REFLECTIVE JOURNAL - USRAH IN ACTION 2

The symposium event of the previous Usrah in Action 1 was held on January 20, 2024, located at the Grand Hall, Office Campus Director, IIUM. It was a very big event, involving all sections of both Usrah in Action 1 and Usrah in Action 2. The night before the event, my friends and I prepared the decorations for our booth. We divided our task among the members of the section evenly for the person in charge of the booth according to a specific time. I was in charge of the booth from the morning until the afternoon. We presented our community idea to everyone who came to our booth. Everything went smoothly as planned, and everyone cooperated very well. We gave our full energy to explain everything and answered every question from the audience. After my session ended, I visited other sections’ booths to see their activity done/ activity planned and each of the ideas was very interesting. My favourite one was the section that engaged with the homeless and taught them to read. The representatives of their section told me that the programme was a continuous programme that was actually run by IIUM itself; thus, the teaching and learning will be continuous for the targeted homeless children because it will be continued by the next section of Usrah in Action. In other words, the effort of helping the homeless children is not going to just end after the members finish this subject, in fact, the previous members are also allowed to join the programme and visit the homeless children again even after they finish the subject. Apart from that, there were also other sections with many interesting ideas, such as cleaning the beach to save the horseshoe crab, cleaning the river, planting for a green environment on campus, raising breast cancer awareness, using aquaponic methods of planting, teaching in the community, and many more. In my opinion, this subject has taught me so much about empathy, working with different people, communication skills, and love for nature, while at the same time teaching us how to prepare the paperwork for organising programs. In my opinion, this subject is very interesting and beneficial for the student, and there are many more lessons I think students can get from this subject depending on the project they are organising.

Usrah In Action

    Our community profiling was first planned for an interview session at the orphanage community. However, the programme had to be cancelled due to some issues that arose just a few days before the day of the event. One important lesson that I learned as a member of the committee is to have good communication with the team and to have well-organised planning when handling a program. As most of us are from different courses, in my opinion, lack of communication is the main problem between our group members, especially when working as a team. As a consequence, the preparation of the programme was very disorganised and messy, which also affected the orphanage management team from their side. At the last minute, the orphanage management also requested some conditions that we were unable to fulfil, hence forcing us to cancel the program. From that, I learned that good teamwork is very important in whatever task or activity we are doing. Nonetheless, despite the limited time and our packed schedule, we were so relieved that our instructor, Dr. Zaleha, lent us a big helping hand and suggested that we volunteer in a programme called MyAqua’s Best, the Aquaculture Entrepreneurs Best Sale, organised by the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (LKIM) and held at Pasar Nelayan, Pantai Sepat, Kuantan. Along with volunteerism, we are also able to do some casual interviews with the residents of that area for our community profiling and to get some information regarding the knowledge, awareness, and practice among the residents related to our community project, which is aquaponic planting for long-term food sustainability in combating the current economic issue.

    The programme was held on Saturday, December 16, 2023, and in short, the whole programme was great, and the objective of our community profiling was also achieved. Apart from getting the experience of helping the committee sell fresh fish and seafood, I also gained some knowledge about different types of fish, which is actually interesting for me since I am not very familiar with them. It was also a great experience for me selling the seafood, and I felt satisfaction when our sales were sold out. Socialising with the committee as well as the residents was also enjoyable since they are very friendly, nice, and fun. Some important takeaways that I get from the programme are that communication skills are very important, whether we are engaging with a community or just socialising with the people around us. Since I am a quiet and shy person, communication is the hardest part of everything, and I was always afraid to even start a conversation. However, during the programme, I got to overcome my fear and try to socialise a bit with the people involved. Although it might seem like a tiny achievement to everyone else, I trust that those baby steps are the ones that can lead to huge change and success, and the key is to never be afraid to even try. In conclusion, despite all the challenges we faced, we were so relieved to have our instructor, Dr. Zaleha, to help and guide us from the start until the end. :))

Why We Need to Be Responsible

    Assalamualaikum and hi, this semester we are also assigned to do role play as usrah assignment. This is good to make everyone actively participate in usrah discussion. My group choose to present about responsibility titled "Why We Need to Be Responsible?". Here, I'm going to put a brief summary of our discussion.

