"People who think ibadah is just for deeds are like people who think life is just for breathing. they're missing something.."

I quoted this one from a friend, Yusri Jamaluddin, who posted it on facebook. It was like one month ago that he posted it but recently I felt the burning desire to write something regarding this post. I cannot agree more with this statement.  Especially the last sentence. They are missing something. Before I continue on my post, this is the comment from my other friend. 

"Life is not just for breathing. its for filling those breaths with good things(actions,words,etc). ibadah is not just for deeds. its for shaping u up and making u a better muslim. know the ibadah, understand it, and feels it. correct me if i am wrong." 

This words are given by my roommate, Firdaus Razali. In my view, he get it right. Ibadat is not only about worshipping the god. If we understand the hidden meaning behind each ibadat that we do, we can apply it in our life.

"Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do." Al-Ankabut (29:45)

It is stated in the Quran that our prayer can help us in avoiding immorality and wrongdoings. Thus, five prayers per day are not meant to be a form of ibadat only. By performing our prayer, we can behave better and avoid doing things that are not supposed to be done in our daily life. 

" Wahai pada pemuda, barangsiapa yang mempunyai kemampuan dari kalangan kamu, maka berkahwinlah, kerana kahwin itu boleh menjaga pandangan dan boleh menjaga kehormatan. Jika kamu tidak mampu maka berpuasalah, kerana pada puasa itu ada penjagaan "

Fasting, like prayers, are divided into two, compulsory and optional. Both have their own meaning. In the hadith, both men and women are asked to marry if they are able to do so. If they are not, they are asked to fast because fasting can weaken the desire for sex. There are some meanings and reasons for the deeds that Allah asked us to do.
Getting to my point, I really feel that it is important for us to understand the meaning for each ibadat that we do. This will help us in getting more sincere in performing them. By that, I am not saying that we need not to be sincere if we do not understand the meaning behind every ibadat. By all means, we should. 
Wearing hijab is a form of ibadat. For those who cover their aurat for fear of disobeying Allah, they will be rewarded for their deed. However, covering aurat for the sake of doing it is not something that we should do. Again, I'm not saying that if that is the case, we should not do it. By all means, we should. However, it is important for us to understand the meaning behind wearing hijab, or for that matter, covering aurat. It is a form of protection.A protection to protect us from our nafsu and others as well. Thus if one wears hijab but at the same time, she is wearing a tight jean, or maybe the hijab is not covering her chest, her hijab is not protecting her from others. And it does not protect her from herself too. And, god forbid, her action might become a slander for Islam. Thus, understand that, our ibadat is not just for the sake for deeds but there are some meanings behind them.
And do not get me wrong. I am not saying that women are the only wrong party here. Men have a big responsibility. 

Dari Ammar bin Yasir berkata, ia mendengar dari Rasulullah SAW berkata : " Tiga yang tidak memasuki syurga sampai bila-bila iaiatu Si DAYUS, si wanita yang menyerupai lelaki dan orang yang ketagih arak" lalu sahabat berkata : Wahai Rasulullah, kami telah faham erti orang yang ketagih arak, tetapi apakah itu DAYUS? , berkata nabi : "IAITU ORANG YANG TIDAK MEMPERDULIKAN SIAPA YANG MASUK BERTEMU DENGAN AHLINYA (ISTERI DAN ANAK-ANAKNYA) - ( Riwayat At-Tabrani ; Majma az-Zawaid, 4/327 dan rawinya adalah thiqat)

and in another hadith,

 Apakah dayus itu wahai Rasulullah? Jawab Nabi : Iaitu seseorang ( lelaki) yang membiarkan kejahatan ( zina, buka aurat, bergaul bebas ) dilakukan oleh ahlinya ( isteri dan keluarganya)  

Last but not least, 

And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me                                        (Az-Zariyat 51:56)

Yeah, I am one hell of a judgmental person. I got to admit it. I can easily jump to conclusion whenever I saw something. Sometimes, I evaluate person even on a simple basis such as clothing and bags. I know that this is not fair but it is inside me. I cannot just deny the fact that I have that tendency. But then, I always try to fight those biased, inaccurate judgment. I always do. And I can even do it to the extent that I defend the acts of that person.
I do judge, people. I am not an angel. I always tell others do not judge so that it will also reminds me not to judge others.

