Muawiyah's First Kumite Competition: UKM Sunday 31/5/26 🥋 - a proud moment of our son's growth mindset

 

The Journey of a thousand miles begins with One Step (Insha Allah 😊) 

Alhamdulillah today was the first time our 8yo Muawiyah participated in the Kumite (sparring) category for Karate. 

Coming from different states across Malaysia, it was really impressive to watch these little warriors compete in Kumite, which tests their distance management, timing, and strategy.

Muawiyah lost his first round, defeated out by an experienced competitor who used lots of high attacks and scored big with his head shots.

But to us parents, it was a huge victory in our eyes. 

It was never about "winning". It was about showing up, taking the first step to challenge Muawiyah outside of his comfort zone, and proving to himself, that he has got what it takes. 

Just a few weeks ago, he was totally hesitant to do Kumite... The mere mention of "Kumite" and "competition" in the same sentence would send him into a loud protest. His comfort zone was Kata (forms/patterns), where he was pretty good at it and wanted to stay. He didn't like the discomfort or pain of getting hit, and also the peer pressure since his most of his dojo friends (including his cousin) preferred to focus on Kata. 

But therein lies the power of a strong teacher. His sensei Zad saw potential in Muawiyah, believing he was athletic, threw strong hits and had good agility instincts. His reluctance gradually grew into "ok lah, let's try".

But the proud father moment that impresses me is that Muawiyah didn't just begrudgingly phone it in, just to please his parents or sensei. He really committed to practicing for this Kumite, and throughout the fight, he kept his composure and form throughout, and readily listened to his sensei's instructions and advice in between rounds.

Merely by participating, and scoring those two points, he proved to himself that "I can actually do this". To cross that mental barrier from "never" to "I actually have a shot at this". That character - the growth mindset - is what we want. From here, if he keeps up that attitude, all he needs is technique & practice to go higher and higher. 

Now that we've overcame that barrier, here's looking forward for more to come. 

As the saying goes, the Journey of a thousand miles begins with One Step.

Well done, little champ.. Allahumma barik🏅 

Achieving Mastery: By Ibn Al-Qayyim

 

 

A seeker of nearness to Allah and the Hereafter, and the one striving towards mastery in any field of knowledge, craft, and leadership, so as to become a leader and role model in that field, must be:

Courageous, bold, and self-sufficient, ruling over his own imaginations, not subdued by the dominion of his desires. 

He must be detached from everything besides his ultimate goal, passionate about what he seeks, knowledgeable of the path to it and the paths that prevent it. 

Bold in his ambition and steadfast in his resolve, not deterred from his goal by the blame of a sinner or the criticism of a critic. 

He must be constantly calm and thoughtful, unphased by the pleasure of praise or the pain of blame. He must fulfill the means of assistance he needs, not provoked by opposition. His motto is patience, his comfort is fatigue. 

He must love noble morals, guard his time, and only mingle with people cautiously, like a bird picking seeds among them. 

He governs himself with hope and fear, longing for the results of being uniquely distinguished over his peers. He does not allow ant of his senses to be wasted in vain, nor his thoughts to wander aimlessly in the ranks of worldly affairs. 

The key to this is abandoning habits, and cutting off the ties that stand between you and your desired goal. 

(Ibn Al-Qayyim, Al-Fawa'id p. 192-193)

طالب النفوذ إلى الله والدار الآخرة بل وإلى كل علم وصناعة ورئاسة بحيث يكون رأسا في ذلك مقتدى به فيه يحتاج أن يكون شجاعا مقداما حاكما على وهمه، غير مقهور تحت سلطان تخيله، زاهدا في كل ما سوى مطلوبه، عاشقا لما توجه إليه، عارفا بطريق الوصول إليه والطرق القواطع عنه، مقدام الهمة ثابت الجأش، لا يثنيه عن مطلوبه لوم لأثم ولا عذل عاذل، كثير السكون دائم الفكر غير مائل مع لذة المدح ولا ألم الذم، قائما بما يحتاج إليه من أسباب معونته، لا تستفزه المعارضات، شعاره الصبر وراحته التعب، محبا لمكارم الأخلاق ،حافظا لوقته، لا يخالط الناس إلا على حذر كالطائر الذي يلتقط الحب بينهم، قائما على نفسه بالرغبة والرهبة، طامعا في نتائج الاختصاص على بني جنسه، غير مرسل شيئا من حواسه عبثا ولا مسرحا خواطره في مراتب الكون.

