السلام عليكم و رحمةالله و بركاته

أهلاً بكُم

The Keys to Acceptance

Bismillah

Wassolatu wassalamu ‘alaa Rasulillah =)

Here, I would like to attach two documents

1. The Keys To Acceptance and Etiquette of Supplications by Sister Farhana Munshi that she presented to the kids last Saturday

2. Apex Appreciation Speech 2008

Hope it is of benefit. Amin

Card From NUSMS 45th Executive Committee

A lovely card from the 45th NUSMS Executive Committee for the Apex Mentors. It came together with the two super-nice-yummy cakes. =)
It is hard to find such wonderful and graceful leaders, whom truly lead by example. Many of them are apex mentors themselves, Masha Allah!
May it be a form of motivation for all of us in our insya allah noble pursuit for the academic excellence of our community. Amin!

On behalf of the Apex Exco Committee and the Apex Mentors, allow me to express our heartfelt thanks to its President, Syed Harun Al-Habashi and the formidable line-up of excos for their strong support to the Apex Programme!

May they achieve their goals for this working year! Amin!

An Elite’s Credo (for all Muslim learners)

“To begin my every action with a niat,

 

To be able to define exactly what I want,

 

To be so strong that

nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

 

To wear a cheerful countenance, a tranquil smile,

and charm every living creature I meet.

 

To focus only on the best,

to ask questions for the best results and expect the best.

 

To rehearse and rehearse; improve and improve;

in a relentless pursuit of excellence.

 

To give so much time to the improvement of myself

that I have no time to criticize others.

 

To find something that I like in my friends,

say good words to them,

let them see themselves in the best light possible

and know that they are special.

 

To put behind the mistakes of the past and

press on to the greater achievements of the future.

 

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger,

too brave for fear and too wise for vain talk.

 

Life’s victories don’t always go to the stronger

or the faster hand;

They go to the one who has faith in God;

has faith in himself;

has good conduct and always think ‘I can’.

 

It’s in the heart;

It’s all in a state of mind”.

————

Alhamdulillah now that I have my own account,  I can post this by myself. Syukran bro Azhar for the invite

The Lesson in a Spoon

 

“You can do it! You must believe in yourself… you have it in you. You CAN do it!”

How many times have we heard that? Be it from our parents, teachers, coaches, or even friends. Oh, it’s such a cliché. Yes, yes, I knowww I can do it. Yes, it’s so easy. All I have to do is believe in myself.

Yeah, right.

So often, when someone comes along giving you the “You Can Do It” lecture, you give a weak smile saying, “I will try harder the next time“ but in your mind, you shrug it off, thinking, what do THEY know? It’s just my nature that I cannot do Math. I just don’t get it. No matter how hard I try, it is just not in me.

It’s just not in me.

Do you really know what is in you? And for that matter, what isn’t?

Personally, I’ve always thought I knew what was in me, what I was capable of, and I certainly always thought I knew what were my limits. But all these firmly established beliefs crumbled on the day I bent a stiff metal tablespoon with my bare hands.

Wait, a METAL table spoon? Did I REALLY bend the spoon? Me? Someone who would often shy away from arm wrestling competitions? Seriously?

MasyaAllah, yes I really did bend the spoon. But how was this possible? It was definitely not within my physical ability to accomplish such a feat. What happened?

Honestly, I am not so sure myself. All I remember was the overwhelming sensation that came over me, that engulfed me, on every level of my being. Never before have I experienced something so incredible.

But the question still remains, how?

It all started on the cold, cold floor of a quiet musollah in a small Madrasah tucked in a cosy corner on Windstedt Road. The Primary 6 cohort, together with their Apex mentors, was around me, all of us with a spoon in hand, and very nice stranger named Ameerah was talking to us. She was guiding us with her voice so soft, yet filled with unmistakable conviction. After explaining to us the purpose of this exercise, she began.

Bismillah, close your eyes. Slowly, let us recite Al-Fatihah. Alhamdullillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen… I began. I tried to focus on my recitation of the opening chapter, but the whisperings in my mind were too distracting. Honestly, I was highly skeptical of the whole idea. I didn’t believe we were going to really bend the spoon ourselves. There must be some trick, some strange illusion… or maybe it wouldn’t be a literal bending of the spoon, but more so a metaphorical one. This is such a waste of time, scoffed my skeptical mind.

Wa la-dhooleen. Amin. Ya Allah, please guide us, I whispered, now my fearful heart over-taking. With that, I allowed myself to be immersed in the darkness of my mind.

“Only if you fully believe you can bend the spoon, that you will bend it”, Ameerah disrupted the lull of my thoughts. What nonsense… whether I believe it or not, the fact of the matter is, I’m holding a thick steel spoon. Does she know what is steel? Does she know its structure? You can’t bend steel, my skeptical mind retorted. But hey, what’s the harm of believing the illogical? I can simply discard it as soon as I get out of here. So let’s just give this a chance. After all, I do enjoy a little fantasy in my life =P.

Alright, I will play along with this.

