Our Fajr Double Advantage

The key to spiritual and material success for Muslims!

"Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" - a famous maxim coined by the American scientist, writer and inventor, Benjamin Franklin. And he was not alone in these beliefs. The writer Samuel Johnson also warned that "nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good".

This is not just opinion but proven scientific fact. A study by researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo in the American state of Utah found that:

"students who habitually go to bed late and sleep late the next day have lower grade point averages (GPAs) than students with early-to-bed and early-to-rise sleeping habits. The later students slept in the morning, the lower their grades tended to be. Out of all the factors studied, weekday and weekend wakeup times had the strongest association with students' GPAs. Each hour over the average that students slept in on weekdays was associated with a 0.13-point drop on the GPA (0.0-4.0 scale)."
Source: Journal of American College Health 2000; 49: 125-130

Of course, we Muslims are well used to getting up not just at the crack of dawn but actually half an hour before it to begin the day with the ritual worship of fajr salat (and even earlier in Ramadan before starting the day's fast).


Spiritual Success

What are the spiritual blessings of fajr salat?

According to a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim, prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) stated that the action which is dearest to God is salat at its proper times. On another occasion prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also said to his companions:

"The five set prayers may be compared to a stream of fresh water, flowing in front of your house, into which you plunge five times each day. Do you think that would leave any dirt on your body?' When they replied: 'None at all!' Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said: 'Indeed the five prayers remove sins, just as water removes dirt."
(Bukhari, Muslim)

And once while standing beside a tree in autumn, he stated:

"When a Muslim observes his salat with due attention and devotion, he sheds his sins just like this tree is shedding its leaves." (Ahmad)

Moreover, in the Quran we are told that prostrating (in salat) brings us closer to God (96:1).

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also tells us that fajr salat along with isha is particularly rich in blessings:

"If people only knew what blessings are in the fajr and isha prayers, they would come to them, even if they had to crawl."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

And according to Utham, (RA), prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"To perform the dawn prayer, [fajr], in congregation is like keeping vigil throughout the night." (Muslim).


Material Success

In Surah 23, ayats 1-2 of the Quran we learn that:

"Certainly the believers have succeeded, those who offer salat with devotion."

Spiritual success certainly. But as Muslims we are also called upon not just to earn spiritual blessings for the next world but also to be materially successful in this one. Despite the obvious call to work hard and make the most of our abilities demonstrated in the parable of the talents, the Christian West has often had an ambiguous attitude towards wealth, sometimes glorifying poverty and misinterpreting Jesus's gospel statement that "love of money is the root of all evil" to mean that money itself is the root of all evil. As a Muslim, I am more inclined to agree with the playwright George Bernard Shaw who is reported to have said that "lack of money is the root of all evil".

[Shaw was an admirer of prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) and in the 1936 book The Genuine Islam referred to him as "the wonderful man" and "the saviour of humanity".]

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) himself stated:

"There will dawn a time over people when the destruction of a man will be at the hands of his wife, parents, and children. They will humiliate him because of his poverty and will make such demands which will induce him to engage in such activities (to gain more money) which will finally destroy his religion."
- Baihaqi. Narrated by Ibn Mas'ood (RA) and Abu Hurairah (RA)

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is:

"How excellent is the wealth of the Muslim".
- Sahih Bukhari hadith 4.95 Narrated by Abu Said Al Khudri (RA)

It is wealth which enables us to take care of our families, keep on the straight path and avoid doing wrong in order to make ends meet. It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to pay Zakat. It is wealth which enables us to help others and contribute to Dawah through additional charity. It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to go on Hajj.

It was wealthy Muslim traders who peacefully spread Islam throughout West Africa and the areas we now know as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. And if we look at the first generation of Muslims, we find the shining example of Abdur-Rahman Ibn Awl. The eighth person to embrace Islam, he migrated twice to Abyssinia. Abdur-Rahman distinguished himself in both the battles of Badr and Uhud, suffering more than twenty wounds at the latter. Then starting with nothing, he went on to achieve tremendous success as a merchant, becoming the richest of the companions. From his great wealth, Abdur-Rahman financed the Muslim armies, contributed to the upkeep of the family of Mohammed (Peace be upon him) after the prophet's death and was universally renowned for his fabulous generosity.

So how can we turn getting up for Fajr to our material advantage? Certainly not by slinking back into bed again and snuggling up for another few hours. As prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"The most excellent jihad is that for the conquest of self." (Bukhari)

In the context of fajr, what this means is, once up, stay up! Stay up and do something useful. Work on your goals. If you don't have any, set some. Decide what you want to achieve in life. Devise a plan to make those goals a reality then take action. You will be amazed at what you can get done in those few quiet hours when most of the rest of the world is still asleep. You can organise your day, learn a language, work on your degree course or get fit by going jogging in the coolness of the morning.

You can also turn staying up after fajr to your career advantage by driving into work earlier, beating the traffic then packing so much productive work into the next hour without interruption because no one is there to pop into your office and the phone hasn't started ringing yet.

A further fajr advantage is that along the way you can listen on cassette to the wisdom and inspiration of motivational and business speakers. We spend hundreds of ours commuting in our cars every year, by some estimates the equivalent to two full terms of university tuition. Put this time to good use, especially first thing in the morning when you are relaxed and driving on a virtually empty road, when you are bright and fresh and can best take it all in. Turn your car into a university on wheels.

Each of our lives is different, but you know how to apply these ideas to your own situation.

Take action now!

"Ah, that's too hard", I hear you say. Well God assures us in the Quran that:

"We do not lay a burden on anyone beyond his capacity." (Quran: 23:62)

It is possible to turn these early hours to great advantage. It's desirable and it's beneficial. We are obliged to get up for fajr anyway. From this we derive a spiritual advantage. Let's stay up and get to work. Why have just one type of advantage when we can have two - spiritual and material. As Muslims we are uniquely placed. The next fajr is less than 24 hours from now. First thing tomorrow morning make sure that you take advantage of your fajr double advantage.

