Nicole Queen - Why Islam Part II

The beauty of living for a Higher Power and not just for the worldly things.........

Hijrah

"Hijrah" can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. However, the "Hijrah" that we normally associate with has its root from the "movement" of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from Mecca to Medina in order to prevent more prosecutions from the Meccan people and to seek greater "avenues" for the spiritual and worldly "growth" and well being of the Ummah during the early days of the Islamic propagation.

Nowadays, other than making the "Hijrah" celebration a "must" through outpouring of public joys and marching on the streets at the beginning of the new "Hijrah" year, every year, the significance and the spirit of the "Original Hijrah" born 1400 years ago, has sort of diminished or simply being forgotten by the vast majority of Muslims the world over who only look at it now as mere ritual.

The simple truth is "Hijrah" in its original context, if properly managed and executed, is the most potent "weapon" possessed by us Muslims for achieving what we are lacking at this particular period in our history.

The spirit of "Hijrah" requires us to always "move forward" from a position of "less" to a position of "more" of the good things in this life and the next whilst at the same time putting our complete trust in Allah the Almighty. We are not supposed to be stagnating in our life without doing anything to improve ourselves and the Ummah. We should always be moving forward and looking ahead to better our future in everything that we do.

The significance of "Hijrah" should not be undermined by our narrow interpretation of its meanings and potentials. No matter how insignificant is our efforts to better ourselves and the Ummah, if it is done sincerely by keeping the spirit of "Hijrah" alive, the end result could well be the beginning of our next "move" to a greater plane of success in this world and the hereafter....

Happy New Year 1432H...may we all be bestowed with all the best that can be bestowed by Allah (swt) and may the new 1432H and the years to come be prosperous for us all...

The Last of the Mohicans

Me wrote this entry while waiting for me Hakim to complete his registration at a local University in Bangi yesterday. At last me Hakim got his place to further his study after waiting for a couple of months.

This basically "complete" me responsibility to provide a decent education to me children - to the best of me ability and conforming to their respective interests, for the good of their future.

Hakim was the last of the "Mohicans", so to speak, since his younger sister "me Adek" went away to further her study a few months ago.

It was not an easy task to making sure our children get their proper education. As parents, we should not force them to do things against their will in matters involving education, if we are to harness excellence from them. Me for one, always belief that the children's interests should play a pivotal role in determining the field of knowledge they would want to pursue. We as parents should only "facilitate" and "steer" them towards pursuing their respective interests.

Leaving it at that, out of me six children, three of them (the two Muhammads and Hakim) have chosen engineering as their career path (coincidentally all three are majoring in "mechanical" just like meself! - maybe we all have that "mechanical" genes!). The others,the 2 Ahmads have chosen to do medicine while the youngest chose pharmacy as her career of choice. InsyaAllah, me pray for all of them to be successful in their chosen vocations.

Again, as parents the world over would agree, we should be thankful to Allah for the "Amanah" entrusted upon us to manage our wonderful children. Really, not much we as parents could do except to pray and pray that our children would grow up and be blessed with the success in this world and the hereafter...and that they would become our legacy and "assets" in this world, who would pray and pray continuously for our sustenance when we are no longer on this earth...

O Allah! make our children and our descendants to come, the source of your blessings and the source of our happiness in this world and the hereafter...Ameen.

You Only Need To Cry

Yesterday was the engagement day for me Along. It was supposed to start at 2:30pm at his fiance's house in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur about half an hour's drive from me home. But when me reached at the mosque where our engagement party was supposed to regroup, it started to rain very heavily and we have to wait for the downpour to stop before proceeding to our destination.

While waiting for the weather to ease itself, me had the opportunity to "explore" the mosque's toilet and was pleasantly surprised to notice the conditions of the toilets as one of the cleanest and well kept mosque's toilet that me have ever seen! This is a far cry from me other mosque's toilet experience sometime back in Kuala Pilah.

Although it was quite an old mosque, it looked like it has been well kept and meticulously maintained. Me noticed also the place is a hive of activities with a sort of kiosk being set up within the mosque compound to cater for the economic needs of the Qaryah (community within the mosque's jurisdiction) - indicating to a great efforts being put up to realize the true function of mosques.

This may have to do with the mosque being located in what used to be one of the elite areas of Kuala Lumpur. Me even noticed, the current mosque's AJK (Committee Member) is headed by a certain Tan Sri Datuk...

Coincidentally, during a conversation with one of me Along fiance's uncles, after the engagement ceremony ended, me happened to mention about a few of me cousins also staying in the same locality but unfortunately me couldn't recall where exactly as the last time me went to their place was to attend their mother's funeral, even then, me still remember, it was all done at the "mosque with the cleanest toilets".

Upon hearing that, the uncle spontaneously made this rather very interesting remark about the all-encompassing role played by his mosque in TTDI, in which me feel mosques everywhere should all try to earnestly emulate, when he candidly said, "Over here, you don't have to do anything at all as all have been taken care of by the mosque, if any of you got into any difficulty or emergency situation such as death in the family or accidents or anything, 'you only need to cry' as the rest is being taken care of by the benevolence of our mosque!"

It Is Not How Long We Live That Matters

These past few days me had been deeply troubled by the news of an untimely demised of two individuals - although not directly related but they were very close family members of me office colleagues. One was a mother in-law and the other was an elder sister cum motivational consultant who died within a few days of each other due to tragic circumstances - an accident and an illness. Both the deceased were two individuals having different backgrounds but shared the common fate of a tragic and untimely death...

And this morning, over the radio, me was sort of relieved and consoled by an Ustaz who were giving his usual morning motivation talk that aptly gave a fresher perspective on what me been troubled with for these past few days. In short he said, it is not how long we live but what matter most is what have we done with our lives and the impact it give to those around us in the time given by God for us all to live on this earth...

May the souls of those departed rest in peace and in the good care and blessings of Allah swt...