Alhamdulillah, saya pun graduate dengan izinNya.

Hari ini melawat sebuah rumah iban revert. Shoplot back alley, rumahnya tidak lebih besar dari setengah size bilikku. 1 katil kongsi 6 beranak. Isteri berpisah kerana tidak ingin bersama dalam islam. Kerja menghantar sayur 7 hari seminggu. Sebulan RM800 gaji, cuti sehari potong gaji 2 hari. Biarpun serba kekurangan, tidak meminta dan rajin ke surau. Walaupun tidak mampu bersolat, tetap datang bersolat, kerana katanya mendapat ketenangan walaupun kecetekan ilmu hanya mampu mengikut-ikut sahaja semasa jemaah. Katil ambil dari pembuangan sampah dan TV pun juga. Di luar pintu rumah pula, sekelompok manusia bergaduh dengan parang. Dhaif dan tidak selamat dengan berbagai masalah masyarakat.


Sudah masanya untuk diri ini mengucapkan Alhamdulillah seikhlas dari lubuk hati. Kerana banyak sahaja cara Allah mampu menduga manusia, sedang kita tidak melalui apa yang orang lain lalui. Seorang bapa inginkan didikan agama buat anaknya, tidak mampu kerana kecetekan ilmu, tidak mampu membaca, tidak mampu menghantar ke kafa atau kelas mengaji kerana tidak cukup pendapatan. Sedang yang berilmu sibuk melayan diri dan mengejar cita-cita, Apa pula nasib mereka yang mencari hidayah tetapi tidak mencapai kemampuan?


Semoga diri ini mampu mencapai mampu, agar ramai lagi dapat mencapai mampu. Innalillah, wainna ilaihraji'un, kerana Allah kita disini, kepada Allah jua kita kembali.

"Pergilah kamu beramai-ramai (untuk berperang pada jalan Allah), sama ada dengan keadaan ringan (dan mudah bergerak) ataupun dengan keadaan berat (disebabkan berbagai-bagai tanggungjawab); dan berjihadlah dengan harta benda dan jiwa kamu pada jalan Allah (untuk membela Islam). Yang demikian amatlah baik bagi kamu, jika kamu mengetahui" - [AQ 9:41]

Mr.Niconan editing some clips for tomorrow


Alhamdulillah. Finally, blog up and running. Again. Haha, I cant recall just how much the blog been up and down, but this blog still made it up albeit all the things going on in life. It's like a love hate relationship of commitment and struggle to sincerity. After a brief period of soul searching, I think its just about time to write again.


This blog have undergone the third re-direction, what was before Baldi Biru, and then Delights of Remembrance, and now The Dawn of Borneo. Why the name? well, I do not know, yet. But it's just one of those time when you reach certain stage of your life and your mindset start taking a shift of whats life really meant and to where it should head to.


Anyhow, me and Master Niconan together with Bro. Amir are suppose to head north to Lawas early tomorrow morning, but made a silly mistake of sipping down a Black Forest down at the Coffee Bean. Now we're still up trying to prep everything before we travel tomorrow when we're suppose to be resting before the long 10-immigration-stamping trips.


On the other note, as much as I want this blog to be a certain level of tsaqafah-idea-shaping vessel, I do like to keep it personal entry every now and then. Hopefully I could maintain a certain level of professionalism in this newly directed blog.


ShouldSleepNow.Jazakallah.Salam.



"Peace comes when insight comes in sight"

Zorro, you are no ordinary cat to me. You're a kind gesture from Allah when things seems not to work out as planned and I'm stucked in the gutter. When you arrive on my doorstep, you brought with you a deep understanding to the wisdom of verse:

"And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out. And will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon Allah - then He is sufficient for him. Indeed, Allah will accomplish His purpose. Allah has already set for everything a [decreed] extent. [Holy Quran 65 :2-3]



Thanx for all the jolly Good time. I miss giving you bath anyway.

For long that this heart tyrannically ruled by Nafsu, the ever wanting desire. Now, Ramadhan Boot Camp is back to upgrade Officer Qalbu to Senior general Qalbu!

