Never Despair (:

ﺑﺴﻢﺍﻟﻠﻪﺍﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦﺍﻟﺮﺣﻴﻢ


"Don`t despair and never loose hope
Cause Allah is always by your side" 
Maher Zain - InsyaAllah

Life is like a wheel, sometimes we are at the top and sometimes we lie at the bottom. I know everyone have been realize on that. That is why we should not despair when we get into the bottom of our life because we know that our wheel of life must turn to the top. Only Allah knows the best. So, our job is try to make an effort to achieve a goals. Do know that He counts on our efforts. He did not let our efforts to vain just like that. 

Challenges are part and parcel of life. Those who succeed are those who dare confront those challenges. They are also willing to learn from failures. We need to remove the word despair in our vocabulary like the word stutter does not exist in the vocabulary of the Red Indians and they never stutter. So that we do not despair in the face of hardship.

Allah says :
( قَالَ وَمَن يَقۡنَطُ مِن رَّحۡمَةِ رَبِّهِۦۤ إِلَّا ٱلضَّآلُّونَ (٥٦
"(Ibrahim) said: 'And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except those who are astray?" (56)
[Chapter Al-Hijr verse 56]

People who posses a 'negative mind' live in prisons of their own making. For them, life is full of sorrow, suffering and destruction.

On contrary, winners possess the 'winning mind'. They are willing to change their perspectives. They are willing to change dis-empowering thoughts with empowering beliefs. They believe that Allah will help them. They accept the fact that problems are part and parcel of life. They also believe that every problem has a solution. For them, with the right approach and attitude, happiness will be the end product. 

The word despair is not part of their life dictionary. These people are truly the successful ones. Hopefully , we are part of them. 

People with winning minds are willing to be patient and persevering.

(وَلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىۡءٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡخَوۡفِ وَٱلۡجُوعِ وَنَقۡصٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡأَمۡوَٲلِ وَٱلۡأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٲتِ‌ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ  (١٥٥
"And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to as-Sabirin (the patient ones)." (155)
[Chapter Al-Baqarah verse 155]

Actually,
If you keep on trying, you will never fail.
You will fail when you stop trying.

When you are focusing on your strengths, focus on things that you can do. Many people focus too much on their weaknesses and end up doing nothing. They are too preoccupied and influenced by negative phrases like, "I am not capable, I cannot do anything". They want to move forward, but unfortunately, their first step involves building an invisible wall that hinders their movements. Islam educates its ummah to focus on their strengths. When your strength is at 30 percent, use that 30 percent and it will expand to 40 percent.

The best examples of successful believers are the Prophet's Companions. For years, they lived a life of distress and suffering. In Mecca, the Muhajirin were oppressed and tortured for 13 years. Once, the Quraisy imposed an economic boycott on them for about three years. Later, they had to leave everything behind to emigrate to Medina. Eventually, with patience and determination, they successfully built an amazing empire. 

Subahanallah, this was such a great sacrifice and determination also faith and piety.

( وَلَا تَهِنُواْ وَلَا تَحۡزَنُواْ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلۡأَعۡلَوۡنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤۡمِنِينَ (١٣٩
"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, for you are superior if you indeed (true) believers." (139)
[Chapter Ali Imran verse 139]

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Conclusion :

1. Be a 'winning mind' or 'positive mind' person.
2. Focus on your strengthen. Let it conquer your life even though it is in little percentage.
3. Keep on trying and you will see the rainbow. If not in this life, in Hereafter. Do believe it!
4. Remove the word DESPAIR in your life and do know Allah always besides us.

:)

References : 

1. 7 Formulas of Excellent Individuals, Dr. Danial Zainal Abidin
2. Al-Quran Al-Kareem

written by : Humaira

edited by : Athirah Ismail & Fathul Muin

You Are The Best !

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful.

First and foremost, I just read a book by Dr. Danial Zainal Abidin entitled 7 Formula of Excellent Individuals.

So, for this entry I would like to share the FIRST formula of excellent individuals that is REALISING THAT YOU ARE THE BEST !

As we know, Muslim are the best ummah (nation) created by Allah. Allah says in the chapter Ali Imran verse 110, "You are the best ummah that has ever been raised up for the good of mankind because you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. You believe in Allah with real belief."

According to Imam Qatadah, Caliph Umar al-Khattab once said, "Whoever likes to be included in the best ummah, then fulfil God's requirements as mention in this verse."

Now, I want to share a story that might open your eyes and heart to realise that you are the best. Not even other person.

This story about The Lost Diamond. But I think most of us really know this story. Anyway, enjoy it for the first, second or third times ^^.

