The wonders of Surah Al-ikhlas (Part 2)

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: -

“Hai Aisyah, don't you ever sleep before you do 4 things: -

1. Read the whole Holy Quran;

2. Make all Prophets to stand by you and protect you on Judgment day;

3. Make all mukmins agree and be with you;

4. Perform your Haj and umrah."

Having said such, Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) went to perform his prayers and Saidatina Aisyah remained in her room. After Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had completed his prayers, Saidatina Aisyah said: -

"Messenger of Allah (pbuh), your ransom be my father and mother, the request to peform 4 things before sleeping cannot be performed by me".

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) smiled and said -

"when you read Qul Huwallahu Ahad 3 times, it is as if you have the read the whole Holy Quran. When you offer the selawat to me and the Prophets before me, we will bless (syafaat) you on judgment day. And when you ask for the forgiveness of all mukmins, for sure they will all agree and be with you. When you read Subahanallah, Walhamdulillah, Walaillahaillallah, Wallahu Akbar it means to say that you have performed your Haj and Umrah".

In assence, this Hadis suggest that all Muslims, must, before sleeping read -

1. Surah Al-ikhlas 3 times

2. Offer the Selawat to Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and all Prophets before him is this form - Allahumma Sholli ‘ala Sayyidina Muhammad Wa ali Muhammad wa’ala jami’il anbiyaai wal mursalin;

3. Ask to be forgiven all mukmins by way of a doa (prayer) in this form - Allahummaghfirlil muslimina wal muslimat, wal mukiminina wal mukminat 3 times .

4. Recite Subahanallah, Walhamdulillah, Walaillahaillallah, Wallahu Akbar Wala haula wala quwwata illa billahil ‘aliyyil ‘adzim 3 times.

God willing, you will be protected in this world and in the hereafter

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The wonders of Surah Al-ikhlas (Part 1)

Surah Al-ikhlas, a short verse from the Holy Quran, can do wonders to those who regularly recite it. Before I embark on explaining the many wonders of Surah Al-Iklhas, allow me, by way of recitals, to rewrite the other names, by which the verse is also called: -

1. At-Tafrid.

2. At-Tajrid.

3. At-Tauhid.

4. Al-Ikhlas.

5. An-Najat.

6. Al-Wilayah.

7. An-Nisbah.

8. Al-Ma’rifah.

9. Al-Jamal.

10. Al-Muqasyqasyah.

11. Al-Mu’awwidzah.

12. As-Shamad.

13. Al-Asas.

14. Al-Maani’ah.

15. Al-Muhtadhar.

16. Al-Munfiroh.

17. Al-Baroah.

18. Al-Mudzkiroh.

19. An-Nuur.

20. Al-Insan.

Anas bin Malik's in his Hadis reports that Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had said: -

"whosover reads Surah Al-ikhlas once, it is as if he has read 1/3 of the Holy Quran. Whosoever reads Surah Al-ikhlas twice, it is as if he has read 2/3 of the Holy Quran and whosoever reads Surah Al-Ikhlas thrice, it is as if he has read the whole Holy Quran. Whosoever reads Surah Al-ikhlas ten times, Allah will build for him, in heaven, a house made of red ya'kut"

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Die baby die

10 minutes of pleasure and a life time of misery. Yes, that is what you get for indulging in illicit sex.

Day in and day out, we read in the newspapers and hear over television, teenage girls abandoning their new born in waste bins, at door steps of mosques and other houses of worship. Some are thrown into toilet bowls. Some are found with umbilical chords still intact. Their little bodies sore from bites by insects and wild animals. Some wrapped in old newspapers and the “lucky” ones in sheets of cloth.

Gone are the days, when we sweated cold sweat when asked to sit beside the opposite sex in our classrooms. Today, teenage boys and girls not only sit beside each other, they tend to sit on each other. Walking home from school, holding each other’s hand is a common sight.

We knew Malaysians, all this while, as a conservative society where sex within marriage was the norm and sex without, shunned. Today, sex without marriage is the in thing. Malaysians are no longer conservative. They indulge in whatever they fancy.

I do not, here, intend to discuss what steps teachers and parents ought to take to overcome teenage social problem or what teachers and parents ought to do to overcome baby dumping problem. What I intend to address here is - how inhumane young parents can become. How a girl, after bearing a baby for 9 months, deliver, and then dump the baby without any remorse.