Oh what a hot day it is in the island of Borneo. Thirsty, if only, if only I could have a sip of ice cold coconut juice. Stomach is growling, hunger pang sets in while the smell of Ikan bakar and ayam Bakar roaming the air of Senadin and Seberkas. While other comrades stood tough, some appear to be rolling on the ground resisting temptations of eating and drinking. Some numbing the pain with a long evening nap.

While the survival instinct jolting down through every inch of the nerve, Lo and behold, a young half naked lady crossed the road when you're on your way to the grocery shop. Your lips dry, your throat sore, abdominal sustaining third degree gaster juice implosion, and the core of your brain impulsively rejecting signals that flashed bad thoughts coming in from your eyes and ears.

But the real person in charge today, Senior General Qalbu, overruled all other demand other than God the one have ordained. With every ranting and weepings of desire and instinct, S.G. Qalbu decide to be steadfast, be mindful of Allah rules, recite quran, do da'wah, spread goodness, and enjoin charitable act, and husnuzan of other people.

With what in mind? With hope. With hope to attain the reward awaits a few hours down the road. The ni'mah of break fasting with various different kind of sweet foods and drinks.

Ramdhan is a Madrasah, a school, a boot camp, where Son of Adam learn and relearn the meaning of hope and the feeling of reward. Allah given us Ramadhan as a gift, so that the heart may be in charge again of the lust desire and nafs, and to steer and guide it as what Allah please. Its a Madrasah where Son of Adam take a baby step of restraining and enjoy reward, so that come Syawal, Zulqaidah, Zulhijjah, man can be strong and stern in making the right choice in life until the next Ramadhan, although there are no more hope and reward of breaking fast as the one in Ramadhan, but man now rely on hope and reward of meeting with their Lord, the Most Loving One, allah Jalla wa a'la

This is the month where we start again with a baby step, and reminisce the feeling of hope and reward. For Rasulullah said :

“For the fasting person are two joys, the joy at the time of breaking the fast and the joy at the time of meeting their Lord.”

...

Therefore reward with best of food in moderation, so that you may imagine beyond imagination the joy of meeting with Allah, with the foods which are inequivalent with any food in existence in the entire universe.

Ramadhan al-mubarak friends

betul bukan?

While the 21st century has come with attacks upon Islam like never before, the numbers of energetic and enthusiastic young people coming towards Islam has dramatically risen. Muslim youth in the darkness of the life of this world suddenly came to find the light of Islam, and those shielded from faith itself are accepting Islam today at a rate never seen before. For all this we say Alhamdulillah.

However, to rest on our laurels and pat on our back would be a grave error, and indeed more so because our arch enemy- Shaytan- is constantly plotting and planning. And among his biggest tricks to deceive the young daee or the young student of knowledge is to let his ego inflate and make him arrogant and to cloud his intentions. When people question these brothers and sisters about Islam, and they show a real “know-it-all” attitude, looking down upon the people and always trying to prove by hook or by crook their point. Arrogance slowly leads to clouding of the intentions whereby the brother or sister is no longer learning and preaching for the sake of Allah but rather they are learning and preaching for the sake of winning arguments, for the sake of defeating their opponents and to prove the fact that they have “more knowledge”. Hence one will see many of them knowing lots about minor issues in Islam on which there is difference of opinion so that he can debate with others and put them down and yet many of the fundamentals of Islam he has no clue of them. One will see them also looking down upon and criticizing scholars other preachers and in no way shape or form accept criticism or correction. This, brothers and sisters is disaster!

Firstly, what was the sin of shaytan that got him kicked out of paradise? He was too ARROGANT to bow down to Adam alayhi salam, and hence while we have in theory become “pious”, by becoming arrogant we are practically following Shaytan more than the ones we may deem “ignorant peeps”. Arrogance in Islam is defined in the Prophetic hadith as two things- rejecting the truth and looking down upon the people (Saheeh Muslim Hd-147). In another hadith he mentioned, sallallahu alayhi wasallam that the one with an atom’s weight of pride will never enter paradise. (Saheeh Muslim Hd-164). Most often the brothers have little manners and when reminded they pay no heed at all to the wordings of Allah or His Prophet about having good manners, while the Prophet said "I have been sent ONLY to perfect good character.” (Bukhari in Adab al-Mufrad)

The second issue we will deal with is the clouded intentions, and it is to learn knowledge, to debate and discuss and to preach Islam to show off to the people, and this is also a dangerous sin and it is minor shirk, which wipes out all the good from our deeds. It is also very subtle and is as Rasul Allah described, a black ant on a black rock on a black (moonless) night (Musnad Ahmad). People sometimes do not pay much heed to this form of shirk and this is also a disaster as the scholars mention that riya is so subtle yet dangerous that “the one who feels safe from it is the one who falls first to it.”

