1

NAME MUHAMMAD YAZID BIN TAHIR

PROGRAMME INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

ID NUMBER 17103

LECTURER USTAZ AHMAD RUSHDI HAROON

ISLAMIC SPEECH REVIEW

OPTIMISM – THE BEST ANTIBIOTIC

BY : SHAYKH WALEED BASYOUNI

2

NO. CONTENT PAGE

1. Title

1

2. Table of content

2

3. Preface

3

4. Speaker Biography

4

5. Video Descriptions

5

6. Video Transcriptions

6 - 12

7. Positive Feedback

13

8. Negative Feedback

13

9. New Things Learnt

14

10. Suggestions

14

11. Recommendations

14

12. Conclusions 14

TABLE OF CONTENT

3

Assalammualaikum WBT.

First and foremost, praised to Allah SWT for His blessing and occasion that He gave me a

chance and opportunity to finalize the errand. I am very thankful to Him for his ‘Barakah’,

wealth and health given to me during the completion of the task. He is such a great Creator

who gave His pity to whoever seeks well from him.

Next, I would like to portray tokens of appreciation to the dearest Islamic Study

lecturer, Ustaz Ahmad Rushdi Bin Haroon whom his know-how could not be doubted. He

such a prodigious educator, gave all of us acquaintance that we have been looking for

before. He imparted us deeply on what we did not know before. He was so astounding and

wonderful, in fact, he possessed a wonderful versatility in doing his job as a lecturer. He is

the most compassionate person I have ever met in this university, generally. Perhaps,

everything she gave was a ‘rahmat’ from Allah SWT for us to discover the beauty of Islam.

The most importantly, I am very thankful to everybody that supported me from

every single ways in order to make a successful project being willed into reality. I am eager

to show my enhancement in making progress on to this study to be a better muslim in the

future.

Sincerely,

MUHAMMAD YAZID BIN TAHIR

PREFACE

4

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

PROFILE

Hails from : Houston, Texas, USA

Expertise : Theology (Aqeedah)

Famous Quote : “The optimist is the one who sees opportunities in their difficulties

and the pessimist is the one who sees difficulties in their

opportunities.

Known for : Extreme sports like scuba diving and mountain climbing. Shaykh

Waleed has been to many exotic places and surprisingly found

masjid in the most unexpected spots.

EDUCATION

He graduated with a Bachelor’s Islamic Science from Al-Imam Muhammad University, KSA; did

his Masters in Islamic Theology, World Religion and Modern Religion Sects from Al-Imam

Muhammad University; and acquired a Doctorate in Theology. He studied under great scholars

such as Shaykh Ibn Baz, Abdul-Razzaq Afify and others.

CAREER

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni is the Vice President of AlMaghrib Institute and the Head of Aqeedah

and Adab Department. Students know him well for his sincere care for their well being and

progress in studying.

He has made an appearance in media around the world including Al-Huda Channel, Islam

Channel & PeaceTV. He is an active member of various organizations and Islamic Societies

including NAIF, AMJA as well as a Director of Texas Dawah Convention. DESCRIPTIONS

5

Title : OPTIMISM – THE BEST ANTIBIOTIC

Publisher : TVSunnah

Speaker : Shaykh Waleed Basyouni

Year : 2012

Venue : Masjid An-Nur, Universiti Teknologi Pertonas

Duration : 30:53

Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFAhCCfBcp8

VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS

6

Bismillah Alhamdulillah Wasalatowassalamuala rasulillah Waala Alihiwasahbihi waman

walah, Allahhummalakalhamduhakkan hakkah walakalhamdu kaabuda warikka’ All Praise

due to Allah. And his praise and blessings and peace be upon of prophet nabi Muhammad

SAW. His family his companion his followers and they asked Allah SWT to shower this

university and the faculty and the students and this semester and those who attended with

his mercy and his blessings. And Im so happy and glad to be with you today. I would like to

extend again my thanks to the vice chancellor of university and the an-nur masjid and the

great scholars who Alhamdulillah yakni have been blessed to meet in this trip.

