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 بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِيم

Marhaban ya Ramadhan.


tiba2 nebes bila bangun pagi tadi teringat esok adalah bersamaan dengan 1 Ramadhan. tapi kan, alhamdulillah sgt2 sebab ayah panggil balik minggu ni sebab kalau tak, kami balik rumah chicago 2 kali sebulan je. nk jimat kos, kan, sebagai student udergrad :)

so, saya berdebar nak sambut Ramadhan...sebab masa Ramadhan, we tend to make high demand on ourselves. I question myself again...how am I going to make this year's Ramadhan better than ever? Bila puasa hari isnin yang lepas dengan cuaca yang amat terik pegi balik kelas, long arduous hours, termiss sahur yg awal pagi, dgn dapur bujang yg berasap ikut syarat je, water had never looked so sexy to me. i mean, oh the temptation! thinking that it was "just" puasa sunat..lagi la. rasa "oke la nak bukak la"..."rasa nak pitam ni. bukak la"..."sgt berpeluh ni. dehydrated ni kang..nak bukak la"..."cikgu kat depan minum air coke. nak bukak la"..."byk pulak ujian harini. bukak la". tapi alhamdulillah..tak jugak buka puasa. tapi serrrik. maybe it was just that particular day dgn tidur yg tak cukup the other day. there are better days, inshallah.

jadi, more likely this year, ujian nak menghadapi Ramadhan mcm up sket. or banyak. that triggers me to think about the ujian that Muslims or shall i say, human beings worldwide are going through like never before. the arab's spring yg extreme, wars, drought yg extreme, hunger yg extreme, natural disaster yg extremest, oppressions in forms yg sgt zalim penah kita witness as though the pre-islamic civilization is at its peak all over again. or worse. the slaughter of men, women, babies, the throwing of acid, HUMAN TRAFFICKING (modern slavery). bezanya dulu dan sekarang, benda tu dulu "halal". sekarang dah di"haram"kan tapi masih berleluasa generally speaking. what i'm trying to say is that, kita dah civilised, there are laws in the constituition that are against these acts, people are being educated about them but yet, they're still prevalent kat semua corok dunia. ada beza kan orang2 yang tak tahu dan mereka buat berbanding dengan orang2 yg tahu dan buat anyway. what's worse bila ahli2 kitab yang mula bertelingkah bila ilmu sampai. That takes kufur to a whole lot of different level. Astaghfirullah hal'adzhim.

in our recent history, Muslims in many places have been the underdog. The "oppressed" ones. Serbs and the Muslim genocide in Bosnia, Russia against Muslims in Chechnya and Caucasus, Israelis against the Palestinians, the wiping out of Muslims in Kashmir and persecution of Muslims in Burma etc. To think that these are the people that I associate myself with..it's quite hard to believe. I have to convince myself. I have to see the reality through a different lesne to really believe that maaany physical parts of mine are agonizing in the most excruciating pain, physically and mentally.

 

Jika kamu (dalam peperangan Uhud) mendapat luka (tercedera), maka sesungguhnya kaum (musyrik yang mencerobohi kamu) itu telah (tercedera juga dan) mendaapat luka yang sama (dalam peperangan Badar). Dan demikian itulah keadaan hari-hari (dunia ini dengan peristiwa-peristiwa kemenangan atau kekalahan), kami gilirkan dia antara sesama manusia, (supaya menjadi pengajaran) dan supaya nyata apa yang diketahui Allah tentang orang-orang yang tetap beriman (dan yang sebaliknya), dan juga supaya Allah menjadikan sebahagian di antara kamu orang-orang yang mati Syahid. Dan (ingatlah), Allah tidak suka kepada orang-orang yang zalim.

On my way to masjid yesterday, I bumped into sis Minal, the mother of my favorite kids, Muhammad, Bashar and Maha. I walked my bike so I could talk to her. She asked me when I arrived in the States and I said, in 2009. Apparently she came to the States the same year as I did. But the difference between me and her is that I might have come to the US with the impression of "Oh no..US" and for her and family, "Wow..US". She came from the Gaza Strip. The sound of bombshells, the smell of dead bodies and the sight of mass destruction are still fresh. With the mindless attacks onto Palestanian citizens regardless if they're babies, elderlies and let alone women, Minal and her husband are lucky enough to have come here with all their children survived. If fate had it, they could've come to the US childless! Nauzubillah himinzalik. For the moment there, my mind shifted to Muhammad, Bashar and Maha. They were so close to never have existed in my life. I probably wouldn't have met them today. They probably would've lived as legends from a memoir told by sis Minal :( "Our house was gone..crushed" said Minal. My imagination cannot even half-perceive the firsthand experience that the kids must have gone through. Sebak kejap. That kills all the innocence that I see in the beautiful eyes of Muhammad, Bashar and Maha and their two other siblings. Behind their gleaming smiles, there had been a time when fear froze them off. These kids are special to me all the more. They are my reminders. May Allah bless these pure souls.

For a moment there, I felt so blessed. And that feeling has a price to pay. Perkara yang kecil, kalau sebab niat yg betul, inshallah akn jd besar. Perkara yang besar kalau niat tak betul akn jd kecil.
This Ramadhan, I want to fast for Allah in the hope that I may attain a higher level of taqwa. This Ramadhan, I want to fast with intense remembrance of the oppressed and the needy. When there are times that I feel like dying from fasting, well good. Know that that's exactly what they're going through, how they feel. You have to go through it. Where else do you expect the source of strength to come from? From oppression, comes resistance. The Muslims were digging a ditch in the Ramadhan with the heat that you've never experienced before, with not even enough food to go around. Selagi engkau tak perlu kendong batu kat perut utk tahan lapar, you're good. Inshallah, this Ramadhan is going to be more meaningful than ever. Don't forget, make du'a for the. Subhanallah du'a is suchhhh a powerful thing. Never under esitmate the power of du'a. It's part of our source of strength. and I know it for sure. Alhamdulillah..thank you Allah for another Ramadhan :)