.:Bullet Proof Read:.

Remember the part where I fell down? Well, when I feared falling again, someone said, “Nobody falls twice”. And as I reflected on how much more careful I was after the fall, I realised how true that statement is. Of course, everything that Allah wills to happen will come to pass… But when you take extra precaution, and you even make du’a, you’ll be all right insha Allah.

Learning from mistakes, from experience.

This is as the simple yet powerful hadith that goes:
A believer is not bitten from the same hole twice.
(al-Bukhari)

The hadith made so much more sense then when I read the context of it, subhan Allah. It’s so important that we learn from the past, whether recent or distant, whether our own or others’. Unfortunately, this great lesson has been abandoned by the ‘ummah as we see ourselves being constantly fooled and humiliated because we keep trusting actions that we’ve known too well to have failed numerous times in the past. Let alone, persons we’ve known too well to deceive and fall far back from promises…

But ok, even at our very own individual level, the very simple application of this hadith is forgotten. We’re bought over by soft words, persistent persuasions and exaggerated claims into doing things we know bring no benefit, are time wasters, lead us to bad things and are simply wrong. Yet we keep on getting into these things. Ok, so sometimes we don’t even need that little push to get moving in that direction. But that whisper from the devil… We fall for it every time. The excuses we come up with…

Hmm. You know what. Actually, the ‘bitten from the same hole‘ bit reminds me of the two in the cave. How Abu Bakr radhiyallahu ‘anh endured that painful sting out of pure respect and love for his companion, the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. Beautiful. Masha Allah. If we could even bear a fraction of that pain for the sake of a friend… Good enough, eh?

I know, what a stark jump in content lol. But meh, besides lack of articulation (yes same excuse again, pardon me, sorry, etc), the latter is such a heartwarming story and I was getting all heated up with how we make these stupid mistakes… so I needed that switch. We just gotta learn, you know?

The funny thing is that sometimes, just sometimes… you hear of similar heartwarming stories, and they’re just SO GOOD, that you totally forget they’re… fabricated. Even then, my friend, there are lessons therein. Literally from those texts, and from your brief belief in those texts.

So, what’s your Gullibility Index? ;-)

May Allah keep us guided upon truth, protect us from falsehood and help us learn from the many lessons He bestows upon us in our everyday lives. Ameen.

One of my favourite incidents in Seerah has to be the Hudaibiyah Treaty and in particular the way ‘Umar questioned the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam about his promise to them. His sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam answer was one of calm truth. Beautiful moment, masha Allah. It’s such a big show of passion, compassion and affection that surpasses any well-told fictional tale.

As I pondered upon the story again the other day, I started valuing the weight of promises. How the promise of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was true… Then how much more so is the promise of our Lord, subhanahu wa ta’ala? He has told us His Promise is true and certainly, it will prevail. If a moment of doubt should enter our hearts, it is essential to remember His Words.

رَبَّنَا وَآتِنَا مَا وَعَدتَّنَا عَلَى رُسُلِكَ وَلاَ تُخْزِنَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّكَ لاَ تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ
“Our Lord! Grant us what You promised unto us through Your Messengers and disgrace us not on the Day of Resurrection, for You never break (Your) Promise.”

Surah ali-Imran: 194

Then I reflected upon the disbelievers and how they hold on to downright false promises. The evil deceptions of shaytan. They will be asking their lords on the Last Day to save them. I imagined them to ask in a similar way that ‘Umar put forth his query to the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. Only they will cry out in pure desperation and panic. While the beloved companion received his satisfying answer of truth… The beliers of truth will receive absolutely no answer, whereby they will come to face with the truth that they worshipped nothing but Shaytan. What an evil end…

يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلاَّ غُرُوراً
He [Shaitan (Satan)] makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires; and Shaitan’s (Satan) promises are nothing but deceptions.
Surah an-Nisaa’: 120

May Allah protect us all and keep us guided always.

These things are never new to us… But with every fresh read, it just fills the mind with awe, wonder, amazement as well as fear and hope. The beautiful balance of what this deen has to offer. The perfect way of life.

Alhamdulillah for guidance.

It’s been an interesting week, masha Allah, filled with new, refreshing, deep thoughts and sadly, depressing ones too. (Besides the fact that I slipped and fell in the rain on a muddy patch of grass! It’s ok, you can laugh along. Seriously. No broken bones or feelings.)

