Special du’a when you reach 40

This is the special Du’aa related to the age of forty years old.

In Surah Al-Ahqaf (46): 15, Allah Ta’ala Says.”

وَوَصَّيۡنَا الۡاِنۡسَانَ بِوَالِدَيۡهِ اِحۡسَانًا​ ؕ حَمَلَـتۡهُ اُمُّهٗ كُرۡهًا وَّوَضَعَتۡهُ كُرۡهًا​ ؕ وَحَمۡلُهٗ وَفِصٰلُهٗ ثَلٰـثُوۡنَ شَهۡرًا​ ؕ حَتّٰٓى اِذَا بَلَغَ اَشُدَّهٗ وَبَلَغَ اَرۡبَعِيۡنَ سَنَةً  ۙ قَالَ رَبِّ اَوۡزِعۡنِىۡۤ اَنۡ اَشۡكُرَ نِعۡمَتَكَ الَّتِىۡۤ اَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلٰى وَالِدَىَّ وَاَنۡ اَعۡمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرۡضٰٮهُ وَاَصۡلِحۡ لِىۡ فِىۡ ذُرِّيَّتِىۡ ؕۚ اِنِّىۡ تُبۡتُ اِلَيۡكَ وَاِنِّىۡ مِنَ الۡمُسۡلِمِيۡنَ

{And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months. [He grows] until, when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, “My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed I am of the Muslims”} (15) 

Concept mapping and meaningful learning

I am thinking about refining assignments that I would assign to students next semester.  I don’t know if I would teach undergraduate courses this coming semester, but I think I will give them a concept mapping assignment like the one I gave my students this semester.  There are research done which has shown the effects of concept mapping on student learning.  Some of the research are 

 

Korban: To do it locally or …..

Korban falls under the category of sunnah muakad.  It is obligatory (even though not compulsory or wajib).  Off lately, it becomes a trend to perform korban overseas.  Nothing wrong with that.  But I notice that there were less korban in my village.  Based on my observation, many did it at other places.  This makes me think about the possibility of oversupply or surplus of korban at other places. 

But I do believe that oversupply or surplus or whatever, it is already predestined by Allah to give our rezqi.  So, be grateful and thankful with what we have, regardless of the amount.  I know that some people decide to perform korban overseas because of the price is much cheaper as compared to it is done locally.  In any way, I believe that each of us have different provision and thus, our decision might be based on our current financial standing.  

I am still grieving

My mom passed away in 2017.  My dad passed away in 2009.  It was (still is) not easy to deal with their loss.  Reciting verses of Al-Quran does help to comfort me.  But pet loss is totally different game for me.  The last cat that I had that died was in 2009 when I was in UK.  I just received the news from afar.  I didn’t feel the sad for long.  Perhaps, I was preoccupied with other things and losing Merah was not as bad as what I am experiencing now. 

It has been more than a month since Batman went missing.  I thought that I am ok within a month.  After all, I still have Robyn (Batman’s sister).  How wrong I was!  I am still pinning for him.  Still hoping that he would come back any time.  Am I grieving properly? He is just a pet.  Not my parents.  But somehow, it is different now.  I don’t know how to describe it.  As I google some articles for the MUET camp, I find this article about pet loss.  

 

How to reduce test anxiety?

There are so many ways to reduce test anxiety.  It might be different from one person to another.  What works best for one might not be the best for others.  Knowing our own strengths in overcoming test anxiety is crucial.  But most of the time, we want to take short cuts rather than exploring our self.  

For me, reading helps to help me regain composure.  What kind of things that I read?  From holy scripture, Al-Quran (with the translation.  So when I read the Arabic verses, I would take a moment to read the translation to understand the verses that I have read) to magazines (and tabloid.  I pick up the habit to read The Guardian UK and Dailymail when I was in UK).  One of my favorites is Psychology Today (online version).  I came across an article about managing test anxiety by Guy Winch.  HERE is the article.  

Understanding personality

What is personality?  There are textbooks definitions and whatsnot.  But for me, personality defines our uniqueness as individual.  I am reading a book entitled “The end of average” by Todd Rose. 

While reading the book, I am thinking about what I discussed with my students last semester about personality traits. Other than journal articles, I also linked various Youtube materials on the elearning.  One of it is THIS by Dr Brian Little.