Make a CHANGE!!

If you wanna make a world a better place, look at yourself and make a CHANGE!

Before we talk about OTHERS, we better talk and look at ourselves first.

Many things to improve..many weaknesses need to be avoided and many strengths need to be focused on. 

MAKE A CHANGE, People! 

The primary factor that determines an individual’s character and behaviour is his/ her ENVIRONMENT. 

If the environment is good and has a clear Islamic worldview, InsyaAllah it will produce a good individual and a good Muslim.

 The environment consists of three sources that will influence an individual’s character:

a. Firstly, our character depends on the Physical source of the environment which we live in. It is the material world around us (before it is changed by human actions, after the physical source is changed by human actions it also becomes a social influence). 

eg: If we born in Malaysia, we'll be influenced by the environment and culture of the Malays. It is something that we cannot choose, we are born as Muslims, in certain family, in certain society. we will see how this certain environment shaped our character. it will produce either true Muslim which practises his/her religion, or Muslim just by name (not practising). 

WE ARE NOT MUSLIM JUST BY NAME, RIGHT? WE SHOULD PRACTISE WHAT WE KNOW AND THAT'S WHY  KNOWLEDGE IS VERY IMPORTANT IN EVERY MUSLIM'S LIFE. 

b. Secondly, the Social source of the environment which comprises both direct (seeing what others do and keeping what others say) and indirect human interaction (e.g. from man-made communication media such as TV, internet, music, literature, etc).

All these social interactions will influence our character building. So WATCH it OUT!!

c. Lastly, the Inner speech which refers to the internal communication we have with ourselves with our words, thoughts, emotions, feelings, and inspiration. 

Inner speech arises from the accumulated life experience stored in our Total Past Learning History(TPLH), and is a big factor in how we perceive all things and in determining what our actions will be.

What characters do we have? Strong character or weak? We should look at our inner self, not outer. Our outer self sometimes are just pretending to be and to look good. How about our inner self? SELF CHECK! Nobody knows but YOU!!

the inner speech is seriously the most important factor that will determine what kind of person we will be. What are the things that we talk with our own selves? If it is good, Alhamdulillah.. if our inner speech is full of hatred, envy, bad past memories, we should change it!

I need to change myself too. I've been influenced a lot by my past memories, cultures, environment which has influenced my inner speech and then shaped my character and personality. 

WE ARE THE PRODUCT OF OUR ENVIRONMENT! If we think it is not good, don't blame it. 

Just face it and make a CHANGE! 

Sometimes we always blaming our past. I think it is SOMETIMES relates to a 'thing' called 'forgiveness'.  

Only Allah

knows for sure whether or not we will actually do what it takes to help bring about a better world. Pray for the BEST!


~aYNaRaZaLy~

Our latest project!

Salam people,

I hope you are all in the best of health and iman. I thought I might update you guys on our latest  project! hehehe... It is truly a blessing to be among friends who are positive, supportive and proactive, alhamdulillah. May Allah reward you guys better Aain and Elly ;-). Anyway, we have decided to get our act together and start telling people what we can do. 

So far, me and Aain have decided to spread the Khalifah method to Scotland and hopefully in other parts of UK. I have suddenly realised that I am quite good at talking! hahaha.... All those years of following my baba (may Allah have mercy on his soul), learning the way he convinces people has given me some exposure on presenting to others. So, me and Aain came to the conclusion that:

1. We have to let people know about the Khalifah method via talks, trainings, seminars, online streaming. This would be mostly covered by me although Aain is going to do some talks as well. 

2. Aain would sell Khalifah books here so she could raise some pocket money to pay for her living expenses here. Her dad has already shipped the books so hopefully we'll get them soon iA.

Anyway, for our first attempt, we have made a short introduction of the Khalifah Method. Here it is:

Ok, ok, I know it seem that I am super selfish and where is Aain in all of this? hahaha Ok, to justify that to myself, firstly it was decided to I was going to do all the presenting. But when I saw Aain's face when I said I will do all the presenting, I thought, of gosh, she wants to do it too Suims! So we're going to change it a bit and show that there are two presenters. But when it comes to selling the books and the proceed of it, it is going to be Aain's alone. I thought for now there will be a donation box that people could donate after the talk to help me raise some funds. 

