Love Allah

It was my first time. I didn't know what to expect. We arrived at RA center right on time. The center places 30 inmates. Some are pregnant, some are nurturing below one month babies, and some have given up their babies for adoption. They are girls that got pregnant out of wedlock. Most of them were sent there by their family members. 

We took our places in front of the girls. After Ros opened the session with chapter Al Fatiha, I gave my tazkirah (reminder)... no. I declared to the girls I'm not any better than them to give tazkirah. Talk?...no. I'm not knowledgable enough to give a talk. I just want to remind myself and I would like to share the reminder with the girls. 

I began with praising Allah, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (p.b.u.h), his ahlul bait or family members, his sahabah/companions and all those that has passed down Islam until it reaches us. I drew everybody's attention to the signs of the greatness of Allah. Just how many human being that have lived on earth? Uncountable. So how is it that everyone has a distinctly unique finger print? Unthinkable. That's just how great Allah is.

What is the biggest animal on earth? The blue whale. What is it's size? One house? No, much bigger. One football field? Bigger. So how come the blue whale can only eat tiny plankton? Even the size of a ball can't get through its lung. Why? Well, what if Allah decides the blue whale can eat big things like fish. What will happen? The ocean will dry out of fish and other sea food for sure. That's why blue whale can only eat plankton. 

When we look at a white board we will the notice the black spots here and there. We fail to notice the vast whiteness of the board. Allah has given us so much. So much. But we always tent to look at negative things. We always forget all the pleasure that Allah has given us. 

Then I go through the lyrics of a nasyeed named Muhasabah Cinta - checking our love. In times of happiness we always forget Allah. We even use the good health that Allah has given us to do things that He forbid. But when we are in big trouble and nobody else can help us, we will automatically turn to Allah. Even an atheist will seek help from god in time of danger. In sorrow and in times of test we will put up beautiful, lovely words asking help from Allah. And when Allah takes us out of it we will easily forget Allah back. So we need to Muhasabah Cinta - check back our love to Allah. We must give undivided love to Allah for He is our sustainer. In times of good and bad, our love to Allah must always be pure and sincere.

Attaching a powerful speaker to my MacBook, we sing the nasyeed together twice. Some of the girls cried. Tears that roll down because fear of Allah or love for Allah are tears that will protect its owner from the hell fire. Ooo Allah, bless all the girls in front of me. Maybe in the hereafter they are better than me, I don't know. Please give us all a good ending. Die loving you Allah and you loving us. Ameen.

May Allah bless us all. 

Street Dakwah

"Teacher, can you help us? Some of us wanted to joint Street Dakwah program but we can't go the the venue ourselves. We need someone to transport us". Street Dakwah is a two day program to approach non muslim at public places not to convert them to Islam but just to tell them more about Islam. Participants will be given the theory on the first day and will go down to the chosen site on the next day to approach non muslims.  

Two years ago they look up to me for guidance and Islamic knowledge. I started usrah program to give reminders to myself and to share the reminders with my students. There were not many followers on the first year. I would be lucky if I can get five students for each session. Now the number can go up to almost one hundred.

"OK, I'll seek help from my friends in Ikram, an Islamic NGO. Try to get as many students to go as you can". My students make their own campaign. Seeking friends from Musolla (Islamic Centers) and mosques, launching campaign using their FaceBook (FB) and FB groups. I campaigned through an FB group that was set up specially to do usrah online with my students. Many of my students are in their hometowns since is it a long school holiday now. Some are afraid. Some can't get their parents' permissions. But in the end there are twelve students who can go. We went by bus, together with participants from other places in Hulu Selangor district. 

We were exposed to the common questions that non muslim usually ask like about polygamy, why pray five times a day, the bad acts of muslims, etc. We were trained how to answer each question. Then we have role acting.

The second day was the real test. The biggest problem trying to shed our fear and shyness. What if our friends and neighbors see us? Putting away all those negative thinking and putting Allah's pleasure as our purpose, we went ahead. My students were superb. They have interviewed so many people. My Ikram friends, Mas, praised them so much. I simply said they are not my product, they are Allah's products. Nowadays they are not following behind me but instead I'm trailing behind them. They are moving ahead of me at a very fast speed. I just hope I'm not left far behind.

Some non muslims simply turned us down. No problem. We took it in our stride. Others answer our questionnaire nicely. Some discussed deeply about Islam. They were given a bag that have some pamphlets about Islam is not a religion of extremists, the oneness of god in Islam, Islam a religion of peace, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) - you should know this man!. To me even if only one of them go home and read the pamphlets, that is good enough. Our duty is to spread Islam, it is Allah who decides whom Allah shall give guidance.

May Allah bless us all.

Wedding trip

We drove  four hours from Rawang in Selangor to Sungai Petani  in Kedah to attend the wedding of my cousin's second daughter. The traffic was quite busy. We arrived around 1 p.m. in the mists of the feast. A wedding is the time to meet relatives, close ones and long lost ones. 

I hardly see the bride before since she's a police. So is her newly wed husband. During festive seasons police are always on call. Her radiance face portrayed her happiness. She wiped the bride groom's face since it's a hot day and he did the same to her. They looked so sweet.

I get to see a lot of aunties and cousins. A hug to ease the longing. Here we gathered to celebrate the wedding and to exchange stories. A lady called up my name. As I turned around I saw an unfamiliar face. She asked me whether I can recognize her. She can recognize me alright. A few wild guesses were wrong. Lastly she introduce herself as Mak Jang Midah, an adopted daughter of my grandmother from my father's side. My grandmother wasn't rich but she had a few adopted kids. Even though her life was hard enough but she adopted kids of even poorer couples. She had a big heart. 

It must have been twenty years since I last met Mak Jang Midah. But she can still recognize me easily. Maybe I don't change much. Just grow older. But she has surely changed. Even my sister can't recognize her. 

We made the five hours trip back to Rawang after spending one and a half hours there. Making an almost thirteen hours trip to and fro just to attend to a wedding is not a small feat. To my husband and me it's a trip of love. A trip to rekindle our ties to our relatives. It's what Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon us (p.b.u.h) taught us. To honor wedding invitations. 

May Allah bless us all.