Knowledge

I attended a course on Communications and Relationship Management in CSC last week.And for the first time, i met a Malay speaker.

The experience that i had only reinforces my thoughts on the importance of possessing knowledge and not belittling anyone.

We were in this chapter on dealing with the different cultures and beliefs of the races in S'pore. So there were examples of things that the Chinese hate when it comes to gifts and they loved auspicious colours(red) and numbers(8,9), and they believed that if you don't tie a red string round your little finger when you attend a funeral and the spirits will follow you home. And then when it comes to the section on Malays, there is no doubt that generally most Malays are Muslims and they don't take pork and they think that pigs and dogs are unclean. So when the speaker finished with that sentence, a participant(non-malay) asked him why the dog is unclean.
Did you know what he answered? "How would i know?? I didn't write the Quran!" (Subhanallah!!!)

I don't know what he meant by that answer and i shouldn't be interpreting. So i gave him the benefit of the doubt that he may feel that this is not an environment to explain things like these issues.

And i want to highlight another thing about him which is worthy of mention. Because of the limitedness of this 'government' building, there was no designated space for Muslims to pray. Even though the mosque is nearby, it can be quite inconvenient when the lunch time doesn't coincide within the prayer times. This Malay speaker prayed his asar right in the room itself. Masya allah!(but of course, it was during the times we were doing our group work). Well, my husband too agreed that not many would do this.

On a last note, my teacher, Ust Zhul once told his students;" Muslims have a great product (Islam) but we are poor salesmen."

This post has no ill intentions of judging anyone nor belittling anyone. It just serves as an enlightenment and a reminder to myself.

ALHAMDULILLAH!

I still remember the time when I was browsing through some books at the bookshop in Darul Arqam(Muslim Converts' Association of S'pore) and this Chinese sister came up to me and talked to me. She was the first Chinese Muslim friend i had at that time, even though i wasn't a full-fledged muslim yet.

She has been a volunteer with Darul for donkey years. And she had been my friend and closest pillar of support during those times when i had no one else. Though she's not so good with her remarks, but actually she has a heart of gold. She has to work and feed herself and her 20yr old son who is currently studying in the polytechnic. It must have been hard for her all these years after her husband passed away.

Despite all these, she did not stop showing concern for me. We do not meet as often ever since i got married so sometimes we would call one another. She would always be the one to text and inform me about the events that Darul is organising. She was also the one who told me to renew my membership with Darul and sign myself up as a volunteer so that i could render my services to the new converts. To date, I have not done so. I haven't gotten much support from my spouse and hence the delay.

It is with much regret that all forms of support had vanished together with my mentor when he left, and Darul could not fill in the gaps created from the time my parents distanced me the moment i chose a different religion as them. Those times were really really really challenging.

I ever threatened to him that i will renounce the faith. But at the back of my mind, i kept asking myself the question over and over again;' Will I? Should I?' I need to make the right decision for myself, and not for anyone else. For many nights, I couldn't sleep and I pondered over the question of 'to stay or to abandon'. Abandoning Islam would mean that i would still have a roof over my head but would not mean that i have a good end. But if i stay on, i could risk destroying everything that i have and i would have to start all over again.

Is it worth taking up this challenge?

And alhamdulillah, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah swt, I made the decision and continued my journey as a Muslim.

Although my journey continued without the presence of my mentor, Allah swt sent superb friends along the way. And she was one of them.

May Allah swt reward her in this world and the next for what she has done and continue to bestow upon her strength and assistance in her journey here. ameen ameen ya rabbal alamin.

Troubles and troubled

Of late, my mind was busy boggling with several issues. I have so much to say but not everything can be spoken. Well, although the blog is free for anyone to voice out what they have in mind but most importantly, we need to be responsible with what we write in our blogs.

I wish that i could confide in someone else besides my husband but i feared saying things which i shouldn't say, reveal things which i shouldn't reveal. Well, i guess, the best choice is still ALLAH.

O Allah, the All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-knowing... You hear, You see and You are totally aware of what's going on with your servants, every single one of them. And for that matter, shouldn't those attributes be the strongest deterrent and reminder to myself that no matter what i think, Allah swt knows jolly well what's going on in my mind. (and everything that i'm thinking right now isn't spared!)

If, whatever that i have learnt from books, to obey and to avoid, and yet i defy it and did not act upon it, am i considered as a hypocrite?

O Allah! Help me! Save me! You got me out from the deepest abyss of darkness into the nur of Islam, please don't ever let me go back there again!

Thankfulness

Do we Muslims thank Allah swt for everything, whether they be good or bad, or when things don't go our way?

I would like to share a very interesting article with fellow bloggers about thankfulness (shakur). The actual source is from this website, so i have provided a link for you to visit and read the article.


"If you are thankful, I will surely give you more; but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is terrible indeed." (14:7)

Advice for memorising the Quran

Bismillahir rahmanirrahim

We can try this:
-Memorize 3 lines after each obligatory prayer.So by the end of the 5 prayers, insya allah we would have memorize 15 lines from the Quran. And by 6 days, you can review all the 90lines.
-Review and review over and over again without boredom.
-Write it down with the meanings.
-When you meet your friends, review it with them and don't leave them with just having fun. Remind your brothers and sisters.

The Cherisher and Sustainer

The likeness of the life of the Present is as the rain which We send down from the skies: by its mingling arises the produce of the earth - which provides food for men and animals: (it grows) till te earth is clad with its golden ornaments and is decked out (in beauty): the people to whom it belongs think they have all powers of disposal over it: there reaches it Our command by night or by day, and We make it like a harvest clean-mown, as if it had not flourished only the day before! Thus do We explain the Signs in details for those who reflect.

But Allah does call to the Home of Peace: He does guide whom He please to a way that is straight.
Surah Yunus 10: 24-25

Say: "Who is it that sustains you (in life) from the sky and from the earth? Or who is it that has power over hearing and sight? And who is it that brings out the living from the dead and the dead from the living? And who is it that rules and regulates all affairs? They will soon say, "Allah". Say, "Will you not then show piety (to Him)?"

Such is Allah, your real Cherisher and Sustainer: apart from Truth, what (remains) but error? How then are you turned away?
Surah Yunus 10: 31-32