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Supplications for Depression

In al-Saheehayn it was reported from Ibn 'Abbaas that the Messenger of Allah used to say, when he felt distressed:

"La ilaaha ill-Allaah al-'Azeem ul-Haleem, Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Rabb il-'arsh il-'azeem, Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Rabb is-samawaati wa Rabb il-ard wa Rabb il-'arsh il-kareem."

(There is no god except Allah, the All-Mighty, the Forbearing; there is no god except Allah, the Lord of the Mighty Throne; there is no god except Allah, Lord of the heavens, Lord of the earth and Lord of the noble Throne)."

And it was reported from Anas RA that the Prophet S.A.W. used to say, when something upset him:

"Yaa Hayyu yaa Qayyoom, bi Rahmatika astagheeth."

(O Ever-Living One, O Everlasting One, by Your mercy I seek help.)

And it was reported that Asmaa’ bint 'Umays RA said:

The Messenger of Allah said to me: "Shall I not teach you some words to say when you feel distressed?"

"Allaah, Allaah, Rabbee laa ushriku bihi shay’an."

(Allah, Allah, my Lord, I do not associate anything with Him.)

It was reported from 'Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood that the Prophet S.A.W. said:

"No person suffers any anxiety or grief, and says:

"'Allaahumma innee 'abduka wa ibn 'abdika wa ibn amatika, naasiyati bi yadika, maadin fiyya hukmuka, 'adlun fiyya qadaa’uka, as’aluka bi kulli ismin huwa laka sammayta bihi nafsaka aw anzaltahu fi kitaabika aw 'allamtahu ahadan min khalqika aw ista’tharta bihi fi 'ilm il-ghaybi 'andak an taj’ala al-Qur’aana rabee’ qalbi wa noor sadri wa jalaa’a huzni wa dhahaaba hammi."

"O Allah, I am Your slave, son of Your slave, son of Your female slave, my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every Name belonging to You which You named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Qur’aan the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety."

"...but Allah will take away his sorrow and grief, and give him in their stead joy."

[Al-Kalim al-Tayyib by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, edited by Shaykh al-Albaani, p. 72]

SPM 2009: Good Luck!

Post-SPM 2006: Interview with reporters from Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian

Hari ini, 18 November 2009 bermulalah detik yang paling mendebarkan pelajar-pelajar tingkatan 5 di seluruh Malaysia. Peperiksaan SPM, ujian yang menentukan arah tuju masa hadapan kini menjelma. Masih segar di ruang minda satu perasaan yang cukup hangat dan menyesakkan di saat detik itu hampir tiba. Terimbau kembali kenangan zaman persekolahan di Maktab Rendah Sains MARA Pengkalan Chepa (MRSM PC) 3 tahun yang lalu.

Masih ku ingat bagaimana dalam tekanan sebagai seorang ketua pelajar, hari-hari yang dilalui terasa begitu pantas bergerak. Betapa sempit ruang untuk mengulangkaji pelajaran. Kadang-kadang tanggungjawab sebagai pelajar diketepikan begitu sahaja. Pernah ketika di tingkatan 4, ponteng kelas selama hampir 2 minggu, minggu pertama kerana menyertai Tunas Saintis Peringkat Kebangsaan di MRSM Pontian, minggu kedua kerana tugas sebagai ahli jawatankuasa Minggu Bahasa Peringkat Kebangsaan. Namun begitu, alhamdulillah, Allah mengurniakan keputusan yang baik dalam peperiksaan, berjaya mengekalkan PNG 3.5 ke atas. Sungguh benar janji Allah

“Jika kamu menolong agama Allah, aku akan menolong kamu dan meneguhkan kedudukanmu.” (Muhammad: 7)

Bersama Mami n Nipi.. Inspirasiku ketika duka

Di tingkatan 5, keadaan sama berterusan. Dikutuk, dikeji itu perkara biasa sebagai pemimpin pelajar. Biasalah orang melayu. Begitu banyak mulut yang mahu mengkritik (mereka kata berfikir kononnya), namun tidak ramai yang mahu berdiri di belakang pemimpin mereka dan melakukan perubahan bersama. Bila diajak untuk menjalankan sebarang inisiatif kebajikan pelajar, begitu banyak alasan diberi. Senario sama berlaku di mana-mana. Bergantung atas definisi perubahan yang diinginkan. Bagi kami, perubahan yang diinginkan berjaya dicapai atas beberapa indikator yang realistik yang kami tetapkan sendiri. Mungkin pada orang lain tidak, ya terserahlah. Matlamat BWP ketika itu tidaklah terlalu jauh memandangkan keadaan yang agak parah yang dibawa dari generasi terdahulu. Alhamdulillah, sekurang-kurangnya batu asas yang kami letakkan berjaya digarap dengan baik oleh BWP seterusnya dan mereka terus berubah dari generasi ke generasi. Pasti ramai MRSM PC Old Boys terkejut dengan budaya pelajar generasi terbaru ini. Sekurang-kurangnya saya sendiri pun terkejut.

