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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Our motives

Everything we do must have a reason, a motive behind it.

Our typical modern lives force our motivation to be dedicated to our family, career, money, hobby, lust, etc. And it is very difficult to create balance between them (for me anyway). There are also times where we get torn between our priorities, get obsessed into something and end up making a decision we regret. Furthermore, there might also be people who neglect common sense in order to pursue their ambition or motive, in the cost of other people.

In Islam, we are ordered to say Bismillahirahmaanirrahiim whenever we want to do anything. It is the opening verse of the Qur'an, which has meaning: "by the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful". By saying this, we pledge ourselves in Allah's path, and all other motives blend and harmonize with it. We are ordered to do our best to become blessing for the universe, and to be beneficial for other people. It is supposed to create balance in our lives, and in turn make us better and happier people.

Nowadays, a lot of Muslims do not realize the philosophy behind "bismillahirahmaanirrahiim". They just say it as a formality, as a good luck charm, or just as a custom. This is far beyond what the sentence really means, and thus does not create the impact it is supposed to create.

I hope we are all given the wisdom and knowledge to grasp the best motivation to carry in our lives...

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