There is still a lot to think about, but for now we have settled with that. Please make dua that Allah will protect us and guide us through this. After all, I cannot imagine my reward should people really use and benefit out of this knowledge. Whether we get to make money out of it or not, that does not come close to sharing this knowledge as much as we can. When it comes to monetary gain, there is nothing much to fear. Rezki comes from Allah, and as long as we are sincere, God will show us the best way to be successful in this world and the akhirah, Ameen.

Ayna's Dreams Will Come True, InsyaAllah!

Just now we (me and K.su) discussed on my masters dissertation topic because I'm still confused what should I do in this dissertation. Actually I want to do research on hijab in Malaysia but since hijab is not a very controversial issue in Malaysia, I'm now planning to do something that I am really interested in. I am really interested in 4 things : 1)Business 2) Children 3) Education 4) Presentation!!! I love to share my knowledge with others!

Alhamdulillah we've come out with a very good idea. I should use what I know and dig out my potential because this is very important not only to help myself, but at the same time, to help others too. These are the things that I want to do for my dissertation, dakwah and NGO works. Subhanallah! These are the things that I want to do people!

 Previously, I worked as a teacher at Khalifah Model School and I've learnt so0 many things especially about Khalifah Method. I learnt how to be a good teacher, daughter, sister, wife, mother and leader. MasyaAllah it's such a blessing for me! I've never thought that one day I'll become a teacher~ in a very good school! I always think that I'm good in business and I really want to be a successful businesswoman!! But ya, Allah knows BEST. 

Khalifah Model School is the 1st school that has been established to implement this Khalifah method and alhamdulillah the results are very positive.

This is the founder of Khalifah Method, late Prof. Dr.Muhammad Al-Mahdi. He was an atheist then has reverted to Islam. May Allah give him the best rewards, insyaAllah ~ His Jannah.  

 These are the things that I've learnt from Khalifah school. In dealing with young children we should:

1. Focus on the establishment of good behaviour through the use of positive influence;
2. Restrain yourself from punishing the child; 
3. Gently remind children of what is right and what is wrong; and
4. Lastly, be kind but firm with them. 

MasyaAllah this is one of the Khalifah student's work. They've been divided into groups and they need to present their responsibilities as Khalifah of Allah. I'm very proud of them! Seriously. This is what I want to instill in every Muslim ~ good behaviour and high self esteem. Please dear reader, whether you are a sister, brother, husband, wife, teacher, boss, or worker, you need to be good and do good. Please avoid all negative influences from yourself and most importantly, don't bring negative things to others. We need to improve ourselves, avoid anger and avoid sarcasm with others in our 'funny' jokes (not really funny ok), because all the negative words that come out from your mouth can kill the self esteem in others especially young children. You must think twice to say 'DON'T!' to your children or to your brothers and sisters. If they get low marks in their exam, you CAN'T shout at them or say bad words to them. You should give them advice, and praise them for their hard work. That's a good Khalifah of Allah.

Their first language of communication in school is English. 

Look at his answer! MasyaAllah I can't believe year 2 student could give such a good answer! He is only 8! Amazing sunbhanallah.. May Allah give me good kids in the future insyaAllah..

This is the result of positive influence~ always remind them to be good and insyAllah they will be good. 

Such good works right people? Alhamdulillah I've learnt a lot from the all the people in the Khalifah school. Jazakallahu khairan kathiraa dear principal, Khalifah Institute staffs, all the colleagues, and also my beloved students for all the wonderful experiences we've shared together. 

InsyaAllah my DREAM is to spread this knowledge, about Khalifah Method with other Muslims especially people in UK and I think this is one of the ways to get more reward from Allah and I really hope Allah will accept my effort. 