Brothers and sisters I would like to talk to you tonight about a very dear subject to

me personally. Because whenever I think about optimism I think about Muhammad SAW.

Anas Ibn Malik R.A, once described the Prophet Muhammad SAW by saying “Kana yuhibbul

fa’la’ kama fissohi hain”, as in sahih Bukhari Muslim reported that the prophet SAW he used

to love optimism, and not only he love optimism of Muhammad SAW, now he himself is

very optimistic person, very optimistic person SAW. Not only that his personality is based

on optimism it’s also his syariah is based on optimism. Their ideology of Islam, the

foundation of our tauhid, of our believed is based on the concept of optimism, that you

always view Allah SWT in whatever He decreed in the positive manner, in the positive way.

Even the ruling of the syariah is based on the optimism. For instance, the prophet SAW told

us whenever you make doa, whenever you asked Allah SWT, in Sahih Bukhari he said, “Iza

ha da’a aha dukum fala yakul Allahummafirgli insyiq”, when you pray to Allah, you

shouldn’t say Oh Allah forgive me Insyaallah, if you wish, if you want. No! you said Oh Allah

forgive me. Without if, without but, because that certainty in the heart is motivating by

your optimism, that Allah SWT listening and accepting what you saying. It’s not like Oh if

you want, if you wish, no you shouldn’t do that. You know the whole concept of

taubah(repentance) and you repent to Allah SWT in any time while you are deeply believed

that Allah SWT will coming to you no hesitation, don’t think about it twice. What motivate

you, what is based on, based on the concept of optimism, Nabi Muhammad SAW, his level of

optimism, beyond yakni this, An Nabi SAW has also Imam Muslim reported in Sahih, that

when he leaves in a journey, let say this is a journey, and he will hear someone is named

Salim, “kana iza sami’na salim, kana rajikna salimin”, we will come back, yakni ‘salim’

means ‘safe’, so he said he will come back to our family safe. He want to build that sense of

optimism in the heart just by hearing the name Salim. If it’s a journey where is war involve,

and heard somebody named ‘Nasir’, he will said, “That’s it, we will gain victory insyaallah –

Nahnu mansouri biiznillah”, he even use this name to build, plant the seeds of optimism in

the mind and heart of the people.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

7

An Nabi SAW when Allah told him to migrate from Mekah to Madinah, do you know

what Madinah used to be called? Used to be called Yathrib. What’s Yathrib?Yathrib has a

negative connotation in it. It means the something would decrease ‘minna tahrim’ ok, so

Nabi Muhammad SAW said, “qala la tu sammuha yathrib” nobody should call Madinah

anymore Yathrib, ah, nobody allowed to called anymore this. “Innamah yah toibah” The

Goodness, The City of Goodness. So he want to build that sence of optimism in their mind,

in their heart. Rajun ja’ ilannabi SAW, and he said, ya Rasulullah, my name is ‘Harb’(war),

no!, now change it to ‘peace’. Name with softies. Two men came to the Prophet SAW said,

“What’s your name”, he said we both known an our family as ‘Al-Muhanan’, yakni ‘The

Disrespective ones’ he said no, from now on, your name should be ‘Al-Mukraman’, ‘The

Two Honorable people’. “Qala rasullullah ana minsyikbi qadla syikdulallah ana bil

ardimiqardaghahabrah” all this in the Hadith of Nabi Muhammad SAW. Over the course of

these years somebody said to Rasulullah, “I’m came from a valley known as ‘The Valley of

Misguidance’, he said “no, go back till you change the name of this valley. Let it be ‘The

Valley of Guidance”. “Ya Rasulullah, I came from a land known as ‘Gabbrah’, ‘The Dusty

Land’”. He said “No, change this to be ‘Khadirah’, to be ‘Green’”. This sence of optimism in

the Prophet SAW it is so unique. It is one of his main character of SAW. In one the most

difficult time, during the Prophet SAW time, at life, when he was surrounded with the kufar

from every corner in Madinah. Every corner around him from Madinah, the Arab tribes

have settle at, they came, they gather to attack Prophet SAW. At that moment, the Prophet

