left side of me dengan berapi-apinya, dengan semangatnya, mengexplainkan konsep ukhuwwah fillaah (persaudaraan karena Allah) to us. Until, finally, I interrupted his speech (hehe, sorry bro) dengan nawaitu karena Allah (insya-Allah), shaking his right hand, smiling very enthusiastically, shaking-shaking my head, and said lebih kurang cemani lah bunyinya (I said it in English):

"I love you bro, because of Allah..."

*We laughed again and louder than before*

Begagar jua lah bangunan Institute of Medicine sal ketawa kami atu... xD

And the 'sharing and discussion' or the bengkel session went on for more than one hour.

Rasulullah SAW bersabda: ”Tujuh golongan yang akan dilindungi Allah dalam naungan-Nya pada hari yang tidak ada naungan kecuali naungan-Nya... (Salah satunya) dua orang yang saling MENCINTAI karena Allah, BERKUMPUL karena Allah dan BERPISAH karena Allah pula..." - Hadits riwayat Bukhori dan Muslim


Bros (and to all), let's make a prayer that we're one of them or at least tani berusaha semampu tani menuju ke arah atu, insya-Allah. Allah knows our niat. Even though masani, mengamalkan Islam ani tend to be macam menggenggam BARA API... :)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

That Would be Like a Hat Trick Goal!

Bismillaah...
Alhamdulillaah, I finished reading a book and two e-books today, which is three books. And, a hat trick!



Subhaanallaah, this book is mind-opening. Sometimes, my eyes were watery reading the book. I was like, hey, for example, aku tau ayat al-Qur'aan ani tapi bila kana explain rah sini kepentingan ayat atu. Aku macam... shocked to know. This book mentions many, many times that we need to fully submit ourselves to Allah in all aspects of our life. We should never become a slave to the law which was made by humans. We can only become free when we follow the law which was made by Allah, which was based on the al-Qur'aan and the as-sunnah.




I downloaded this 32 pages e-book last night. Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki explains well in this e-book about the ummah undeniable victory in the future against the forces of the disbelievers. He said that Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Palestine were the place for the revival of jihaad. Did you notice it? The US and other forces attacked Afghanistan since 2001 and Iraq since 2003, but then, they still have problems in conquering fully those two countries. Logically, the US have this and have that. They even sent more forces last year to Afghanistan. Allah 'sent' the US to destroy the secular Saddam's government and guess what, this opened up the opportunity for the revival of jihad there. For sure, Allah is indeed the best planner of all. :)




And I downloaded this 80 pages e-book last week. Subhaanallaah, Allah really helped the Afghans in their war against the Soviet Union. Banyak kisah-kisah yang sangat menakjubkan:

1) Ada this one syaheed shook hand sama bapanya sal bapanya cakap cemani lebih kurang bunyinya (to jenazah anaknya before kana kebumikan), "Lai, bila banar ko mati syaheed, buktikan rah bapa tanda-tandanya." And guess what, jenazah syaheed atu salam tangan bapanya.
2) Banyak kisah-kisah di mana the forces of the Afghans atu lebih kecil berbanding the forces of the communists which were led by the Soviet Union. Ada yang below 100 people of Afghan with their kekurangan yang banyak versus 10,000 soldiers of the Soviets with their airplanes and well-equipped weapons. And the Soviets lost. And this happens many times.
3) The power of du'aa and dzikir. Au banar, macam hmmm lapas durang berdu'aa atu, macam ada malaikat menulung durang. Ada yang bertakbir masa durang kana kapung by the Soviet. Tarus dikalahkan bah the Soviets on the spot dengan 'pertolongan Allah'. Yes, andang inda logic bunyinya.

And many more stories yang akan menyentuh hati kamu, kisah-kisah yang akan buat kamu lebih mencintai syurga, dan banyak lagi! Sayangnya, lapas durang manang atu lawan the Soviets, many of the clans in that country fight with each other for power (before atu durang united). Patut jua Allah inda tulung, muslims versus muslims jua tu. They should focus more on liberating Tajikistan from the Soviets, Kashmir from India, and even Palestine.

In conclusion, these three books ada similaritiesnya. And some of it are kekuatan iman and menegakkan kalimah Allah di muka bumi ani. Bila tani mau Allah tulung tani, we need to improve our iman. No matter what happens, we need to melaksanakan tugas-tugas ani and berserah kepada Allah sepenuhnya for the result.

TAKBIIR! ALLAAHU AKBAR!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Another Tick in the List: Part 2

*Continued from the previous post*

I donated blood for the second time on Tuesday, 30th January 2007, at the Dewan Asrama Lelaki (DAL), UBD, since there was a blood donation campaign there.

After that, there was a big gap of time frame or ‘rest’ of more than one year between my second and third donations, which was on Wednesday kali tu, 5th March 2008.

