Eid 2011

Assalamualaikum,

Selamat Hari Raya, brothers and sisters

Let us hope, We are not one of the seasonal Muslims

Maaf Zahir Batin ;-)

Wasting Time - Our Specialty~

jom RAYA

Dari setahun ke setahun, sambutan Hari Raya dirasakan semakin sunyi. Ntah mengapa. Saya tidak tahu adakah kerana ahli keluarga yang kian berkurangan kerana masing-masing berkeluarga sendiri dan tinggal di rumah sendiri, tambahan pula adik kini belajar jauh di perantauan, ataukah kerana makna Hari Raya yang selama ini saya fahami kian jauh dari kehendak hati?

Makna Raya

Hari raya merupakan hari kemenangan umat Islam setelah perjuangan getir di bulan Ramadhan kita lalui. Ianya adalah hari menghirup madu setelah bertungkus-lumus mendidik dan melunakkan nafsu agar menjadi hamba yang bertaqwa. Kedatangan Hari Raya dinanti seumpama, seorang pahlawan menanti hari perkalungan anugerah kepahlawanan untuk membalas jasanya yang berjuang melawan musuh. Di hari ini, pahlawan itu pastinya akan berpakaian serba cantik, berasa gembira. Tetapi kegembiraan ini disertai azam yang kuat untuk terus berbakti mempertahankan negara.

Begitu jugalah Hari Raya. Hari ini ada hari merasa indahnya ‘dibayar’ atau ‘dibalas’ setelah bekerja keras serta hari yang mana direalisasikan hasil kemanisan mujahadah. Lihat sahaja berapa banyak kegembiraan yang Allah letakkan di hati kita sempena Hari Raya. Kita dapat makan di siang hari setelah sebulan tidak makan dan minum di waktu itu, kita senang bertemu sanak saudara, sahabat handai, menyambung ukhwah yang mungkin sahaja telah terbengkalai atas faktor-faktor geografi, kita berasa tenang kerana lazimkan kita akan membuka lembaran baru ‘start anew’ dengan setiap orang yang kita temui setalah memaafkan dan meminta maaf kepadanya.

Lihatlah, dalam sehari sahaja, Allah telah mencampakkan begitu banyak nikmat, sakeenah (ketenangan) dan keseronokkan dihati kita walaupun kadangkala ibadah serta usaha kita dalam memanfaatkan Madrasah Ramadhan tu tidaklah begitu membanggakan. Inilah yang dinamakan kasih sayang Allah.

Hari Yang Didustakan

Malangnya dan sedihnya, Hari Raya juga kadang-kadang menjadi medan, membiakkan nafsu serta sifat mazmumah yang telah puas dibentuk di bulan Ramadhan. Inilah harinya kita bertanding antara satu sama lain untuk mempamerkan busana yang terhebat, terutamanya wanita. Baju siapa yang paling bergemerlapan, paling mahal, paling galak dihiasi batu-batu berkilau menjadi tandingan. Hari untuk menyambung ukhwah yang seeloknya dihiasi dengan bertanya khabar dan bercakap tentang hal-hal yang menyenangkan hati dan menambah cinta menjadi menjadi medan berbangga-bangga dan medan menilik-nilik harta, bergosip-gosip atas label bermesra, membuka aib cerita.

Akhirnya, si dia yang memakai baju biasa-biasa dan tidak menepati definisi ‘baju raya’ masa kini merasa terpinggir atau terkeluar dari lingkungan perbualan kerana tidak tahu apa hendak dikatakan. Rimas, mungkin juga. Allah sesungguhnya tidak pernah menyusahkan kita. Yang digalakkan hanyalah berpakaian baru dan cantik menurut kemampuan sendiri dan tujuannya bukanlah untuk bertandingan antara satu sama lain.

Hari Raya juga menyaksikan leburnya iman kita yang memberi alamat bahawa nafsu yang cuba kita kekang sepanjang Ramadhan masih liar dan tidak dapat kita jinakkan. Masakan tidak, berkunjungan di rumah saudara mara dan sahabat handai kadangkala menjadi sebab untuk melengah-lengahkan solat fardhu, atau lebih buruk tertinggal terus padahal sembahyang Terawikh yang sunat pun kita buat sampai 20rakaat di sepanjang bulan.

Ada diantara kita juga berasa ralat untuk menolak bersalaman dengan ahli keluarga yang bukan muhrim atas alasan dia telah menghulurkan salam. Bijak iblis mengatur strategi, hendak menyelamatkan air muka, tangan menjadi mangsa. Tidak ada salahnya menolak dengan cara baik dan beradab, tetapi lemahnya iman kita untuk melaksanakannya. Malas kot sebenarnya.

