Gaza Buttons

I embark on a project selling Gaza buttons with my students. My husband and a mother of one of my students finance the whole projects. May Allah bless all of them. Yeah, 100% of the profit is given to Gaza. That's just a part of the mission of the project. There are other objectives though. 

First, it's a good way to train my students to sacrifice their time, money and efforts for the cause of Allah. Like I said to my students, we can't talk about going jihad in a war zone if we can't jihad in small scale like this. They collect orders (there are many orders!), put the buttons inside plastic bags, and deliver them using motorbikes or simply walking from house to house. Once they got the payment they will use the money to rolls back into the next phase of ordering, packaging and delivering. 

Second, we are campaigning the students to wear the buttons always as a sign of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Gaza. If they can't wear the buttons on their school uniforms then they can wear in on their pencil cases. I will discuss about this matter with my school administrators when school reopens in January. I think it will be cool if they can wear it on their shirts and dresses when they go shopping at  AEON, the nearest shopping complex in our area. It's a silent campaign for Gaza. I'm wearing my buttons on my handbag at both sides. You can't fail noticing it. I'm hoping that I can persuade as many teachers as I can to do the same. Well, I'm not really concern with numbers. As I said to my students how many will follow is not our job, it's Allah's job. Allah will choose whom he likes. Our job is to make the campaign works as far as possible.

Lastly, we need to have a project to practice our faith. As an analogy, after learning how to cook a dish, we need to cook the dish. Theory is not enough. We need to make the theory works. 

To all my students, I love all of you because of Allah. May Allah bless all of you.

May Allah bless us all.

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.

Usrah session

Another usrah session on friday with my girls at the school's musolla or surau. I'm expecting one of the form three girls would present but it turned out no one was given the assignment. Some miscommunication between me and my committee members. To me it mean I have not conveyed my instruction clearly to my secretary. Just like what my principle always said in our weekly meeting, if there is any problem that arises it mean she is at fault. Always look inside ourselves first.

In my impromptu presentation, I told the girls to always believe that everything is possible with Allah's help. Don't ever think that I'm not clever like that girl. Or that I cannot score in this subject. Or the such. It only shows that we do not trust Allah enough. 

Imam Hassan Al Banna spent a lot of time spreading Islam. To the extent of going to pub to preach. He end up not fully prepared for his final exam. But on the night before his final paper he dreamt that a man in white robe came to him. The man instructed him to open a kitab or book at certain pages. Then they went through it together. Imam Hassan Al Banna was studying in his sleep. On the next day when he opened up his exam paper he found out those pages that he studied in his dream last night came out in the exam. He passed with flying colours.

Allah's help can come in many forms. Never loose hope and always pray to Allah to help us in every endeavor. Put all our hope and dependance on Allah and Allah alone. I hope my girls understand this.

After the usrah session some of the girls followed me to my car. Opening up the car boot, I asked the girls to choose any books that they want to borrow. Some of them have already finished their final exam and I want them to fulfill their times with reading books that will draw them nearer to  Allah.

May Allah bless us all. Ameen.

Learning to be a better person

We stopped by a shop to get some coffee packs for my husband. Adhan zohor, the call for afternoon prayer or rather Friday prayer since today is Friday, can be heard from a far. I commented to my daughter that the shop was still open. The owner should be going to the mosque to perform the compulsory prayer by now. Why was the shop still open? Anyway I went down from the car and search for the product that I wanted. That was when I noticed a lady behind the counter. Ooopppsss... this mean that the owner is no longer around. Probably in the mosque already. Astagfirullah....please Allah please forgive me for thinking badly about the male owner. After paying for the products I hopped back into the car.

My daughter told me an incident that happened to her about an hour ago. She was in a shop looking for something with her classmates. There was a male student inside the shop. He was holding a cigarette in one hand and reaching out to my daughter's face with the other hand. Luckily my daughter managed to duck just in time. That made me feel furious. I asked my daughter did she said something in retaliation? She said no because she is in the process of learning to increase her patience. That statement struck me. I complimented her on her struggle to contain her anger. And I said I'm learning too, learning to think positively about everyone and not to jump into hasty conclusion.

Thank you Allah. I feel that my daughter and I are in your guidance. We are both consciously trying to improve our known weaknesses. And we have no strength what soever except the strength that You have given us. Give us the strength to identify our weaknesses and give us the strength to improve our weaknesses. Amin.

May Allah bless us all.

duck - lower the head or the body quickly to avoid a blow or so as not to be seen

retaliation - make an attack or assault in return for a similar attack : the blow stung and she retaliated immediately.

compliment - a polite expression of praise or admiration : she paid me an enormous compliment.

Stuck between two people?

Stuck between two people? Between our boss and our office mate, between our spouse and our kids, between two dear friends, between whom we would like to help and whom we should help.... the list goes on and on. 

Sometimes I find myself in this difficult situations. It is difficult to decide what to do or who to choose. But should we really choose one of them? In this difficult situations I always pray to Allah to give me guidance as to what to do. Pray to Allah to soften the heart of both parties. And I will always ask Allah to solve my problems for Allah is the best problem solver. In the end Allah will always give me a win, win solution. Not really having to choose one of the conflicting parties but instead Allah will always give me ideas how to make both parties happy. Ideas that come to me as the answer to my prayer. Subhanallah. Praise be to Allah.

Sometimes it just take a few minutes. Sometimes a few days of long night prayers to seek guidance. Sometimes a lot longer that that. But Allah never leave me alone. 

Thank you Allah for everything. Only you I worship and only you I seek help.

May Allah bless us all. Ameen.