Sembahyang tanda bersyukur

Oleh RAMLI ABDUL HALIM - Utusan - 27-Oct-2008

SEMBAHYANG lima waktu yang diwajibkan ke atas umat Nabi Muhammad SAW yang merupakan penghulu bagi segala anbia yang juga merupakan nabi dan rasul akhir zaman pada hakikatnya mempunyai nilai yang cukup tinggi kerana proses penerimaan perintah sembahyang oleh Rasulullah itu sendiri bukannya satu kerja mudah.

Berbanding dengan nabi-nabi lain yang mula melakukan sembahyang atas beberapa faktor, tetapi ibadat sembahyang yang diwajibkan ke atas umat Nabi Muhammad SAW diterima perintah oleh baginda secara terus dari Allah dengan baginda dibawa ke Sidratul Muntaha yang letaknya melepasi lapisan langit ketujuh.

Sidratul Muntaha itu sendiri adalah tempat yang tidak boleh didatangi oleh manusia lain, kecuali Nabi Muhammad, malah para malaikat juga tidak boleh ke sana.

Pemergian baginda SAW pada malam 27 Rejab tahun ke-11 kerasulan baginda (yakni dalam tahun 622 Masihi) dinamakan Israk Mikraj yang mana selain daripada menerima perintah kewajipan sembahyang, baginda juga berpeluang berjumpa dengan para nabi dan rasul, malah berkesempatan beramah mesra.

Rasulullah juga dipertontonkan dengan manusia yang menanggung seksa kerana memusuhi Allah dan Rasul-Nya serta mereka yang menikmati nikmat kerana bertakwa kepada Allah. Pada mulanya sembahyang yang diperintahkan adalah sebanyak 50 waktu.

Macam mana pun atas cadangan dan desakan Nabi Musa a.s. yang menyebabkan Rasulullah SAW berulang alik naik turun Sidratul Muntaha, maka jumlah waktu sembahyang hanya tinggal lima waktu sehari semalam sahaja.

Nabi Musa yang merasakan jumlah sembahyang lima waktu sehari semalam itu akan malas dilakukan oleh umat Nabi Muhammad meminta baginda membuat rayuan pengurangan jumlah waktu sembahyang tetap baginda enggan kerana malu kepada Allah.

Sebenarnya sembahyang lima waktu itu adalah himpunan sembahyang-sembahyang yang telah dilakukan oleh lima orang nabi dan rasul kerana ada sebab dan peristiwanya sebagaimana berikut;

SUBUH: Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan sembahyang subuh adalah Nabi Adam a.s. iaitu ketika baginda keluar dari syurga lalu diturunkan ke dunia.

Semasa dikeluarkan dari syurga dan diturunkan ke dunia kerana kesalahan memakan buah khuldi yang dilarang, yang pertama yang dilihat oleh bagi ialah kegelapan.

Baginda berasa sangat takut. Macam mana pun apabila fajar menjelang Subuh dunia mulai terang dan kerana bersyukur apabila dunia mula menampakkan akan terang dan tidak gelap lagi, Nabi Adam a.s. pun bersembahyang dua rakaat.

Rakaat pertama sembahyang baginda adalah sebagai tanda bersyukur kerana baginda terlepas dari kegelapan malam manakala rakaat kedua adalah bersyukur kerana siang telah menjelma.

Zuhur: Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Zuhur ialah Nabi Ibrahim a.s. iaitu tatkala Allah SWT memerintahkan baginda agar menyembelih anak baginda Nabi Ismail a.s. sebagai melepas nazar baginda.

Seruan itu datang pada waktu tergelincir matahari (bertepatan dengan waktu Zohor), lalu sujudlah Nabi Ibrahim sebanyak empat rakaat.

Rakaat pertama kerana bersyukur bagi penebusan, rakaat kedua tanda bersyukur kerana dibukakan dukacitanya dan juga anaknya, rakaat ketiga: tanda bersyukur dan memohon keredaan Allah SWT manakala rakaat keempat tanda bersyukur kerana korbannya digantikan dengan tebusan kibas.

Asar: Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Asar ialah Nabi Yunus a.s. tatkala baginda dikeluarkan oleh Allah SWT dari perut ikan Nun.

Ikan Nun telah memuntahkan Nabi Yunus di tepi pantai, sedang ketika itu telah masuk waktu Asar. Sebagai tanda syukur kerana dikeluarkan dari perut ikan Nun, maka Nabi Yunus a.s. bersembahyang empat rakaat kerana baginda telah diselamatkan oleh Allah daripada 4 kegelapan iaitu:

Rakaat pertama tanda syukur dari bebas dari kelam dengan kesalahan, rakaat kedua bersyukur kerana kelam dengan air laut, rakaat ketika kerana kelam malam dan rakaat keempat kerana kelam perut ikan Nun.