SAW what he was stealing his followers, what he was stealing the believers, what was he

stealing from his companions, he was stealing them, “li iblughanna zahanam ma balaghah”,

“In this religion, would reach us that light teach, yakni every corner of the earth”, it will go

to the farthest east to the farthest west. It came all over from Madinah to Malaysia, it come

all over from Madinah to Japan, it come all over from Madinah, for somebody like me

coming from Eustan to speak about Islam. ‘Allahuakbar’. This theme has no borders, this

religion has no limit, that not have specific yakni race or colour. It’s a religion the Prophet

SAW have given that sense of Optimism in their mind in that difficult moment.

But being an optimistic person is not something like I said today we do not about to

impush I want to became an optimistic from now on. It doesn’t work this way. Nabi SAW

have put some rule that when I teach person in ethics, and when I teach the students I told

them, that one of the thing that Prophet SAW told us, that is one of the principe of ethics

that Nabi SAW said, “ Innamal ilmu bitaallu wassabbru bittassabbu walhilmu bittahallum”

he said, “In order you to achieve ‘Sabr’, you need to go process, you need to go struggle, you

need to achieve that. It’s not gonna happen in demandly like that, to became all this good

character you would be inherited it or it’s naturally coming. No, you have to work on it, it’s

like knowledge. Knowledge you don’t just born yakni knowledgeable person. You have to

acquire the knowledge. Same thing with character. You have to build your character. So

how can we build that character. How can we became an optimistic people. Optimism it is

8

simple.It is to be able to see almost opportunities in your difficulties. Versus pessimism, the

pessimist person is the who always seek difficulties. Yakni every time Allah gives him

opportunities, he sees difficulties in it. How can you became an optimistic person. I have

few points I want to share with you. I will make sure this is the practical point. That you can

start from know, working on yourself.

Number one, in order for you to be an optimistic person, you need to understand the

right and the standing of the concept of the ‘Qadr’. Because if you don’t understand this

concept clearly, it’s very rough to be an optimistic.And hard for the big subject that I will be

teaching Insyallah in this coming weekend. What concern me in this particular topic which

is related to optimism, to know one thing, that Allah SWT put a rule in this dunia. Which we

called it ‘al asma al musabbillat wu ki’ in order for you to get the results, how have to take

the necessary means. Allah SWT have made this thing like this. It’s like you study

engineering, it’s 1+1=2, you do this process, you get this results. Veridically, that’s the

system that Allah put in this life. That know the sense of optimism, so I know if I do one,

two, three, that will lead to that result. If I don’t do this, I might gonna take that result.

That’s how Allah build that system. That’s more to ‘Qadr’ Allah SWT, He didn’t make thing

based on no system. Everything on this earth, everything happening to us, there is a system

of it. You can see, you can achieve the pattern of it. You can know of you do one, two, three

that means you deserve Jannah, if you do one, two, three you deserve Hellfire. If you do this

you will be happy, you will be successful. And when Allah SWT decrease something upon

you, because of reasons, He did this way because this is the birth for him to do it, because

this is the best way to do it, that’s the right formula for it. One also thing that help you to get

understand the concept of ‘Qadr’ make you an optimistic person, to that we have the free

will. We’re not like some people believe human being have no will at all. Mean, if you have

no will, you will never be an optimistic person, you have the free will, you have free choice.

And Allah SWT out of His justice, that He let you to choose your action, and He will hold you

countable for it in the ‘Day of Judgment’. But you have the freedom to make your choice. So

it’s up to you what you want to do. It’s up to you too to be an optimism or pessimism. It’s up

to you to choose how you react on certain thing that coming to you in your life. We might

not be able to change the direction of the wind when we are sailing. But always we can

adjust our sailing to sail to go to new destination of life. You always have that choice, to

make a new start, to make a new beginning, to start over again. That’s the power that Allah

SWT have given to human being over angel for example.