Malam Hari Raya Pertama

Sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, seringkala setelah Hari Raya pertama berlalu, malamnya saya akan termenung panjang.

“Hari apakah ini yang telah aku lalui? Perut penuh melebihi tahap kenyang, sarat dengan semua juadah. Perasaan ibadah juga luntur, kerana penat dan berat dengan manisan. Esok pasti perut yang kenyang dan terlalu penuh ini akan dipaksa-paksa diisi tatkala berkunjung lagi. Tapi ukhwah itu indah, yang tak cantiknya perut yang diisi terlalu penuh. Hati rindu pada Ramadhan yang berlalu. Hati rindu pada hari-hari biasa yang mana berlalunya ia, lebih mudah mengira-ngira apakah lebih baik hari ini dari semalam. Kerana di hari raya, belum tentu apa yang dilakukan yang aku sangka baik itu adalah benar-benar baik menurut mata Allah. Terlalu melekakan~”

Cerita Nabi

Seorang tabib dihantar oleh Penguasa Mesir ke Madinah sebagai menunjukkan tanda persahabatan. Sepanjang dua tahun tabib itu berada di sana, tidak ada seorang pun yang datang untuk mendapatkan rawatan perubatan. Tabib menjadi hairan dan bosan kerana tidak dapat memberikan sebarang perkhidmatan dan pertolongan kepada penduduk Madinah seperti yang diarahkan oleh tuannya.

Dengan keraguan yang menyelimuti hati dan fikirannya, Tabib itu pergi berjumpa Nabi Muhammad SAW untuk mendapatkan kepastian yang jelas.

Dia bertanya Nabi Muhammad SAW, “Adakah penduduk sini takut untuk berjumpa tabib?”

“Tidak! Dengan musuh mereka tidak takut, apatah lagi dengan tabib.” Jawab Nabi Muhammad SAW dengan tegas.

Tabib bertanya lagi, “Tapi mengapa sepanjang 2 tahun saya di sini, seorang pun tidak berubat dengan saya ?”

Nabi menjelaskan “Sebab penduduk Madinah tidak ada seorang pun yang sakit.”

Tabib itu kurang mempercayai Nabi dan berkata, “Masakan tidak ada satu orang pun yang sakit.”

Melihat keraguan tabib itu, Nabi mempersilakan tabib itu menjelajah ke merata pelusuk Medinah untuk membuktikan kebenaran kata-katanya.
Tabib itu beredar dan menjelajah ke pelusuk Madinah. Puas dia mencari pesakit tetapi tidak menjumpai walau seorang pun daripada yang bayi sehinggalag orang tua. Terbuktilah kepadanya kebenaran kata-kata Nabi itu.

Didorong oleh perasaan ingin tahu dan kekagumannya, tabib itu sekali lagi berjumpa Nabi saw. lalu berkata, “Benar seperti kata-kata baginda. Apakah petua sehingga semua penduduk Madinah sihat-sihat belaka?”

Nabi menerangkan, “Kami adalah satu kaum yang tidak akan makan jika tidak lapar. Dan jika kami makan, kami tidak makan sehingga terlalu kenyang.
Itulah petua untuk kesihatan. Yakinilah makanan yang halal dan baik.
Makanlah untuk terus hidup kerana ingin bertaqwa kepada Allah bukan sekadar memuaskan hawa nafsu.”

Penutup dan Doa

Harapnya tahun ini lebih baik daripada yang sebelumnya dan saya berharap semoga Allah menghadiahi saya, ibu bapa dan ahli keluarga tercinta, sahabat-sahabat handai yang dikasihi, guru-guru saya, pelajar-pelajar yang disayangi saya dan orang-orang Mukmin yang berkongsi jiwa dengan keampunan dan rahmatnya, kemanisan iman, kekuatan jiwa dan keindahan akhlak sebagai perisai buat berjuang setelah berakhirnya bulan yang entah berjodoh atau tidak lagi di tahun hadapan. Semoga kita semua tergolong dalam golongan yang menang sebenar-benar menang. Ameen ya Rabb.

P/s: Belum berakhir, dah rindu Ramadhan. Semoga kita bertemu dengan LailatulQadar, kawan-kawan :-) oh sedikit perkongsian berdasarkan kuliah membincangkan Ramadhan yang saya dengar, Sunat bagi orang yang melihat/bertemu Lailatul Qadar bagi menyembunyikannya dari manusia melainkan ahli rumah. Wallahu’alam.

