Litanies in Morning

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

 

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

The Chantings of His Names

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Wazifah to be chanted early morning and evening... Close eyes all things disappear and just go away. Only Allah and me. 

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

Zuhud and Modesty in Life

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Attachment to the worldly matters is the root of evil

What is Zuhud? It is a terminology used by Muslim to show modesty. Speaking about tasawwuf, there are boasting Orientalists who trying to talk like they know about everything. As an individual who profess the faith to only the God as the Most Highest, the King of worlds and universe, I don't buy anything from them either their opinion or suggestion suits well with my thought or in the opposite because they have no authority to judge others when they do not have any faith to the six pillars of faith and the five pillars of the nature. I hate this shallow notion about certain matter is influencing others just to downgrade others. This earth is shared and human come from the same source unless if those human who turned to be human from apes, that is different thing since they were not human by origin but animal. 

In Islam we have ihsan which is a concept where we believe that He is watching over us even when nobody is looking at us since He is the One who Supervise. Ihsan is mentioned by prophet Muhammad s.a.w during the discourse with archangel Gabriel a.s who actually was sent by the God to teach companions of prophet Muhammad s.a.w and to be taught to generations in to come in disguise of questions and answers about the basis of the nature of human-being and other creatures. Our devotion to the God is based from prophetic tradition and we reject Orientalists ideas. They are not the authority for us, their opinions whether supporting us or opposing us has no significance to us. Their standard is not in compliance with our standard.

Concerning things exported from Christianity? Jesus a.s who is the "Lord" of Christians and the originator of the "religion" which is known as Christianity is one of the prophet of Islam. Islam is not a "new religion" but it is "a nature" which originated from the God the Highest who possesses the Most Glorious Names. It does not originated from Muhammad s.a.w because he was a medium chosen by the God to transmit the teaching to other non-chosen human-being just like other prophets and messengers of the God since Adam a.s. Jesus a.s is the brother of Moses a.s and Muhammad s.a.w by souls and by the same first ancestor which is Adam a.s. They are not from apes offspring and those who believe that they are descended from apes are not wrong. They are indeed what they believe. Another thing that we need to bear in mind, we do not submit ourselves to Church Fathers but only to the God the Most Highest. Jesus Christ need not Church Fathers to decide anything for him if he is the Lord. So, if Christians wanted to devote themselves to whatever "Theophany" they wanted to devote, go on. Just avoid from evil morality which does not reflect the morality taught by Jesus Christ and they would be fine. I don't simply call people as infidel because it is not me who decide but the God to decide over His creatures. If anything being mentioned in the scripture, then it is His word and not my word. It will remain as it is.

Those Christian monasticism influencing others is not an issue for us. Those influencing matters are nonsense and those "scholars" I believe are not people who practice any religion instead they worship themselves under their so-called "scholarly" statements or "suggestions." They are human and not the God to be worshiped on their opinions and they have flaws just like other human-being. Those Christian evangelists mostly do not portray the moral of Jesus Christ but they showed the negative side of human-being to me as a lay person because I had encountered such experience with them. I didn't even choose to be baptized last time but considering Buddhism because I detest the way they talk to others, bajet suci gitu. I would also demand to stop calling us Muslims as Mohammedan. We are not worshipers of Muhammad either when he perform "divine" miracle or when he was in human characteristic because we don't need such a philosophy to explain his characteristics and developing a dogma. Everything is clear in basic suras in the glorious Quran, the Word of the God. We are Muslims. We submit ourselves to the One who posses the Peace, the One who protects everyone with Peace. In al-Fatihah surah it is already mentioned that we follow only Him. Not Church Fathers' philosophies nor Orientalists teachings : )

