Just jump that hurdle

One of my most regret is when I'm overcome with dissatisfaction over a matter until I become grumble some. Complaining about this and that until I forgot to be thankful to Allah; to put it mildly. I will forget that behind every hardship there is lesson to be learned. New skills to be acquired. New strength to be achieved. New doors to be opened. New area to be ventured. New experience to be gained.

No matter how unfair things seem to be, believe me that there's a lot of things in store for us. Good things if we are patience enough. We just have to trust that Allah is always fair to us. That Allah is always with us no matter how hard the road seem to us.

Just jump over the hurdle and reach that finishing line. If we turn back we are going to waste our time, youth, effort, strength. Just go on. Push ourselves. Cut off all the complaints and grumbles. At the end of the day feel proud to emerge as a fighter even though we might not emerge as the winner. Winning is not everything. It's trying our level best that counts.

If we can't be the best, be one of the best. And do it whole heartedly because that's one condition for it to be considered as ibadah and we will receive our rewards or pahala from Allah.

May Allah bless us all.

Ya Rasulullah

Today is 12 Rabiulawwal in the calender of hijrah (Islamic calender). It's Prophet Muhammad's birthday, peace be upon him (pbuh). It's no ordinary birthday because it marks the birth of world most famous person. President Obama is world famous person but will his name be remembered 500 years from now? Not anywhere near Prophet Muhammad's name (pbuh).

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has set the best example as a son, husband, father, employer, neighbour, war leader, head of a country, just to name a few. This makes him the best prophet ever sent down by Allah. Being the last prophet after prophet Isa or Jesus Christ, the revelation given to him in the form of Al Qur'an is the most complete as compare to Torah given to Moses and Injil or Old Testament given to Jesus Christ. While Al Qur'an originality is protected by Allah himself, Torah and Old Testament have been rewritten by the rabbi and the pope quite a few times. For that reason alone the two religious books are deemed as unholy anymore. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that even if the two books are still pure, when Al Qur'an is being sent down the two books are absolete already.

As a good muslim we must love Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) more than anyone else. Many people fear death. To me 'death' does not mean my ties to my loved ones are severed but rather it means new door is opened. The door that allows me to see Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) directly now. Those that I left behind will be taken care of by Allah. I look forward to that moment everyday. May Allah forgive all my sins and accept me as his pious servant. And may Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) accept me as his follower and give me his syafaat or help during the day of judgement.

May the celebration of Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) birthday will make us know him and love him better. May Allah bless us all.

rabbi - Jewish scholar or teacher, esp. one who studies or teaches Jewish law. A person appointed as a Jewish religious leader.

severed - divide by cutting or slicing, esp. suddenly and forcibly : the head was severed from the body | [as adj. ] ( severed) severed limbs. Put an end to (a connection or relationship); break off : he severed his relations with Lawrence.

My hobby

In the new time table two of my maths classes were given to other teacher. In replacement I was given two new classes that in terms of ranking are better than the previous two. By right I should be overjoyed but I'm not that excited. In the one month I had been teaching the classes I have build rapport with the students. Always reminding them to think about ten, twenty years from now what are they going to ride. An old Honda motorbike or a Honda Accord, it all depend on how much they are focussing in class. I stopped by one of my old class to return exercise books and they were asking me to teach them back. It's not as easy as that. Life has to go on.

I taught my two new classes today for the first time and it looks like they are hooked. Slowly I guided them until they come out with the formula of sum of interior angles for any polygons, instead of just giving the formula straight to them. When students are guided into the process of 'why', they don't have to memorize the 'what' because they understand how they formula was developed in the first place. There were much excitement as I gave them from 10 seconds going down to five seconds to calculate the sum of interior angles for a few polygons. There was an air of easiness as I always put up spontaneous multiple choices questions for them to pick up which one is their preferred answer. An air of easiness as I always remind them it's ok to make mistakes as it is part and parcel of learning process. Those that got the right answer would clapped their hand in happiness. This is what I called learning environment. Students don't have feeling of fear or threatened.

No matter what is our job we must do it whole heartedly. A job is a burden is we don't like it but a job can turn into a hobby if we love it. So make the right choices.

May Allah bless us all.