Thursday, September 18, 2014

PRAY LIKE A KLINGON

Quite a while ago, my seniors and I were having our chit-chat sessions over Skype and the topic of the night started out with excitement over the 2009 Star Trek movie (yes.. quite a numbers of us are a fan even though had not reached the level of trekkies). We were quite disappointed that the movie didn't portray any Klingon characters. I personally prefers the Enterprise during the era of Captain Pickard because under his command there were Lieutenant Data (the robot) and Leutenant Worf (the Klingon) on board

My seniors - being old people they are - of course prefers the era of Captain Kirk and his second in command Commander Spock. These old people can go on and on and on about some of the adventures Kirk and his crews had encountered. Lame!

So one topic went to another and I happened to tell them about the voice I have heard during my sickness (full story in YASEEN : STORY OF THE LOST CIVILISATION) and they made a joked saying I was lucky to hear that voice. So I said "What?"

My senile seniors explained that in the past there were several mujahiddins whom had the habit of reciting a special du'a before going to battle. So similar to the Klingon's battle-cry of "perhaps today is a good day to die!", these Mujahiddin also performs a du'a seeking Allah's permission to die on that battle. The late Imam Shamil from Caucasian did the same. His faith on Allah's promises was so strong that he prayed each time before going to fight the Russians that Allah not to let him return. In fact, every time before embarking on his horse, he tells his wives and children that he expect not to return. However, Allah being merciful did not let him die in any battle. Instead he died in Medina in 1871 after completing his pilgrimage.

Similarly Tariq Bin Ziyad did the same too. Legend said upon landing at Gibraltar on April 29 711, Tariq ordered that the ships he arrived in be burnt to prevent any cowardice. That is actually not true because if there were cowards amongst the Moslems then certainly Tariq would either send them home pronto or punish them for being munafiq. Whereas some of his men did asked him how are they going to return if the ships were burned, it does not means that they were planning to run away if they were defeated. These men were only wondering how to return to home after winning the war. Tariq on the other hand merely said that Spain is now home. Either they are going to make it their new 'home' or  die at 'home' because there no longer any other home to return to.

The conversation that took place between Tariq and his men are as follows:-

"Why are you doing this. Sir? How will we return?" Enquired some.
In reply, he said: ‘We have not come here to return. Either we shall conquer and establish ourselves here or we will perish.’

See? Who said that there's a coward amongst Tariq's men?

( Before we proceed, I would like to admit that it is inappropriate to put the title "PRAYER LIKE A KLINGON" for this article. The Klingon or the Star Trek franchise doesn't deserve any credit because they are all factitious characters. Mujaheddin like Imam Shamil and Tariq Ziyad however are real people. They exists in the past and the same breed still exists in few places around the world today such as in Palestine and Syria. It's just that I named this article as such because I think it's cool, that's all hehehe. Furthermore, I am planning to dupe as many non-Moslems into reading this article at least half-way. Hope that work out a bit.)

Anyway, the online conversation regarding the du'a recited by these mujahideens led to another conversation about another type of different du'a. My seniors said that if I really want to stay on the straight path, there is one very special prayer that I can try at dawn and dusk. Imam Ali said these is prayer of that only the gutsy willing to recite. I said "yeah right... what's is it?"

And then he told me what it was and I can feel coldness running down my spine. Man, I am never going to perform such du'a! Fortunately as I said earlier, due to the voice that I heard during my sickness there is no longer any need for me to perform such du'a. You could say that having obtained the information I never ask for is a good thing and a bad thing all together.

So what is the du'a? And are you gutsy enough to recite it?

I am gonna tell you anyway and it is up to you to do whatever you wanna do with this information! Yeah!

So the du'a is like this. You have to pray very sincerely (or not if you're a coward) to the All-Mighty Allah to tell you the day you are going to die. It is as simple as that. Because I already told Imam Ali that I don't need to perform the du'a then I never had the opportunity to ask how it sounds arabic. But in the Watchers Group we believe that personal du'a is better recited in your first language anyway. So if I were to perform the du'a in English, I think I might pray it like this:-

"Ya Allah, my God Lord Al-Mighty. You control my life, my death, me past and future. Please let me know how much longer do I have in this world. Please let me know when will I die".

