How to live a humble life

Salam Alekoum readers

I haven't posted in a loong while lol. I've sorta went through a mental block, the thought of writing a post was like such a huge effort that I did not want to partake xD But I hope its going away inshaAllah. I also need to give this place a revamp I can seriously see dust when I look at my blog haha.

Anyways, here is a wonderful lecture given by Nouman Ali Khan on how to live a humble life =) Enjoy

Perfect Balance

As Salam Alekoum

I was browsing through Huffington Post when I come across an article titled "Why are you here? A new theory may hold the missing piece". A few paragraphs from the article really caught my eye:

"... According to the current paradigm, the universe, and the laws of nature themselves, just popped out of nothingness. The story goes something like this: From the Big Bang until the present time, we've been incredibly lucky. This good fortune started from the moment of creation; if the Big Bang had been one-part-in-a-million more powerful, the cosmos would have rushed out too fast for the galaxies and stars to have developed. If the gravitational force were decreased by a hair, stars (including the Sun) wouldn't have ignited. There are over 200 physical parameters like this that could have any value but happen to be exactly right for us to be here. Tweak any of them and you never existed."

"The story of evolution reads just like "The Story of the Three Bears," In the nursery tale, a little girl named Goldilocks enters a home occupied by three bears and tries different bowls of porridge; some are too hot, some are too cold. She also tries different chairs and beds, and every time, the third is "just right." For 13.7 billion years we, too, have had chronic good luck. Virtually everything has been "just right." "

I just don't understand how someone can be OK with believing that the whole universe was created in "luck". The perfect balance of life, of the interactions of species, of little mathematical formulas in nature, of the Moon's giving the ebb and wave of the sea, of the dead seed becoming a live plant just with water, with everything, screams loudly to me of the existence of a force greater than anything in this universe ... of the existence of Allah.

image source

Anyway, the new theory that is presented in the article, called Biocentrism, does not say that this is all happened randomly and that we are merely lucky for it all. Instead it says that rather than the universe having had created life, life created the universe. Our conscious minds is what creates time and space, and that they are not physical objects. You can read the principles of the theory from the wiki link.

I like how the theory says that life created the universe. I know that the scientist behind the theory is referring to us humans with the world (life). But from what I see, saying that life created the universe admits that there was an intelligent force behind the creation of our world. That it is impossible for it to all have been random coz the odds are beyond the word high lol. And I guess you guys know what that intelligent force is to me =)

Anyways, this post is not a self-reassurance for me on my faith in Allah, because I find assurances in my daily life, al hamdulillah. Instead, I just wanted to highlight the specific paragraphs in the article coz I liked their wording, and to let you guys know in what other ways people who don't believe in Allah try to justify and make sense of this world.

Wa Alekoum el Salam <3

Missing in action

Salam Alekoum

A late Eid Mubarek to all muslims out there in the world <3 I hope it was a wonderful one for everyone, and that they managed to gain back the kgs lost during Ramadhan with delecious Eid sweets haha (I know am one of them =P)

I sort of cut off in the middle of my Ramadhan posting. Let's just say a couple of big wheels started getting in motion in my life, and al 7amdulillah it has all ended well =)

اللهم اهدنا فيمن هديت.. وعافنا فيمن عافيت.. وتولنا فيمن توليت.. وبارك لنا فيما أعطيت.. وقنا واصرف عنا شر ما قضيت.. نستغفرك ونتوب إليك.. ونؤمن بك ونتوكل عليك.. ونثنى عليك الخير كلهُ أنت الغنى ونحن الفقراءُ إليك

Anniversary Reflection

As Salam Alekoum

Today is the one year anniversary of my blog =) Warning: following post contains tracings of mushiness.

