Lecture - "Ramadhan: Life in the Fast Lane" salient points

From lecture by Sheikh Muhammad Cheppih and Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhurry

"O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (Fasting in the month of Ramadhan) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become the ones who have taqwa (piety, love, fear and consciousness of Allah)" (Al-Baqarah 2:183)

- Fasting is not just about hunger and thirst. The whole objective of fasting is to attain Taqwa - the love, fear, and consciousness of Allah. If you haven't attained this, then ask yourself: "what are you really trying to achieve?"

- many amongst mankind live their lives on 'auto pilot' - they eat, drink, work, play, sleep - every day, living on routine. When is the last time we took a step back and live our lives consciously, actually taking control of our life? When is the last time we stopped to ponder about the true purpose of our existence?

Allah did not create men to eat, drink, work, play and sleep - this is what cows do. We are not cows. We are created to live our lives in connection to the One who Created us.

Ask yourself: gauge yourself and ask : when is the last time I was thankful to Allah for the little blessings in my life? When was I last conscious that Allah had declared "If you give thanks (for My blessings), I will add more - but if you are thankless, verily! My punishment is indeed severe" (Ibrahim 14:7) - and I realized that the more I give thanks for these things, the more He adds?

This is the whole spirit and objective of Ramadhan - a small dose of pain for us to have that bit of realization, to snap out of our auto pilot and live in consciousness, and connection with Allah. In realization of our objective in life.

- Allah has chosen the month of Ramadhan - the one special month out of 12 months, to be the most blessed, beloved and beneficial of all months, just as he chose Yusuf (Prophet Joseph) above his 11 other brothers to be the best, the most blessed, beloved and beneficial to his family, and the rest of mankind - what is our attitude towards this special treatment Allah has given us?

- Companions narrated that the Prophet was most generous during Ramadhan (literally "like a whirlwind") - Towards attaining taqwa, this teaches us a feeling of selfness in generosity - giving to others, even when we are in need (of food).

- Fasting teaches us to have empathy, soften our hearts to feel what our less-fortunate brothers and sisters around the world feel - ones who have been deprived by Allah in this world, to taste the delicious foods that we taste - who, insha Allah, if were believers will taste much greater blessings in the Hereafter.

- Abstaining from sexual intercourse with the spouse teaches us to also empathize with our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters who are imprison - some for life, perhaps will never get the opportunity to experience that pleasure

- Feelings of generosity in sadaqah and zakat in Ramadhan - are training for us to detach us from the fake and temporary life of this world, and direct our attention and focus to the everlasting and beautiful abode of the Akhirah

Love of dunya (this worldly life) vs Love of Akhirah are on two opposite sides of a scale: if one gets heavier, the other one gets lighter.

If the past 11 months has not allowed us to attain those feelings - make this Ramadhan is that mental, emotional and spiritual training to do so!

- Advice: Don't jump into Ramadhan full-swing without training. Even if you were to compete in a badminton/soccer match, you would do prior training beforehand - else you would have cramps all over! Similarly, the Prophet's sunnah is to fast a lot for the 2 months preceding Ramadhan (Rajab and Sha'ban) - this is highly encouraged!

If we have readied ourselves to be used to this abstinence, by the time Ramadhan comes, we will not feel exhausted and over-eat - so we can focus on one of the best blessings of Ramadhan - TARAWIH prayers! Allahu Akbar.

And then of course when Ramadhan over, we finish off with the 6 days of fasting in syawwal - the Prophet said (the meaning of which) "The one who fasts the month of Ramadhan AND THEN fasts 6 days in syawwal is as if he has fasted a year"

Scholars say that this is to make up for whatever deficiencies that we may have made in Ramadhan which we've invested our greatest efforts.

There is an amazing Wisdom behind this arrangement of voluntary and obligatory fasting (2 months of recommended vasting, 1 month obligatory and 1 month of recommended) - this is similar to prayer for zuhur - 4 rakaah of recommended prayer before, 4 for actual obligatory Zuhur prayer, and 2 recommended rakaah after Zuhur prayer.