A person who is devoted to the God actually has no time to look to other places or thinking to rival with others in term of worldly matters but feeling afraid that he would be dipped into torments and being far from the God with misconducts. A person who is devoted to the God does not actually talk much because much of talking would only bring negative impact toward the environment and nature. So, my Muslim brothers and sisters who perform da'awa especially to other community, always keep in mind to adhere to morality conduct revealed by the God in Quran and Sunnah. We perform everything through the Light of the God, the knowledge, wisdom, practices, and sincerity only for His sake. Not because we wanted to gain anything, to gain glory in others' eyes, gaining fund for example from organization, and etc. Guidance and Mercy is His work and not our work. Our responsibility is only to deliver to fellow creatures. This is also an advise for myself : )

Now this article is actually an article published by Islamic Center of USM which I had kept for long and reading it over and over but due to that it is in Malay, I think it should also be translated into other languages may everyone receive the Mercy of the God. I would like to share it with anyone passing here whatever faith that they have. Anything good should be shared and this has nothing to harm anyone Creed toward any doctrine because it is noble morality. 

Zuhud means a characteristic of heart which is not attached to the world or worldly matters. It does not mean that we are wearing dirty clothes, torn everywhere or looking poor like a beggar in front of other. Even when we are poor, we do not show it to others but maintaining the look of normal people. In Islam, we are taught to look the same like others. Even if we learn scriptural studies, we do not necessarily wearing clothes which show us as a cleric or a minister. It is enough to look like other civilians and live like others. Zuhud only means that the condition of heart which is not attached toward worldly matters, does not depend to anything in the world but only depends to the God.

The tranquility of life in this world is what everyone desires. But we still see that many people are living in anxiety, fear, worrying about something which is uncertain, hatred to others (I also have this evil thing in mind) and many unnecessary things. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w through the Revelation taught us a practice which will makes the God love us. 

His teaching is recorded in a hadith narrated by Abu Abbas Sahal bin Sa'ad Sa'idi r.a where he mentioned again that when a man walking passed prophet Muhammad s.a.w, he asked prophet Muhammad s.a.w: "Dear messenger of the God, show me a practice in which I will be loved by the God and everyone around me will also love me. Said prophet Muhammad s.a.w: "Be modest in the worldly matter, as the God will love you. Be modest on anything which is possessed by human, and human will love you."    

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w teaches everyone to be like a person who is traveling. He said: "be like a foreigner in the world." A person who travels never being attached to anything or feeling that they should have any possession since they are just temporarily staying at a certain place. Just take a look at travelers, how do they look like? Do they bring anything like valuable stuffs with them while traveling or doing sightseeing? They just bring things that they need right? For example few clothes, few hygienic stuffs, passport, identity card, some money to use while staying in a certain place, some notebooks, or books to read while waiting for passport control. Another example that we could see are migrant workers. Look at how they live. Are they living a comfortable life or just enough for them to live in a foreign country where they are earning the money to be sent home? A modest person has no greed toward worldly matters.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w further said: "Indeed a modest person in the world will feel relieved in the world and hereafter. A person who is attached to the world will feel suffocated and exhausted in the world and hereafter." (reported by Thabrani, Baihaqi from Abu Hurayrah r.a)

Imam al-Ghazali divided zuhud or modesty into three stages:

1. Lowest modesty where ones avoiding attachment toward worldly matters to avoid evil consequences in the hereafter.

2. Middle modesty where ones avoiding attachment toward worldly matters to get rewards in hereafter.

3. Highest modesty where ones avoiding attachment toward worldly matters because of the devotion and dependence only to the God. 

People at lowest level of zuhud still are attached to worldly matters but at least they are striving hard to refrain from submission toward evil desires. The better zuhud appears when the heart of person actually had left the world and has no interest in worldly matters anymore. Highest zuhud is a stage where a person knows Who is his Creator and Lord. For these people, the world and its content actually have no significance anymore but their whole heart, thought and soul is only directed toward hereafter and the God.

Human have choice and rights to choose. The God had also grants us with mind to think what suits us better. So, it actually depends on us where should we go. Even the devil could also choose and he also has freedom to choose to be what he wants. He had chosen to be a boast. So do, Western Orientalists. They had chosen to make people around the world fight among each other with their attachment to worldly matters. Where are they now? Are they still living or resurrected as a cyborg by machines and technology? LOL   

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

Ramadhan Mubarak 1423 H!!!

