Aku sebuah mobile phone.

Diri kita seperti sebuah mobile phone (istilah umum Asia, handset). Mobile pone dicipta untuk memudahkan perhubungan antara manusia. Itu pada awalnya. Kini, aplikasi mobile phone sudah diperluas kepada walkman, azan reminder, games, daily reminder, notes, camera, video and television.  Saya cuba untuk membandingkan seorang hamba dengan telefon bimbit.

Sebuah mobile phone mempunyai batery, memory card, sim card, caseine, screen, button, speaker, camera dan audio.

Bateri umpama jantung dalam sesebuah mobilephone. Terhentinya jantung, segala aplikasi tadi akan terus padam. Begitu juga dengan jantung kita. Kenapa Allah letak jantung di sebelah kiri? Malahan, mengapa pula kita disunnahkan tidur mengiring ke kanan? Ini untuk memudahkan jantung berdegup kerana tekanan yang dikenakan adalah sedikit. Jadi, perkitaran darah akan menjadi lancar sungguhpun ketika kita tidur.

Kita juga mempunyai memory card seperti mobilephone yang dipanggil fikiran. Bukan otak. Kerana otak besar pun tidak bermakna memorinya besar. Mungkin tumour yang membuatkannya besar.  Semakin besar size memory card, semakin banyak aplikasi yang boleh dimuatkan. Saiz memory card kita telah ditentukan oleh Allah. Adakah kita ingin mengeluh sekiranya mempunyai saiz memori card yang kecil sedangkan insan yang dikurnia saiz memory card yang besar pun tidak menggunakan sepenuhnya nikmat ini.

Allah tidak akan memberi sesuatu dengan sia-sia. Nikmat ini akan dipertanya di akhirat kelak. Kenapa tidak sahaja ditukar setting pemikiran ini kepada, aku ingin guna sepenuhnya memori card aku… Inilah hakikatnya yang sebenar kerana kita tidak tahu limit pemikiran kita. Kita boleh isi dengan sebanyak yang kita mahu! Malahan, hebatnya kurniaan Allah pada diri kita, semakin banyak kita isi memory card kita, semakin besar ia akan mengembang dan mampu memuatkan lebih banyak ilmu.

Bagaimana caranya mahu mengisi memory card? Banyakkan membaca ilmu-ilmu tambahan. Kenapa ilmu tambahan sahaja?  Kerana ilmu yang dipersuratkn seperti ilmu pengajian ataupun bidang yang diambil dan diambil sekarang sudah menjadi kewajipan pada diri kita kepada Allah untuk dituntuti.

Tapi, ingat! Isi dengan apa? Muzik lara? Video ghairah? Apa yang kita isi akan melambangkan diri kita. Takkanla kita simpan lagu Nur Kasih…waktu pasang, keluar zikir munajat pulakkan ?

Audio, speaker dan screen merupakan telinga, mulut dan pandangan yang kita keluarkan. Sekiranya dalam memori kita mempunyai pandangan mahu menonton cerita the end of the world 2012 dalam screen, takkan la keluar cerita bila cinta bertasbih? Begitu juga dengan mulut kita sebagai speaker…dalam memory card, ada perasaan dengki, yang akan keluar mestilah tak lari dari umpat, adu domba dan kata-kata keji.

Yang membezakan kita dengan mobile phone adalah otak yang dikurnia mampu menganalisis data yang diterima berdasarkan keimanan semata-mata kerana Allah. Cantikkan? Orang mukmin tidak melihat sesuatu perkara dengan pandangan kosong. Mereka melihat dengan adanya Allah di sebalik penciptaan. Allah telah memuliakan orang-orang yang beriman dengan hati , fikiran dan perbuatan mereka yang sentiasa iltizam dipelihara.

Sebagai contoh, dua insan menonton cerita cinta yang biasa-biasa. Kononnya sad ending dengan kematian hero cerita. Yang pertama, berkata, “sedihnya…tak patut hero mati..”. Insan yang kedua, “Terlalu banyak adegan di luar batasan. Cerita yang melalaikan umat dan melekakan syabab dari tugasnya”. Syabab yang luar biasa melihat di sebalik keimanan kepada Allah.

