I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo, which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. It was an eye-opening day, and a great crowd to present to. As usual, I'll post the slides and then check in with the live commentary and feedback, and offer some additional comments. Without further ado, the slides:

2009_06_08 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition

View more OpenOffice presentations from Eric Ries.

And now, the feedback:

Slansing97: #leanstartup @ericries Stumbled into your live talk, and it's very relevant to me! I'm watching as EA clings onto the waterfall model. Thx!

adamjacksonSF: #GoaP #leanstartup - notes and slides from Eric's preso - doesn't do it justice - go see him live if you can - http://bit.ly/Uherx

yongfook: @ericries is a rock star. Very concise presentation and a great speaker. I am now decompressing with a guinness. Mmm. #goap

Thanks!

ericnakagawa: Show of hands how many in startup here? 40%, How many think they could iterate faster? Same #. #leanstartup #goap

It was great to be in an audience of entrepreneurs who recognized the value of iteration and speed. Even though they may not know how to improve, they were eager to learn. It meant the questions and discussion were very practical.

benjaminjoffe: early adopters of buggy product are visionary customers, sometimes smarter than founders! #goap #ericries

InvisibleGaijin: #goap #leanstartup Eric Ries talks about importance of "visionary customers" in startup success. Brilliant insight.

Many founders don't like to hear that visionary customers are as smart, maybe even more so, than they are. Startups need to spend time with these customers. In fact, early stage companies shouldn't be able to get time from anyone else - who else would be crazy enough to try an truly innovative new product? Incidentally, I can't take credit for this idea - it appears in The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Crossing the Chasm, and many others.

christinelu: if you're building a disruptive innovation ...the only people who you want to talk to are early adopters. not investors says @ericries #goap

heysanford: Nay, recipe for chasm crossing fail. RT @christinelu: building a disruptive innovation? ... only talk to early adopters. @ericries #goap

Continuing on the theme of early adopters, I thought this exchange was really interesting. First of all, let me emphasize how much more important it is to talk to customers than to talk to investors, journalists, and the people who hang around at industry trade shows. I've previously recounted the story of the IMVU "IM add-on" feature, a feature that sounds so good on paper I wound up building it twice. Yet it's one of those features that's only ever requested by investors and engineers - never by customers.

Books like Crossing the Chasm are excellent, but they can be misleading. Getting to the chasm is actually quite difficult; most truly early-stage startups never even get that far. The most important thing is to realize that all strategies and tactics are context-sensitive. It's never "always correct" to do a certain thing, and therefore there really aren't any universal "best practices." Instead, we need to focus on tuning our practices to our real situation. Thus, even something as general as "listening to customers" can actually be lethally bad advice.

davetroy: "Think about how *hard* it would be to get a big company to steal your idea. That paranoia is totally ridiculous." - @ericries at #goap

People who work in big companies often laugh out loud when they hear startup founders acting paranoid about having their great ideas stolen. That's not to say that there are no situations where patent or trade secret protection is important. Rather, it shouldn't be considered obvious. Most startup ideas are actually completely worthless without learning and iteration to back them up.

davetroy: "Fanatical empathy for your customer's pain point is the key to designing great products." - @ericries at #goap Tokyo

I get a particular type of question quite often - I call it the "Steve Jobs defense." The idea is that great product visionaries don't need to listen to customers or test their ideas against reality. They just call forth amazing products from the ether. That's how the iPhone was made, right? I really don't buy this account of product visionaries. For one, it doesn't match my experience having worked with some true visionaries at all. It also doesn't seem to line up with the documentary record. Read Founders at Work or take a look at this video of Jobs himself, and see if you see anything at odds with that story.

My belief is that what makes product visionaries awesome is their ability to have radical empathy for their customers, and then to rigorously hold teams accountable for building solutions that match that standard.


Most surprising of all, to me at least, were the questions I got about how to reconcile the lean startup with "the Japanese way of doing business." Since I learned much of what I know about lean from studying Toyota, you can imagine how great a shock this was. After some discussion, it seemed like what I was hearing was that Japanese companies like Toyota have been so successful that many people have forgotten the entrepreneurial roots of those same companies. For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend reading Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production.


I want to thank everybody who helped oragnize the Startonomics Japan event and the whole Geeks on a Plane trip, especially Dave McClure and Founders Fund, who arranged for me to speak in Tokyo. I had a great time, and learned a great deal.

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Most of us are swimming in a sea of data about our products, companies, and teams. Too much of this data is non-actionable. That’s because many of our reports feed us vanity metrics: numbers that make us look good but don’t really help make decisions.

Yet even among those who have access to good actionable metrics, I’ve noticed a phenomenon that prevents taking maximum advantage of data. It’s a condition I call datablindness, and it's a painful affliction.

Imagine you are crossing the street. You constantly assess the situation, looking for hazards and timing your movements carefully to get across safely. Now imagine the herculean task that faces those who are blind. That they can function so well in our inhospitable modern life is impressive. But imagine if a blind person had to navigate the street as follows: whenever they wanted to know about their surroundings, they had to ask for a report. Sometime later, a guide would rattle off useful information, like the density of cars in the immediate vicinity, how that density compares to historical averages, the average mass and velocity of recent cars. Is that a good substitute for vision? I think we can all agree that it wouldn’t get most people across the street.

That’s what most startup decisions are like. Because of the extreme unknowns inherent in startup situations, we are all blind – to the realities of what customers what, market dynamics, and competitive threats. In order to use data effectively, we have to find ways to overcome this blindness. Periodic or on-demand reports are one possibility, but we can do much better. We can achieve a level of insight about our surroundings that is much more like vision. We can learn to see.

I got a powerful taste of datablindness recently, as I’ve started to work with various large companies as partners in setting up events, speeches, and other products to sell around the Lean Startup concept. Yet, whenever I find myself transitioning responsibility for one of these events to these third-parties, I have this sudden sensation of loss. I suddenly lose my ability to judge if our marketing programs are being effective. I start to get very fuzzy on questions like “are we making progress towards our goals?” In other words, I’m experiencing datablindness.

What’s happening? Mostly, I’m no longer being hit over the head with data.

