What is in Wealth?

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

continue...

Now we continue the previous post. I have to jot all of this down since I would have piles of paper on this messy desk. 

Regarding Wealth

The ustad further said, who's the real rich man? There are three kind of rich men:

1) A rich man is a man a healthy man. When we are healthy, we can eat anything we like. If we are affected by diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and others we would have to avoid many things.

2) A rich man is a man without any debt. If we have a TV, we do not owe anything to get the TV. We buy it with full payment. If we have debt with the bank say when we buy the car, we would have to pay for every month. If we do not pay the car for three months, the bank would pull the car into their garage. If we have no capacity, don't get into debt. If we want to live in peace, stay away from debt and pay the debt. This is my personal opinion, all of us creatures are in no position to be rich no matter what happen. We owe the God for this life. The noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w talked about debt where he mentioned about the war to defend the land and His light from the darkness. A person in debt must ask the person who he is in debt for his permission before joining any war (if ones are soldiers). Because debt would be counted even after death, the descents of a person in debt must help the person in debt who passed away to release him or her from torments. A person in debt has a heavy responsibility. Try to stay away from debt as it makes us poor.

3) A rich man is a person who has good manner, and high in morality. Be in modesty when we walk and do not look up the sky when we walk (be arrogant). Look down the earth. Lower the voice and do not walk with pride holding up our chest. The most ugly voice is the voice of a donkey. This is a metaphor.... 

The most ugly voice is the voice of a donkey... The Quran mentions two kind of animals' voice... They are the rooster and the donkey. Elders said that when a rooster crowing at the break of the dawn, it sees the angels. It means that the sound wakes up the people and reminds everyone for Fajr prayer service. And then the voice of human who cries in repentance because of his or her sins. People above 50 years old always have the habit of waking up late at night. They have the problem to sleep. The God makes them having this difficulty to sleep, but they are easy to wake up in the morning. It is the fitrah (nature) for us to cover our salat that we had left since whoever knows. How many of us prays when we are 13 years old for example? 

Oops, I didn't really pray when I was 13 years old until at one stage I didn't believe in You, dear the God!!! I didn't like to pray and I hate people who talked to me about salat. Most of them always talked about the hell. I don't like them because of this since I didn't do any harm to others but they are those who hurt me. At that time I was influenced a little bit by people around, I just wanted to be like other kids. I should had ignore whatever people said but just perform my responsibility. In the end You are my Judge, dear Lord. Dear the God, please forgive me if I didn't perform this responsibility properly please don't hate me :'( :'( :'(

Regarding the Voice

And then the ustad mentioned, the God loves the voice of those who recites the Quran. What voice that the God does not prefer according to the interpretation of the verse in surah Luqman? The God does not prefer the voice of the donkey. It does not mean that the donkey is a bad animal or the God 'hates' the donkey. The donkey voice is a metaphor for the voice of those who love to rant. The donkey always do anything that it is asked to do. It does not know how to bend at the road. People could put many things on its back. But while it walks, it would have the voice which sounds like ranting voice. The verse implies that the God does not prefer those who rants. A wife for example, she cooks 10 dishes a day for her family but while she cooks she would rant this and that, she is tired of marriage and etc. But she still cooks. A person who prays behind the imam. He or she still prays but he or she rants in the heart when the imam recites longer surah. They do everything, but they rant in the same time. The God listens to anything inside our heart or anything that could be heard by mortal ears. He is All-Listening and All-Knowing.

It is already late... We may continue little by little insyaallah...

Sealed with salawat and prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!!

Where is Morality?

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

Avignon Palace

This is the continuation of the post about, why we human being are arrogant. It is said that another reason for a human-being to be arrogant perhaps is because he or she is affluent and are of high position in society. They possess lots of property and land. They have jewels in their closets. One day a lady came and see the ustad who delivered the lecture for him to calculate the amount of tithe that she needs to pay for her golds. She shows him her jewels thus saying: "I have pounds of golds in my closet, I don't know what to do with them. I am exhausted for having to count them each term."

In fact, the God does not prevent us from possessing anything. It is not a sin to have possession. He is not angry to His servants who are rich as it is among His grace to His servants. Everything that He creates in the earth is for human to use and benefit in this life. He does not demand us to totally leave everything. It is not like that, but He demands His servants not to keep the worldly matters in our heart. If our heart is attached to the worldly matters, we would be stingy and it makes our property barren. The example of people whom heart was attached to worldly matters such as property is Tsa'labah who lives during the period of noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and Qarun who lives during the period of noble prophet Moses a.s. These examples are negative ones. Be like David a.s and Solomon a.s. It is narrated that David cries 40 days and nights only because he reckons all of his errors though he is infallible of sins. His tears dropped down the earth and grass grows up from the tear drop place. He is a person with a position in his society but he still fear the God.

Another example is Jonah who was swallowed by a whale. Whales do not live in the Straits of Malacca or wandering at the sea close to Kuala Kedah nor swimming in the South China Sea. It is a kind of fish that dives deep into the ocean. While Jonah was in the fish's belly, he recites the exaltation to the God and asking for forgiveness: "لاإلهَ إلَّاأنْتَ سُبْحانَكَ إنِّيْ كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِيْنَ". It means: "There's no gods except You, exalted be You indeed I am already amongst those who are cruel (to themselves)." The angels of the God heard his prayers from the belly of the fish. His exaltation and prayers reached the heavens though he was deep down in the sea in fish's belly. The God listens to His exaltation. The angels of the God asked the God: "Who's voice of exaltation was that?" The God answered the angels: "The voice is of my beloved servant, Jonah. He ran away from his nation and people because of his disappointment with them and that makes him stuck in the belly of the whale." The angles prayed the God to forgive Jonah. The God revealed... If it is not because of Jonah's exaltation, he would remain in the whale's belly until the Day of Resurrection.

Nowadays, many people live an easy life. They had forgotten exaltation to the God and many think that they are gods of themselves (atheists). For us the paupers, exaltation is the substitution of wealth. Once upon a time, came to prophet Muhammad s.a.w several paupers complaining: "Dear the messenger of the God, rich people could have the merit for donation while we have none of it as we have nothing to offer to others." The prophet s.a.w replied to the: "recite exaltation to Him which are سبحان الله والحمدلله ولا إله إلاالله والله اكبر subhanallah walhamdulillah walaa ilaaha illalllah wallahu akbar 33 times!" The exaltation means: "May be exalted the God, and praises to the God, and there is no gods except the God and the God is the Great." So after we perform obligatory salat service, at least, recite these exaltation 33 times. Don't just fold our prayer mats and hurl it under the bed or just rise up after the prayer without respecting the God with exaltation nor supplications. 

The God Will, we would continue with the lecture notes on this topic in whatever gaps that we have, it's already late... Wish everyone passing by entertained though it is not in the original language... May whatever is good and beneficial being transmitted to everyone, insyaallah...

To be continued...