ESQ basic training (2)

wow, what a long time gap between part 1 and 2! well, i've been a little busy lately, so i hadn't got the time to write the second part on this topic. during the training, there were a lot of sessions where we reflected on ourselves (muhasabah). they switched of the lights and told us deep meaningful stories such as the stories about Allah gifts to us and how we forgot to be grateful for them, stories about our parents' love and sacrifices for us, the stories about unfortunate people and how we took the things (sight, hearing etc) for granted.

during these sessions, most of the participants will usually cry but not me. it's not the stories doesn't got to me, but i'm not the type of person that would cry in front of others. honestly, i'm a 'crybaby' and will usually cry about the smallest thing when i'm alone.. the training also reminded us on our real and first purpose on this earth. we, human (insan) accepted the role of caliph (khalifah) when all the other beings declined it. and it's our duty to worship (beribadah) to the One and Only, Allah.

The Noble Quran (Aurah Adh - Dhariyat)

the training also taught us to learn and understand the meaning of Asma Ul-Husna, the 99 namesof Allah. there's a song in Malaysia for remembering the names. I do know and memorize the song but i don't know most of the meanings. and by understanding the names of Allah and the properties, will help us improve ourselves into becoming a better person.

Asma Ul-Husna

and if you realize, everytime we want to turn or change into being a better person, we always encounter things that would prevent us from being it. there's always the temptation that brought us back to our former not so good selves. these temptations may come from the devils (syaithon), from the people around us and even from deep within ourselves (nafsu/syahwat). in the ESQ model that i posted in part 1, there's a black circle around FITRAH  with the label 'Zero Manacle Process (ZMP).' The ZMPis what blocking us from having a pure and good FITRAH. According to ESQ, there seven reasons;

1. negative perception (prasangka negatif)
2. life principal (prinsip hidup)
3. experience (pengalaman)
4. benefits (kepentingan)
5. point of view (sudut pandangan)
6. comparison (pembandingan)
7. fanaticism (fanatisme)

we also reminded about the love of our beloved prophet, Nabi Muhammad (saw) for us eventhough he never got the chance to know or meet us. before he died (wafat), he kept saying 'Ummati..Ummati.. Ummati..'  which are us! Nabi Muhammad (saw) is the last prophet and messeger. please keep this in mind, since lately, they are a lot of people claiming they are messenger and prophet and taught believes that are against our Islamic teachings or more commonly known in malay as ajaran sesat.

i really hope that my two entries on ESQ training would help us realize what is really important in lfe. if we live only for this world (dunia) that is only temporary and forget about the afterworld (akhirat) that is eternal, may we change our reason of living into the right path. these entries are not only for your eyes but as a reminder for myself as well. insyaAllah, we will all change for the better.

salam maulidur rasul 1435H

ESQ basic training (1)

on the 27-29th december last year, i went to this interesting training which is the ESQ basic training. actually, it was my sister who had put up my name for this. she had went to the same training earlier and found it great. so, she wanted me to undergo the same experience. she had told me about it a few weeks earlier but i only got my letter from my admin unit on the 24th.

on the name list, i was the only grade 17 participant. if you didn't know, government rate their staffs by grade. the higher your grade, the higher your post is. in my case here, i'm the lowest grade and i am alone. i told my sister about this, saying i wouldn't want to go for it would make me felt out of place. luckily, we were short of about 50 participants and my sister urged me to recruit more. alhamdulillah, i managed to drag to of my good friends azu and dayah along. then there were three 17 grade staffs.

the registration was on the night of 26th but due to my doctor appointment on 27th, i went to the training a little big late. i missed the morning session. ooo, btw my parents send me aimm (akademi imigresen malaysia), where the training was held. i'll be going back with azu and dayah. the three of us were in the same room because we requested it. when i asked my two friends about what i missed, they said nothing much. there were only introduction regarding the training. i already told the training committee that i would come late because of my appointment.

let's get to training. ESQ stands for Emotional Spiritual Quotient. most of us are familiar with IQ that is Intellectual Quotient but not on the EQ or SQ. honestly, i once thought that SQ stands for Social instead of Spiritual Quotient. ESQ is introduced by dr ari ginanjar agustian from indonesia and if you googled ESQ 165, you'll different opinions and thoughts regarding it. some were against it because they found that the concept was against the teaching of Islam. and some were okay with the concepts and find it really helped them in their faith. me? i am with the latter.