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

We stop a moment on the recap about Bangkok. I would continue it when I am free may Allah permits it. I would like to wish my dearly faithful brothers and sisters in faith regardless lines, sunni or shiite, Ramadhan Mubarak. We are thankful to Allah for prolonging our life to see this blessed month again in this year, it is through His Grace and Mercy that we could reach this month.

May everyone have a blessed Ramadhan which begins with His Mercy, continued with His Forgiveness, and ends with Liberation from the torment and His salvation over every faithful servant. I just went to the mosque in USM because it is close to my hostel and we prayed only 11 raka'ats while other kind of prayers could be performed while we are alone or after we sleep for a while. 

It is quite lively at the mosque and I love to see everyone greeting each other although I know no one in the mosque no more. People coming in and out year by year. People are reciting holy verses after Taraweekh prayers, it is a relieve to hear holy verses recited by brothers. May we have good experience this Ramadhan and learn as many things as we can in order to see Him :)

Salawat for prophet Muhammad s.a.w: Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad, wa 'ala aali Muhammad, ka-maa sallaita 'ala Ibrahim wa 'ala aali Ibrahim. Allahumma baarik 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aali Muhammad, ka-maa baarak-ta 'alaa aali Ibrahim wa 'ala aali Ibrahim. 

Allah please be in contact with our prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family, as You had been in contact with our patriarch Abraham and his family. Dear Allah, please bless our prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family as You had blessed our patriarch Abraham and his family. May we be blessed and may Allah forgives our sins this whole year, aamin!

Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love for dearly brothers and sisters, I equally love all of my brothers and sisters!

Matan Arba'in Hadith: First Hadith

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

Today we learn about the matan hadith arba'in or the forty root hadiths. This is the first hadith of the matan (source) where I still can recall its original Arabic. It is a very interesting hadith and it is related to tasawwuf dimension of Islam. I'm not going to put the Arabic text nor sound but only the meaning in English.  I would like to apologize if the explanation is a bit clumsy because the source text is in classical Malay.

This is for our beloved brethren in faith who are interested to learn some basic hadiths for Islamic jurisprudence or daily life but finding it hard to check the Arabic text.  It would be best for brethren to check it with teachers who speaks in English for better understanding. If you have teachers speaking in your mother tongues, it would be better for you.

I assure brothers and sisters that this is also important and we are lucky if we can memorize these hadiths in any language that we understand because they could be useful in our daily life. Important thing is not in our certificates but the faith in our heart, understanding and its implementation in our daily life. May everyone receives salvation from Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. 

We would just share with anyone who are willing to learn in order to please our beloved Lord, Allah 'Azza wa Jalla and I also need to remind myself to only be devoted to Him because He is my beloved Friend may He not leaves me. If He leaves me, it would be the real death for me :'(

Reported by 'Umar b. al-Khattab may the God be pleased with him: "I heard that the messenger of the God, Muhammad peace be upon him had said; indeed that the act is determined by your intention. And indeed for all of the matters done by a person is based on his or her intention. Whomever migrate to other place for the sake of the God and His messenger, his migration is counted because of the God and His messenger. And those who migrate for the sake of worldly matters or the woman that they want to marry, thus his migration is for the sake of what he is pursuing for. - narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim

Explanation of the Hadith:

1. This hadith shows on the importance of intention in the validity of certain act (religious or worldly). 

2. If the intention for certain act or practice are good, then the act and the practice performed are also good.

3. If the intention for certain act or practice are evil, then the act and practice performed are also evil.

For the practices or the act of worship accompanied with intention there are few categories:

1. The act of worship performed by a person due to his fear to the God the Most Highest is counted as the worship of every slave.  

2. A person who performed a certain act of worship due to the merits and paradise promised by the God is counted as the worship of merchants.