For example, a recent event I held started with a customer validation exercise (actually, this example is fictionalized for clarity). I had it all set up to a jury-rigged SurveyMonkey-PayPal minimum viable product. It was pretty ugly, the marketing and design sucked, and I was embarrassed by it. Yet it had one huge advantage. Whenever someone decided to buy a ticket, I got an email immediately letting me know. So throughout the process of taking deposits and then selling seats, I was getting constant impossible-to-ignore feedback about how I was doing. For example, I quickly learned that when I twittered about the event, more often than not I would make a sale. Yet, when I tried other forms of promotion, I’d have to accept their failures when the emails failed to come. True, this wasn’t nearly as good as a true split-testing environment, but it was powerful nonetheless.

Now that I put on events with official hosts and sponsors, my experience is different. Of course, I can still get access to the data about who’s signing up and when – and a lot more analytics, to boot – but I have to ask. Asking imposes overhead. When I get a response, when someone tells me “hey, we had 3 more signups” I’m never quite sure if those are the same three signups I heard about yesterday, and this person just has somewhat stale information, or if we had three new ones. And of course, if I twitter about the workshop on a Friday afternoon, I won’t know if that had any impact until Monday – unless I want to be a pain and bother someone on their weekend. There are lots of good reasons why I can’t have instantaneous access to this data, and each partner has their own. I wonder if their internal marketing folks are as datablind as I feel. It’s not a pleasant sensation.

Let me give another example (as usual, a lightly fictionalized composite) drawn from my consulting practice. This startup has been busy transforming their culture and process to incorporate split-testing. I remember a period where they were suffering from acute datablindness. The creators of split-tests were disconnected from the results. So the product development team was busy creating lots of split-tests for lots of hypotheses. Each day, the analytics team would share a report with them that had the details of how each test was doing. But for a variety of reasons, nobody was reading these reports. The number of active experiments was constantly growing, individual tests were never getting completed. This had bad effects on the user experience, but much worse was the fact that the company was expending energy measuring but not really learning.

The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple. It required two things. First, we had to revise the way the reports were presented. Instead of a giant table that packed in a lot of information about the ever-growing list of experiments, we gave each experiment it’s own report, complete with basic visualizations of which variation was currently more successful. (This is one of the three A’s of metrics: Accessible). Second, we changed the process for creating a split-test to integrate it in with the team’s story prioritization process. The Product Owner would not mark an experiment-related story as “done” until the team had collected enough data to make a decision about the outcome of the experiment relative to their expectations. Since only a certain number of stories can be in-progress at any one time, these experiment stories threaten to clog up the pipeline and prevent new work from starting. That’s causing the Product Owner and team to spend more time with each other reviewing the results of experiments, which is allowing them to learn and iterate much faster. Within a few weeks, they have already discovered that huge parts of their product, which cause a lot of extra work for the product development team due to their complexity, are not affecting customer behavior at all. They’ve learned to see this waste.

Curing datablindness isn’t easy, because unlike real blindness, datablindness is a disability that many people find refreshingly comfortable. When we only have selective access to data, it’s much easier to be reassured that we’re making progress, or even to fall back on judging progress by how busy our team is. For a lean startup, this lack of discipline is anathema. So how do we reduce datablindness?

1. Have data cause interrupts. We have to invent process mechanisms that force decision makers to regularly confront the results of their decisions. This has to happen with regularity, and without too much time elapsing, or else we might forget what decisions we made. When the incidence rate is small, emails or text messages are a great mechanism. That’s why we have operations alerts trigger a page, but it can also work for other customer events. I’ve often wanted to wire up a bell to sales data, so that when we make a sale, we literally hear the cash register ring.
   
   When the volume is too high for these kinds of tricks, we can still create effective interrupts. Imagine if the creator of a new split-test received a daily email with the results of that test, including the computer’s judgment of which branch was winning. Or imagine an automatic system that caused the creator of a new feature to get daily updates on its usage for the first three weeks of it being live. Certainly our marketing team should be getting real-time alerts about the impact of a new promotion or ad blitz.
   
   
2. Require data to justify decisions. Whenever you see someone making a decision, ask them what data they looked at. Remember that data can come in qualitative as well as quantitative forms. Just the act of asking can have powerful effects. It serves as a regular reminder that it’s possible to make data-based decisions, even if it’s not easy. When you hear someone say that they think it would have been impossible to use data to influence their decision, that might be a signal to investigate via root cause analysis.
   
   My experience is that companies that ask questions about how decisions get made are much more meritocratic than those that don’t. Any human organization is vulnerable to politics and cults of personality. Curing datablindness is not a complete antidote, but it can provide an alternative route for well-intentioned people to advocate for what they think is right.
   
   
3. Use pilot programs. Another variation on this theme is to consistently pilot new initiatives before rolling them out to full-scale release. This is true for split-testing features, but it’s also true for marketing programs or even operations changes. In general, avoid make big all-at-once changes. Insist on showing that the idea works in micro-scale, and then proceed to roll it out on a larger scale. There are a lot of advantages to piloting, but the one that bears on datablindness is this: it’s extremely difficult to argue that your pilot program is a success without referring back to the expectations that got it funded in the first place. At a minimum, the pilot team will have to consult a bunch of data right before their final “success” presentation. As people get more and more used to piloting, they will start to ask themselves “why wait until the last minute?” (See Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter Drucker for more on this thesis.)
   

Luckily, datablindness is not an incurable condition. Have stories of how you’ve seen it cured? Share them in the comments, so we can all learn how to eradicate it.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Sharp End of the Stick (steveblank.com)
• Validated learning about customers (startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com)

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Some people, when they start to realize the power of using data to inform their decisions, become obsessed with optimization. I think this idea is particularly appealing to those of us from an engineering background. By reducing the decisions we have to make to a series of quantitative questions, we can avoid a lot of real-life messiness. Unfortunately, most decisions that confront startups lack a definitive right answer. Sometimes an early negative result from an experiment is a harbinger of doom for that product, and means it should be abandoned. Other times, it’s just an indicator that further iteration is needed. The only way to get good at these decisions is to practice making them, pay attention to what happens, compare it to what you thought would happen, and learn, learn, learn.

This has given rise to another school of thought, one that sees quantitative analysis, models, and anything involving spreadsheets as inherently anti-innovative and, therefore, anti-startup. But this is wrong, too. Spreadsheets, and predictive modeling in particular, have an important role to play in startups. It’s just very different than what it looks like in other contexts.