******

Long time ago, not far from the Indus River, lived a man named Ali Hafiz and his family. He had a farm and a big orchard. Thus, he might be regarded as a rich person. Every night, he expressed his gratefulness to Allah, and every night, he slept soundly. One day, a man who studied many stories of the past came to visit him. He told Ali Hafiz about how diamonds were made and said, "When you have a diamond the size of a thumb, you can buy a country, and when you have a diamond mine, you can control the world."


Since that day, Ali Hafiz could not sleep soundly, and since then, he forgot to be grateful to Allah. He spent most of his days and nights to think about how to acquire those diamonds. Finally, he decided to sell all of his assets and travel to look for a diamond mine.
So, Ali Hafiz bid farewell to his family and began his quest. He travelled to Palestine, Europe and finally arrived in the Gulf of Barcelona, in a state of destitution. However, he still could not found 'his diamonds'. He was really frustrated and finally, he threw himself into the sea.


With regard to the farm and orchard that he had sold ; one day, the new owner was walking in the orchard. He then stopped at the edge of a river . He felt strange because the sands in the river were sparkling. He scooped the sands and showed it to the man who had studied many stories of the past. The man was stunned because the sand contains precious diamonds and indeed, those were the type of diamonds that were sought by Ali Hafiz.
Yes, Ali Hafiz wasted his money, time and energy for searching the diamonds whereas he already owned it ! 
The discovery resulted in the conversion of the orchard into a large diamond mine. Today it is known as the Golcanda Mine.

*The end of this story.*

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The lessons from this story are :

• Many Muslims today are like Ali Hafiz. We do not realize that ISLAM is a 'diamond mine' that stands above all other teaching and religions. We seek the glory through foreign cultures and philosophies. We adore the 'deviant philosophies' that contravene to Islam, and feel proud of them. Finally, we are humiliated and obliterated. When it is already too late, then only do we realize that the greatness, pride, excellence and happiness that we have been searching for all this while was actually right in front of our very eyes. That diamond, in this case, is our own religion ISLAM.

So, this is the end of the Ali Hafiz life. We ? No bodies ever know. Only He, Allah knows everything and anything about us. Let's we improve ourselves, our Faith (Iman) and our piety (taqwa) and at the end of the day, inshaAllah we could get the best of our ended (read : husnul khatimah). We never know, but we try the best and let He do the rest. One more thing, do not ever placed the world or materials in our heart enough it is just put in our hands.

Yes, as a Muslim we should not forget that the most precious diamonds are in our garden, the garden of Islam. We hope these diamonds in the form of Islamic teachings will make us glitter all over the world. Hopefully, we will not make the same mistake as Ali Hafiz did.

Wallahu'alam :)

Life is the journey to the destination

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: "He who dies at the time it was in a state obey God, do good, then it was raised by God to life again with conditions that he likes, and those who die at the time they are in rebellion to God, to do evil, then it is switched back to the conditions that he did not likes ". (Narrated Jabir r.a)


The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: "Verily, the mukmin will receive stress because there is not a disaster either because pricked by thorns or a larger than that, nor fear except to Allah, will raise the status to a degree and eliminate an error with their patience of the disaster and distress." (Reported by al-Hakim)


Tribulations or the test is in line with the struggle. Therefore it still needs a supply of faith, patience and istiqamah. Tests used to measure whether our faith to Allah and all His teachings are true and followed by behaviour and action, or just stop there in the mouth.


Muslims will be tested with five things in this journey of life:
1. brothers and sisters who are always the envy against him,
2. hypocrites who always hated him
3. unbelievers who always fight him
4. the devil is always trying to misguide him
5. Whispers of desires that always shake his faith. 
All this demands patience and in which there is great reward from Allah SWT.


Opponent for the patient is complaining and it is an act that is prohibited by our religion, because it would make our spirit to weaken and rising frustration and despair. While He says in His Holy Quran: "Verily with every difficulty there is relief." (al-Insyirah: 6)


Without problems or  test would not exist maturity because the experience in solving problems is the best teacher in ensuring success in life.

فَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ ضُرٌّ۬ دَعَانَا ثُمَّ إِذَا خَوَّلۡنَـٰهُ نِعۡمَةً۬ مِّنَّا قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أُوتِيتُهُ ۥ عَلَىٰ عِلۡمِۭ‌ۚ بَلۡ هِىَ فِتۡنَةٌ۬ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكۡثَرَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُونَ 

Now, when trouble touches man, he cries to Us: But when We bestow a favour upon him as from Ourselves, he says, "This has been given to me because of a certain knowledge (I have)!" Nay, but this is but a trial, but most of them understand not!