9

Number two. The second point that help you to be an optimistic person which is

interesting. It’s one the thing that make you an optimistic person, your appearance. How

you carry yourself. Huge impact to you. Moral psychologist, in all psychologist we studies,

the new ones, the new studies agreed, that our physiology impact our psychology, not the

other way round. All the new moral studies agree on that. That our physiology impact our

psychology. The way you carry yourself that will affect your mood. Will affect the way you

think. Subhanallah. This is something in Islam take great care of it. Why you think Islam

speak a lot about you being clean, you look neat, why our masjids look nice, why our city

should be clean, our street should look nice, why Islam speak about ‘An-naghafah’ ‘The

moment that you be always clean’. It is because when you like that, you act upon this.

Subhanallah. I studied the history of African-American in America when they brought them

as slave. They were not slave in Africa, some of them were princess. There is a new movie

called ‘The Slave Prince’. I don’t know few of you saw this movie or not. It’s a movie just

recently came out speaking about a muslim prince is taken from west America and later on

Abraham Lincoln freed him and gave him his title back. It’s a beautiful story, very inspiring

story, but one of the thing that is so interesting about this dark era in the history of

America, how they treat slaves, the slavery, the slave masters, one of the thing that they

used to do, slave are not allowed to take shower for a week, they are not allowed to wear

good cloth, why do you think they do that? To break their spirit, to make them act like

animals, not like human being. Its because the outside impact the inside. So if you want to

be an optimistic person, you have to look at your appearance. Allah SWT when He describe

the believers, “Wa ibadurrahmanillazina’ “the servant of the Rahman, the one who,” what

do you expect that gonna come? The one who pray? No. The one who fast? No. The one who

donate? No. Has nothing to do the one who have certain article or fact, no.

“allazinayamshunaalalardihauna” speak about the appearance. The way they talk, the way

they walk, because the way you walk that will impact the way you behave. Do you walk

with arrogance? Do you walk like ***. Umar Al-Khattab saw a man walking like you know,

trying his *** Then Umar he liked, he said straighten up, “Don’t make our religion dead”.

Stand up. That’s why Nabi SAW when he stand, when he walk, his back straight. Jabar RA

said “sometimes we’re kind of run of breath to catch up with Prophet SAW. When he walk,

he doesn’t dried his feet like *** person. He walk with full of energy, that’s the walk that we

want to see our sisters n brothers walk with confidence. You might not be a king or sultan

but you can walk like one. Don’t walk with arrogant, walk with high esteem, with

confidence, that will make you believe or not an optimistic person. Raise your head up and

don’t walk like somebody who sick or like that. The style is the image of the character.

That’s why Nabi SAW used to love to dress in a nice cloth. I’m not talking about to be too

expensive but it could be nice something you care about, you care about your appearance.

Nabi SAW saw a man, who is old, and his hair is white. His beard is white, and it’s messy.

10

The appearance is messy. Nabi SAW said two things, he said “If you want to grow your

beard, take care of it. If you want to grow your hair, take good care of it. It’s not like some

go here, some go there, you know, you have to look nice. That’s why you trim your

moustache, you don’t want your moustache eat with you okay. It is the appearance, the

look, also Nabi SAW in another hadith he said dye your hair, don’t give it white like that.

Dye it. Because it is so messy, it’s like a cloud. So this is something that you need to work on

it. Make sure you have a good style. Even though when you’re young. Because that will

build your character, make you have your confidence for yourself, and that also one of the

thing that will probably build the sense of optimism.

Number 3. Just do with the appearance, but I put a bit itself, smile. Smile. You know

what, I always noticed this when I go to country, visit to community, visit to masjids, you

know how many people smile at me while I am a stranger. Smile is such a beautiful thing.