Let’s first take a look at what happens when spreadsheets go horribly wrong. For a change of pace, I’ll take an example from a startup inside a large enterprise. Imagine a general manager that has read The Innovator’s Dilemma and related books, and is therefore trying hard to help her organization make a transition to a new product category via disruptive innovation. She knows the internal politics are tricky, but she’s navigated them well. She has a separate team, with its own culture and office, and a mandate straight from top management to innovate without regard to the company’s historic products, channels, or supply chain. So far, so good.

Still, this manager is going to spend the company’s money, and needs to be held accountable. So somebody from the CFO’s organization prepares an ROI-justification spreadsheet for this new team. Because this is a new skunkworks-type project, everyone involved is savvy enough to understand that the initial ROI is likely to be low, much lower than projects that are powered by sustaining innovation. And so the spreadsheet is built with conservative assumptions, including a final revenue target.

Everything that’s happened so far seems reasonable. And yet we’re now headed for trouble. No matter how low we make the revenue projections for this new product, it’s extremely unlikely that they are achievable. That’s because the model is based on assumptions about customers that are totally unproven. If we already knew who the customer was, how they would behave, how much they would pay, and how to reach them, this wouldn’t be a disruptive innovation. When the project winds up getting cancelled for failing to meet its ROI justification, it’s natural for the entrepreneur to feel like it was the CFO – and their innovation-sucking spreadsheet – that is the real cause.

And yet, it’s not really fair to ask that the company’s money be spent without anyone bothering to build a financial model that can be used to judge success. Certainly venture-backed startups don’t have this luxury – every business plan has a model in it. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do. Companies that reliably fail to make their forecasted numbers are exceptionally prone to “management retooling.”

I think the problem with this approach is not the presence of the spreadsheet, but how it’s used. In a startup context, numbers like gross revenue are actually vanity metrics, not actionable metrics. It’s entirely possible for the startup to be a massive success without having large aggregate numbers, because the startup has succeeded in finding a passionate, but small, early adopter base that has tremendous per-customer behavior. Similarly, it’s easy to generate large aggregate numbers by simply falling back to non-disruptive or non-sustainable tactics (see Validated learning about customers for one example). And in a corporate context, a result in which the startup proves that a particular innovation is non-viable is actually very valuable learning.

The challenge is to find a way to use spreadsheets that can reward all of these positive outcomes, while still holding the team accountable if they fail to deliver. In other words, we want to use the spreadsheet to quantify our progress using the most important unit: validated learning about customers.

The solution is to change our focus from outputs to inputs. One way to conceive of our goal in an early-stage venture is to incrementally “fill in the blanks” for the business model that we think will one day power our startup. For example, say that your business model calls for a 4% conversion rate – as ours did initially at IMVU.

After a few months of early beta at IMVU, we discovered that our actual conversion rate was about 0.4%. That’s not too surprising, because our product was pretty bad in those days. But after a few more iterations, it became clear that improvements in the product were going to drive the conversion rate up – but probably not by a factor of 10. As the product got better, we could see the rate getting closer and closer to the mythical “one percent rule.” Even that early, it became clear that 4% was not an achievable goal. Luckily, we also discovered that certain other metrics, like LTV and CPA were much better than we initially projected. Running the revised business model with these new numbers was great news – we still had a shot at a viable business.

That’s hardly the end of the story, since there is still a long way to go between validating a business model in micro-scale and actually building a mainstream business. But proving your assumptions with early adopters is an essential first step. It provides a baseline against which you can start to assess your long-term assumptions. If it costs $0.10 to acquire an early adopter, how much should it cost to acquire a mainstream customer? $0.50? $1.00? Maybe. But $10.00? Unlikely.

Think back to the conflict between our Innovator’s Dilemma general manager and her nemesis, the CFO. The resolution I am suggesting is that they jointly conceive of their project as filling-in the missing parts of the spreadsheet, replacing assumptions and guesses with facts and informed hypotheses. As the model becomes clear, then – and only then – does it make sense to start trying to set milestones in terms of overall revenue. And as long as the startup is in learning and discovery mode – which means at least until the manager is ready to study Crossing the Chasm – these milestones will always have to be hybrids, with some validation components and some gross revenue components.

This model of joint accountability is at the heart of the lean startup, and is just as applicable to venture-backed, bootstrapped, and enterprise startups. As with most startup practices, it requires us to do a constant balancing act between execution and learning – both of which require tremendous discipline. The payoff is worth the effort.

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The hosts for May was Lori of Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness (The pictures through out this post are from Lori of Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness and Mary of One Perfect Bite. ) Here is Lori's post.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit... You know the rest, right? If not I will be happy to sing it for you.

This month the challenge is all about choice and chickpeas. And as luck would have it, chickpeas are pretty inexpensive. Here are a couple dishes that will not challenge your pocketbook but may challenge you.

Mark Bittman has some amazing ideas and amazing cookbooks. I have chosen Chickpea Fries for this months recipe. But if that does not sound appealing to you I have also chosen Falafel. You can live on the edge and make both, your choice.

Beans have such benefits. They help reduce cholesterol, cost relatively little, offer more fiber in your diet and are environmentally friendly. By that I mean, people don't realize that there is quite a cost in eating beef for instance. They are pretty heavy animals that have to be cargoed around to graze or be moved before and after slaughter. So for this reason it is quite expensive and detrimental to the environment. Now, before all you beef lovers get up in arms, I want to say that beef is great. I could write a whole post on it's virtues too. I just want to suggest that we have a meal once in a while, if not weekly, consisting of beans.

CHICKPEA FRIES
Mark Bittman, How To Cook Everything; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

neutral oil, like grapeseed, corn, for greasing and frying
1 cup chickpea flour, sifted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Finely grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Grease a baking sheet or pizza pan with a rim and set aside. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Gradually add the chickpea flour with a large pinch of salt and pepper, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Reduce to a gentle bubble, stir int he olive oil and cook for just a minute.

2. Scoop the chickpea mixture onto the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Let cool for a few minutes and then cover loosely with parchment or plastic. Refrigerate until chilled through, about 30 minutes (but up to a day, covered tightly, after it's completely cool).

