Make me among those who are few

Bismillah
Assalamualaikum wbt

All praised belong to Allah~Alhamdulillah

I walked out the hall  with a smile.

" Alhamdulillah",I whispered to myself. 

That last paper officially ended my first year here. I looked around, they were there, talking loudly about the accounting exam moments ago.

"Man, I went out an hour earlier. I just don't know what to write anymore. I not even know what I was doing!"

"So, you've been standing here for an hour?" One of them asked. 

"Yup! Waiting for you guys, the smart folks"

We all laughed. The result will be out on 9th of December. I might be home by then, so hopefully I did well. Time passed silently. It had been a year since I first came to Australia. Early this year, I had many dreams and goals. Start from making friends, graving for the feeling of getting at least one HD, be a better servant of Allah, learn more about this deen that I born into~a blessing from Allah indeed, and lots more to be listed here.  

Had I achieve all those?

It was very hard for me to say yes. I aimed to change and be a better person, yet I strongly doubted that. However, never give up! Never give on His blessings and mercy.

Allah is the most forgiving and merciful. 

Remember that. 

There were lots of lilac-coloured trees along the route to the tram station. 

They were more like light purple for me, actually. 

Nevertheless, I was staring at them all along. It was like in the movie of "winter sonata" where colourful leaves falling, like rain and covered the footpath. 

"I'm in Australia" I told myself.

 Allah is always helping me. 

I remembered those moments where I felt very frustrated with accounting back in high school. Honestly, all my answers were craps during SPM. Thus, that evening, we illegally went to school's swimming pool. Most of the accounting students were there, frustrated with accounting too I guessed. 

"@&%$#*#! accounting" I yelled before jumping like a cannon into the pool. I thought I would never get an A for it. 

Alhamdulillah, thing turned out to be well. Very too well actually. He answered my dua'.

The satans asked Allah to prolong their life until the day of judgment, indeed they were evil and disobedient creation. Yet,  Allah granted it. Unlikely,  servant that  prayed nights and days asked from Him, He refused to fullfil. Unless, we weren't serious in making dua'. 

Never underestimate the power of dua'.

Alhamdulillah, I was thankful for all the blessing. 

“And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe’.” (Ibrahim:7).

Believe in Allah's help, and you will be successful. InshaAllah

A story that I remembered. 

In the time of calipathe Umar al-Khattab, there was a young man who always prayed beside baitullah by saying, 

“Oh Allah, make me into those who are few” 
(Ya Allah! Masukkanlah aku dalam golongan yang sedikit)

Sayyidina Umar heard it when he was performing tawaf around the kaabah. He felt intrigued and curious with the young man dua’. After the tawaf, he called out for the young man, and asked, 

“Why are you making such dua’? Isn’t there anything else you can ask from Allah? 

The young man said,
“Ya, Amirul Mukminin, I asked such way as I fear with Allah words in Surah al-A’raaf verse 10 that says,

“And surely, We gave you authority on the earth and appointed for you therein provision (for your life). Little thanks do you give”
I asked Allah to put me into those who were few, those few people who were thankful to Allah.

Honestly, be grateful all the time is hard. We say Alhamdulillah if we gained something, something we loved and expected most. Least we are grateful when hardship come unexpectedly. 

It happen to me as well.

But, we are learning. No one would and ever be perfect. But, we should aim for the best. 

 InshaAllah, lets us try to be those who are grateful in time of ease and hardship. Amin. 

Those who are or will be taking exam, all the best. Start with Bismillah and end with tawakal to Allah. Success will come in one condition, you try your best! :)

Tarbiah by the waterfall

بسم الله‎

لسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

“Oh Allah, grant me something out of this. Something that would benefit me or something that I never realised before, Amin”                            

                                                              

 McKenzie Falls

McKenzie Waterfalls was just a half an hour drive up the hill all the way through the winding roads from our camping site. The waterfall was right in the midst of nature, surrounded by wild trees and gigantic mountains of rocks, creating an impressive view from above. Stripe of rainbow emerged as evening sunlight penetrated the water droplets falling from the massive rocks. The hard sound of water falling from an altitude onto the hard slippery rocks could be heard from a distance. 

There were 19 of us, sitting on piles of rocks, next on the right of the waterfalls but closed enough to hear each other’s voice out of the deafening sound of falling water. I could feel chilling droplets on my face as I sat facing the clear flowing water.

A guy stood and began talking. “Can you guys see the distance rocky hills?” we nodded to the finger pointed directly to a huge hill in front of our eyes. He recited, “If We had sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah” Al-Hashr: 21. “Even these solid and giant rocks would crumble into pieces if the burden of Quran was given to it. Yet, we human always make light of it and never realised this facts”

“There are lots of stuffs around us yet we never realised on how significant they are” another guy started to talk. “When we are in place like this, we used rocks to sit, woods to make fire and even trees to make shelter and protection. So do us. Everyone has their own unique role and talent to be discovered. We are like these stones and woods. We would never understand our parts if we didn’t seek deep enough.” He ended his brilliant lecture.

