Inspiring Palestine

I have been in this world not long enough that I’m still able to recall back my childhood life. Upon many things back then, one thing that I want to share about is the story of a story that had inspired me up till now in my life.

It is a story of an endless struggle.

The story of a nation.

A nation called Palestine.

Palestinian struggle has deeply rooted in my heart. They are people who all this time long had inspired me; from appreciating the daily meals that I had to the firmness of faith and never ending believe in peace and justice.

I'd been following the issue for a while.

Since primary school where my friends and I performed a theatre in commemoration of the assassination of Syeikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004, participating in donation drive for Palestinians around KL, helping in organizing charity concert for Gaza to mass demonstration in front of the US embassy in KL condemning the IDF attack on Mavi Marmara in 2010 and the latest a peaceful demonstration in front of the Israeli Consulate in Toronto in support of the GMJ.

I also had attended various talks about Palestine ranging from prolific Malaysian speakers and activists such as Dr Hadfidzi Mohd Noor, Bro Noorazman Shamsudin and Dr Syed Muhammad Haleem. Also not to forget talks from Palestinians themselves such as Sheikh Abu Bakr Al-Awida, Dr Hani from the IUG and Dr Izzedin Abuelaish. My latest talk on Palestine was by Harry Fear here in my university.

I had to make some honest says on Palestine.

From the day I heard the story of Palestinian refugees got hit by a truck to pick up fallen foods on the road, I can no longer remember when is the last time I left my plate not being completely clean and empty.

I cannot tell you how many assignments and exams that I scored just because I watched pictures and videos depicting the dire state of my brothers and sisters in Palestine.

I can also remember one time out of nowhere I got my courage to talk in front of hundreds of students in some random school to promote the charity concert that is going to be held for Palestine’s cause.

And I hundred percent believe, Palestine had inspired hundreds, thousands or maybe millions of people other than me. Indeed it really is the land of ‘barakah’. Its barakah had showered so many people in the course of history. And it will continue does.

I pray that Allah strengthen those people fighting against injustice in Palestine. May Allah keep this nation, standing strong, to keep inspiring people all over the globe.

The reason why I write this little piece of my life is for others to understand how special Palestine is in my heart. So whenever Palestine is at stake, please pardon my over-reacted actions such as being so sudden sharing infos, pictures and videos on the issue. I know out of sincerity, doing some stuffs can be an act of naivety.

But in the case of Palestine,

I always reminded myself:

“Always do at your very least, so that on that Day you can provide yourself with some proof in front of the God; the Day where only actions do the talk”.

May Allah grant victory to Palestinians and freedom fighters all around the world!

Hurriyyeh !

Ungkapan murabbi.

Antara asas penting iman seorang muslim adalah keyakinannya akan masa hadapan merupakan milik Islam.

Life Lesson #2 – Seek meaning

Photo credit [here]

Being an overseas student demands a great deal of independency. Now you need to do almost everything yourself. And you know what, that includes one thing that your mom always does, cooking.

I am not bad in cooking. It is just that I only familiar with simple stuff such as sup ayam, ayam kicap, ayam kurma etc. One day I decided to cook ayam masak merah which I regard among the hardest dish to made. No worry. All recipes are now just on your fingertip, so I googled it.

Now, it takes some skills and arts.

The main ingredient is the chilli pes. I know I got this. I used to watch my mom did it before. You just need to cut the dry chillies, soak them with some hot water and blend them completely using the blender.

I did all that. To be honest I did not know why you need to soak the chillies with hot water in the first place. I did it because I see others did. So I ended up blending the chillies together with its seeds.

Whaaaaaaaaaat?!

The ayam masak merah turns out to be crazy spicy. Honestly no one wants the chillies seed blended into their ‘sambal’.

……………………

Right, I get a very profound lesson here.

Why did you do something? Is it only because others did it? Or you actually have a good idea of why exactly you do it?

This is a very important question that needs to be answered.

Likewise. I have no idea why people used to soak the dry chillies with hot water. I ended up blended the seed s together when actually the reason you soak it is to eliminate the seeds to get a pure chilli pes.  Without knowing the exact purpose of it I ended up not only screwing the dish but also bring spiciness to others.

……………………

That’s exactly how we need to approach life.

We need to ask why we did certain things in certain ways. Do we just blindly follow others or the pre-established rules that was set before us? Or do we have a clear reason for doing it. We know exactly the purpose and its objective. We actually did it in pure consciousness. That’s to say, we know the meaning behind everything that we do.

We need to ask.

Ask ourselves.

Why?

……………………

So, why did you perform solah?

Why did you fast?

Why did you make zikr?

Why did you chase knowledge?

Why?

Why?

And why?

If we do not know what the purposes, what are the objectives, we are in the brink of being ignorance. Our ibadah is mere physical activities. Actions without the souls.

