Life Is Tough.......[ but why be sad ]

Life is tough. ..fullstop.

Does not matter whether one has a Daimler in the garage and a trophy wife in bed.

Many of such blokes end up with suicides in the US, Scandinavia, Korea and Japan.

If you are 99.9 percent of what constitute the rest , life is even tougher

If you dont believe me that even those in  the rarefied 0.1 % of the strata find life tough, just look at who wrote a book about it recently, in fact a bestseller... Prince Ghazi, of Jordan.

Or if you have her personal phone number, you can ring Ms Melinda Gates and ask her.

Even Bill Gates probably is finding life, tough currently, disregard the changing SYT's that are sharing his bed at night.....[ a pun no doubt , but what business has one of the richest man in the world to do with lowly characters such  as Jeffrey Epstein etc etc and etc...... ]

On a more serious note, let us listen to what Paul Williams of 'blogging theology' has to say about life:

" Why Is My Life So Tough? ": Exceprt from Prince Ghazi' book...

(from https://bloggingtheology.com/2021/05/10/why-is-my-life-so-tough/)

 

Life Worth Living : Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad..

a wee bit watered down prescription, to appease the secular minds as well, but well, he wrote for everyone, if I can read his mind, and that is very good  of him. 

Very generous heart to share our secrets' with everyone.

That is his global daawah, I presume

In the process , if a few may have their hearts touched, they get the hidayat....they connect it to Islam. 

If they dont, it is OK, this is after all a free world.

    

[     https://youtube.com/watch?v=6tI0lAyW7pI&t=17s       ]

I pick Hamza Yusuf's short discouse , not to provide you guys any simple formullae towards happiness, but just to prepare a platform , a preamble, for you guys to be able to comprehend, the next one by  Khiai Muhammad Bhakiet's discourse, which is several notches up the scale into the realm of aspiring for both ' surga ' in this current realm, and the next..........a very tall order!!!

[    https://youtu.be/3tZRXTOyA_k      ]

"....are fame, wealth, health, all keys to happiness?   "

OK guys from here on, if you are non Muslim, you dont need to carry because you may not comprehend the discourse. It is super heavy stuff.

If you are just Muslim, and not yet Mukmin, you can also stop here. Hamza Yususf's is already good enough for you.

If you both Muslim and Mukmin, put on your seat belt......you can continue but it is going to be tough and rough journey ahead

Jannatul Firdaus in the next realm and 'surga ' in the current is not cheap!

One has to be super tough ' up there '.

It is a tough mental game for the few.

[ ..if I am beginning to sound like that character, Tom, in Mark Twain's 'Adventure of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn ' to my son Joe, who is familiar with my prodding and suffers well and silently so far, I dont blame him. This is a my way of prodding him along in this tough journey called LIFE.

He also have read ' Tom Sawyer ', out of curiosity.

A compulsory reading for all of us form 1 pupils at Sultan Ismail College, Kota Bharu in the early 60.s

Tom, the main character was tasked by her aunt to whitewash and paint the concrete pagar of their house. A dreary task. He had his friends lining up to join in the 'fun' and each of them paying him in return for the 'pleasure'. In present day scenario, Tom would have landed himself a very successful marketing or advertising career! ]

......................................
 

If you want to have the 'no hold barred' formulla to happiness, and want it NOW!!!, the one word answer is RIDHA, in all circumstances. The accent, is on " IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES......"

In Islamic parlance,  the formullae is very simple, just 3 words in Arabic,  Alhamdullillah fi Kullihal , ie tranlated, " Praise be to Allah, in all circumstances. "

In time of 'expansion',  Al Hamdullillah .

Very easy this one....

In time of dire constriction, still able to say, Al Hamdullillah , or at worse, Al Hamdullillah..Inna lillah Hiwinna Ilai Hiro Jion .

This require a life long of data collection of ilm , ilm and ilm.

A life of Sabr, Ta'at, Shukr and Riddha

A maqam not easy to comprehend , let alone to aspire, especially if our mainly secular minds " banyak sangat songeng " and have too many , ifs , buts , whys and hows ". The problem inherrent with our secular upbringing and millieu.

Listen to Khiai Muhammad Bhakiet, and don't ask me...., if you cannot comprehend him, it is because you have not been able to leave your  " ifs, buts, whys and hows..."

[     https://youtu.be/tbA-kVESfQM    ]

But comprehension  is one thing, achieving it is another....

A lifetime of practice.......

My Dear Maryam & Sarah

 

[      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06TMMKjCfD0   ]

my dear maryam & sarah,

both you young punks 'floored' atok last week when you guys asked atok about 'the arash'.

frankly, atok dont know exactly, where 'the arash' is as, its immensity is beyond atok's imagination.

but what atok know is that atok must pay your  school  at sungai buluh a visit, and congratulate both your class teachers......

for giving both atok's cucus great education and aqidah grouding,  at these tender age of 5 and 7 respectively. the founders and patrons of the school , syabass to them all!!

during atok's time at 7, atok's teacher was just teaching atok, " this is a man, and this is a pen. a man and

 a pen ", from the the then famous book from longman of uk.

this earth to both of you , and to even atok,is huge.....super, super  huge.

just to fly from KL to London will take minimum 14 hours and that is only around 8,000 kilometres 

away!

but in the whole scheme of things,this planet earth is nothing.......it is very very tiny, just like a 

speck of dust, compared to the universe. 

the size of this universe is a figure with 25 zeros kilometres  behind that number, in dimension.

