Hazia’s Reflections

I was sent to yet another training by my company from Wednesday to Friday, the last one was only held last weekend. Well, I actually looked forward to this one due to 2 reasons, 1) it was held during weekdays and 2) it was a religious course.

The venue, a budget eco-chalet in outskirt Hulu Langat, was inspiring. The kampung air and achitecture, refreshing scenery, maroon lecture hall, ala boarding-school dining hall and yellow & green surau with uneven steps, and my favourite, the majestic pond in the heart of the land … all came together to form the perfect picture.

I think none of my colleagues was prepared for what lied ahead. It was so effective to the extent that I actually called my parents the one moment I got home yesterday - to seek their forgiveness for all my wrong-doings. That was really a big deal for me. My mother was impressed and was considering organising one for her association.

The founder ustaz said that he had enough of preaching to religious-minded people. Now, in his twilight years, he wanted to reach out to the ‘other group’ and offering corporate training packages meets that intention. The aims were to turn all of us into ‘Mukmin Professional’ i.e. of pure hearts and competent and to open our ‘mata hati’. We were introduced to ‘reversed parking’ - to remove our shoes in opposite direction before entering lecture hall and surau to avoid traffic afterwards:)

He utilised modern technology and innovative learning techniques for maximum impact. These include heart-gripping video clips, meaningful nasyid songs by popular groups, outdoor games, nature appreciation session and Qi-Kong. We prayed jemaah at the surau 5 times a day, with the male participants taking turns to azan and qamat. Doa/ Wirid Taubat was chanted after each prayer to ‘soften’ our hearts.

After 2.5 days, the course concluded with a shocking module on ‘preparing for your own death’. Bear in mind that the participants’ age range is from 25 to 36. Yeah, that young, imagine! The room was dramatically turned into a funeral scene, with a fake jenazah bundled in white cloth placed in front, burning incense, dim lighting and we had to sit on the carpet. We were then instructed to write our own will. An example was given of a former participant’s will, the 26-year old man died 3 months after attending the course and a copy was sent to his family.

One’s main mission in life should be planning to get to heaven. DEATH is not the end, it is rather the beginning of another life without an end. Roh has to pass through 360 ‘joints’ in the body on its’ way out, pausing many times in grave pain.

I think the second most touching module was ‘Overcoming life’s barriers.’ No matter how religious you are and how hard you work, the little sins will stand in the way of your mission if they are not well-taken care off. The KEY to these sins is DERHAKA or ‘not respecting one’s parents.’ I’ve heard this point many times, but the ustaz’s preaching really hit. Several participants were shedding tears, not me of course, hehe…

Video clips that I couldn’t get out of my mind:

a) A girl in Aceh who turned herself in to be punished by Hukum Hudud for Zina as she feared punishment in the afterlife even more. Wearing white telekung and dress, she kneeled on the floor while the punisher, in black, his face half covered, whipped different parts of her back in between a few-second pauses. Her expression wasn’t clear but the only sounds heard were the cheerings made by young male spectators watching from above.

b) A new bride who lost her husband in a helicopter crash 1 month after their wedding. She was crying on his coffin which was wrapped by the Malaysian flag, asking for his forgiveness, etc

c) Animation on doomsday during Nabi Luth’s period. Fireballs fell from the sky indicated the seriousness of homosexuality lifestyle at that time.

I really enjoyed the outdoor game. It may seem simple - each group has to appoint a blind man to pick up treasure and avoid poison – but the implementation was something else. We had to create and use a code based on words covered during our lecture to instruct the blind men. Example: Syurga – front, Neraka – back, Dunia – sit, Akhirat – stand, Wajib – treasure, Haram – poison. We made a mistake of naming our blind man ‘Roh’. All groups were using the word eg sequence of Roh – Rahim - Dunia – Alam Barzakh – Padang Masyar – Akhirat. It was so confusing. Anyway, my group became the overall winner, we scored the highest points:)

During nature appreciation session on the 2nd night, we sat around the pond. Each group has to credit one of God’s creations eg plants, rocks, river, sky, etc. The most meaningful to me was ‘the sea’. It changes after a certain period, you won’t be caught in hard time or sadness forever. The tide will change. It reminded me of the most painful period of my life eg over a year ago.