Kumpulan kata mutiara bisnis jadikan motivasi untuk hidup sukses

Kumpulan kata mutiara bisnis sebagai motivasi dan landasan membangun bisnis. Kata-kata bijak tentang bisnis dan usaha. Baca dan dapatkan inspirasinya di bawah ini:

Seseorang yang sukses adalah orang yang menerima banyak hal dari orang lain, biasanya lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan apa yang ia berikan kepada orang lain. (Albert Einstein)

Untuk mencapai kesuksesan, kita jangan hanya bertindak, tapi juga perlu bermimpi, jangan hanya berencana, tapi juga perlu untuk percaya. (Anatole France)

Investasikan 1% dari waktu kamu setiap hari untuk diri kamu dan 99% lain akan menarik manfaat. (Anonim)

Jangan menyalahkan apapun atas keinginan kamu yg tak terwujud. Daripada menunggu, lebih baik kamu berusaha mewujudkannya. (Anonim)

Kesempatan yang kecil seringkali merupakan permulaan kepada usaha yang besar. (Anonim)

Jika Anda ingin sukses, carilah orang yang telah mendapatkan kesuksesan, seperti yang Anda inginkan, kemudian tirulah apa yang ia lakukan untuk mendapatkan kesuksesan yang sama seperti yang ia dapatkan. (Anthony Robbinson)

Keberuntungan adalah pertemuan antara persiapan dan kesempatan. (Anthony Robbinson)

Tidak usah tahu apa yang Anda lakukan, tetapi lakukan apa yang Anda tahu. (Anthony Robbinson)

Uang bukan hanya satu-satunya jawaban, tetapi uang dapat membuat suatu perubahan. (Barack Hussein Obama)

Uang bukan satu-satunya jawaban, tapi itu membuat perbedaan. (Barack Hussein Obama)

Adalah baik untuk merayakan kesuksesan, namun adalah lebih penting untuk memperhatikan pelajaran atas kegagalan. (Bill Gates)

Anda dapat menjamin masa depan Anda dengan menginvestasikan 3% pendapatan Anda dalam usaha pengembangan diri Anda. (Brian Tracy)

Keluarlah dari zona nyaman Anda. Anda hanya dapat tumbuh kalau Anda ingin merasakan keadaan tak nyaman, saat Anda mencoba sesuatu yang baru. (Brian Tracy)

Komunikasi adalah keahlian yang dapat Anda pelajari. Hal itu sama dengan keahlian mengendarai sepeda atau mengetik. (Brian Tracy)

Kunci kesuksesan adalah dengan memusatkan pikiran kita pada apa yang diinginkan dan bukan pada apa yang kita takuti. (Brian Tracy)

Orang yang sukses adalah mereka yang memiliki kebiasaan sukses. (Brian Tracy)

Orang yang sukses selalu mencari kesempatan untuk menolong sesama, sedangkan orang yang gagal selalu bertanya, "Apa yang aku dapat dari kesempatan itu." (Brian Tracy)

Semua orang yang sukses adalah orang-orang yang memiliki mimpi yang besar. Mereka membayangkan apa yang akan terjadi di masa depan, kemudian mereka bekerja setiap hari untuk mencapai tujuan yang telah mereka miliki dalam pikiran mereka. (Brian Tracy)

Yang diperlukan untuk membuat kita sangat bahagia adalah mencari alasan untuk memilih antusiasme tinggi terhadap apa pun yang kita lakukan. (Charles Kingsley)

Kesuksesan adalah pengoptimalan suatu kelebihan kegagalan adalah akumulasi dari segala kekurangan. (Cheng Yen)

Ingatlah, tak ada kekeliruan, hanya pelajaran. Cintailah dirimu, percayalah akan pilihanmu dan segala sesuatu adalah mungkin. (Cherie Carter Csott)

Orang kebanyakan hanya percaya kemungkinan. Orang-orang luar biasa melihat tidak saja yang mungkin, tetapi bahkan yang tidak mungkin. Dengan melihat yang tidak mungkin, mereka melihat kemungkinan. (Cherie Carter Csott)

Evaluasi terhadap masa lalu merupakan langkah awal terhadap visi di masa depan. (Chris Widener)

Luangkanlah sedikit waktu untuk hari ini untuk memulai mimpi Anda. Ikuti aksi renana anda dan atur pikiran anda untuk menjadi orang sukses. Anda akan senang dengan apa yang telah anda lakukan. (Chris Widener)

Sukses tampaknya berhubungan dengan tindakan. Orang sukses terus berusaha. Mereka membuat kesalahan, tetapi mereka tidak berhenti berusaha. (Conrad Hilton)