...and later in the year both your ugama teachwer will teach both of you a short ayat from surah al

 baqarah, ayat 255 to be precise, that is when you finish you muqaddam, insyaaallah.

in that ayat allah talks of HIS 'foot stool', known as 'the kursi'.

beyond the 'kursi' is the 'arash'

adults as old as atok, [and to you guys atok must be very very old, as you already consider both 

your parents already ancient ], had from time immemorial being arguing to no end about the

 nature of the 'kursi' and

 the 'arash', so if you two young guys cannot comprehend, it is nothing to worry about.

the 1st group of people  take the meaning of 'kursi' and 'arash', point blank, as what are

 mentioned in the quran.

the other group name called this group as the 'literalists'. another name given to them is '

 neosalafist '.

when the other group are  awee bit angrier and a wee bit impatient with thye 1st group because 

oftentimes the 1st group can behave like 'arseholes' and 'pain in the neck', the 2nd group called 

them 'wahabis'.

not a nice name to give,  a deragotory term, but that is the real world out there and even older

 people can got hot in between

 their collars!

the 2nd group, who like to call themselves, 'ahlil sunnah wal jamaah' think 'kursi' and 'arash',

 the understanding are much much beyond them, and that reflect the super immensity of allah's 

being and attributes.

a famous thinker and poet from amongst them known as rumi, 10 centuries ago, term it as 

'the place of the placeless, and a time of the timeless'.

more imaginative from amongst them put it in a more understanding way,[ as described in the utube ]

"imagine the universe as a ring, lost in the sahara desert...that sahara desert is the kursi.

now imagine the kursi as a ring. throw it in the sahara desert....that is the arash!! "

.....but they are quick to point out that this expression is only allegorical and figurative.

..........even at that  time and even with that expression,they feared to be termed

 'anthropomorphic' by later day people.

dont ask atok what 'anthropomorphic' means.

go ask your dad!

atok......

ps: " atok love you guys immensely!! "

on fikr & dzikr..........

Subject: ........fikr, dikr and their relation to each other

if you are rather confused thus far about fikr and dikr; whether they are 2 in 1, or 2 separate, or 2 inseparable; ...which is the chicken and which is the egg...? ; chicken 1st or egg 1st or both together?

this one here is an erudite scholar's perspective of the subject:

[  http://kud-logos.si/2016/tafakkur-and-tadthakkur/   ]

very lenghty scholarly discourse, but if you like the short cut, and find yourself lost in the labyrhine of discussion, or you find the discourse rather too convoluted , then just follow hasan al basri's equation of happiness for this life and the hereafter.

hassan al basri was  a tabi'in .
spent  his childhood being brought up in one of our nabi's wife's household.

al hasan [ d. 728 ],of modern day basrah in iraq,  famous early ascetic and gnostic said:

“Seek pleasure in three things: the [ritual] prayer, the remembrance of God’s name, and in the recitation of the Quran. If you find pleasure in these, fine. If not, then know that the door is shut.” 

In short: the invocation as “repetitive recitation of sacred formulas or sacred speech, whether it be aloud or inward” is the very foundation of the Sufi path, “for one can only reach God by constantly remembering His name.''

in short, a trilogy of regular :

solat

dikr

reading the quran with understanding.



states and maqam..............

[    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltecfsbO-5A   ]

of nasi tumpang; souls; and the communion of the like minded.....

---

From: tsming
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 7:51 PM
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com ; ru.@gmail.com
Subject: After food for the stomach ..,

nik howk & ru,

Guys, Thanks for honouring me at our dinner table. Here’s some further food - for thought - sent to me by a friend:

Once there was a man with four wives. He loved them all in varying degrees, the level of affection in inverse order to their position as wife.

The man fell very ill and knew that he is going to die soon. He dread the loneliness of the grave and just felt he needed company there.
He told himself, "I have four wives with me. I will take one of them along with me when I die to keep company in my death."
Thus, he asked the fourth wife, the one he loved most, to die along with him. "No way!" she replied and walked away without another word.
He asked his third wife. She said "Life is so good over here. I'm going to remarry when you die".
He then asked his second wife. She said "Sorry - can't help you this time. I can only accompany you to the burial.”
By now his heart sank and turned cold. Then a voice called out: "I'll die and accompany you . I'll follow you no matter wheree you go."

