Chicken Rice and Shark...

It was raining when the khaatib was delivering the Friday sermon. It continued to rain heavily even after the Friday prayers. SubhaanAllaah...

There's a saying among the Malays, "Hujan itu rahmat (dari Allah)." [Rain is a mercy (from Allaah).]

Hmm.. Perhaps Allaah sent the rain to clear the air from the haze.. Wallaahu a'lam.

Nevertheless, the rain has always been a mercy and a ni'mah (blessing) from Allaah 'Azza wa Jalla. Other than providing a cool weather after a few hot days, it is the rain that enables the growth of plants and vegetation.

وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُعْصِرَاتِ مَاء ثَجَّاجًا
And have sent down from the rainy clouds abundant water. (An-Naba 78:14)

لِنُخْرِجَ بِهِ حَبًّا وَنَبَاتًا
That We may produce therewith corn and vegetations, (An-Naba 78:15)

وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا
And gardens of thick growth. (An-Naba 78:16)


SubhaanAllaah..

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny? (Ar-Rahman 55:13)

After the rain subsided, I went to a hawker centre to have my lunch.

Rex Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) is indeed delicious [though it definitely cannot compete with Evertop's Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice (at Tanglin Halt)].

It's been quite some time since I last at the chicken rice, it is as though I'm craving for it.

As I took a sip of the soup, Maashaa-Allaah.. it's really tasty that I can be satisfied just by having the soup alone..

Then, followed by the chicken and rice.. Yummy.. the softness of the chicken, especially the skin.. (I know it's not healthy to eat the skin but it's irresistable..)

To supplement it, along with it I had Shark (Redbull's cousin.. hehe..) Maashaa-Allaah.. Such deep taste..

As I was enjoying the savour in my mouth, it suddenly striked my mind how a great ni'mah it was..

Yes, delicious and tasty food is a great ni'mah from Allaah, especially when we are eating it..

Imagine that you're having a cold and taste buds seem not to be functioning.. You are not able to taste the delicious food.. You're temporarily deprived of that ni'mah..

And it's even worse if you're having a toothache.. Ouch..

See, dearest readers.. the ni'mah, the blessings of Allaah.. they're all around us.. Do we actually noticed them?

The ni'mah of sight, hearing, and many more.. they're all around us.. we're enjoying those ni'mah all the time..

Even being able to answer the call of nature well is a ni'mah.. imagine if you are sick, having diarrhoea for example.. it's a "torture".. you're deprived of the ni'mah of answering the call of nature well..

But because all those ni'mah are all around us and we're enjoying them all of the time, we took them for granted until they're taking away from us, either temporarily or permanently..

More importantly, how much thanks do we give Allaah for all those ni'mah?

قُلْ هُوَالَّذِي أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَقَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
Say it is He Who has created you, and endowed you with hearing (ears), seeing (eyes), and hearts. Little thanks you give. (Al-Mulk 67:23)

Indeed, the blessings of Allaah upon us is so great that it is uncountable. Even His Blessings upon a single human being in a day is uncountable.

So.. how much thanks do we give or have given to Allaah?

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
And I (Allâh) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone). (Adh-Dhariyat 51:56)

That's the least that Allaah asks from us as His servants.. that is, for us to worship Him Alone..

To worship Him as the Lord, One and Only.. there is no ilaah (god worthy of worship) other than Allaah Alone.. Hence, we should not associate partners to Him in our worship..

Allaah is not in need of our prayers.. rather, it is us, as His servants.. we are in need of Allaah.. we need His Satisfaction, we need His Mercy, we need His Forgiveness.. to worship Him alone and strive to be among His righteous servants.. that's what we need..

The prayer (as-Salaah) is a form of gratitude to Allaah.. Leaving the prayer is kufr (disbelief), the opposite of shukr (gratitude)..

So leave not the prayer (as-Salaah).. is it so difficult to perform the five daily prayers?

What's the value of our five daily prayers compared to all the blessings that Allaah Has Bestowed upon us? Almost negligible. A lifetime of worship is still of extremely little value compared to just a single blessing from Allaah, such as the blessing of sight..

Let's say we take 5 minutes to perform a single prayer.. that would mean we only spend 25 mins in a day to pray to Allaah.. whereas we have 24 hours in a day, which is equivalent to 1,440 mins.

Hence, 25 mins of prayer is barely 2% of the time given to us in a day.. so why is it difficult for us to perform the five daily prayers?

Nevertheless, Allaah The Most Gracious, Most Merciful, He only asks of us to worship Him, such as by performing the five daily prayers, as a sign of gratitude to Him for all His Blessings that He Has Bestowed upon us, as well as to attain His Satisfaction, Mercy and Forgiveness..

SubhaanAllaah.. Laa ilaaha illaa Anta, subhaanaka innee kuntu min al-Zaalimeen..

Which is why a righteous servant would lengthen his prayer, perform naafilah prayers and lengthening them.. along with other acts of worship, be it obligatory or optional.. all these are being performed out of gratitude to Allaah 'Azza wa Jalla.

So let us strive to better ourselves, to be among the His righteous servants, by increasing our acts of worship in accordance to the guidance of the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, not just to attain His Mercy and Forgiveness, but more importantly to express our gratitude to Him..

For when we worship Allaah as a form of gratitude to Him, we will be able to attain ikhlaas (sincerity) in worship.

Wallaahu a'lam wa al-Musta'aan.