Why? It was because I always waited and waited for the next donating campaign at UBD. And I tend to miss the next campaigns because of many unexpected reasons. In between this gap, I felt the urge or the desire of wanting to donate more and more selagi ku mampu and dapat. I remembered one of the main reasons I donated at that time was because of I tend to be ‘karit’ or kedekut in term of donating money (astaghfirullaah). Donating blood doesn’t involve money, ya?

And thus, in 2008, alhamdulillaah, Allah gave me the idea. I was like, “Hey, why not I go to the Pusat Pendermaan Derma at the hospital instead of waiting for the next blood donation campaign in UBD? I asked Abu (thanks bro!) of the exact location of the place and I went there on 5th March 2008. At that time, my desire to donate atu tahap tinggi dah sal lama dah inda donate and contribute something.

At that time, I finished watching the inspirational Japanese drama, Ichi Rittoru no Namida (One Litre of Tears or A Diary of Tears), which was based on a true story. I still remembered one of Aya’s words (the heroine of the drama), “I want to be useful to others.” That seven meaningful words alone have a powerful impact on me, even until nowadays.

Talking about this drama, ada kawan dakatku sorang ani, ia jogging tarus lapas abis liat drama ani sal he was really sad of the drama’s ending. As for me, I was really, and really stressed (and I really mean it) meliat episode yang part adinya malu sal ada kaka yg cacat macam the heroine atu. Rasa kan ku tumbuk-tumbuk bah adinya atu masa atu. Hmmm anyway…

After that, inspired by Ichi Rittoru no Namida, I made a wish (macam BIBD Wish bunyinya ahh) that I need to donate ten times before I graduate. I also want to be useful and useful to others. :)

Then…

*To be continued* :)

Another Tick in the List

Bismillaah…

Alhamdulillaah, I finally completed one of my wishes:
"To donate blood ten times before I (insya-Allah) graduate"

I declared this about two years ago, somewhere in the year 2008. The first time I donated blood was on Thursday morning, 3rd August 2006, during the fourth and the final day of UBD Orientation for the 2006/2007 session.

Masatu kami tiga (Abu Zar, Zawawi and I) malas kan ikut jogathon. We only jogged until we reached the Chancellor Hall, and then we entered it to donate since there was a blood donating campaign masatu at the same time.

The one who wanted to donate in the first place was Zawawi. And then, Abu made a decision to donate too. And finally, I decided to donate too.

My reasons at that time? You might not believe these:
1) Because I watched episode 3 of Nobuta wo Produce. In short, the episode tells something that we need to contribute something to the society. I still remembered the peaceful scene between Nobuta and Akira in this episode, and… *okay, okay, next reason, please*
2) Aku ani malas and jarang bersukan or kaki bangku (and still am), except for swimming (atu pun jarang jua masani pasal nada masa and so on). Thus, I have reasons when people asked of why I did not join the jogathon. And so on.

Alhamdulillaah, after donating blood for the first time, I felt something. I felt I did something important to the society. And that feeling was priceless. Priceless. Only Allah knew how I felt at that time. That ‘peaceful’ feeling… I really missed it.

Then, somewhere at the end of January the next year in 2007…

*To be continued* ;)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Nice

Aslm wrh wbt,
A friend tagged me in her Facebook's note below. And allow me to share it with you. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh..
i just open up email.received a good one from Muhamma Al Shareef. i'm just gona copy paste it here yea..

What Allah says about Excuses:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime, let me share with you the following:

Excuses (regarding worshiping Allah) are the habit of the people of Hellfire.



Allah tells us in the Quran:

67:10 They will further say: "Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not (now) be among the Companions of the Blazing Fire!"



Lesson: People who disobey Allah do not always flat out say 'no'. Instead, they make an excuse as to 'why' they can't worship Allah, for this reason or the other. Things like:

a. Eman hasn't entered my heart yet.

b. God is Merciful, and He doesn't need me to worship Him

c. If Allah shows me a personal sign, only then will I believe and follow Him



The bottom line is: No excuse - Worship Allah and do what Allah likes. That is our aim in life.



Implementation:

1. Ask yourself if there is some type of worship you feel you should be doing, but are not doing. Example: praying Sunnah prayers.

2. What is the excuse you give as to why you don't do it? Example: not enough time.

3. Today: just do it. Like, procrastinate procrastination and just do it!

4. At the end of the day, ask yourself, "So how did that feel?"


Sometimes,we keep on giving excuses to ourselves or others why belum do this and that..tapi,a reminder for me and you, if we simply waste our time di dunya anie, we WILL regret habis2san!!berabiss sampai up to the point ketani kan blame org disekeliling tepulang pasal inda pandai membagitau/menasihati..a nice reminder,insyaallah..

jzkk,
airah


Note:
Jzkk: جزاكم الله خيرا (semoga Allah membalas kebaikan kamu semua)

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Menghilangkan Beban atau Melipatgandakannya?

