Intro

Bismillah hir rahman nir rahim

Assalamualaikum.

I have only recently begun my journey to be a better muslim for Allah. I would like to pen down (type down) my thoughts and things that I've learned and am going to learn throughout my journey in this blog.

InsyaAllah, this personal journal will serve
1. To better my writing and articulation of thoughts
2.  As a reference for myself and others if need be

Let us begin.


Firstly and essentially, the 5 pillars of Islam -

• Shahada: Faith.
• Salat: Prayer.
• Zakāt: Charity.
• Sawm: Fasting.
• Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pillars_of_Islam)

From young, the duas that I know and have memorized by heart are as follows:

1. Surah Al-Fatihah

2. Doa Iftitah

3. Dua during Bow (Rukuu)

4. Standing after Rukuu

5. Postration (Sajdah)

6. Duduk antara dua sujud

7. Tahiyat Awal dan Akhir

8. Surah An-nas

9. Surah Al-Ikhlas
10. Doa sebelum makan
11. Doa sebelum tidur

One of my missions is to learn and memorize more duas, including their meanings (transliterations in English/Malay)

Some duas I've tried to Google to get the English transliterations, but they don't exist. Perhaps because the duas that I was taught from young are based on the Islamic teachings exclusive to Malaysia and Singapore. Or perhaps I just didn't search hard enough.

Speaking of missions, here is a list of things I wish to learn regarding Islam:

1. Arabic language 

This will take a long time but insyaAllah, with Allah's guidance and help, I will make it through and one day be able to read the Quran with fluency.

2. Sejarah nabi-nabi (Prophet Stories!)

3. Daily duas 

Right now, I only utter the English version of the dua before entering the toilet which is: 

"O Allah, I seek refuge and protection in you from the male and female unclean spirits"

(I asked Khai what the spirits were referring to and he said it was the jinns who love toilets. I also heard this again when I was YouTube-ing the types of jinns.)

4. Important duas (for events such as weddings, when death occurs, birthdays, etc.)

5. How to establish Solat Taubat and Solat Istikhara
For Solat Taubat, I need to memorize Surah Al-Kafirun(https://shafiqolbu.wordpress.com/solat-sunat/solat-sunat-taubat/)

Today, I was researching on doa-doa taubat. There are actually several so I'm not sure where I should start. I found there are a few kinds of duas that we can recite or dhikr.

(https://muslimfortress.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/authentic-du_aas-for-istighfaar-seeking-forgiveness.pdf)

I like to use Spotify to learn the duas (converted into "songs" by the Malay community. I guess those people who present nasheeds like Unic or Raihan.) I particularly like the following dua/dhikr taubat:

Munif Ahmad - Zikir Taubat (https://open.spotify.com/track/7DJsvklhH4Ldxp6e9NuIPz)

Unic - Doa Taubat (https://open.spotify.com/track/2WZIgDmtn3Y0dKLjtiVHB3)

I'm still not very clear on my stance regarding music in Islam. I understand that a lot of popular music are haram with their lyrics and music videos. I do have to hear them sometimes cos they are always playing in public places like malls and what not. I find myself singing to some of them cos they're like earworms in my head. For now, I would just listen to my own playlist on Spotify playlist called "Bismillah" (https://open.spotify.com/user/11137213390/playlist/5leMDvBMy7xKwS3FQUmc0U) to countereffect the earworms of pop songs in my head. So, instead of me suddenly singing a haram pop song with meaningless/inappropriate/counterproductive lyrics, I would be singing these songs instead. Religious content which are definitely better for my morals and wellbeing.

Alright, I've run out of steam for now. Hope you have a good day.

Peace be upon you.