3. Put 1/8 to 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the chickpea flour mixture into 3 x 1/2- cutter). Gently put batches of the fries into the hot oil, rotating them gently for even cooking and browning on all sides, about 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Drain the fries on paper towels and immediately sprinkle with salt, lots of pepper and a good dusting of Parmesan if you like. Serve hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges.


Falafel: Chickpea Patties
Recipe by Madelain Farah, Lebanese Cuisine, Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001

* 1 pound dried chickpeas
* 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, optional
* Salt and pepper, as needed
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Sandwiches:

* 6 to 8 pitas, tops sliced open and lightly toasted
* Shredded lettuce, as needed
* Tomato wedges, as needed
* Sliced red onion, as needed
* Sliced cucumbers, as needed
* Tahini Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Make the Falafel: Soak the chickpeas in cold water in the refrigerator overnight.

Drain the chickpeas and place them with the onion in the bowl of a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the oil. Mix well. Process the mixture a second time. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and deep-fry or pan-fry in hot oil.

Make the Sandwiches: Stuff the pitas with lettuce and nestle the falafel patties inside. Top with the rest of the ingredients and drizzle with the tahini sauce. Serve immediately.

Tahini Sauce:

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Mash the garlic and salt together. Add the tahini, mixing well. The sauce will thicken. Gradually add the water, blending thoroughly. Then add the lemon juice. Blend well.

Note: This can be a thin or thick sauce, depending upon the use and preference. Simply adjust with lemon juice and water. This can be used with vegetables or in combination with other recipes.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings


TIPS
Here are some tips for the falafel:

In regards to falafel, I have made it many times and it has always fallen apart on me. I usually end up putting an egg in it as a binder. This time I am not, come what may because I know others have had success without egg. I will say if you do not want to go the deep fry route, you can place little mounds in a muffin tin and do it up in the oven at about 375F. But the oil really does something magical to them. Again, your choice. Don't you just love all the choices this month?

Also the chickpea flour can be found at Indian Markets (called Besan there) and Italian Markets and Health Food Stores.
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Next week I head to Austin, TX for my first visit ever. I'm going to be speaking on June 3rd at an event sponsored by the Technology Entrepreneurs Exchange (TeXchange), "the premier networking organization in Texas for business executives and entrepreneurs to meet, exchange ideas and share experiences." (Also see below for details of another event the day before)

Normally, these events are for members only, but they are making an exception for the lean startup, and the dinner will be open to the public. You can register here. There is also a special discounted rate available for entrepreneurs and bootstrappers, about which you can learn more here. I really like their event format, which includes dinner, moderated table discussions - and then a Q&A session. I expect that will lead to much deeper (and tougher) questions. Bring it on!

Here's their description of the event:

The current macroeconomic climate presents unparalleled opportunities for those that can thrive with constrained resources. The Lean Startup is a practical approach for creating and managing a new breed of company that excels in low-cost experimentation, rapid iteration, and true customer insight. It uses principles of agile software development, open source and web 2.0, and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation.

This presentation will empower entrepreneurs and managers to:

-Identify a profitable business model faster and cheaper than your competitors.

-Continuously discover what customers want to buy before building or making follow-on investments in new features.

-Ship new software at a dizzying pace: multiple times a day while improving quality and lowering costs.

-Build a company-wide culture of decision-making based on real facts, not opinions.

In this presentation, serial entrepreneur Eric Ries will share practical solutions based in his work building IMVU to more than 25 million members worldwide and his experiences consulting to more than a dozen technology startups.

Learn more here.

On the day before the TeXchange event (June 2nd), I'll be at a much smaller invite-only gathering sponsored by Austin Ventures. This will be an in-depth discussion with a handful of entrepreneurs and founders that have been pre-selected. This event is being organized by Manuel Rosso, an EIR at Austin Ventures, and my former collaborator back when he was VP of Marketing at IMVU. I asked him to reserve a seat or two for blog readers; if you're interested in coming to the event, you need to email him directly and explain why you want to be there.

Once again, thanks to everyone who can come out to join the discussion in Austin. As usual, if you're a reader, please come say hello - and bring your questions.
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Ikatan ukhuwah kekuatan kami
Mentarbiyah mad'u ke akar umbi
Di dunia penuh cabaran
Sinar halaqoh membina harapan

Kembali kepada iman yang murni
Ketaqwaan insan misi kami
Tahajjud dirikan Al-Quran amalkan
Islam dijadikan jalan kehidupan

Universiti Tarbiyah Pendakwah
Setiap warganya mantap berdakwah
Berilmu, beriman, berpandangan jauh
Tarbiyah membentuk pegangan teguh

Jihad adalah jalan juang kami
Kami berdakwah demi rehda ilahi
Hidup mulia, mati syuhada
Matlamat kami, menginjaki syurga

=========================================

Luasnya samudera dalamnya bumi
Mendasari ilmu ke akar umbi
Di dunia tanpa sempadan
Kami berazam membina harapan

Berpegang kepada nilai yang murni
Kemakmuran insan misi kami
Hasil dituai benih disemai
Laba dinikmati beramai-ramai

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Setiap warganya cerdas dan tangkas
Berilmu, beriman, berpandangan jauh
Dibidang teknologi berdiri teguh

Bersama ilmu, yakin dan jati diri
Kami bertekad mencurah bakti
Untuk dunia, untuk manusia
Matlamat kami, sejahtera semua

=========================================

umairzulkefli©2009
credit also to : hafizal, amin
logo by : Abd Hilmi

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Suatu pagi di tahun 2006...

Jam menunjukkan 4.45am.

"Bagusnya adik-adik form 3 ni, ramai yang bangun solat malam," Getus hati kecilku. Terdetik rasa kagum dan bangga dengan pelajar-pelajar tingkatan 3 tahun ini. Ada yang sedang sedang belajar. Persediaan untuk PMR, semoga keputusan mereka cemerlang tahun ini.

1 hari selepas PMR 2006...

"Aik? Mana diorang ni semua? Lesap? Selalunya ramai?" Aku terpinga-pinga sendirian. Waktu yang sama, hanya 1 malam selepas Peperiksaan PMR selesai.



Mungkin fenomena yang berlaku hampir di setiap sekolah apabila musim peperiksaan berkunjung tiba.

Tiap-tiap malam diadakan solat hajat.

Selepas solat hajat bacaan yassin beramai-ramai.