Sekiranya kita meneliti laptop…Nampak apa?  Saya tertarik untuk membuat perbandingan jenis antivirus dengan cara tarbiah. Diri kita terkena virus ataupun lebih dahsyat latest ILOVEYOUvirus Trojan(virus dlm love letter yang akan terlekat kalau ada perkatan ILOVEYOU)..virus ini sebagai contoh sahaja kerana menghantar perkara-perkara yang tidak berfaedah..itulah akibatnya. Sekiranya kita letak antivirus jenis avira old version, mampu ke nak lawan dan cure diri kita? Mungkin mampu, tapi pulih sepenuhnya ke? Adakah kesannya sama kalu kita guna new kaspersky version 2010?

Perumpamaan ini  ingin dijelaskan bahawa semakin parah diri kita, semakin mahal tarbiah yang kena dibeli. Tarbiah yang mahal macam mana? Tarbiah ini bukan senang didapati. Perlu jiddiyah yang sangat tinggi.

Sama juga dengan tarbiah. Diri kita ini tinggal dalam bilik beraircond, ada tab air panas dan sejuk pula…kemudian, pergi dengar kuliah agama di masjid beraircond..ditambah lagi dengan carpet solat yang gebu dan tebal. Terganjak ke iman kita. Kesannya akan menjadi kurang.

Semoga perkongsian menambahkan ilmu, amal dan iman.

Bubur lambuk 2012

Infinite thanks to Allah and peace be upon the last messenger, prophet Muhammad S.A.W.

I just watching the movie of ‘ The End of World, 2012’ last week…quite interesting and worthwhile story. Too much graphic animation distracts the real. A week before last week, my previous society held a special talk on this movie.

 I watched the movie while I was finishing a bowl of ‘bubur lambuk’. You must wonder why I write on this movie and bubur lambuk. If I want to eat thousands bowl of bubur lambuk, just eat. No need to tell others. But, I want to tell you too.  Oh, yeah? Maybe… The reason is because the bubur lambuk is too delicious, spicy and once it spreads on the surface of your tongue, you’ll never forget  how precious the taste it is.

What relates the story with ‘bubur lambuk’. A big ship, a boy named Noah, the tsumani, the collapse of land, the animals shifts and my bubur lambuk!

Many people know what the holy Quran it is. The chronicles begin..a long time ago, it was written a story of this 2012. Inside a book of Holy Quran. Many people read, interpret, learn and memorize. Also, it is translated into movie.

I believe one day…this world will come to the end. Not a single creature will last forever. Whenever I looked up into the sky, I can feel the extraordinary power is there. This world where we live in is too amazing. There must be a creator! Yeah, there must be a creator!

Sakharatul Maut

(post ini telah dikarang lebih kurang seminggu sebelum aidilfitri )

InsyaAllah sedikit perkongsian untuk memenuhi hajat sahabat-sahabat. Detik-detik hujung  bersama-sama tok (nenek) di saat-saat terakhir.  Malam ni sudah tiga hari berlalu. Lebaran kian menjelang. Yang pasti  lebaran pertama tanpa kehadiran tok.  Mendengar lagu albi nadak nyanyian fares menggarap hati. Cukup untuk menyentuh punduk hati. Rindu yang sukar diluahkan menerusi kata-kata. ’Mungkin hati sahaja yang mampu membicarakannya  . Ditolak tambah 19 tahun hidup bersama bukanlah satu tempoh masa yang lama. Terlalu singkat. 19 tahun sarat dengan kenangan bersama. Satu tempoh yang sudah pun berlalu. Ya, sudah pun berlalu. Terlalu pantas.

Hari ahad, ketika tok masih mampu membuka kelopak mata. Pagi-pagi, ibu mandikan tok. Tok dibedak dan dipakai baju.  Terngiang-ngaiang di fikiranku perbualan untuk membeli baju raya untuk tok. Tema keluarga tahun ni warna pink purple. Hari tu, tok diletak di atas kerusi roda oleh along (abang). Berat tok cuma lebih kurang 25 kilo sahaja. Sangat kurus. Hanya kulit membaluti tulang. Tok di atas kerusi roda ditolak ke verandah menghadap laman rumah.