So here is the sequence of the "best of deeds" :

1) preparation & training for the act of worship

2) actual act, and

3) additional act in covering up for deficiencies

- build your relationship with Allah with your du'aa - while waiting for breaking the fast, make lots of prayers, du'aa and request from Allah - this is the best time to do it. Rather than stare at the food while waiting for the adzan, utilize that opportunity to make du'aa and request as much as you can from Allah.

Again, going back to the initial point: get out of auto-pilot mode, and build up on that taqwa and piety

Q: If Shaytan is chained up in Ramadhan (as mentioned by the Prophet), then why are "some" people still committing evil and wrongdoings?

A: Because there are "some" people - out of carelessness and/or following their desires - have allowed Shaytan to train them well for the other 11 months - so when Ramadhan comes, 'Auto-Pilot' kicks in!

So snap out of it and become the change that YOU need!

(okay, this point i added - sorry, too tempting)

May Allah make this Ramadhan the best, most beneficial and the most blessed means of attaining love, fear, consciousness and piety of Allah

summarized, cherry picked, somewhat paraphrased and a bit tokok tambah (minus fiqh part) from live lecture @ UIA on 13/07/2011

- Why Islam? Why NOT!?

"They just won't listen to my advice!" Check yourself (Part 1)

friend of mine related an interesting quote: "Advice doesn't work because those who need to heed it, can't hear it."

"So how? How do we help them realize they need to change?"

Straightforward question; not-so-straightforward answer.

The reality is, giving advice (and that obviously includes da'wah) is like selling stuff: if the person you're selling to, isn't convince that he needs it - he just won't buy it

When it comes to advice, the golden rule is - if you love something, don't be selfish: share it with others. And if you don't love good advice, you need to check yourself

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him said) "None of you has faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself" (Al-Bukhari)

You can't love someone if you don't love that he/she becomes a better person.

If you want to examine the effectiveness of your sales (i.e. advice/da'wah), you can break it down to 3 aspects:

• the salesperson - the one giving advice
• the product - the advice
• the prospect buyer - customer - the advised person

Instead of blaming the customers' stubbonrness, let's focus on one aspect we do have direct control of : ourselves, i.e. the salesperson - after all, "Allah will not change the state of a people until they change what is in themselves" (Ar-Ra'd 13:11) - stop the finger pointing (he's too stubborn, etc); let's focus on our main circle of influence:

1) The salesperson - YOU; people sometimes fail to realize is that sometimes the root cause of the unsuccessful transaction really has to do with the adviser him/herself. Here's a quick checklist of things you should ask yourself

• Do YOU have confidence in your own product? - if you're still 50-50 about your product, don't shoot yourself in the foot. A silence in recognition of ignorance is much wiser than empty rambles of falsehood. If Tobacco lobyists can have it their way, making billion-dollar promotional transactions with world-class confidence, knowing that their product is perhaps the #1 artificial cause of cancer - isn't your good advice worthy of a bit more confidence, and credible evidence to support your cause? go do your homework.

• Do YOU really understand & know your product? - as Steven Covey put, "seek to understand, then to be understood" . Don't fire blanks: go do your homework. Don't get yourselves into sticky situations which decrease your credibility. 'Goreng' is not an option - especially if you're talking to someone who respects you (parents & ustazs, take note). The most learned companions of the Prophet - people who stood by him and witnessed him as the Revelation of God was brought down to him - when confronted with difficult questions, always answered with an honest and humble "Allah and His Messenger Know best" - so let's put things into perspective: if the people who had the best license to 'goreng' didn't do so, we definitely don't have that right! And this holds especially true for the ones who relate false and/or weak narrations, and/or baseless unfounded opinions of individuals. (*this needs to have a moderate approach - we cannot use "tak cukup ilmu"/ "not enough knowledge" as an excuse to not give advice.. the point is we should strive to continuously improve ourselves)

• Do YOU know why you are selling that product in the first place? - Often we steer the 'advice' session to a series of mental and emotional haymakers and uppercuts, losing goal of what we are really trying to achieve. The whole goal of advice is to improve the person, not destroy him/her. The whole goal of da'wah is to make him/her closer to the Creator, and to inspire him to improve his relationship with his creator - put this in mind before you activate those defense mechanisms or project your ego.

