I met an old man today at the national library. He was in charge of the photocopy room. He was such a patient and kind man as he tended to all my demands and needs. However, it was pretty clear that his age was talking a toll on him. When he walked, he walked with small steps. His magnifying glass was often used as he squinted his eyes to see the pages of the microfilm which I wanted to print. I don't know why but thinking about him now brings tears to my eyes. I truly wish that if Allah were to take away his life, He wld grant him Islam first. InsyaAllah.
It doesnt hurt to say a small prayer for the elderly people we happen to pass by as we go about our daily activities. May Allah bless all of them ameen (:
My friends and I decided to meet up to discuss our answers for an assignment due on Monday. I confidently brought with me all my answers but lo and behold, I realised that I only had one answer correct. I was disappointed initially and I had to redo almost all of the questions which I had attempted. I did not have much time to dwell on it though as there was lab. It was meant to be from 1-4pm. 3 hours. However, the procedures were confusing and we had a hard time figuring out what to do. The lab technician was not one to spoonfeed us with answers so we had to do some calculations ourselves and go through certain concepts with him before we knew what to do. In the end, we took 4 and a half hours to complete the lab session. What seemed worse was that we had the wrong readings at the end and the lab technician had no idea what went wrong so we had to redo everything! We all left feeling pretty upset. I then headed for GPac! and on my way to the mosque, one of the tutors smsed me to tell me that she wasn't feeling well and that she couldn't come for the GPac! session. Within that short notice, there wasn't much I could do except place her class with another class. I was stressed. After praying Isyak and my sunnah prayers in the mosque, I felt more relieved though.. There's just a peaceful atmosphere in the mosque when I sit there and wait for GPac! classes to end. Alhamdulillah...
To my surprise, everything then turned for the better.
During GPac!, the noja told me that luckily there were 5 classes instead of the usual 6 for yesterday's session because one of the classrooms couldn't be used. They took all the tables from that classroom for an event so there was no tables in that class. At first, I stared at him blankly and it dawned upon me that this was a hikmah. MasyaAllah! Allah is the best of planners. I also managed to re-do all my questions and at the same time, I learnt how to apply new concepts while I corrected my answers. &&, my lab group didn't have to redo lab! My friend realised that we had switched the solutions for the experiment and when we explained it to the lab technician he said that he thought so too! Alhamdulillah... Everything turned out well in the end. I remembered praying to Allah to ease my affairs and He really did. Alhamdulillah! Thus, the day was a lesson learnt for me. To always have trust in Allah. InsyaAllah (:
So today I was feeling down. Frustrated. I was tired, sleepy. I didn't understand probably the whole three hours of the electronics lecture. Plus when I went home, I slept on the bus and missed my stop. I had to walk through a few overhead bridges. So, you could imagine.. I was complaining and complaining in my head. How ignorant I was.
As I was walking home, I received an sms. One of my GPac! students was unable to come for the test held last two weeks because her mother had passed away. My heart sank. Suddenly I felt down for a different reason. When will I learn to be grateful for what I have? When will I learn to stop complaining?
May Allah grant the student's mother Jannah. May Allah continue to guide me and may He make me amongst the grateful insyaAllah! Ameen ya rabbal 'Alameen...
This video is almost an hour long but it's so good I had to share it. A lot of very good advice for the tolibul ilm.. And now to implement one of the advice given in the video, anyone wanna hafal surahs with me? I think I need motivation. So I was hoping someone would wanna do it too then we can do it together and maybe test each other one surah once a week or once every two weeks? Or anyone knows of an ustazah whom I can approach to do hafalan quran? That would be better actually. In any case, do let me know! :D
May Allah bless Abu Taubah and ease the hardships of him and his family insyaAllah!
"Contentment with the decree of
Allah is appropriate- this should be your reliance. The Contentment with
Allah’s decree is a very high Maqam. Rabia al-Adawiya was asked how do you know if someone is content with Allah’s decree. She replied by saying‘When you feel the same joy in periods of tribulation as you do during periods of blessing’"
- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
Ya Allah, grant me joy and contentment in this life. Wallahussami 'ul 'aleem...
Just had a 3 hour lesson on biosignals and systems. I think I could have had a breakdown in the lecture theatre if not for the fact that this isn't the first time I'm trying to survive an electronics lecture without understanding anything. It's just mind-boggling how all these electronics stuff work. Wonder how mum does it. Seriously! I really hope I can conquer electronics like how I finally conquered mechanics last sem. InsyaAllah! Allahumma yassir wa la tu 'assir rabbi tammim bi khair. My favourite dua these days when everything seems to be going hard. Thank you Ustazah Mariam and Aisyah for teaching me that dua. It makes me calm, Alhamdulillah (:
I went to Good News Cafe again for lunch to eat by myself. Having alone time is truly a rare blessing for me so I love it when I get to spend some time alone. It allows me to concentrate on my own thoughts and on the things I wanna do. So anyway, as I went to the cashier to buy my food, the friendly Filipino guy at the counter, as usual, asked me what I wanted etc. I had my wudhu' and I wanted to keep it so when he handed me my change, I took some notes and put them in my wallet first. As for the rest of the notes and some coins, I requested him to put them on the counter. Unexpectedly, he said, "Oh you did your prayers is it?". I was pleasantly surprised actually and smiled. It was pretty troublesome for him to place the change on the counter as there was this thing that was blocking him so he politely said, "Okay I hold it like this okay (holding the notes at the end with the coins on top of it, making sure that he wont touch my hand)". I took the change, together with my food, and left with a warm feeling in my heart. It's nice to know that he knew my religious practice and on top of that, was willing to accommodate to it. Alhamdulillah (: Plus, I managed to find a secluded spot at the engineering block... Alhamdulillah
On a side note, I have this Spanish mentor professor who's really nice and cute. Today I walked past him and he recognised me and smiled so widely at me! Hehehehe mentel alert :P
Have a nice day everyone! May Allah bless you with barakah and goodness today insyaAllah (:
Aim for the stars, put in your best and have trust in Allah (: InsyaAllah, you will see wonderful things that will make you realise that He is taking care of you. And that you can achieve nothing without Him.
We have, as human beings, a storytelling problem. We're a bit too quick to come up with explanations for things we don't really have an explanation for.
