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Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Dear God, thank you




As I sat in this morning talk by Ustazah Norhafizah, tears kept pooling up at the corner of my eyes.

"Ya Allah, kau masih mengingati, menyayangi aku walaupun aku ini hanyalah insan kerdil yang banyak melakukan dosa, lagi hina. Betapa banyak aibku tetapi kau tetap bawaku ke jalan yang diredhaiMu. Astagfirullah, SubhanAllah"

I attended today's special talk aptly titled 'Srikandi Idolaku: Saidatina Khadijah & Saidatina Aisyah' at the Yayasan Restu, Shah Alam. The turnout was great although it was held during working hours; from 9.00am-11.00am. As I explained in my Instagram, Yayasan Restu was crawled with cars that some even poured out to the side of the main road. So I ended up parking within the Masjid Shah Alam compound, about 7 minutes walk away from the venue. It was okay for me, as I needed my 10,000 steps anyway.

To be honest, I was still struggling with waking up early and yes, to wake up at 8am today was indeed a challenge for me. I am so used to sleeping at 3am everyday that body sort of got used to it. Usually my normal sleeping routine would be, sleep at 3am or 4am and I will wake up again at 6.45am for a 5-minute Fajr prayer and straight away head back to bed, continuing my sleep. I know, it is bad for my health. No worries, I had a really good wake up call on my health matter earlier this week, which you can read here.

So, since it was a 9 o'clock event, I wind up my alarm clock the night before and had to battle with own body for at least 30 minutes before finally getting up to get ready. I tell you why later. My point is, it took quite an effort from me to get to this morning's event. For me, it was a quite a success the minute I stepped into the auditorium armed with my notepad and pen. 

Every few times a week, I do attend the short classes held by Yayasan Restu every weekday morning. So, I thought the crowd for today's event would be like any normal days during the short classes. Just nice, not too crowded. But oh no, Shah Alam citizens are indeed a bunch of spiritual-conscious people and the entire auditorium was filled to the brim. Ladies, mostly in their late 40s & 50s were seated all over the auditorium and I had to squeezed through a bunch of people before finding a spot for myself. 



The minute Ustazah Norhafizah started her talk, it hit me. 

Here I am, having to battle myself in the morning, had to park my car far away then struggling to get a spot to sit yet as difficult it was, again and again I succeeded and made it possible. All possible because it was fate that allowed me to here today. I was destined to attend this talk, as I was destined to find my path back to God this past few years, as I was destined to start my own business so I would have time and opportunity to attend majlis ilmu such as this. SubhanAllah. 

They started to zikir;

Hasbi rabbi jallallah
Ma fi qolbi ghoirullah
Nur Muhammad sallallah
Haqqul lailahaillallah

Malay translation:-
Cukuplah Tuhan bagiku, Allah yang maha Agung
Tiada dalam hatiku selain Allah
Cahaya Nur Muhammad SAW
Benarlah, Tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah

English translation:-
Allah suffices for me, Allah God Almighty
Nothing in my heart but Allah
Nur (light) of Muhammad peace be upon him
Indeed, There is no God (to worship) but Allah


'Kehebatan Saidatina Khadijah & Aisyah adalah sistem tauhid keyakinan yang kukuh. Tidak ada sedikitpun keraguan langsung kepada Allah.' - Ustazah Norhafizah

MasyaAllah.

After all the years that I have sinned, I have done wrong; never did he ever gave up on me. Somehow, He always lead me back to the rightful path. Dear God, your love for me, for not wanting me to astray for so long is so great that I am ashamed of myself. I am ashamed to you and my Rasul SAW. I do not deserve such love, dear God. Yet you bestow me your guidance. 

Astagfirullah, astagfirullah, astagfirullah. 
Lailahaillallah. 

Dear God, I promise to be istiqamah, I promise to be better. 
I will improve myself slowly but surely, in sha Allah. 
I know I can do better because of the love you have showed me, again and again. 
I will prove to you, dear God, that I deserve to be born as a Muslim and die as a Muslim, in sha Allah. 

I have posted this status shortly in my facebook because knowing how much God loves me moved me greatly. 

"Sometimes you may have everything in the World; wealth, loving family, great career but if you do not have time & health, it doesn't mean anything."

And yes, God has given me all that I need; a bit of wealth, loving family, great career and most importantly, God has given me health, time & opportunity to get closer to Him. Time to learn more about Him from the Al-Quran. Time for me to do more good bidding on earth. To understand that the ultimate recognition in life is only from Him and that death is a convocation to living eternally in akhirat. 

I shall not forsake this opportunity & realisation given by Him, in sha Allah. 













Monday, March 10, 2014

Reflection & Mssing Malaysian Plane MH370

Firstly, let us take a minute and #prayforMH370
Al-Fatihah



We are blessed with technology but being human, we are never grateful for what we have, wanting better gadgets better tools to aid us in our daily life. We take all these God given knowledge, ideas and ability to create for granted. And so have I.

Back in 2011/12 when I was still working for a corporation, I had to travel for work. Never has it occur to me that life was always at stake doing so. Heck, life was always at stake everyday of our breathing life. Scary isn't it?!