• Do you know why they need the product? This should be covered in Pt2 (if i somehow find the time to write it) - but basically, empathy is an essential aspect of advice. "Give people what they need, in the way of what they want", Yawar Baig once advised. Sure, the Prophet said "if the people knew the reward of praying Fajr/Subuh and Isya' in congregation (at the masjids), they would present themselves there even if they had to crawl" (Al-Bukhari) - but IF the reality and confidence of this reward isn't in someone's heart, how can he/she be convinced he/she needs to do it? Reword your da'wah and advice to make them believe they need to do it.

• Do YOU actually use the product? - Oh, this is a big problem: O People! Please, WALK THE TALK! Allah says "O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do?! Most Hated by Allah is that you say that which you do not do!" (As-Saff:2-3). Note to Parents who send their children to religious schools hoping that the teachers would do some miracles to transform their children - and abandon their prayers & have great lunch feasts in Ramadhan: Be consistent with yourself: YOU ARE NOT CREDIBLE IF YOU DON'T WALK THE TALK. "Do you Enjoin righteousness on the people and yet you yourselves forget, while you recite the Scripture! Have you then no sense?!" (Al-Baqarah 2:44)

• Are you NICE? - The Prophet said "i have been sent to perfect good manners", and that "i guarantee the highest place in Paradise for the person with the best of character" - let's live by this standard. Period. They say "you can only sell to friends" (Yawar Baig) - have you earned their trust?

• Are you PROUD of your product? - This is another problem. When it comes to guarding their own principles (which they try to impose on others), in certain situtaions, suddenly people become very apologetic & compromising - getting back to point above, not having confidence in your own product. In the perspective of Muslims, sometimes they even feel disadvantaged that they are unable to do things like 'partying' or 'showing off their stuffs'. Are you kidding me?! O Muslims - You have been given guidance to uphold rules that guard you from corruption of yourself and your relationship with God - isn't this worth to feel honoured and give you that burning desire to HELP others?

• Do you utilize attractive packaging for your product? - "oh its dawah stuff, doesn't have to be so nice... it's the message the counts" - Please lah, fren. If people can invest ridiculous amounts of money to make super-bombastic and flashy BEER advertisements (& be successful at it), don't you think the Message of connecting people to God deserves a bit more QUALITY?! Bring on the humour, class and style - Quality is universally appreciated: put it into practice.

• How PRO are you - Do you treat the guy with respect? - the fact that we are in a position to give advice doesn't make us better than the person: it's important that we don't look down on him/her. The fact that Allah has bestowed His Favour upon you to know that bit of knowledge should keep you in check, not to feel proud and high over others. The Prophet said, "whomsoever has an atom's weight of arrogance in his heart equal to an atom's weight shall not enter Paradise - (that is), the arrogance to disregard the truth, and to look down upon others" (Muslim) Remember, Iblees, the Arch Enemy of Man, in Al-Baqarah 2:34, Allah describes the defining characteristic of Iblees' disbelief and rebellion to be arrogance. In Al-A'raf 7:12, Iblees tells Allah the reason of his refusal to obey Allah's commandment - "I am better than him, You created me from fire and him You created from clay". Don't fall into this trap of arrogance - to be deprived of paradise is to render your entire life to be in vain. Respect others, treat disagreements professionally, and abandon the argument when things get hairy - the Prophet said "i guarantee a home in the middle of Paradise for he who abandons an argument when he is in the right"

• Why give up so easily? - "i've tried advising her, but it just doesn't work - i throw in the towel". People don't change overnight - any ex-smoker will be able to tell you that. One advice rejected, and you give up. That either shows one of three things: either (a) you don't have strong perseverence, (b) you didn't really believe in the message after all, (c) you don't care for the person anymore.

