It is not all about us...
Once upon a time, Jane berkata, "Aku ingat aku darah AB, rupanya darah A jer. Ingatkan aku special..."
Any picture with ourselves in there, what is the first thing we see? Ooo, I am too fat. I have double chin. Or the colour of my dress is not good enough. Or some others would actually think how smart or handsome they look in that shirt. Whatever angle we look at it, we arrive at the same conclusion.
The event, the people/family around us, the country, the religion become second and less significant to our own selfish selves. Is that how we choose to live our lives? Is it all about us?
First sin ever commited
And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam." And they prostrated except Iblis, he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers. (Al-Baqarah:34)
Pride in fact is the first sin ever committed by the any creation of Allah. Iblis thought that Adam was inferior to him- how can a creature who was created from clay is better that Iblis who was created from smokeless fire? Are we too proud of our Malay supremacy that we failed to acknowledge other inhabitants of the 'Malay' land - are we created from fire of some sort? Not even close!
Four things are among my followers from the traditions of jahiliyyah which will not leave: pride of lineage, slandering kinship, use of astrology for rain, and wailing. (Muslim)
Definition of pride
We are proud to have good family or a good car that we can trust. We do good things and feel good about it. Are those not allowed? Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Rasulullah has explained to us that pride is to reject the truth and look down upon other people. It is ok to be proud of Islam, but to know what we are doing is wrong and still rejecting it - then that is pride. And to have nice car and nice cloth is a reflection of the bounty that Allah gave us, nothing is wrong with that. But to have a nice house or do some good deeds PLUS looking down upon other people - that is the pride that we need to avoid.
He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride164 shall not enter Paradise. A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is rejecting the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people. (Muslim)
Pride in jobs
In doing consult, we definitely will see other people making mistakes. Prescribing NSAIDs in somebody with kidney disease or being asked what to do if creatinine rises from 200 to 220. Physicians condescend fellow doctors in Orthopaedics or surgeons blame physician for not knowing how to examine abdomen. We ask because we don't know. Isn't the Prophet told us to ask people who are knowledgable? People trying to follow the sunnah of the prophet (even without knowing) and we are actually (indirectly) driving people away from it? Yes, there are some silliness in the questions sometimes, but it is our duty to explain and guide the treatment in a nice way so there will be knowledge shared between the specialties.
Ireland is going through a tough time with its economy. Tax increase or salary cut is unavoidable. It is difficult for many people. Those who has plenty of loans to re-pay would probably be worried. Hence, they would be really against any measure by the government to reduce their pay. Of course there are other areas that can be cut, but nevertheless at the end, it is either the country or our loans. Probably we think that if there is no country, there will be no loan to repay!
It is either you or me
Unfortunately we live in the world where salary, title and position play major roles in our daily life. we are surrounded by politicians who want to have a win-lose situation. It is either my party or yours. It is unavoidable sometimes as in reality, there will be losers. But we should ask ourselves, is there any chance of a win-win situation? If somebody has to lose, are we willing to take the sacrifice? How far do we go to help others?
Islam teaches us that we need to protect first of all our religion, than life, mind, offspring and property. It teaches us what is (supposed to be) our priority. If there is one post and we are not chosen to fill in the job, then we step back and think. Is the other guy good for our religion or the life or the mind etc,( which is the greater good)? If it is, then help him.
Somebody asked me about what is the quality of good leader? Among others, somehow I keep coming up with this one answer - a good leader is a good follower as well. I guess i came up with that answer as my experience suggested to me that whoever lose in a competition, then the person would be the sternest competitor against the winner. The loser would gang up with few other guys to cause trouble throughout the other person 'reign'- backbiting, slandering etc. Don't we know that as a follower, we are to follow him as long as it is not against the teaching of Islam? Even if we have opinion of our own, (and the 2 opinions are not against Islam) and after discussion, the leader choose another option, than we are bound to follow him. No talking behind the back - "I have told you I said so before..." That certainly does not help. Leave the pride and start building the bridge.
On a journey, the leader of the group is their servant. (Ibn Majah, Bayhaqi)
Khalid Al-Walid, when he was relieved from being the leader of the army by Umar Al-Khatab and replaced by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, he said, "If Abu Bakr is dead and Umar is the Caliph, then we hear and obey." (Waqidi). Did he go against the caliph or did he not help the new commander to win more battles? Let's not forget that Abu Ubaidah is one of the 10 companions promised paradise, and Umar al-Khattab wanted him to be the next Caliph after him if he didn't die during a plague. Allahu a'lam.
The Greater Good
(Allah is) He who perfected everything that He created. (As-Sajdah:7)
We wonder how come we sometimes were afflicted with lost and death; or we ourselves cause harm to other people. Back to the analogy of a picture where we are part of the picture. Everybody who look at the picture would see their ownselves - fat, handsome, should wear a different shoes etc. Each would think either good (locally good) or bad (locally evil) of themselves. However, as a whole, the picture showed a great memory of family getting together (globally good).
War is no doubt a major disaster that result in killing of numerous people and destruction of properties. Yet, Allah permits them to happen because they fulfill part of His wisdom and overall plan (such as controlling the population, punishing evil nations, trying the believers) that we may not know. Therefore Allah offsets the 'evil' of wars by their important advantages. (Believing in Qadar by Muhammad al-Jibaly 2004). And to Allah belongs the greatest plan. (We don't go to war using those excuses, we are not God!)
It IS about us
I am not saying it is not about us, it IS about us. We are the one who will be rewarded or punished for our good deeds or sins. The final destination is ours to choose. But to achieve the ultimate target, there will be sacrifices that we have to make. Sacrifices that we don't like or will not bring worldly pleasure.