Our life, we depend wholly on machines. Alarm clock, toaster, coffee machine, car, LRTs, traffic light, computer, mobile phone, electricity. Yes, our generation is so spoiled that we are so-dependable on these creations. Unfortunately, we all know that machines will fail you one day. Computer will crash, toaster will burnt your bread, traffic light goes out of order, cars needs maintenance.

What if one day, these technology took over us. Look at Matrix for example. Okay, may not be the best example but I watched in on HBO last night, hence the idea to write this post. Just bear with me, what if one day the table turned and we would be controlled by these machines? We have plenty of ideas how life would be like if the tables do turned. Also thanks to all the American sci-fi movie for shedding light on this matter.

My point is this, why do we need them so much if you know it will eventually fail?
Because we are lazy-cows who prefer luxury over hard work. Yes, that is it. Why meet up when we can chat or video conference? Why boil your own water and make your own coffee? Why walk to the nearest convenience store when you can drive?

I admit, that technology are necessary at times. But sometimes, I feel it is essential that we remind ourselves what it feels like to be a human, with limits. Let us start to enjoy the little things we forget; like smelling the coffee your poured yourself into your own cup, Or catching up with friends and laugh instead of texting them, and many more.

Enjoy them; for life is too short.

----

God is Almighty.
It is from Him that we have all of the technology we have today.
He shall give but he can also take it back.
With all the great ships, planes and latest technology we have yet we still could not locate the missing MH370.

It has been 3 days and no luck as yet.
I pity the family of those onboard MH370 especially learning that one of the passenger was an Officer from MITI. I may not know him, but I picture myself in his seat, off for duty serving the country.

It could have been me, It could have been you. It could have been anybody.
Tears welled up whenever I imagine how sad my parents would be if it was me in that plane. All geared up for work, excited to be meeting foreign people and make new friends, a new chapter in life. Never suspecting that fate has planned otherwise.

I thank God once in a while. But not all the time.
I hope he knows that I AM grateful for the blessed life he gives me.
And I think henceforth, it is my duty to remember him for all the good & bad things that happened in my life. The good for it makes me happy, the bad for it teaches me a lesson.

Syukur Alhamdulillah, syukur Alhamdulillah, syukur Alhamdulillah.

I pray for MH370 to be located soon. I pray that God will give the family strength & patience.
This is indeed a mystery. One that only God has the answers to.






Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Inner-Reflection

<< Based on IKIM.fm's Wednesday segment with Prof. Dr. Muhaya >>

Recently I started to listen more to IKIM.fm, thanks to my mum. Though Dad complains that she made him listen to the same channel whole day so he misses his 80s music, haha. My favourite segment is on Wednesday mornings with Professor Dr. Muhaya.

Today's topic is : Reflecting upon Yourself

"Awak sibuk nak betulkan masyarakat. Awak dah betulkan diri awak? Solat dah penuh? Anak macam mana? Keluarga macam mana?"

To change & be happy starts from within.
Jihad starts from home.

Today's way of life is so engrossed with materials, glory and ranks to achieve self satisfaction. We believe that happiness comes from the outer environment (luaran ke dalaman) when in actual fact it should be the opposite (dalaman ke luaran).

"Kita sibuk nak mengendali topeng-topeng kita. Apa itu topeng? Pakaian, pangkat, gelaran, sanjungan, harta. Padahal Allah swt lihat & nampak apa disebalik topeng kita. So apakah tujuan hidup kita? Untuk menggembirakan Allah swt atau mencari penghargaan manusia?"

Some exercises suggested by Prof. to get to know yourself:-

1) Look into the mirror and look deeply into the pupils of your eyes
- If you can't stand to even look at yourself, stare deep into your soul than you hate yourself. You can't stand the sight of yourself and this is mainly because your soul knows ALL the SINS you have committed and is ashamed of itself.

2) Count your heart beat
Count your heartbeat within 15secs and x4. If it is 60 than you are happy and calm. But if your heart beat is more 70, than you are unsatisfied, unhappy.

3) Say you are Sorry & give love
Before sleeping,
fogive and say your sorry to whomever you've hurt today. Give love to yourself, family and the entire being. Be selfless.

4) Diari Kesyukuran, Diari Kesedaran & Diari Bukti
Diari Kesyukuran - to note down everything you are grateful for and that has happened to you today
Diari Kesedaran - to note down everything you feel guilty for and how you will change it tomorrow
Diari Bukti - Evidence of how you change yourself and as consequences something else change for the better.


"Setiap kali kita ubah diri kita, Dunia akan berubah."
" Everytime you change yourself. The World changes along with you"

In sha Allah we can change ourselves; one step at a time.
Amin.

Regards,
Lily Liyana

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Dear Muslim Brothers & Sisters,

This is a peaceful campaign I started, as a reminder to all of us. InsyaAllah, good deeds goes in circles. :)

You are welcome to copy, save & repost the picture to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or whatever sosial media you're on.

Don't forget to add #buyHalalsupportMuslim or #bhsm

Together, we are strong.

Wassalam.
-Lily Liyana-

p.s.: Judge me for all I care. I stand firm for my religion. Full stop.