• Do you firmly persevere through the nonsense? - any motivator will tell you that the true essence of any successful individual is one's adherence & integrity to his/her own principles. If you give up, you have indirectly sent a message that your product really wasn't that good after all. A little bit of hurt is just to test how firm you hold on to those principles. Prophet Nuh alaihissalam stayed among his people 950 years to advise his people to worship God Alone - and the scholars say that his followers didn't exceed 100. Question: Have you lived 950 years? Question 2: Have you GIVEN ADVICE for 950 years? If you haven't, then stop whining and get back on your feet. If you have, you can either (a) sign up for Ripley's Believe it or Not, or (b) go to your nearest Neurological Unit for a checkup.

• Are you proactive? - an airbag has no value to a dead person. People always make the mistake of waiting for accidents to happen - some calamity to strike, before they (egoistically) say "I knew it" - don't wait till the person drives to a wall before you give him the map. Set the standard before hand

• Do you "walk the talk"?! - For the love of Allah, i can't emphasize this enough. Lets sidetrack a little: Did you realize that most of the time in the Qur'an, you find that whenever Allah refers of His disapproval, He always refers to the depravation of His love, (e.g. Allah loves not the transgressors (2:190), Allah loves not the disbelievers, sinners (2:276), Allah loves not the Oppressors (3:140); Allah loves not the Wasters (7:31), Allah loves not those who trespass beyond bounds (7:55)) - why? Because to be deprived of the Love of Allah - the Love of Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem; is the most unfortunate thing that a living creature and experience

- but when it comes to not walking the talk, He declares that "Most Hateful it is with Allah that you say that which you do not do" (As Saff 61:3) - heavy words, my friend - something to ponder about!

Make Allah make our hearts firm, increase us i knowledge, increase our love to advise others, and improve the effectiveness & quality of our 'sales' - Ameen!

Phew! Glad i finally got that out of my system.

- why islam? Why NOT?!

Complaint to The Star for article "Paying for Fun"

This email was originally sent at 10:45pm, Wednesday 2nd February 2011 - CC-ed to a long list of family and friends.Including the Prime Minister himself.

Dear respected writers of “the rage” & the Star,

I begin in the name of Allah – All praises and thanks to Him, Lord of the Worlds. In Him Whom I seek His pleasure, and in His name I begin.

I am writing in response to the article in the following link, http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F1%2F26%2Frage_issues%2F20110125185207&sec=rage_issues

This article was published on Thursday, 27th January 2011, titled “Paying for fun” – informing readers about the widespread availability of prostitution in Malaysia today.

Dear writers,

What is the point of publishing such a disgusting article in a public newspaper? What are you trying to achieve?

If you can recall what we learnt back in our years of SPM – the white colour within the Malaysian flag symbolizes moral purity – holding up high, how strongly we uphold moral and ethical values. And even the patriotic song “Jalur Gemilang” states, with a positive note, that “Putihmu bersih budi pekerti”.

So I am surprised that no one amongst the editorial staff at the Star has done SPM – clearly you don’t know these things! Congratulations for landing that job without SPM!

Or could it be that, some – or all – of you have taken SPM, but you do not practice what you learn?

Are you going to blame our education system, somehow? Or is it something else?

I am a strong believer in a better tomorrow, and a more productive, value-driven youth that will drive us towards a better tomorrow.

But look at what we have in today’s headlines – promotion of prostitution?! There is no indication whatsoever that you disapprove of such behavior – in fact, you even conveniently dedicated an article to inform the public about how easy it is to go online and purchase cheap sex.

So again I ask, what is the point of writing this article, and promoting it on the front page of The Star? For profits?