[Author's footnote: After working on other tasks, I started this article at 6 am and have just finished it at 8.20. Now for a day's work!]

Source :www.iluvislam.com

Yeah!!! Arsenal is back in the title run...

1 - 0

It was indeed a terrific game...the goal came in second half where A. Diaby scores in the 72 min....now arsenal is back in the title race...Apart from that , Chelsea was beaten by Everton 2 - 1 while Man. Utd draw with Aston Villa 1-1... TEEHEE XD

Shorter compulsory public service period for docs mulled

PETALING JAYA: The Government is mulling over whether to reduce the compulsory public service period for doctors to two years.

Currently, medical graduates are required to do two years of housemanship and three years of compulsory public service.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said yesterday that the ministry was looking into it and would announce a decision as soon as possible.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had earlier yesterday refuted suggestions that the Government would extend the compulsory public service to 10 years.

“It is not true. We are not going to extend it to 10 years.

“We are looking to cut it short,” he said in a press conference after launching B-Nes Sdn Bhd.

Earlier this month, Minister in Prime Minister’s department Senator Datuk T. Murugiah suggested that doctors’ compulsory public service be extended to up to 10 years to ease the shortage of doctors in the country.

Liow said that the reduced service time would make it more attractive for doctors to continue working for the Government.

He said that there were about 300 to 400 doctors leaving the country every year while the number of trainee doctors had increased to 3,000 from 700 in 2001.

“If you force them to work, they will tend to leave.

“You must create attractiveness and better incentives,” Liow said, adding that if the ruling was implemented, it would take effect for the new batch of medical graduates as the current batch have a fixed learning schedule.

When asked if this would apply to doctors working abroad, he replied that specialists and doctors above the age of 40, do not need to serve the compulsory service.

Meanwhile, Liow said that Malaysian doctors would not be effected by the implementation of the Asian Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement this year as they are able to compete with foreign doctors.

He also said that there would not be an oversupply of doctors because of the liberalisation.

source: The Star newspaper dated Monday February 8, 2010

Comment : I will like to express my happiness over this issue....but like i've said before "It is easier said than done"...hopefully the govt will implement this matter as soon as possible because this thing will benefit malaysians particularly students who intend to further their studies in medical field.

Cardiologist vs Cardiothoracic surgeon?

People might misunderstood that a cardiologist and a cardiothoracic surgeon has the same job...actually they are DIFFERENT from each other..here are some of the differences between between them:

Cardiologist

A cardiologist is above all else, a medical (rather than a surgical) doctor. Cardiologists are trained first in the area of internal medicine which requires 3 years of specialty training beyond medical school. Once this has been completed, these "internists" are qualified to apply for opportunities to obtain additional training in the subspeciality of cardiology. Cardiologists are typically board certified in both internal medicine and their chosen field of cardiology. There are even subspecialties within cardiology including things like electrophysiology and interventional cardiology which involves performing types of procedures that fish thin tubes up the arteries till they reach the heart, and then using these to help open up blockages in the arteries that supply oxygen to the heart muscle.

Cardiologists are focused ONLY on the management of disease processes which affect the function of the heart, and their primary method of treating disease is by the use of medications. However, there are cardiologist specialists which manage the placement and control of pacemaker type devices, and there are cardiolgists that do these invasive catheter-directed procedures mentioned above. Cardiology is predominantly a medicine related field, but of the medicine related disciplines, this is one of the more intensive ones in terms of the amount of actual procedures performed.

Cardiothoracic surgeon

A cardiothoracic surgeon is, above all else, a surgical doctor. CT surgeons are first trained for at least 5 years in a general surgery training program, leading to where they can become board certified in the field of general surgery. Following this, these surgeons become eligible to apply for and obtain additional training in the subspecialty of cardiothoracic surgery which typically requires an additional 3 years of training. CT surgeons are typically board certified in both general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery.

Cardiothoracic surgeons perform operations on the heart muscle, the heart valves, the arteries to the heart, the great vessels of the chest, the lung with it's spongy tissue, it's air passages and blood vessels, as well as on the chest wall muscles, nerves, blood vessels and bones. Many cardiothoracic surgeons also take care of problems of the esophagus (which lies in the chest) and hernias of the abdomen in which organs slide into the chest. Additionally, some cardiothoracic surgeons subspecialize in surgeries for very young children with heart defects, or in heart and lung transplantation.

Although there are areas of overlap between these two fields, the primary difference is between a specialty which is centrally MEDICAL and another which is centrally SURGICAL.

Of note, neither of these specialties can function without the presence of the other.

and as for me I want to become a cardiothoracic surgeon....Teehee XD

Be POSITIVE

If anyone talks to me badly I will stay away and try to be calm

If anyone tells me the truth I will accept and do not ever regret

If anyone hurts my heart I will stay calm and pray

If anyone gives me hope I will hold and do not keep it at bay

If anyone looks down on me I will take it easy and strengthen my heart

If anyone loses their temper I will take a deep breath and be quite

And

if anyone needs my help I will lend my hand and do the best

I care for everyone's feeling and desire.

As time Flies!!!!

Assalamualaikum and Greetings to all,

Well what do you know? Time went so fast and it's already February...Tomorrow the IPTA form phase II will be open around 12 o'clock...so don't miss it...Next month will be the crucial month for us...we will know the fate of our life(sort of)...the result will be a make-or-break for us to further our studies in our respective courses...so lets pray to Allah and hopefully we will get straight A's for SPM...

TeeHee XD