It is about us, but it is not all about us.
@Peace.
Any picture with ourselves in there, what is the first thing we see? Ooo, I am too fat. I have double chin. Or the colour of my dress is not good enough. Or some others would actually think how smart or handsome they look in that shirt. Whatever angle we look at it, we arrive at the same conclusion.
The event, the people/family around us, the country, the religion become second and less significant to our own selfish selves. Is that how we choose to live our lives? Is it all about us?
First sin ever commited
And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam." And they prostrated except Iblis, he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers. (Al-Baqarah:34)
Pride in fact is the first sin ever committed by the any creation of Allah. Iblis thought that Adam was inferior to him- how can a creature who was created from clay is better that Iblis who was created from smokeless fire? Are we too proud of our Malay supremacy that we failed to acknowledge other inhabitants of the 'Malay' land - are we created from fire of some sort? Not even close!
Four things are among my followers from the traditions of jahiliyyah which will not leave: pride of lineage, slandering kinship, use of astrology for rain, and wailing. (Muslim)
Definition of pride
We are proud to have good family or a good car that we can trust. We do good things and feel good about it. Are those not allowed? Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Rasulullah has explained to us that pride is to reject the truth and look down upon other people. It is ok to be proud of Islam, but to know what we are doing is wrong and still rejecting it - then that is pride. And to have nice car and nice cloth is a reflection of the bounty that Allah gave us, nothing is wrong with that. But to have a nice house or do some good deeds PLUS looking down upon other people - that is the pride that we need to avoid.
He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride164 shall not enter Paradise. A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is rejecting the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people. (Muslim)
Pride in jobs
In doing consult, we definitely will see other people making mistakes. Prescribing NSAIDs in somebody with kidney disease or being asked what to do if creatinine rises from 200 to 220. Physicians condescend fellow doctors in Orthopaedics or surgeons blame physician for not knowing how to examine abdomen. We ask because we don't know. Isn't the Prophet told us to ask people who are knowledgable? People trying to follow the sunnah of the prophet (even without knowing) and we are actually (indirectly) driving people away from it? Yes, there are some silliness in the questions sometimes, but it is our duty to explain and guide the treatment in a nice way so there will be knowledge shared between the specialties.
Ireland is going through a tough time with its economy. Tax increase or salary cut is unavoidable. It is difficult for many people. Those who has plenty of loans to re-pay would probably be worried. Hence, they would be really against any measure by the government to reduce their pay. Of course there are other areas that can be cut, but nevertheless at the end, it is either the country or our loans. Probably we think that if there is no country, there will be no loan to repay!
It is either you or me
Unfortunately we live in the world where salary, title and position play major roles in our daily life. we are surrounded by politicians who want to have a win-lose situation. It is either my party or yours. It is unavoidable sometimes as in reality, there will be losers. But we should ask ourselves, is there any chance of a win-win situation? If somebody has to lose, are we willing to take the sacrifice? How far do we go to help others?
Islam teaches us that we need to protect first of all our religion, than life, mind, offspring and property. It teaches us what is (supposed to be) our priority. If there is one post and we are not chosen to fill in the job, then we step back and think. Is the other guy good for our religion or the life or the mind etc,( which is the greater good)? If it is, then help him.
Somebody asked me about what is the quality of good leader? Among others, somehow I keep coming up with this one answer - a good leader is a good follower as well. I guess i came up with that answer as my experience suggested to me that whoever lose in a competition, then the person would be the sternest competitor against the winner. The loser would gang up with few other guys to cause trouble throughout the other person 'reign'- backbiting, slandering etc. Don't we know that as a follower, we are to follow him as long as it is not against the teaching of Islam? Even if we have opinion of our own, (and the 2 opinions are not against Islam) and after discussion, the leader choose another option, than we are bound to follow him. No talking behind the back - "I have told you I said so before..." That certainly does not help. Leave the pride and start building the bridge.
On a journey, the leader of the group is their servant. (Ibn Majah, Bayhaqi)
Khalid Al-Walid, when he was relieved from being the leader of the army by Umar Al-Khatab and replaced by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, he said, "If Abu Bakr is dead and Umar is the Caliph, then we hear and obey." (Waqidi). Did he go against the caliph or did he not help the new commander to win more battles? Let's not forget that Abu Ubaidah is one of the 10 companions promised paradise, and Umar al-Khattab wanted him to be the next Caliph after him if he didn't die during a plague. Allahu a'lam.
The Greater Good
(Allah is) He who perfected everything that He created. (As-Sajdah:7)
We wonder how come we sometimes were afflicted with lost and death; or we ourselves cause harm to other people. Back to the analogy of a picture where we are part of the picture. Everybody who look at the picture would see their ownselves - fat, handsome, should wear a different shoes etc. Each would think either good (locally good) or bad (locally evil) of themselves. However, as a whole, the picture showed a great memory of family getting together (globally good).
War is no doubt a major disaster that result in killing of numerous people and destruction of properties. Yet, Allah permits them to happen because they fulfill part of His wisdom and overall plan (such as controlling the population, punishing evil nations, trying the believers) that we may not know. Therefore Allah offsets the 'evil' of wars by their important advantages. (Believing in Qadar by Muhammad al-Jibaly 2004). And to Allah belongs the greatest plan. (We don't go to war using those excuses, we are not God!)
It IS about us
I am not saying it is not about us, it IS about us. We are the one who will be rewarded or punished for our good deeds or sins. The final destination is ours to choose. But to achieve the ultimate target, there will be sacrifices that we have to make. Sacrifices that we don't like or will not bring worldly pleasure.
It is about us, but it is not all about us.
@Peace.
posted by arrpeace @ 1:27 AM
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