“Even the smallest thing here is taken care by Allah, so we need to reflect and think before doing something. Verily, He sees us all the time” another guy added 

Twelve Apostles

I had been looking at the waterfalls for sometimes and thoughts began to circle in my head. I stood. “Do you guys know why people are coming here?” I asked but not really expecting any answer from anyone. “It is because of the waterfall” Some nodded as if they just knew the answer. “If there are only trees or only rocks, rarely people will come to such places. If we look at the waterfalls, the rocks and water complemented each other to create such beautiful scenery. So do us. We need ukhwah in life. Friends would that  remind us of Him.” I paused for a moment. 

“Faith is like this flowing water. It floods when the rain comes and begins to fade as time passes. Faith acts the same way. It peaks when we attend an Islamic program or lectures and began to drop as time passes. In math, it is a Sin X’s graph. We need friends to remind us when we are at the bottom, nearly touching the X’s axis.” My friend did highlight this point before.

I remembered what my friend said this morning. “Surely will enter Jannah those who made an ukhwah purely of Allah and not bind by business or wealth”

He stood. “At glance, this place is enclosed by the hard rocks, strong trees, green leaves, high and blue skies and even winds. Every of them have its own character. Reflected to us, every of us has own personality. Some might be as strict as the rocks or even gentle as the water. In building a strong team or excellent cooperation, we need to learn to accept other’s weaknesses-but I rather not calling it as a weakness, but advantages and unique qualities. If there are only rocks or all is water, not many people are attracted to it. If we are similar, less attractive we are. Inshaallah, our diversity will be a magnet for people to come closer to us and islam.” Applauses ended his inspiring thought. “Allahuakhbar” we yelled.

Inshaallah. 

Blessed Sunday

Assalamualaikum wbt
Bismillah.

It had been awhile since my last entry.
Yet, Alhamdulillah we stepped in Syawal few weeks ago.
Inshaallah, I wish you blessing throughout the year. amin.

We Malaysians love to picture Eid or Hari Raya in a narrow perspective that filled with tears and dismal mood. We recited the Takbir in night of Eid with sad melody that touches the heart. Television was flooded with dramas, showing children refused to be home for Eid and people wishing Raya to their relatives. The house would usually fill with clamorous relatives packed in every corner chatting happily as if they were away for decade. Like in movies, children running outside the house chasing each other with lit firecrackers in hand. It was a lovely night and joys filled every corner of our hearts.

However, that was just my delightful imagination on how it would be if I was there, in Malaysia. Hundreds miles here, the situation were lots different. No booming sound of hand-made canon to crack the silent night. No traffics to portray the excitement to be home quickly with families. Only "balik kampung" song by Sudirman repeatedly played on our way to a senior house for our last break-fasting.

Alhamdulillah, this year the Eid was celebrated on Sunday throughout Australia-it never happen before. We were so blessed to be able to celebrate it together and chiefly on a weekend rather than a day packed with lectures, labs, practicals and tutorials. "Unlike last year, it was on Thursday. Donning the baju melayu, we were very reluctantly went to lab after prayer" told by my senior on how grateful we ought to be.



Admittedly, Eid in my house was very dim. There was no single rendang or kuih raya to fire up the appetite on this early morning. Thankfully, at least there were some weird looking curry that I prepared last night to accompany the square looking rice bags that I bought last evening. There was kek batik in fridge to cheer us up as well. Alhamdulillah, this was more than enough I guess.

Donning my brown glittering baju melayu paired by my old koleq samping made the day simply looked special. I remembered trying to tell my Aussie friend on what Eid was all about, yet he didn't seem care much rather than the point that I could start eating normally by Monday. But, for me today was the first my Eid experience oversea and I had been waiting for this moment. The 8.30 am prayer would be at Bonython Park near to the city. It was the Sunnah that Malaysia rarely practiced, to perform the prayer on open space.

The field was huge and a bit wet honestly. The prayer mat slowly accumulated water that was stored deeply in the soil as we sat quietly listening to the khutbah-"The sunnah on Eid's morning". The takbir was rather monotonous-now we felt Malaysian’s takbir was more appealing. Well, it was all new experiences! We filled the next one hour with photos session.

Alhamdulillah. We spend the whole day travelling from one house to another. Dr Aji's house was the very early house ambushed by us. His open house was awesome with tantalizing laksa, cakes, cookies, rendang and chocolate dip were arranged neatly on the table, ready to serve the hungers.

Around 10pm we were home. I was paralyzed to my bed, too tired to move. My stomach was cramped with all kind of Malaysian foods mixed together from 4 different houses that we visited. Despite out Eid was likely a day, it was totally a gratifying and memorable moment to be reminded. It might not be much, but as long as we had each other, we were one family and for that reason I was happy to celebrate 2012 Eid with them. 

تَقَبَّلَ اللهُ مِنَّا وَمِنْكُمْ

May Allah accept (deeds) from us and from you all.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.