Pagi-pagi ramai yang baca Al-Quran, secara konsisten.

Ma'thurat juga tidak ketinggalan.

Solat malam turut didirikan.

Doanya khusyuk dan sujud diperpanjangkan.

Namun hampir kesemuanya hilang selepas musim peperiksaan. Tuhan hanya dicari ketika adanya keperluan. Menjadikan TUHAN 'keperluan bermusim'. Jika kita buka kepada skop yang lebih luas, ia berlaku kepada hampir semua manusia, di setiap peringkat, pada mana-mana zaman sekalipun.

Solat istikharah hanya ketika ingin bernikah.

Berdoa ketika datangnya kesusahan.

Datang ke surau dan masjid ketika urusan dunia terasa payah diharungi.

Namun ketika Allah telah menurunkan pertolonganNya, dia kembali kepada keadaan asalnya.

"Alah, baru pukul 3, asar pukul 4:30, nanti pukul 4 aku sembahyanglah."

"Baca Al-Quran? Yasin malam Jumaat dahla." (Itupun kalau dia nak baca dan di surau tempatnya pergi ada buat bacaan yasin. Bila dengar kononnya baca yasin di malam jumaat bid'ah, lagilah tak buat)

Mengapa? Mengapa ini semua terjadi?

Fitrah manusia memang akan kembali kepada Tuhan apabila menemui kebuntuan, kepayahan serta kegagalan. Namun kita bukannya hamba yang tidak tahu berterima kasih lagi bersyukur. Jangan melampaui batas!

Dan apabila manusia ditimpa bahaya dia berdoa kepada Kami dalam keadaan berbaring, duduk atau berdiri, tetapi setelah Kami hilangkan bahaya itu daripadanya, dia (kembali) melalui (jalannya yang sesat), seolah-olah dia tidak pernah berdoa kepada Kami untuk (menghilangkan) bahaya yang telah menimpanya. Begitulah orang-orang yang melampaui batas itu memandang baik apa yang selalu mereka kerjakan.
[10:12]

Ingatlah Allah di setiap ketika, di setiap sedutan nafas, denyutan jantung, langkahan kaki dan di setiap detik waktu. Bukan hanya di musim-musim tertentu!

p/s : To All UTP 2nd Year 1st Chemical Students, HAPPY HOLIDAY!! (^_^)V
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Ana teringin untuk memberi pendapat dalam perkara ini.Memang benar, Rasulullah SAW juga berpolitik, tetapi baginda tidak mencontohkan politik pada permulaan Islam. Sebaliknya baginda menumpukan kepada pembinaan ummat, mencetak generasi Rabbani terlebih dahulu. Atau dalam erti kata lain, berdakwah untuk membina insan-insan yang beriman, sanggup berkorban jiwa dan raga untuk Islam. Berdakwah untuk melahirkan lebih ramai pendakwah.

Kalau kita nak menangani masalah umat, kita kena cari punca masalahnya. Kita kena selesaikan masalah akarnya terlebih dahulu, ataupun ia akan menimbulkan masalah-masalah lain. Analogikan sebatang pokok mempelam, ranting-ranting serta dahannya berjurai ke dalam pagar rumah kita. Ini justeru amat menggangu ketenteraman kita. Apa yang kita kena buat? Kerat ranting-ranting serta dahan-dahan itu? Ia hanya akan menyelesaikan masalah buat seketika, tidak lama kemudian dahan akan tumbuh kembali. Solusi yang paling tepat ialah? Kita tebang! Begitu caranya, sampai bila-bila pun pokok itu takkan menganggu kita lagi.

Begitu juga dengan permasalahan ummat sekarang. Sekarang kita melihat ummat buat maksiat, berzina, minum arak, tak solat. Lepas tu dengan kuasa yang ada pada kita, memaksa mereka meninggalkan maksiat, memaksa mereka bersolat, menghukum mereka yg melanggar hukum-hukum Islam. Ceramah-ceramah kita tekankan,"Jangan berzina, haram, dalilnya ini....","Aurat wajib ditutup! Dalilnya.." dan sebagainya. Tetapi kita tidak pernah mengkaji mengapa mereka melakukan maksiat. Adakah kerana mereka tidak tahu hukum? Bukan.. Masalah umat sekarang adalah Masalah Aqidah. Kurangnya kefahaman terhadap mengapa perlu tunduk kepada Islam. Kurangnya kefahaman mengapa perlunya kita mentaati setiap perintah Allah. Jadi ini yang perlu diselesaikan. Pemahaman perlu diberikan kepada umat. Dalam kata yang lebih mudah, DAKWAH & TARBIYAH perlu berjalan dengan serius dan rutin. Sekarang ni kita tengok ramai orang berbuat maksiat adalah sebab kita tidak berdakwah kepada mereka. Kita tidak pernah melakukan pendekatan peribadi kepada mereka, membimbing serta membantu mereka.

Maaf kalau ana katakan, kalau dakwah berjalan, kita tidak perlu susah-susah kempen sana sini supaya orang sokong Parti Islam. Kalau dakwah berjalan, orang-orang yang telah ditarbiyah ini semuanya akan secara automatik memilih orang yang beriman sebagai ketua mereka. Lihat sahaja contoh yang ditunjukkan baginda Nabi SAW. Ketika nak menubuhkan negara Islam di Madinah, baginda tidak adapun berkempen untuk orang-orang Madinah mengangkatnya sebagai ketua. Ketika itu ada Abdullah bin Ubay bin Salul yang sangat-sangat berpengaruh. Tidak ada pilihanraya pun diakukan. Ini kerana orang-orang Madinah ketika itu sudah beriman semuanya. Kita singkap kembali sirah,3 tahun sebelum hijrahnya Nabi dan Abu Bakar ke Madinah, Rasulullah telah terlebih dahulu menghantar Mus'ab bin Umair dan Abdullah Ibnu Maktum ke Madinah. Untuk berkempen pilih Rasulullah jadi pemimpinkah? Tidak..tetapi untuk berdakwah menyebarkan Islam kepada masyarakat Madinah. Barulah ketika itu hukum-hukum Islam boleh dilaksanakan dengan saksamanya, ketika semua orang bersedia untuk mengambil Islam sebagai hukum.