A Love Story to Tell - A Long Walk Home

I am a Muslim and I have been one for the last 26 years of my life, However, for the first 20+ years of my life I had lived my life quite far from the Tauhid concept of Islam that I know today. I failed to see Allah in every step that I had taken; I failed to see His love when I look at the sky, the trees, oceans, mountains and animals that I see (including the lizards which I once hated). I had had enemies- people whom I hated, people I backstabbed, backbit, and laughed at for I felt that they looked or sounded funny. I failed to see that we are all one and we are all brothers and sisters who must not hurt each other for the sake of Allah, for we share the same soul, we share something amazing that is we breathe the same name that is Allah Almighty in each of our breath.

Throughout those years I also failed to see that everything which happened to me had no other reasons except for Allah wanted it to happen that way. I had grown accustomed to the belief that we get something because we work for it. I was in fact brought up in a situation which it made me believe that life worked that way. I became a person who strived hard for what I wanted in life. I was lucky most of the time because what I planned was similar to what Allah had planned for me. But you see, when I was too often fed with what I wanted, I really thought I had it all in my hand. Do not get me wrong here, brothers and sisters, in this life, we have to work hard to achieve what we want but the most important thing we have to remember is that, it is not our action or hard work which causes something to be achieved or happen, but it is Allah’s will.

I became one of those Muslims who mixed up the cultures and customs of my race that is Malay with the teachings of Islam. But when I think about it now, I could say that I was a Muslim with a disjointed faith. I prayed and I read the Holy Quran without really knowing what I was doing for real. Sadly until now, I think most of us are still stuck in such era. I lack the core and the foundation of Islamic teaching which was supposed to enable me to learn more about the religion which I embraced from babyhood.

In school, the Islamic Studies which is a compulsory subject to be learnt in order to teach us, Muslim students also did not teach such thing. The syllabus discussed Islam on surface level and focused more on displaying the pillars of Islam and pillars of Iman without really making us digest the whole concept. We were told about the restrictions and to do’s and don’ts in Islam like why we have to cover ourselves and why we have to pay attention to how we communicate and act around non-muhrim (people whom you can marry) people however we were not explained in details the reasons behind it to the fact that we could see how perfect and beautiful Islam is.

In fact, the religion was taught as a distant subject or concept which does not blend or mix with other areas in life like Science, Maths, History etc when the truth is that it is the foundation of the life that we live in. Without religion as a compass to guide in all our steps in life, we would lose balance and go astray for we have no vision and idea of what we live for and where we are heading towards. Any human being with a clear mind and heart can see this clearly. What is a life without goal and why are we created if death is the end. Humans are not created for fun. Therefore school years passed by without having Islam leaving a big impact in my life though I love my religion, and I would like to know more about it but it was just….a religion.

When I was in college I became a person with a confused and distinct personality. I would join the religious activities as I was curious and thank God because He has soften my heart to feel very at ease with such activities; I would go to musolla (‘surau’) on Thursdays and Tuesday for they would have tazkirah (reminding one another) session with Ustaz or some other brothers and sisters to talk about Islam. Then, I would make sure to join and listen attentively if they had any talk about Islam in college too…but my biggest problem was that part from praying 5 times a day and attending those activities, I still kept my wild side and fancy lifestyle as a city girl as usual. The connection was still unseen or maybe I did not have the strength to practice what I heard but as far as I remember, though I did not really live my life according to Sunnah and teachings of Islam, it never crossed my mind that I was doing the right thing. I always knew that, there’s a better way to live life and to be calm but did not know how to start for I had lived as a Convent girl for too long that to look good, cool, spend extravagantly and to flourish myself with the world and its filling had become my middle name.

Some of my friends found my behavior to be bizarre and very unexpected but to be honest I found theirs to be even more bizarre as from the outside they look like they would be interested with such activities but they showed no interest and some did not even try and make their effort to attend. At that time, I had a hard time rationalizing what I see with reality. There, I leant that, what you see does not necessarily what you get and that many people out there practice Islam based on what they inherit from their parents too that is taqlid. And I do not know if there was anyone really adopt Islam as full lifestyle, as in every step you take is a step of zikr, your silence is zikr and you words are zikr too.anyone? Most people practice it in chunks; the chunks of teachings which they love, or they benefited from doing them.

