Monday, March 9, 2015

High aspiration | Himmah | Zeal

Bismillah.

It's going to be a glorious day. It's worth doing a positive mental framing, first thing in the morning. Aye? Especially on Mondays.

I am feeling inspired having visited a young chap, a family friend, who has just opened a restaurant. He did all the preps himself, mashaAllah - interior decor, setting up the kitchen, hiring staffs, planning the menu, sourcing for food supplies etc. He is a graphic design graduate, by the way. Running a restaurant is no easy feat. I am speaking from a speck of experience I have had, witnessing how my family operated a cafe of a small hotel in KL, once upon a time. 

The young man has a bright future, in my opinion, mainly because he has a high himmah and he is a good son who treats his mother well. A mother's blessings is everything. And doing business, engaging oneself in a trade is sunnah. Therefore, success is not too far away. Hayya a'lal falah. Rush to success!

During a short interview with Shaykh Abdul Aziz Fredericks in KL earlier this year, the shaykh advised us to always have the highest aspiration possible, in everything we do, no matter how small the deeds. Himmah means having aspiration or zeal. We are told not to just have himmah, we must have high himmah - uluw al himmah - lofty aspirations.

I think no matter how low the position we are in, no matter how low we might be feeling, no matter how low people may wish to regard us, the most important bullet we could have is himmah. It's a personal choice. It's a personal asset. It's a personal striving.

I remembered when I first began to revert to the deen, one of the guides counseled me saying: "have himmah". I was grateful that the ustaz had used the Arabic word himmah instead of some Malay words so that had made a stronger impression on me.

The journey may be long and bumpy. The road may be slippery and winding, it's himmah that will make us walk or run to the next lamp post, the next mile stone. Who cares about onlookers booing? Runners rarely look to the side, they aim forward, they look ahead. They are driven by their own himmah.



p/s Congrats A! 

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