“Easy for you; you’re genius.”

Salaamun ‘ala man ittaba’ al-Huda.

To be frank, I have received the titular reply numerous times from my friends. And it is usually when I ask or advise them to do things which, more or less, contradict their ‘common sense’ on the factors of success. Alas, ‘common sense’ is never the absolute measure of truth; and in this post I shall reveal the irony behind the phrase.

I usually receive this reply when I:

• advise them to relax and calm down the night before the exam,
• talk them to praying in congregation at the musolla,
• and inviting them to do something for the Ummah, or Islam itself.

“Hey, relax bro. Let’s go the mosque today and pray so that Allah will ease our examination tomorrow.”

“Relax? You’re a genius—it’s easy for you to say. We have to study five hours to compare to your one-hour worth of revision. We don’t have time.”

It’s not because I’m ‘genius’ that I’m able to calm down before the exam, pray at the musolla, and do something for my Deen. In actual fact, the reverse holds true. It’s because I do these things that I’m able to score decent marks for my exams, alhamdulillah. Sadly, a lot of people do not realise this.

They are trapped in the cycle of positive feedback mechanism: a failure stimulates them to do something which further diminishes their chance to succeed, intensifying the failure. It goes like this:

1. A student scored low for his exam.
2. He felt that he did not study enough.
3. He stayed up late to study before his next exam.
4. He felt sleepy on the day of the exam.
5. He forgot all the things he memorised the day before.
6. He scored low for the exam.
7. The vicious cycle repeats itself.

The same goes with going to the musolla. We must strive to improve our heart-dependency on Allah (HDA). We perform what He wants us to do, and abstain from what He forbids. If we help Him, He will help us. Refusing to pray in congregation at the musolla in order to have more study time will just bring negative effect.

Doing things for the Ummah (even a small one) has proven itself as a success factor to me. I remember so vividly how my participation in Fikruttaqwa helped me a lot in my Form Four mid-year exams. And how my Physics tutor sessions with some Science & Tech students helped me in my Tamhidi Semester I final exams.

As I wrote in a post before, it ain’t what we learn. There are a lot more to success than just studying. Remember Him, and He will remember you, insya-Allah.

All the best, wassalam.