Saturday, June 28, 2014

My prediction so far.... FIFA World Cup 2014

FIFA 2014 after the group matches:-
Group A Mexico replaces Croatia (Bra,Mex)
Group B Chile replaces Spain (Ned,Chi)
Group C No surprises (Col,Gre)
Group D England & Italy out (CRC, Uru)
Group E No surprises (Fra,Sws)
Group F Nigeria replaces Bosnia (Arg, Nig)
Group G US replaces Portugal (Ger,USA)
Group H No surpises (Bel,Alg)

My prediction so far:-
3 out of 3 South American past winners are still in (Bra,Arg,Uru)
2 out of 5 European team are still in (Ger,Fra)
African team will do well. 2 out of 5 are still in (Nig, Alg)

4 teams have maximum points (Ned,Col,Arg,Bel)
4 teams have minimum points (Gre,Nig,USA,Alg)

Surprise team is Costa Rica. Most impressive team is to me Columbia
Let us continue....


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Surah Al-Adiyat (100th Surah)

Another awesome surah that I wanted to share is Surah Adiyat (100th Surah).

The first 5 of out 11 ayat is about a story.

A story of a fast galloping horse which was breathing as it was moving very fast. It was so fast that sparks came out from it's feet. It was on the way to attack something in the morning. You know when you are attacking in the morning it is like you are in a mission impossible as people usually attack at night. And debris came from the horse giving a signal that is it fast approaching. And this super fast horse came straight in the middle of the enermy line.

Wow! What a sight. This is a story of a very fast horse approaching it's enermy, not even slowing down as it approached it's enermy and went straight in, kind of like a Japanese kamikaze warplane. This horse knew that it was going to die, but it did just what the Master asked him to do...

This is Allah's oath. The first 5 ayats are Allah's oath. But the main subject is in the 6th ayat.

"Most truly, man is not grateful to his Master". This is what Allah is emphasizing.

Man is not like the horse in this Surah's story. The horse was sacrificing everything for it's master. But the way this ayat was structured, was to get the attention of the pagan Arabs (kind of like an action movie) before the subject is being delivered.

After getting the attention and the rhymes, the real message was revealed.

Yes, mankind are ungrateful to their Master. This is the message of the Surah - Ungrateful to the Master. After what the Master has done to the slaves, the slaves are ungrateful to the Master.

If we just read the English translation, we will not get the true deep understanding of this ayat. We will not be able to appreciate the beautiful liguistic structure of the Quran.

You have to learn Arabic. And you must also learn the old Arabic history in order to REALLY2 appreciate this ayat.

May Allah grant us the deep understanding of Quran and may we really belong to the people of taqwa.

ps. There is another lesson learnt from this Surah. When we want to present something effectively, start with a "good" story to get the audience attention. Then deliver the message... POWERFUL technique. But remember to consider who is the audience and their level of understanding when relating the "good story".

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Ramadan 1435H

Ramadan is coming again.

This is a month long practicl course is to train us and elleviate our level of taqwa.

I hope that everyone is ready for Ramadan. Special mention to my friends in Norway. They will have to fast for 18 hours daily because this Ramadan falls on a summer. It is not only abstain from eat and drink, it is also to check on our good deeds and minimise our bad deeds.

May Allah give you strength to fullfil your obligation to Allah.

One word of advice, try doing things that you can continue doing after Ramadan. And do it FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH

Ameen.... 

You must make the EFFORT FIRST, then make doa...

As I read the Quran & the tafseer as well, I am sharing with you my most impactful discovery.

In Surah Fatihah: 5 "Only to you we enslave and only to you we seek assistance"
This surah, we read all the time. But what I REALLY realize is that, we must worship & enslave ourselves to ALLAH FIRST, before we make doa and tawakkal to Him.

We must make the FIRST move and effort, before Allah's help come into the picture. That is the process. If we fullfil our duties correctly, then for SURE, Allah will fulfil His promise.

In Surah Baqarah:186 ".. I (Allah) will respond to the doa when he (slaves)calls on Me. So let them (slaves) obey Me and believe in Me.."

If you just make doa, without any effort AND you do not do what Allah asked you to do, FOR SURE, you doa will NOT be granted.

Remember..You MUST make the effort first, then only Allah's help will come.

Amazing! Now, that we know how the process goes, it is crystal clear what we should be doing..
Let us enslaves ourselves to Allah..

Do your best (to Allah) and He will do the rest for you.

Ameen  

Saturday, June 7, 2014

FIFA World Cup 2014 prediction

FIFA World Cup 2014 is just around the corner.

Before the start of any tournament, the fans love to discuss and predict who will win the converted trophy.

I love football. But during any World Cup, I do not stay up to watch the matches. I only get the results and follow the tournament as it progresses. I only watch Manchester United play. Manchester United players have players in 9 different countries which I leave it at that.

Here is my prediction. The winner will be among the past winners. 5 from Europe and 3 from South America. I also predict that the 5 African teams will be the surprise teams. Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Ghana.

Brazil won on European soil, while Spain won on African soil. But on South American soil (minus Mexico), the winner are two team - Uruguay (Uruguay-1932, Brazil-1950) and Argentina (Argentina-1978).

So, the obvious choice to pick for the winner is - Brazil.

If they win, it is expected. But if they lose, then it is an upset. In Felipe Scolari, they have a very experienced manager.

In Malaysia, with Brazil hosting the World Cup and the time difference is -11 hours, the matches are played in the early morning of day. Expect productivity to drop as many people will take the opportunity to watch the matches with ALL matches to be screen LIVE. Matches will be at 12am, 3am, 6am and 9am Malaysia time.

Let the tournament begin.  

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Money and material does not necessary lead to true happiness

This seeking of happiness through acquiring more money and material things is a total misconception.

There are 3 main reason for this misunderstanding

1. Acquiring material gain will make people more greedy. There is no limit to ones greed. If someone wants one million, once he achieve one million, he will seek to acquire the second million and so on... Very few people know when to stop and  say enough is enough

2. The person will get more and more worried as the wealth he has acquired will need be protected. He will not happy and at peace as he is constantly worrying about how to protect his money in order not to become lesser.

3. The process of accumulating huge wealth will most definitely affect other people. In big businesses, there will be a large tendency when we hurt and become unjust to other people when trying to achieve our goal of huge profits. We tend to have many enemies along the way.

So my dear friends, to achieve true happiness is to have a pure heart. To have a pure heart, we must have faith in Allah and remember Him at ALL times. When Allah is close to our hearts, then we must do good deeds to other human beings (amal soleh) and this 2 main actions will lead to total happiness and peace.

I am not saying that money and material is bad. But the OBSESSION of accumulating money and wealth can and will lead astray by syaitan.

Let money and material things be the means to get the pleasure of Allah as well as the pleasure of other people. Do not let money and material control you. You control them.. Ameen

PS: If you have faith in Allah, Allah will make it easy for you to get the wealth in a quantity that you need, NOT the quantity that you WANT..