Bagaimana kita berpikir dapat dilihat dalam cara kita bertindak. Sikap adalah cerminan dari pikiran karena mereka merefleksikan pikiran. Selalu ada sisi yang baik dari setiap situasi. Kombinasi kesuksesan dalam bisnis adalah mengerjakan apa yang kamu kerjakan dengan baik dan melakukan lebih banyak akan apa yang kamu lakukan. Lakukan apa yang kamu takutkan dan ketakutan akan hilang. (David J.Schwartz)

Ingatkan diri Anda selalu bahwa diri Anda lebih baik dari apa yang Anda pikirkan. Orang sukses, bukan manusia super. Dan, tidak ada kesuksesan yang bersifat mistis. Kesuksesan tidak berdasarkan pada keberuntungan. Orang sukses adalah orang-orang biasa yang telah mengembangkan keyakinan dalam dirinya. (David J.Schwartz)

Keyakinan besar. Ukuran kesuksesan ditentukan oleh besarnya keyakinan kita. Berpikir kecil, akan mendapatkan hasil yang kecil. Berpikir besar, akan mendapatkan kesuksesan besar. Ingatlah itu! Ide dan rencana yang besar sering lebih mudah pasti tidak terlalu sulit daripada gagasan dan rencana yang kecil. (David J.Schwartz)

Percayalah bahwa sesuatu bisa dilakukan. Jika Anda sungguh yakin bahwa sesuatu itu bisa dikerjakan maka pikiran Anda akan menemukan jalan untuk melakukan hal tersebut. Keyakinan akan menyediakan jalan mencapai solusi atas suatu hal. (David J.Schwartz)

Meningkatkan rata-rata kemenangan dengan membangun harapan-harapan diri yang positif. (Denis Waitley)

Tanpa penderitaan Anda tidak punya kekuatan, tanpa kekuatan Anda tidak dapat memiliki apa-apa. (Donald Trump)

Jika Anda ingin sukses, berpikirlah seperti orang-orang sukses dan jika Anda ingin bahagia berpikirlah seperti orang bahagia. (Dr. Ibrahim Elfiky)

Kaum optimis percaya bahwa peristiwa buruk memiliki sebab yang spesifik, sementara peristiwa baik meningkatkan apa yang mereka lakukan. Kaum pesimis percaya bahwa peristiwa buruk memiliki sebab yang umum dan peristiwa yang baik disebabkan oleh faktor yang spesifik. (Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman)

Orang yang mudah menyerah percaya bahwa penyebab dari peristiwa buruk atas mereka bersifat permanen. Peristiwa buruk akan berlangsung lama dan selalu ada untuk merusak hidup mereka. Orang yang optimis melihat hal buruk dalam porsi yang sedikit dan belakangan, tidak selalu dan tidak pernah. Orang optimis menjelaskan peritiwa yang baik dalam istilah perkara permanen, yakni sifat, kemampuan, dan yang selalu ada. Kaum pesimis mejelaskan peritiwa yang baik dalam istilah perkara sementara, yakni suasana hati, upaya, dan yang jarang ada. (Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman)

Kendalikan pikiranmu, Anda dapat berbuat apa saja dengannya. Apabila Anda tidak dapat mengubah arah angin, aturlah layar Anda. Kegagalan bukan berarti Anda gagal, tetapi Anda belum sukses. Kegagalan bukan berarti Anda tidak mencapai apa-apa, tetapi Anda sudah mempelajari sesuatu. Kegagalan bukan berarti Anda bodoh karena pernah mencoba. Itu pertanda Anda berani, berhati teguh, dan bersemangat baja. Maka, berbanggalah dengan diri Anda sendiri. Kegagalan bukan berarti Anda tidak akan sukses, tetapi dibutuhkan kesabaran. Kegagalan bukan berarti Anda sudah berakhir, tetapi Anda masih memiliki peluang untuk memulainya kembali dan berusaha mencari sesuatuu yang baru. Kegagalan bukan berarti Tuhan sudah meninggalkan Anda, tetapi Dia mempunyai rencana yang lebih baik. Jadi, benar bahwa kegagalan tidak akan pernah berakhir. (Dr. Robert Schuller)

Segala sesuatu berawal dari sebuah ide/ gagasan. (Earl Nightingale)

Semua orang yang Anda perlukan adalah rencana, peta jalan, dan keberanian untuk menekan tujuan Anda. (Earl Nightingale)

Kesalahan terbesar yang bisa dibuat oleh manusia di dalam kehidupannya adalah terus menerus mempunyai rasa TAKUT bahwa mereka akan membuat kesalahan. (Elbert Hubbard)

Jika yang lebih baik itu mungkin bisa dilakukan maka bagus saja belum cukup. (Farrah Gray)

Kemiskinan adalah kerangka berpikir, sedangkan tidak punya uang hanya kondisi sementara. (Farrah Gray)