وملاك ذلك: هجر العوائد، وقطع العلائق الحائلة بينك وبين المطلوب، وعند العوام أن: لزوم الأدب مع الحُجَّاب خير من إطِّراح الأدب مع الكشف.

الفوائد (ص: 192-193)

Nikmat potong kuku lepas korban 🐐💅

Masha Allah, nikmat potong kuku lepas korban ☺️ 🐐 . If you know, you know 😉

Yang amalkan sunnah ni akan faham perasaannya

Rasulullah ﷺ bersabda,

مَنْ كَانَ لَهُ ذِبْحٌ يَذْبَحُهُ فَإِذَا أُهِلَّ هِلَالُ ذِي الْحِجَّةِ، فَلَا يَأْخُذَنَّ مِنْ شَعْرِهِ، وَلَا مِنْ أَظْفَارِهِ شَيْئًا حَتَّى يُضَحِّيَ

Sesiapa yang mempunyai binatang korban untuk disembelih, maka apabila terlihatnya anak bulan Zulhijah, janganlah dia mengambil satu apa pun (memotong) daripada rambutnya, mahupun daripada kukunya sehingga dia selesai berkorban.

(Riwayat Muslim (1977), Abu Daud (2791))

Eid Mubarak & Selamat hari raya Aidil adha,

تَقَبَّلَ اللّٰهُ مِنَّا وَمِنْكُمْ 🤲🏽 

​🏃🏁 Achieving the "impossible" Four-Minute Mile

 

​The year is 1954. For decades, mankind considered the "4-minute mile" was an absolute brick wall. Unachievable. Medical experts and scientists openly theorized that the human heart would rupture under the pressure, and that the human body was simply not built to run that fast.  

Australian athlete ​John Landy was a spectacular runner for the time, running world-class speed achieving his 1-mile at 4:02, 4:01.5, and 4:01.4 - over and over again. 

"Frankly, I think the four-minute mile is beyond my capabilities. Two seconds may not sound like much, but to me, it's like trying to jump over a house."

On the other end, we have another athlete:​Roger Bannister, a busy medical student from England who could only spare about 45 minutes a day to train during his lunch breaks.

But Bannister had an edge: his coach, an Austrian visionary named Franz Stampfl. 

At a time when everyone else was validating the physical limits of the human body, Stampfl looked at Bannister and planted a completely different seed. He explicitly told Bannister that the four-minute mile was not a physical barrier, but a psychological one.

Stampfl used a radical approach for the 1950s: visualizing his victory. He made Bannister close his eyes and mentally visualize running a 3:59 mile over and over until his brain accepted it as a normal, achievable reality.

On the blustery, cold morning of May 6, 1954, at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, the weather conditions were terrible. Bannister wanted to call off the attempt. 

Coach Stampfl looked him in the eyes and firmly told him that if he did not run today, he might never get the chance to be the first. He instilled the absolute belief that the environment didn't matter—the mind did.  

​Bannister ran a 3:59.4.

A record was broken. It it doesn't stop there. Once rival John Landy saw that a human being had actually broken the 4-minute mark, the mental ceiling in his own mind collapsed. Just 46 days later, Landy went out and absolutely shattered Bannister’s new record, running the mile in 3:57.9. 

Within a year, three more runners did it in a single race. Within a few years, hundreds of athletes achieved it. 

What happened? 

Did the human body suddenly evolve in a single month in 1954?

The only thing changed was the mindset.  One person to prove it can be done, and suddenly other athletes unlocked what they previously thought was not humanly achievable. 

"It's always impossible until it's done" (Nelson Mandela) 

But above all that? 

