Every Great Jedi Was An Anakin Skywalker

[Credit]

Once 'Umar al-Khattab r.a. asked the companions around him,

"Dream up!"

One guy answered,

"I dream to have a mountain of gold so that I can donate the whole lot of it for the course of Islam!"

'Umar insisted,

"Dream up!"

Another guy said,

"I dream that this place will be filled by diamonds so that I can donate them all for Islam!"

As though still not satisfied with the answers, once again 'Umar pressed,

"Dream up!"

"We do not know what else to say, O Amirul Mu'minin!"

And as the legend goes, 'Umar envisioned his dream, of which probably one of his greatest and most legendary sayings:

"I dream of rijal (young men) whose qualities are comparable to those of Abu 'Ubaidah al-Jarrah, Muadz ibn Jabal and Salim (Abu Huzaifah's servant), of whom I shall call for assistance to glorify and exalt His words.

Oh geez. That's one big dream! To have the alikes of Abu 'Ubaidah, Muadz and Salim..?? Wow. 'Umar r.a. surely knew what he wanted. To ask for people like those three great men is as good as asking for Ultramans and Supermans! But look out for the hint: 'Umar r.a. has shown us the way to dream; when we dream, make sure we dream big!

There's nothing wrong with dreaming big. In fact, it is absolutely cool to dream big and be ambitious about it. I mean, come on. Why dream of becoming a rich man, when you can dream to become the next Bill Gates or Mukesh Mittal? Why dream of driving a good car, when you should dream to drive a Bentley, Jaguar or Skyline..? *koff* And why dream of owning your own decent home, when you can dream of having your own mansion, complete with swimming pool, jacuzzi and bowling alleys? Oh wow. Wahan gile beb.

(Note: All those 'wahan' dreams are only relevant and acceptable when you relate them to dakwah and tarbiyah. Ahah!)

So, it's perfectly ok to dream big. Be ambitious about your dreams, but not too ambitious, please. But Inche gabbana, wait seminit, what differentiates between a mere dream and a real, achievable dream then? Ahah. That's easy. It's how much we envisage the dream to be as realistic as possible. In other words, real dreams will need real efforts; how much do we put our efforts in trying to fulfill it.

Was 'Umar's dream unrealistic? Did he blurt it out just for the sake of saying it?

I don't think so. He knew that by saying it out loud, he would inspire other companions to find out what sort of qualities or characteristics that Abu 'Ubaidah, Muadz and Salim possessed. More than that, he surely had hoped that by sharing what he thought about being a true and worthy man, those who had listened to him would put their best efforts to become or at least try to imitate the qualities of those great men!

What really inspires me is that, those names mentioned by 'Umar are real. They are real people with real efficacies and qualities. And the very fact that those names were favoured by 'Umar, an awesome and amazing personality himself, it has indeed added some weight and significance to that statement. Let me put it in a more straight-forward way; it's 'Umar al-Farouk's words people, 'Umar al-Farouk r.a.! For heaven sake!

But above all, Abu 'Ubaidah, Muadz and Salim were not born as Super Saiyas. They were normal people like you, your auntie's best friend, your Math teacher's son in-law and yes, me. They are awesome not because of their family or status. They are amazing not because of their clothes or how many donkeys or camels they owned. And their greatness is not due to their great looks or their impressive speeches. No. They had awed 'Umar that much because he can trust them to shoulder probably the most important task of all; to glorify and exalt Allah's messages.

And what intrigues me most, of all the companions of that time, besides Abu 'Ubaidah and Muadz, 'Umar had also chosen Salim, a boy servant of Abu Huzaifah, a great companion himself. I mean, hallo? Why would 'Umar ever dream of somebody like Salim, a boy-servant?? Because you fool, although he is a boy servant, but he is more than qualified and worthy to uplift the heavy task of glorifying the Almighty's words. That is what had made Salim so special and stand-out from the rest!

See, Islam does not discriminate. It is color blind and status-proof. Anyone and everyone can become somebody if he works hard for it. And I'm not talking about any somebody. This is somebody in the eyes of Allah; whoever manages to become that somebody, then he is a real somebody. Err, get the message..?

Man jada, wa jada. Whoever works for something, he will get what he has aimed for. That is Islam. It is perfect system (manhaj) for the human being. It suits our fitrah and it makes perfect sense to anyone who is and has been looking for the truth.

The key point is, you have to work for it. All those three men wouldn't be as great if what they did was just sitting comfortably at home watching EPL all day long or playing PS3 non-stop as if the world has stopped moving.. Eh. They were great and awesome and superb and cool because they worked hard to become one. Because they wanted to be one. And because they decided to be so. 

And it all started with one small step. The realisation that they need to change. That's it. And it has to start small. Yes, dream big but start small. Abu 'Ubadah didn't become Abu 'Ubadah just like that. Same with Muadz and Salim. It began with the ultimate enlightenment (Read: Pencerahan agung) and then the process of educating one self (Read: Tarbiyah) through what we now know as madrasah tarbiyah of Rasulullah SAW. And tarbiyah ain't a no sweat job. It takes time. And it surely takes a lot of efforts and resources. But it pays, and it pays a lot I can assure you.

You have to learn how to walk before you can run. It might take a small child her whole efforts to stand up and learn how to walk. But once she has mastered it, running is just a piece of cake. 

Dare to dream big! Smiles. [Credit]

Dear my beloved ikhwah and akhawat fillah, in many places in the Quran, Allah has promised us the great victory, that one day, Islam will once again raise its flag on the top of the world. That it will once again rule the universe with ultimate authority and supreme sovereignty. And no one, absolutely no one can stop that from happening.

"Their intention is to extinguish Allah.s Light (by blowing) with their mouths: But Allah will complete (the revelation of) His Light, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it). It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though the disbelievers may detest (it)."

[as-Saff, 61:8-9]

It's Allah's promise, not just a hearsay or some chinwags or gossips. It might sound too ambitious or unrealistic, considering who we are and in what state we are in at the moment.

But Allah wants to inspire us, because the promise of the great victory comes from He Himself. He wants us to seriously look out what sort of qualities and pre-requisites that we need to have in order to become triumphant. And more than that, He does want us to become victorious because we are the caliphs of the universe afterall, of whom He has entrusted the greatest honor of all; to call and invite all to worship Him, to prostrate before Him and to exalt His glorious words.

Yes, He wants us to dream big because of all things, He knows best what awaits us in the future. He wants us to dream big because He, more than anyone else, knows that we can achieve it. And He wants us to dream big simply because it is just the right thing to do.

But big dream has to start somewhere. Big dream needs to begin with a small, rather insignificant step. 

It begins with you. May the force be with you! Ahah!

Smiles.

-gabbana-

Gosh my English has deteroriated from bad to worse! Gasp. I still have a looooonggg way to go. But hey, it starts with small steps eh? Wanna come and join me..? Wink.