Jika kita memulainya dengan kepastian, kita akan berakhir dalam keraguan, tetapi jika kita memulainya dengan keraguan dan bersabar menghadapinya, kita akan berakhir dalam kepastian. (Francis Bacon)

Jika orang berpegang pada keyakinan maka hilanglah kesangsian. Tetapi, jika semua orang mulai berpegang pada kesangsian maka hilanglah keyakinan. (Francis Bacon)

Seorang manusia yang bijak akan membuat lebih banyak kesempatan daripada yang ia cari/ temukan. (Francis Bacon)

Ketika Anda melakukan sesuatu dan gagal makna kegagalan itu bukan saja akan membuahkan kesuksesan, tetapi yang pasti kegagalan itu lebih berguna ketimbang Anda tidak melakukan apa pun. (George B. Shaw)

Suatu kehidupan yang penuh kesalahan tak hanya lebih berharga, namun juga lebih berguna dibandingkan hidup tanpa melakukan apa pun. (George B. Shaw)

Anda harus menemukan sesuatu yang Anda cintai sepenuh hati. Sesuatu yang membuat Anda berani mengambi resiko dan sanggup menghadapi segala tantangan yang menghadang. Jika anda tidak menemukan spirit itu pada pekerjaan Anda, Anda pasti gampang menyerah kita menghadapi kesulitan besar yang pertama muncul. (George Lucas)
Impian sangatlah penting. Anda tidak akan dapat melakukan apa-apa sebelum Anda membayangkan. (George Lucas)

Kunci kebahagiaan adalah mempunyai impian. Sedangkan, kunci kesuksesan itu sendiri adalah mewujudkan impian. (George Lucas)

Baiklah, Anda tahu, saya adalah seorang manusia sebelum menjadi seorang pebisnis. (George Soros)

Anda tidak akan dapat memiliki waktu, tetapi dapat memanfaatkan dan sekali kehilangan waktu, Anda tidak bisa mendapatkannya kembali. (Harvey Mackay)

Sebuah impian hanyalah sebuah impian. Sebuah tujuan adalah sebuah impian yang disertai rencana dan batas waktu. (Harvey Mackay)

Waktu itu gratis, tapi sangat berharga. Anda tidak akan dapat memiliki, tapi dapat memanfaatkannya. Anda tidak dapat menyimpan, tapi dapat menghabiskannya. Sekali kehilangan, Anda tidak akan bisa mendapatkannya kembali. (Harvey Mackay)

Anda tidak dapat membangun reputasi pada apa yang akan Anda lakukan. (Henry Ford)

Antusiasme adalah ragi yag membuat harapan Anda bersinar seperti bintang-bintang. Antusiasme adalah berbinar di matamu, ayunan dalam kiprah Anda. Pegangan tangan Anda, gelombang yang tak tertahankan dari kehendak dan energi untuk melaksanakan ide-ide Anda. (Henry Ford)

Bahkan, suatu kekeliruan pun bisa saja justru merupakan sesuatu yang diperlukan untuk meraih prestasi yang layak. (Henry Ford)

Berpikir merupakan pekerjaan terberat yang pernah ada yang mungkin menjadi alasan mengapa hanya sedikit orang yang mau melakukannya. (Henry Ford)

Dari segala hal, persiapan adalah rahasia dari kesuksesan. (Henry Ford)

Jangan mencari-cari kesalahan, cari obat. (Henry Ford)

Jika uang adalah harapan Anda untuk kemerdekaan, Anda tidak akan pernah memilikinya. Keamanan yang nyata bahwa seseorang akan memiliki di dunia ini adalah cadangan pengetahuan, pengalaman, dan kemampuan. (Henry Ford)

Kegagalan hanyalah peluang untuk memulai lagi dengan lebih cerdas. (Henry Ford)

11.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Most Western converts are drawn to Islam through Sufism

QUEST OF THE CONVERT WHY CHANGE?
"There is no compulsion in religion," new Muslims quote from the Koran, keen to challenge preconceptions that Islam spreads most simply by the sword. They say the only notable aspect of the pressure to convert is its absence.

Most Western converts are drawn to Islam through Sufism---the contemplative, mystical aspect of the faith.

Aliya Haeri, an American-born convert to Islam based in London, describes the process as "a search for God but not a religion". She says: "Sufism has a great emphasis on discovering personal freedom, a metaphysical quest. The more practices I took on, the more refined and subtle they became, the more my behaviour changed. My diet improved, I gave up occasional late hours socialising and relationships that lacked any commitment. I was starting to live like a Muslim. People who know me from the past have seen the transformation."

Other converts describe a long search for a religious identity. Many had previously been practising Christians but found intellectual satisfaction in Islam. "I was a theology student and it was the academic argument that led to my conversion," Rose Kendrick, a religious education teacher and author, said. She objected to the concept of original sin: "Under Islam, the sins of the fathers aren't visited on the sons. The idea that God is not always forgiving is almost blasphemous to Muslims."