Sisters and brothers, your teeth is not aurah, you can smile, you can show it, it’s okay. You

know smile. Smile is such a beautiful thing. If you yakni find your friends, your colleague

without smile, give them one of yours. And he will have it immediately. Just spread that

smile. Nabi SAW, Aisyah, Jabir, so many other, so many companion said, “I never find Nabi

SAW unless I found him smile” – said Jabar. Another one said, “Every time I saw this person

in my life, he was smile”. Can anybody said that about you? Can anybody like, “Every time I

saw this person, every time I lay my eyes on them, on him, or her, she always smile.”. And

his wife seeing he is smiling because Mashaallah some of us, all smile with their friends

outside but when he go home, okay.. you know completely different attitude. But Aisha said

“No, he’s smiling inside the house and outside the house. You know, there are some of you I

don’t know, did you lose your smile? If you lost your smile, I have a good news for you, your

smile didn’t go anywhere. It is just right under your nose. Yes, you’re smiling. So, the

smiling is not gonna make others feel good, it gonna make you feel good. Smile gives us the

sense of confidence. Sense of happiness. Sense of acceptance. And that is the basis of

optimism.

Number 4. You want to be an optimistic person in life, make sure you fill your heart

with goodness for others. Don’t fill your heart with hate, jealousy, envy, towards other.

Subhanallah. Your heart is like a cup, whatever you gonna fill it up with, its gonna fill up

with others. You fill it up with good, it will only producing good. Allah SWT said in the

Quran, “iyya’lamillahufikulubikum khairaiyu’tikum khairaa”, “If Allah sees in your heart the

goodness, He will give you goodness.” . That’s how it is. Allah SWT is looking at our heart.

The optimism will never come from our heart fill with envy, fill with jealousy, from with

hate, those people cannot be optimistic people.

11

Number 5. If you want to be an optimistic person, you’re gonna learn to be positive

thinker. You know, this is a farmer, he has two children, Mashaallah, he has twins. But they

are completely the opposite. One is very an optimistic person, and the other is the most

pessimist kid you can think of. So he want to do an experiment to the kids. So he bring a big,

huge box as their birthday gifts. So they open the first box, the pessimist kid, he open and

he find a shiny beautiful bicycle. And another train, the Thomas Train. Two gifts on the

birthday. So immediately the kid said, “ Dad, mom, why did you give me that gift for. You

should give me one, now two, I’m gonna be confuse which one I’m gonna play with, this

gonna make me feel bad. And you know what, why did you give me the shiny bicycle for, it’s

easy to scratch. And when it scratch, it will look bad. And now I’m worrying more about it

more than enjoying it.”. And he made it the most miserable thing ever happen to him. So the

other kid open the box. The big one. And what did he found, manor. And he said, “Dad,

where did you hide the pony, you hide it somewhere I’m sure, this is just the introduction.

He’s a positive thinker. Where is the horse, where did you hide the horse. Ok. So, it might a

be a positive thinker, can you think positively? Why would you think almost in a negative

way. There is a hadith maybe some of you have heard this hadith before, but I’m not sure

you’ve ever thought about it this way. There is a hadith which is very famous in sahih

Bukhari. Nabi SAW said “ There is three people enter a cave and a huge rock came and

block the exit. So each one of them start asking Allah for one of His good did. One of them

said, “ Ya Allah, I used to have a female cousin, and I like her so much, so many time I tried

to seduce her but she refused. Good women. One day she came to me, she asked for money.

I asked her to give her soul first. And when I was very close to that, she told me, why don’t

you marry me? If you want me so much like that just marry me, and halal, why did you

want to do in haram. Then he said “I gave her the money and let her go.”. I have a question,

when you hear this story, most of us when we heard this story, what would we said about

this story. Wow, what a bad guy is taking an advantage to his cousin. When she need

money, she took an advantage. See. We take the negative part of the story but Muhammad

SAW when he mention this story, he was never talking about this at all. Actually the main

point of the story is the last portion, ‘he let her go’. So Prophet SAW only focused the

positive part of the story. Which is him in the end realizing that it is the noble thing to do

and he let her go. That is how positive he is of Nabi SAW. When Nabi SAW look at the

society of Mekah, what do you think about Mekah at that time, what they do. Some of them

they buried their daughter alive, they steal, they fight for over for nothing. They fought 40

years two tribes in Arabia. 40 years. Bloody war for forty years. Why? Over a camel. 40

years over a camel. Because the camel went the race, so somebody else came and killed the

camel, 40 years of bloody war. Ignorant. They make tawaf around the Ka’abah nude.

