It feels good to be a Muslim

The Basic of Being Muslim:

..to become a Muslim, you have to bear your witness that there's no deity, except Allah (the Almighty), and Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h is the Messenger of Allah..

..then, you have to perform pre-determined actions obliged to you, such as praying five times per day, fasting in the month of Ramadhan, paying zakat, and  performing Haji (for the affordable one)

..well, if you see all these actions from the ritual perspective, becoming a Muslim is not much better than the nons..so, what makes us 'special'?

Direct Connection to God:

for some, praying 5 times a day is nothing but inconvenient, especially for those who are travelling..you have to find clean place to pray, you have to do wudu' as the pre-conditions of performing solah, and etc..but, only a few realize the importance of performing solah, instead of just "doing typical solah." unlike other ibadah, solah is the only way we can have direct communication to Allah (the Almighty)..there is no "hijab" in between, as far as i'm concerned..that's why, whenever we are in trouble, or in a need of something, we are encouraged to do 'solah sunat.' just imagine, you are in a huge trouble, and no one can really understand/listen to you..of course, you would feel so weak and bad about yourself..then, what should you do?? crying like forever?? smoking a box of cigarette?? listening to musics?? chilling and partying all night?? playing new video games?? and etc..well, these options might work for some, but only for a short-period of time..in other words, all these are the temporary solutions of all your problems..but, after some time, all your problems might haunt you back..and believe me, the second 'wave' might be more disastrous and harmful than the first one..but, for a practicing Muslim, the only best way to go, whenever he's in trouble, is to Allah..just give it a try..whenever you're in bad shape, you go and take wudu', and then performing solah sunut..after the solah, speak all your problems to Allah, and then ask for His guidance..last but the most important one (most of us overlook this) is to believe in your heart that Allah will definitely help you in one way or another, direct or indirect way, and sooner or later..and i think, this is one out of million reasons why we are much much better than the nons: simply because we have a direct access to Allah

Paying Zakat:

believe me or not, you might feel bad whenever you are paid for some works..you are worried in the way that you don't deserve the payment..well, for example, you are paid to work 10 hrs/day..but, how on earth you can confirm that you are working 10hrs, not less than that..so, how would you return all the unknown, and 'undeserved' payment back to your employer..thus, Islam has provided us a way to 'purify' our wealth so that we won't feel bad..by paying zakat (plus doing some sedekah), we could share some 'extra' money w/ others in need..so, zakat is not intended to 'steal' the money from us, but to 'return' the extra one..still, they are many Muslims refuse to pay zakat...and i'm wondering how could they declare themselves of being Muslims since real 'Muslims' would never take things, which are not designed to them..and here comes the principle of justice..

Fasting in the month of Ramadhan:

i don't know if there is any religions, except Islam, that allocates one whole month for his followers to fasting..but, as far as i'm concerned, there is NONE..unfortunately, instead of considering this as a special month, many Muslims complain the difficulty of fasting..many claim, we are becoming less productive, weak, and so on..well, for those, i feel so sorry..they are yet to understand Islam, and i hope they are guided to the right path..i'll try reasoning the benefit of fasting in a way that i face in my everyday life..for the past 10 weeks, i have been working 7 hrs/day for my research project..my working hrs is supposed to be from 9am to 5pm, with one hour break at 12pm..but, i have to admit that i was no way following this schedule..yet, i've tried my best to work at least 7 hrs/day..it means i have to start late, and thus, finish late (that explained why i came back late every night)..so, usually i took an hour break around 3pm (i am so flexible in term of lunch time)..before i took the lunch, i felt so energetic and productive..my concentration was, usually, at the best..but, after i took my lunch, the otherwise happened..i felt so full, and was so lazy to continue my work..i was wondering since i was supposedly becoming more energetic, due to extra energy consumed from the meal...how come i did feel so sleepy and weak?? then, sometimes, i did work for the whole 7 hrs w/o even taking any meal..and during that time, i was so into my work..then, i guess, the contradiction that i've faced could refute the claim that fasting is making us less productive..it's not the fasting, but our mindset..we are the one, who pamper ourselves..then, for me, the notion that "no food, no work" is something refutable..