Maimuna 39, was raised as a High Anglican and confirmed at 15 at the peak of her religious devotion. "I was entranced by the ritual of the High Church and thought about taking the veil." Her crisis came when a prayer was not answered. She slammed the door on visiting vicars but travelled to convents for discussions with nuns. "My belief came back stronger, but not for the Church, the institution or the dogma." She researched every Christian denomination, plus Judaism, Buddhism and Hare Krishna, before turning to Islam.

Many converts from Christianity reject the ecclesiastic hierarchy, emphasising Muslims' direct relationship with God. They sense a lack of leadership in the Church of England and are suspicious of its apparent flexibility. "Muslims don't keep shifting their goalposts," says Huda Khattub, 28, author of The Muslim Woman's Handbook published this year by Ta-Ha. She converted ten years ago while studying Arabic at university. "Christianity changes, like the way some have said pre-marital sex is OK if it's with the person you're going to marry. It seems so wishy-washy. Islam was constant about sex, about praying five times a day. The prayer makes you conscious of God all the time. You are continually touching base."

source: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/england.html

04.30 | 0 komentar | Read More

A small-scale survey by the Islamic Foundation in Leicester

THE SPREAD OF A WORLD CREED
Unprecedented numbers of British people, nearly all of them women, are converting to Islam at a time of deep divisions within the Anglican and Catholic churches.

The rate of conversions has prompted predictions that Islam will rapidly become an important religious force in this country. "Within the next 20 years, the number of British converts will equal or overtake the immigrant Muslim community that brought the faith here," says Rose Kendrick, a religious education teacher at a Hull comprehensive and the author of a textbook guide to the Koran.

She says: "Islam is as much a world faith as Roman Catholicism. No one nationality claims it as its own." Islam is also spreading fast on the Continent and in America.

The surge in conversions to Islam has taken place despite the negative image of the faith in the Western press. Indeed, the pace of conversions has accelerated since publicity over the Salman Rushdie affair, the Gulf war and the plight of Muslims in Bosnia. It is even more ironic that most British converts should be women, given the widespread view in the West that Islam treats women poorly. In the United States, women converts out- number men by four to one, and in Britain they make up the bulk of the estimated 10,000 to 20,000 converts, forming part of a Muslim community of 1 to 1.5 million. Many of Britain's "new Muslims" are from middle-class backgrounds. They include Matthew Wilkinson, a former head boy of Eton who went on to Cambridge, and a son and daughter of Lord Justice Scott, the judge heading the arms-to-Iraq enquiry.

A small-scale survey by the Islamic Foundation in Leicester suggests that most converts are aged 30 to 50. Younger Muslims point to many conversions among students and highlight the intellectual thrust of Islam.

"Muhammad said, `The light of Islam will rise in the West' and I think that's whats happening in our day," says Aliya Haeri, an American-born psychologist who converted 15 years ago. She is a consultant to the Zahra Trust, a charity publishing spiritual literature, and is one of Britain's prominent Islamic speakers. She adds: "Western converts are coming to Islam with fresh eyes, without all the habits of the East, avoiding much of what is culturally wrong. The purest tradition is finding itself strongest in the West."

Some say the conversions are prompted by the rise of comparative religious education. The British media, offering what Muslims describe as a relentless bad press on all things Islamic, is also said to have helped. Westerners despairing of their own society---rising crime, family breakdown, drugs and alcoholism---have come to admire the discipline and security of Islam.

Many converts are former Christians, disillusioned by the uncertainty of the church and unhappy with the concept of the Trinity and the deification of Jesus. Others are self-confessed idealists who did not go looking for religion but found an irresistible appeal in Sufi mysticism, which they describe as "the pearl within the shell of Islam".

Some come to Islam through marriage, which partly explains the imbalance in the sex ratio of converts. It is easier for British women to meet Pakistani or Bangladeshi men than vice versa.

The idealism of the new Muslims is part of the inspiration to "reverts", people born into immigrant Muslim families who are questioning the religious validity of their own lifestyles and re-examining their faith. The formal process of conversion is simple. The would-be Muslim showers, dresses in clean clothes, gathers some witnesses and says the Shahada, the testimony to God. But embracing Islam is not without problems. According to Batool Toma, 38, an Irish education officer for the Islamic Foundation who converted 14 years ago, converts often have to cope with initial isolation from their families, "who see conversion as a rejection and feel resentful. There's a lot of fear and apprehension." She also cites racist abuse which is particularly aimed at women, most of whom are marked out by the hijab (scarf). "Such a small piece of cloth can cause so much antagonism and aggression. You are immediately characterised as not British." A quarter of the calls to the Muslim Women's Helpline in London come from converts.