I have, in my home, some Persian cats. When little kittens are born, I sit by and watch how the mother cat behave. The mother cat will, at birth, lick the kittens till they are clean. Thereafter, from time to time, lick the little ones as if bathing them. The mother cat will ensure that the kittens are milked regularly. Try picking up the kittens in the presence of the mother cat and be ready to be scratched. Take the little ones out of the cage, like I always do, and you will hear the mother cat calling as if she already miss the kittens.

If a cat can love her kittens so much, what have we got to say about men in general? Men are said to have dignity and at the same time are supposed to have high moral values. How come men have brought dignity and morality lower than that of animals? What has gone wrong with our society?

Fine, you made a mistake. You should not have succumbed to lust but you succumbed anyway. Fine, you wanted to know what sex is all about and you found out. Fine, you needed, say, 10 minutes of pleasure and you got that. Do you, after birth, punish an innocent baby for the mistake you made? For educating yourself the finer points of sex? For, at last, finding out what pleasure is all about?

From the religious point of view, the young mother and the young father sinned and for that they need to repent. What sin did the baby commit to deserve death? Why should someone not love a baby who is born out of wedlock? A baby is a baby, immaterial of whether she is born after marriage or before and this baby deserves love, warmth and care.

Sometime when I sit and watch my Persians, I wonder – why can’t men be like my Persians? They love their kitten like nothing else matters. And mind you, the father cat is never around and most of the time I don’t even know who the father cat is. Even than, my Persians have never dumped their kittens at birth.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting that young girls should go around and get themselves laid till pregnant. What I am suggesting is – try staying away from illicit sex. However, if you have made a mistake, don’t punish the baby till death. The baby deserves to live. Give the baby away for adoption and repent your sins. There are so many married couples out there who for some reason cannot have their own babies. Hand your baby over to these couple and rest assured that the baby will be well taken care of.

Killing is not the answer.

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Hypocrites, thats what we are

Let us for once be frank with ourselves. How many of us can sincerely say that he or she has never broken the law or any rules or regulations. None, I suppose.

I’ll give you a classic example – rubbish. We have bins placed by the local authorities at strategic places to enable citizens to throw their rubbish but do they use these facilities? They don’t. When I say “they”, I mean the typical Malaysian, which, invariably, includes me.

Frankly, I have sat at bus-stands smoking and as the bus approach, I just throw my cigarette butt on the floor even when there is a bin placed about 2 feet away.

Another classic example, will the Raub Court premises. There are sufficient stickers displaying the “No smoking” sign yet, every Tom, Dick and Harry is puffing away. To add insult to injury, the puffing is done with the signage starring at the smokers. Guess what? Those smoking in the court premises are mostly court staff, prosecutors and lawyers – the same people who are supposed to uphold the law. You guessed right – most of the time the signage stares at me.

What about domestic rubbish and waste? We are asked to place bins outside our premises and ensure the rubbish is properly tied in rubbish bags and placed inside these bins. What do we do? We tie the rubbish in rubbish bags and place them outside the bin. We even throw rubbish at the foot of signage that reads “Jangan buang sampah disini – denda RM500.00”.

What surprises me is that, these same people, who break laws in this country, behave very well in other countries. For example, when I was in Madinah, smoking outside the gates of the Prophet’s Mosque, some Arabs shouted – “haram, haram” at me. I immediately threw my cigarette away and from that moment, refused to smoke other than inside my hotel room.

In Singapore, I have seen Malaysian not smoking when they are walking the streets. I suppose they fear that they may litter the streets with their cigarette ash. Likewise in Japan, no Malaysian will smoke other than at designated booths. No Malaysian will throw cigarette butts or tissues out of moving cars in Singapore or Japan like they habitually do in Malaysia. All rubbish is thrown into rubbish bins.

Some blame enforcement. They say that the enforcement officers are not carrying out their duties diligently. They do not reprimand or summon when they see someone breaking the law and/or rule. Do we really need enforcement officers breathing down our necks all the time? Do we need to be reminded as to what is right and what is wrong when we can intelligently make the distinction in other countries?

At the end of the day, we can ask ourselves one question, stringent enforcement or not, what is our problem? Are we habitual law breakers? My short answer will be - No!!! We are not. If we are, obviously we will also break the laws of other countries but we religiously do not.

Do we therefore, consider ourselves hypocrites? Breaking laws in our own country and instantly becoming law abiding citizens in another country. To a certain extent, we are – like it or not – whatever our excuse.

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