Image credit lifeshadows

Subhan Allah, one whole year has past, and it has been an amazing one. Al 7amdulillah, this blog has served has my gateway to speak my thoughts about my religion, for me to share my excitement with fellow readers as I delve deeper into Islam, and for me to just simply share my love for Allah, all his prophets (peace and blessings on them all) and the religion of Islam. I have asked Allah to give me success in my endeavour, because I really do take it seriously as I want to make sure to not offend or insult or share wrong information, but instead share the beauty that is in the Quran and Sunna. I have made to Duaa to Allah several times for my current endeavour (and future planned endeavours) to be a success, and I ask Him, Subhanho wa Taala, the same again. Ameen.

Reflecting on the past year personally ... I have completed my University life and got my degree successfully, I have come back, found a job that I enjoy, and I am going to spend the first week of Ramadhan with my family in Malaysia, rather than on my own in New Zealand like last year. However, Al 7amdulillah, the greatest thing to have happened to me for sure is the Hajj trip when I first got back home from NZ. I thank Allah for having made the whole thing possible so easily. Like I said in my post about the trip, it was a jihad, but the sights you see and the emotions you feel during it is beyond indescribable. Lol, I'm tearing up right now, thinking about it. Praise be to Allah for having granted me this blessing, and inshaAllah I will be granted the blessing of another Hajj trip in my lifetime. One important thing I have learned in my past year is that the power of Duaa truly is great, and the blessings that we have been granted with is endless.

وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا

“[...] and if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate them,”

(Surat Ibrahim - Verse 34)

In terms of reflecting on the blog, it started out as a portal for me to just share material I have come across about Islam, i.e: videos, audio files, etc. I suppose it still is somewhat such a portal, but I have also been typing up my own material. I rather enjoy that, as it gives me a chance to use my brain for thinking hehe =P To reflect, as Allah has commanded us to ... to research, to read, to share myself with you my dear readers.


I hope that this blog has benefited people out there, and will also continue benefiting inshaAllah. To all my returning readers and followers: Thank you for putting up with the ramblings of a random Muslim girl =)

Haha, sorry if I started becoming a little formal up there, it's just me simply pouring out honest thoughts. Praise be to Allah, for blessing me and fellow Muslims with Islam.

رَبَّنَا لاَ تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ ٱلْوَهَّابُ

"Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate now after Thou hast guided us, but grant us mercy from Thine own Presence; for Thou art the Granter of bounties without measure"

(Al Imran - Verse 8)

As Salam Alekoum

Update

As Salam Alekoum

Hehe ... well to be honest with you, my dear reader, I am kinda stumped as to how to start this post. My fingers have been lingering on the keyboard for a few minutes as I racked my brain for the best opening, and decided to just talk about what exactly is on my mind right now. I am feeling a bit of shame for having let this place go and get slightly dusty, and so would like to basically tell you a little of what has been going on with me and where I am right now. The past couple of months, I've been juggling three jobs. I will not do that again lol. I came to realize that, even though I do have the skill, love and motivation to do the best in each of them, I still dont have the best time organizing skills nor discipline to complete my tasks as I was supposed to. Also, I ended not doing as well as I know I can in each one of them. I was not very happy with myself. I decided that rather than trying to do as many things as I can at a time, I need to begin to make decisions on what my true capabilites are and hence what I really can achieve in a certain amount of time. Al Hamdullah, it was a good learning experience =)

So now, to the present. I am currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia =) It's my first real holiday for a looooooong while now, and I am really enjoying myself Al Hamdullah! The malls and shopping in KL is amazing haha. And oh the foooooooooooood I have been spending ALOT of quality time with the bakeries here. Everytime we pass by one I have to step in to it xD Cake Sense has yummy Banana Muffins! Do pass by if you're in the city =P The Mosques are beautiful, every mall has a prayer area with a clean place to perform wudhu and also clean head and body coverings available for the ladies (for those who are not muthajbat) I really liked that it catered to them also. I have not visited any other place other than KL so far, but from my browsing of the different areas of Malaysia its a super gorgeous country <3 We will be visiting other areas soon inshaAllah. Also, I'll be spending the first week of Ramadhan here. I am so looking forward to that =D

As Salam Alekoum <3

Update

Salam guys =)

I've been blessed with another last minute trip to Mecca, this time for Omra ofcourse. All I can say is that it was so lovely that I actually kinda felt depressed at having to leave xD InshaAllah I'll be blessed with another visit to Mecca soon.