Maghrib: Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Maghrib ialah Nabi Isa a.s. iaitu ketika baginda dikeluarkan oleh Allah SWT dari kejahilan dan kebodohan kaumnya, yang di kala itu telah terbenamnya matahari.

Kerana tanda bersyukur bagi sembahyang tiga rakaat dengan rakaat tanda bersyukur kerana baginda berjaya menafikan ketuhanan selain dari Allah yang Esa, rakaat tanda bersyukur kerana berjaya menafikan tohmahan ke atas bonda baginda Siti Mariam yang telah dituduh melakukan perbuatan sumbang manakala rakaat ketiga tanda bersyukur kerana berjaya menyatakan kepada kaum baginda bahawa Tuhan itu hanya satu iaitu Allah SWT, tiada dua atau tiganya.

Isyak: Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Isyak ialah Nabi Musa a.s.. Pada ketika itu, Nabi Musa telah tersesat untuk mencari jalan kfeluar dari negeri Madyan.

Sedang dalam dadanya penuh dengan perasaan dukacita kerana sesat ekoran doa seorang alim yang diupah oleh Firaun agar mendoakan supaya Nabi Musa a.s.

Orang alim dan doanya sangat mustajab itu pada mulanya enggan akur kepada arahan Firaun dan enggan menerima upahan dalam bentuk jongkong emas kerana diketahuinya bahawa Nabi Musa a.s. adalah nabi dan rasul.

Hasil siasatan oleh pegawai-pegawai perisikan Firaun mendapati orang alim itu sangat sayangkan isteri dan dia adalah seorang suami yang sering mengalah kepada isteri.

Kelemahan itu diambil kesempatan oleh Firaun dengan memberi upah emas kepada isteri orang alim itu supaya meminta suaminya berdoa supaya Nabi Musa a.s. sesat di padang pasir negeri Madyan.

Bila diminta dan dirayu dan direngek oleh isterinya, orang alim itu tidak dapat menolak. Bagaimanapun, dia memberi syarat akan berdoa dalam kandang kuda.

Orang alim itu menyangka bila berdoa pada tempat yang kotor, doanya tidak akan mustajab. Macam mana pun doanya tetap mustajab dan Nabi Musa a.s. tersesat manakala orang alim itu mati dalam keadaan berdosa kerana mengikut kemahuan Firaun.

Bagaimana Allah SWT menghilangkan semua perasaan dukacitanya Nabi Musa a.s. apabila beliau akhirnya tidak lagi sesat dan ketika itu adalah waktu Isyak yang akhir. Sebagai tanda syukurnya, Nabi Musa bersembahyang empat rakaat dengan rakaat pertama tanda syukur kerana baginda akan dapat kembali ke pangkuan isteri dan kampung halaman. Rakaat kedua tanda bersyukur kerana dapat bersua kembali dan berganding bahu dengan saudara Nabi Harun a.s. bagi menyampaikan seruan Allah.

Rakaat ketiga pula kerana selamat daripada tindakan Firaun manakala rakaat keempat tanda bersyukur selamat daripada pengkhianatan anak Firaun terhadap baginda dan umat baginda yang bertakwa.

Ertinya kesemua waktu sembahyang yang diwajibkan ke atas umat Nabi Muhammad adalah merupakan amalan-amalan tanda ketakwaan terhadap Allah oleh para nabi dan rasul dan nilainya tidak boleh disamakan dengan apa jua bentuk kebendaan.

Kalau nabi dan rasul pun bersembahyang sebagai tanda syukur dan untuk melayakkan diri masuk ke syurga, siapa kita yang bukan nabi dan rasul untuk tidak sembahyang di samping melakukan pelbagai kemungkaran dengan bila mati kita mahukan syurga!

RAMLI ABDUL HALIM adalah murid tua (bekas pelajar) Madrasah Al-Balaghulmubin Rong Chenak, Tok Uban, Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

Reasons I Still Not Rich

Many people assume they aren't rich because they don't earn enough money. If I only earned a little more, I could save and invest better, they say.

The problem with that theory is they were probably making exactly the same argument before their last several raises. Becoming a millionaire has less to do with how much you make, it's how you treat money in your daily life.

The list of reasons you may not be rich doesn't end at 10. Caring what your neighbors think, not being patient, having bad habits, not having goals, not being prepared, trying to make a quick buck, relying on others to handle your money, investing in things you don't understand, being financially afraid and ignoring your finances.

Here are 10 more possible reasons you aren't rich:

You care what your car looks like: A car is a means of transportation to get from one place to another, but many people don't view it that way. Instead, they consider it a reflection of themselves and spend money every two years or so to impress others instead of driving the car for its entire useful life and investing the money saved.

You feel entitlement: If you believe you deserve to live a certain lifestyle, have certain things and spend a certain amount before you have earned to live that way, you will have to borrow money. That large chunk of debt will keep you from building wealth.