Bagiku, orang sakit perlu berinteraksi dengan alam. Gelombang alam mempunyai aura suci dan segar. Berkurung dalam bilik berdinding batu-bata akan merangkap daya ingatan . Membuat yang lupa semakin nyanyuk. Waktu itu, hujan renyai- renyai.  Tok sudah tiada kudrat untuk berbicara tetapi deria bunyi dan lihat tok masih baik.  Itu kali terakhir tok keluar rumah. Aku ngomog banyak-banyak, tok cuma angguk dan geleng. Sesekali, Tok mendengus  untuk meluahkan kesakitan yang dialami.  Hari tu juga hari terakhir tok makan. Satu sudu kecil ‘koleh lemak’ celup air glucose.

Aku syukur diberi peluang melihat saat-saat genting bagaimana malaikat jibril maragut nyawa. Sedikit demi  sedikit dan  terlalu halus. Sudah semalaman tok terlentang di atas katil.  Ibu sudah kekeringan air mata kerana semalaman menunggu. Siapa tidak gentar kiranya tiba-tiba di hening malam, orang dicintai pergi.

Malam tu,saudara mara telah berkumpul  di rumah kami. Masing-masing terlentuk  dimana-mana.Tidur bukan lagi keutamaan.  Di sofa tamu, sofa ruang TV dan ruang solat. Sehingga pagi, bacaan al-quran tidak putus-putus dialunkan. Alhamdulillah, pagi menjelang, tok masih bernafas udara milik Allah yang sering kita lupa syukuri. Namun, keadaan tidak seperti semalaman. Kiraanku, malaikat sudah di depan pintu. Hiba dan sebak membalut jiwa. Dingin pagi terasa lembut sekali.

 Keadaan masih sama pada jam 10.00 pagi. Ibu tertidur di kamarku setelah dipicit-picit kepalanya kerana sudah ‘over-exhausted’ menangis. Kepenatan melihat tok bersabung nyawa. Sebelum zohor, ibu bangkit dan segar semula. Terus dapatkan tok. Bacaan Al-quran kian rancak memenuhi setiap ruang kamar.

Di saat-saat akhir, ustaz  menziarahi  dan mendirikan solat di sebelah tok memohon agar dipermudah detik sakharatul maut yang ngeri ini. Zohor kian hampir, petanda semakin ketara. Kaki tok sejuk.Cuping telinga tok jatuh. Hanya nyawa ikan bersisa di kerongkong. Ibu terus-menerus membisik nama tuhan pujaan alam, ALLAH..ALLAH..di telinga tok. Seharian mata dipejam, akhirnya tok membuka kelopok mata perlahan-lahan. Anak mata kecil tok kelihatan. Bergerak dari bawah hingga  keatas. Anak mata tok tersadai seketika memandang atas.  Kemudian, kelopak mata dijatuhkan dengan satu dengusan ‘LAH’.. Itu kali terakhir tok melihat kami, anak-anak, cucu-cucu yang menemaninya di alam yang sementara ini. . Itu juga kali terakhir tok menikmati dunia yang sangat sementara ini.  Alam yang didamba-damba bagi manusia yang alpa. Juga, alam yang dipuja-puja oleh makhluk yang tidak mengimani Allah. Jam sudah menunjukkan jam 1.20 tengah hari.

Bersama sepupu-sepupuku di hujung pintu, air mata masing-masing mengalir semakin laju. Dalam hati, betul ke tok dah tiada? Seakan-akan mimpi. Dari buaian hingga sekarang, tok bersama. Selepas ini, tok tiada. Fikiran seakan-akan menjadi semakin pelik. Ya, hakikat penciptaan manusia. Manusia yang cukup hina dan tiada nilai harga tanpa rahmat dan kasih sayang Allah.

Berlalu ke kamar, kejutkan adik-adik dan angah (kakak) yang terlena. Tanpa bicara kata, hanya memandangku, angah  sudah mengerti.  Along terpinga-pinga.