The Haram was not as crowded as during Hajj time, that's a whole other scene on itself and cannot be described till you are actually there yourself (may Allah bless you all with Hajj soon) but it was still was pretty packed, more so than I expected at this time of year mashaAllah. I noticed that the greatest number of a particular country of people there were Turks. During Hajj and even until now I keep seeing a great number of Turkish people, mashaAllah. My mother told me that there's a kind of Islamic revolution going there, where people are coming back to the roots of the religion. Old and young Turks were there, and little adorable kids as well <3 We got to know a couple of people throughout our time in the Mosque, since you get to sit next to a different person at nearly every prayer. This is another thing I loved about the experience, having to meet people from all walks of life.

One thing that I did enjoy as well, and not related to the Haram, was this store we went into called Mecca Dates. They sell dates if you haven't figured it out yet =P I was on Cloud 9 in that store as the seller kept giving us samples and samples and samples of different dates, and I kept gourging on them .... I.LOVE.DATES! So I bought me two boxes of my favourite samples (one of them was called Anbar, I don't remember the name of the other one), and I finished them in like 3 days xD

Here's a photo, taken on the second day of us being there

Been to Hajj and back again

Salam Alekoum readers out there!

It's been a long while, has it not? =P I am back home right now, been home for more than a month so far and I must say already itching for work xD Initially I wanted a holiday until February but that's just too long I am already starting to feel bored and want to be able to do something worthwhile with my time (along with the other things I do like reading, drawing, cooking, etc)

One incredible thing that did happen to me so far is that I went to Hajj =) It was not planned at all. I just walked in one day on my Mom and Dad discussing the idea of going to Hajj, they asked if I would like to come, I said YES! and my Dad kinda banged his hand on the table in this hardcore way and went "Ok, we are going to Hajj this year!" I think this was like two weeks before Hajj, so we had a tiny amount of time to prepare ourselves. I felt so happy and so incredibly grateful for Allah blessing me with the chance to be going on this journey so easily and with no complications. Hamdullah, hamdullah, hamdullah!

The journey of Hajj in the means of 3ibada (worship) and doing the manasek (the different procedures) was so amazing. My favourite day was waqfat el 3arafa (Arafa) when we went to the mountain and all sat around out it in the different camps. On this day, from the time the sun rises, to the time the sun sets, all a person's sins can be forgiven with his Duaa to Allah. I took this day upon myself as a day I would contemplate all the blessings that I had in my life and thank Allah for them (or atleast I tried my best coz no matter how hard I try I will never be able to see all the blessings that have been bestowed on me), to ask for forgivness for the bad things I have done for my life, and finally to pray for myself as well as for my dear family and friends.

Seeing the Masjid el 7aram for the first time in my life really moved me to tears. I couldn't believe I was finally looking at it. And what was more amazing was the AMOUNT of people streaming towards it. The best way I can describe it is for you to imagine an ant mound, and thousands of tiny ants streaming towards it from every single direction. That's how the people were moving towards the Masjid for prayer. I couldn't believe the sheer number of humans I saw there, Subhan Allah, and we (My Mom, Dad and I) were just a speck in the stream as we became a part of it.

