Epilog: Talking Heads

• As of late and as ever, everyone has something to say about every single issue that arises.

• This is a commoner practice which is good in essence if done in the right way.

• Now I am not saying that I know the right way,rather its a point of observation amongst peers, and what we could see manifesting around us everyday.

• I believe in freedom of speech of course when practised in its fine right way. But it is a virulent practice that everyone is indeed threading on a very fine line.

• If you go overboard you might find yourself akin to the evillest of perceptions and if you're not going to say anything you'd be a passive passenger on God's earth.

• A fatal mistake that many of us seemingly commit every single day without fail is that we love to lash out criticism without any substance. It's the infamously named cheap-shots that we sometime use to get back on certain issues that doesn't bode well with our train of thoughts.

"Speaking little and listening much are virtues and signs of maturity. The desire to make oneself heard at all times is a sign of spiritual imbalance and shamelessness, even if some explain it away as a form of insanity"-Fethullah Gulen

• We often let emotions cloud our judgement. It's the very microcosm to the ever perishable healthy discourse between two parties engaging in a beautiful collision of ideas. Not akin to demonize each other, but rather trying to find a common ground and if a disagreement arises, respect each others personal views.

• The very art of a healthy discussion is to never allow, at any point, your emotions get in your way.

• Yes, principals are key, but as Professor Tariq Ramadan once mentioned "Without discipline, my ego is the first jail of myself".

• This is the thin line we're threading. Often we fall prey to our own egos, getting entrapped in our own prison of our mindset, wanting to champion a debate, the negative desire to see our counterpart fall and eat their own views up.

• We claim to be wanting to correct or to amend the situation, but in essence our "words of wisdom" just made things worse. Unfortunately, intentions never justify the end of our means.

• Existence of a check and balance principality is pivotal in order to ensure we do not skew off the thin line drawn over the years by our community's psychosocial aspects.

• Nothing that I have put together in the paragraphs above have not already been playing in our very minds, it is the implementation that becomes the problem. We all know the words, the wisdom, the mechanics but what we do not know is to reach out.

• It starts with us, change our perceived thoughts, be more flexible in taking our stand and never go astray with the principals and guidance that is drawn from the Quran and authentic Hadith.

• Never allow ourselves to be caught in a maze of zealotry or even fanaticism, but instead always have an open mind with regards to issues happening in and around us.

• Finally, The populous masquerade their cerebration in such a way they each think that the world envelopes around their train of thought processes. Sadly,it does not work that way. Voice your opinions with nuance and if you find it necessary to criticize, do it, constructively with compassion lingering in your very souls and minds

• Spread peace, diffuse any form of tension that arises and educate ourselves by reading more. =)

Elegy: Hanyut

Tanpa kompas semulajadi,

Mengapai, tercungap tanpa ketetapan hati.

Adakah kompas semulajadi dalam diri?

Apakah ianya resmi hati?

Adakah ianya panggilan jujur dari minda sendiri?

Adapun ia patuh sejati lahir dari arahan Ilahi?

Semua kita pernah hanyut,

Dalam kancah dusta sendiri,

Terperangkap dalam durjana buatan diri,

Termakan kaki dek paku ditukul kendiri.

Waima berdarah,

Punya sifat legakan hati.

Semua kita punya tompok hitam di hati,

Bersihkan diri dengan harapan baru,

Dengan suntikan kalbu Quran disisimu,

Agama dipalu di benak hatimu,

Fikrahmu dahulu lebat berdebu,

Suci kembali niat bersatu!

Punah segala punca,

Hilang arah dalam karenah minda,

Cuba mengapai peluang kedua.

Aku pun begitu juga,

Suatu masa senantiasa dipalit dosa,

Kini mencari sinar keredhaanNya.

Banyak sungguh khilafku,

Kotor sungguh sejarahku.

Tutuplah pintu-pintu itu,

Bakarlah kisah hitammu,

Simpanlah bekas-bekas abu,

Buat pengajaran bagi masa depanmu,

Pengalaman membina kematangan kalbu.

pic:all credits due to ROSENBLUMTv

Epilog : Changes Afoot

• People change, a classic cliche, everyone uses it just about a million times to express changes around them.

• Every single being has their take on people changing, but its difficult caving into giving an opinion as it'll be biased on so many levels of scrutiny.

• We expect people to change completely. That doesn't happen to everyone. For change possess a very unique etiquette about it.

• Time is a variable you'd best not compress, you can't force change upon someone. That's a mistake almost all of us will certainly commit, if not now, sometime in the near future.

• "Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, No matter how slow" - Plato

• Plato's words never truer in this case. No one man should be discouraged when changing or even exploring the option of changing.

• Change. Growing up, I'm sure everyone has gone through their fair share of ups and downs. As I'd lightly put it, its like a black box. A box that shouldn't open even if death is upon them. That pandora box which contains all of our deepest secrets needed to be locked away and the key churned to bits.

• In order to move on, we need not people misjudging us for our past mistakes, our past is only for our knowledge, the knowledge of not repeating such mistakes and the understanding that it has made us stronger ever since.

• Notice how I used misjudging, instead of judging. I have a positive belief that people don't just judge for the sake of judging, they are often in the dark about the situation and come up with their misjudgements.

• Change. If a person even had a hint of progress, never bring them down. Nurture them towards strengthening that progress. Everyone has their variable upon time. We should know better than to push and shove for change.

• A brilliant hadeeth I came across is one where a prostitute helped to relief the thirst of a dog and ended up being in Heaven. God work in many ways we can't even comprehend, and it is a beautiful thing.

• Time. A Variable people will always yearn upon to force some people to change. Allah's guidance(hedaya') comes in many many miraculous ways.

• Never judge. Never ever force change. Let it flow. Like drops of water on hard impenetrable rocks, it will soon soften the edges before reaching the insides. Wallahualam'

All rights reserved to the owner of the image used above.