Student of Knowledge

Assalamualaikum.

How is it going guys? Had a good weekend? Alhamdulilah I myself had a pretty good one. Let's start with last Thursday. My wife and I went for a talk in IIUM. It was given by Sheikh Navaid Aziz where we first heard him on our very first Twins of Faith. Prior to the talk, I remember he was hands full of stories that are both inspiring and full of lessons. And he was, again that night. The talk was on You Only Live Once, or YOLO to be short. This philosophy is what our youth nowadays live by. At least by majority of youths all around the social media. From what I can understand, YOLO means that you can do whatever you want because you only got to live once, especially when you do the crazy ones! From embarrassing yourself to indulge in sins, nauzubillah. But still, there are positivity behind this idea. Sheikh Navaid said that since you only live once, you got to seize the day and make the most of it. This dunya we live in is short for a reason; it is the place for us to sow the seeds, to do what Allah instructs and leave what He forbids as we will reap the rewards later in the Hereafter.

The next day, I was looking forward to hear Mufti Menk friday khutbah in Masjid Tun Abdul Aziz PJ. That morning I was actually kind of busy but alhamdulillah I got to the masjid in time. Suprisingly the masjid was not really full house when I first arrived. I reckon it was partially because most people didn't really know that he would be delivering the khutbah since I myself knew on Facebook. This is my actually my first time hearing Mufti Menk live. I got to listen to him a couple of times but most of them were on Youtube. Anyway, back to the real story here, Mufti Menk talked on Allah test gives on us. He asked the jamaah to wonder why did Allah create this dunya to be temporary and not forever? Because if it's forever there would not be tests and difficulties. Allah made it temporary so we would strive the very best that we can for us to book a ticket in His Paradise, insha Allah. He also talked about how the greater the difficulty the greater the reward we'll get if we only really understand how it would benefits us. One would not be crying in his prayers if one never got to face any kind of tests whatsoever in one's life. One would not be learning life's greatest lessons if life's on the right track all the time. Because the greatest life lessons were learnt when we were at our lowest.

May Allah make easy for us and may Allah make us to be always grateful for all the blessings He bestows upon us. Ameen.


Right after the Friday prayer, I went to KL Sentral to fetch my parents. They were on a short trip to attend our neighbours' wedding on the weekend. They were our neighbours when we're staying in Kuala Terengganu couple of years ago. We got awesome neighbours when we were there. Awesome because they were my childhood friends. Whenever I think of my childhood times, they are one of the first people that popped into my head. The last time I saw them was like three or four years ago, so you can understand how I was looking forward to see them; catch up for all the lost time and what not.

Anyway, we were got caught in the usual KL Friday evening traffic. But I believe it was a blessing in disguise for my parents and I got to talk and spend quality time together even when it happen to be in a traffic jam hehe. May Allah bless and protect my parents always for they have taken good care of me since I was born.

And then come Saturday. The day where we would attend our first parenting talk. And it turned to be really great and most importantly enlightening, especially for me. I read about parenting talks whenever I can but that talk was an eye opener for me. But that's just a talk. I bet what real live parenting action would do to me. Maybe there will a whole lot more than eyes that would be opened hehe The talk was in Masjid Putrajaya and it was delivered by Sheikh Tariq Appleby. He was one of the instructors in Al-Kauthar Institute and surprisingly have a little bit of Malay blood in him. I never got to hear him talk but when I do, he's definitely one of my top 10 speakers I'd love to hear every time.

A little bit of trivia of me, I love listening to talks, whatever kind of talks. But I have a little bit of pet peeves when it comes to the speakers. I don't like those who tend stray away from their topics and open one after another "hilarious" story. Humour may be one of crowd pleasing qualities for speakers to have but when it's executed exaggeratedly and unnecessarily it lowers my interest greatly. Other people may like these kind of people but hey, one man's food is another man's poison. /endrant

Sheikh Tariq too was full of stories, which is unsurprising considering he graduated with B.A in Hadith studies. He shared how Prophet Muhammad is full of love towards children. Once he get off from the mimbar during Friday khutbah to carry his grandchild up to the mimbar because he's so full of love that he wants his grandchild to be with him. Anas bin Malik narrated that Muhammad never say 'uhh' or any gestures of saying displeasure to him when he was with the Prophet for 10 years (correct me if I'm wrong) even when he was doing things that displeases the Prophet. I remember in Twins of Faith months ago, Sh Assim shared a story where the Prophet would prolong his sujud when his grandchild was riding on him. I mean, how great is this man's love towards children? He's really an example of all humanity.

Sheikh Tariq also touched on the aspect of punishment towards one's own children. He brought up a particular hadith that says (more of less) ; how parents should train their children to pray when they're 7 years old. Separate their beds and smack them (lightly) if they did not perform they prayer when they're 10 years old. People were quick to use this hadith as a reason to smack their kids but Sheikh further the real meaning behind this hadith. I only just touch on the aspect of punishment in hadith and I may not explain as well as Sheikh Tariq but I try my best, so just bear with me okay?

He said if you were teaching your kids to pray for 3 years (7-10 years old) every single day, wouldn't prayer be something of norm to him? So if the kid didn't perform his prayers, isn't it logical the kid leave them deliberately or for similar reasons? Another important point is this is of something from the deen. Something that is serious with regards to his ultimate purpose to his Creator, which to worship Him. The prophet never say it is okay to punish your kids for the little things like the kid didn't want to sleep, didn't made his bed or whatever reasons that are not really serious. Lastly, the word lightly put a limit to parents ways of teaching their kids. It's not that it gives full license to go smack their kids like crazy. Just enough to remind them about the importance of their prayers.

Alhamdulillah I came back from Sheikh Tariq Appleby's talk feeling enlightened yet feel there are so much more that I could learn. May Allah gives me and my wife the opportunity and the time to learn to be a great parent. And may Allah make it easy for me to be a good parents to my kids in the future. Ameen.