You lack diversification: There is a reason one of the oldest pieces of financial advice is to not keep all your eggs in a single basket. Having a diversified investment portfolio makes it much less likely that wealth will suddenly disappear.

You started too late: The magic of compound interest works best over long periods of time. If you find you're always saying there will be time to save and invest in a couple more years, you'll wake up one day to find retirement is just around the corner and there is still nothing in your retirement account.

You don't do what you enjoy: While your job doesn't necessarily need to be your dream job, you need to enjoy it. If you choose a job you don't like just for the money, you'll likely spend all that extra cash trying to relieve the stress of doing work you hate.

You don't like to learn: You may have assumed that once you graduated from college, there was no need to study or learn. That attitude might be enough to get you your first job or keep you employed, but it will never make you rich. A willingness to learn to improve your career and finances are essential if you want to eventually become wealthy.

You buy things you don't use: Take a look around your house, in the closets, basement, attic and garage and see if there are a lot of things you haven't used in the past year. If there are, chances are that all those things you purchased were wasted money that could have been used to increase your net worth.

You don't understand value: You buy things for any number of reasons besides the value that the purchase brings to you. This is not limited to those who feel the need to buy the most expensive items, but can also apply to those who always purchase the cheapest goods. Rarely are either the best value, and it's only when you learn to purchase good value that you have money left over to invest for your future.

Your house is too big: When you buy a house that is bigger than you can afford or need, you end up spending extra money on longer debt payments, increased taxes, higher upkeep and more things to fill it. Some people will try to argue that the increased value of the house makes it a good investment, but the truth is that unless you are willing to downgrade your living standards, which most people are not, it will never be a liquid asset or money that you can ever use and enjoy.

You fail to take advantage of opportunities: There has probably been more than one occasion where you heard about someone who has made it big and thought to yourself, "I could have thought of that." There are plenty of opportunities if you have the will and determination to keep your eyes open.

Second wives?

A WRITER'S LIFE By DINA ZAMAN on The Star, 9th October

Polygamy has nothing to do with culture or religion. Men, and women too, cheat because they can.

WHEN a male friend told me he planned on taking a second wife, all I could do was try not to choke on dinner. Are you serious, I asked. He said yes, he had fallen in love with a single mother, but it was not his fate to marry her.

Thinking it was perhaps due her compassion, her earnest desire to bring up her sprogs in a Godly way and that life was indeed a struggle, I choked on my dessert when my friend told me the first thing he noticed about her was that she owned a great set of jugs.

Now, my friend takes his religious obligations very seriously. His first wife wears the hijab. So to hear him admit that it was his paramour’s cleavage that caught his heart was quite shocking.

It was due to women like me, whose so-called Western, secular and feminist ideas of polygamy that pushed it underground. I then asked him, whether his equally-pious wife agreed to him taking on another wife, and he said no. She gave him an earful.

But our friend was on a roll. Now that his journey into polygamy was thwarted, it was all our fault. We modern Malay women, be they religious or not, were forcing men like him to marry in Thailand or Iran, where they practised nikah Muta’ah.

He was emulating the steps of our good Prophet Mohamed, he argued.

“You have got your Islamic history upside down! Nabi married war widows, and his first wife was older than he. Aishah was the youngest. And I don’t think our Prophet married any woman because she had great breasts!”

“You don’t understand.”

“Okay then. Why don’t you sell your car and take a camel to work then?”

I’m realistic. I know men who adore their wives and love them to bits, but they can still love their mistresses and other wives. Am I condoning affairs and polygamy? No. But this happens. It has nothing to do with Islam or being Malay, though polygamy is part of the culture.

We’re Asians. We have a long history of concubinage. There are good men who are faithful, and there are good men who have other wives. There are also bad men who are faithful and also bad men who are unfaithful.

Just like our politics, love in Malaysia is a circus. Weeee!

I’m not going to bore you with what polygamy in Islam is about, as it has been written before and talked about to death. Women’s rights activists have long fought for this “crime” to be illegal, but we face a tough fight. Sometimes it’s not the men who are itching for it, but yes, our gender, too.

In the 80s, when I was young and clueless, meeting mistresses and second or third wives would be sinful and against my principles.

These days? “Oh, you’re a mistress?” “Oh, you’re a hidden wife?” Yawn. Wear tudung or mini skirt, got. Educated or stupid, got. Some of our mothers are The Other Women, and are good mothers. So how?

Is this phenomenon particular to our culture? Oh no. Read the British newspapers. Mistressing is talked about to death in feminist columns.

But I thought after that dinner with my friend, I’d revisit the issue again. Some of the findings from my five-sen survey:

1). Theoretically ... polygamy is OK. But must ikut hukum Allah lah. There are conditions.