Sometimes all it takes is to have someone - a coach, mentor, friend, family - who can break our self-limiting beliefs. To nudge us just that little bit more, so we can step up and go higher. 

A little nugget on mentorship and mindset: Bannister had it in him all along. Franz Stampfl merely planted the seed. 

Seeking faults of self vs. Faults of others

 Abu Hatim Ar-Razi (d. 275 AH) – advised,

‎الواجب على العاقل لزوم السلامة بترك التجسس عَن عيوب الناس مع الاشتغال بإصلاح عيوب نفسه

“It is an obligation for the sane person of intellect, to traverse the path of safety, in that he must abandon tajassus (to seek and expose) the faults of others, and instead should occupy himself by rectifying the faults within himself, 

‎فإن من اشتغل بعيوبه عَن عيوب غيره أراح بدنه ولم يتعب قلبه 

For verily, whomsoever keeps himself occupied with (improving) his own faults instead of (seeking and gossiping) the faults of others, he will have rested and relaxed his body (from useless activities) and from exhausting his heart (with diseases such as envy and arrogance)

‎فكلما اطلع على عيب لنفسه هان عَلَيْهِ مَا يرى مثله من أخيه 

For every time he meets a fault within himself, he will humble himself when he sees that fault in his brother (i.e. will empathize with his struggle to rectify that fault)

‎وإن من اشتغل بعيوب الناس عَن عيوب نفسه عمى قلبه وتعب بدنه وتعذر عَلَيْهِ ترك عيوب نفسه 

And verily, whoever busies himself with (seeking, exposing and gossiping) of the faults of other people instead of his own faults, then his heart will be blinded, his body will be weak, in fact he will keep on making excuses to abandon rectifying his own faults! 

‎وإن من أعجز الناس من عاب الناس بما فيهم وأعجز منه من عابهم بما فيه 

Verily, the weakest amongst mankind are those who busy themselves with faults of others; and weaker still are those who busy themselves with others faults while they themselves have those faults!

‎من عاب الناس عابوه 

The one who exposes others faults, will himself be exposed (by others)

‎ولقد أحسن الذي يقول 

Verily, beautiful indeed are the words of the one who said,

‎... إذا أنت عبت الناس عابوا وأكثروا 

‎... عليك وأبدوا منك مَا كان يستر

“If you were to expose the faults of other people, they will in fact increase in those faults to you,

And then they will expose your faults which were previously hidden”

[Raudhatul-‘Uqala wa Nuzhatul-Fudhala’]

The Infatuated Muadzin

 

Once upon a time in Egypt, there was a muadzin who used to call the adzan the masjid. 

One day, he ascended the minaret to call the prayer. When he looked down into a house down below, he saw an attractive lady: the daughter of the house's Christian owner.

It was "love at first sight". He was instantly attracted to her, and went down to meet her.

"What do you want?" she asked.

He replied, "I want you." 

She said, "I will not marry you unless you become a Christian."

Drunk with infatuation - or, as the young people put it, "crazy in love" - he apostasized from Islam and embraced Christianity to be with her. 

He then met her and said, "I have done so."

He entered the house to marry her, then climbed to the roof of the house, fell from it, and died on the spot. 

فَلَمْ يَتَمَتَّعْ بِهَا، وَفَاتَهُ دِينُهُ.

Thus, he did not enjoy her, and he lost his religion.

(Narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in Al-Muntazam and Dhamm al-Hawa, and Ibn al-Qayyim in Al-Da' wa al-Dawa')

This simple story reminds us a profound lesson on: 

1. Suu Al-Khatimah vs. Husnul Khatimah; don't judge a person by their current state. What matters is the ending. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Verily, every actions are judged based on their endings"

 الدُّنْيَا سَاعَةٌ، فَاجْعَلْهَا طَاعَةً

​"The world (this life) is but an hour, so make it an hour of obedience." (Ibn Al-Jawzi, Sayd Al-Khatir) 

2. The trap of temptation: how one gaze - one spark - if not extinguished, can grow to become a fire that consumes oneself