RIS Canada... (2)

Autographed Maher Zain's CD....XD

Maher Zain in person...('botok licing' bak kata Jiha) haha

Assalamualaikum wrt...

I would like to start this post by expressing my happiness and excitedness (if that's even a word) for getting Maher Zain's autographed CD and actually saw him in person too..well, he is actually quite a shy person, man with few words, smiles a lot..malu-malu rupanya..=p

And I would like to express too, my highest gratitude to Allah..Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah...because with His power and will, we were given ease and steadiness to attend the RIS program from the first day, until the end of the event...my endless list of 'paranoidness' for bad things that could happen along the way i.e. snow storm, blizzard, car stuck in thick snow, slipping car on ice and what not; were all remained as paranoid..alhamdulillah..the coldness here I think is still bearable..and I thank Allah for that also..

If one word is to be used to describe how the RIS event went, I would say, "it's not fair!=p"..because it deserves all the best words exist..SubhanAllah! the program was by far, the best convention I have ever went in my life MasyaAllah...the speakers were awesome, event organization was tip top, and the most valuable things ever would be the knowledge, ukhuwah, and the effect of this whole trip brings to our hearts..

I would love to share some of the knowledge I have gained there right here..and I will try my best InsyaAllah..And I would also like to encourage all the readers..to seek knowledge if they were given the opportunity, time, good health..because the best time to seek knowledge and experience is when we are still young, healthy, financially affordable..and yeah, you get the idea right?

OK..enough chit chatting =p

Reviving the Islamic Spirit this year introduced awesome speakers like Syeikh Hamzah Yusof, Syeikh Habib Ali Al-Jifri (His parents are both descendants of Imam Hussien son of Ali..), Syeikh Abdallah Bayyah, Imam Zaid Shakir, Imam Johari Abdul Malik, Dr Jamal Badawi, Dr Tariq AlSuwaidan, Prof Tariq Ramadan (cucu Hassan AlBanna..), Imam Tahir Anwar..and the list goes on.. the speech each speakers gave was breathtaking..

I would like to share some words from one of the speaker, Imam Yassir Fazaga, Finding Our Spiritual Coordinates..(bersempena dengan New Year 2010 yang hanya disekeliling corner..=p)

He said that, time seems to go fast nowadays..year goes like a month, month feels like a week, week feels like a day and so on..this is a sign of the approaching yaumul qiyaamah..he also said that, people nowadays have introduced a lot of technology that helped to compensate the time that slipped; robots, jetplane, and even digital coffee maker..=p...people run and run and run..we actually rushed..and thus the time feels like it's running away ,like us..

Imam Yassir Fazaga said that there are basically 3 things that built each one of us. 1) Reputation, 2) Personality, and 3) Character. Reputation is how people see us. Personality is how we present ourseles to other people. While character is who we really are. We spent too much time in maintaining our reputation and personality in which we are willing to do much to enhance both these, and spend less time building the character of ourselves, which is a lot more important in defining what kind of person we are..People usually do stuffs only to please other people, they care about their reputation a lot because reputation can be tarnished by other people. On the other hand, character can only be tarnished by the person him/herself because the only person who can change oneself is the person him/herself...

He also added that, we have to make sure that every tomorrow is better than the day before, because if today is the same as tomorrow, indeed we have lost, and if it is worser, maka celakalah kamu...nauzubillah.. and he quoted from the Prophet SAW from a hadis that says, "..people who will be closed to me are the people with ahsinul akhlaaq-the best of akhlaq.."

Imam Yassir Fazaga also stated that, there are 6 essential characters, that if one have them, one is developing oneself to be a better person one has been..the 6 characters are..:

1) Conscience

I quoted from Wikipedia = 'is an ability that distinguishes whether one's actions are right or wrong..It can lead to feelings of remorse when a human does things that go against one/moral value..'

2) Compassion

One should try hard to be raheem to others..being compassion is to have the ability to feel the pain of others..and true compassion is for those who least needed it..

3) Consideration

One should be thoughtful to all makhluk especially to people, and also the environment..because what we say and do, will impact the people around us..Imam Yasir gave an example from a story of the prophet..(may not be accurate..)..There was a man who love Rasulullah so much..one day Rasul SAW came to his house..He was so happy that he asked Rasulullah to sit down, and he gave Rasul SAW some grapes to eat..the man fed Rasul SAW the grape one by one, using his hand..and he was so happy that he got to feed Rasul SAW with his own hand, that he smiled and smiled, and fed Rasul with the grape over and over again...then one time he put one grape into his mouth, and spitted it out because the grape tasted so bad..he asked Rasulullah.."Ya Rasulullah..did all the grapes taste like this?". The prophet said "yes" and he added "I saw you're so happy feeding me that I don't want to wipe off that smile from your face.."

4) Control

One must also learn to control the emotion and has to be in charged with one's desires..People usually interchanged between 'should' and ' must' (needs and wants)..they lose control and let their worldly desires take over their action which usually leads to something bad..one example is that a person should control the jaws (talking)..indeed tongue is sharper than the sword..

5) Courage

Is doing what is right despite of fear that may exist...be it fear that exist within oneself or even the fear from pressure given by the people around..because verily, he who do something or do not do something in order to please others, will displease Allah and Allah will eventually make others displease him back..

Imam Yassir Fazaga made a joke, he said that there are 3 numbers that we have to remember in life...13, 40 and 60

13 is the age when you care about what other people thinks about you..40 is when you don't care about what other people thinks about you..and 60 is when you feel that nobody is thinking about you...=p

6) Confidence

One has to do what is right, all the time..because Allah has promised that right will always win..

He also said that, if anything in this world does not impact how we behave, then it is not important..

If one asks..which one is more important..akhlak or ibaadah? which is better..a person who has good akhlak but less ibadaah, or a person who do a lot of ibaadah but with no akhlaq?..Imam Yassir Fazaga said it's like asking whether to poke the right eye or the left eye..?=p..both is no less important than the other...so one has to have ahsinul akhlaq as well as righteousness..

Some notes that I managed to jot down..

I will spend another 6 days for another program: Knowledge Retreat, a continuation kinda for RIS, only with less people (~800 for Knowledge Retreat vs. 20,000 people for RIS, SUBHANALLAH..never see that much Muslims before..), the concept is more like a class, where we get to learn from the sheikh in a lecture-like environment..

Alhamdulillah..I got a seat two rows from the middle-front today..it feels awkward but yet so breathtaking to sit very close to all these knowledgeable scholars..makes me feel like an ant...makes me realize how ignorant I am with so puny and perverse knowledge that I owned, 21 years of living in this world..

InsyaAllah I will share the knowledge here..I've been wanting so much to share as much as I can with the knowledge I got..it's not easy, but I will try my best..May Allah make things easy for me..

“Oh Allah! Make useful for me what you have taught me and teach me knowledge that will be useful to me. Oh Allah! I ask you for the understanding of the prophets and the memory of the messengers, and those nearest to you. Oh Allah! Make my tongue full of your remembrance and my heart with consciousness of you. Oh Allah! You do whatever you wish, and you are my availer and protector and best of aid.”