How do we deal with these issues?

Brother Hamza Andreas Tzortzis recently in one of his status updates summed up beautifully about how to get rid of our arrogant ego and to humble ourselves. He said, may Allah preserve him,
“The ego destroys our family relationships, our friendships, our lives and our spiritual well being. It stops us from forgiving, loving and working together. The Islamic sources use various strategies to help us reduce our egos.

1. Reflect upon death. We will all face the grave.

2. Reflect upon your origins. You were once a despised fluid. You were a baby, fully dependent on others.

3. Reflect with...in yourself. You have the same weaknesses as others. We all sin. We all smile, cry and bleed in the same language.

4. God is the greatest. He deserves all praise.

5. Don't seek to be right. Seek for things to work.

6. Don't ask for your rights. Give people their rights.

7. Forgiveness is the highest virtue.

8. Looking over each others faults is a greater good.

9. We are nothing without God. We have no ultimate value. No ultimate meaning.

10. We don't know our ends. We may end up worse.

11. Remember everything that you have, and everything that you are, is due to God's blessings.

A list so short and yet which speaks volumes mashaAllah!! As for helping to keep our intentions in check, we can employ the following tactics

1. Making dua to Allah to make us sincere for our deen for “they were not commanded except that they worship Allah alone, SINCERE to him in religion” (Surah Bayyinah V-5)

2. Increasing in our acts of worship which are in secret and hidden from the gazing eyes of people

3. Making the hereafter our goal, for the one who makes the hereafter his goal will only want to please Allah and will have nothing to do with showing off to the people

4. Remembering the fact that none of our deeds are of any value on our scales on the Day of Judgement unless done with sincerity for the sake of Allah

As a cure for both illnesses, it is of utmost importance that we ponder over the 16th ayah of Surah hadeed where Allah says,

“Is it not time for the hearts of those who believe should tremble at the remembrance of Allah and what We have revealed of the truth? Or have they become like those who were given the book before them. A long time passed over them and their hearts became hard. And most of them were rebellious” [(Surah 57:16)]

When was it that tears flowed down our cheeks as we remembered Allah in private and seclusion? When we become arrogant and our hearts harden up do we not get moved by the words of Allah, and also when we are showing off do we not get moved by the remembrance of Allah. The lesson to take brothers and sisters is to remember Allah, and to fear Him every time shaytan tempts us to act arrogantly or to cloud our intentions. For once a slave remembers how miniscule he is compared to Allah, there leaves no room for arrogance, and once a slave remembers that Allah has power over all things does he stop doing deeds to be seen by men.


For further reading

Pride a barrier to paradise- http://islamicarticles.wordpress.com/khibr/ Riyaa: Hidden Shirk- http://ahya.tripod.com/riyaa/r1.html
Recommended viewing

Islam and Ego by Nouman Ali Khan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjwtmjbOKE Signs by Boona Mohammed- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIPVNkGmO70

source >> www.islamicexperiences.com

carilah ketenangan dalam setiap yang Tuhan halalkan.
manusia tidak dicipta seperti malaikat.
fitrah manusia tidak boleh dicurangi.
Makanlah yang halal apabila lapar.
Tidurlah dengan halal apabila letih.
Kahwinilah yang halal apabila berkehendak.
Tinggalkan subhah dan bersabar apabila tidak jumpa jalan keluar.
Kerana Tuhan lebih dekat dari urat di leher.
Menahan mungkin membawa keterusan hidup, tapi kebanyakan masa membawa kepada mudarat.
Allah permudahkan Ya Allah. Permudahkan. Amin