    First and foremost, we need to know the meaning of responsibilities. Generally, responsibilities define as something that is our duty and need to be solved. In Islam being responsible is very important. Quran and Hadith also did mention about responsibilities several times.

    To start with, by being responsible we are able to be a good servant to Allah. That is just so clear and Allah did mention in Quran in Surah Al-Isra' verse 23 [17:23] which means "And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him."

    Thus, from that, we know that Allah sent us to the world with only one purpose which is to worship and obey His commands and it is our responsibilities to try our best in worshiping Him in order to gain His Rahmah. To mention some of the responsibilities that carry by every Muslims' shoulders are performing prayer five times a day, fasting in the month of Ramadhan, and even having to keep our physical and mental health are also our responsibilities as those are all belongs to Allah.

    Being responsible also able to build a strong relationship. Other than that, this value will make one person to be able to become a leader. It is even is a must for a leader to have this character to lead one's organization effectively. In the other hand, by being a responsible leader it also can develop our personal growth, rationality and wisdom. And the last point is able to contribute to the society. Social responsibility means that individuals and companies have a duty to act in the best interests of their environment and society as a whole. Thus, all the community members can live peacefully.

Virtues Found in Fasting

    Assalamualaikum, and hi! For this week usrah our discussion is about fasting. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. Thus, it is very important for us to know the reasons behind fasting during Ramadhan.

    The virtues found in fasting for Muslims is to learn self-restraint from wrongdoing. Other than that, fasting also for self-discipline, developing God-consciousness, developing self-control, purifying the body, and empathising with the poor and hungry. Studies also mention that fasting also good for physical and mental health.

    “Allah says in Quran: “Every deed of the child of Adam is for himself, except for fasting. It is for Me and I shall reward it.”

    Hence, fasting people would be distinguished and honored on the Day of Judgment as they would enter Paradise through a special gate called Ar-Rayyaan. However, those who violated their fasting by committing sins and wrongdoings that jeopardize such an act of worship will be excluded.

Preparation for Salah with Khusu'

    This week discussion is about the Importance of Khusyu’ in our salah, why we should constantly strive to guard our salah, and some productive tips to excel in our khusyu’. Khusyu’ is an Arabic word used to refer to humility or humbleness while offering our daily salah (prayers). The meaning and actualization of khusyu’ lies in the presence of our hearts while we are reporting for our daily duty towards Allah.

    Some of the tips I got from the discussion are the most important thing to be looking forward is to perfecting wudhu'. Wudhu' is very important to make sure our Salah is accepted by God. Other than that, niah is also important that we should pour our whole heart into our prayer and leave all the Dunia matters behind. Moreover, ensure that our body, clothes, and the prayer's place are clean in order to perform our solah comfortably. 

    Always remember that, do not take our Sallah for granted, perform them wholeheartedly as we never know which of our deeds are accepted by Him.

Adab as a Student

    

    "Do not seek ilm in order to gain proud among the ulama’, (…), or in order to sit in a high place because if a person has this intention, then his place is in the hellfire." (Abu Daud)

To listen more about adab as a student ;

Adab as a student

Pillars of Islam (Hadith Jibril)

          

    Hadith Jibril is the single most important hadith. Its narrative contains the best summary of the core of Islam: Islam (إسلام), which is described with the "Five Pillars of Islam", Iman (إيمان), which is described with the "Six Articles of Faith", Ihsan (إحسان), or "doing what is beautiful" and al-Sa’ah (الساعة), or The Day of Judgement, which is not described, but signs are given.

Take a look to the slide for more information ;

Hadith Jibril