Pengurusan jenazah disegerakan. Jenazah tok disolat dan ditanam di surau dan kubur berhampiran. Seakan-akan sudah tersusun oleh yang maha Esa. Hujan turun bermula jam 2.00 dan surut menjelang waktu asar. Semua urusan berjalan dengan terlalu pantas. Malam tadi, tok masih ada. Bacaan al-quran memenuhi segenap ruang rumah hingga keesokannya. Malam ni, bilik tok sudah lengang. Tilam tok kosong. Tok tiada di situ. Tok sudah tiada. Tok di sana. Bagaimana keadaan di sana?

Sungguh ajaib dunia ini, tok yang saya kenali berada di sana. Suatu hari, saya akan pergi ke sana. Kamu juga. Jadi, kita milik siapa? Milik mutlak Allah. Kenapa kita memungkari Allah? Allah tidak terkesan apa-apa daripada kemdungkaran ini. Bagaimana pula dengan  diri kita?

BTQ Presentation

This video we make together for BTQ's (Basic Theme of Al-Qur'an) presentation based on the CD of the Perished Nation by Harun Yahya. We insert all the main points about the perished of 'Ad in this video and present by following the points.

However, Allah give us a test during the presentation day. A test that the LCD can't play any types of video. Desperate? For sure, I felt it because to complete the video, it took some of my time. However, we are grateful as we can finish our presentation by using 2 laptops. Mine and madame's.

Elhamdulillah is the best cure! In musibah, we are grateful. In nikmah, we are also grateful. How great! isn't it? Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more.

To you and especially for me,

Hopefully we learn something. Plan B is very important.
Wassalam.

Bermaaf-maafan menjelang Ramadhan

Bulan Ramadhan menjelma. Bulan yang ditunggu bagi hamba-hambaNya yang mendamba pahala yang berlipat ganda. Teringat doa malaikat jibril menjelang Ramadhan Kareem, ‘Ya Allah, tolong abaikan puasa ummat Muhammad s.a.w. , apabila sebelum memasuki Ramadhan dia tidak melakukan hal-hal yang berikut,

1. Tidakmemohon maaf terlebih dahulu kepada kedua orang tuanya,
2. Tidak bermaafan terlebih dahulu antara suami isteri
3. Tidak bermaafan terlebih dahulu dengan orang sekitarnya.

Maka, rasulullah pun mengatakan Ameen sebanyak 3 kali.

Marilah sama-sama kita menjadi hamba. Hamba yang menutur kemaafan keranaNya, menjalin ukhwah keranaNya, berkasih sayang serta meringankan beban saudara hanya keranaNya dan bekerja hanya untuknNya.

Kita, manusia biasa dan  ’hambaNya yang penuh dengan kesilapan, buruk sangka dan tercela dengan dosa’. Kemaafan dipanjat kepada semua pelawat, teman-teman kolej, teman-teman persekolahan dan terutamanya sahabat perjuangan dalam program Journey to Haramain yang mulia. Maaf atas pengunduran diri di pertengahan jalan di atas kesulitan dan sebab yang tidak dapat dielakkan.

Semoga Ramadhan menjadi milik kita. RAMADHAN KAREEM!

I love ALLAH

I will never regret,

Whatever I did,

Neither success nor failure,

I know it comes from ALLAH,

To encourage me,

To guide me,

Closer to Him,

I love ALLAH!

I will be happy all the times,

Because He keeps an eye on me,

Wherever I have been,

University, college, home, room,

Even in toilet,I feel the secure,

I knew He be with me,

Allah will never leave me,

I love ALLAH!

I will be entertained,

Every single of my breath,

Whenever I can met Him,

To chat with Him,

To pledge Him,

To share with Him,

To obey Him,

Indeed.. He had set the dates with me,

5 times a day,

How deep His love towards me,

I love ALLAH!

I was very grateful,

For my dear family,

My schoolmates,

My colleagues ,

My roommates,

My murabbis,

My principal,

And all peoples around me,

Whenever I not be with them,

He was there, here and everywhere,

Look after them.

Indeeed, He will also give them love,

I love ALLAH!

I was very cheerful,

In confusion, miserable and tension.

