Being Something ['Khalifah: Intrinsic Values That I've Learnt' ii]

Salaam ... without further ado, let me tell you more about the 'Khalifah Youth Training' held at Khalifah Model School <somewhere in KL>. Since majority of you hate words and lengthy posts, I'll be just highlighting the main  knowledge that we've obtained during the course of the program. It's a good feeling to share things that people do not usually care. When you have `ilmu, <this is a hint to be a successful student> share it as much as you can. When verbal communication is your weakness <like me> use virtual ways, like blog. This is what I am fighting. So I hope, you guys won't skip and learn.

How we are different than animals

All of us are special. We have our own freewill, and not predetermined. When we're hungry, we can choose to postpone eating or eat something right away. Animals, they have predetermined fate, and can't act outside their sphere of behaviorism. By then, it is a simple logic: they have no burden of sins and hell whatsoever.

Anyway, Sr. Azra Banu taught something that is very important for us to always keep in mind. We have options and have the authority to choose roads/paths in our life. And that's what makes us special, important and significant upon this world. Life of ours are is very mush different solely because we have the opportunity to meet Him: our metaphorical Father, and our Creator <I really missed Him>.

Perhaps the most important proposal that she made during her slot was about the objectivity of goodness and evil. For all these years, I have lived with the understanding that goodness and evil are subjective. The very moment she uttered that Islamic understanding of goodness and evil as being supremely objective <or in less Islamic viewpoint: work parallel to Nature's progression> I could barely felt my feet. She was right.

Sr. Azra Banu also demonstrated a clear manifestation of Islam's sternness in justifying one's act as either good or bad. It doesn't care, by any circumstances and limits; haraam is haraam. Just like rukhsah of pork, we are only allowed to eat as much as we need, not as much as we desire.

About evil, this Palestinian server offered a very beautiful idea; she said that badness is known via three criteria: if something is opposing Allah's Plan, if something is against natural order or something that makes us become further and further away from morality and Allah Himself.

Ways to overcome evil

Be strict in waging war against evil. Give no chance at all, and if you're in the middle of doing is, curse yourself. Force yourself to stop at doing the bad thing that you do. Stay close to Qur`an, and follow what nature symbolize, as Nature itself is of Allah SWT. Be istiqamah in reminding yourself and never let your heart being overwhelmed by lust/nafs. This is extremely hard, but worths.

Entropy

Always remember about the entropy of this Universe. Doing nothing upon a glass of water, and you will end up having a dirty glass of mud. This is Law of Entropy: any system that is left alone will slowly drift away from perfection and positiveness towards degradation and negativeness. For instance, leave an apple in an empty room. Slowly, it'll decay because of the negative exposures it receives from the external world.

If we put ourselves as the apple, you'll instantly realize that it is rather true. If you do nothing about yourself, merely letting it to fate and predetermination that you sought, then you are rotting. Sr. Azra said that the key is, keep in doing good things. So then, evil and negativity will have no space to impose its fingers on or in you.

Now, come the cam-whorism part ...