A Better Me

This is an example of how perception changes how you experience similar thing. Shreddies tastes better when it looks cuter in 'diamond' shape.

Baru-baru ni, saya berkunjung ke rumah kawan lama ayah saya. Rumahnya cantik. Besar. Mewah. Khabarnya sudah pun bergelar jutawan. Tapi, yang saya kagum, ada banyak buku-buku agama yang tersusun kemas di rak bukunya. Bukannya buku yang mudah2 dan penulis biasa. Buku-buku itu termasuklah yang ditulis oleh Imam al-Ghazali, Karen Armstrong, Syed Naguib al-Attas pun ade. Yang saya paling gembira, dengan umur saya yang makin tua ni, saya dihulurkan duit RM50 sebagai duit raya. Alhamdulillah. Betullah apa yang Allah sebut. Rezeki tu kadang-kadang datangnya dari sumber yang tak disangka-sangka. Kali ni, datangnya daripada pakcik yang first time saya jumpa. Bukanlah saya nak claim diri saya sebagai orang yang sudah mencapai level taqwa, seperti yang disyaratkan dalam ayat tersebut. Jauh sekali. Cuma nak kata, kalau rezeki tu dah ditetapkan untuk kita, ia takkan hilang ke mana.

Point saya di sini ialah.. zuhud bukanlah bermakna menjauhi dunia. Tak boleh jadi kaya, kena hidup sederhana. Sahabat dulu pun ramai yang kaya. Tapi, mereka masih zuhud. Kekayaannya tak menghalang mereka daripada melupakan akhirat, bahkan digunakan sebagai dana untuk dakwah Rasulullah. Bak kata mereka, letakkan dunia di tangan, jangan di hati. Bila harta hilang, takde la adanya kekesalan yang dahsyat.

Ali ibn Talib adalah sahabat Rasulullah yang bijak. Ada dikatakan, beliau mampu untuk mengintegrate ayat al-Quran terus ke dalam dialognya. Maksudnya secara spontan. Contohnya, semasa beliau melawan hujah dengan Khawarij tatkala mereka mempersoalkan tindakan Ali untuk menerima tawaran berdamai dengan Muawiyah. Saya ungkapkan ini sebagai intro kepada kata-kata hikmah beliau berkenaan dengan keutamaan ilmu daripada harta. Saya yakin, apabila kita kenal orang yang mengungkapnya, tahu latar belakangnya dan apa yang dilaluinya, kita lebih mudah untuk mendalami kata-kata tersebut. Sepertimana al-Quran itu disampaikan oleh Rasulullah sebagai utusan yang terpelihara akhlaknya.

Maka, kata Ali Ibn Talib..

• Ilmu itu warisan para Nabi, sedangkan harta adalah warisan Qarun, Syidan dan Firaun.
• Ilmu boleh memelihara pemiliknya, sedangkan harta pemiliknya yang memeliharanya.
• Orang yang berilmu ramai kawannya, sedangkan orang yang berharta ramai musuhnya.
  
• Ilmu itu akan bertambah jika diberikan kepada orang lain, sedangkan harta berkurang jika diberikan
• Orang yang berilmu biasanya digelari dengan karim (mulia), sedangkan yang berharta biasanya digelari dengan bakhil (kedekut).
• Ilmu tidak boleh dicuri orang, sedangkan harta boleh dicuri.
• Orang yang berilmu akan mendapat syafaat akhirat kelak, sedangkan orang yang berharta akan dihisab.
• Ilmu tidak boleh rosak atau hilang, sedangkan harta boleh rosak.
• Ilmu melembutkan hati pemiliknya, sedangkan harta mengeraskan hati tuannya
• Orang yang berilmu biasanya mengaku dirinya sebagai hamba, sedangkan orang yang berharta ada yang menganggap dirinya tuhan.

wallahua'lam.

Ibn Qayyim relates..

A worshipper related the following story to me: "I saw an ant finding a piece of a grasshopper and trying to haul it up but failing. Then it went away and came back with a group of ants to help. Before they arrived, I picked up the piece from the ground. When the ant and its companions returned, they all went in a circle around the place where the dead grasshopper was;but finding nothing, they went away. Then I put the slice back where it was, and the ant came back and tried to carry it away, but in vain. So, once again, it went to fetch some help, and, once again, I picked up the piece before they returned. When the group came back to find nothing, they encircled that ant, and before I could anything to help, they attacked it, tearing it to pieces, one limb after another, as I was watching in astonishment."

It is not usual that we see animal being punished by their colony for doing mistakes. We often think of animal as being deprived of 'aql to the extent that they acts only in accordance to the attributes that are usually being related to them. For example, naturally a tiger takes care of cubs. When we see a tiger taking care of piglets, we begin to see the other side of nature. A side that we have never imagined before. It seems like a paradox. How could an animal that is supposed to be the prey is nurtured by her own natural-predator? How could ants unanimously agree on the code of punishment?

Surely, there are more instances from nature that we can use as objects for contemplation of the Mighty God. Animals may not have 'aql, but they can naturally sense imminent danger. Who gave them the instinct that ensure their survival? Their senses may alert them of danger, but it is the instinct that guides them on how to appropriately respond to the danger.