I am sure that, as you are reading this e-mail, you are generating a response in your head – ready to pounce at me with the typical rationalization, and I’ve heard it all before – “we just display the facts : it’s up to people for them to choose!”

Why don’t you tell that to your 17-year old son who want some entertainment?

Why don’t you tell your mid-life-crisis HUSBAND who is stressed out at work?

Why don’t you tell that to your wife before you meet your pals for the night out?

Why don’t you tell that to your 15-year old daughter who wants quick cash?

Or better yet - what if you found out that the GRO that your interviewee has been deflowering all along was actually your SISTER. or your MOTHER. Not so "let them choose" anymore, i see?

People these days invest ridiculous amount of effort to promote negative cultures with the heartless rationalization of “let them choose” – all in the name of profits – but do YOU have what it takes to invest effort to promote POSITIVE VALUES, AND THEN LET THEM CHOOSE?! Do YOU have that character strength in you to defend those values ?!

Because it seems that the only time people truly invest effort to inculcate positive values was back in school – which occasionally SOME people don’t practice eventually, anyway, when they write articles violating values of the Malaysian flag!

Think about it, my friends: how does the public fall?

A long time ago, modesty – wearing decent clothes, guarding chastity, lowering gazes and loyalty to spouses – was something which garnered deep veneration and inspiration. These days it is completely lost.

How?

Because somewhere along the lines, someone decides to spread immorality across the land.

Because society subconsciously realizes “hey, you know what? It’s actually OK! People DO these kinds of things”

Because society refuses to look up to the “nerd” who defends morality and says “this is wrong!”

Because profits and marketability supersede integrity.

Our society is on the verge of its downfall – and with this article, the Star is part of the vehicle to that downfall.

So by Allah, I ask you: are those profits for popularity really worth riding this vehicle of moral downfall?

So free sex has gone public now – what’s next? Drugs? Murder?

Sure, you can also justify yourself by saying that “oh, it’s a free country!”

Or “Oh, people write about them anyway!”

Or “the youth know about it already”

But guess what?

Here’s the reality – if you are articulate enough, you can justify anything – but it doesn’t make it RIGHT

Oh yes - all this without even pointing the fact that prostitution is actually ILLEGAL in the first place. In fact, Wikipedia shamelessly states that in Malaysia, "laws banning prostitution remains largely reinforced" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Malaysia) - this is the image that is easily accessible in the world: and here you are, exacerbating this image.

Ironically, an open public webpage like wikipedia doesn't promote prostitution in Malaysia. But you do..!

Oh! And I have noticed that you have a MUSLIM writer, Mr HH – amongst those who produced this rubbish!

Dear non-Muslim writers,

I would like to sincerely apologize on behalf of Muslims that our Muslim friend, Mr HH, who wrote this article, completely misrepresented Islam and blatantly going against Islamic principles & moral values.

Dear Muslim brother who wrote the article,

May Allah have Mercy on all of us, akhi. I remind you with the meanings of the word of Allah, Lord of the Worlds:

“Verily, those who like that (the crime of) illegal sexual intercourse should be propagated (spread) amongst those who believe, they will have a painful torment in this world and in the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you know not” (An-Nur 24:19)

Or if that isn’t clear enough,

“Those who disbelieved and hinder (others) from the Path of Allah, for them We will add torment to the torment; because they used to spread corruption” (An-Nahl 16:88)

Think about it, sir. A youth may have gone through the article, and subconsciously decided that “wow – I didn’t know it was that easy – great! I'm going to get me some”

And you might have been responsible for the starting point of the downfall of another person’s life.

We have been given the honour to embrace the religion of God, Who wants us to protect our self-respect and our honour from committing disgusting crimes such as illegal sexual intercourse – aren’t you proud of that self-respect? Why lower yourself down to people who do not hold on to these noble principles?!