Oh my skeptical mind, edit your thoughts. From now on, think:

I CANNOT BEND THE STEEL SPOON.
Focus, now. What is she saying? Imagine a white line in the 3-D blackness of my mind? Oh yes, there it is. Focus, focus… bring the line closer to you and at the same time condense it till its just a point. Focus the point between your two eyes. Focus, focus, focusss! Ya Allah! What line is this? It is causing my head to throb. My heart is suddenly excited! It vigorously pumps adrenaline to my head, causing my head to throb to its rhythm. What is happening? My mind and my heart are in sync, with every pump the intensity of the little dot on my forehead doubles, then triples! The intensity of this dot is now overwhelming… this is truly exhilarating! Faster and faster my heart and my mind raced. Faster!

Ya Allah protect me, Ya Allah protect me, Ya Allah protect me… my heart suddenly feared. This is so strange; let this not be something that would lead me away from You. Oh Allah protect me.

Open your eyes, Ameerah brought me back to the musollah. I looked around me, everything seemed normal. Everyone seemed as they were just ten minutes ago. But my head was buzzing. What really happened? I couldn’t comprehend it though it all happened within me. What happened?

No time to think. Ameerah says close your eyes once more. Now you see colours. Swirling, majestic colours. All signifying the energy in the room. Oh let the energy swirl around you. Let it engulf you. Just focus yourself in the room of colours, in the room of energy. Embrace the moment. And let the moment embrace you.

Listen to Ameerah. You must remember that the spoon bends because of Allah. The energy to make the spoon bend, all comes from Allah. We come from Allah. My hands are from Allah. The spoon is from Allah. It is Allah who will bend the spoon for you. It is Allah who has given you all that you have. Allah is everything, you are nothing.

The swirling colours of energy are now so concentrated around me. Direct them up and into your head. Let all of if flow into your head, until no colour is left in the room.

Then just as suddenly as before, my mind and my heart united, throbbing in rhythm at an unfathomable rate. I feel it again! The mysterious, yet harmonious, partnership between these two components of my being. I don’t understand it! Yet strangely, the familiarity of it happening for the second time has caused a deep sense of delight within myself. I found myself feeling terribly excited!

Now the energy was so intense in my head, I felt it was literally going to burst. It had to be directed somewhere… Ameerah said the shoulders. You’re supposed to bend the spoon, remember? So slowly, direct the energy into your shoulders. Do you feel it all concentrated in your shoulders? Then slowly, from the shoulders to the arms, then down to the hands. Focus it all on your palms. Now with all you’ve got, push the energy into the spoon. Yes, that’s it, let it flow into the spoon. Let it flow. Feel it, feel the energy from every level of your being flowing into the spoon. Everything. Do not fear, just let the energy flow. Focus, focus…

My mind has stopped throbbing. Now my hands were beginning develop a prickly hot feeling, the blood buzzing and filling up every corner of my palms clasped around the spoon. I was focused, I was pushing the energy into the spoon. I was fully wrapped in this belief. I truly believe that I can bend this piece of steel. With Allah’s help, I can definitely do this. I have no doubt.

Suddenly it came – Bend! Bend! Bend! Bend! Bend! The gentle tone of Ameerah’s voice broke into a hasty and forceful command: BEND!

The sudden change in pace disabled any form of rational thinking and my hands obeyed the one command that was filling the room – BEND! It pushed, and the spoon followed! All too easily! Suddenly reality dawned upon me and I couldn’t believe what just happened. In shock, I dropped the spoon and opened my eyes.

Ya Allah! It bent! It really did bend. MasyaAllah! My heart was still racing, my mind was so confused, my hands were unable to move. It bent!

It took me a few seconds before I picked up the spoon to inspect it. MasyaAllah, masyaAllah, masyaAllah. Look at the spoon. I felt truly humbled.

Oh my believing mind, embed that thought:

I BENT THE SPOON.
Oh my believing heart, cleanse yourself:

ALLAH BENT THE SPOON.
The spoon in hand is bent. My heart beats, La illaha illaAllah! Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!

 

 

MasyaAllah, it all started with Bismillah.

BismillahiRahmaniRahim. Don’t you understand? With Allah’s name, anything is possible. With His power, with trust in Him, with a heart devoted to Him only. Anything is possible. Because everything is from Him. You have to believe that first; you have to truly believe in Him first, before you can ever believe in yourself.

Yes! You can do it… it IS in you. Because Allah is with you.

InsyaAllah.

 

 

Verily Allah has Power over All things

Picnic and Minigames @ Pasir Ris Park

De-Stressing Session for the Kids after the close of their PSLE Prelim. Apex Mentors : Aizat, Azhar, Dedi, Eusof, Farhana , Ikhsan, Istyana, Ruqayyah, Shaza Amalina, and Syaheer embraced the event on the morning of the 7th of August.

This activity was organized by Mdm Yani.

Photos Courtesy of Sister Ruqayyah

Apex Camp 2008

A Video is worth a Million words =)

Video editing by Brother Norhafiz

Clips and pictures taken by Brother Hakeem