The Secret to Success

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم

In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful

I have this problem you see.

Of not being able to fully,

Express my feelings truly,

Of what it means to be a muslim in reality.

Deep down inside,

I glorify Allah each day,

I thank Him every step of the way,

For making me a Muslim,

Since the day I was born,

Since I saw the light of day.

When my friends ask me,

"How did you study?"

"What is the secret?"

"Tell us, oh MOTIVATOR!"

And I said,

"Oh, emm.. pay attention in class.."

"Make full use of that time.."

"Bomb the lecturer with questions, do not let go,

until you have erased the all question marks in your mind."

Those were the answers that came out,

Whether I realized it or not.

Truthfully my dear friends,

that wasn't quite the truth.

The secret,

The key,

The way towards success is...

To love your deen,

To love your prophet,

To love your God,

Like there is no tomorrow.

To make your deen,

To make your beloved prophet,

To make Allah, our One and Only God,

The ultimate destination,

The ultimate purpose of life.

I am being philosophical again, I suppose,

But I guess that is the true me,

The real me I haven't been able to bring out,

The true me I have been suppressing,

Though the reason why I hid my true colours,

Is still a mystery,

Even to me.

Learning, studying, 

Is what I have always been good at, 

Is what people always envy me at,

Is what you think is my ability,

Yet, you do not know the rest of the story.

Those are your perspectives,

Now allow me to tell you mine.

EVERYONE,

Is gifted.

Why?

Why don't you believe me?

When God, Allah is the Most Just Sustainer of all the worlds.

EVERYONE,

Is gifted in their own special way.

That is how Allah has made us all,

unique and special,

None can take your place,

Even when that person has the same name,

Or takes the same course as you are,

But no one can truly replace you,

In the 'eyes' of God.

Know this, 

Allah LOVES YOU.

Allah LOVES YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE.

You don't have to be like me,

You don't have to be a genius in class to be loved by Allah,

Which 'genius' said that?

And that is why I love Him,

That is why I make Him my ultimate reason of living.

When people admire me,

When my teachers praise me,

You know what I feel?

I feel like admiring, praising Allah even more.

For in my eyes,

Being able to comprehend knowledge more than others,

Is a gift + responsibility.

I feel like praising God even more each day,

Because I know 

It is He who has given me the knowledge,

It is He who has taught me everything I know up to this moment,

It is He who has given me the permission,

To understand a needle-head from His ocean of knowledge.

Ayatul Kursi...

In which He said (which meant),

"...He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases..." (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 255)

In reality,

When people ask me,

"How did you study?"

"What is the secret?"

"What is your motivation?"

This is my true answer,

I asked God

To give me the understanding

To please, give me your permission

So that I may understand 

One drop from Your vast ocean of knowledge.

I did what my mother told me

Since I was a primary schooler

The three keys

"Berusaha, Berdoa, Bertawakal" (Effort, Pray, Leave the rest to Allah)

I used the three keys,

All the way to university,

And you know what?

It worked.

Amazingly, but not surprisingly,

It worked.

(Smiling)

The secret to my success?

The motivation to learn?

The purpose of life?

The answer is one and the same.

My secret, my motivation, my purpose, 

Is Allah.

The secret to success

Is because I am a Muslim.