Assignment ohh Assignment..

In the name of Allah..

As a student of university, we are not separated with assignment. Assignment is a trust on us to complete it individually or collectively and we must submit it in a specific time which is determined by our lecturer. We can't ignore it because assignment is one of our carry marks and the marks can help our pointer in examination result.

Assignment ohh assignment..
one day, my classmates were given an assignment and we were divided into a few of groups. The assignment was we were required to make a scrapbook. Scrapbook was so difficult for us as a man to do it because it requires the power of creativity from each member of the group. The best of this assignment, our lecturer did not say what's the specific date to submit it, and my group thought it can be submitted anytime, mybe one or two month later. After a month, my friend and I take responsibility to complete it after the other members ignore (buat donow) it. Alhamdulillah, the blessing of our cooperation, we could complete it just a week.We were happy with our scrapbook because many of our friends praised with the beautiful of scrapbook. After we were given a grace of happiness, we were facing with an event that was very sad and disappointing. When we were going to submit it, we started knocking the door of lecturer's dorm and gave salam to her. ''Assalamualaikum madam, sorry for disturbing, this is our scrapbook''. ''Why do you just want to send it today?'' ''Sorry madam, we don't know what's date to submit because you did not mention what's the specific date to submit this''. ''If i did not mention pun, bila saya beri muka kepada kamu, kamu jangan naik kepala dengan saya, ni sudah lewat, saya akan potong markah kamu!''. tuppppp, what the??? what our fault?? madam did not mention the date, and now she is very angry with us, why madam?? why?? ohh my God..then steadily I said : ''hmm, sorry sorry and sorry madam, insyaAllah we will not repeat it'' 

So the moral of this story, when we are given an assignment, we must complete it as soon as possible even though we know what's the date to submit it, because we don't know mybe tomorrow we are given another assignment. :-)

Here, my essay assignment and my first record to complete a long essay in English, it takes 4 pages of A4 paper to do it....

begin your reading with Basmallah..

THANKFULNESS

               In this life, we often hear the people around us mention a word of ‘thanks’, either thank to Allah or thank to the people and sometimes we ourselves use this word.  What is the meaning of thankfulness really?  Thankfulness in literal meaning is gratefulness while in technical meaning is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. When we received something good from someone, we should reply the same value of it or more than it or just by expressing ‘thanks’ to him. Thank is to express appreciation or gratitude to someone for a favor, service or gift. For a simple example from our culture in Malaysia especially, when we received a gift from someone, we usually will appreciate it and express a word of ‘thanks’ to him. Through this explanation, we can understand that the method to thank to someone can be done whether in greeting, acting or using attitude. Thus, in life as a human being, we can divide the use of thankfulness into two categories; thank to our one God, Allah and thank to people.

              

                 First and foremost is thanks to our God, Allah. Allah is God of hosts and power over everything. We as human beings are His creatures and we are lived because of Him to do what is commanded and avoid what is prohibited. We live in this world full with His pleasures and we often forget to thank to Him. This is because we do not know what is the advantage or reward for who express thankfulness for what they have received from God. The Islamic sacred text, The Quran, is filled with the idea of gratitude. Islam encourages its followers to be grateful and express thanks to God in all circumstances. Islamic teaching emphasizes the idea that those who are grateful will be rewarded with more. A traditional Islamic saying states that, "The first who will be summoned to paradise are those who have praised God in every circumstance". In the Quran, it is also stated that those who are grateful will be given more by God. This evidence can be found in Surah 14, Ibrahim in verse of  7,

واذ تأذن ربكم لئن شكرتم لأزيدنكم ولئن كفرتم ان عذابي لشديد"”

means : And remember! your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): "If ye are grateful, I will add more (favors) unto you But if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment is terrible indeed."

The prophet Muhammad also said, "Gratitude for the abundance you have received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue." According to the saying of Imam Al-Ghazali, thankfulness  is a highest stage before  Allah more than the stage of patient, fear of  Allah, and many more. In addition, it is also a noble position before Him as in the saying of Allah in surah al-Nahl, verse of 114:   واشكروا نعمت الله ان كنتم اياه تعبدون"’’   Means :  and be grateful for the favors of Allah, if it is He Whom ye serve.

                   As we know, many people today express their thankfulness by using tongue only, by saying ‘all praise to Allah.’ But in Islamic teaching, there are three methods how to thank to Allah. Firstly, grateful by using heart. The first step towards having a grateful or a thankful heart is to acknowledge and recognize that all of  blessing that we have obtained coming from Allah SWT and there in no one else except Him gives the blessing.  Those who are grateful by heart, they will never deny that all the blessings come from their God, Allah, and the result of their lives are full with happiness. Besides that, we have to recognize the dangers of being unthankful and ungrateful. For those who have like this and unaware the grace, it is a sign that they have a darkened heart and away from God. They do not acknowledge that all things come from God,  they do not know who is Giver of grace, from where the grace coming, never thank for all the blessings that they have got and the result of their lives are full of questions and wondering. Thus, we as human beings have to belief that everything of pleasure come from Allah and we should be thankful to Him by convincing that Allah is the giver glace. This is the important part that we have to aware because everything what we have to do coming from heart. Because of this heart, we will feel the grace even a bit.

