a word that changes everything

Subhanallah. this ukhuwwah truly a blessing. Wishing me well card. Syafakillah.

As salam dear readers. First of all, forgive me for not updating this blog quite a while. I have just finished the final week for trimester one, it has been quite a hectic week for me with some unpredicted things happened lately. And honestly I am not in a good health condition, so yup, hoping to get better soon. InshaAllah. Keep me in your dua's ya? Jazakallahhukhairan. Indeed Allah has tested me to show His love to me, for me to always remember Him in whatever condition I am. Yup, so alhamdulillah may these tests make me closer to Him. InshaAllah. Today I am going to write to you about a word. A word that changes everything. Curious enough aye? :)

One word that changes everything? What that might be?

Yup, I used to know and "aware" that this life is temporary and we should be a good Muslim to enter the Heaven, bla bla bla back when I was in Malaysia. But still, I thought that if I am "aware" enough about the temporaryness and the cheapness of this world, I would have not wasted my life for my own self only right? I guess I was not that "aware". Huh. *regrets*

But somehow alhamdulillah, life changes now. InshaAllah. My turning point when I found what Islam should mean to me is when I was in Wellington, back in 2010 during spring season. Yup (keep this a secret yeah :p) I realized that our job as a Muslim is more than just pleasing and satisfying ourselves daily and at some point, only to think about ourselves. And not others. I was not aware of the people's condition around me, my brothers and sisters in Palestine, Africa, Syria, Iraq and many others all Islamic Nations who are suffering a lot. I might have come to read about them in the newspaper and all before, but yeah that was all. Nothing else. I was completely driven by the thought of I should be good, excellent in studies, get good jobs and bla bla. Not a single contribution came to mind to change my brothers and sisters condition in the other parts of the world. I was selfish. That's the word. But  the ironic thing is New Zealand has changed all that. I was no longer an ignorant Muslim inshaAllah, whose mind used to only think about myself. That's how selfish I used to be. Nothing else matter but myself. *cried*

Dear friends, 

Life is short. You might think that 10 years is a long time, but out of 10 years how much time we already spent to sleep, study, eat, travel, entertain ourselves? Out of 10 years, how much preparation have we made to prepare our soul to meet Allah or in other words, how much ibadah have we done, for us to present during the Judgement Day? We might live for another 20 or 30 years if Allah wills, but that will mean more time spent on sleeping, eating and bla bla. What New Zealand has made me realize is that the preparation to meet Allah should start now, at this very moment. The time is now. Because life is short, and will be even more shorter if we wasted our time to enjoy this world, and not to prepare ourselves for the Hereafter. The Prophet s.a.w p.b.u.h lives until he was 63. Thus, what is the average time we might have left before our book is presented in front of The Creator? I think you could do the maths (:

So back to our topic. The word I was trying to say is 'usrah'. I am sure a lot of you have heard about this. 'usrah' is an arabic word, which means family. I was introduced to my family when I was in first year in Wellington. And alhamdulillah, until now my 'family' has given me a lot of lessons for me to improve myself. From being a Muslim by the name, to become a Muslim who is a Muslim by a verb too. 'Usrah' is not the only medium for us to change ourselves, and there were many other ways to do so. But for me, the continuous involvement in it, made me realized the importance for us, as human to always be reminded of what this life is for, especially what the Quran and the Sunnah wanted us to do and practice. Because it's human's  nature to be forgetful, to always be disturbed by the Syaitan who took a vow in front of Allah to make us lost and enter the Hell with them. Nauzubillah. And among the most important thing that 'usrah' has taught me is that we should not only try to improve ourselves, but to always remind each other each day, through any medium possible, to seek for Allah's blessing only in everything we do. To spread the words from Quran and Sunnah to each other, so that this world will become a better place. Unlike now, where people continuously spreading fitna and kill each other. We don't want that to continue right?

"And when your Lord said to the angels: I am making a caliph on the Earth. They said: Are You making therein one who corrupts it and sheds blood, while we hymn Your praise and sanctify You? He said: Surely I know that which you do not know "

(Al-Baqara, 2: 30).

For me, usrah have brought a new meaning of Islam to me, and subhannallah subhannallah a continuous and amazing support from my family members each day of my life, which we called as 'ukhuwwah'. 'Ukhuwwah means the a relationship that was tied by the Iman to Allah and for the sake of Allah'. It is much more beautiful than friendship and even family ties honestly, because we have the same aim, to meet Allah in Jannah together, to help each other, to willingly sacrifice for each other anytime and anywhere.

