It has been a really bad day for me so far. Then I went to Friday Prayers,and everything changed.

I don't know why, but I look forward to Friday Prayers so much nowadays. I'm not boasting whatsoever, but maybe the topics that they talked about made me feel related to it. Which is a very good thing.

Then I was thinking how cool Friday Prayers is but not all women/ladies goes for it,(in Canada, Muslim women do go for Friday Prayers) so I thought I should talk about what they talked about in the khutbah today.

Starting from today, I'll try my best to come up with a new post every Friday so that everyone has the opportunity to know what was discussed in or khutbah. It will be cool if you could post your khutbah in your blog so that we could exchange knowledge and learn to be a better Muslim everyday as our time is limited. Life on Earth is like R&R, before reaching the final destination.

So today, the Imam was talking on different levels of Iman (I think). Or something like which one is higher in level compared to the other one. And which is harder to obtain but if you do, it is extremely worth it.

The first level is Patience. If something bad happens to you, you are patient enough to just let it go and not blame Allah for it. For example, if someone started talking bad things behind your back, you are patient enough to let it go and don't go looking for a fight

The second level is Redha (i don't really know what it is called in English). Meaning you accept whatever happens to you and know that this is the right to happen to you decided by Allah. There's a story which comes along with this. There was an old woman with a group of strangers in the middle of the desert. They were on their camels. Suddenly, the old woman's son fell from the camel, and died at the spot. The woman said, "Innalillahi wainnalillahirajiun" and didn't look upset. The strangers were suprised how she didn't look sad or unhappy despite the death of her only son. This is a form of redha. As she believed in Allah and knows whatever happens is the best for her.

The third level is Syukur. Compared to the others, I paid more attention to this one coz earlier I was distracted by something else. This is the highest level of Iman which is hard to obtain,but not impossible. If something bad happens to us, we thank Allah for it as it maybe a way from Allah to repay us for the sins that we've committed on this world. If I'm not mistaken, If you steal something, and you were punished using hukum Hudud, you won't be punished for the same sin after you died. It is much better to receive our punishments now,rather than receiving them later in life as the punishment in the after life is unbearable( according to the quran,sunnah and stories I've heard).

Syukur is actually hard to obtain. How often do you see people saying Alhamdulillah or being thankful after their bike has been stolen? Their death of their parents? Their lost of their child? Nevertheless, Allah would not test His creation with something He knows they can't handle.
In my case, today itself, I was feeling really down coz I didn't do well in my last midterm before finals for MATHS 215. I was scared,sad, and wondered why I couldn't do well though I studied hard enough (I believe) for the midterm. The khutbah really struck me when I heard it. Maybe this is a way Allah is trying to punish me for the sins I've committed(Alhamdulillah). Maybe this is because I've received to many nikmats before this. So this is a way to balance it out. Allahuakbar. Whatever it is, Allah knows best. If eventually something happened and I won't be able to finish my studies in UBC, I will know that is the best for me from Allah. But we must also realize that Allah will on help those who help themselves. So don't try sitting there without putting in any effort in something and at the end of the day say that this is the best for me from Allah. You have to help yourself first, then let Allah decide what is the best for you.

Sometimes I do realize some people are thanking their scholars (PETRONAS,JPA,MARA,BNM,SIME DARBY,KHAZANAH), more than they are thanking Allah. They do not realize that whatever it is you've got, it is from Allah. Don't be proud of your sponsors, be thankful to Allah as He is the one giving every single thing you're having now. One of the best way to thank Allah and always remind ourselves of Him, is by saying "Bismillah" every time you start doing something. Let's take a look at this example. You've created a robot by your own hard work. And apparently, your robot is smart enough (Artificial Intelligence) it could think for himself like a human. If the robot started to claim that he is smart by himself, not by you (this is an example), what would you feel? Won't you feel offended? Won't you feel mad? Imagine that scenario between our relationship with Allah s.w.t. Sometimes we are too proud of ourselves, we don't realize who our creator is. Who we belong to. Where did everything we have came from. Allahuakbar.

Whatever I've said above, is a reminder to myself first before any of you. I'm not perfect myself. But I'm trying my best to be a good Muslim, and help others along the way so that we will meet in Jannah(Heaven), InsyaAllah. Amin, Ya Rabbal A'lamin.