Year 1 students. I love them so much~ u know why? because I was their class teacher before. They have a very high self esteem. They like to present in front of people, they like to share anything that they know with people. Wonderful huh? 

For those who want to know more what Khalifah Method, do contact me through email or facebook (ishoda7@yahoo.com / Aainaa Mardhiah Razali). Please don't hesitate to contact me. I really2 want to help you guys out there. I'll be giving a presentation about this next week in our usrah and InsyaAllah I'd love to work with other NGOs and other groups to learn and share something with them.

Let's work together for Islam

The Meaning of Success

Salams everyone,

It has been so long since I last wrote in. The reason for this is because I took a sabbatical leave from Zyra and decided to do my Masters in Dundee, Scotland. Anyway, I have decided on my dissertation and my supervisor has given me the green light. She gave such an encouragement that it took me surprised. She said that it is an interesting topic and I should publish my work. Wow, to me that is a big deal since I am not really the academia type! hehehe....

So are you guys ready, the topic for my dissertation is:

Faith, Fashion and the Internet: Fashion blogging among young Muslim women in Malaysia.

What so you guys think??? I'm super excited about it... hehehe.... But anyway, that is not the point of this sudden urge to write. I have discovered something so so so powerful. This is why I decided to put it in the blog. Ok so it began like this.

A couple of months ago, I was confused. I identified 4 things that I am super passionate about. They are:

1. Faith - my relationship with God;
   
   
2. Fashion - OMG I love making dresses its crazeeeeee. I'm drawing dresses while my lecturers are explaining infront;
   
   
3. Politics - no matter how much I try to stay clear of it, I'm so drawn to it, and it is drawn to me! hahahhaa... It's a love hate relationship. Can't live with it, can't live without it;
   
   
4. Helping others - When Baba and Salman passed away, I found this group called YMP and they were a bunch of supportive people who allowed me to channel my depression to a productive action of helping others. So now I am a core believer in peer support groups.
   
   

So I made my istikharah prayers in full hopes that God will guide me to the right path. In hopes that He will make me focus on one which would be most rewarding in this world and the hereafter. And guess what, ALL doors seem to open more! So I was super confused :-(....

Coming back to now, a couple of days ago I started to sort out the people who I wanted to interview for my dissertation. They are:

1. Aimie Habban in http://aimfordsky.blogspot.com/;

2. Adriani in http://adriani-a.blogspot.com/;

3. Honeypokapoka in http://honeypokapoka.tumblr.com/;

4. Lady Gagemelan in http://ladygagamelan.tumblr.com/;

5. Maria Elana in http://peliks.blogspot.com/; and

6. Shahirah Elaiza in http://shaelaiza.blogspot.com/.

These girls are amazing subhanallah. I sincerely believe that they are making an impact to women like me, it is truly inspiring to see Muslim women who can embrace faith and fashion. Suddenly a question crept into me. Looking at how they are, I asked myself, "Am I successful like them?" I am 29, and next year I will be 30. What have I actually achieved? I asked this question constantly. This small voice in me is the one motivating me to seek for success. Reading biographies of people who have achieved so much even before they reach 30 was a way of comparing their life to a small time girl like me who, oh well let's face, hasn't achieved much. I wondered so much how success would feel like. And then I began to feel sorry for myself. Negativity hijacked the best of me and I was on a spiral circle of pushing myself down.

I decided the negativity is too much and instead decided to thank God 1st thing in the morning when I wake up. I made a promise to always thank God for giving me one more chance to live my life. One more chance to do better than what I did yesterday. One more chance to see the beautiful sun coming up..... Subhanallah. You have no idea how things start to change.

OMG I realized the success that I wanted was already at my fingertips... God is so giving to me. He gives and gives without me even realizing it. The feeling of negativity came because I defined success on the terms of someone else's life. So ofcourse I realized that I was chasing success based on what someone else has defined it. In truth, I am living my life doing exactly what I want and subhanallah I am so grateful because I am so passionate about what I do. Here's a sneak peak of my life.

