Reflection in Action

It's 2 am in the morning, and I'm having my writing in 5th gear. Why procrastinate when u can do it now?

Yesterday I had a discussion with fellow lecturers about my PHD topic, and this came out

REFLECTION-IN-ACTION (RIA)

Reflection-in-action is defined by Schon as the ability of professionals to 'think what they are doing it'(source)

Architecture students (and architects, or designers) always do RIA when designing. When they draw a plan, they will think, "Oh I must have stairs here", "the window should be here so you can see the view","it will be difficult to walk if I put the wall here" and so on ( I guess this is why architecture students couldn't finish their drawing for every class). They practice this every time they're designing which is why they have to learn about culture, history other than structure and graphic. It's because architect always (and should have) put themselves in others' shoes.

 RIA is not only practiced by designers, but also parents, teachers, and the most important, a skill that EVERY MUSLIM SHOULD HAVE. 

that's why we have something like these in our culture:

"Ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus"

"Paku dulang, paku serpih, mengata org..."

" Cikgu kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari'

aaa...oopps, although all of the above have negative notions; i couldn't think about positive one right now, this show that our culture don't have much RIA. haha, bzzzt! (let's learn from mistakes).

We should think about our actions - every single bit of them.

"21:47 We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account."

”Kami akan memasang timbangan yang tepat pada hari kiamat, maka tiadalah dirugikan seseorang barang sedikit pun. Dan jika (amalan itu) hanya seberat biji sawi pun pasti Kami mendatangkan (pahala) nya. Dan cukuplah Kami sebagai Pembuat perhitungan.” (Anbiya, 47)

RIA would be translated as hisab (calculating) and driven by Iman and taqwa.

Meaning of Taqwa

The root meaning of Taqwa is to avoid what one dislikes. It was reported that `Umar bin Al-Khattab asked Ubayy bin Ka`b about Taqwa. Ubayy said, "Have you ever walked on a path that has thorns on it'' `Umar said, "Yes.'' Ubayy said, "What did you do then'' He said, "I rolled up my sleeves and struggled.'' Ubayy said, "That is Taqwa.' 


Academician just started to research on Reflection-in-Action, but we are doing it to keep our eeman in checked. So put RIA in our daily life. Ask yourself what will you get from your action in this world and the hereafter. "If I do this maksiat, it will be shameless of me to ask Allah for something" "If I help my mother, not only she will be glad, Allah will reward me as well" " If i practice fasting in Shaaban, it will be 'kacang' to puasa in Ramadhan, dapat pahala lagi" Oh yeah guys, Ramadhan is around the corner. See you next time