A friend of mine tagged me the below motivational note in her Facebook's note:

Ini adalah petikan dari sebuah buku karya Syed Alwi Alatas bertajuk "Bila Allah menduga kita"

Ketika kita ditimpa musibah atau dugaan, kita mempunyai dua pilihan: menghilangkannya atau melipatgandakannya?

Mari kita ikuti sebuah gambaran, yang mana kita pasti mengalaminya...

Seorang perempuan tua tengah asyik membersihkan ruang tamu rumahnya, dengan usianya yang
sudah lanjut, tangannya agak menggigil semasa bekerja. Tanpa sengaja dia menjatuhkan sebuah
pasu bunga yang cantik dan mahal. Pasu itu jatuh dan pecah berselerakan.

Cuba anda bayangkan sekiranya hal ini terjadi pada diri anda sendiri, mungkin akan muncul
perasaan menyesal yang mendalam, perasaan sedih dan kecewa. Jika benda ini kesayangan anda,
mungkin anda akan memikirkannya sepanjang hari dan hilang mood untuk melakukan aktiviti
lain. Dari masa ke semasa anda menyalahkan diri sendiri kerana bertindak kelam kabut dan
tidak berhati-hati. Bahkan anda mungkin mengutuk diri sendiri kerana kejadian itu...

Sedang perempuan tua tadi memang tersentak dengan jatuhnya pasu tersebut. Dia sangat sayang
dan mengetahui harganya yang mahal, tetapi bukannya dia sedih malah tertawa. Dia menatap
pecahan pasu bunga yang berselerakan di lantai itu lalu tersenyum sambil berkata,
"Alhamdulillah, ternyata kamu yang meninggalkan saya lebih dulu, bukan saya yang tinggalkan
kamu lebih awal"

Jom, kita renungkan sejenak...apa yang diucapkannya satu kebenaran yang sederhana. Sangat
sederhana, sehingga kita melupakannya. Benda indah itu memang sudah hancur meninggalkan
kita, tetapi bukankah kita sendiri masih sihat dan belum meninggal dunia. Mengapa harus
sedih berlebihan kerana kehilangan sesuatu benda? bukankah sebaiknya kita meneutralkan
dugaan dan kesedihan dengan sikap yang positif?

Kalau benda anda hilang atau pecah atau rosak, relakan saja. Jangan merasa sedih berlebihan.
Cukuplah benda itu saja yang pecah, Jangan pecahkan jiwa anda sendiri dengan penyesalan
yang tidak pada tempatnya...

Wallahu a'lam

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Seek FIrst to Understand, Then to be Understood

Tuesday, 2nd March 2010, at a school in Brunei.

Ditandang-tandangnya barang-barang rah kawasan admin. Not just that, he even gagar-gagarkan the pintu to make big noise to show his kemarahan and menarik perhatian cikgu-cikgu dan students. Mengamuk lah ia ani. Masatu, aku lapas ambil test papers (untuk test esuknya) yang telah siap diprint. And I saw this event.

Ada this one female teacher tried to comfort him down. And I was just observing. Ia masih marah. Then, ada the other female teacher ani berani mengaga ia (I also made a move) and memigang ia. Guess what this student did to the teacher yg tried to comfort him down?

Ditumbuk2nya, dicakar2nya, and kan digigit2nya tangan teacher atu. Merijap yo.

Seeing a female teacher being punched, I made a move. Then, aku lagi yang migang this student ani.

I tried to dzikir2, and I can’t. Sal barangkali aku alum biasa to this kind of situation and so on atu kali. The only thing I remembered at that time was that aku pasrah 100% to Allah. While I was holding this student, another female teacher tried to comfort him down. This student tried to bite my hand. And, alhamdulillaah, he didn’t punch me.

And finally, this female teacher successfully calmed him down and brought him somewhere.

However, alum lagi jauh perjalanan, ditumbuk2nya lagi this teacher. At that time, syaitan took the opportunity to menghasut aku. With a frowning look dan hati yang panas baran, I said:

“Ehh, brani jua…”

“Au, andangnya tu. Ia autistic…” Another female teacher responded.

“Ohh…” Hearing that ‘autistic’ word made my heart cool, cool and coooool…

I did saw this student for the first time masa ku signed-in paginya, And I was, like, wow, he looks so matured. Mcm urg basar lah.

The lesson?

Stephen Covey’s fifth habit: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Kupasan ayat di atas: sebelum tani mau kana fahami uleh seseorang atu. Tani mesti memahami seseorang atu dulu. Just like what that teacher did. Rupanya teacher yang comforting that autistic student atu biasa dah dengan ia. I have to admit that I did wrong there sal naik panas baran meliat teacher atu kana tumbuk. I should have understood the situation first.