Pray.

"There will come a day when this veil of deception will be lifted. On that Day, we will see the true reality. On that Day, we will realize that two rak`at (units) of prayer were greater than everything in the heavens and the earth. There will come a day when we would give up everything under the sky just to come back and pray those two rak`at". -YM-

One thing I hate during TOTM (no, not the cramps) is the fact that I cannot pray. 

Few times people tell me, "You kan alim...you solat". Ramai orang rasa solat, pakai tudung (tak kisahla khusyuk or betul ke tak tudungnya) tu dah kira alim. Padahal, itu adalah requirement basic setiap orang Islam. If you believe in the day of judgement you should know that the first thing Allah will ask is about your 5 daily prayers. Kalau kita ni pemurah macam Oprah Winfrey pun tapi kalau tak solat rugi je sebab awal-awal dah fail dihisab. 

But what I'm trying to say here, we don't need to wait until the day of judgement to know the result of our Solat. Solat is like our daily conversation with Allah. Try this, lepas habis salam, duduk 2 minit talk to Allah in your Doa about your day. Dulu my doa selepas solat is very typical (belajar dari sekolah rendah). Yang biasalah, doa Allah ampunkan dosa, doa untuk ibu bapa, doa nak kaya, doa jadikan kita ahli syurga, etc. etc. Bukan nak kata doa tu bosan ke ape tapi macam dah jadi habit so kadang-kadang tak feel sangat. What I start doing recently is I talked to Allah about my day especially when I had a bad day. Dulu untuk benda-benda cani call kawan-kawan, lepak McD makan eskem nangis cerita kat member kan? haha. Sampai member pun nak muntah dengar benda yang sama 10x. Bukan itu saje, dahla sedih tak hilang tambah gemuk plak makan McD kan? Ehh..terbabas. Sorry. hehe

Try talking to Allah whatever you want to talk to your spouse, best friends or boyfriends. Susah nak cerita, you need to experience this yourself. Kena concentrate, believe in your heart that He is really listening to you. One can only experience it to know. Lagi seronok kalau time Qiyam. Bole nangis sepuas-puas hati. Subhanallah, few times after I did this my life transformed. The way I see things changed, the burdens i feel semua hilang. Rasa lega. My problems become solved. And the best part is the closeness to Allah, which I thought was unreachable for me. 

I'm not even writing this to tell you why you should pray, it is just the results of praying that you can cash out. TODAY. NOW. You don't even have to wait until the day of judgement pun. 

He Listens. He really does. Janji Allah itu benar. 

Believe that whatever your problem is, Allah can help you. So talk to Him. Pray. 

XOXO,

Aisha

2012 Resolution. It took me 26 years to realise this. Have you??

Assalamualaikum ya'll.

3 more days to go before we welcome 2012 and bid farewell to 2011. I personally feel that 2011 is the year i grew a lot spiritually and getting to know what actually my life is all about. Some of you may think who needs another new year resolution? It will only lasts until March anyway. Until recently, what i learned about new year's resolution is pretty much from CLEO magazine. I want to lose 20kg!! Or get that senior executive position!! Or I'm gonna get married!! Or I'm going to get a diving license!! Yada yada. I don't realise how secular the world has make me.

You see, I'm a planner freak. I often feel empty without having any strategic goals to achieve. And Alhamdulillah, I achieved a lot of things that i THOUGHT i wanted. It looks like I'm all set and ready to face new challenges and new life goals.

But having said all that, why do i feel tired but unfulfilled? It feels like I'm constantly in search of something more fulfilling after achieving each goals. At one point, losing 10kg is a piece of cake. (Keeping the weight off is THE challenge but i couldn't care less, losing it is freakishly easy)

This coming year, it'll be different. I already found my ULTIMATE LIFE GOAL. Whatever my resolutions would be after this are my MEANS for me to fulfil that lifelong goal. The challenge is 100 times harder and the reward would be 1000 times better InsyaAllah.

The goal is to be closer to Allah. To my religion. Period. That simple. (CLICHE nye la minah kan!!!)


The thing about this ultimate goal is, it should NOT BE ONLY MINE. If you are a practising Muslim, you pray 5 times a day, you fast during Ramadhan, you went to or want to go to Haj and you believe in Rasulullah S.A.W...you might want to take this seriously. 


After understanding this is your goal as a MUSLIM, now its time to pick your means toward achieving it for this particular year.