(Az-Zumar 39:49)

So, we must always pray to Him for give us strengthen in this journey of life. Without His blessing, it is hard to get success in this world and the next there. 

Wallahu'alam 

MALAYSIA

Malaysia is a multiracial country. Malaysia has a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and 1 percent of other ethnic groups. Malaysia is unique because of its diversity of races, religions and cultures, the stability of the country and many places of interests. Besides, there are many international achievements which are the pride of our nation.

Diversity of races, religions and cultures is a significant characteristic of our nation. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a rich cultural heritage. Unique to Malaysia is the 'Open House' concept where during the various cultural and religious festival like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Gawai Day and others, friends and families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by the hosts. Although the visitors may be from different races, they still can tolerate with each other and live under the same roof where they celebrate the festival together. This will help to strengthen the ties among themselves.

Moreover, the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is also a uniqueness of us. We live harmoniously in a country where there are no wars and conflicts among Malaysians. War is dreadful and it may deteriorate humans' lives. We are fortunate that our country is safe and runs off the war. So, people can live safely here. Somehow, Malaysia is a paradise for those Iraqis or Pakistanis. Besides, our country is freed from natural disasters such as earthquakes. Earthquakes may bring death and destroy many buildings. Therefore, Malaysia is unique because of the stability and peaceful environment.

On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest. Malaysia's rain forest is considered as the oldest in the world. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to excite a great deal of scientific research. Many believe that some undiscovered plant may hold cures to many currently incurable human diseases. There are many islands in our country such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Redang, Pulau Ketam and many others. Pulau Langkawi has a lot of historitical informations. Those who are in favour of history can go there to explore the history of that place. All the beaches in those islands are beautiful. The sand is soft and white. The accommodation is well-established and that makes those islands ideal places to visit.

Following this, there are also international achievements of our country. Those achievements include the existence of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Formula One (F1) racing circuit and the Petronas Twin Towers. KLIA is unique because it has all that is needed for business, entertainment and relaxation within its boundaries. The airport is part and parcel of the Multimedia Super Corridor where high technology industries are being actively developed. Nevertheless, there is a Formula One Race Track near the airport, so foreign car racing enthusiasts from all over the world can come for a visit to gather here. Besides that, Petronas Twin Towers which is a building that soars 452 metres into the sky is once upon a time, the tallest building in the world and yet it is a national pride to the people of Malaysia.

In short, Malaysia is unique that it has diversity of races, religions and cultures, a stable and peaceful environment, places of interest and some internal achievements. Those are important characteristic of our nation. It is rich of cultural heritage; it would be worth to play a visit here.=)

4 . Arranged Marriage

In an arranged marriage, the choice of a husband or wife is made by parents or elders. What do you think of this practise in today’s society? Discuss.

Marriage? Such an interesting topic to be discussed. In this century, we always heard that marriage is a pure relationship between two people in love. However, what is our first impression when it comes to arranged marriage? I believe, most will say, "arranged marriage?What nonsense! Arranged marriage in this millennium era? Such an old school and silly thing". But, do not eagerly make early judgement without thinking about it deeply, it can be relevant and irrelevant too. So, let’s have our chat about pro and cons before jumping to any conclusion.

Based on the statistic that had been made by a non-government organisation, almost 61%of the women in Malaysia faced a common problem which is late marriage. Late marriage had been an issue because many female or male workers are worried on finding a partner in their life as they are not getting much younger. Eventually, it will affects their working performance. So, by choice of a husband or wife by their parents or elders, thus can avoid the women from been getting involved in late marriage whether they live in village or in metropolitan city. Besides,the women do not need to be worry to be ‘andartu’ as the parents will find and arrange the marriage for them. So, in today society, this is very practical because a lot of successful person do not have time to find their life partner based on their busy life.

Besides that, probability of parents making the right choice on choosing a right spouse is usually 0.9. Parents are more experience in this journey of life and they do know us better than ourselves. They are the one who take care of us since we were born, and absolutely they want the best for us. Therefore, there is no doubt that they decide an arranged marriage for us is because they love,care about us. And there is no reason for them to choose wrong or bad person to be our life partner. People might say that the choice by our parents may be the wrong one but of course that is not their intention. So, why not we trust our parents by knowing their candidate first before deciding anything because parent’s choice usually comes with full of blessing.

The cons from this situation is those who are involved in arranged marriage,could not cooperate well with their partner . So, this situation is leading towards divorce and based on the survey that had been made by Syariah Council officers, almost 75% new partners that had been involved in arranged marriage sign in to divorce every 3 months. What a shocking result? This shows that not all arranged marriage is always successful.