He looked up and there was his first wife. She looked absolutely skinny, famished and dressed in rags. The man was overcome with  sadness and remorse, 
"I should have taken much better care of you while I could have!"

ru and nik howk,

Actually, we all have four wives in our lives.

a. The fourth wife is our body. No matter  how much time , money and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.

b. The third wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they move on to others.

c. the second wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

d. the first wife is our soul,
neglected in our pursuit of material
wealth and pleasure. It is actually the only thing that follows us to the grace and beyond!

ming

...............................

tanseri and ru,

''they are asking thee concerning the soul. say: The soul is by command of my Lord, and of knowledge ye have been vouchsafed but little. [ surah al isra', 17 ]

i meant to tell you guys the nature of  the souls as an after dinner dessert, but thot to myself i better keep it to myself in case i put my wrong foot forwards, and got slammed again by ts,  but since you brought it up i have got a license now to let you guys into my secret story of the soul......

it is sadly more profound than your good friend's banter, i am afraid.

dont ask me about sanad though.

i am no dr maza and the story  is certainly without sanad....😊😊😊
it is not 'hasan ' , 'soheeh' or  even dhoif', if you have to ask me.

if all 'stories' must have sanads  it would be a boring world indeed...

i just collect  from here and there that i picked from  my readings of  martin lings ''the 11th hour'';  to gai eaton's ''islam and the destiny of man'' and shaykh abdul qadir al jalani's 'the relevations of the unseen'.......all rubbish material according to your favourite dr maza and the likes of  his side kicks like dr rozmie ramli

what the marcoses, ntr , rusmah , vincent tan , donald trump,and the mugabes of the world share in common is not just about money......they share this inherent psychological desire to make sure their cucus and grand cucus will be well supplied with the 'basic' necessities of life up to the 7th generations.

and their basic is way beyond the likes of you and me!

the secret they think is the genetic linkage... the double helix series of aminoacids predetermined by their inheritance to them....so they think. 

but that is only the duniwi aspect of man......
not even half of the formullae.

from the other half , the more important half that is , the souls, we bear no relations with with our dad, uncles or sons and daughters! 
very shocking indeed!

while we are all in charge of our children and wife, we have to give them the best shelter, education, ugama upbringing  etc  etc and etc that our 'meagre rezeki' can provide..  
admittedly yours tanser and ru , are not meagre of course by any measure of things!

anything extra,any sedekah must be addressed to the next of kins first and then near relatives etc etc, and only then friends in general and others...
this is not just from any 'tom dick and harry' hadith but quranic injunction.

islam does not encourage nepotism, though.

sedekah to near relatives must be from our on lot , not from the common wealth of the country!
certainly not from oneamgedebe!

but let us examine when we were in our mum's uterus . 

all pregnant uteri have one malaikat each to look after them......

[  dato z is going to send me to the mad house for saying this. he is a 100 % materialist who dont subscribe to this nonsense  on the al ghaiba ]

at four months allah orders that malaikat to breath in a soul taken from the 'soul bank' up in the periphery of the arash.

a soul accompanies you and me at about four month's conception.
just not any souls.
HE 'handpicked' and determine which goes where and when over the milleniums...

from there we grow spiritually or non spiritually, depending on the effort of our parents, social environment,and qada and qadar.

in adulthood we have brothers and sisters, cousins and uncles and aunties.

we can be different mostly in academic spiritual and religious orientations and instinctual leanings.

most of the time different, oftentimes similar.

muhammad asad can be the best well known european jew to revert to islam.

his son, talal asad could well be prof of sociology at in the usa with very secular academic views and orientations.

you have heard of nabi lot with a wife that refused to follow him.

....or nabi ibrahim and his dad, the idol maker.

or one can be noah and his son..

or nabi muhmmad and his uncle abi talib.

now we come to the sufi picture of things....

and this is the shocking part of the story...

allah's decides from where HE picks up the soul to be 'inserted' in our mum's uterus.

there are souls and souls going round and round the arash, according to the  sufi story.

those closest circumferentially to the arash are the souls of para ambiya and para awliya and  a wee bit out the para shuhada and the muqarabin....outwardly will be the common travellers like most of us 99.999 %;  and outermost those of the secular humanists and the kuffar and outermost still, the false ulama, false scholars, and the al munafikuns.

in death and after death these souls will get back to the original configurations.

our brothers in faith, encircling the arash, may not be our brothers due to blood linkages......and that is a sad fact we have to live with.

again ts and ru,,no sanad, just my readings here and there to prepare us all with dissapointments and sadness that our children and wife or wives may not necessarily all be following us!

which bring me back to tsming's brief elucidation and partial explanation of qada and qadr that night over nasi tumpang , which was the best anyway on this side of the atmosphere, so far , according to my erudite tastebuds!

sayyedina ali when asked what is ' free will ',by a bedoiun  sahabat, answered.

" please lift your right foot'' , in which the sahabat readily lifted his right foot.

'' that my friend is free will''

''now lift your left as well''..and the sahabat cannot..

'' that my friend is allah's qada and qadar''

this yet again will fail the sanad test , according to dr maza.

....we are all born alone  and when we die we will be again alone.

but in the blue yonder we will get back to the encircling circle of souls doing the 'tawaf' around the arash.

the communion of like minded.
we will be amongst friends.
we will be amongst people of faith.
we will be amongst those we love!

tanseri and ru, whether we like it or not, we are soul mates!, insyaallah

allahualam!

nik howk

[  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y58jT-YgdP0   ]

...'' alastu birabb bikum ? '' [ am i not your lord? ]
''  bala shahidna! '' [ most definitely YOU are!  ]