Praying supposedly to remember yet it just mere remembered as routines.

Like supposedly soaking chillies to remove seeds yet they still get blended away.

……………………

Ask brothers.

Seek the meaning.

Why?

Life lesson #1 - Tawakkal.

Photo credit [here]

I was in this dilemma one day. I had two submissions that day. One is my geography assignment the other my biology pre-lab sheet.

I spent the night before doing the geography assignment. To my surprise it took the whole night to finish that 4 pages assignment. I slept around 2 o’clock that night. 

There was no hope left for me to finish up the pre-lab. I was ready to let go of this one. I opened the course assessment scheme to see how much the pre-lab worth of the total grade (I’m that desperate). It worth only 2%. Oh, I think it is okay to drop that just 2%. Plus, as I’m calculating the circumstances there is no way I could made it on time. You need to draw a graph, calculating stuffs that you don’t know (because it was told to me by a friend that the question is hard), there is definitely no way I can have it done.

I woke up with a different feeling that morning.

I stop and think. I was thinking about the thought that I had last night. I just felt that it just wasn’t right. It is wrong for me to think in that way.

Astaghfirullah.

I convinced myself that I just associating Allah last night. It might sound harsh but for me that is the reality. Nauzubillah!

That morning I realized that my decision to stop pulling my efforts to have the pre-lab done just due to the circumstances that I faced is so wrong. I actually just made a tawakkal to the circumstances. Not to Allah. I started believing that the circumstances actually had the power to withhold me. When none has the power except Allah S.W.T.

I was awakened.

I grabbed the pre-lab sheet and start doing it. I used every single instance that I had. Before the geography tutorial started I spent time to do it until the TA actually started to talk. The tutorial ended early, extra time for me to continue. Next, I need to rush for the biology lecture. The writing continued until the lecturer actually started the class. After the class, I had just one-hour left before my lab. Making it more difficult, I also need to pray zuhr within that one hour.

I sat down on a sitting bench just outside the lecture hall. I need to get it done. I’ve looked to the last question that I had no single clue on how to solve. To my surprise, as I made my third or fourth look, it just came to me on how to actually solve the question. It is actually so easy to do. Subhanallah. I was flabbergasted. I made it done just before the call for zuhr.

I rushed to the prayer room and made the congregation. Then I went for the lab session.

I made it!

……………………

We always belittled so many thoughts in our life.

Often it made us fell short into misery and despairs. We know about rububiyyah and uluhiyyah of God. Most people will find no trouble in rububiyyah of God. But we always failed to fully comprehend the uluhiyyah of God. What is the right of God upon us or everything from us that is made obligation from us for God.

Our sensitivity, priority, mindfulness, hope, fear, tawakkal and many more.

We must be conscious. God conscious. So that we  do not make mistake in associating God in our life.

The 'tauhid' of God is our power. It set us free. Like a bird flying through the limitless of the sky. Wandering without fear. With tauhid, we become strong. None has the power to stop us except that what God has permitted.

……………………

Alhamdulillah on that day I also received back my previous geography assignment  I scored 20/20.

La Haula Wa La Quwwata Illa Billah.

Baju Hijau.

Photo credit [here]

It was the day when I was going to head back to my boarding school. My family and I were waiting for the Transnasional bus at Hentian Jalan Duta. That day I wore ‘baju hijau’ an official MATRI dress code for boarded students. It was written in the hostel charter as compulsory for every boarded student to wear ‘baju hijau’ anytime they want to leave or coming back to the school after the holiday.

But in reality, nobody take the rule seriously. People who wear it are often called ‘skema’, ‘tok bond’, just to list some.

And that day, my younger brother spoke out.

He said, “Why are you wearing this? See around you, nobody really cares about it. Plus, the teacher won’t really check if every single student is wearing the shirt.”

He silenced me.

And then, came that moment.

My mother stood just beside me. She heard what he said. She smiled. And she is no ordinary person.

And what she about to say will change my view over things in my school life.

She said, “You don’t wear the shirt, just because of the rule or just because the teacher said so. What important is the effect of wearing that shirt over your heart. The one who wears it carry a big heart in him. He manages to put it on, despite being different from everybody else because of what he had inside his heart. He is humble, obedient, willing to give up his comforts and he believes that obeying the rule is part of his duty, his amanah as a student. That is what the shirt means to him. The shirt is the sign of the state of his heart.”

So profound.  So profound that it pierced deep into my heart.

She changed my perspective over all the little things.

She gave meaning to it.

The ‘baju hijau’ lesson is really something.

I once heard senior in my school said that every rules are meant to educate (tarbiyyah) us.

Now I understand.

But the lessons are only for the people who see.

And my mom, she made me see. :)