In general, Islam teaches its believer to look for balance in life. We don't want to miss out on 'Dunia' at the same time collecting good deeds for 'akhirat'. As long as you put your deen and akhirat in front of dunia, InsyaAllah you will be fine. But how do we do that? What is the thin line between putting akhirat above everything else and yet get akhirat at the same time? (Yaaa..this is the part that took me twenty freaking years to get it through my thick head) 


For me, (this part varies for different individual) i want to achieve these 7 main things in life until the day i die. I will highlight the sentence that making it a MEANS to the ultimate goal of getting closer to Allah.

1. DEEN -  I want to be a good muslimah. I want to be that sort of person who put religion in front of everything else.

2. EDUCATION - I want to finish DBA. Knowledge is the foundation of Iman

3. CAREER - I want to be somebody significant in the company. I want to contribute. We need more successful practising muslims to influence and be decision maker. 

4. FAMILY - I want to keep good ties with them. I strongly believe that successful people have good relationship with their family. Soon, insyaAllah to learn how to be a good wife and how to raise little khalifahs


5. FINANCE - I want to have lots of money. Who doesn't? But money would stay only in my HANDS never let it touch MY HEART. Spend money on people, not on self. (Dalam setiap harta kita sebenarnya ada bahagian orang lain, bukan semua hak kita)


6. HEALTH - I want to be healthy and fit so i can live long. Our body is Allah's gift. It is definitely an important tool for us to make ibadah. Hopefully, being healthy means I can wake up at night and pray. 


7. SOCIAL LIFE - I want to surround myself with the best of people. Intelligent people with ethics and values. People that can help bring the best in me. Do you know that our social life is about the average of 5 people we spend most of our time with? Who do spend time lately? Look at your friends. They are YOU.

These seven aspects are my MEANS to get closer to Allah, which is my GOAL. In each of these seven part, Al-Quran and Sunnah teach me some very specific way to follow. You see how balanced and complete ISLAM is my dear friend? Subhanallah. Everything is laid bare in front of us. Its either we go and look for it or get distracted by something less significant.

Its all about a change in perspective. Let me give you an example of how wrong and twisted things could be if we don't put Allah as our goal.

Heedless goal: Get married to Mr. X

How to achieve: We make doa to Allah to let me marry Mr. X. If he doesn't want to, open his heart ya Allah...let him see me and only me ya Allah (contoh doa kita la kan..cewahh)

Problem: Our knowledge is limited. Does marrying Mr. X makes me close to Allah? Even if he is the best Muslim guy there is. If marrying him do not make me closer to god would you still wants Allah to grant you that wish? Whats your choice? Your Deen or your Man? If deep down, you are picking your Man...TETTTTT. 

Lets turn the situation around if we put getting closer to Allah as our goal.


Goal: Get closer to Allah

Means/Tools: Make doa, istikharah, etc. to let us marry Mr. X if the marriage is good for my relationship with Allah. If Allah give him to you, it is for the best. If not, forget Mr. X, look for Mr. Y. (wink wink)


Selingan, this is my favourite ayat from Surah Al-Furqan, 78 (if i'm not mistaken)

"Ya Tuhan kami, anugerahkan kami pasangan dan keturunan kami sebagai penyenang hati dan jadikanlah kami pemimpin bagi orang-orang yang bertakwa."


There goes. Honestly, what i write is nothing new. Its just a new and better perspective that i feel i need to share with people close to me. It change my life and how I see the world. It feels like my journey now does not lead me to nowhere. It leads me to Allah, insyaAllah. I hope it can help you too. :)

Wassalam.

Oh F..ade lipas lintas.

Some people just have this habit of swearing ALL the time and they are usually well aware of the fact. 


Is it shallow of me to think less of the person who constantly swears? 
A little bit. 


I wish i knew what a 'pious' person would do. 


That's the thing, im not alim so i get annoyed easily by these things/people/circumstances.


Maybe what i should do is be more acceptable and remember that i am far from perfect as well before i pass judgemnent onto others. 


I did swear sometimes. 


The word 'Sial' or 'bodo'. But im not proud of it. 


Diriwayatkan daripada Abdullah Ibnu Mas'ud r.a katanya: Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda: Bukan dari golongan kami orang yang menampar pipinya, mengoyak-ngoyak saku bajunya atau berdoa dengan doa orang-orang jahiliah What Rasulullah means by "doa org2 jahiliyyah" adalah mencarut. 


We are what we said. So, are we THAT low?