Bayangkan sekarang, jika hukum-hukum hudud tiba-tiba dilaksanakan, siapa yang akan memberontak? Orang-orang yang bermaksiat inilah. Mereka yang menjadikan zina, arak, judi dan lain-lain yang sewaktu dengannya sebagai rutin harian mereka. Apabila aurat diwajibkan untuk ditutup, siapa yang akan bangkit melawan? Pemain-pemain bola sepak Malaysia.. Apabila hijab muslimah sebenar wajib dikenakan, siapa yang akan protes? Kawan-kawan kita yang tudungnya main selempang sana sini, yang pakai seluar jeans ketat, yang berpegang pada dalil kepala otak sendiri, "Allah tidak tengok rupa, yang penting hati mau baik," dan lain-lain 1001 macam ragam manusia. Jangan salahkan mereka, tapi salahkan diri kita sendiri. Selama ini kita tidak pernah berusaha untuk mengingatkan mereka, sehingga mereka semakin jauh daripda kebenaran.

Yang paling penting, adakah dengan kaedah kekuasaan dan penetapan hukum undang-undang, dapat memastikan bahawa maksiat akan dapat dihapuskan? Baik, sekarang kita hendak hentikan judi daripada berleluasa, pelacur-pelacur tidak lagi melacur dan arak tidak lagi diminum. Jadi dengan kekuasaan yang ada, kita tutup semua pusat-pusat judi. Genting Highland tu, bom aje. Semua kelab-kelab malam, tutup! Kedai-kedai arak, haramkan semua. Aset-aset kta bekukan dan rampas semuanya. Fikirkan, selesaikah masalah? Umat akan berhenti bermaksiatkah? Tidak sama sekali. Malah mereka akan lebih kreatif dalam mencari alternatif-alternatif lain untuk memuaskan nafsu mereka. Lihat contoh di ibu kota, apabila pencegah maksiat kuat meronda di taman-taman, pasangan-pasangan yang ingin berzina ini mencari alternatif lain, buat projek dalam teksi! Mereka akan tetap minum arak, berzina dan berjudi, sebab itulah yang disukai mereka. Inilah yang berlaku jika kita hanya memaksa tanpa memberi kefahaman terlebih dahulu. Laksanakan hudud pun, orang-orang yang masih terlepas, melihat kepada pesalah zina yang dihukum, akan berfikir,"Bodoh mamat tu. Nak berzina pandai-pandailah cover. Tak professional. Aku tak kantoi pun." Astaghfirullah...bukan ini yang kita mahukan, bukan ini yang kita harapkan. Kalau di zaman Rasulullah, pesalah zina itu sendiri yang pergi mengaku dan meminta dihukum. Macam mana nak ada generasi seperti ini, yang sanggup mengaku kesalahannya, serta mahu dihukum, andai dakwah serta tarbiyah tidak berjalan? Andaikan seseorang itu telah ditarbiyah dan diberi kefahaman. Diberi sebuah bilik terkunci dengan pelacur-pelacur yang rupawan sekalipun, insya-Allah, dia tidak akan berzina. Kerana dia sangat-sangat yakin akan dosa dan azab yang bakal diterimanya. Ana bukan menolak hukum hudud. Ia memang satu hukum yang wajib dilaksanakan. Tetapi perlaksanaannya perlu disertai dengan kefahaman. Dalam erti kata dakwah perlu diperhebat agar mereka dapat menerima hukum-hukum ini. Seandainya kita sudah memegang tampuk pemerintahan, maka laksanakan sahaja.

Maaf, ana tidak mengatakan bahawa politik tidak perlu dijalankan. Rasulullah juga berpolitik. Mengapa kita perlu menolak sesuatu yang telah dilakukan oleh Rasulullah? Cuma yang menjadi masalahnya adalah apabila kita memahami serta menganggap bahawa berpolitik adalah satu-satunya cara untuk berdakwah dan menegakkan Negara Islam. Kita boleh berpolitik, tetapi berpolitik sebagai salah satu cara berdakwah. Maknanya dengan berpolitik kita akan menarik seramai-ramainya orang untuk kita tarbiyah serta beri kefahaman mengenai Islam dan kemudiannya berdakwah kepada masyarakat. Kita lihat contoh HAMAS. Kaji dengan teliti, HAMAS tidak bangkit dengan berpolitik. Politik ini hanya kesan daripada dakwah yang mereka lakukan. HAMAS diasaskan oleh As-Syahid Syeikh Ahmad Yassin. Beliau pulang dari Mesir pada tahun 1968. Syeikh Yassin pada asalnya menuntut di Universiti Ain Syams dan kemudiannya pada tahun yang kedua dihantar pulang kerana terlibat dengan Ikhwanul Muslimin. Sekembalinya beliau ke Palestin, beliau menarik perhatian generasi-generasi muda melalui khutbah Jumaatnya. Dari situ pemuda-pemuda yang berminat ini beliau tarbiyah. Kemudian, Intifadah yang pertama tercetus pada tahun 1988. Lihat, 20 tahun Syeikh Yassin mentarbiyah penduduk-penduduk palestin. 20 tahun dakwah dijalankan. HAMAS akhirnya hanya memasuki politik bermula pada awal 2000. Lihat dengan teliti, pergerakan HAMAS bermula dengan dakwah. Dan HAMAS tidak perlu bersusah-payah berkempen, walaupun satu dunia berkempen yang buruk-buruk mengenai HAMAS. Tetapi HAMAS tetap menguasai 76 kerusi daripada 132 kerusi yang dipertandingkan di seluruh Palestin dalam pilihanraya 2006. Rakyat Palestin amat menyokong HAMAS kerana kesan dakwah yang telah diasaskan lebih daripada 70 tahun. Sekali lagi, 70 tahun. Kesimpulannya, politik itu penting, tetapi ia hanyalah sebagai alat untuk memperjuangkan dakwah.