Cabaran demi cabaran mendatang. Ketika SPM masih berbaki sebulan, saya terpaksa berulang-alik ke hospital tatkala sedang menghadapi Percubaan SPM. Ini cabaran yang paling dahsyat pernah dialami setakat ini. Tatkala orang lain sibuk menelaah pelajaran, saya terpaksa berehat. Dalam kelas, saya langsung tidak mampu menumpukan perhatian. Saya percaya tiada dalam kalangan adik-adik mengalami apa yang saya alami. Alhamdulillah, janji Allah itu maha benar. Saya masih berjaya mendapat keputusan terbaik dan ditemu ramah oleh RTM dan beberapa media cetak lain dalam sidang akhbar bersama Pengerusi MARA.

Press Conference with Pengerusi MARA Y. B. Brig. Jen. (B) Dato’ Seri Abdul Hamid bin Hj. Zainal Abidin

Natijah daripada kehidupan di MRSM PC, inilah saya. Maybe people want to argue that they are ‘finished’ because of their life in MRSM PC, well I would say they are the one who ‘surrender themselves to the weather’. This pesimistic view of life will let people down all the time until their death.

Nasihat saya kepada adik-adik yang mengambil SPM tahun ni, termasuklah adik saya sendiri:

1. Tingkatkan kebergantungan kepada Allah.
2. Banyakkan berdoa.
3. Tenangkan fikiran.
4. Minta maaf dengan semua orang terutama guru-guru. Masih ada masa selagi keputusan belum keluar.
5. Pastikan anda dah khatam Al-Quran. Pengalaman saya dengan sahabat-sahabat, menunjukkan ada trend pelajar yang skor masa peperiksaan biasa tapi tak skor masa SPM, kebanyakan daripada mereka tak pernah khatam Al-Quran.
6. Walau apa pun yang berlaku, fikir yang positif sahaja.
7. Tawakal hanya selepas berusaha sepenuh hati.
8. Banyakkan buat latihan soalan-soalan tahun lepas daripada mentelaah. Dalam keadaan genting sebegini, output lebih penting daripada input.
9. Cari ruang yang paling senang untuk fokus. Elakkan belajar di bilik.

Akhir kata, semoga berjaya dalam SPM 2009 insyaAllah. Jika saya mampu, mengapa anda tidak?

"Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem"

Vacuum Domain of Truth

“O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done.” (Al-Hujurat: 6)

The Allegory of the Cave

In this famous theory written by Plato, he imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality.

Contact

Contact is the key to effective communication. Contact between various members of a society is essential to build strong feelings of love and commitment. Contact within the same universities, schools, classes, organizations, events and other places where people go about their business enables people to get to know each other better, to understand or share in their ideas, beliefs, sorrows and joys.

“Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who have not fought against you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allah loves those who deal with equity.” (Al-Mumtahanah: 8)

Contacts do not stop at a superficial limit like simply sharing the same universities or working in the same organizations, but it involves more intimate levels like sharing and emphatizing with others’ problems, concerns, happiness, grief, hopes, expectations and disappointments.

Assumptions

No contact means no effective communication. It obviously results in wrong information. People tend to observe from afar. They are not brave enough to catch the right people for the right and credible information. Consequently, people assume anything that may uphold their stance and assumptions tend to be wrong. Just like what is mentioned by Plato in his popular Allegory of Cave long time ago.

There’s where people build a vacuum domain of truth between them. No one dare to try to break into the domain. It needs a very high pressure, temperature, energy and very sophisticated ‘pump’ before the domain can be break. That is when prejudice and hatred come into play.

Battle of Siffin

There are a lot of examples in the olden days for what we have been discussing right now. Obviously, one of them is Battle of Siffin. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Ar-Raqqah, Syria. Following the controversial murder of Uthman ibn Affan, Ali had become Caliph but struggled to be accepted as such throughout the Muslim Empire.

Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, was a kinsman of the murdered Caliph, and just wanted the murderers brought to justice. He is not a rebellion as his enemy wanted people to see. Ali was in difficult situation since the ummah at that time was in chaos without a leader. Muawiyah considered that Ali was unwilling to do this, and so Muawiyah rebelled against Ali, who attempted to put down the rebellion. The result was the engagement at Siffin. It is so confusing that Ali was in Madinah while Muawiyah is in Damascus. What would you expect for two sides without any proper communication system to make a dialogue to understand each other’s position? This is what I mean as ‘Vacuum Domain of Truth’.

Therefore, it is not fair to other side if we throw a lot of accusations merely based on other’s words which could be slanderous. They may have their own agenda or influenced by their emotions. People with high knowledge and credibility also may do the same mistake. No people are free from their emotion; they may use their knowledge as they like to fulfil their agenda. Who knows? So, the solution is to meet the right people, like in the previous case, Ali, listen with an open heart to their explanation.

I write this just for one reason.

“The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: So make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers; and fear Allah, that ye may receive Mercy.” (Al-Hujuurat: 10)


Reference:


1. Healing Body and Soul - Amira Ayad

2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Siffin

5. http://saifulislam.com/?p=5874

6. http://ms.langitilahi.com/perkongsian-baiklah-dengan-semua-orang/#more-1811