.priorities.

Assalamualaikum & good day peeps. =)

It's 4th day of ramadhan y'all! 3 down and another 27 days to go! Congratulations to ourselves. :D

During this Ramadhan season i'm blessed to have it at home, with my family and friends around. Proper food for sahur all the waaaayy. Alhamdulillah. =)

Well here i have a confession to make.

All this while, i have this scepticism on people who posts about the ibadah that they do in Ramadhan, although they meant well. For example when people posted up "hey terawikh time!" I have this thought like, "lorhh..sebenarnya nak gitaw dia gi terawikh tu" or when there this kind of post: "baca Quran jap after jemaah bagus gak an?" Again, i'd went "lorrrhh..org lain ade gak wat kot. xyah nak promo sgt lah."

Until the first day of Ramadhan, i was having a super malas time and was thinking to skip terawikh on that day. Then i see my dear Farah Ainaa's FB status:

pesta ibadah bakal bermula!!! ok excited :)) jomm2 seap pape yg patut.tolak tepi jap less0n plan l teaching aids l assignmnts sume bagaiii.kte serbu masjid t'dekat terawih start mlm nie keyh! mngkin ini ramadhan t'akhir kte wh0 kn0ws :'( Quran kasi khatam with0ut k0mpromi jugakx yerp! ;D

"tolak tepi jap.." make me realise that my priority at that exact moment should be mengejar pesta ibadah tu, instead of being selfish and lounging at home. And thus i decided to go to terawikh that night. A simple status update of a friend has made me change my mind. I can't imagine her share of pahala that she'd get that night. And I was jealous.

I was like, masyaAllah, this is an example of a true friend who shall keep reminding her friends and herself towards amar makruf. So instead of being sceptic about these kind of posts, i should get jealous of them and take the positive messages that they try to convey. Perhaps i can have my share too. :D

And today, while i was blogsurfing..(yeap, that's what i do all day today. heheh) found this heartmelting speech by Boona Mohammed. It makes me have some sort of 'epiphany' on my Priorities, especially in this holy month of Ramadhan. Hope we all get someting from this.

just in case u didn't get what he's sayin:

Priorities
Ya Allah if you should take me in my salat please take me as a believer,
I pray the angel of death appears half as beautiful
As half the beauty created by my creator,
Take me yesterday if it means I'll get there sooner.

The warm wet water still dripping from my wudu,
I beat the sun this morning in order to stand before you,
But no need to thank me, your praise is long overdue,
All I ask is that my intentions be clear and true.

The Ka'bah in line with my nose, hell fire under my toes,
If this it, please make these last prayers legit
For I am nothing but a servant please master give me guidance,
Bring me closer to your deen, far away from shaytain,
Only five times a day, I wish I could pray infinity
For all that you have given me; for all that you have taken away
There is no excuse for me to not want to stand up and say "Allahu Akbar"

I state the obvious, nervous, body in perfect formation
As I stand before my Lord trying to prove my dedication
Walking the thin line between hope and fear,
Words coming out crystal clear as though judgment was here,
The humility combats the lies I told in my youth,
In my sujood is when I am closest to truth
A vessel of submission, his recognition is my quest
Hands folded, both palms crossed facing my chest,
Gaze is lowered, on the spot from which my head will rise,
Wet warm water still covers my eyes.

I cherish this dunya, like I cherish sunny weather,
Wonderful at times, but still not meant forever,
So Ya Allah, if you take me in my salat,
Please have my last words be the last words of Al-Fatiha
Right before La ilaha illa Allah, Ashden Muhammadur Rasul Allah,
For you my God, I will hold and cherish this faith,
For this is a test, and we always do worst in the subjects that we hate,
So I am still amazed that you have given me the strength to praise,
For a long time I never prayed, never said your name for days
I am still ashamed of what my heart once contained,
But still you sent me blessings again and again,
Your mercy uses words that I can simply not explain
The honour that I feel, the love that I maintain

Forehead and nose, hands, knees and toes,
All pressed before the Lord, before I rose,
I choose to make a little prayer of my own,
Ya please Allah forgive me for my sins as though they were not my own,
Help me to pray as though I were saying my final goodbyes,
My bouncing finger lets me know I'm still alive, Alhumdulliah

Wallahi,
I swear to God, I do not feel comfortable swearing to God,
Because I'm not sure if my faulty words will even do him justice
So now everyday I send peace and blessings upon his prophet,
Empty my conscious like banks empty my pockets,
Only this interest is in my best interest
Were my prayers answered, only One knows best?
I'll try again soon, Insha'Allah
The rest is in the hands of Allah Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala

That's all folks! *warnerbros style* Take care!

p/s: Dear Farah Ainaa, isn't it a blessing to have you by my side? Love you darla. =)

.United We Stand.

Assalamualaikum and good day all. :)

Today i put forward no original written thoughts. Just want to document here a good article i stumble upon in the net world, from TheVirtualMosque. I believe it's worth sharing. Heck I believe it's important to share, for some of us who'd like a lighter reading of food for thoughts, rather than chunks of heavy facts of history we'd find somewhere else and need time to process to come to this.

excerpts:

Within the fold of Islam, differences are not only tolerated—they’re encouraged as a mercy from God. But as soon as we label and marginalize any who disagree with us, our downfall begins. Once we accept and internalize these labels as our main source of identity, the result is disastrous. As a result, we create our own camps, attend only our own gatherings and conferences; soon enough, we’re talking only to those who agree with us. Dialogue within the ummah disappears, our differences become only more polarized and our views become more extreme. Before long, we stop caring about what happens to the ‘other’ group of Muslims around the world, as we amputate limbs from the unified body our prophet taught us we were. The ‘other’ (who happen to still be our brothers) become so foreign—even despised—that we no longer wish to be referred by the same family name, and even join our enemies against them.