I am sure that you have heard the story about Abu Bakr', the Prophet s.a.w sahabah, who was willingly to let his hand bitten by a snake when they were hidden in a cave to protect the Prophet s.a.w who is sleeping. His tears fall down to the Prophet's cheek, when he tried to bear the pain silently. Subhanallah, that sacrifice would not be possible if they were tied by only friendship, but by ukhuwwah. Ukhuwwah that will only come with great iman and faith to Allah s.w.t. Subhanallah, subhannallah.

I am just so grateful for all His blessings to made everything I did today possible. And to seek for His forgiveness for any mistakes which I was aware or not aware of. Indeed alhamdulillah, 'usrah' or my 'family' has provided me with a lot of guidance for me to be independent in building my faith to Allah, 'usrah' could only suggest and 'guide' but the one who made it possible is ourselves.

"Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." (Quran 13:11)

The one who make it a reality is ourselves. Thus in order to find the strength to change, to improve, to be better, to find what Islam really means, that all depended on us. Whether we want to make the move or not.

And as a reminder, for us to seek for His guidance, do find a teacher, or someone who could guide us to the right track. Do not simply follow people because of who they are, but do evaluate what they are teaching, whether they are from Quran and Sunnah, that is the most important thing. seriously. Because at the end of the day we would not want our effort to be wasted on something that is wrong or against Islam itself like ayah pin bla  bla.

Honestly, the journey to find Allah's love is not easy, because Allah will indeed test us, to know who is it among all of His believers truly love Him.

"Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now, until He distinguished the wicked from the good." [Quran (3): 179]

"Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: 'We believe,' and will not be tested?" [Quran (29): 2-3] 

I would not mentioned all the tests that I have gone through, all the pains I need to swallow, all the sacrifices that were made possible are all because of the strength given by Allah. If I was alone, and depending on myself only, all these will not be possible, and I might have chosen to be who I used to be. But no. Allah was with me, and will always be there. Believe.

Though living in overseas might sound like a bed of roses to some people, but there are conditions where life sometimes put me in a helpless situation but Allah has shown me the correct path, and whatever pains and sacrifices that I need to endure, will inshaAllah help me to go further in seeking for His blessing. Quoting from a friend's status update in a social network she said :

Orang selalu cakap..untungla study oversea..org sponsor..takyah susah2 pinjam ptptn...boleh gi melancong tengok2 tempat orang..

bagi yg tiada di tempat kami, kalian hanya menilai dari sisi luaran sahaja..
Living far far far away from home its not always as sweet as you guys think..

Hidup di perantauan di mana kami menjadi golongan minoriti ini butuh pengorbanan, kesabaran, ketabahan, dan kecekalan yang bukan sedikit...
Bisa saja kami tersungkur atau tersasar jika diri mudah terpedaya dengan segala macam godaan..kalian mungkin sahaja lebih beruntung..dekat dengan keluarga di saat2 kalian memerlukan mereka..

Tetapi kami percaya Allah sudah meletakkan kami di mana kami seharusnya berada..
Begitu juga kalian..Allah sudah mentakdirkan apa yg terbaik untuk setiap orang..

walaupun kita berada di benua berbeza, tapi kita semua ingin menuju ke destinasi yang sama..^^

Do not fear of all the pains and sacrifices that we have to make, because Allah will replace the with a much much more better thing in Jannah inshaAllah because this world is cheap. Real cheap.

I am really sorry for dragging this post to be quite a long one, but I guess I will tell more about this in my future updates. Those of you who wanted to make a difference in this life, do start now. I do hope that Allah will show you the right path to find His love. InshaAllah. With one condition, whatever you do, do it because of Allah, not because of me, not because of your parents or friends or even yourself, but only for Allah, The One who created you and this whole universe. Subhanallah. 

Jazakallahhukhairan for reading. am finding ways to improve my health condition right now, though I have to admit that I could not leave the house without the fear of being suffocated again. Pray for me ya. 

May Allah bless. By writing this post, I do not mean that I am a perfect and good enough Muslim, I am just another Allah's servant, still trying to improve whatever weakness that I have. May we help each other and remind each other to seek for His blessing inshaAllah. Forgive me for any improper words or saying. Astaghfirullah.

I leave you with a beautiful video from Muhammad Ali.