When I was in overseas, Allah had helped to continually soften my parched heart by having a community of friends conducting tazkirah session each week. We would pray in congregation, recite Yaasin together and one of us would deliver a tazkirah. It was a friendly tazkirah which aimed to spread the love among us Muslim sisters as much as to remind each other and spread the teachings of Islam brought through Prophet Muhammad pbuh. Though it looked very simple, I could say that the tazkirah session really made my days in Australia a memorable one. I realized that in the tazkirah, the sisters did not use any harsh language or target certain people whom they feel did not do certain things which may qualify them as good Muslims but they were very sincere in delivering the content of Islam itself. This somehow reminds me of our beloved Prophet who used the best way to promote and spread Islam towards other that is by his own ‘akhlak’ (behaviour).

Being in overseas also enabled me to see my religion from a different lens. I love the sisterhood which we built in the university circles with friends we met in University musolla and each day I could not wait to spread ‘salam’(peace greeting) whenever I saw another Muslim with recognizable Muslim traits just to remind each other that we are sisters. We would sometimes get mysterious ‘salam’ from someone in crowd, usually Muslim brothers. Although, when we turned around it was hard to guess which one said the ‘salam’, it showed that that particular Muslim brother too wanted us to acknowledge that we share the same faith and so the greetings of peace goes to you. It was such a wonderful condition living there.

As compared to in Malaysia, some would put a terror looking face as if it was an act of courting upon hearing someone offering ‘salam’ to an unknown person when it is actually a Sunnah. And in a more comprehensive discussion, ‘salam’ is actually more than just peace greeting but some kind of a pledge of the person who offered it that the deliverer is safe from any harm be it physical or emotional caused by the Muslim who offered the ‘salam’. Isn’t it beautiful? But look how far we’ve stretched the meaning of this greeting to be something very plain and almost imply nothing special as compared to ‘Good morning’.

In 2006 when I was travelling in New Zealand with some friends, after involving with series of near-death escape and involving in an unforgettable accident, I finally arrived at a turning point in my life to really change myself. I could not thank Allah enough as He had saved my life and let me continue living and breathing His precious air though I had not really played my life by His rules. There were many things drastic things which I decided to change and later changed although not all were purely parallel with Islamic teaching, but I was moving. I was finally moving somewhere instead of saying that I had changed but keeping it in my heart. I was making small steps (not really small, at that time I felt like it was quite big but now, okay maybe small). I received various responses upon my drastic change; most of them were very positive although some failed to dig into my purpose of changing as they thought it was just a matter of time-you know, people gradually change to be better-kind of idea, but it was nothing close to that, because i was really brought to this by Him.

The changes continued when I came back to Malaysia but the progress was a bit slow. But throughout this supposedly easy process I have lost a few friends, I have broken some hearts and turned good friends into strangers just because they felt different about me. But I had no choice because there were some activities which i liked doing, does not interest me anymore and there some stuff i was really passionate in, I do not want to be related to it anymore. It was hard and sad but I want Allah. I want Him and I believed that He would help me lead my new life though it hurt to let go of something I had grown accustomed to and it hurt a lot to disappear and vanish from some people's lives just because you know that being around them would slow down the process and might lead you to take a step backward and stop changing. But good things kept coming so I felt like the change was worthwhile. Little did I know that the easy route was about to change its direction into an unknown, a-completely-lost-case direction. Life is really full with surprises.

To be continued...insha Allah.

Mengundang Malaikat

Datang dia membawa tamu,

Bisu tanpa suara,

Mungkin hanya berpena,

Sibuk,

Mencatat ceritera,

Kisah kita hamba, di malam-malam pesta

Diberi salam,

tersenyum manis

Mendengar hamba berlagu sayu,

Menangis,

Bercerita kisah lalu

Mengharap catatan baharu

Buat memadam kedegilan dulu.

Bersesakan di rumah kerdil,

Katanya bersayap indah,

Membawa bersama berkah,

Dari Sang Khaliq penuh rahmah.

Buat bekal ,menyebar maqfirah.

Melukis awan tatkala subuh hari

Pulang ke syurga membawa berita

Oh terlalu ramainya mereka,

Hingga matahari hilang cahaya,

Angin, tak berupaya,

Hanya mampu terpana,

Menduga-duga.

Amalan siapakah itu? Mungkin katanya.

Bercahaya laksana permata syurga,

Berseri mudah mengalahkan mentari,

Malaikat tersenyum sendiri.

Ini rahsia Ilahi

Lalu ia terbang, menghilangkan diri.

Malaikat oh malaikat

Sudikah bertamu?