Salaam 'Alaikum Wr Wb.
Finally exams are over. 1 year down, 3 more to go (I intend to do my honours, InsyaAllah).
Unfortunately, all my MS and NPCC stuffs have to resume once again. And it's taking too much of my time. My entire time really. And people are not too happy about it because I don't have time to spend with them, especially my siblings and you-know-who.
If one were to read up Al Asr, man is encouraged to optimise his time performing good deeds (Al-Maaruf) and refrain from doing evil. But when one has too many things to do but too little time to accomplish, it's time to sit down and revisit this surah. If doing so much is going to have an adverse effect on one's self, whatever you're doing is NOT recommended. True enough falling sick is part and parcel of life but it could have been avoided in the first place. It's like intentionally stuffing your face full with sugar-rich food when you're young so that you can get diabetes at a later age. Why? Because I want to suffer now than to suffer later in the after-life. ???
Who are we to decide and regulate the pleasure and pain that we will experience in the afterlife? What I suggest is (not that I'm some expert in this field, but from whatever I have learnt in the past 2 decades) that we abstain ourselves from performing sinful acts and perform our good deeds whole-heartedly, without expecting remuneration from God or the people around us. I feel that constitutes the basis of becoming a good Muslim. Personally, a good Muslim should not be judged based on the rituals he performs or the knowledge he gains, but in his sincerity in doing them. And only God knows this well enough.
Parents' emphasis on Anak Soleh as one who performs his rituals dutifully and has good akhlak (behaviour or moral values), has misled the entire Malay-Muslim community into becoming a ritualistic (and sometimes highly 'plastic') society. Children nowadays, without questioning, follows as they are told. And most of the time, they are not even sure of why they do certain things. Take for example, myself. I was never taught the importance of praying. The only justification for Muslims to pray is that it is one of the five pillars of faith in Islam. So what? To me, they have missed out the fact that God has created man for us to obey Him and that solah is a way for us to 'communicate' with God. However, it is important to note that we are Muslims not only when performing our prayers but all the time. Who says we can communicate to God only when we are on our prayer mats? Who says we are Muslims only when we visit the mosques or perform our rituals?
Islam is more than that. To a Muslim, we live, breathe, eat, drink, sleep Islam. But don't push it. Or you'll end up becoming radicals. =). In life, I attain to be a moderate Muslim who is able to balance both the life now and the one hereafter. Let's pray that this will be the one thing I'm able to achieve apart from dying as a faithful Muslim. InsyaAllah.
I wish to do more, but I am just one person restricted by many factors such as time, strength and priorities. I wish I could do more ...
Wassalaam,
Nyonya
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