                      Secondly, grateful by using tongue and lips. This is a familiar method used by human being. This tongue usually says ‘thanks’ when we received something good by someone. But when our heart convinces that the pleasure and blessing come from Allah, spontaneously  our  tongue says ‘all praises to Allah’ or in term of Arab ‘Alhamdulillah’. When we feel something pleasure, the word of ‘Alhamdulillah’ will be our routine daily to express because it is a simple word to be expressed without  paying  and one of our traditions to do it when we received something from someone. This Arabic term has more benefit than the other words for those who express it sincerely and the evidence can be found in a saying of our Prophet : ‘‘Whoever says Subhanallah, will get 10 rewards, Whoever reads La Ilaha Illallah, will get 20 rewards, and whoever reads Alhamdulillah, will get 30 rewards.’’

Alhamdulillah expression is a sign of our gratitude to God for all the blessing that He has given and we usually use it in daily life. For example, when we wake up in the morning, we express it for the blessing of breathe. When we got excellent result, we express it for the blessing of success. When we live in a big family, we express it for the blessing of happiness. From these examples, it is undeniable fact that there are too many graces from God to human being. Actually we have to know that there is not a word of Alhamdulillah only to be grateful but there are many words of zikr that can be used to express thankfulness such as Subhanallah, Allahuakbar, Lailahaillah, and many more. For this context, the meaning is not important, but we should concern about the praising to Him in any words. Before we move into the next content, let us embrace a verse from Al-Quran which can support this point, Allah says  :  وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ" ’’  Means :  But as for the favor of your Lord, report [it].

                 Lastly, grateful by using the acts. It means practicing of the body for the good deeds and take advantage of blessing according to the teaching of Islam. Besides that, Islam commands us to do positive  things that pleased by Him to express our thankfulness for  all the blessings. We need to remember that thankful by heart and tongue are not enough anymore, the act also plays its vital role to disclose our thankfulness to God. From a brief explanation, we can make a simple conclude that we actually should use the blessing according to its function. For example, when someone gives us food and we say ‘thanks’ to him or her, but at the same time we throw the food in the trash, it shows that we are not be grateful actually. This is because we do not put the blessing to a proper place. According to imam al-Ghazali, there are seven limbs to express our thankfulness ; eyes, ears, tongue, stomach, genitals, hands and foots. All of these limbs are created as the blessings of Him to us to be used properly. For instance, eyes should be used to see the good things, tongue is used to say the good words, and hands and foots are used to do the good deeds. If we go more deeply, many examples can be related to this point. For example in the worship of  God such as prayer, we use the whole of  body to express our gratefulness as a servant of Allah. It can be said that many practices of the Islamic faith also encourage gratitude. The Pillar of Islam calling for daily prayer encourages believers to pray to God five times a day in order to thank him for his goodness. The pillar of fasting during the month of Ramadan is for the purpose of putting the believer in a state of gratitude. The pillar of paying zakat is for the purpose of expressing the gratitude to God for all the properties what we have. In addition, for those who are rich, they have to pay zakah and give alms to the poor, the knowledgeable people have to teach other people and advise them to the right path, and the strong do help the oppressed. From these examples, I boldly make conclusion that all the good deeds what we do are the forms of gratitude to God.

                     After we discuss deeply about showing gratitude to Allah, let us step the second one cum my last point is thanks to people. The types of how to be grateful to people as grateful to Allah ; by heart, says, and acts. Although the same, but its methods are different for the acts. To do this, we can classify to the type of people. Firstly to our Prophet. To express our thankfulness to him, we should obey all of his teachings about Islam and practice all of his Sunnah as much as we afford. We are encouraged to always shalawat on him to get his intercession in the Hereafter. For parents, we need to reply of all parent services by obeying all his commands, avoiding what is prohibited, helping them in trouble, and keeping them when they are old. For teachers, we should be successful in any examination and always visit them to express our gratefulness to them. Besides that, we need to be thankful to the people who love us, to the people who serve us, to the people who support and help us. Here I share some methods of how to show our gratitude to them. Smile when we meet them. Give them a gift. Give them something of ours that we think they will enjoy. Listen fully if they are having a difficult day and recognize if they need space to figure things out on their own. Do something little but thoughtful for them. Be the calm, light voice in a stressful situation and the most important is we should be a useful person for them because it is able to make them happy because of us.

                    In conclusion, we need to be aware of all the pleasure and the blessing that we have now, it all comes from God. We are commanded to use it properly and keep it from damage. For instance, when we are awarded the blessing of health, we must keep our body from any pain. Likewise the grace of faith and Islam, we are required to keep it from apostasy. We have to use all the blessings to worship to our God and regard the whole of goodness in the world are signs and forms of our thankfulness to Him. In Al-Quran, Allah has given us many lessons about the people before which were punished because they did not show gratitude for all the blessings. For example, Firaun and his people were drowned because of disbelief against power favors. Qarun was dipped together with his property because of disbelief against the blessing of wealth. In addition, there are many benefits for those who are grateful ; giving peace of heart in life, getting happiness indeed, open the door of blessings, and far from the punishment of Allah. The evidence can be found in surah Luqman, verse of 12 :    "ومن يشكر فانما يشكر لنفسه"  means: Who gives thanks to Allah, does so to his own good.  Thus, all of these favors encourage us to thank Allah and use the blessings that He has given us in obedience to Him and not in disobedience.

*please correct my English, expert !*