Midwest Game 2014 & Laments.

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِيم

May Allah protect us from our own feelings. Amin.

Alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah. Segala puji bagi Allah, Tuhan semesta alam.
Tuhan yang menjadikan summer dan Tuhan yang Al-Wali, melindungi kami dari bencana. Last weekend was a Midwest Game weekend.

Midwest Game 2014

Brownstone, Purdue Uni

Alhamdulillah it was that time of the year again when students all over the US and Canada unite in the name of sports. I was about to cancel the whole trip because I didn't have any sports to play. And I refused to just sit around doing nothing. Last minute, instead of joining the Purdue Uni team for soccer as always every year, I was recruited by the UMich team, by chance. Allah knew I was desperate. We won the second place for netball. It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Go Blue! Eh I meant, it's great to be a DeKalb Huskie. Go Red! I also begged the volunteer committee to give me something to do. I was the score keeper for guys' soccer games. Since a lot of my friends have already graduated last year, I felt lonely quite a bit. Lepas parents dah balik, there's no more place to hang out and meet up. Contacting through FB doesn't do justice.

Old friend

Just to get boredom out of the way, Allah tested me when a friend asked for help to drive home her parents and kid. It was quite scary because driving in highways had always been a bit of a phobia for me. I've lost family members and friends from car accidents. Forget about me being scared. I was more scared for the three other lives cz So I made sure I slept early and think of death as though there was no more tomorrow. Huhu. The journey took seven hours plus minus with two breaks in between. Mamat drove back our car. I drove the rented Jeep which was quite nice. At least big cars don't crush easily (hey, whatever wishful thinking that could make myself feel at ease, ok). So we went our separate ways. Alhamdulillah selamat perjalanan. Alhamdulillah Thank You Allah for granting my wish. With the the gift of driver's license, I had intended to help people and pay my friends a visit. If there's any situation where I feel death is imminent, it would be drowning or being in a car accident. Nauzubillah himinzalik. Sungguh, maut ada pelbagai rupa.

Observing the many students there, it suddenly triggered me how lucky and honored was I to be at the Midwest Game and the America. They were all smart, educated and the fact that they were participating in the MWG showed that they were also all-rounded. Maashallah...sgt admirable. What did I do to deserve to be and meet with these people? Alhamdulillah again. I felt very blessed. May Allah strengthen our friendship and help us get the tempias yg baik2. Tarbiyyah tetap tarbiyyah tapi, silaturrahim jangan putus. Not like it's a separate entity anyway. Jage silaturrahim is part of the teachings. Bila dah join tarbiyyah suddenly hubungan kawan dgn kawan2 yg sekamcing/kenal dulu dah terputus. Dah ada a complete disconnect pulak. Kenapa macam tu? I'm not sure what happened, but it felt weird when I met some friends who used to come to our house and added as fb friends suddenly weren't talking anymore. Tiba-tiba mcm malu terlebih sikit pulak. It's just awkward. Eek. Husnozhon.

Aku Bencikan Perpecahan

[talking to myself]

I tried to blend in with everyone. From getting a ride to MWG, to sharing accommodation, from cheering for other teams to sitting at the table for Midwest Night. They were emote or less different crowds. I had a little quarrel with a friend when dia ajak duduk dengan kawan2 lama at the badminton court before our game started. "But I wanted to build networks! Let's make new friends" I said. Dia kata saya buat perangai. That's half true. I guess we just think differently. And I hate the two simplistic categories of religious (conservative, reserved, budak us-us etc) and liberal. This is the part when I want to LOL. Because I don't know anymore, ya Allah. Masa kat Midwest Game, these kind of groupings were obvious. By race lagi la tak yah cakap. I pay respect to the contohnya UMich and SIU contingents because there, I saw a good mix of them. After talking to the uncle 'penghulu', he said it himself that it wasn't like that before. It was actually an effort done by a student there that brought all different cliques together. I wanted to cry hearing that. Dialah yang lead majlis ilmu, dia jugalah yang naungi Malaysian Student Association disitu. Maashallah. Help us be like him and better ya Allah! T_T  Aku yakin dia mesti budak bertarbiyyah. Subhanallah.

With the captain

I'm sure each group has their own defence. Can't deny myself, I'm also part of one and proud to be. We need to be part of something to be something. Communities move forward in groups. It's sunnahtullah. But my argument is that, there's a time and place for it. We have to break the ice. Share ideas. A good conglomerate of people could be taken for an example of a good company. We don't have designers, engineers, teachers and farmers concentrated and  group up in a company, do we? That's a fast track for a company to crumble. They have to spread. Smile. Acknowledge other people's presence. Say salam and hi. Mix with other groups. By this, it doesn't mean we are letting go of our identity nor letting go of our principles.

Alhamdulillah Allah had sent me to the NIU. Here, I actually know what it feels like to be a minority. Here, Allah made me depended on people other than my own race and religion. Other times, they would depend on us and from there mutual trust and respect get bridged. I get the taste of the revelation when Allah said He made us of different tribes so we may get know each other. Being a Malaysian but having no Chinese and Indians friends or vice versa? What kinda Malaysian is that? It's like going to an American wedding just to see all whites and no blacks. I have a dream, I'm only speaking for myself when I say this would be my little jihad. It all goes back to Allah and refining my art of da'wah. May Allah give us wisdom. Amin.


Forgetting The Large Picture

Why are we so pro of a people sometimes that we forget the larger picture. A friend of mine sent me a message, respectfully saying she has decided to cut ties with me on FB because of some of the stuff I share. She said, although she's not religious nor a practicing Jew, Israel is close to her heart. Fine by me. What I share is MY ideals or what I view as the truth. But to shut me off thinking I wouldn't like your posts on pro-Israel, that's where you're wrong. Educate and enlighten me why you're sticking to your ideals. I'm desperate to know and see your side of rationality. Therefore educate and enlighten me. They say truth hurts. Did mine hurt you? When it comes to nationality, wouldn't we sacrifice our own seeing humanity at stake? If not, then we wouldn't see Islamic Relief, Red Cross etc working at large. Today, Palestanian represents our humanity. Once upon a time ago, it was the people of holocaust. If these events don't unite us, then we haven't learned anything.

I met aunty Sim, NIU's ISFO officer. She did her PhD research on how globally minded people are. There's a term for it now. I forgot. I thought it was just called how Ummah minded.

Ziauddin (Malala's father who's a Pakistani's education activist) kept a famous poem (written by Martin Niemoller, who lived in Nazi Germany) in his pocket:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Talk to each other. Share ideas. We might just share the same ideals. 

Michigan Wolverines.