Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Did you drop by MUIS Open House yesterday? Well if you did you would have really been busy running around the place trying to answer all the questions and to get a chop prepared by the MUIS stuff. I thought this was a very interesting concept and great way to get the public to really know more about MUIS.
At every floor, we had to look through the posters, decorations or ask the MUIS Ambassadors the right question to receive an answer. The journey was fun.
We started at Level 1 of the MUIS building where that had these montages of MUIS history from the day AMLA started to the current situation. I can say our Muslim Community had really come very far since those days.
They say, “If you want to move forward, you need to know the past”.
If you do have the time drop by MUIS and have a look at all the exhibits.
The next floor is where the Zakat Department is. So the next quiz allowed us to learn more about Zakat Distributions or they called it the 8 Hasnafs. Also this was the place where we spent most of time there because we were stuck playing a Financial Game.
The little sisters were playing the game with us. The objective of the game was to teach us about managing money. Its quite a hard game to play as it make you pay, pay and pay. Anyway we got a lot of tidbits here and we took away some knowledge on managing money.
At the next station on the next floor, we were introduced to the Fatwa section and the Court. Below is a shot of the courtroom.
The next floor we were introduced to the Halal Department in MUIS. This is where you need to go to apply for Halal Certifications if you are running a F&B business.
Above is a shot of one of the ambassodors explaining to a visitor what’s Halal all about. You can win the Halal Directory 2009 if you had answered a question correctly here.
The next floor was where all the Youth Activities are being displayed. If you were lucky you could get a FREE gift here also.
Next at level 6, the Sister above is part of the MUIS team that supports medical care during UMRAH and Haj trips. At that time she was explaining on how to handle someone who fainted during the trip.
A shot from the top. It seems like the “Ikan Longkang Catching” was done at this time. Kids were having fun catching fishes in the blue container – shown on the bottom right of the image above.
There were sold at $3 for a whole bunch of “Ikan Longkangs”. I think this is one of the most interesting games that kids could play. Hope to see more of this during carnivals as its a trend of yester years. Todays kids do not play such games anymore as computer games and the internet have taken over. So it was really great to see the Kids smile and feel the excitement of catching the fishes.
Next up was the Madrasah Irsyad classrooms. Well it aint as crowded as other places. Perhaps we came at a late time.
Quiz
The quiz we got here was quite puzzling cos we were asked to recalled where was the former Irsyad building located. So what’s the answer eh?
Well if you can answer this question right, we’ll give you a Sabun Sertu package free. Courtesy of www.sabunsertu.com. Email your answers to info@islamicevents.sg
And finally we end up at Masjid Muhajirin. Did you know that this was the first mosque built from MBF ( Mosque Building Fund ) ? Besides the other mosques like Masjid An Nur, Masjid Al Amin and especially the new ones.
So if you were there, share you stories and pictures on your blog. We’ll be glad to link you from here.
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Written by: Fadzuli Wahab Occupation: Internet Entrepreneur Founder of IslamicSG Networks Web/Blog: |
Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
ESQ means Emotional Spiritual Journey. It is a journey beyond words and writings will not be able to describe the experience. Penning this down was difficult as I had to choose the right words so that journey which I had embarked on is not a waste.
The meaning of 165 is already significant as it represents
1 God, 6 Pillars Of Faith in Islam and 5 Pillars of Islam
One may claim that this is a Religious Education module after going through it because he or she might not understand the true meaning of it at the end of the 2 or 3 days seminar if their hearts and minds are closed to the facts that are given. To be honest even Muslims may have problems accepting this. I will say some will hate to go through this process but many others will walk out this seminar enlighten and clearly knowing their purpose in life.
In fact it is a character building course showing you a path to find your creator and showing you a path to find yourself. Two questions will ring in your head through out this course, “WHO ARE YOU?” & “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” and finally “WHY DO YOU SAY LAILAHAILLALLAH“.
In the beginning of this course, they screened a video showing us the number of people committing suicide from this Golden Gate Bridge in California. The founder of ESQ, Pak Ary explained that even though America have great talents and has the fastest technological progress in recent times, the country has NO SOUL. In that few minutes the video was taken, you could see 3-4 people jumping off it and committing suicide.
Ladies and Gentleman this phenomenon is real, every second in this world someone dies. Someone committing suicide without force. Why is that so? The trainers of ESQ explains that even though Human race have progressed so far, they have forgotten their CREATOR. They have forgotten their purpose in life. They have forgotten the promise they made to GOD before their souls were placed in this world.