The new Muslims emphasise that the benefits of Islam far outweigh its drawbacks, and are at pains to address misconceptions about their faith. They say it is too often judged on its excesses, which are usually of political origin and unjustified by the Koran.

Converts are active in the Muslim Women's Institute, a central body established in 1990. Its aims include increasing women's political awareness and challenging the misconceptions of Western observers and the immigrant community about the rightful status of women in Islam. There are discussions among themselves about what form that rightful status takes, according to Rabia Lemahieu-Evans, a post-graduate mature student at the Muslim College in London, who converted when she was 18 and abandoned the hijab two years later. She says: "There is a debate going on, although some people try to deny it."

source: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/england.html

04.28 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dozens of the older women seem to be perpetual students

ECURE IN SISTERHOOD
For many, the term "Muslim women" prompts images of beaten-up housewives chained to the stove, blinded by their veils, pregnant with sextuplets and frantic to be westernised.

To British women, whose glossy magazines recount tales of "honour killings and female circumcision, often wrongly identified with the Muslim faith, it seems inexplicable that Islam could be a rational choice. Female converts, they say, are either brainwashed, stupid or traitors to their sex.

Muslim women strongly reject such accusations. British converts are often strikingly well-educated. Dozens of the older women seem to be perpetual students, and are anxious to distinguish between genuinely Islamic behaviour and cultural diktats. The oppression of women, they say, is a political issue not a religious condition.

A recent interview in Vanity Fair quoted Fatima Mernissi, a leading Islamic scholar based in Morocco, thus: "You find in the Koran hundreds of verses to support women's rights and perhaps four or five that do not. [The fundamentalists] have seized upon those four and thrown away the rest."

Rabia Lemahieu-Evans, a Belgian convert, social anthropologist and postgraduate student at the Muslim College in London, feels Muslim law, the Sharia, should be re-examined in its modern context.

"The Prophet was a reformer of the 7th century,n she says. "It was a tribal society but he united people in a religious sense. He encouraged the emancipation of the slaves but, as in Judaism and Christianity, he did not outlaw it because perhaps society wasn't ready. He did the same for women. He set things in motion but in the 20th century we need to look carefully at the historical circumstances."

Muslim women are regularly asked to defend their faith. Many respond by questioning the alternatives.

"A woman in my office said, `At least I'm not a traitor to my sex'," says Hassana, 39, who converted in 1988.

Her friend Nouria, 36, who converted in 1974 after finding some verses of the Koran in a dustbin, said: "Most of the women in this country are traitors to their sex. It's almost as if we've been defeminised." Both women are from Scottish Protestant backgrounds and live in London.

Hassana wears the hijab (the scarf) and has tried the veil: "It makes you feel very private, very safe. Your self-confidence gets boosted. You can be doing what you like under there. I've worn my personal stereo."

The attraction of Islam for many converts is its premise of separate spheres; the different biological destinies of men and women. Many Westerners feel this smacks of discrimination but Muslims say the alternatives impose impossible demands. They define Western emancipation as "women copying men, an exercise in which womanhood has no intrinsic value.

Gai Eaton, information officer at the Regent's Park Mosque, who came to Islam 40 years ago after a diplomatic career, says: "Whatever the I pattern of gender relationships in the Islamic world, women do have a dignity that on the whole they don't have in the modern world. I think it springs from the awe in which the mother figure is held." He quotes the Prophet: "Paradise is at my mother's feet," and cites a wealthy Arab living in London, exiled for life for mistreating his mother.

Many Eastern women are content with role differentiation because it ensures their status and power in their own spheres: the household, family and community. Iranian women can receive payment for breastfeeding their children.

"On television recently, they were discussing why women shouldn't have the right to keep their own names on marriage," says Nouria, who has an Egyptian husband and five children. "This is a right I got 1,400 years ago. Issues such as property, children and inheritance have all been settled, and it's very finely tuned in the woman's favour." She cites arrangements for divorce, maintenance and child custody, and an Islamic `wages for housework' school. She adds that in a sense men are just guests in their own homes: "My husband has to ask my permission before another man can stay in the house. This is my kingdom, my domain."

Many Muslims contrast the status of women in Islam with what they see as the dismal plight of women in the West. They note that here women work full-time out of financial necessity, remaining lumbered with the housework and childcare. It is a puzzling version of emancipation.

Modern Muslims, they say, are not necessarily destined to be housewives. There is a demand in the community for their own social workers, lecturers, journalists and doctors. A female Muslim gynaecologist would make a good living.

Among the greatest advantages of Islam, which to many emphasises the failure of feminism, is its "sisterhood". Converts find great mutual support among Muslim women, which reflects the wider community values of Islam. "There's no such thing as a Muslim woman on her own," Nouria says, "nor a single Muslim parent on her own. Nor a mentally ill woman on her own. If anyone with a commitment to Islam sees you in hijab and you're suffering, they step in and help. That's abnormal in Britain."