5.00am - Wake up and thank God, pray and read Qur'an.

6.30am - Make juice

7.00am - Paula Abdul excercise

8.00am - Geri Yoga

9.00am - Get ready to go to school

I am doing my Masters in Islamic Studies so I have learnt about the Qur'an, Hadiths, Politics, Gender in Islam and now I am doing my dissertation in Fashion. Hahahhaa... where an earth can I learn Islam like this???? Mashallah....

I manage a support group under ALMISS (student body for Al-Maktoum) and we meet once a week. It has been 5 weeks and mashallah I can see the improvement in my group, including myself.

I also help out a political party here. The opposition ofcourse, duh! hahahhaa... I'm not fully on board with one party cause I support all political parties in Malaysia, especially DAP. I really think they (DAP) stand for the values that is closest to my heart for now, even when they do not come under the Islamic party in Malaysia. And without God sending us Anwar Ibrahim, most Malays like me will never challenge the societal norms that UMNO has propagate. Alhamdulillah for Anwar Ibrahim. May God always protect and bless him and his family.

I also try to take dietary supplements, talk to my family via skype and go for hot chocolate and walks with friends on some days... I also try to set aside as much money as I can to help any members of my family who needs it. I really think that my money might not be mine actually. I think they are just given to me to manage it so I can make meaningful things with it. Like giving it to people who need it (and seriously charity starts from our parents, and then to our families and then to others), saving for my business, etc....

So anyway after taking a closer look at my life, OMG I realized something. I am living my life just as I want it. I am doing things that I love and what I am on about not achieving success??!!! Why do I obsess on the goal when the truth is I am enjoying and feeling lucky that I am given the chance to live my life exactly how I intend. Goals are great, they act as an aim, but they are not the fun bits. The fun and meaningful bits is in the act of living my life daily doing exactly what I love.

Dr. Stephen R. Covey says that if we want to achieve something, we have to start with identifying our principles and values. And then from there, we should change our habit! Yes, our habits make up or carve our way to our goals and aims. So now, I am going to focus on the gift of TODAY. All my efforts are going to focused on creating meaningful habits such as meditation and prayers for God, exercise, researching and writing on faith and fashion, running my support group, sharing my knowledge with others and helping any political party to stand up against any political party in Malaysia that aims to dominate and remain in power for whatever reasons (I am vowing to always protect the underdog! hahahhaa...). This is the real deal and the meaning of success to me now. Now I think I am successful, not because I am better or I stand out, but because I am learning to define success on my terms. My terms of success for now is:

1. Being grateful to God for being able to fight for a better TODAY;
2. Creating meaningful habits;
3. Enjoying the actions of those habits; and
4. Being content with being me....

I hope this post can help others out there who are trying to find the meaning of success... Glory to God, all Praises to God, There is no god but God, God is the Greatest!

P.S.: I've started to brush my teeth 3 times a day! Yea!!!! The prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) says, "If I had not found it hard for my followers or the people, I would have ordered them to clean their teeth with Siwak for every prayer." I'm a long way from brushing it 5 times a day (cause we have to pray 5 times or more in a day). But I'm on the way! ;-)

Sumi's First Entry

Salams everyone!

Hope you are all in the best of health and iman :-). This is my first entry since we (me, Aainaa and Elly) decided to have our own circle of sharing sessions. To be honest, I love my sessions with them. It is so nice to have friends who we can pour our heart to, and what more when we can discuss on issues relating to our spiritual journey.

We started our conversation/ sharing session once a week. The first week we had to memorize the three (kuls) with their meaning/ tafsir. Then we had to discuss how the tafsir relates to what we are going through in life. The second week we discussed and memorized the surah al-Mulk. In the third gathering of ours, we were supposed to memorize and discuss the last 4 ayats of surah al-hasyr. We didn’t manage to do this so we decided to watch Ustaz Asri’s video on youtube. It consists of 10 videos and mashallah it was fantastic. There were so many things that we could reflect. Here are the videos that we watched together. 