So anyways in the spirit of numbering, I shall list these points in chronological order. See, the thing is I’ve always liked short notes… they’re so much easier to read. If I notice something is too long (mostly online), it just turns me off from even trying to enjoy the read. And erm making lists eases the reader’s eyes and mind (err troubles too? you wish!). But I digress… and ironically make this longer than it should be! (Oh, why do you even read me. Sigh.)

Presenting…

1. Meri phone
Monday was a full work day (Hey, who cares if I spent a few hours on Sunday doing actual ‘on-site’ work!). The sheep were stinking up the whole place but that smell made it all about ‘Eid al-Adha. I rarely, if ever, bring my phone up with me for salah but that day, due to some circumstances, I brought it along with me for ‘asr, thinking it’d be safe in my pocket. And so it was, staying with me throughout the entire prayer. It was only when I got back to the office that I realised it was MISSING! The horror! I panicked because it was nowhere on my desk either. I ran over to the other side and realised I couldn’t have left it there because that was the whole reason (yes, that circumstance) I brought it along with me.

Then fearing the worst, knowing the only place it could be, I RUSHED up three flights of stairs to save my dearest phone. All the thoughts that flew around in my head, subhan Allah. I thanked Allah that I saw no one in sight (which is totally sad cos you’d wish there were MORE people in the masjid lol)… and most of all that I spotted my phone on the floor. It had fallen off not during salah, but as I was getting up to leave.

The scariest thought? That I had the least trust in people in that place of ALL places. It’s unfortunate, really. The stories that you hear of things vanishing less than 5 minutes after someone accidentally leaves it behind. It’s supposed to be the house of Allah, right? Donation cans being ran off with is definitely not unique to our masjid alone… but man, I just stopped to ponder that very thought of trust in the masjid. More disappointingly, it extends beyond a materialistic physical sphere…

Allahul musta’an. May He rectify our affairs.

2. Yuwaysir
Still on the same manic Monday. My long awaited PC arrived just before I got home and t’was exciting just setting it up! (Ahh, cheap thrills) But dang oh dang, the monitor was dang faulty! My lesson? Sabr. I’m blessed with a brand new PC even though the old one was working just fine. I’d waited 3 weeks to get it, what’s a couple more days? And hey, I could just use the old monitor in the meantime. My sis practically lives here these days, the last thing on her mind is bringing that old PC home.

So I tried being patient. I went to sleep.

3. ‘Eid Sa’eed!
I noticed I was the only one to say ‘Eid Sa’eed online… I’d wanted to be different but the funny thing about that is that you start wondering if your strangeness equates to being wrong. So I started doubting if I could say that greeting instead of Mubarak. How sad.

My ‘eid was really good this year, alhamdulillah. Despite going alone for the salah, it was a wonderful experience. I got up real close to the slaughterings than ever before (haha!). That day certainly brought about a perspective I shall keep with me for long. The basic principle of which is that you never know until you try. Or in dropping the pink elephant, you’ll only know if you try!

Good news and stuff :)

4. The second test.
And so things went fine for the next couple of days. Till the next test of patience come end of week. Let’s avoid the details and go for the lesson shall we. You know, I could go on like a broken record telling you that the complaint is only to Allah. And it’ll be worth it. But I learnt just how… very… hard… it is… to… CONTROL. You could tell yourself and even think that you’re feeling fine (yea those annoying self-help books) but you lose all control of that heartbeat and mind race…

Patience when calamity first hits ranks highest. And now I know why.

I also learnt that repeating reminders to others really does help you when you need your own advice.

This is getting super long even for me… And I’m feeling sleepy. So to sleep, to sleep. And perhaps I’ll continue tomorrow or just make a brand new entry insha Allah.

Hope we liked it.

as-salamu ‘alaykum bloggie…

It’s been a while so salam before kalam innit. Just the salam itself… means so much to a Muslim. That bond, the true wish for a fellow believer… Masha Allah.

Today I learnt that part of why I feel down and low sometimes is because I don’t get out much. I actually feel better, recharged (!) after having met friends, even if it be for a short, silent while. Alhamdulillah.

It’s weird eh? We can hardly figure out ourselves… With every new insight to this being we each call ‘me’, we’re amazed. But I realised that while we know little about ourselves, we know what we need to know about our Lord. That He is Allah, al-Ahad. And when you find out what He tells us about His Majestic Self, that is when knowing about yourself would matter… Because it is knowing yourself in relation to Him, the All-Mighty that weighs in. How wonderful is the case of the believer indeed. Things generally may confuse him, but all he needs is to find the way to his Creator.

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُواْ لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُواْ بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ

And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad SAW) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.

Surah al-Baqarah: 186