Nobody wears cloth when they tawaf. How ignorant this could be. You can think so many

things about this. But listen towards Prophet SAW said, “I came to complete the good

manner that you have”. He didn’t look at the society a something doom, a something bad or

12

something wrong. You know, one of the beautiful thing that I have to say since I land in this

country in Malaysia, one of the best thing that I ever noticed that the positive way, so many

people from this country talk about the great thing about this country land. They talked

about how Mashaallah how beautiful masjids we have, how great freedom we have in the

society. How advance technology that we have. I never heard anyone say, “O like other

country I go to, oh we have this, we have this, every country have their own problem,

something haram, something halal. Practice, wrong practice. “ but when you go to many

countries all the people from that country focused on that wrong practices in the society.

But since I land in this country, I noticed that everybody pointed out positively. And that’s

why this country go forward. Because they are not focus in this little things. And this is a

key-point to success in life. If you want to be an optimistic person you need to learn to be a

positive thinker. You think about the positive thing. You focused on the positive thing. Nabi

SAW said, and reported in sahih Bukhari and Muslim, “there is a group of people who enter

the Jannah not because the fast so much, not because the pray so much, no, but their heart

is like the white bird, dosen’t know about the bad or evil feelings. They’re all positive. When

you love be positive even when problems happens, even when traumatizes strikes you

think about it in a positive way. A man was brought to Muhammad SAW drunk, completely

wasted. So Nabi SAW ordered him to appoint the punishment so one person said, “la

anahullah”, “May Allah curse him, always we catch him drunk”, and Nabi SAW said, “no,

don’t do that, don’t say that, this man loves Allah and His Messenger.”. yes he is drinking

but he still have other good things in his heart. Yes he is not the best muslim in this kairah,

when it comes to drinking, he’s weak, but there is other area which is so strong, and there

is something good in his heart. Nabi SAW did not disregard that positive thing in this

person has. Unfortunately, drinking is not something simple isn’t it, it’s major sin, but still

Prophet SAW said he love Allah and His Messenger. A women committing zina, still

mention out the repentance is a great thing, she repentant to Allah SWT. He do not focused

on the mistake. Because Prophet SAW is an optimistic person. An optimistic people focused

on the positive, think of the positive. When you look at the as I said the clematis that strike

you in your life you start thinking what is the wisdom behind. What is the benefits that I get

out of it. Subhanallah. Sometimes brothers and sisters, our eyes need to be washed with

our teers. So we can see live more clear. We can see live more clear afterwards. That tears

that come to you, are meant to wash your eye. Think it in a positive manner.

13

1. Shaykh Waleed did mention the evidences based on Quran and Hadith to strengthen his

argument during his speech.

2. He was able to pronounce every word clear and easy to understand.

3. The speaker was very expert in maintaining the audience’s attention.

4. He used simple analogy which were very suitable and practical.

5. His performance makes me feel touched and able to produce a new me.

6. The interaction between the speaker and the audiences was very good.

1. He always used the same word to strengthen his statement.

2. Often use the term “Ya know?” and “Ya’nee”.

3. Some of the verse in Quran he recited it fast and the audience did not be able to catch

some of the words.

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

14

1. Every muslim need to have a very strong faith towards Allah SWT.

2. We need to learn about Islam truly so there will no wrong thoughts about Islam.

3. Muslims should have an optimistic personality in themselves.

4. Show to others the good, nice and how Islam managed the way of our life.

1. Use slideshows to make the speech more interesting.

2. The speaker should use more body language.

3. Include montage or short video for a clearer view.

4. Relate the points to the current issue.

As conclusion, instead of believing and knowing the pillars of Islam and Iman, we also

have to show and practice the way that Islam has taught us. We must not reflect the bad

and the wrong view of Islam towards Muslims and non-Muslims.

Optimism is a very great motivator for every each of us as it is also a sunnah of

Prophet Muhammad SAW. Let’s start practicing all the points that have been delivered by

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, which I think, it is not only for Muslims only but, also for the non-

Muslims. Insya’Allah, we are among the peoples being shelter by His Merciful.

NEW THINGS LEARNT

CONCLUSION

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

15