3. A person who performed the act of worship because he is shy to the God and fulfilling the rites of slaves and the servants of the God or being a thankful slaves. He realizes that he could be reckless in his worship or not sure that his act of worship is accepted by the God so he performs it with sincerity and with all of his heart and soul devoted only to the God. This act of worship is counted as the act of worship of the people who are free from the worldly slavery. He is not a slave of anyone but only the slave and the servant of the God. A life of a Muslim is a life of a worshiper of the God.

Further explanations:

We have to avoid feeling that we are holier than others only because we had done certain act of worship more than others, while in the same time we only perform that to show off to others. We are not doing the same act while we are alone and vice versa. That is not the act of worship to the God, but counted as the act of worship to others. This is what we call as riyaa'. It means showing off. The act of worship is performed because of human. Not because of the God. 

From a report of the mother of the faithfuls, 'Aisyah may the God be pleased with her, she saw that the messenger of the God, Muhammad s.a.w stands up for prayer service until his two legs shivering because of he stands too long. She later asked the messenger of the God. "O messenger of the God, why are you burdening yourself with this long prayer service while the God had already promised you that your sins in the past or in the future had already be forgiven by Him?" He answered: "I just wanted to be a grateful slave of the God the Most Highest." The answer spontaneously popped out implies that the worship is done because of the devotion to the God and it comes out of sincerity to Him.

According to some scholars' fatawa (guides), when a person who does his act of worship with the intention for worldly matters and the hereafter, his acts of worship will be rejected by the God and will not be accepted. They have this fatawa based on a Hadith Qudsi (announcement from the God), where the God says: "I am richer than all of the gods (taken by human to be their god). Those who perform their act of worship while associating me with others, I will leave them to what they are eager to take as their gods!!!"

From the Hadith Qudsi, al-Harith al-Muhasibiy in his book, ar-Ri'ayaat had issued a guideline that the sincerity begins with the obedience is performed solely for His sake and not because of others. In relation to showing off, it implies that the intention for the act of worship and obedience must be purely because of the God. Never mix the intention because of the God with other intentions.

Says as-Samarqandi may the God be merciful to him: "as many as the obedience of a slave for the sake of the God being accepted  and as many obedience done because of human will be rejected." For example, a man who performed prayers because it is his responsibility, but he bows and stands nicely in front of others because he feels shy to others if his prayers is incomplete. Thus his prayer service is initially accepted by the God but the acts such as bowing and standing because of other fellow human are rejected because he is doing it because of his fellow human and not because of the God. So, it is important to check the intention when we do something even in prayers as to make sure that we are devoted only to the God and not to other gods.  

How about leaving the acts of worship because afraid of being accused as showing off? Says al-Fadheel: "Whoever leaves the act of worship because of human is counted as showing off and whoever performs the act of worship because of human is counted as a polytheist. Beginning sincerity is when the God cures you from both of those diseases."

There are many other explanations for this hadith regarding sincerity. It is important for us to understand that we have to be devoted only to the God the Most Highest in obedience and services to Him. How is it? It is through our intention or niyyah. Everything that we do in our life is counted as the worship to the God if it is good. Thus, when we do that, we must be sincere to Him. When we are doing our job, we must begin with the intention because of Him and with His holiest Name. Our life is only because of Him as what we recite in our prayer services, "indeed our life and death is only because of the God, the Lord of the Universe." 

This hadith applies in every aspect of our life as a Muslim and a faithful servant of Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. It also could be applied to determine criminal cases. Please help me brothers and sisters if you come across this humble sharing in this post, please chant salawat to prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family and his companions and his nation of this period of near resurrection, may you be blessed by Allah 'Azza wa Jalla.

May Allah be in contact with prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family. May Allah cure us from evil diseases and purify our heart and soul. May Allah bless my brothers and sisters in faith with His love and always be with my brothers and sisters. Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love for brothers and sisters in faith, amin!!!