However, there is one thing that is alarming me. Yesterday, as the three of us were discussing our lives, Elly and Aainaa told me about a gift that Allah has bestowed upon me. They told me that I had a gift in delivering a message. They said that when I say something, it makes them think and reflect about the issues that I bring fourth, even when they do not agree with me. I think it’s because of my years watching Baba talk with people, trying to convince people. And I realised what a very powerful gift it is to have the gift of convincing people. I’ve always felt like it was easy to manipulate people to agree with me. I could find an angle to achieve a consensus, even when I know it was not right. Basically, I could argue for the sake of arguing.

           But since I found Islam, it has been a long journey of being truthful to God, myself and to others. ITS SO DIFFICULT!!!! Seriously, especially when I know I can argue my way out of something. Yesterday Elly said something about my ego, and how I want people to always listen to me. OMG she is right... Astaghfirghlah (May Allah have mercy on my soul). It's so hard sometimes to face the reality that we are the ones who are sabotaging our own development. I read Fathi Osman's article on Islam and Democracy and how the ego is a hindrance to achieve better development of the mind and soul. The dignity that God has bestowed upon me can easily be taken away from the ego that I have within myself. I think this was what Oprah discussed in her book review of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. When I went to Mosaic International Conference last year (Cambridge, September 2010), the presenter   Binna Kandola from Pearn Kandola also told me how the ego acts as a hindrance to a person's success. So this is why the ego is my top priority jihad right now. My ego has gotten so big because I am used to getting things my way, that I refuse to acknowledge the truth even when I myself know it. 

          Secondly, I have stop lying. I REALLY HAVE TO STOP LYING. I'm going to take some quotes from the Quran and Hadith that I have written in my other blog about my journey in business:

... One of the toughest and personal struggles that I have within my soul (jihad) is to have this character of being an honest person. But this is a struggle that is worth embarking and I am positive that I can make it should I make a conscious effort to try.

There are so many reason for this.

"Verily, honesty leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to the pleasure of God, Most High. Lying leads to licentiousness and licentiousness brings about the anger of God" Bukhari, no. 6094; Muslim, no. 2607

Honestly is one of the defining characteristics of a believer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned that a Muslim can be many things, but he cannot be a liar*.Hence honesty is one of the indispensable provisions we must take along for our journey to God.

Lying destroys the ethical ideal that our religion is predicated upon. Once an ideal is gone, all the actions that are associated with the attainment and maintenance of that ideal become meaningless. That is why a Muslim cannot be a liar, for one who lies constantly has no higher ethical standard and only looks for the means to advance his or her interests. If lying serves to advance those interests he or she readily resorts to lying. Such an approach to life is the essence of hypocrisy, for a hypocrite is a person who lives a lie.Thus we find that no one is more subject to the anger of God than the hypocrites. God mentions in the Quran, Surely the hypocrites will be in the lowest level of Hell (4:145)

Now how does this fit into my life as a business women. In truth, it is so hard for me to bite my tongue every time I feel the urge to even exaggerate...

*Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandahlawi, Awjaz al-Masalik ila Muwatta al-Imam Malik (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam1424/2003), 17:507, no. 1800."

       So there. I hope by me sharing this with everyone, I have made the first step to admit that I have so many faults... and they are huge and big faults... May Allah forgive me and help me to eradicate this bad character of mine. So thank you Allh for giving me friends like Elly to tell me things even when they are difficult to accept, and thank you Allah for giving me productive friends like Aainaa who likes to wake up in the morning (this morning she woke me up for Subuh alhamdulillah) and discuss about Islam. Aainaa even asked us to imagine how it would be like if all of us were to be granted heaven in the hereafter. Yes, indeed we do not qualify to even ask God for such as reward as we accumulate sins that amount to piles of mountains,  but one slave can only hope for the best from its Lord, Oh Allah, my creator who has created me with such love and wisdom. Oh Allah, my - Most Gracious and Most Merciful. It is truly a nikmah and blessing to be surrounded by good friends.