Dear brother H,

We will all face death one day, and we will all be raised back and questioned for every single thing that we do in this short life on Earth. And we’ll be paid back in full. People can deny this resurrection all they want – but it doesn’t change the fact that it WILL happen. You can try this experiment at home: close your eyes as you put your hand in the burning oven, in denial convincing yourself it doesn’t work – tell me if it hurts.

But fret not, dear brother – I only wish to correct you, and I wish to help you to way that is better. Allah tells us “O My slaves who have transgressed themselves! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah – verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (Az-Zumar 39:53)

Repent to Allah, dear brother. We all make mistakes – the only way to succeed is by tawbah (repentance)

The Prophet said, “Every son of Adam is a sinner. And the best of sinners is he who constantly repents”. (Tirmidzi)

Let us work together towards the common goal of earning the pleasure of Allah and attaining His Jannah – abandon this blatant spread of corruption. If you wish to change better, I will gladly offer my assistance “.. Help you one another in righteousness and piety – but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Severe in punishment” (Al-Ma’idah 5:2)

Use your writing skills in the cause of good - don’t let it go to waste.Do not squander this wonderful opportunity to become a role model to the people around you, brother. We live in this world and we have this one chance to earn the mercy of Allah – don’t waste yours.

Let this be a reminder for you, me and everyone else in this list. I am only just another Muslim brother who is reminding his loved ones for the sake of Allah - because Love is a mandatory aspect in our religion.

As for the other editors at the Star, I sincerely hope you do something about this – issue public apology, reproach yourselves for allowing that article to touch your newspapers – whatever. Just DO SOMETHING.

For whatever that you believe in – and I sincerely hope that it is God – please, halt this nonsense and start propagating the positive values. It’s never too late to change – you just have to make that choice.

The scars will still be there but let’s not let the infection spread any further.

I am sending this e-mail with CC to my family, loved ones, and friends – I may not have the millions of readers to propagate this message to, I may not have the power to change the world – but I am a responsible human being and fellow Malaysian – first and foremost the servant of God – a Malaysian who cares about the youth, who bothers about promoting positive values, and who will not sit idle while the minds of my beloved brothers and sisters in humanity have their minds corroded in the name of profit, marketing and business.

Oh, and I am putting the Prime Minister in my CC list, too. Yes, i am serious.

I may not have the influential power to reach out to millions – a right that has been defiled and abused many times in the media today – including this article – but I do have the will to do what is in my control. Because I will not let what is beyond my control affect what is within my control.

Because if it’s not Malaysians who do not stand up for MALAYSIAN moral values, then let me ask you – who else?!

If it’s not Muslims who do not defend the honour and self respect of the Islamic society – then who else?!

I end this e-mail with an open invitation to everyone within the loop of this e-mail to become better persons, build strong healthy societies which hate negativity – in accordance to what is pleasing to the one true God. And of course, for the non Muslims, I invite you – come, let’s recognize the purpose of our Lives to earn the pleasure of the Creator – and become the best that we can be in this short life. Let us all - Muslims AND non-Muslims - learn more about Islam and by Allah, the greatest treasures will unfold before your eyes.

Dear all those in the CC list – to all you mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters whose futures are at stake - let us all play our roles in whatever is within our abilities to curb the mainstream spread of evil within society.

Malaysians still care – and that we will not sit idle in the midst of blatant, public injustice & moral corruption.

Your reward is with Allah- if not in this life, it will be in the Hereafter – “..O My people! I Ask you of no wealth for it, my reward is from none but Allah. I am not going to drive away those who have believed. Surely, they are going to meet their Lord, but I see that you are a people that are ignorant!” (Hud 11:13)

“.. and with Allah are the best of rewards” (Al-Imran 3:195)

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." (Muslim)

I love you all for the sake of Allah.

Regards & peace,

Faisal Abdul Latif

Muslim, fellow Malaysian, believer of strong values and an individual seeking for a change – for a better tomorrow

“You will not have faith until you love for your brother what you love for yourself” (Al-Bukahri)