Islam and Muslims

Many people confused Islam with muslims. Both are regarded as a single entity, the same thing. But they are not.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (p.b.u.h), was given the holy task of spreading the words of Allah. Just like Prophet Musa (Moses) and Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ). No wonder Islam, Judaism and Christianity share the same holy land - Baitul Maqdis in Palestin. Palestine is the land of prophets. Many prophets were born or died in Palestine, including Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham), Lut (Lot), Dawood (David), Suleiman (Solomon), Musa (Moses), and Isa (Jesus), alayhimu-salam.

What a Christian does is very rarely connected to his faith and religion but what a muslim does is always regarded as due to his religious belief. Muslims themselves should change this negative perspective by practicing true Islam. In this holy month of Ramadhan, break our fast moderately. Don't fill up our table with all kinds of dish and dessert. Lead a moderate life and pay out zakat to help the poor and needy. Be kind to the non muslims and show our good characters. Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) only have war with those that have confiscated the belongings of Meccan muslims that migrated to Medinah to save their faith. Lead our life just like the way Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) led his life.

May Allah bless us all.

Welcome Ramadhan

The blessed month of Ramadhan is back. Every year each muslim will pray to live long enough to meet Ramadhan again. Not everyone will make it. Ahsan wa sahlan ya Ramadhan; welcome, welcome the blessed month of Ramadhan.

Muslim will fast during the day. No food or drink. When I was studying in US a long time ago, one of my American group member offered me chewing gum. She knew that I was fasting but she though fasting must be like not eating meat, like the Buddhist. She was so surprised when I explained that when muslims fast, not even a single drop of water will go to our stomach. Why? That's the real, pure way of knowing how the poor feel when they were forced not to eat when there's nothing around to eat. If we have experienced the hunger then we will have more compassion for the poor and needy.

It's also a good practice to rest our digestive system that have been over worked for eleven months already. Modern science have proven that most of the modern diseases are caused by food, or rather plenty of it. If muslims eat too much when they break their fast, then they got themselves to be blamed, not Islam. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (p.b.u.h) broke his fast by eating a few dates and a glass of plain water. Then he performed maghrib prayer. He only ate his meal after that. A light meal.

Fasting is also a good way to increase our iman or faith towards Allah. Many battle have been won during Ramadhan like the battle of Badar. Palestine was liberated from the Christian soldiers by Sallahuddin Al Ayubi in the holy month of Ramadhan too. For the true, pious believers, fasting will only increase their productivity since they do not have to think or spent much time on eating. Many offices organize religious talk during lunch hour, a more productive activity than eating. Pious workers will not waste their time and will work diligently because they are accountable to Allah, not just their employer. I find myself being more productive in the month of Ramadhan since eating time is spend on work instead.

May this Ramadhan be a better Ramadhan than all the previous Ramadhans. May Allah bless us all.

Perseverence

I was about to go to bed when the movie caught my attention. It was based on true story about John, a delinquent jail attendance and his effort to get his boys to break away from their gang. They are willing to die to stay in their gang. So he created an american football team called Mustang to give them sense of belonging and something worth while to do and to be proud of.

The team has high hope for their first game but they were shattered by their disgraceful defeat of 38-0. Rising from the frustration and to keep on trying was like getting themselves out from a highly pressurized room to the open space outside. If they remain in the room, they will be crushed. If they remain to be a gang member, they will die young. But the journey was really tough. It was team spirit that give them the strength to overcome all hurdles along the way.

In a way, I'm in the same story line. I have a bad team too. Form 3G consists some of the worst boys in the school. They are highly strung kids. Iskandar seldom attend class because he can't wake up in the morning. Jeff was always sleeping in class because he got night part time job that last until 2 a.m. Nizam's uniform defy the school uniform code in every way. A slack that is too tight. A shirt that only fit for an eight year old boy instead of fifteen years old. Just to name a few. I took over the class in March after my study leave was over. Their May mid year examination was too near for me to prepare them for it. I have to write some personal notes on their paper to encourage them to keep on trying even though most of them have '0' for their paper II. How do you tell a child he/she has a future when he/se score zero? That's my job as a teacher. And I did it honestly; not just to cheer them up.

Their PMR trial is less than two weeks time from now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that each and everyone of them will improve and a few will even produce astounding results. We can only try. Allah will determine. May Allah blessed my efforts.

May Allah bless us all.