a star trip

a long queue of people at the planeterium this morning

As salam to dear readers. I am just all of sudden interested to write about my short-sweet-windy trip all the way to the Carter Observatory at the top of Botanical Garden Wellington, about a few hours ago. Decided to went there because it was the Wellington Open Day, where all the tourists' places price will be reduced to one/ two dollars (it's a gold coin donation) and despite the windy and cold weather, it might as well be a good idea to go there, cause the usual price is 18 dollars. Pheww. Heh, well, ignore the title, I wasn't going to go on a space ship or whatsoever, it's just sounded nice, and thrilling, like 'Star Trek'. Ah, sorry :p anyways, I wasn't surprised with all the so-amazing-modern-sophisticated applications that they have at the gallery, but it was more than that. The fact that I learned so much more about Allah's beautiful, beautiful creations, the planets, the Sun, the stars, the Earth. Every single thing that are all above us, circulating and rotating in it's order, each second and so wonderfully arranged, all because of Allah is the Greatest Creator of all. 

In As-Saffat the 37th Surah from verses 5 to 9, Allah mentioned :

"Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them - and the Lord of the sun’s rising points.

We have indeed adorned the lowest heaven with stars as ornaments.

And to protect it from every rebellious devil. They cannot listen to the speech of those on higher elevations and they are targeted from every side.To make them flee, and for them is a never-ending punishment."

the popular seven stars called Matariki by New Zealanders. Subhanallah.

So from these beautiful verses, we can learn that Allah has never created something without a purpose. Even the stars, the Sun, the sky, and these fingers typing are all have their own purposes and obey to the order of nature, which Allah has arranged so beautifully according to His wisdom. Indeed we could not say that we did not like a thing, just because of its imperfect conditions, or its undesirable effect, because Allah has created everything with their own functions and benefits. In fact, we are the one who will never be able to figure out all the hidden secrets behind all of His creations. and therefore, stop complaining about imperfections either on things or people in our life, because their presence are a test to see our Iman, our faith, whether we are truly blessed with everything that we already have or do we keep wishing for something more, and never ending. 

In a hadith, narrated by Ibn 'Abbas:

I heard the Prophet saying, "If the son of Adam (the human being) had two valley of money, he would wish for a third, for nothing can fill the belly of Adam's son except dust, and Allah forgives him who repents to Him." 

Everything that we have, every person that we meet, every single thing that happened in this life, are there because of Allah's will. He is the One who decides what is the best for us and thus, as His servants, we should always learn to be grateful and accepting. Teach our hearts to thank everything we have, to stop wishing for something we don't have. Teach our hearts to give instead of receive. Teach our hearts to be satisfied instead of .........It's human nature that we always wanting more, more and more, though we already know that in the end we ain't gonna bring anything back to our grave. Nothing.

In a Hadith, The Prophet s.a.w. said narrated by Anas bin Malik:

Allah's Apostle said, "The son of Adam (i.e. man) grows old and so also two (desires) grow old with him, i.e., love for wealth and (a wish for) a long life."

There, it is clearly said to us. Human will never be satisfied. But we as Muslims, we are taught to be grateful, to be satisfied and accepting. Because with great patience and Iman in our hearts, we will never feel dissatisfy, because we know in the end, everything is going to be returned to Allah. And all that we have in this life are just a 'loan', yes, a 'loan' for us to invest wisely, to benefit from them as our 'shares', where all will be counted in the Hereafter. Allah, indeed will ask, what did we do with every single blessings that He gave to us one day. Was it used for good or otherwise? Was it used for Islam or not? Was it used to benefit others or otherwise? We know this and yet, what are the preparations that we have made to answer these questions?

So, dear brothers and sisters, let us learn to accept. Let us learn to be satisfied. Let us learn to be grateful with what Allah has given us. There were too many, and impossible for us to even recall what we have received from Allah since the day we were born to this world until now. Therefore, it is still not too late to keep working harder to gain Allah's blessing in this life, to gain His mercy in whatever we do, to gain His love in whatever we try to contribute. With only one condition, that is our main intention, is we do anything to seek for Allah's blessing, nothing more or less. Don't stop, time is waiting for you to make use of it wisely. Now, at this very moment, is the time to change. Because we are not promised that we'll live the next minute to repent, right?

Narrated by Mujahid, The Prophet said: 

'Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "Allah's Apostle took hold of my shoulder and said, 'Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler." The sub-narrator added: Ibn 'Umar used to say, "If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening, and take from your health for your sickness, and (take) from your life for your death."

~written somewhere around The Terrace, Wellington, 16:09 pm, with the presence of beloved sisters. May Allah bless each and every one of us. 

Wallahu'alam.