He comes to remember me,

Life is not always happy,

No problems, no life,

He also give me presents,

Book of Al-Qur’an and Al-Hadith,

Bounties references for all problems,

I love ALLAH!

I was very delighted,

Who want to love Him,

And peopled who didn’t,

He also pleased,

To give them love,

Because He love everybody,

I love ALLAH!

Pure love,

I had found,

Not similar from others’ loves,

My mother's love,

My friends' love,
Just here,

There?

Just only between Him and me,

I love Allah!

The whole of my heart,

I will only give to Him,

I hope you too,
My dear mother,

My father,

My brothers,
My sisters,

My schoolmates,
My colleagues ,

My roommates,
My murabbis,
My principals,
And especially for you,
Dear reader of ' I love Allah'
I love Allah so much!!!

The Coming Economic Collapse

Graham Summers
June 12, 2009

Today's essay details the ongoing collapse of the US economy with a focus on why this coming fall will prove the "worst is over" crowd wrong yet again. Earlier this week, I detailed three major developments. They were:

• The US's economic shift from manufacturing to services (mainly financial)
• The massive drop in US incomes
• The beginning of the debt bubble

Today, we're addressing how the debt bubble encapsulated the US government as well as why Obama's Stimulus Plan won't fix anything.
To revisit the above three points, the US began outsourcing jobs in earnest soon after we re-opened trade with China in 1971. As outsourcing spread to higher and higher skilled jobs, this meant fewer jobs in the US market. This resulted in US consumers having to use credit to maintain their standard of living. It also meant more than one parent working to make ends meet.
On a national level, the US government began living beyond its means as well. Adjusted for inflation, gross tax receipts have only risen 40% in the last 39 years. However, over the same time period, total government spending increased 2,600%!!!
To fund this insanity, the US issued debt in the form of Treasuries. Foreign governments (most notably China) which were generally getting richer selling us stuff loaded up. The whole scheme is similar to buying a toy from the store, then having the store lend you money to buy another toy… ad infinitum: hardly a sensible long-term plan for financial solvency.
Now, everyone knows we run deficits. But not everyone knows that the deficits we publish are unbelievably understated. Corporations, in order to qualify for generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) have to count their pension and healthcare expenses for retirees.
Uncle Sam doesn't.
John Williams of www.shadowstats. com notes that official US deficit statistics do NOT include net present value of unfunded social security OR Medicare expenses. A lot of folks have made a big deal about the US running a $1 trillion deficit this year. Well, if you included the net value of those unfunded Social Security and Medicare expenses we cleared a $1 trillion deficit in 2007, a $5 TRILLION deficit in 2008 and are on course to clear a $9 TRILLION deficit this year.
To give you an idea of how big a problem these deficits are, consider that the US government could tax its citizens 100% of their earnings and NOT have a balanced budget.
In light of these issues, the government's $787 billion stimulus package doesn't exactly breed confidence in an economic turnaround. Incomes have lagged inflation in this country for 30+ years. Creating a bunch of temporary positions related to construction and the like is NOT going to alter this in any significant way.
Moreover, most of the job growth in the last 10 years has come from Bubbles: two out of five jobs created between 2002 and 2007 came from the housing industry. The irony here, of course, is that the Stimulus Plan is merely following this trend, creating jobs from our latest (relatively unreported) Bubble: the bubble in government spending and employment.
Bottomline: the US needs to create sustained job growth involving skilled professionals with high wage earning potential, NOT more guys laying concrete. We need fundamental structural changes to the US economy, NOT temporary positions resulting from one-time government projects.
And with a $9 trillion deficit in the works, $787 billion doesn't really mean much in terms of increased tax receipts. Also, and this is bit of a personal aside, it's hard to believe that throwing $787 billion towards creating jobs really shifts our economy away from financial services when we've thrown $2 trillion+ towards Wall Street and the banks (via direct loans and lending windows).
The US has a MAJOR debt problem. Including future social security and Medicare expenses we owe $65 TRILLION. Because we live in a world in which the words, "billion" get thrown around with too much ease, I'd like to put that number into perspective.
Let's say you have a stack of $1,000 bills. $1 million would be a stack eight inches high. $1 billion would be a stack 800 feet high (think the Washington Monument). And $1 trillion would be a stack 142 miles high. Total US debt, if laid on its side, would be a stack of $1,000 stretching more than 1/3 of the way around the earth.
Ok, so where is the US economy REALLY at right now?
Year over year real employment, real industrial orders, real housing starts, and real retail sales are all posting their largest drops since the production shutdown following WWII. Put another way, the last time the US economy fell this hard this fast, we were intentionally shutting down the monster than was the US war machine in WWII.
This is no recession. We are already on our way to a Depression (a GDP contraction of 10%) possibly even another Great Depression. One in nine Americans are currently receiving food stamps. Real unemployment (without birth/death seasonal nonsense and all the other Federal gimmicks) stands at 20%.
So I don't buy the "green shoots" theory at all. Having things get horrendous at a slightly slower rate is NOT a sign of a recovery. Green shoots can pop up anywhere including the asphalt in the parking lot outside my office. That doesn't mean the parking lot is about to become a lush meadow.
No, the US is heading for a really, really rough time. The US monetary base has doubled in the last year. We owe $65 trillion in liabilities. The US government could tax every company and every American 100% of their annual incomes AND NOT PAY THIS OFF. The Feds will have to inflate this mess away. And they've got a master money printer Ben Bernanke overseeing this situation.
Now, I cannot foretell precisely how this will all play out. Typically when a bubble bursts it takes 10+ years, possibly an entire generation, before the assets that participated in the Bubble return to new highs (sometimes they NEVER do).
Now, we just got off the biggest credit/ debt bubble in the world's history. I'm talking about 30+ years of spending money we don't have culminating in a period in which Americans were speculating in the single largest asset they ever purchase (a house) without putting a cent of their own money at risk (0% down NINA loans).
We also saw a bubble in stocks, Treasuries, and most every other asset you can invest in. So the idea that we can recover from this in a couple of years seems over enthusiastic to say the least.
Remember, Japan experienced a similar Bubble (though they had higher savings than we did) and "lost" a decade of economic growth. It's worth noting that Japan WAS NOT an Empire like the US. Japan did not have with bases in 170 countries, a world reserve currency, and a crippled job market (history rhymes, it does not repeat).
So in terms of the real US economy, I don't foresee a recovery anytime soon. The stock market may soar thanks to the Fed's money printing, but a jump in financial speculation is NOT an economic recovery. If the S&P 500 goes to 20,000, but we're drinking $1,500 beer and wiping ourselves with $100 bills, we haven't gotten richer (never mind the fact that an S&P 500 of 20,000 DOESN'T create jobs).
So how will we know when a bottom is in and the economy will recover? I've postulated a few signs (some humorous, others not so pleasant). Bear in mind, much of this in tongue in cheek. But like all sarcasm, there's a grain of truth.
We will bottom WHEN:

• CNBC and Bloomberg start firing anchors and cutting their coverage time by hours, not minutes.
• Maria Bartiromo and Jim Cramer start telling investors to short the market with all they've got.
• Questions like "do you think we're heading for a recovery" result in the questioner getting punched in the face or ignored like a loony tune.
• People HATE stocks and stock ownership has plummeted back to one in ten Americans (the pre-401(k) levels).
• Investing is no longer a hobby and people fight tooth and nail to retain their nest egg (honestly what the hell is "play" or "speculative" money?)
• The number of mutual funds has fallen by at least half (why are we paying fees for people who can't beat the market?).
• People no longer want to get an MBA to become a broker or a financial advisor.
• Our economy is based on "making something," not "offering advice."
• Books about Warren Buffett no longer comprise an entire publishing industry (seriously, Amazon lists 5,000+ books on him).
• The Richest 500 people in the world are no longer all billionaires (never happened before in history… how's that for concentration of wealth?)
• Guys like me are no longer writing about finance or investing but instead take up a respectable profession.

Then… we will have probably hit bottom. In the meantime, I've prepared a FREE Special Report detailing three investments that will soar when the Second Round of the Financial Crisis hits. I call it the Financial Crisis Round Two Survival Kit. Swing by www.gainspainscapit al.com/roundtwo. html to pick up your free copy today.
 Graham Summers