Make It Simple

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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Making things simple: is something that i find to be both good and bad, interestingly. 

why is it good? undeniably we're human beings who like to over-think of things that we ended up being crazy all by ourselves. mostly, out of fear. creating all the different things that could-go-wrong in our lives. even the other day, a guy was sharing the paranoia that we all have during exams. in his case, he kept thinking that his watch will just be dead at the exact time we're taking the pulse rate in the OSCE station. yup, over-thinking. or when we're shivering head to toe for a week knowing that we will be with the scariest consultant in the planet, only to be proven dead wrong cause he was okay the whole time. yup, over-thinking. make it simple. don't overthink.

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and why is it bad? somehow, i think it's because of this attitude, to "make it simple", that we often find ourselves unknowingly crossing the line between what is right and what is not. what is halal and what is haram. and especially, in those grey areas (syubhah). 

because of wanting to make things simple, we dont want to know why some things are better be left alone. we just don't want to go into all those tiny details of what Islam has in store. 

aku solat. 

aku pakai sopan.

aku tak gedik.

aku tak kacau hidup orang.

aku makan makanan halal.

aku tak buat jahat

aku tak curi barang

aku tak tipu orang

aku have fun sikit-sikit 

aku tak pergi bar pun

simple does it. why do we have to hassle ourselves with the never-ending list of those tiny intricate details? solat, baca surah, rukuk, sujud, salam, settle. isn't it enough? why do we have to read into those things like, cara bacaan solat betul ke tak? salam tu wajib tak? sapu muka okay tak? come on la people. why make a big fuss about all the little things? Allah kan Maha Penyayang. we've prayed our 5 times per day. He surely accepts them right? janji kita ikhlas. *smile*.

and please let's not go into the topic of aurah/aurat. fine we accept that hijab is a must. so we cover our hair. then we hear this talk about having to lower it down a little bit more, so we did that. and then we were told to wear loose cloth and baggy stuff. so okay, we do that, with a little bit of style. and now they're complaining about our choice of colours that we pick. what's wrong with our hijab styles? why can't we wear neon colours or hot pink? we still have our hijab on, and they're still loose clothes? and so we became so annoyed with this and said; "come on la, make things simple will you?" *senyum*

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but here's the thing, islam is a way of life. a life that requires you to change bit by bit, to reach that perfection of akhlaq. for which in my humble opinion, will never really end, because the perfection of akhlaq is the akhlaq of our beloved Prophet S.A.W.

and so i think if we know what we're doing, what we are changing for and who is it for, we will never really complain of all the hassle that comes along, because it's the essence of change itself; the change for the better. even if we know that we will never reach that perfection of akhlaq, we still strive for it, so that at least we will die trying. and truth is, that's all what Allah wants from His hamba. our effort to run towards Allah. 

and so i guess things will never really be simple. the more we know, the more we need to change, and the more complicated things will be. c'est la vie. heck, even those scholars back then reminded us of this:

"The more i learn, the more i learn how little i know."

Socrates

"Wisest is he who knows what he does not know."

Plato

and i believe that Taqwa defies this motto of "making it simple". because Taqwa teaches us to be ever so careful, in whatever that we do. And here's a rather self-explanatory excerpt of what Taqwa is:

"Apa itu taqwa?" tanya Umar al-Khattab kepada Ubai bin Ka'ab Radhiyallahu 'anhuma.

"Pernah kamu susuri jalan yang penuh duri?" balas Ubai dengan suatu pertanyaan yang menduga.

"Pernah saja," jawab Umar.

"Apa yang kamu lakukan?" pintas Ubai.

"Aku angkat sedikit pakaianku, dan melangkah dengan hati-hati," jawab Umar lagi.

"Itulah taqwa!" simpul Ubai bin Ka'ab terhadap soalan Umar al-Khattab tentang taqwa.

Ya, taqwa itu melaksanakan segala perkara dengan penuh berhati-hati dan teliti, 

sentiasa mengawasi dan memelihara hukum Allah.

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and knowing that Taqwa is one of the key to Jannah, 

i think it's simple enough to understand that we should work hard to attain it, setuju? 

life is never simple.

if it is, then we'd already be in Jannah.

and we all know that needs a looot of work.

"Dan bersegeralah kamu kepada ampunan dari Tuhanmu dan kepada syurga yang luasnya seluas langit dan bumi yang disediakan untuk oranq-orang yang bertaqwa." 

[3: 133]

"Sesungguhnya bagi orang-orang yang bertaqwa (disediakan) syurga-syurga yang penuh kenikmatan di sisi Tuhan-Nya." 

[68: 34]

wallahua'lam.

*ohsedihpulakbacatheseverses*

may Allah Forgives.:(