Based on the points given it shows that arranged marriage has it's pros and cons and we can evaluate ourselves whether to be involved with it or not. For some remote area such as in orang asli community, arranged marriage is a symbolic to their culture. If you think that arranged marriage is good for you, then practice it. If not, do not risk yourself as marriage is not only about falling in love and blissful events,it is also about how to accept the incomplete of the other half of you.Last but not least, think carefully before involved in arranged marriage.

3 . Smoking Habit Among Youngsters

Question : A survey was conducted among young smokers in Town X. Study the findings of the survey and write an article to be published in a local daily. Your article should integrate all the in formation given below. You should write 150 to 200 words.

Smoking Habit among Youngsters in Town X

A survey on smoking habits among youngsters in Town X was conducted according to their age groups and gender. The finding portrays that the number of smokers increase as the age of youngster increase.

This survey shows that the smokers among the boys within age 10 to 12 is the lowest that is three people and increase to 13 people when reached the boys between ages 13 to 15. Meanwhile, on both of these groups show no girls are involved in smoking. However, the girls smokers started to appear at the age 16 to 18 with the number of smokers is six people, while the boys smokers keep increasing to 20 people within this ages. For the boys among the age of 19 to 21, there are an enormous numbers of smokers that is 40 with the girls increase to eight persons.

In conclusion, as the age increase, number of youngster smokers shows negative improvement. It also shows that majority of youngster smokers are the boys.

by : Humaira . Athirah . Muin .

( 166 words )

2 . Sexual Crime Involving Teenagers

Question : Recently the sharp increase of sexual crime involving teenagers has been shocking. Do you agree that teenagers should be blamed as they do not know how to protect themselves?

A 15 years old girl has been raped by her boyfriend and his friends in turn.Before, she told her mother that she wanted to go to her friend’s house for study group but instead she followed her boyfriend. But it turned to be a nightmare for her. This real and tragic story shows that the girl absolutely does not know how to protect herself. Unluckily, same goes to the most of teenagers outside there even we are now heading to the peak of modernization. As there are still teenagers, do you think we should still put the blame on their parents?Think wisely and most of us will admit hardly that the teenagers should be blamed for not knowing how to protect themselves as they don’t want to be controlled by their parents and peer pressure effects,culture shock and lack of practising religious teaching as well.

Adolescence phase can be said as the golden time for everybody. So, their soul tend to do anything exceed the barrier without their parents’ controlled. To be worst,wrong selection of peer can affect their behavior and action. As we know most of the teenager’s times is being spend with their friends instead of family. We cannot blame parents hundred percent on this issue as teenagers themselves spend most the time at school or college and even if their parents are really take care and give their attention to the children; they still have no power to take full controlled of their children from doing something unwanted. Therefore, it is the teenager’s role to learn how to protect themselves from being the victim of sexual crime and take a good effort to control their inquiry.

“Son, when I was your age, life was so different. We just stay in village; we not migrate to the big cities. Life then and life now is like opposite ends of the spectrum.”Today, a lot of teenagers had made decision to migrate to big cities as they think that they can survival in a new atmosphere. Surely, a black cat does not same as the white one. There are very big differing between social life at cities and village. These teenagers maybe would faced a culture shock when get in city life. For example, they would change their appearance due to the culture shock especially girls. From proper dress up; baju kurung into skimpy, tank top and mini skirt add with a pair of stilettos’. What’re pity teenagers? Indirectly from this situations, would give a large chances to teenagers to involve in sexual crime such as being raped and etc. This shows, culture shock had give a bad impact to the teenagers as they could be involved in sexual crime.

When we think about this issue deeply, we should realize that it can be solved only by practicing the real and beautiful religious teaching. But this kind of solving is really hard and take quite longer times as teenagers nowadays has been exposed to the negative side of the world. The teenagers actually have been taught with the religious teaching, but most of them do not understand, feel and practice it very well in their daily life. They do know rule of their religion but they are more tend to involve in hedonism and take their religion for granted. Taking one of the verses from Qoran,,"Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts...." Therefore, it is the teenager’s mistakes for not overwhelming themselves with their religious teaching which can prevent them from involving in sexual crime.

In this day and age, the teenagers cannot be expected to lead sheltered, protected lives. They have to go about doing tasks outside the home, such as attending classes; therefore it is important that they learn how to watch out for themselves. While many of us may dismiss sexual crime involve teenagers as an insignificant matter, it would pay for all of us to sit up and take note of the fact that sexual crime does not just happen, it needs to be nurtured from young so that we could learnt how to protected teenagers from involving in sexual crime.