According to Riffat Yusuf, 27, a London radio journalist who was born a Muslim, the community is the point. "Rather than the issue of `the Muslim woman' its really about societal progression, moving on. The thing about `the Muslim woman' is also the thing about `the Muslim family' and `the Muslim community'."

Nouria agrees. "I see no future in this country, the way its going," she says. "It comes back to women. "Scratch any `new man' and you find an old man trying to get out; men will always be the same. Women are changing much faster, but they are not trying to get what they want. Everything the feminist movement is aiming for, except abortion and lesbianism, we've got."

 source: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/england.html

04.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

When I had my first baby people said I was tying myself down, but I didn't see it like that.

HOLIDAY WAS THE TURNING POINT THE CONVERT

"When I had my first baby people said I was tying myself down, but I didn't see it like that. For me it was liberating; one of the major life decisions was out of the way. Conversion was the same.

Emira (formerly Emma) Topham converted to Islam last month after being convinced by its emphasis on family values. Aged 26, she lives with her husband, three sons and five stepchildren in Swindon, Wiltshire. She was introduced to Islam in 1988 on a two-week trip to Morocco, at the end of the first year of a degree course in fine art.

Islamic art captivated her: "It was very strong and fresh, not just a superficial covering. She acquired some Muslim hosts and appreciated their tolerance, being bald and dressed in skimpy shorts.

The holiday was a turning point, academically and spiritually. Emira's first year at college had coincided with a personal crisis brought on by unsettled childhood, during which she was transferred between countries, parents and grandparents. She arrived at college unprepared for coping alone, consumed with anger and unable to paint.

At the end of the first year she had no money, nowhere to live and was about to be kicked off her course. "I decided my relationship with my boy friend was based purely on sex and ended it by shaving off my hair. I was quite suicidal. The only thing that kept the lid on that was a lot of hashish and alcohol. I was thinking, what is the meaning of my life, what is the point?

She returned to college from Morocco inspired by Islamic art and the following February she met her future husband, Rasjid Topham, a musician and artist. He was 41, divorced with five children and had converted to Islam in 1973. Emira became pregnant, started painting again and researched a thesis on North African pattern.

Her son Lieth was born in November and Emira took her degree the following summer. She and Rasjid married but he never suggested that she convert; his own faith had taken a battering during the breakdown of his first marriage.

Family life was the deciding factor for Emira, who welcomed the value that Islam places on motherhood. She formally converted last month at the mosque in Regents Park, London, a process that "married up the inside and outside" and also benefited her family. "It changed something very positively for me and Rasjid. It creates more of a unity and makes it easier to establish Islamic guidelines in the home."

Wearing the hijab (scarf) brought "tremendous freedom: she compares it to shaving off her hair. "When you're bald people who would have been interested in you will be interested anyway. You feel more vulnerable but more open, and nicer to people."

Emira had dabbled with Christianity. She attended a convent school---"I found its lack of warmth extraordinary"---and church with her Protestant grandparents. Neither enhanced her self-respect in the way that Islam has: "As a Muslim you stand before God rather than a priest. Everyone is equal."

RADICAL DECISION TO FOLLOW NEW PATH PREJUDICE
Izzat Heath, 27, was an evangelical Christian studying at Birmingham Polytechnic before she converted to Islam. "Back then I believed without questioning the sources," she said. "I once tried to convert a Muslim to Christianity and it backfired on me."

Mrs Heath, who lives in Birmingham with her Pakistani husband and one- year-old son Muhammad said she was attracted by the "expansiveness" of Islam, which radically altered her concept of religion. "Islam catered for my suspicion that existence and God were so much bigger than Christians had painted them," she said.

"There is no religion and non-religion; everyone is following a path or way of life. Muslims follow a sunna, the example of the prophet and his companions. Everybody follows a sunna. Look at people who follow pop groups. They read the fan magazines, they dress the same."

"To marginalise people by saying `You're religious and you do these funny things' is not owning up to what you do. The problem is that people and their opinions tend to be measured by the liberal democratic yardstick which claims to be the norm."

"Lots of people, including Muslims, seem to fall wide of that mark and then get labelled fundamentalist. I call some people fundamentalist liberals because they will not shift. I'm not suggesting that they should shift, just that they could recognise that they have a position as well."

Like most converts, Mrs Heath says finding Islam was less a personal revolution than a formal recognition of her natural self.

>From "The Times", London. November 9, 1993.

Lucy Berrington finds the Muslim faith is winning Western converts despite hostile media coverage.

source: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/england.html

04.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

ISLAM SHEDS ITS IMAGE AS PURELY EASTERN RELIGION MUSLIMS IN THE WEST

Islam is winning converts in the industrial world because of its ability to adapt to Western life and shed its outdated image as a purely Eastern religion. That is the conclusion of academics studying the rise of Islam in the West.

