A Look in the Mirror
Reflection on Yasmin Mogahed's Lecture
Assalamualaikum and hi, everyone! I hope everyone is doing alright and happy with your loved ones. In this posting, I am going to write down some of the insightful and beneficial input that I've gained from a lecture by Yasmin Mogahed, titled as A Look in the Mirror. My beloved instructor, Sister Fida' had asked me and my classmates to watch this video during our second session to come up with our very own reflections.
From this lecture, there are 3 major points that had been emphasised by Yasmin Mogahed. The first point is about YOLO mentality. YOLO is an abbreviation for You Only Live Once and unfortunately, many people (especially youngsters) nowadays have been religiously incorporating this mentality in their daily lives. Apart from living in current Covid-19 pandemic, we're also facing an epidemic loss of purpose and meaning, as if everything we do in our lives is random and impromptu. Not only that, we're also bound to do things that are prohibited in Islam in order to live up to this mentality because apparently, leading a life that's purposeful and meaningful doesn't appeal to many of us right now.
However, this YOLO mentality is completely against the teaching of Islam. Allah S.W.T mentioned this matter in our holy Quran, which will be simply worded as below:
Oh my believers, have taqwa in me and let everyone see your plan for Tomorrow. (Quran)
Notice how the t-letter in tomorrow is capitalised?
This is because the tomorrow is referring to our lives after akhirah.
I love how Yasmin Mogahed used the concept of moving from our old house to a new one as the analogy to explain this part better. What happened during the process of moving? Of course, we prepare and pack our things (ex: furnitures, clothes, plants) or perhaps, we buy new furnitures for the new house. From this analogy, the new house is actually the final destination after our death and the moving process is actually our preparation to live there. Some of us furnish the new house beautifully but sadly, some of us messed up the process and burned down the house.
This one hits me real hard. I wonder after my 21 years of living, have I been preparing and packing my things nicely for my new home or have I been wasting time and destroyed the things? Afterall, I would want my new home to be fully furnished with beautiful things only. Upon wishing this, I realised that I should strive to become a better version of me every single day.
The second point emphasised by Yasmin Mogahed is about relationship or friendship, in order to be specific. As mentioned by her, our company could actually be the poison that we sip every single day, without we realising. She also added, it may not be our closest friend as it could also be the things that we follow religiously or the people we look up to/idolised. The people or things that we surround ourselves with will affect us internally. The closest companion that we take in our lives will either help us furnish the new house, or burn it down.
This made me think so deeply on who and what did I let myself to be attentive for. I have a lot of friends from different backgrounds but I think it's better to become choosy and particular on whom I choose to be close with. I want my closest companion to become the person that I am aiming to be. For that, I will try to be a better person everyday so that my closest friends will have someone that they deserve to be with because what true friends do is complete and compliment each other in every aspect of life.
The third point emphasised by Yasmin Mogahed is to become more spiritually healthy. We often overlook the fact that we spent too much effort including time and money to become healthy and beautiful externally. There are various choices of organic and healthy foods we can consume for our bodies and there are vast choices or skincare and makeup to doll ourselves with. Without we realising, the body and beauty will give up on us and pass away anyway, but there is only one thing that will remain forever, which is our soul.
It is sad to realise that I had spent too much on my temporary body and beauty but forgotten about my soul that will live eternally. Upon realising this, I want to become more spiritually healthy and spend more time in nourishing my soul. I am going to change to what I am looking everyday in to something that will help me in furnishing my new home beautifully and completely.
Before ending her lecture, Yasmin Mogahed gave us 3 meaningful advices that we all should heed for.
1. Perform solat everyday as it is the spiritual oxygen of our heart and body.
2. Make sure to download an app called MyDuaa as it offers daily supplications.
3. Stay connected to our holy scripture, al-Quran.
I think that's all for now. Thank you for reading, everyone!
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