May peace be upon you..

Stop thinking about what other people  say.

 As long as it is the right thing to do.

 Just do it!
           

APA ERTI KEJAYAAN?

Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang


Apakah itu kejayaan?

Bagiku...

Kejayaan adalah kebahagian

Kejayaan adalah ketenangan

Kejayaan adalah upaya untuk tersenyum walau dalam kesempitan

Kejayaan adalah mendidik anak2 bukan sahaja untuk dunia tetapi untuk akhirat jua

Kejayaan adalah punya tubuh yang sihat

Kejayaan bukannya ada harta menimbun tetapi mengguna harta untuk merimbun kebaikan

Kejayaan bukanya bergulung-gulung ilmu tetapi memanfaatkan ilmu itu

Kejayaan ialah dapat merasa nikmat melihat, menyentuh dan menghirup udara alam

Kejayaan ialah menyayangi diri meski banyak kelemahan

Kejayaan ialah mengambil berat tentang orang lain dengan penuh kasih sayang

Kejayaan ialah keupayaan mendengar dengan akal dan hati

Kejayaan adalah bersyukur atas segala anugerah Nya
dan apa sahaja yang dilontarkan

Kejayaan adalah mendapat keredhaaan Tuhan

Kejayaan yang hakiki adalah pabila kaki melangkah masuk ke gerbang syurga yang abadi...

Aameen...

FOOTSTEPS OF MY FATHER

In the name of Allah The Most Beneficent The Most Merciful

My father was not rich. In fact he was quite poor. But he has a heart of gold. And I was only lucky enough to know him for just 3 years.

I do not have memories of my father like other people who are fortunate enough to have their fathers until they become adults. All I have in my memory of my father are like still pictures. Like photographs in an album.

However, there were two vivid "pictures" I distinctly remembered about him.

I remembered him playing his violin in front of our rented house in Penang. I was told by my mom that he was an avid musician. Loved music and sports too. Winning quite a few badminton tournaments in his hey days. He played other musical instruments like the piano, guitar, accordion...

When I was a kid, I found his two piece white suit buried somewhere underneath other old clothes. That was the suit he worn when he had a gig. I imagined him wearing the white suit which is starched and ironed immaculately... and playing the grand piano on a grand ship. How I wish I could hear him play.

Unfortunately being a musician could not bring enough money to support his big family. There were eleven of us. So he had to work hard in the docks, under the sweltering heat to feed us. He cycled almost 10 km a day to his workplace and another 10km to get home. His skin sun burnt. His face gaunt.

Yet my mother told me if he came back from work and found one of us sick, he would immediately take us to see the doctor. I could imagined how exhausted he was but I guess a father's love knows no boundaries. Love can overcome even exhaustion.    

Sadly...the other "picture" I remembered of him was on the day of his death. I remembered him lying there...in my grandmother's house, like he was sleeping...with a faint smile on his lips. I remembered my five year old sister crying uncontrollably ( which is strange because she said she didn't remember anything) . She was my father's favourite daughter. And my brother playing marbles under our stilt house...oblivious to the  surroundings.

So every time I return to my place of birth , Penang...I would imagine seeing my father in every nook and corner of the island. At the docks, at Padang Kota Lama, at the old mosque, at the village, at the Kopitiam, even imagining seeing him on the streets  cycling to go back home from work.

 Even when we had moved out from Penang and in my adolescent years,I used to go back to my kampong, I was amused when the villagers used to stop me and asked.."Anak Pak Haroon?" (Are you Haroon's daughter?) even years after my father passed away. He must be very famous! He must have done something really good...for people to still remember him.

FIFTY DOLLARS...

In the name of Allah The Most Beneficent The Most Merciful

Yes...It is true. This is the answer to a question a sister posed.

The question was...

Why do we feel that $50 worth so much  when we want to give sadaqa in a mosque and if we want to give, it is with a heavy heart? 
But the same amount of money of $50 feel so small when we want to spend in a shopping mall?

What's wrong with us?

The problem is... we are materialistic. We can only see that our money and our wealth can buy worldly goods. And it is never enough...

Yet at the same time...if we give sadaqa, we feel like we are losing and not gaining anything.
Because we cannot see what we are gaining through our eyes. We become blind and we are blind.

The truth is...sadaqa does not decrease our wealth instead it increases it.

Believe this...for every cent we spent in sadaqa, Allah will reward us bountiful more not just in this world but in the hereafter.

So...if you just happen to have that $50 in your pocket, why don't you put the money in the donation box in your local mosque instead of spending it in the mall.

You will get back a lot more....

KEEP COOL..CHILL OUT

May peace be upon you


A father was concerned about his son who has an anger management problem. The son got angry almost everyday. He will  shout profanities to anyone in front of him.

One day, the father said to his son, "Son, every time you feel anger welled up, go to the barn. Take with you a hammer and some nails."

"Then drive in the nails using the hammer until you feel satisfied."

So...every time the son feels angry, he takes the hammer and drives in the nails on the walls of the barn.

After one month, the father said to the son, "This time..pull out all the nails..."

Even though he felt peculiar, he just followed his father's instruction.

"What can you see on the walls, son."

"The walls are full of holes and they look rather ugly."

"Son..what you see is the effect of anger. When you get angry at someone you will not only hurt them but yourself. They might forgive you but the hurt might not go away. The wounds you inflicted on them might heal, but the scars may stay forever. And you also hurt yourself by becoming a bitter and unhappy person."

Anger can consume a man just like fire.

May Allah bless us with patience and calmness.

TOMORROW STARTS TODAY...

In the name of Allah The Most Beneficent The Most Merciful


Sometimes I wonder why do we worry about the future. The fact is we  cannot predict the future. Que sera...sera...whatever will be, will be, the future is not ours to see...

I used to sing that song over and over again when I was kid. But...I really didn't even understand what it means.

 We really do not know what the future holds for us. So, why do we worry?

I am a pathetic worrier...I wish I'm a warrior instead. But I'm not. I was preoccupied worrying about so many things and so many reasons. Then I realized that most of the things that I worried about didn't happen.

So...I just wasted a lot of my precious time worrying about nothing. I am still a worrier..a bit. Just can't help it...a habit if you like.

The truth of the matter is...the most important thing that we have to worry is ....now.

The key to the future is...now.

What we decide, what we do NOW affects the future. So the thing that really matter is the people and the the problems we are facing at present.

Don't worry about the future...it has already been decided today.

IKHLAS

In the name Allah The Most Benificent The Most Merciful

Once,  a large consignment of wine was being brought on a ship for a despotic king who was notorious for his tyranny. A pious man who happened to travel by that ship broke all the bottles or casks of wine except one. Nobody could stop him.

Everybody wondered how he dared to do this for nobody had the courage to face the cruelty of the king.

When the king was informed about it, he was surprised to learn that an ordinary man had the audacity to do all that . He also wondered why he left one cask intact.

The man was captured and interrogated. He said, "My conscience had urged me to do this, you may punish me as you like."

He was then asked why one cask was left unbroken?

He replied,"At first I broke the casks of wine out of my religious sentiments, but when only one was left....my heart felt elated. I then felt that breaking this last cask would be for the satisfaction of my ego. I, therefore, did not break it."

Finding him selfless in what he did, the king ordered his release.

To do good deeds you need 'Ikhlas'. It requires words, thoughts and deeds that should be compatible...
only for the pleasure of Allah s.w.t alone. Thus, we must constantly looked inside our heart whether our deeds are indeed because of Allah or because of our desire for worldly things.