As we are in the midst of this blessed Ramadhan, we are in the best month to dedicate ourselves in the reading and memorization of Quran. We are commonly heard of past and contemporary scholars who finished their memorization in their early age and continued to succeed afterward. As I myself has already missed such opportunity in which I have grown older and did not take that same path, reading such breakthrough has never ceased to inspire me.

I returned home two weeks ago and I was truly amazed by the different environment that I did not experience four years ago. My two brothers who are involved in the tahfiz program at school have already memorized a lot of juzuk and are elected to lead some of the tarawikh prayers that we have at home. Even my Form 1 brother has already memorized some of the surahs in juzuk 29. I remember when I was at that age, I was instucted to memorize even less surahs at school and I was not very enthusiastic about it. I wish they have pushed me to memorize more. yeah, right..

My friend told me about his friend who has finished ten qiraat. Just now, I read an email about a women teacher who teaches ten qiraat, which I gladly like to share with fellow readers.

Assalaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,


In sha'Allah, this message finds you all in the best state of health and iman. A long time ago, I was told of a great qari'ah, whom even men would travel for miles to hear her recite, learn from her and obtain her ijazah in one of the 10 qira'ahs. It was only mentioned in passing by the shaykh who was giving the lecture, and I tried, but failed to find out more about her. Now, in this month of Qur'an, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'aala, put her story in front of me without my looking. It was so beautiful, I wanted to share it in the hopes it will inspire you to strengthen your relationship with the Qur'an.


Fee iman Illah, and please keep me in your du'aa's:


Umm Al-Sa'ad Al-Askandariyyah (Alexandria)


After Umm Al-Sa'ad completed her memorization of the Quran at the age of 15 she went to the Shaykha Nafeesa bint Abu Al-Alaa, who was known as "The Shaykha of her time" to request from her to learn the 10 Qira'aat (recitations) . Nafeesa agreed on an peculiar condition; that Umm Al-Sa'ad never marry. She used to refuse to teach girls because they would marry, become busy, and neglect the Quran.


What was even more amazing was that Umm Al-Sa'ad accepted the condition from her Shaykha who was known for her strictness and harshness against those whom she did not feel were proper for this honorable task. But Umm Al-Sa'ad was encourage by the fact that her Shaykha herself had never married, even though there were many of the great scholars who had sought her hand, and she died in that state while in her eighties, having secluded herself to the Quran!


Umm Al-Sa'ad said, " It is from the blessings of my Lord that anyone who has obtained an ijaaza in the Quran, in any Qiraa'ah, in Alexandria either received it directly from me (munaawala) or from someone whom I had given an ijaaza to. "


And what proved her unique status was that she was the only woman to whom reciter and huffadh of the Quran would travel to receive ijaaza in the ten qira'aat.


Umm Al-Sa'ad Ali Najm,age 77, is considered to be the most well known woman in the world of recitations of the Quran. The only woman to specialize in the ten qira'aat, and has spent over fifty years granting ijaazas in the ten qira'aat.


Waves of people could be seen entering and leaving her humble apartment, students who dreamed of memorizing the Quran, comprised of different age groups and both genders.


Classes for the women and girls would begin from 8 AM until 2 PM after which the classes for men and boys would start until 8 PM. Umm Al-Sa'ad would continue all day with no breaks except for salah and a light meal to sustain her.


Umm Al-Sa'ad was born into a poor family in a town called Bandaariya, one of the towns of the larger city Munofiya (north of Cairo). She was afflicted by blindness shortly after her first year and, as was the practice of many in rural areas in dealing with blindness, her family sent her to learn the Quran. She completed her memorization in Alexandria at the age of 15. She then completed the memorization of the ten recitations of the Quran from Shaykha Nafeesa when she had reached the age of 23.


Umm Al-Sa'ad mentioned that when she had completed her memorization of the qira'aat the number of huffaadh were few. Families used to request from her, as they had requested from her Shaykha before her, to recite Quran for them at occasions and religious festivals. It was acceptable at that time for a woman to recite the Quran with tajweed in the presence of men who- as she recounted- used to praise her recitation and the beauty of her tajweed. She mentioned however that this practice disappeared after Quranic recitors became widespread, as well as the spread of radios and televisions, and the most that could be done by a female recitor now is to recite at occasions that were female only. She believed that the real reason for this however was the belief that had increased in the recent years that the voice of the woman is awrah.


Many different types of people would return to her, seeking the completion of the Quran or ijaazah in a Qiraa'ah, from all ages and levels in society. In a day she would teach old and young students, men and women, engineers, doctors, teachers, university professors, college students, high school students, etc.


She would single out for each student a time, not more than an hour in a day, in which the student would recite what they had memorized and she would correct their mistakes bit by bit, until they memorize the Quran in one of it's qira'aat.


