i had the opportunity to visit this D’talk camp which Nady (An-Nahdhah youth) organized with two muslim bodies from NYP and TP. so i came uninvited, well, not exactly…took some pictures of the talk. i came in while they were having break and were on the midst of an energizer activity.

you know this game where you have one balloon tied to your feet and among you and your teammates, you had to step and burst the balloons. so of course, the last person to still have the balloon tied to her/his feet would usually came out as winner. and everyone would be shouting and running away from one another, while trying to burst your friends’ balloons.

now the facilitator said there’s a lesson to be learnt from the game, which i found myself thinking…what the heck are you supposed to be learning from the game??! but not so fast….you can and do learn something…

so a few of the sisters gave one or two pointers. i don’t really remember what they said but one of them said that the balloon is a metaphor of an amanah. so it’s like it’s everybody’s amanah to do da’wah. i agree with that. but why would we be stepping or bursting the amanah?

now another one said, some factors like the size of balloon and the material of the balloon should be considered so the objective of the game would be realised. but how would we relate that to da’wah?

let me try to put things into perspectives.

let say the balloon is the da’wah effort which needs to be carried out. now we have person A tied with a balloon. it’s either A would be willing to receive the message, or he would be dodging away, running from us, not letting us to burst the balloon, here, would be not letting us to do da’wah.

there will always be people who would turn away, unreceptive of the da’wah which we are doing, unwilling to listen, but does not hinder our spirit and does not impede our da’watic effort. why would we be so willing and tried our best to step on another’s and burst their balloon? because that was the instruction given by the games master.

take this willingness and put in da’watic spirit. we will try our best and willing to do it…whether there’s going to be so many obstacles, attitudes given to our face, but we will do it. to realise a part of the role given to us as vicegerents.

and yes, the material and size of the balloon is important. the keyword for da’wah is simple- hikmah and wisdom. that’s the material needed in da’wah. the size? well, it depends on the person receiving the da’wah…how much do they need to know? how can we tell them about Islam? with such a quantity that will let them understand what they need to know about Islam.

and da’wah is definitely amanah. and my salutations to those attending the D’talk and the unspoken commitment to be on the sidelines, on the edge of the fortress, and spread the message of Islam.

wallahu a’lam.

why do people sometimes asked questions when the answers are pretty much obvious?

Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, “Allah says: ‘I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.’ “

have i told you that “Allah is nearer to you than your jugular vein..” [Qaf:16]

or of that “Remember Allah and Allah will remember you” [Al-Baqarah:152]

hello world..

i got the opportunity to attend Dr Jeffery Lang’s talk on the attributes of One God at Darul. well, am not one who’s good in..you know….relating a talk by someone in those much academic and critical way, giving views on issues such as one you may find in contemporarycaliph.com, i mean this guy is good!

but anyway, something which really sticks to mind was the understanding of God’s Attributes, all these beautiful names, which for most of us, already learnt them by heart. we sometimes failed to embrace them. we have not grown into, or, with these attributes. we took them for granted, when to know God, is to know through His names and attributes, but we forget, these are the very attributes nurtured in us. it’s just that we don’t realise that. we need someone to knock us on the head to realise it.

plain truth : it’s all from the heart. i need to remind myself of this. and hopefully with this self-reminding “from the heart” “from the heart” i hope i will be more ikhlas, and holistic and embracing of what i do and say.

and then, i attended a gathering for youth workers, my very first. i felt out of place, since i’m like not a youth leader or ydo, or volunteering for some organizations, and my only contact with teens are my students…but maybe Lord has directed me attend the gathering.

it’s shocking to find out certain news, and it’s more shocking to know we still need a lot more to help those people out there. and i am beginning to realise, there’s just so little of us, willing to take up the tasks, and so many to do for so many people. Lord, give us the strength. i ended up thinking..”what are we doing???!!!”

but for all out there who have been serving and committing their time and energy and brain and everything that they can possibly contribute to help…i’m truly amazed at these people. unsung heroes.

may Allah bless them.

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i love posters, don’t you people?? hehe

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yes, my heart is made of stone. at this very moment, i couldn’t care less. WHATEVER laaa…

ok seri, please, from the heart, be reminded…from the heart…

ok, actually, my mind is stuck with this song, it’s the opening song for a sinetron at sensasi, i don’t know, perawan desa? and the only lyric which keeps coming out of my mouth is “seandainyyyyyaaaa….” it’s sickening actually, haha!!

Tariq ramadan’s talk last saturday was enlightening, enchanting, inspiring, and so much more.
– he mentioned about how the topic given “the prophet’s enduring message to humanity” is a difficult topic for him, because there is just a lot to talk about the teachings of the Prophet, and not so much what to say, but what NOT TO SAY, because of the short time given and seriously, how could you talk about one aspect of the Prophet’s life without missing out on others.

my exact sentiments! i did relate here how i had to do a write up on the Prophet for one of the youth al.i.v.e. primer series. the difficulty was there’s so much to share in a two-page write up, and i had to choose between all the amazing stories of the Prophet.

-how we always like to translate ‘rabb’ as lord when actually ‘rabb’ means as an educator, and that the Prophet, having orphaned, he was educated by Allah HimSelf. we always forgot this important this and Prof Traiq had put it beautifully in his talk.

-i like how he mentioned the supplication of o Lord, please give me the knowledge to know you. now, some of us might ever prayed and said, o Lord, please tell me how to help you, meaning to say, how to defend/uphold the diin. come to think of it, Allah does not need our help, He has all the power. and simply He’s the Creator. but instead, we are the ones who need help from Him, to get to know Him, to know His Diin.

-and Prof Tariq also mentioned that yes we are commanded to seek knowledge, but remember, there will always be some knowledge that we will or may not know of. so the need to be humility (just as per discussed with Teach today)

i need to be surrounded by peole who will keep inspiring and motivates me.
i admit i was lost last week, i went through some confidence loss and degradation of inner strength, like some sort of nervous breakdown? depression? i don’t know how to put it, but i just lost the strength to move on and do all these pending tasks.

but alhamdulillah, ratu’s comfort and meeting people have somehow recover my old self. i just have to move on. keep on living and striving to give the best that i can. and start realising that what am doing, is not only for me, but for my family and the people out there.

i have to thank Lord for this gift of life and start looking at the positive sides of things. oklaaa, no need to be so mellow.

this week, and so forth, insya Allah, looking forward for good days!!

where is legolas when i need him? ahakkzzz