this ESQ training was formed by four different stages. the basic is only the first step. the other three types are ESQ MCB, ESQ2 and ESQ total action. all the things that been taught in this training brought us nearer to our Creator, Allah swt. the 165 is 1 (value ~ based on the concpet of IHSAN at Fitrah awareness), 6 (moral principles based on the concept of RUKUN IMAN) and 5 (steps to success based on RUKUN ISLAM).

ESQ model

as a muslim, i learned about iman, islam and ihsan since primary school. especially when i came from johor for in johor, it is a MUST for the muslim children to go to sekolah agama or religion school before of after the sekolah kebangsaan or regular school. i said before of after because, if you had your regular school in the morning, you'll have to go to religion school in the evening. during my time, standard 1, 2 and 3 of religion school in only 1 1/2 hours while standard 4,5 and 6 3 hours.

and there are also 2 years darjah khas or special class for those who has completed standard 6. if i'm not mistaken, people who had completed darjah khas will receive a certificate that would allow them to be ustaz or ustazah (religion teacher) as for me, i only completed my study until standard 4 for i went to boarding school in negeri sembilan. in sekolah agama, we learned more details in Islam compared to what we learned during sekolah kebangsaan. we have specific subjects such as Ibadat, Tauhid, Sirah, Tajwid, Tafsir, Munakahat, Farai, Arabic and Jenayat.

alhamdulillah, because of all these teachings, we know a lot of things regarding Islam. but unfortunately in my case, since i learned it at a very young age, i forgot a lot of them while growing up. i'm ashamed to admit it, but it's the truth.  i used to remember a lot of surah and their meaning then, especially ayat lazim (Surah al-Duha until Surah al-Nas). and during secondary school, there were the ayat hafazan, sentences from the Quran that we must memorize for the exam. once the examination is over, i forgot about them.

okay, let's us get back to the training. we were once again introduced to the concept of iman, islam and ihsan. i wouldn't want to explain these important things using my own words for i'm afraid that it would be interpreted wrongly. so, i googled and i found this site that have a very good definition and explanation on iman, islam and ihsan. in this training, we were once again reminded of these important things. let me paste the translation of the hadith riwayat muslim as being said by the authority of Umar ra. actually, these translations were copied from the site i mentioned earlier.

again, i must emphasized that all of these were being taught to us when we young and reminded again and again through our school and university years. once, we entered the working life, where we didn't attend to islamic classes anyore, we tend to forget it little by little. we didn't forget it actually since it was still there deep inside of us, waiting to be awaken and known again. in our eagerness to pursue life, we forgot the teaching that is really important. we kept feeding our physical appetite that we forgot to feed our soul with the nutrition it needs.

to be continued...

goodbye 2013, hello 2014!

happy new year, peeps! sorry for the late wish, been keeping myself busy lately. on new year's eve, i've done some spring cleaning or should i say winter cleaning since it's winter. but, i live near the equator line, the changing season doesn't bother me at all. but, we do have the raining/drought season and that remind me of the big flood that happened recently. hope all is well by now.

let's get back to my spring cleaning. on one fine day,while choosing cloth to wear for the day, my closet collapsed. too heavy, too many clothes. this happened during the weekdays and i got no choice but to spread it all onto the bed. i slept on the floor for four days. i bought a new closet, but i couldn't immediately arranging my clothes. i need some 'fungus/mould' issues to take care of first.

i placed my closet near the bathroom wall. it really wasn't a good/suitable place to put it because of the dampness. the mould spread easily without me realizing it. it was a good thing, my closet collapsed so i was alert to the problems. before putting the new closet inside my room, i had to paint the wall first. so, i spend my new year eve's painting my mould-infected wall. i need to rearrange all the things in my room to accommodate the slightly larger closet.

the wall

the mess

the new closet

ps: during the final days of 2013, i went to this interesting training, ESQ basic training at AIMM. i will do an entry on this training soon..