Umm Al-Sa'ad once commented:


"Sixty years of memorizing the Quran and it's recitations has made me unable to forget any of it. I can recall every ayah, it's surah and its juz, I know the ayaat that are similar (mutashabih) and how to recite the same ayah in different qira'aat. I feel like I know the Quran like my name, I cannot imagine forgetting a letter of it or making a mistake in it. I don't know anything other than the Quran and its recitations. I never learned a science, listened to a lecture, or memorized anything other than the Quran and the mutoon that were related to the Quran and tajweed. I don't know anything other than that."


Her students:


When asked about her students Umm Al-Sa'ad said:


"I remember every one of them, there were some who received Ijaaza in one of the recitations, and there were some (and they were very few) who received ijaaza in all ten recitations. They are the ones who receive an ijaaza with a special seal that I have that I always keep with me, I never give it to anyone no matter how much I have trust in them."


The happiest days for Umm Al-Sa'ad are the days of khatma, when she would grant a student an ijaaza, even though she has experienced this day over 300 times! She keeps a copy of every ijaaza, the most recent one being to a sister in the recitation of Qaloon from Nafi'.


On the day of khatma, a waleema is normally done, or a tea party with sweets. The student who is receiving the ijaaza normally gives a gift to the Shaykha; a jilbab, a ring, golden earrings, all according to what they can afford. As for the most beautiful gift that the Shaykha received was a Hajj and Umrah trip accompanied with being hosted in Saudia for an entire year! The best part of the trip, after the hajj and umrah, was that she reviewed the Quran, and granted ijaazas in all ten recitations to students from all over the world; Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Chad, Afghanistan…


The most beloved of those ijaazas that she granted was to a student from Saudi Arabia who received it when she was seventeen years old!


The wives of her students become jealous…


And from the most interesting things that Umm Al-Sa'ad recounts is that some of the wives of her students became jealous and fearful that she might "snatch" their husbands. Especially since their husbands would continually speak about their Shaykha with pride and endearment. To the extent that some of the wives would accompany their husbands to the class to ensure that their fear had no real cause, for the Shaykha was old and blind!


"And some of the men hesitated to recite to me considering that I'm a woman, and some refused, but Shaykh Muhammad Isma'eel (the most well known shaykh of the Salafi Da'wah in Alexandria) gave a fatwa that they could when he learned of my age, and he sent his entire family to me to recite to me!"


And what about her marriage?


When she was asked about the closest student to her, she replied "My husband, Shaykh Muhammad Fareed Nu'man."


Shaykh Muhammad Fareed, who- before his death some years ago-was the most well known recitor on Alexandria radio. He was also the first one to receive an ijaaza from Umm Al-Sa'ad.


She said about the story of her marriage, "I was not able to keep my promise to my Shaykha Nafeesa. He used to recite to me the Quran in all ten recitations, I became comfortable with him, and he was like me in that he was blind and memorized the Quran at an early age. I taught him for five years, and when he finished he asked me for my hand in marriage and I accepted."


She was married to him for forty years and had no children.


But she had students who were huffadh and recitors of the Quran, so all praise is due to Allah.


She commentated on that saying, "Alhamdullilah, I feel like Allah chooses for me the good always. Maybe if I had children I would have become busy with them and neglected the Quran or forgot it."


your sister in faith,
Chantal

Moving out was such a pain, at least that was the case for me. For some other people, as I witnessed it myself, it was such a rejoicing 'harvesting' moment that comes only once in a year. There were lots of stuffs that were dumped into garbage, which many of them were still recyclable and usable. I surmise that many stuffs were thrown away because those items were not worth the trouble to carry them to the new place. To provide you with an imagination, items that were thrown away at the garbage includes sofa, duffel bag, clothes, comforters, an et cetera. As many people moved out at the same time, just imagine how many things that could be salvaged and resell.

I assume that you imagine those people who pick up stuffs from garbage are people who moves from a place to another by leg. At most, they have an old rusty bicycle. Ironically, that were not the case. Many of them came with a car or truck. One of them I believed was a Ford Escape.

That really makes me thinking. If they can afford such ride, why do they have to pick up things that people threw away? Reselling can get them some money, but do they really have to do that?

A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers.

- Lao Tzu

If you cycle, you know you should be aware of your surroundings and things ahead of you. In some way, cycling (driving a car applies the same here) trains you to be visionary, looking to the future. You always have to look some distance ahead of you, while at the same time keeping an eye on things that happened right in front of you or by your side. That's what you should always heed to to avoid accidents. But, sometimes there are things that you did not aware of, like the seat detached from your bike while you're cycling. and before you knew it, you lost control of the bike, got some scratch on your legs and hands, and on your watch. Even G-Shock can't handle it, because the watch touches the ground at its strap. So it left scars on the watch. Permanent.

Luckily, no one was there, except cars that stopped at the red light. I fell right after I crossed the road. That was fortunate, otherwise I would have gotten more bruises. Since I was about time to go to class, I park my bike to the side and proceed to classroom by legs.

So, yeah..

When you fall, you rise back, push aside your problems and proceed to where you heading. Don't let the problems divert your focus. You can deal with the problems later. (Like cursing the bike or buy a new one as a punishment to its misbehavior..okay, kidding)