Wednesday 28 August 2013

Day 3 Muslim Tasks

As Salam. May Allah SWT blessed us all today. How's yesterday progress? Any improvement in your daily tasks? Today I just want to share some materials that I read from Productive Muslim site. According to them, there are 4 areas of our life that we should improve:

The Daily Taskinator.
  1. Islam
  2. Family
  3. Work
  4. Personal development
 ProductiveMuslim Taskinator

They also said that for each area, we should at least perform 3 tasks (important one) and track our progress. Frankly speaking, as beginner we should focus only to one task for each area. So far, our daily tasks have focused on daily zikr, quran recitation and dawa (give reminder to others). So lets put this tasks into the four areas mentioned:

1. Islam - dawa/naseeha (/)
2. Family - dawa also included (/)
3. Work - can be anything related to your job (/)
4. Personal - zikr & Quran recitation (/)

So, we are in track for becoming a so called "Productive Muslim". Lets add one more task for today, if not too burden for you :)

Giving Sadaqah/Charity

Giving sadaqah will not diminish a Muslim's wealth. It serves as cancellation for sins and yields rewards in the next life. It is stated in the Quran:
For those who give in Charity, men and women, and loan to Allah a Beautiful Loan, it shall be increased manifold (to their credit), and they shall have (besides) a liberal reward.
Qur'an, Sura 57 (Al-Hadid), ayah 18
The question is how much to give? As starter, lets just begin by a small amount of money (USD 1) if you are US citizens. The key here is to make it a daily habit to give charity to others (or USD 10 per week). I want to share with you a true story in Malaysia about one man whom once is a cow herder but now is Top 10 Billionaire in Malaysia. He follows his mum advice to give half (50%) of his monthly income from selling cows to poor families. Nowadays, he owns several big multinational companies in Malaysia! Hence, do not feel burdened if you giving sadaqah to others because Allah SWT will give you rewards (in this world and hereafter, InsyaAllah).

Watch below Youtube video for other types of sadaqah/deeds to others:


Today Quran recitation:

Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


2:3
Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,
 
2:4
And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].

Monday 26 August 2013

Day 2 Muslim Tasks

As Salam. Today I just want to check our progress on yesterday tasks, which are daily zikr and Quran recitation. Do you manage to recite specific daily zikr 10X after fardhu prayers? Do you also manage to recite just 1 or 2 ayah from Quran yesterday?

Lets do some checking, if regarding daily zikr, what are reasons that hold you from doing it?
  1. Forgot? It is good then to follow the tips I have given before such as set phone reminder or alarm at specific time (e.g. every 2 hours). It is also effective if you associate daily zikr with fardhu prayers; meaning that after prayers you take some time to recite those zikr. Begin with 3X only if that works for you.
  2. Busy? Try to do it if there is empty slot in your daily works such as lunch time, bus waiting, car driving etc.
  3. Others? try to find ways to overcome this!
Other suggestion: if you find zikr recitation seems boring, try to search and watch Youtube videos with "zikr" keyword. I have one that I love to watch everyday (by Malaysian singer).



How about regarding Quran recitation, what are reasons that hold you from doing it?

  1. Cannot read Quran? If so, then go to digital Quran website, choose selected surah and ayah, click the sound player and try to listen Quran reading by the selected reciter. Listen and imitate them repeatedly until you manage to copy them.
  2. Busy and always mobile? If so, use your handphone to download free android or IOS apps that contains audio player. For android phone, I suggest Quran Android. Take some time to open and recite using your phone app player. 1 or 2 ayah daily is enough for starting.
  3. Other? try to find ways to overcome this :)
Other suggestion: if you loved to watch TV, then find ways to connect your TV to your PC/Laptop so that you can display Youtube videos with Quran recitation on the big screen.







For today task, I just want to add only one task, that is regarding giving reminder or sharing any good naseeha (advice) to your family, relatives or close friends. It can be anything such as:
  1. Just forwarding one email that you received regarding Islamic advice to your colleagues/ friends.
  2. In Facebook, you can click "LIKE" to any informative material that you read so that it will appear in your facebook wall and can be seen by others in your other groups.
  3. Other ways shown here - 101 ways to give Dawa.
Today Quran recitation:

Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

2:1
Alif, Lam, Meem.
2:2

This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah.


Hope that you can work on today task, and we'll see its progress tomorrow.

Day 1 Muslim Tasks

As Salam. My name is Ridzuan. I am just ordinary person from Malaysia. I created this blog because as a Muslim we must strive to be a good one. Frankly speaking, it is not an easy task to become a good Muslim. Sometimes, I found myself lost in this world matters. I acknowledged that I am not pious but that doesn't mean that I cannot improve my deeds for Allah SWT. I remember that Prophet Muhammad SAW was asked, "What deeds are loved most by Allah?" He said, "The most regular constant deeds even though they may be few." by Sahih Bukhari. For this reason, I want to figure out what are practical things or deeds that I can implement gradually in my daily life to show my love to Allah SWT.

FYI, the key here is to start with something small but constant deeds everyday and looks whether it can be improved further gradually for a year (365 days)! You are free to apply it too in your daily life and together we can share what works and not.

Day 1 Muslim Tasks:
  • Daily Zikr - the most effective prayer advised by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) to be practiced on a daily basis. The importance of daily zikr (or zikir) can be read here. There are many type of zikr but I choose daily zikr suggested by Imam Al-Ghazali (pic below). FYI, the word "JUMAAT" is Friday in English, "SABTU" is Saturday and so on. The ideal is to recite 1000 times per day, but for starting just enough to recite 10X after fardhu prayers, or whenever you remember in a day. Make it a daily habit!
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_fqItnLhdRiWEKw2eEA7JYyfqhDibXVtHJoRzcSeX2-rGo3GdFjd10Lb-awG8jvRaLvPbTRd5EtekbSfKRbov7m7-8iLG-0ONsIEZUIfPU6tqZqhtQsj0aplj5PR5WQG7UdP9sCUJNtx/s640/zikir-harian.jpg
TIPs: if you have smartphone you can download free android/ios apps specifically for this, for example Zikir Harian. Or, you can set repeated daily alarm using your phone at a specific time (1pm, 4pm, 8pm etc) for reminder to recite daily zikr.

Zikir Harian - screenshot thumbnail

  • Quran Recitation - Quran has 114 surah or chapters. There are about 6,236 ayah or verses in all chapters. Good practice is to recite 1 page per day and repeated it 5 times in a day (normally after each fardhu prayers). However, you can start with just at least 1 or 2 ayah per day consistently through a year (anytime in a day)! Try also to understand their translation in your own language. Istiqamah is the best practice.
Cover art
TIPs: again, if you have smartphone you can download free android/ios apps specifically for this, for example Quran Android. Also, you can go to digital Quran website with good interface and a selection of reciter and language translations.

Today Quran recitation:

Surat Al-Fātiĥah (The Opener)


1:11:21:31:41:51:6


1:7
I think it is enough for Day 1. We continue on the next day (Day 2) and see if there any good progress on this.