A new experience - The ESQ way

Alhamdulillah... all praise be to Allah, Lord of the universe.

I thank Allah for selecting me to the ESQ training. I know that nothing can be perfect but alhamdulillah, the ESQ trainers had tried their very best to make people realise how great GOD is and we must perform our duties as his KHALIQ. They are noble people whose mission is not only to have good for themselves but spreading good for others. I hope their message goes to everyone. Those big screen projectors are really multiplying the impact of those image projected - how beautiful and magnificient the planet and the universe, the beautiful landscape of this earth, the wonderful feeling of freedom when you fly with an eagle across the Grand Canyon and up in the sky, the simulated journey of a soul leaving a body .... and many more. I can just say that these are brilliant work of brilliant individuals... may Allah reward them with goodness for their pure intentions!

Perhaps after the training, when we read the Quran, we can feel the attachment and the impact of Allah's words. To many who attended ESQ, these verses must be familiar:



Demi matahari dan sinarnya di pagi hari
Demi bulan apabila ia mengiringi
Demi siang hari bila menampakkan dirinya
Demi malam apabila ia menutupi

Demi langit beserta seluruh binaannya
Demi bumi serta yang ada di hamparannya
Demi jiwa dan seluruh penyempurnaannya

Allah, Subhanallah! Allah, Subhanallah
Allah, Subhanallah! Allah, Subahanallah

Allah mengilhamkan sukma kefasikan dan ketaqwaan
Beruntung bagi yang mensucikan-Nya
Merugi bagi yang mengotori-Nya ... Subhanallah



In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour,
By the Moon as she follows him;
By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;
By the Night as it conceals it;
By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;
By the Earth and its (wide) expanse;
By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it;
And its enlightenment, as to its wrong and its right;
Truly he succeeds, that purifies it;
And he fails, that corrupts it;
As-syams(91:1-10)

I believe we will read the Quran like never before.... insya'Allah.

"Indeed, the Quran talks directly to our hearts without asking us to abadon our logical thinking. It in fact relies heavily on our unfailing use of the faculty of reasoning, throughout the session, as the Almighty urges us to reflect - do you not see..... , do they not consider...., and on and on. FAITH is to be a product of understanding, not lack of it. "Do they not consider the Quran (with care)? Had it been from other than God, they would surely have found therein much discepancy" (Quran 4:82) asks the Quran. Further, it declares: "Nay, here are Signs self-evident in the hearts of those endowed with knowledge: and none but the unjust reject Our Signs." (Quran 29:49)." The Holy Quran Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

I remember a very powerful verse on the Big Bang when Allah reveals to our beloved prophet, Muhammad p.b.u.h. 1400 years ago when Big Bang or any theory of the universe had never been heard before.... Allah says:

"the heavens and the earth were joined together as one unit, before We clove them asunder" (21:30). Following this big explosion, Allah "turned to the sky, and it had been (as) smoke. He said to it and to the earth: 'Come together, willingly or unwillingly.' They said: 'We come (together) in willing obedience'" (41:11). Thus the elements and what was to become the planets and stars began to cool, come together, and form into shape, following the natural laws that Allah established in the universe.

He whom Allah guides, he is the rightly-guided; but he whom He sends astray, for him you will find no Wali (guiding friend) to lead him (to the right path)) (18:17)

Whomsoever Allah sends astray, none can guide him; and He lets them wander blindly in their transgression) (7:186)

Let's pray that we are among those whom Allah guides and among those whom Allah loves...AMEEN.