Afwan jiddan, ana menulis bukan kerana hendak mengajak kita semua memboikot Parti-Parti Islam, menjatuhkan satu pihak atau menyokong mana-mana pihak. Cuma ana mengajak kita semua fikirkan, bagaimana hendak menyuburkan Islam di bumi di mana sahaja kita berpijak. Sebarkan fikrah Islam, bukannya mengajak orang kepada parti dan bendera semata. Jika pilihanraya diadakan, kita tiada pilihan lain, selain daripada memilih berisan alternatif. Mana mungkin kita memilih pemimpin yang akan menjadikan Islam sebagai mainan dan senda gurau? Dan ana menulis bukan untuk menolak kita melaksanakan hukum hudud. Tetapi ana mahu mengajak kita semua membuka mata, fikirkan bagaimana agar ia dapat dilaksanakan dengan berkesan dan harmoni.

Apa yang perlu kita lakukan sebenarnya adalah berdakwah. Tarbiyah. Contohilah apa yang telah dilakukan oleh para pendahulu kita. Dan cara terbaik untuk berdakwah, mentarbiyah, memberi kefahaman dan memantau setiap individu adalah dengan sistem usrah ataupun halaqah. Mungkin ramai yang tidak setuju, tetapi inilah realitinya. Tetapi tentu sekali usrah yang dilakukan ialah usrah yang serius dan bersistematik. Bukan setakat melepaskan batuk di tangga. Usrah yang dijalankan hanya untuk melengkapkan silibus atau memenuhi syarat jemaah. Usrah sepatutnya menjadi nukleus, sebagai pusat yang menggerakkan seluruh jemaah. Dari usrahlah lahirnya kefahaman, kemudian munculnya pengarahan dan seterusnya terbentuklah organisasi yang tersusun. Hanya bermula dengan barisan usrah. Inilah yang dikatakan oleh Syeikh Mustafa Masyhur, “Tarbiyah bukanlah segala-galanya, tetapi segala-galanya tidak berguna tanpa tarbiyah.” Mungkin ada yang mengatakan, “Nak kena tarbiyah dulu, tunggu semua orang beriman dulu, bila nak tertegaknya daulah Islam?” Mari kita buat kira-kira mudah. Sekarang ana menjadi murobbi atau naqib. Ana mentarbiyah 5 orang anak halaqah. Katakanlah ana mentarbiyah mereka selama setahun, dengan memberi kefahaman dan memantau kualiti diri mereka secara berterusan. Kemudian, pada tahun kedua, anak-anak halaqah ana telah matang dan mampu merekrut anak halaqahnya sendiri. Setiap mereka juga mempunya 5 orang anak halaqah. Proses yang sama berterusan. Pada tahu kedua, di bawah ana sudah ada 25 orang. Pada tahun ketiga, 125 orang. Pada tahun keempat, 625 orang. Tahun kelima, 3125 orang. Tahun keenam, 15625 orang. Kalau skala ini berterusan,dalam masa kurang daripada 20 tahun sahaja habis rakyat Malaysia ditarbiyah oleh ana seorang sahaja. Kalau setiap orang melakukannya? Insya-Allah masa yang diperlukan akan menjadi lebih singkat. Tetapi tentu sahaja realitinya tidak semudah itu. Apabila ada orang berdakwah, pasti akan ada yang menghalang. Apabila adanya Musa, maka ada pula Firaun. Dan Firaun pula dibantu oleh tukang sihirnya, Haman. Ada juga Qarun, dan kedegilan Bani Israil. Sunnatullah memang begitu. Apabila beberapa orang menyeru ke jalan Allah, maka akan lebih ramai yang menyeru ke jalan Taghut. Tetapi ia tidak mustahil, jika kita tetap terus istiqamah berdakwah.

Jika realiti ini berlaku, insya-Allah jika ada pilihanraya 20 tahun akan datang, kita akan buat puak-puak sekular ini terkejut dengan kemenangan kita yang tiba-tiba. Tiada kempen itu ini, sana sini, sedar-sedar dah menang pilihanraya. Mari sama-sama kita berdakwah. Kita akan berpolitik, tetapi apabila sampai masanya. Ketika dakwah telah berkembang, ketika telah ramai yang menerima Islam. Tetapi pastikan, luruskan niat untuk berdakwah. Bukan berdakwah mengajak orang kepada jemaah, tetapi kepada Allah, untuk mengagungkan Allah SWT. Yang paling pasti, semuanya hanya akan berlaku dengan izin Allah. Insya-Allah…

Kata-kata ana mungkin sahaja benar mungkin sahaja salah. Boleh sahaja ia diterima, boleh sahaja ditolak. Tetapi kata-kata Allah dan RasulNyalah yang haq dan benar. Afwan kerana apa yang ana tulis mungkin bernada mengkritik dan beremosi. Semoga kita terus berjuang menegakkan Islam, semata-mata kerana Allah Ta’ala.

Wallahua’lam..

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Seorang yang beragama Kristian bertanya kepada rakannya yang beragama Islam:
"Bukankah Tuhan itu Maha Kuasa? Maka apa susahnya Tuhan untuk menjelmakan dirinya sebagai seorang manusia?"

"Mengapa Tuhan mahu menjadi manusia? Bukankah dia sudah cukup berkuasa untuk melakukan segala-galanya?" Balas Si Muslim.

"Tuhan menjadi manusia untuk hidup bersama dengan manusia, bagi mengetahui bagaimana rasanya manusia mengalami penderitaan, kepayahan, kesenangan dan kegembiraan. Untuk mengetahui apa yang baik dan buruk bagi manusia. Itu menunjukkan salah satu sifat kasih-sayangnya tuhan kepada kita!" Jelas Si Kristian dengan yakin.

"Baik, saya beri awak satu perumpamaan. Saya mencipta sebuah televisyen. Perlukah saya menjadi sebuah televisyen untuk mengetahui apa yang buruk dan baik bagi sebuah televisyen?" Ujar Si Muslim.

Si Kristian terdiam.

"Kerana saya yang mencipta televisyen itu, sudah tentu saya tahu dengan jelas bagaimana ia berfungi. Apa yang saya perlu buat hanyalah menulis sebuah manual penggunaan untuk menceritakan bagaimana ia berfungsi."

"Begitu juga Tuhan. Kerana Dia telah menciptakan manusia, dia tidak perlu menjadi seorang manusia untuk mengetahui apa yang buruk dan baik untuk seorang manusia. Apa yang tuhan lakukan ialah, Dia memilih seseorang daripada kalangan manusia dan memberikannya wahyu sebagai panduan hidup. Manusia pilihan ini akan memberitahu kepada semua manusia tentang panduan tuhan tersebut. Dan menurut keyakinan kami sebagai muslim, manusia pilihan yang terakhir itu adalah Nabi Muhammad dan manualnya adalah Al-Quran!" Jelas Si Muslim.