Dr Graham Speake, of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, says Islam is not an East-West issue. "That suggests an `us and them' attitude, which in these days of integrated society is no longer really applicable. Islam with Judaism and Christianity, is one of the great monotheistic faiths. They all share a great deal and have a lot to offer each other.

"Those of us who believe in any one of the three have come to realise that they are all equally valid and equally to be valued. So many of us have members of another faith living next door."

Asaf Hussein, tutor in race education at the Open University, says Islam gives westerners a rare voice about the problems in their own society: "If they want a faith which gives them a participatory and active role, the choice is Islam. It places a very strong emphasis on social justice and empowers westerners to say: `This is not correct'." Converts highlight the applicability of Islam. Nouria, 36 who converted in 1974, says: "It is always considered to be a religion of the Third World, of brown people, of Arabs. But Islam encourages the races to unite by allowing for the differences in culture: the food, the customs, the different ways of wearing Islamic dress. Malaysians are very quiet and delicate in their movements; Nigerians can be very loud and relaxed."

Islam's adaptability is most obvious in the varieties of Muslim dress. At a recent British conference for new Muslims there was only one chador in sight. A woman from rural Ireland wore a long sweater and a wool hat, the English had kept their Laura Ashley skirts and silk scarves Scots appeared in kilts and baggy tartan trousers. There was a range of accents to match.

"The idea now is for new Muslims to realise that they don't have to renounce their Englishness, or whatever they are," Maimuna, 39, a Londoner who converted in the early seventies, says.

She contrasts the new emphasis on the flexibility of Islam with the fever-pitch conformity of the previous generation. "I have never met any born Muslim women who have said, `I want to be downtrodden.' But some of the very early converts did, they wanted to be martyrs.

"Some other groups were very rigid and sincere with a strict rule book. They didn't believe in medicine or registration of marriage or putting the heating on in winter. They have mellowed now; none of them kept that pace of freneticness."

Many westerners are initially attracted by aspects of Islamic culture; they cite the design of the mosques, the call to prayer and the beauty of the Arabic languages.

"Arabic is very musical, a wonderful language for expressing spiritual things," Emira Topham says. "Saying `Praise be to God' is much nicer in Arabic than English. I don't think you can Anglicise everything." But new Muslims are selective. As far as possible they incorporate Islam into their own cultural identities, protecting the faith against the non-islamic features of established Muslim communities.

"At first for a lot of British people there is a great temptation to be pseudo-Arab or pseudo-Pakistani because the ethnic presence is so strong," Rose Kendrick, a religious education teacher and author, says. "But there's a big danger that they will interpret their culture as being Islamic." Most converts are politically non-confrontational.

"In England you get side-tracked by it all, race relations, Hezbollah, Khomeini," Maimuna says. "I used to wear my scarf in the Arab way and my colleagues found it frightening. They thought it meant hijacking and fundamentalism and `death to Rushdie'."

Article from "The Times"

From "The Times", London. November 10, 1993.

Lucy Berrington discovers that three faiths share a great deal and have
much to offer each other

source: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/england.html

04.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sifat lembut hati merupakan salah satu akhlak mulia dari Nabi

Sebab turunnya ayat ke 159 surat Ali Imran adalah seusai terjadi Perang Uhud, dimana pasukan musyrik Quraisy yang memutar jalan berhasil memukul pasukan panah Islam yang turun dari bukit Uhud untuk mengambil harta “ghanimah” (rampasan perang).

Pasukan Islam mengira bahwa pasukan Quraisy telah kalah dan peperangan telah benar-benar usai. Akibat kekeliruan ini banyak sahabat yang gugur, termasuk Hamzah paman Nabi SAW.

 
Melihat kekeliruan yang dilakukan para sahabat, tidak membuat Nabi SAW marah dan kesal. Karena Allah SWT telah melembutkan hatinya sebagaimana dengan firman-Nya: “Maka disebabkan rahmat dari Allah-lah kamu berlaku lemah lembut terhadap mereka. Sekiranya kamu bersikap keras lagi berhati kasar, tentulah mereka menjauhkan diri dari sekelilingmu.. ” (QS. Ali Imran: 159).

Sifat lembut hati merupakan salah satu akhlak mulia dari Nabi S AW seperti yang dikatakan Abdullah bin Umar: “Sesungguhnya, saya menemukan sifat Rasulullah SAW dalam kitab-kitab terdahulu itu demikian : Sesungguhnya tutur katanya tidak kasar, hatinya tidak keras, tidak suka berteriak-teriak dipasar-pasar, dan tidak suka membalas kejahatan orang dengan kejahatan lagi, namun dia memaafkan dan mengampuninya. ” (Tafsir Ibnu Katsir II, hl.608)

Pangkal Kesabaran

Kelembutan hati Nabi SAW tidak hanya ditujukan kepada para sahabat yang telah paham dengan aturan agama, namun kepada orang awam yang belum memahami aturan agama pun beliau bersikap lembut dan santun.

