Peace

Grab whatever card's thrown your way, deal it your best.

Complaining will get you nowhere. Its time to get up and do something about it. You should be thankful for the good things in life rather than focus on the negative.

There're 6 billion people here. We all have our own problems. And no, don't blame your problems on God. Everything that comes from Him is good, super-good rather. Its all a matter of perspective.

Take a fall as a lesson, get back up. If life was smooth sailing all the way, what kind of test is that anyway?

It is all a test of character. How strong are you? How strong is your faith?

Don't question why, for He works in very mysterious ways. The reason you didn't get a job today might be a better one awaits you tommorow. He always answers your prayers, in ways you would never have imagined, but He answers it all the same. For He loves you, and He knows what is best.

That is why he is God. Don't ask why. That's why it is called faith.

Find your peace, you mangkok.

Dance Like No One's Watching

I'm pretty sure most of us have seen the video of a certain man dancing in the MRT. I made fun of him. Like most people. Called him crazy, shiok sendiri.

Today it hit me.

That man, was living it up.

He was dancing like no-one's watching. And probably worked like he didn't need the money. Loved like he'd never been hurt. Words I believe most of us wrote or said at one point of time, but never really had the guts to follow thru.

How many dare to follow your heart, and do the most crazy thing without a care in the world?

Today I envy that man.

Where Is The Love

When a man thinks he is better than another, and refuses to see the other as an equal, as a fellow human, then no matter what is said, he will find ways and means to justify his actions of persecution against his neighbour.

And then death tolls will count for nothing. Women are fair game. Children even. For they single-mindedly march onwards to their ultimate aim of dominance.

Billions of people in the world co-exists in harmony, yet in a small strip of land, violence has been going on and on and on. The land on one side, is as fertile as the land on the other. A line that separates, how different can it be? How hard is it to share?

And then with such arrogance they plead their case in defence. 'We are just defending ourselves', they say. And yet they label the exact thing their neighbour is doing as 'terrorism'. Where the line drawn between defence and terrorism is so thin it is barely there. What is wrong, what is right?

For each handheld rocket sent unto them, then send their warplanes with payloads to flatten down schools. 'They are building rockets under the desk', so they claim. For each rock thrown unto them, they send their armored tanks.

And yet even with all their firepower and technology, the oppressed will fight on. The fight will live on. They will never know peace. They never did. And never will. For wherever there is injustice, there will be true believers who will stand hard against tyranny.

When you live under such oppression, death is no longer a fear. And to the death the oppressed will fight, the memory of Al-Husayn serving as inspiration. That it is ok to die for a cause. For your home. For your family. For your land. For your beliefs.

Yet as it rages on, no one takes a stand. The powers that surround seem uncaring, avoiding conflict. But do they not know? That even if it is not them suffering today, that tomm it could be? And then wouldn't it be too late?

Have they not realised that for one step taken unopposed, it sets the precedent for 10 more steps. And then a hundred. And where will it stop? When will it stop.

'All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'

How sad. And how so very true.

Papa Don't Preach

Many times i've seen people trying to preach their ideas/beliefs to others, only to be rejected flatly. Considering the validity of their ideas/beliefs, one of the reasons for the rejection would be the delivery of the idea.

Firstly for someone else to even consider your idea, they would first have to be receptive to you as a person. If you came in jumping without first priming your target's receptiveness, they would shut you out at best and at worst, fight back.

In the context of preaching religion, to spread your beliefs/ideals, first you have to be a practising person, for eg. a practising Muslim. You are the advertisement of your religion. Walking the talk, so as to say.

Now I have observed, when someone is a practising Muslim, a devout follower, a learned scolar, they become arrogant, thinking 'Hah, I'm so religious. What do the rest know?' So this is the case which happens with a lot of older people, and a few younger people also, no doubt. And then to them, it becomes their mission to promote Islam, to whoever, wherever, whenever, (Although it is the responsibility of every Muslim to promote Islam) without first considering the situation/scenario they're in.

It is the way they go about it that has people shutting them out. Suddenly, everything these people say has an agenda towards Islam. No you can't do this, you can't do that. That is wrong. It is sinful. Oh i can't join you, there is a sermon i want to attend. Oh you should attend too. (instead of 'would you like to join me?')
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The following is a scenario i have personally witnessed.

At a family gathering, X asks Y, 'Did you receive my email, we're working on our family tree on this website..'
And instantly Y replies, 'Ahh, to me our family tree doesn't matter, what matters is the Prophet's family tree!' and then going on citing the descendants of so and so and so on and so forth.

Of course you can see from this interaction that Y is a very pious person, concerned about passing on his/her knowledge to the current generation. It is good intentions. But what about X? For X to bring the topic of the family tree suggests that it is important to him/her. By brushing off X, Y is showing a disregard for X's feeling, and to be fair, why should X be receptive to Y? If I was X then, i would have given Y a piece of my mind.

Simple, if you want people to listen to you, then start by listening to them. First respect them, respect their beliefs. Then slowly gain their respect. And when you command the respect of others, it is natural that they will listen to you, then slowly you can promote your beliefs.

Even our Prophet didn't spread Islam within a night. What makes you think you can?

Consider the transmitter and receiver. The goal is simple. One is used to broadcast a message. The other receives it. You can broadcast a message over and over again, 24 hours a day. But, if the receiver isn't tuned in to your frequency, your message just ends up being garbled signals in space. Now, you can't force the receiver to be tuned to your frequency. So what you do is you tune your transmitter to the frequency of the receiver.

So to all the learned, I know you mean the best, I do not doubt your intentions. But please, practise humility and patience. Human interaction is a very complicated matter and it is to be treaded delicately. Learn first to listen, respect and understand others. Then maybe you'll earn yours in time. And when you've earned and command that respect, you will command their attention. And then the stage will be set for you, Insyallah.

Although my post was in the context of preaching religion as an example, im sure this applies in many other aspects of our lives. Social, work, basically any kind of human interaction.

Beyond

Pushing The Limits

Anything is possible. Dare to fail. And dare to fall. No one got anywhere by staying in their sheltered comfort zone. Everytime you push beyond the set boundaries, you raise it a notch. Ten notches later, you are somewhere you never thought possible ten notches ago.

It is never good enough, it is neverending. There is NO perfect, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement. Some will see you as arrogant. Say you are over confident. Tell that you're crazy. Laugh at your delusions. Tag you a dreamer.

Look at where they are and look at where you stand now.

Dream big, start small.

You will get there.