assalamu `alaykum,
so apparently some MSA’s do this cool thing of sending out a du`a’ (supplication) list to the mailing list. One can be found here. They probably do this every end of quarter/semester. Seeing as my quarter is rapidly coming to a close, these can be very useful.
I was thinking though… why is it that we only feel the need to do this AT MOST 3 times a year. I mean really, don’t we need the Help of Allah (swt) whenever we study (or as the page even references, work?). How many of us take a second to make just ONE du`a’ off of that list, or any other list, sincerely in hopes that Allah will Give us what ever is best for us?
This really doesn’t just apply to studying or working, but rather as generality in life.
doesn’t it suck how much we lack in our day to day worship?
So I figure there are a some things that should be a part of everyone’s final studying… I really don’t know them all so I’m going to need some help. Please submit comments with ideas or suggestions on getting the most effective finals week!
1. du`a’
2. appropriate amount of time alloted. Subahana’Allah (all Glory is to Allah) its all too often that a subject is necessarily hard, but that we just don’t give it enough time.
3. qiyam (night prayer). What I think is absolutely amazing is that so many Muslims are awake at the oddest of hours “studying” and we don’t have very many group qiyams (not even two rak`as (units of prayer)!!) . I sincerely hope that anyone up at that time is doing some prayer on their own.
4. diet. Unbelievable the amount of junk that gets injected into our bodies during finals. All standards and restrictions are tossed out the window and no one cares for anything. Fruits, nuts, trail mixes, juices and natural foods are excellent alternatives to highly processed, greased up and overly dosed in salt and sugar fast foods that become abundant.
Any other thoughts? I have to be missing something, no?
peace.
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2007 Mar.15 at 11:12 pm
Sarah Al-Habib
Salam Alakuim
Jazak Allah’u khayran, you bring up excellent points.
One thing that strikes me as you were mentioning “action items” sort to say..
Always doing Dhikr.. Taken from Time Managment – doing Dhikr while walking to class. Always keeping Allah in Remembernce- as well as “scoring easy points for oneself” which we often overlook.
Reciting the morning dua’a and athkira before going to class/ work ..
Also contemplating .. reflections .. taking time out even for a few minutes to just sit and reflect will help refresh one’s mind.. and keeps your goals in check.
As well as taking short “power naps/sunnah naps” as the Prophet Muhammad (S) used to do – After Juma’a?
But those are random and Insha’Allah may still be applied in our daily lives if we try.
2007 Mar.16 at 10:07 am
Muneeb Baig
Assalamu Alaikum,
Jazakallah for your post. Some related, more specific things we could do that I’ve found really effective:
1. Pray salat duha (prayer after sunrise): two or four rakah of nafl (voluntary) prayer. There is a hadith that mentiones that Allah will take care of one’s needs throughout the day if one does so.
2. Pray salat ul hajah (prayer in times of need). 2 rakah nafl.
3. Make the best use of time. Very often we end up wasting time pretending to be studying.
4. Once we put our best effort, we leave the results to Allah. Over-fretting often is harmful.
5. If we get stuck on a problem, we can make duas (silently, of course) during the exams, etc.
Hope these benefit, Insha Allah.
2007 Mar.16 at 11:16 pm
nida
assalamualaikum
one thing i notice about many students in general is that they stress out a lot over their exams. feeling the pressure is tight and i know a lot of people work even better under that condition, but i think it’s another thing to spend so much time simply stressing about the work that needs to be done. instead, one can be using that time to actually get the work done instead of waste their time stressing about the fact that they have so much work that needs to be done… (yeah okay that was really redundant)
knowwhatimsayin?
ain’t no use sweatin’ it over such matters. just gota give it our all and place our trust in Allah.
2007 Mar.16 at 11:18 pm
nida
3. Make the best use of time. Very often we end up wasting time pretending to be studying.
….. soooooooooooooooooo true!
and i just realized Muneeb Baig essentially said what i was trying to say in much less and clearer words..
4. Once we put our best effort, we leave the results to Allah. Over-fretting often is harmful.
2007 Mar.17 at 3:56 pm
soondus
One more thing: Reading Quran every day. This is a reminder to myself as well since we often get caught up in everything else in life, we forget to take out even just 5 minutes (if not more) of reading Quran.
2007 Mar.18 at 1:44 pm
Robin Mahmud
Putting things in perspective, and remembering that we are just studying for exams.
Don’t become overly stressed, truly put in your best efforts, and put your trust in Allah.
Here’s a quote from Hakeem Olajuwon on tawakkul, “”Before I started practicing my faith, I used to completely rely on myself. When I had done my best, I would be extremely frustrated if I didn’t win. It would irritate and anger me. And that was causing me to be bad to others by fighting and swearing,” he explained.
“But when I started practicing my faith, I learned that results are not my property. I started doing my best but then I left success and failure to my Creator. Now I was not irritated by failure and was not overinflated by success. That caused me to calm down and improve my behavior towards others on my team and we became a team.”
2007 Mar.18 at 3:49 pm
Marya Bangee
A few things:
*Knowing how to study. It’s really important to learn how to read quickly, how to take notes properly so that when you go back to study things are easier for you, to space things out properly. Example: two people are taking a class; one takes three days to memorize everything, the other spends a day focusing on what they know they need to study. Know yourself and how you learn.
*Take breaks. If you spend too long a period of time studying, at some point it becomes an overload of information and you simply lose the information you learned.
*Get quality sleep/rest – your brain is your most valuable resource, and it should be refreshed and ready to destroy the test.
*Have an optimistic attitude – you will get the A. You will completely, utterly destroy the exam! Once you’re pumped up and in the right mindset, you can even enjoy taking the test – or at least on be stressed, which is the worst mindset to be in when taking an exam.