I saw people there of every race in the world during Hajj, faces that I have never seen the likes of before in my life. A nice activity to engage in is to sit somewhere where you can watch a crowd of people moving along, and remember the following verse from the Quran:

وَأَذِّن فِى ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلۡحَجِّ يَأۡتُوكَ رِجَالاً۬ وَعَلَىٰ ڪُلِّ ضَامِرٍ۬ يَأۡتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ۬

And proclaim unto mankind the pilgrimage. They will come unto thee on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every deep ravine

(Surat Hajj, verse 27)

I must say though, there were a few scary moments during my time there. Due to the huge number of people, sometimes the crowds can get a little stiffling and it would kinda make me start hyperventilating coz I really do not like crowds and being in the middle of so many human beings. However, I kept repeating the Duaa (Allahuma yaser wa la tu3aser) (Oh my Lord, make it easy and dont make it hard) and hamdullah I was able to get through some really tough situations that I normally would not be able to go through. My father literally pulled me out of a crowd of people during Rami el Jamarat because I was getting pulled away from him by the stream lol. My elbow was really sore later on that day xD

Another thing that disappointed me is the behaviour of some Muslims in terms of throwing trash and even dealing with people. I was shocked at the amount of garbage in Meena, it was so bad it started to reek. Have they forgotten the ahadith of the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him dealing with keeping a place clean and beautiful as well as not throwing garbageon the ground. Also, the behaviour of some Muslims in terms of smashing into people when they are walking was really not cool. It seems that people forget that Islam is more than just the 5 pillars, but a whole way of life. All I can say is Allah yhdeena jamee3an inshaAllah.

I came back from Hajj feeling kind of a mix of emotions as a result of my experience there. I was sad due to the some of the behaviour and sights I saw there, but feeling incredibly happy that I was able to perform the journey and to have read so much Quran as well as Duaas in such a short number of days. I was terribly ill and so exhausted, and ended mostly sleeping during the next week after our return and recovering from a fever I had. However, looking back now on my time in Maka and the Hajj, I hope that Allah will grant me the chance to perform this journey again one day if He so wills it for me coz I really would love to go through it again, no matter how much of a Jihad it is.

Black American Revert Story

Another two weeks till I am done with Uni .. inshaAllah 5air.

I miss this place =(

My honors presentation and interview is on Tuesday. The first year group I have been managing have their presentation on Friday. I also have to submit my design report on that day.

I need to conduct a usability study on AutoBOB (the indexing programme I developed) and submit it's report on 30th of October. Also, a diary study report is due and I have my Data Mining exam on the same day.

Then I leave New Zealand on the 3rd of November, arrive in Oman on 5th and begin my life as a University graduate, inshaAllah =)

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I loved hearing this dude's story.

Where have I been?

This is gonna be an (about me) update. First I want to apologize for not having been taking care of this place like I said I would, but I really got caught up with Ramadan and my studies. My days were composed of:

-Waking for su7oor, reading Quran, praying, reading a little more Quran and maybe some Duaas, sleep

-Wake up, get dressed up, off to uni

-Go immediatly to friend's place for if6ar

-Come home usually about 8 pm, pray Taraweeh

-A bit of studies or surfing on the web and sleep

In the beginning I was able to manage my time well because I did not have a lot of assignments due at Uni, but then they started piling up one by one and ... AHH!

Oh well that part is over with, and Ramadan is over as well =( May Allah accept all our fasting and worship throughout this whole month. The air does not feel the same at all with the Holy Month gone.

And Eid Mubarek! Eid here was on a Monday, but I decided to skip lectures and spend the day under the shade of a tree, eating yummy BBQ with fellow Muslims here hehe.

The most crazy Uni time of the year is creeping up. I have 4 weeks left until I have to

-Hand in Managment Report

-Hand in Design Report

-Finish Usability Project

-Prepare for a presentation

-Design a poster for engineering day

and throw a couple of assignments here and there. May Allah help me through this time. I do admit that I am kinda nervous, but I will do my best and whatever happens I will be satisfied with it. Hehe, inshaAllah Khair =).

THEN ITS BACK HOME! TO MY FAMILY =D

I will do my best to keep this place alive during the next month. Salam Alekoum!