I hope you can take the time to read the full article here.

“Modernism, not traditionalism, is what worked for the West. This included the necessity to depart from, modify, and selectively ignore elements of the original religious doctrine.”

Our enemies “summon one another to attack [us] as people, while eating, invite others to share their food.” (Abu Dawud)

“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided” (Qur’an, 3:103).

It all mean one thing:

Unite. And STAY UNITED.

.Get Inspired.

I am Iliana. I am a Muslim.

Yes, i do get tired of people making bad assumptions on Islam by the informations they get from some unvalidated sources and exaggerated media from some part of the world. (answering the indirect Q inquired by some bloggers) And also, yes, i do got tired (and frustrated) of staying shut due to the inferiority i felt that i bear no great knowledge of my own religion. I take that as my own weakness. But no matter how packed the world may be, there's always space for improvement in our lives, isn't it?

While blogwalking, i get to know a site called InspiredbyMuhammad.com. This is the perfect opportunity to help expand the love without having to open our mouth in somehow, sometimes, such defensive manner. So now i would like to share it with you. Mind you, any cool facts and pics you get in this entry are most probably quoted from either Miss Ami Schaheera, credit to her, or the Inspired by Muhammad website. Do check them out :).


And now, LET'S GET TO KNOW US.

The Inspired by Muhammad campaign is designed to improve the public understanding of Islam and Muslims. It showcases Britons demonstrating how Muhammad inspires them to contribute to society, with a focus on women’s rights, social justice and the environment. The campaign coincides with a national poll conducted by YouGov which shows that 69% of people believe that Islam encourages the oppression of women, that just 6% of people associate Islam with justice and that a mere 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment. Overall, nearly half of all people in the UK believe that Islam does not have a positive impact on British society.

some of the ads ideas in Brit.

The Exploring Islam Foundation recently commissioned YouGov to survey public perceptions of Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad. Here are the results.

Knowledge of Islam

• 60% say they don’t know very much about Islam
• 17% say they know nothing at all
• 33% would like to know more about Islam

Sources of information on Islam

• 57% obtain most of their information about Islam from the TV news
• 41% obtain their information about Islam from newspapers
• Just 3% get most of their information on Islam from Muslim organisations
• 31% feel that information about Islam is not very accessible
• 5% say that information is not accessible at all

Perception of Islam

• 58% associate Islam with extremism
• 50% associate Islam with terrorism
• Just 13% associate Islam with peace
• 6% associate Islam with justice
• Only 16% think that Islam promotes fairness and equality
• Only 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment
• 41% disagree or strongly disagree that Muslims have a positive impact on British society
• 69% believe that Islam encourages the repression of women

How one man continue to inspire billions of lives fourteen centuries after he lived:

Social justice was a term coined in the 1840s and is a guiding principle for all societies today just as it was fourteen centuries ago in the Arabian desert.

Read more

The right to vote, to inheritance, education, a role in politics and civic society were controversial and groundbreaking ideas that Muhammad promoted for women in a seventh century society that regarded them as mere possessions.

Read more

The environment has been the hot topic of the last few decades, yet green concerns were nothing new in seventh century Arabia, particularly not to a man dubbed an environmentalist of his time.

Read more

“Even a smile is charity” said Muhammad who encouraged helping others no matter how small or great the deed.

Read more

“Seek knowledge – even if it takes you to China” was the instruction of Muhammad to his companions in seventh century Arabia.EDIT: Sister Hana Fedora told me that Prophet Muhammad s.a.w never said seek education till China nor till death, it's a doubtful hadith, no strong chain to support this. Whatever it is, Allah knows best.. and education we must seek, as even the first word of Quran is Iqra' which means 'read'.

Read more

“For every disease there is a cure” forms the ethos driving medical researchers today to treat debilitating conditions like cancer.

Read more

While Britain’s oldest animal shelter system was formed in nineteenth century Britain, Islamic civilisation was committed to animal welfare centuries earlier owing to the instructions of Prophet Muhammad.

Read more

The 1948 UN charter on human rights proclaims “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, words that echo Muhammad’s practices over fourteen centuries ago.

Read more

The core Islamic principle is that of equality between all of humankind.

Read more

What Can You Do?

• You can link http://www.blogger.com/www.inspiredbymuhammad.com in your blog and share it in your Facebook with that thousands friends of yours! ;)
• You can spread around the pictures and the data above.
• You can go here, save some banners in your computer, display them in your blog or better, print them out as posters for your class, school, college, uni, workplace – any location where heaps of people could have a look at it!
• You can read the content of the website and give the right information to your Non-Muslim friends. Or your unconvinced Muslim friends, for that matter.
• Last but not least, understand the principles ourselves, and practice it. It's the least we could do.

Remember that there are so many false information out there and here on the internet, so beware of what you read, hear and watch. Remember that Holy Quran is our only true, crystal-clear guidance, so be careful of inaccurate versions. Remember that if there’s anything wrong (I think terrorism and misuse of polygamy would be some of the most common examples), it’s the followers (who misunderstand things or were misinformed), not our religion Islam and definitely not our Prophet Muhammad.

Renung-renungkan, dan selamat beramal! ;)