it's another wee~ ^__^

Bismillah

Today was just WOW! I went for this talk (more like a day course) and the topic was "Widening the path : Searching for God in the 21st century". Sounds like a cool topic huh? Yeah! Imaam Suhaib Webb all the way from America? Of course it's gonna be cool!

Boy, did I get that wrong. Alia and I were traumatised when we first saw the letters printed across the course notes file

"Explanation Risalah Al-Mustarshidin of Al-Muhasibi"

Um. I couldnt even read that stuff in bold correctly (well, if you were to put them in Arabic letters, higher chances I'll be able to read them). But what in the world does some risalah have anything to do with searching for God in the 21st century?? Inni kuntu skeptical. Indeed, I was skeptical. I was skeptical, FOR REAL!

The introduction was OMG! We literally went through the author's introduction. I mean, never in my life did I do that. Ok, probably I did a couple of times in the hundred books I've read. But aren't they just for formality's sake, like you know, to thank this bunch of people for the support they gave, that bunch of people for I don't know what contribution they made to publish the book.

But let me tell you what. I was wrong again. Double hit. That is so not the case. Especially for books of Ilm, books of knowledge. There is substance, there is Ilm even in the author's introduction!

It was tough stuff though. At some point it was a bit too high level for me. Stuff like "in Arabic, so and so is an imperfect verb so as to reflect the nature of infinite in the verb" I could still catch, but after that, I was totally blank. I didn't understand a thing till break time.

Alhamdulillah, it DID turn out to be good stuff. Once you've understood the basic rules in riding the roller coaster, here comes the THE ride. Can you imagine, to be able to relate this day, today, the modern age, with some book that was written some hundred years ago? MasyaAllah. Incredible experience indeed. And I really mean soak in the text literally word by word!

One particular thing I'd like to share here is about Shukur that the Imaam mentioned. I'm not sure if it was directly taken from the risalah, but it wasn't there in our compressed version of notes.

I was talking to my sister about it just a couple of days ago. A friend back in ** once voiced (meaning) : "Kadang2 terfikir, kita kena bersyukur dengan apa yang ada. Tapi tak ke dia jadi penyebab untuk menghalang kita dari terus maju? Macam contoh, kita sekarang gaji 3k. Kita bersyukur dengan apa yang ada. Tapi kenapa kita tak berusaha untuk dapat gaji 4k sebulan? Kalau kita berusaha jugak, adakah bermaksud kita tak bersyukur?"

Well, that's how i understood the point that she raised. It kind of make sense actually. I mean, to bersyukur is to be thankful for what you have. To be thankful and remind ourselves that what we have now that Allah has given us, is enough. (At least that's the meaning of shukr that I understood all this while). So to want more than you have now, isn't that being not thankful for what you have now? Tak bersyukur dengan apa yang ada?

Well, this is the shukr that I learnt today. And the conditions of shukr are :

1. Love Allah
2. Recognition of His Favours
3. Expression of gratitude (verbally)
4. Ibadah (At-taa'ah, i.e. by being obedient to His commandments)
5. Not to use those favours in ways that displeases Him.

If you fulfill those conditions up there, insyaAllah you are being thankful to Allah. Hold on a minute. Nothing up there mentions about wanting more than what you have. So you're saying that wanting more salary is ok?

Hem, let's see it from another angle. Alhamdulillah, I am thankful that I was blessed with the deen, with the knowledge of Islam. Saya bersyukur. But to want more, to thirst for more knowledge, is that called as not being thankful?

Nope. I don't think so. To be thankful for something should not always be the opposite of thirst for something. At the end of the day, what is our goal that we have in mind? Is it dunia, or is it akhirah? No, there's nothing wrong with wanting to strive to earn more salary. As long as you do it the halal way. As long as now you are thankful, and insyaAllah with the increase in salary, you are more thankful to Allah.

It is not the matter of "this something is enough for me". It should be "Allah is enough for me in everything". Alhamdulillah.


p/s : the words of the imaam were only the 5 conditions of shukr. Others were all of my own view. Please feel free to critique the latter. I don't think i got any credits to argue on behalf of the former.