GOOD PLANNING AND GOOD MATERIALS?

I’m pretty sure for the past month; most of us (probably Malaysian university students) are all busy with their last minute studies for the finals. The tense, depression, stress all surfaces at once. With the limited time frame, all work are scheduled so compact that you won’t have any time to think about anything other than books or assignments. That was a month’s back story.

Time ticks away.

Then you know it three days left.

Then suddenly it’s tomorrow.

Then it’s today.

Then it now!

All you could reflect is the effort you’ve put in, and the time you’ve managed to not go to waste, the energy you quenched all night and all the gloom you’ve had to face..comes to that 5 pieces of paper. Or more. Or less. Is that it? A semester pulling ourselves together, 4 months of consistently going to class and doing homeworks, having to travel back and forth just to meet our lecturer and ask one solution for a tricky question, taking notes and photocopying the text book because it’s cheaper but ended up not using it..just to have ourselves be put into a hall for 3 hours and flip some papers full of “Haha..got’cha” questions?

Most people would say, “don’t worry, the results aren’t that important, whats most important is that you know you’ve tried hard enough”..But that’s not the issue. That exam paper, will end up in our result script. And we’ll be holding to that very result for the rest of our lives!

You won’t have another chance to change anything on that final year 1st semester result script.
What has been done is done. You’ll have the glory or perhaps shame for eternity.
All this, goes back to two things at the early of the semester.

1. Good plannings

2. The best quality.

Without proper planning, one can barely see where he/she is heading. What needs to be done to have the results we need. What were done by those who succeeded and what came by those who failed and casted aside. Strategy in positioning ourselves where and when, what class and with whom, what’s next and why. And most of all, good planning will go to nothing with out execution. 

The same analogy for a house. One would go with planning first; blue print, design, colour, things that’ll make the owner happy and things to avoid. And of course, the planning needs to be executed, or there won’t ever be a house standing.

Another step in building a good house is to have the best quality products and materials. Jotun paint, meranti wood etc. it’s the same thing as ourselves, we’d surely want the best things to wear. Branded shoes, well known trademark shirts, trendy accessories etc. in studies, we’d opt to go for the best teachers, good ‘nerdy’ friends, simple and compact past year students notes etc. 

All this is to ensure that we have the best results in our finals. So that we could hold on to it proudly in the future.

Thus, this basic understanding applies similarly to our lives after death. What we do now determines the eternal final destination. And we could simply group it into two things. Good planning and best quality product.

Good planning also includes knowing where we came from, why we are here and where will we end. Planning to enhance ourselves to become better muslims, to build a family, to lead a faithful community and so on. Best quality product then reflects the quality of our ibadah. The pureness of our aqidah. Our ambitious dreams. What path we take to build our selves into strong obedient muslims; those who not only desires heaven and Allah redha, but also eager to bring along others with them.

وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلاً مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحاً وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِين

Al Fussilat:33 ;And whom speaks better than those who calls to Allah while he himself does good, and says: I am surely amongst those who submit?

وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

Ali Imran:104 ; And from amongst you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong, and those are them who shall be successful.

"if you are in the evening, don't wait for the morning to come. and if you're in the morning, don't wait for the evening. thus use your time wisely during you are healthy before you become sick, and your time while you live before you die" by Umar in Sahih Bukhari (hadith 40 of matan 40 of imam nawawi) 

Because heaven is for eternity. And also hell. Same as our results.

To live in a beautiful house, a place filled with tranquility and peace, a place that’ll last for ever so that we could past it on to our children and to the next coming generation. A place to call home; will need proper planning and the best quality materials.

Qayyim Hafidzi

DK, Seksyen 8 Bandar Baru Bangi,

Just finished EMS final exam...a result i'll have for the rest of my life (Ya Allah, berikanlah yang terbaik)