Eid Mubarak

Wishing all Muslims especially those whose saum proved beneficial to them, Eid Mubarak or as they say in my part of the world - Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Ramadhan

RAMADHAN, FESTIVAL OF RELIGIOUS RITUALS
21/09/2006

Do not make Ramadahan an eating festivities, do not make Ramadhan a month where sleeping is the daily rituals and do not make Ramadhan when after a short prayer at night, the activities to follow on is the casual endless chatting. After the seeming endless chatting, everyone returns home to sleep, forgetting to get up during the night to be close to God.

Ramadhan is not only to revive the night or to suffer from hunger during the day and being under exhaustion. Ramadhan is meant for us to revive our minds, our hearts and souls with the feeling of being with God. Ramadhan is the joyous times for our souls to feel subservience towards Him, to feel low down with Him, to have the feeling of weakness towards Him, and to have the feeling of being small towards God the AlMighty.

Ramadhan is the time to revive our hearts to feel humble, to fear God, to love God, to feel being with God always. Ramadhan is the time to make our souls have the feeling of compassion towards others, loving and caring for others, to sympathise with those in hardships and those unfortunate ones.Ramadhan is the time to deepen our feelings of being sinful towards Him, having fear to do anymore wrongdoings. Ramadhan is the time to feel God's Supremacy, to feel His Awesomeness and His Strength. Ramadhan is not just actively doing the physical rituals which seem good on the exterior while the inner aspects are neglected and in darkness.

What is important is to keep our souls alive, having an inner enjoyment. God does not see the exterior or the outside but He sees what's inside.God wishes to see what's inside the human soul as to whether his soul has the feelings of being with God. Fasting during the day, night prayers being performed, Quran being read all to enlighten the soul which has been in darkness. Reciting the zikir should not be just an utterance but it comes with inner feelings. To do zikir is not just at the tongue but the heart is saying it as well, felt in the heart. To do the zikir is not at the tongue but what's remembered inside the heart.

The arrival of Ramadhan is for the purpose of reviving the heart which has been dead all this while. Hopefully, with a month of Ramadhan to revive the heart, it will last for another year. Then as the next Ramadhan appears the same thing happens again where the dead heart is revived to last for another year. This is for the normal person who is indifferent and negligent. For someone with taqwa where his soul is always alive, the coming of Ramadhan is the time for him to upgrade his position with God.

But if Ramadhan comes without any effort to revive the inner souls, the exterior seems joyous, the exterior being lighted up with various physical rituals while the inner rituals left unattended, during the times outside the month of Ramadhan, sad to say, the heart will be left in darkness for the whole year.

UNITY

IMPORTANCE OF UNITY AMONG MANKIND

It is a natural instinct for man regardless of his tribe or race to love,to mingle around among friends and loved ones and to be part of society on the whole. Among the reasons are as follows:

a. Someone who lives by himself will only feel lonely and the emptiness. A conversation with another person will, to a certain extent, help fill the mind and heart and gives a short term happiness.

b. No one is capable to fulfill his basic needs in life like food, drinks, clothing and shelter all by himself. He needs help and assistance from others directly or indirectly.

c. Nobody is free from the various trials and tribulations in life e.g. suffering from illness, living in poverty, suffering from natural disasters and death. As such, it is an impossibility for one to solve and alleviate these problems alone.

d. It is not possible to avoid enmity with others. To help fight against the evils of their enemies, mankind require assisstance. They need help from friends and allies.

e. Opposite sexes attract each other, this is a natural instinct. When there is a mutual feeling and needs arises, this will lead to a bond in marriage. There arises a union of two families.

f. It is the nature of mankind to develop and advance themselves. This brings about the relationship between employers and employees. Employers are dependent on their employees and vice versa.

g. It is the natural tendency of mankind to desire knowledge. Hence the need to look for teachers. Those with knowledge naturally want to disseminate their knowledge to others who are seeking. So there arises a need for one another in a teacher-student relationship.

h. It is also a natural instinct for those with leadership capabilities having the desire to become leaders. The ignorant and the weak need the protection with the help from these capable leaders. There arises a need for each other in a leader-follower relationship.

With the phenomenon listed above, we can conclude that to live in this world we need one another, we need each other’s support, help and cooperation. Like it or not, this the rule of life. If his natural desire does not urge him to do so, the situation in life will force him to need others.