Adab suluk murid by Imam Ali al-haddad

AlhamduliLlah alfa marraat!:D
one of my favourite ustaz just returned back to Singapore from Yemen ,Ustaz Abu Zaki.
He'll be teaching at Tradisi Halaqah every wednesday night after maghrib using a book that was written by Imam Ali al-haddad.

aslmkm wr wb,

so for the first session/class, ustaz Abu Zaki told us to think about our lives, what is the point and purpose of our living, is it really worth it to work hard and spent hours of your energy on this dunya which is equal value of a mosquito's wing? what are we created for? he asked us to reflect on our future etc. eg. are we sure that we would live long enough in this temporary life? a person maybe 20 years old and another maybe 60 years old, outwardly it looks like the person who is 60 years old is the older one , but what if the person who is 20 years old will die the next year whereas the person who is 60 years will die 40 years time. So basically in the eyes of Allah the 20 years old is actually older than the 60 years old guy. So don't think that because you're a teenager you will live long enough and postpone your good deeds until you're old. that's what the syaitan wants you to think and do. So don't delay any good deeds that you feel like doing and stop wasting time.

secondly, he told us that all of us should put inside our heart an aim/goal or desire to get closer to Allah [swt]. Because without any desire to get closer to Allah [swt] ,a person can easily be swept away and tricked by his nafs and shaitan .eg; like if we're in the ocean and we have nothing to hold on to, basically we'll be easily followed and get dragged by the wave to wherever it takes us to. But if we were to hold on to a rope that is attacth to a building, so no matter how strong the wave pushes or pulls us, we will not be easily followed by it as we've hold on tightly on the rope that are tied to a strong building. just like our life, if we have no motives and goals in our lives, we'll be easily tricked and follow the needs of our nafs.

Now, after you set your desire to get closer to Allah [swt], now you just need to put in effort in it. What's the point if you just hold on to the rope but didn't pull yourself to get closer to the building? you need to pull yourself with every effort and energy you have, the more energy and effort you put in, the faster you will reached the building for safety. So you need to put effort to get closer to Allah [swt]. as the formulae of life goes : LIFE = passion + effort + tawakkal =SUCCESS.

until now, inshaAllah i'll share more next time.
wassalam.

Reflection

AlhamduliLlah , AlhamduliLlah walhamduliLlah 'ala kulli haal..

aslmkm wr wb,
alhamduliLlah, this week i get to go out 3 days with jemaah tabligh/da'wah from indonesia, all of them are santris(students) and mashaAllah, all of them are just awesome. as the saying goes,"if you can't be a good servant, then join them..".

The jemaah is very down to earth,tawaddhu' and have good akhlaq. One of the nasihah from the santris hit me "it was said that the best of zikr is La ilaaha illaLlah (there is no God but Allah) and the best of dua' is AlhamduliLlah..so whatever you do,just say alhamduliLlah for the blessings that you receive and you will get more, as what Allah has promised.. don't always be too energetic/eager and ask something for more without even praising Allah [swt] and thank Him for the blessings.." and yeah, sometimes without noticing it, lately i've been asking too much from Him without putting in any efforts and always complain about stuffs that makes me feel lost and confuse. He is the best of planner, so note to self , if you only pray because you feel the zouq or nikmat in the prayer and stop if you don't then you really are not a slave of Allah, you pray out of the nikmat you feel in it and not for the sake of Allah. But , if whatever happens to you, whether you're sad,confuse or happy etc. and you still keep praying and istiqamah in the things that you do, then that is true worship.
Ya Allah , let us pray because of YOU and not because of what we feel or any other reasons.
Ease the burden of your servants who needs help and open all of their hearts to get closer to You and love You more. ameen