Si Kristian masih tidak berpuas hati. "Tapi tuhan Maha Kuasa. Dia tentu boleh mengubah dirinya menjadi apa sahaja. Tidak mustahil untukNya menjelma sebagai manusia."

"Baik. Saya terima pendapat awak yang Tuhan Maha Kuasa dan boleh melakukan apa sahaja. Tetapi tidak mungkin Tuhan akan menjadi manusia. Tuhan dan manusia mempunyai sifat yang sangat-sangat berbeza. Tuhan adalah abadi, ada selama-lamanya. Sedangkan manusia adalah tidak abadi, akan boleh mati. Kita tidak mungkin menjumpai manusia yang boleh hidup abadi dan boleh mati pada masa yang sama."


"Tuhan tidak mempunyai permulaan dan pengakhiran sedangkan manusia ada pemulaan dan pengakhirannya. Macam mana seorang manusia boleh ada pemulaan dan tidak mempunyai permulaan pada masa yang sama? Bagaimana pula ia boleh ada pengakhiran dan tidak mempunyai pengakhiran pada masa yang sama?"

"Tuhan tidak perlu makan, sedangkan manusia perlu makan."

"Tuhan tidak perlu rehat dan tidur, sedangkan manusia perlu rehat dan tidur."

"Kalau awak masih nak berpegang pada pendapat awak bahawa tuhan boleh melakukan segala-galanya, maka perlu diingat, tuhan hanya akan melakukan perkara yang bersifat ketuhanan sahaja. Jika tuhan melanggarnya, maka Dia bukanlah tuhan."

"Misalnya, tuhan mahu menipu. Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa tidak mungkin menipu. Menipu bukanlah sifat tuhan. Jika Tuhan menipu, seperti manusia menipu, maka Ia bukanlah Tuhan."

"Tuhan juga tidak boleh melakukan kesilapan. Melakukan kesilapan bukanlah sifat tuhan. Jika tuhan melakukan kesilapan sebagaimana manusia tersilap, maka Dia bukanlah tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa."

"Tuhan juga tidak boleh terlupa. Manusia boleh terlupa. Jika tuhan terlupa, maka dia bukanlah tuhan."

"Sahabatku, Tuhan sememangnya Maha Berkuasa. Dia boleh melakukan apa sahaja yang Dia sukai. Namun Tuhan Yang Maha Berkuasa tidak mungkin melakukan sesuatu yang tidak bersifat ketuhanan. Tuhan tidak akan melakukan kesilapan, tidak akan terlupa, tidak perlu makan, dan tidak perlu menjadi manusia. Dia hanya akan melakukan sesuatu yang sesuai dengan sifat-sifat Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa."


Si Kristian terus terdiam dan berfikir....
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Keutamaan sabar

Allah SWT telah melukiskan orang-orang yang bersabar itu dengan pelbagai sifat. Al-Quran juga telah menyebutkan keutamaan sifat sabar ini dalam lebih daripada tujuh puluh tempat. Sebahagian terbesar daripada darjat-darjat kemuliaan dan kebajikan telah dihubungkan dengan sifat sabar , dan dijadikan sebagai balasan bagi sifat ini dan orang-orang yang bersifat dengannya. Berikut adalah firman Allah SWT yang menunjukkan keutamaan sifat sabar :

“Dan kami telah menjadikan mereka sebagai pemimpin –pemimpin yang memberikan petunjuk dengan perintah Kami, iaitu ketika mereka bersifat sabar”

(As-Sajdah :24)

“Dan Kami (Allah) telah memberikan balasan kepada orang –orang yang bersabar itu pahala mereka menurut apa yang telah mereka kerjakan dengan sebaik-baiknya”

(An-Nahl :96)

“Mereka itulah yang akan diberikan pahalanya dua kali ganda disebabkan mereka telah bersabar”

(Al-Qashas :54)

“Hanyasanya orang-orang yang sabar itu akan disempurnakan pahalanya tanpa kiraan”

(Az-Zumar:10)

Lihatlah bahawa setiap amalan yang bail itu, sentiasa ditentukan balasannya menurut kadar dan hitungan yang tertentu, kecuali sabar. Maka Allah Taala telah memberikan janji kepada orang-orang yang sabar itu, bahawa Allah sentiasa berama –sama mereka.

Ketika baginda Rasulullah SAW ditanya orang tentang perihal iman, jawabnya “Iman itu adalah sabar dan berlapang dada.”

Ubat Sabar

Untuk mengukuhkan sifat sabar terdapat dua cara :

1. Cuba menyedarkan tentang faedah-faedah mujahadah (melawan) dan hasil-hasilnya di bidang agama dan dunia. Caranya ialah dengan mengingatkan sebanyak-banyaknya tentang keutamaan sabar dan ganjaran-ganjarannya yang baik di dunia dan akhirat.

2. Hendaklah melawan pengaruh hawa nafsu itu secara beransur-ansur , sehingga akhirnya ia berjaya untuk menundukkan sifat-sifat buruk yang bersarang di dalamnya. Caranya ialah dengan melesukan pengaruh nafsu dan syahwat dan memutuskan tali-temali yang mendorong keberansangannya, seperti memalingkan pandangan terhadap perkara-perkara yang boleh menarik hati ataupun melarikan diri dari tempat-tempat yang boleh menimbulkan berahi . Cara yang lain pula ialah dengan memikat jiwa terhadap perkara-perkara yang mubah, yang sejenis atau sealiran dengan apa yang diminati oleh hati , seperti bernikah. Sebab segala yang diingini oleh diri seseorang itu dapat dipenuhi dengan melakukan apa apa yang diharuskan oleh agama dari perbuatan-perbuatan yang sejenis dengannya. Maka dengan cara ini, akan terhalanglah keinginan jiwanya untuk mendekati segala yang terlarang dalam agama.

Kesimpulanya , orang yang membiasakan dirinya menentang hawa nafsu , nescaya akan mengalahkannya pada bila-bila masa asalkan ada sahaja kemahuan.Inilah asas yang wajib bagi mengubati diri dalam segala perkara yang memerlukan sabar.

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