Suatu hari ketika beberapa sahabat sedang khusyuk mendengarkan nasihat Nabi SAW di masjid Nabawi, tiba-tiba seorang Arab Badui masuk masjid dan tanpa basa-basi dia langsung buang air kecil di salah satu pojok masjid. Para sahabat yang melihatnya terkejut dan segera berdiri untuk memukul orang itu dan mengusirnya.

Melihat hal ini Nabi SAW segera mencegah tindakan para sahabat. Para sahabat pun lalu membiarkan Arab Badui tadi menuntaskan buang hajatnya. Setelah benar-benar selesai, Nabi SAW memerintahkan seorang sahabat mengambil seember air untuk mengguyur tempat Arab Badui buang hajatnya.

Tanpa rasa marah dan kesal Nabi SAW menghampiri orang itu dan mengatakan: “Sesungguhnya masjid itu tidak layak dikencingi dan dikotori. Sesungguhnya masjid itu tempat untuk shalat, berdzikir kepada Allah dan membaca Al-Qur’an” (HR. Muslim).

Nabi SAW memahami ketidak-tahuan si Arab Badui tersebut, sehingga kelembutan hati beliau bisa mengalahkan amarah beliau. Kalau hal itu terjadi di saat sekarang, mungkin si Arab Badui itu telah babak belur di “Vermak” oleh para jamaah masjid.

Sifat lembut hati, santun, ramah dan tidak cepat marah tidak hanya akan membuat manusia menaruh simpati kepada kita, tetapi Allah SWT-pun mencintainya. “Sesungguhnya Allah itu Maha Lembut dan Mencintai kelembutan ” (HR.Muslim).

Dengan modal kelembutan hati, seorang da’i pasti dengan mudah menarik simpati orang, seorang suami pasti disayang oleh keluarga dan jika seorang pemimpin pasti dicintai rakyatnya.

Rasa sakinah pun akan hadir dalam keluarga ketika kelembutan dan sikap santun menjadi perhiasannya. Nabi SAW bersabda: “Apabila Allah Azza wa Jalla menghendaki kebaikan suatu keluarga, Allah akan memasukkan kelembutan atas mereka ” (HR. Ahmad).
Kesaksian Sahabat

Dan ini telah dicontohkan oleh Nabi SAW dengan sikap beliau yang lembut, tidak pernah marah kepada pembantu rumah tangganya. Anas bin Malik, sebagaimana diriwayatkan Imam Mulim, Anas bin Malik berkata: “Aku menjadi pembantu Rasulullah selama sepuluh tahun. Belum pemah beliau berkata kasar kepadaku. Dan selama sepuluh tahun itu belum pernah beliau berkata kepadaku: ‘Mengapa kamu melakukan ini?’ Dan belum pernah beliau berkata: ‘Mengapa kau tidak lakukan sesuatu sepeninggalku?’ “.

Sepuluh tahun bukanlah sebentar dan selama itu Anas bin Malik belum pernah sekalipun dimarahi Nabi SAW. Coba bandingkan dengan keadaan sekarang, pembantu dianggap sebagai orang kecil yang bisa diperlakukan semena-mena oleh sang majikan, bahkan sudah tidak “dimanusiakan” lagi.

Sudah menjadi berita sebari-hari tentang perlakuan kasar majikan terhadap PRT (pembantu rumah tangga) mulai dari dipukuli sampai kehilangan nyawa akibat disiksa oleh majikan.

Inilah akibat tidak adanya kelembutan hati di dalam diri seseorang, sehingga rasa kesal, rasa marah mudah terlampiaskan, tidak terkontrol lagi dan di saat seperti itulah syetan dengan mudah memprovokasi untuk melakukan perbuatan yang tidak manusiawi.

Sikap lembut hati disertai rasa empati Nabi SAW kepada pembantunya tersirat pula dalam doa beliau, ketika Ibu Anas bin Malik memohon agar Nabi SAW mau mendoakan anaknya. Doa Nabi SAW : “Ya Allah, berilah dia harta dan anak yang banyak. Dan berkatilah atas apa yang Engkau beri “ (HR.Bukhari).

Marilah mulai dari sekarang kita semai benih kelembutan hati dalam diri kita. Cobalah untuk mengendalikan diri kita sendiri dari sikap keras hati, gampang kesal atau marah dan berlaku kasar terhadap orang lain. Sikap santun dan lembut hati Nabi SAW perlu kita teladani, agar semua urusan kita menjadi mudah, indah dan membawa berkah di dunia dan akhirat.

06.50 | 0 komentar | Read More