2). Ya, but… actually, kan, for career women like us, it does work. Nak jaga laki 24 jam … gue tak larat la. Biar bini nombor satu jaga. After all, in Islam, polygamous wives are taken care of legally. Better a Muslim second wife than a common law wife.

3). But really. Think about it. Convenient, what. You see him once a week, makan once a week, have sex once a week...

4). Sex once a week?! Baik tak yah jadi bini nombor dua macam tu! Chit. Once a week mana cukup?!

Why do men cheat? Again, just an observation dwelled upon by friends and myself. For a lot of polygamous men, they marry good women who fit their criteria of holiness, wifeliness and motherhood.

Intimacy between the men and their wives are perfunctory. It’s make-the-baby-cover-the-face sex. With their girlfriends and second wives, it’s Penthouse all the way, baby. It’s the soul thing.

At least this is what I got from talking to quite a number of married men. It’s not because of the first wives’ lack of trying; they want to have healthy intimate lives, but the bees in their husbands’s bonnets keep reminding the men of the Madonna-Whore syndrome.

Malaysia is not a place for single women desiring Hollywood-movie type of marriages and love. KL especially is a city for marriages and affairs. And it has nothing to do with money. There are rich men who cheat, and I know of a despatch boy who has two wives!

There are many single-again women like my friends and I, who still believe in marriage and love. But I can tell you, should we walk down that path again one day, we’re going down it with our eyes open and keep a part of our hearts to ourselves. Because you never know.

Perhaps my friend, an activist who makes a living entering and staying in war zones, is right.

“We have women like you, me, your mother, your aunt and friend who fight so hard for women and children and yet face a brick wall, simply because we ‘understand’ so much, and forgive all the time, which is why cheating, affairs and polygamy are rampant, to the detriment or contribution (depends how you look at it) of our well-being,” says my friend.

Another friend, Sharizal Sharaani, put it succinctly: “Men (and, yes, women too) cheat because they can. Full stop.”

The writer still believes in love and marriage and wants to move to Corfu.

Building Relationships

Theodore Roosevelt once said that “the most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people”.

Indeed, having good relationships with your colleagues, customers, vendors and so on is key to your career and business success. It is even more so if the business that you are in has everything to do with people, for example, insurance.

“Building relationships with customers is an important aspect of our business. The stronger the relationship is, the more trust the customer will have in you and the more likely he or she will buy from you again or refer new customers to you,” says Yeap Chiang Ning, a wealth planner with Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad.

There are countless ways in which a solid business relationship can be built, depending on the nature of the business, personalities of the individuals or what the ultimate objectives are. Building relationships is key to business success.

However, as any sales or insurance agent would agree, successful relationships take time to flourish. The real challenge therefore lies in one’s ability to nurture these relationships and turn them into long-term partnerships which are mutually rewarding.

Here are a few simple tips to help you build that lasting relationship with your customers;

Be sincere

Build a relationship with your customers not because you have to, but because you want to and you genuinely believe that you can help make a positive impact on their lives. Consumers today are becoming more discerning and they can tell whether you are sincere or not almost immediately.

James Chui, a Prudential wealth planner who is based in Petaling Jaya, offers an interesting perspective: “Just remember this - take care of your customers like how you would care for your girlfriend, wife and family members, and everything that you do will naturally come straight from the heart.”

You are important to me

No matter where your customers stand in society, they are your most valuable assets. Let them know that they are important to you and how much you appreciate their support.

Penang-based Yeap, who has been with Prudential since 2005, makes sure that she is always there for her customers whenever they need her help or advice. “I am prepared to go that extra mile for them. That’s the least I can do, not only as their servicing agent, but as their friend as well,” she says.

Educate them

Knowledge is power and what you know can enlighten and change another person, if you share it. “I constantly keep myself updated with new product knowledge and financial-related information. When I meet my customers for lunch or drinks, I will take the opportunity to share some of the knowledge which I have learnt with them. They like it a lot,” Yeap says.

Remember those special days

Everyone is delighted to have his or her birthday and anniversaries remembered. So, it will be good to keep a list of all your customers’ birthdays, anniversaries, special events, graduations and so on. When the date comes, don’t forget to send your customer something.

Peter Then, a Prudential wealth planner based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, believes that this little gesture will go a long way in strengthening the agent-customer relationship. “I like to surprise my customers with little treats on their special day. They appreciate the fact that I remember them on those special days. That means a lot to them,” he says.

In a nutshell, wealth planners are entrusted to look after their customers’ financial well-being by offering them a comprehensive suite of products. Beyond that, the wealth planner’s ability to connect with the customer through respect, sincerity, knowledge of the customer and what they want is crucial in building and maintaining a lasting relationship.

This is the key ingredient to make it in the insurance business and ultimately, be the face your customer can trust.

*Article by Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad