Mutiara Hati*

Assalamu’alaikum wrmth,

I haven’t wrote in ages. Eons maybe.

I found a long-lost note stashed somewhere in my dog-eared notebook. Thought of posting it here, as a reminder for me, and if others benefit, I’d be mighty glad. Insya Allah .

I thought I should know what being Muslim means, what true love means, what sincerity means, what friendship means, what ‘life’ supposed to mean, what akhirat means, but do I really? Getting the right job, mixing with the right social friends, being seen, being ‘somewhere’ is part and parcel of our cool and modern way of life. We are wrapped up in our daily trials and tribulations that we sometimes conveniently ‘disregard’ guidelines that Allah has bestowed upon us.

Our worldly worries; financial, emotional, material and etc, seems like a silent sanction for us until we take lightly our true life purposes and responsibilities. Even simple responsibilities like daily prayers, muhasabah diri, building a family of solehins or to socialize appropriately with our non-muhrim ‘friends‘.

One wise man said, we possibly know someone with a seemingly perfect life, residing in towers with magnificent wealth but does not even care to pray or live by Al-Quran and sunnah. We know for better, no matter how seemingly perfect that life might appear, it is just an illusion of water on a flaming desert (while true happiness lies in our devotion to Allah and our consistent effort to be a better mukmin).

We consciously know why certain things have passed as hukum Allah but why do we consciously ignore it?

What caused us to ignore it?

Do we ever think about it, because God forbid (na’uzubillah min zalik), that Allah has put down the lid on our hearts from hidayah.

“Maka jika mereka tidak menjawab (tentanganmu), ketahuilah bahawa sesungguhnya mereka hanyalah mengikuti hawa nafsu mereka (belaka). Dan siapakah yang lebih sesat daripada orang yang mengikuti hawa nafsunya dengan tidak mendapat petunjuk dari Allah sedikit pun. Sesungguhnya Allah tidak memberi petunjuk kepada orang-orang yang zalim.” (Al-Qashash:50)

“Orang yang zalim itu (tidak berfikir), bahkan menurut hawa nafsu mereka dengan tidak berdasarkan pengetahuan. Maka tiada sesiapa yang dapat memberi petunjuk kepada orang yang telah disesatkan oleh Allah (disebabkan pilihannya sendiri) dan tidak ada bagi mereka sesiapa yang dapat menolong melepaskan mereka daripada azab.” (Ar-Rum:29)

“Maka hadapkanlah wajahmu (mengikhlaskan dirimu) kearah agama Allah - fitrah Allah yang telah menciptakan manusia menurut fitrah itu, tidak patut ada sebarang perubahan pada agama Allah itu; itulah agama yang lurus, tetapi kebanyakan manusia tidak mengetahui. Hendaklah kamu sentiasa kembali kepada Allah (dengan mengerjakan amal-amal bakti) serta bertaqwalah kamu kepadaNya dan kerjakanlah solat dengan betul sempurna dan janganlah kamu termasuk di kalangan orang yang musyrik. (Ar-Rum:30,31)

I have done my share of mistakes in the past that have resulted in not-so-nice situations. My only way of seeking comfort is through prayers and incessant crusade of finding answers in the Quran or books authored by esteemed Muslim scholars. In my greener days, I did examined copious amount of western philosophers’ work. It is a commendable notion of enhancing one’s knowledge but somehow I knew the relevance of the latter is inadequate, as it is not entirely fitting for my culture and faith.

Among my collection of editorials, I want to share an article written by Prof. Dr. Sidek Baba from Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia on “Penggunaan akal kerana Allah ”. I think it’s a treasure, and hoping if God wills, we might be interested to read it with our ‘bashirah‘ vision (mata-hati). I sincerely wish we might stumble (be it again-and-again) on a great re-discovery. I learn in schools and through many mediums before, but at some point, the truth touched my heart in an unimaginable way, and in my most humble state I understood (even though) a little, a particle of the vast beauty that is my religion.

Dearest muslimins (esp citizens of my beloved Malaysia),

In this time of hardship and ‘fitnah’, may we unite under the same ‘saf‘ & carry forward in the strength of ‘jama’ah‘ - the legacy Rasulullah saw has fought with his noble blood & tears… May we not be distracted and may we shall truly learn from history.

p/s The biggest contributor for muslims disunity is of course the abandonment of ‘ketaatan kpd Allah & sunnah Rasul-Nya’ sehingga tergelincir or ‘berlebih-lebihan & melampaui batas dlm agama’ sehingga tersesat . In smaller theory, I’d like to make a ‘bancian’ the percentage of us yg tak pernah tinggal Solat Jama’ah (bagi yg berkemampuan) & fully practice the culture of giving & receiving ’salam’. Selalu kita jumpa kan? ”Hi”, “Good morning”, “What’s up?” lebih diagung-agungkan. Malah, ada yg rasa malu or terasa ‘alim sgt’ bila bagi salam. Sebenarnya kita terlupa atau tak tahu, ada satu keajaiban besar yg Allah telah kurniakan kpd org2 mukmin - iaitu - kesatuan hati & kasih sayang bertaut apabila sunnah ini di amalkan. Kalau tak percaya, bila2 kita solat jama’ah di masjid or kat rumah, masa tengah mengatur saf, cuba halusi, mesti ada sesuatu yg menyelinap dalam hati apabila bahu bersentuh antara satu sama lain. Cuba di ofis ke or sekolah ke or anywhere nanti, kita bersalam dgn kawan-kawan (yg halal), sambil lafaz “Assalamua’laikum”. Mesti ada sesuatu yg terusik di lubuk hati.

Mudah2an saya selalu beringat tentang perkara ini & Allah memberi kemudahan utk melakukannya. Amin.

Wallahu’alam.

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