bismillah.

salam, may Allah grant us peace and blessings insyaAllah.

ayat of the today,

يَا بُنَيَّ إِنَّهَا إِنْ تَكُ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُنْ فِي صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِي السَّمَوَاتِ أَوْ فِي الْأَرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا اللَّهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ 31:16

(Luqman said): “Son, Allah will bring forth* everything even if it be as small as the grain of a mustard seed even though it be hidden inside a rock or (anywhere) in the heavens or earth. Allah is Most Subtle, All-Aware.

so, what have I learnt? biji sawi is mustard seed in English. hehe. this is a picture of the famous mustard seed. ala2 kacang dal ke? honestly, i've never encountered biji sawi in life. hmm,
i wonder why mustard seed was used, aside from its size.

* That is, "Nothing can escape Allah's knowledge and His grasp. A seed in the rock may be hidden for you, but it is known to AIIah. A particle in the heavens may be very distant for you, but for AIIah it is very near. A thing lying in the layers of the earth may be lying in darkness for you but for him it is in full light. Therefore, you cannot do anything good or bad, anywhere or any time, which may remain hidden from AIIah. He is not only aware of it, but when the time for accountability coms, He will place before you a full record of each act of yours. " - Abul a'al al-Maududi's translation

accountability, an emphasis in Islam compared to other religions, particularly Chritianity. a concept that is easy to understand, a good act, will be rewarded with pahala, a bad act will be rewarded with a punishment. Adil isn't it? to take it a step further, if we already know this fact, why are we limiting ourselves in doing good, when we don't know when our time will be up?

just to remind myself, never to feel complacent or satisfied with the amount of amal we're doing. just compare ourselves to Rasulullah and see how far apart we are from him. or even how we're trailing far behind his companions. Munirah said something about some US business companies comparing among themselves for improvement, but their improvement was about the same. and there's this one Japanese company who had a massive improvement because it compared itself to the 100% standard. maybe, that's our way forward?

the world is our oyster. mari beramal insyaAllah.

(i don't normally write long, my subconscious mind might be stalling me from revising)
-nmj