Hence this Character Building Course is about finding that Spiritual Energy inside of you. You may have IQ, EQ and FQ ( Financial Quotient by Robert Kiyosaki ) however most of us in fact lack of SQ – our spiritual side.
These 2-3 days journey will definitely have an impact in your life and the amount they ask you to pay for the course is really ridiculous. If it were me to put the price, I would have easily set it to over $2,000 because of the impact it can make in your life. Furthermore once you finish the course, you can go for any ESQ refresher course around the world for FREE.
At the end of the course I was more impressed by the Founder – Dr Ary’s vision. As we all know how corrupted Indonesia is and the Trainers actually admit to it as they are from Indonesia. But the founders set a goal to build a pillar of strength, pillar of morality in that country. Through that they are developing a building which lies the Moral Compass of the country. Its really a bold vision to adhere to but after going through the course that belief is strengthened. They can do it. They can be the moral compass of the country when others are defying Allah’s instructions. Everyday thousands of Indonesians come to them for help and thousands others come to them to ask for their purpose of life. Yes they cannot tell you that however they can guide you. Are we seeing the beginning of change?
This is one of the few courses that can really make a difference and really push the Muslim community forward. The price may be heavy for some of you however give it a thought. What is the dollars and cents compared to being a better Human Being.
I foresee a golden era coming. Though we live in a world full of bad things happening, there are many more people turning to Islam every day and I believe that ESQ is a vehicle which can accelerate this purpose.
If you are interested and are willing to walk the ESQ journey, visit our portal’s event listings to find out when is the next ESQ Course, be it in Singapore or overseas.
May Allah swt bless you for reading this article till the end and we hope it opens your hearts and minds to our beautiful way of life. Ameen.
I would like to leave you with this video the theme song for ESQ itself.. Do reflect on it
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Written by: Fadzuli Wahab Occupation: Internet Entrepreneur Founder of IslamicSG Networks Web/Blog: |
Spiritual Days & Nights with Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
What an uplifting talk he gave during the lecture “Longing for the Divine” at Singapore Expo on Tuesday night. There were about 700 people in attendance and The Naqsh Band sang 3 qasaid before the lecture started. They got the crowd to sing along with them and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
When Shaykh Hisham Kabbani took the mike, it was easy to see why millions are in love with him. His ever-ready smiles, his humour, his great affection – it was infectious to say the least. Several times he turned to the poster that was behind him and asked, “I don’t understand this. Longing for the Divine? Who?”
He then drove home the point that in truth, it is the Divine that is longing for us, not the other way round. He talked about how everyone everywhere is looking and longing for something and throughout his travels, he’s found that they are looking for spirituality.
Shaykh Hisham talked about the concept of Sufism and its historical background and foundation. He mentioned how Istighfar is the vehicle on which to take you closer to the Divine. He said that the great Saint Rabia’ Al-Adawiyah (Rabiahtul Adawiyah) was occupied with saying Astahgfirullah day and night and how she says that her 1st Istighfar was in need of a 2nd istighfar to purify it. SubhanAllah!
Shaykh Hisham also said that one of the signs that someone is sincerely longing for the Divine is when his prayers are not enough. Each time he completes his obligatory prayers, he proceeds with nawafil prayers because he wants his connection with the Divine to not be cut off.
He was also actively engaged with the audience, constantly asking questions and smiling and getting answers from the audience. One time, he asked an Ustaz what was the meaning of “hasanat”. This was in relation to the doa that we often read: “Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanah wa fil-akhirati hasanah. Waqina azaaban-naar.”
The Ustaz said it meant “goodness”. Shaykh Hisham then singled out MP Zainal Abidin and asked him and MP said “mercy”. While Shaykh Hisham said that both answers were correct, the secret behind that doa is something else. He talked about ‘goodness’ and then later asked, “Who embodies goodness?”. He then said that the Prophet SAW was the embodiment of goodness and when we make that doa, we are simultaneously asking for the Prophet’s SAW intercession in this life and the next.
In a hadith, the Prophet SAW said “My life is a great good for you, you will relate about me and it will be related to you, and my death is a great good for you, your actions will be exhibited to me, and if I see goodness I will praise Allah, and if I see evil I will ask forgiveness of Him for you.”
Shaykh Hisham only has one last program before leaving Singapore. Don’t miss the event at Madrasah Khairiah @ Simply Islam at Still Road tonight at 7pm. Maghrib prayers will be done together.
Ameera Begum Aslam
ameera@islamicevents.sg
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