IKIM FM 91.5 at 7.30am Motivasi Ustaz

On my way to work everyday, I listen to IKIM FM. It is a local radio show and I love it because it talks about Islam. I listen to traffic news, local and international news and my favourite show is 'Motivasi pagi' (morning motivation) by an Ustaz. The Uztaz talks about different topics everyday and it is a short clip of around 15 mins.

This morning Uztaz was talking about 'comfort zone'. It made so much sense to me that I thought I'd share it with everyone. He talks about how human beings today like to live in their comfort zone or in Malay, he puts it as 'zone selesa'. And yet, this kind of behaviour is actually not islamic and not the kind of behaviour shown by our Prophet (saw).

In Islam, there is no such thing as comfort zone but rather we should constantly strive to become better in everything that we do. In our Ibaadah (Of course), in our personality, in our work, in our da'wah. The Uztaz talked about the example of our Prophet Muhammad (saw) and how he was constantly changing and taking on different roles and responsibility, when he was young he was a sheppard, he then became a business man, he was then given the responsibility of Prophethood, he was a father, a husband, a leader, he led the army of jihad and he continuously strived to make things better. After the treaty of Hudaibiyah, he was not happy living in a 'comfort zone', he moved on to send letters to different super powers at the time, Rome, Persia, Egypt, Yemen and other places. He continued progressing until the moment he passed away.

The idea of comfort zone is a Western concept indoctrinated within us to make us procrastinate and comfortable in the life that we are in. We are often afraid to try new things or to move forward...we want our lives to remain constant and unchanged, afraid even to speak the Truth at times in case we might change the status-quo or 'rock the boat'. Also, since the introduction of specialisations and allocation of work - people have developed the psychological mentality that we need to only focus on our area of expertise, just focus on what we know. Yet, if we look at the Islamic scholars in the past like Imam Syafie, Ibnu sina, Al-Biruni; they excel in all areas and fields of study, in Qur'an, in Hadith, in History, in medicine, in Astronomy and anything that they put their mind into.

One thing I've truly learned and understood since moving to Malaysia is that life is not constant, it is fluid...things change and life changes and everything that happens good or bad is part of this worldly life, like passing exams, failing exams, getting a job, losing a job, birth of child or death of loved ones. If we expect things to remain the same forever then, we will suffer from stress, depression, anxiety, excessive worry...all the things that is unislamic. Allah asked us to have sabr, to have tawakkal (trust) in Him, These are the measurements of our faith in Him. There is no comfort zone in this life, there is only striving to become better.

The Uztaz was talking about our final destination; either Jannah or Jahannam and he talked about what level of Jannah we are aiming for. Of course we know that there are different levels of Jannah, the highest Jannah is like '5-star hotel' (just as an example). Anyway, he said something that really made me think, he said even if we manage to get to Jannah (which is of course Alhamdulillah) and we're sitting there in maybe a lower Jannah sipping our lovely pure water in a crystal glass, sitting on a throne...we will still feel a tinge of regret that we didn't work harder when we see our friends or family in a higher Jannah drinking from a cup of Gold and silver with emeralds and pearls. This is just an example, to give us a visual perception. How Jannah would be and the differences in its pleasures at different levels, only Allah knows...Still, it is important to realise that we won't get anywhere living in our comfort zones...it is the nature of a Muslim/ or human in general to strive to change and become better, to achieve the best in everything we do especially in trying to attain Jannah.