Or you can simplify it by simply "Dear God, when am I going to die? Please do tell"

The only things that is necessary for you to add up into the prayer is to recite "Bismillah 6" before it. Why, well if you wanna know why then please make yourself useful by goggling the meaning of "Bismillah 6". However, in short "Bismillah 6" has something to do with praising Allah for knowing stuff that we don't know and thus we are hoping He will bestown us some of the hidden knowledge (in this case .. they day you die! die! die!).

However, if you haven't memorize or don't know how to read "Bismillah 6" in arabic, then it's okay. Do not let it stop you from performing the du'a. You can do it after solat, after eating, before sleeping etc etc. Allah is all knowing and He knows if you're sincere or simply want to play-play. If you did recite it, then I hope you get your answer as soonest possible. I hope you will get the sign or a dream or whatever that is telling you that death is actually closer than you had ever thought.

"But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.  [Al-Munafiquun:11] "

It is said that Izrael the angel of death actually visited us every 21 minutes. In a hadith by prophet Muhammad it is said Izrael appeared next to each and everyone of us 70 times per day. It would therefore conceivable that our time of death is so top secret that not even Izrael knows our time of death. Thus he had to be ready beside us every 21 minutes in case the order come from above that we a re to die on certain moment. No one really knows why it have to be 21 minutes though.

That being said, you can imagine Izrael the angel of death is actually sitting next to you everyday you drive to your office, or standing beside you while you doing your office assignment or even hovering over you as you take a dump (some people spend a looong time in the toilet). If you were driving and your time suddenly up, the grim reaper in that 21 minutes will make sure that your car went into head-on collision with a truck, or if you were working, he will make your artery clogged and you collapsed on heart attack, or even die in the toilet due to aneurysm.

Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you should be within towers of lofty construction. But if good comes to them, they say, "This is from Allah "; and if evil befalls them, they say, "This is from you." Say, "All things are from Allah." So what is the matter with those people that they can hardly understand any statement? [An-Nisaa:78]

Death is indeed very near but most people had always assume that they will only die of old age. Despite the fact that we read everyday news of children and young healthy people dies of accidents, crime and diseases, most of us still refuse to think that deaths has no rules.

At 21 minutes 70 times per day, you can even correctly assume that there's a grim reaper hovering over you as you're reading this article right now.

"If the home of the Hereafter with Allah is for you alone and not the other people, then wish for death, if you should be truthful." (Al-Baqarah : 94)"

"But they will never wish for it, ever, because of what their hands have put forth. And Allah is Knowing of the wrongdoers. " (Al-Baqarah : 95)"


I do believe that if you perform this du'a it will drastically changed your life for the better. I have had the opportunity to converse with a few prison guards who had been looking after the death row inmates and they all agreed that knowing he's gonna die soon is the best way to rehabilitate a person no matter how bad he was before. The inmates in death row section doesn't specifically know when they are going to be hanged. Because there are automatic process of appeal to the Court of Appeal and then the Federal Court and then to Yang Dipertua Negeri (for Sabah), then the best they can guess is that they have about 5-7 years at best.

But even with such a vague numbers of years ahead, they were terrified enough to make changes in their life. They now prays very diligently and spend a lot of time minding their own business. In the first few months before and after sentences was pronounced, they were stressful but as they began to accept the fact that deaths is near and certain to come, they became less stressful and eventually at peace with what is waiting ahead.

The same thing might happened to you if you decide to pray to God asking to know your time of death. Considering that the angel of death is certain to hear you praying everyday, then who knows he might pray to Allah too asking Him to let you know your time of death. If your prayer is accepted, you will know it even though you might not know the exact time. In most cases, it is simply a sort of desperate feeling or a hunch that your time is running out. Suddenly you will realize that - all things considered - you are not ready yet and thus have to make haste if you ever gonna have a chance to end better in the afterlife. In some cases (like me) I was told the the first of two numbers that represents my age of deceased. I do have some time too spare but at the pace I'm going, it will be quite difficult to make up for the opportunities lost.

So again my advice to you, be brave and start praying that Allah let you know your time of death. Death is certain and close so please don't be a coward. We are heading to the place of no return anyway and the time and day had been set long before we were ever born. Just imagine yourself as those mujaheddin who have decided that death is in front of them and thus there's nothing else to fear and to do but to perform a jihad in order to qualify to enter the promised land. You too can do other things that can qualify you to end in that promised land.

"Ya Allah, my God Lord Al-Mighty. You control my life, my death, my past and future. Please let me know how much longer do I have in this world. Please let me know when will I die".

Do not be a coward. The angel of death might be staring at you and expected you to respond to this article accordingly.

Pray.