Ever heard of slippery slope? I learned about it in my Speech Communication class last spring semester. It is a reasoning when you relate an event  with another subsequent event that seems to have a relationship with the former. A great example of such situation is a poem which I, and certainly most of us, learned when I was in primary school
   Siakap Senohong
      Gelama Ikan Duri;
   Bercakap bohong
      Lama-lama mencuri.
Though slippery slope is said to be unreliable since usually people do not provide any strong proof regarding such situation, I do think that it can be used in many ways. One of them is to remind ourselves about thing we should and should not do. In order to avoid big mistakes, keep yourself away from small mistakes. I've heard a talk from a well-known ustaz about adultery. If syaitan come to us and straight away ask us to commit adultery, we will most probably say that it is sinful. But then, of course it is not the way we all fall into big mistakes. We all start with small sins such as going out, dating, walking home together and etc.
In psychology, there is a method called 'Foot in the Door'. According to psychologists, to accomplish a big and seemingly impossible mission, start with a small one. To borrow a car from a neighbor, start with asking to use his bicycle. To cheat someone's money, start with borrowing a small amount. Give a good impression and you can move on to the next stage. The same method applied to our life. If we normalize all the small sins, then, we are bound to do the bigger one later in our life. Thus, the right solution for all of us is

"DO NOT COMPROMISE"

I know that things are easier said than done, but remember, there are always reward for those who are patient.

I know that this is, like , the 247th time I said the same thing, but I still gonna say it.

"Be the change that you want to see"

If you are hoping to see a change in this world, you must guide the others to make the change. The world will not simply change by saying one or two words and putting a hope that the others will think for themselves. I don't know if there is someone out there who change the world by mere words, but I certainly know that I have not see it. At least, that was what happening for the past 19 years of my life. 

When I first saw the banner on the forum/discussion about hudud at McD section 18, I already set my heart that I will be there for the forum. And Alhamdulllah, I was there up until about two hours ago. Since it is written under INTEC's rules and regulation that all of us have to be back in the hostel before 11, I had to excuse myself before we even started the second round of the discussion. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to see the intellects from both UMNO and PAS sit together and discuss about hudud in a quite calm manner. May this become the start for a better future InsyaAllah.I was also given the opportunity to know a great person today. One of the panelist of the forum today is Fathul Bari Mat Jahaya, a young ulama' of UMNO. I love his calm manner in giving his points and views on the topic given. No matter on which party you are siding, as long as you are fighting for the haq and it is based on the al quran and as-sunnah, InsyaAllah the success will worth all the pain you have gone through

Being a committee of a student body for a multiracial program does make all the political issues become more reasonable and comprehensible for me. As I said earlier, making things reasonable may help us to understand people and their actions more. To be a good leader, you will not always win the hearts of the people around you. Face it.

It's 2.51 a.m and I have not sleep yet. It is not that I am not sleepy but I just dont want to lie down yet.
So, yesterday was, and still is, not my birthday. Someone had change my facebook profile and set October 1 as my birthday. My fb wall was flooded with all the wishes from some of my friends that apparently did not know my real birthday. Lol. It is not important for them to remember my birthday at the first place. Okay, some of them actually know and they did posted about it on my wall. So, now I know that some people do remember my birthday. Wee~
Worst of all, my friends did throw a birthday song while we were having our dinner earlier. We were waiting for all the food to be served first before we start eating. It was a little bit weird since we usually don't wait for everyone to get his meal first before eating. Paan and Hazim arrived a little bit late, so we did not wait for them. Suddenly, Terence started singing a happy-birthday song. I was blur at that time and I tried to recall if it was someone's birthday. I only realized about it when everyone was smiling and grinning at me. Seriously, it was a very funny moment. They did know that it was only a prank but still they want to celebrate it. LOL.

I actually wanna write about one of my favorite quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a famous writer. It was quoted in the talk given by Sam Richard which I posted in the post earlier.

While nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer, 

nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

 Changing the context of the evildoer to a more applicable situation, I would like to say that it is always easy to denounce the action of others. Yes, I do agree that, to some extent, we need to disagree with others' actions. I do have my own opinions on others' action and I usually disagree with people's opinions. I also have the tendency to argue with others even on a small matter. However, I try to understand people. Why they do things that we think are not appropriate? Why they do things that they themselves know are not appropriate?
Understanding and accepting is two different things. To understand is to know their intentions, their feelings, their insecurities, their perceptions and their emotions. Even if we cannot do fully do it, we should try to do so before saying anything. Know that judgments do hurt others' feelings.

In the end, we are just clueless about others. Even sometimes, we do not know why we do things that we have done. To accept their action is another thing. If it is against the law or against Islam, we clearly cannot accept it. Understanding is important so that we did not mock and judge others for their actions.