My Best Friend's Wedding

Alhamdulillah, Titts is MARRIED!!! I'd love to blog about it now, but I think I could use some rest tonight :)

Mann, they are soooo going to annoy me with "Look, we're halal now" poses huhh??!!! 
-____-"

Someday

Someday, this will be my backyard insha Allah :)

The Answer to Your Worries

If you feel helpless, remember this verse. Indeed Allah is very near to those who remember Him :)

My Next Step

I remember once, my best friend asked me where do I see myself 10 years down the road.

“I don’t know Titts, but truth be told I really wanna do something that can give me great reward in this life, and the hereafter too.  Perhaps be the change that I want to see in this world. Who knows, maybe do something related to our religion and stuff?”

Titts answer was short, to the point and needs no further discussion, “You do know that’s not Ustazah-material right?” pointing to the short skirt I was wearing then.

It became clear to me shortly after that the first thing I need to do is change myself – and change I did. I tried to dress more appropriately from time to time, started reading Islamic books, attending lectures and trying to improve one step at a time.

For some reason, maybe because of my apparent change, many people seem to think that I’m already there – pious, serene and exemplary, but truth be told I’m not even close to being one.

Here’s the thing.

A lot of people say that when they started getting closer to God, they became content and peaceful with life – well, I’m here to tell you that’s very true…but that’s just half of the story.

Because, let’s face it – changing is not an easy process.

Moving away from something that you were accustomed to is hard and takes conscious efforts. In fact, the road to improvement is seldom linear; don’t be surprised if you find yourself slacking again from time to time. You wonder if you have improved at all – for with every improvement you make, a different weakness will prevail, Allahu mustaan.

You don the hijab, and suddenly you’re late for Subh prayer. You pray Subh early in the morning, and suddenly you find yourself grumbling over life. You try to be a bit more grateful and suddenly a person tests your patience and triggers your anger.

Because that’s just the way we humans are – imperfect and always in constant need for improvement. That’s why I never stopped attending lectures and reading books because by Allah, I am flawed in more ways than you can imagine and I am in constant need of reminders and advice.

Somebody once told me that Allah has plant 1% of His pleasure on Earth, and the remaining 99% in Jannah. That Jannah is soooo high up there that none of us deserves to enter Jannah except with Allah’s mercy.  A few months down the road, I now understand what he was trying to say. I cannot aim to be perfect for Jannah, because one can never be good enough. I can only give it my best shot and pray that Allah will accept from me and allows my family and I to enter Jannah with His mercy, Ar-Rahman.

So this is my another shot at trying.

Recently, I started Ajran Centre where you will find many Islamic resources - English and Malay books for adults and for kids, videos , lectures and fun board games all aimed at encouraging all of us to improve ourselves and loved ones, one step at a time. There is even a corner for you to check out the up and coming lectures that you could benefit from. So, in your free time, do visit this humble website that I have set up and like our Facebook page. We welcome you with open arms to be a part of this dakwah  and to share it with others too along the way :)

And as always, I ask for your sincere du'a that Allah will accept from me and from you - and make this website a source of knowledge and inspiration for many. May we all be able to someday be the change we want to see in this world, insha Allah.

AJRAN CENTRE

Something to Ponder Upon

Melaka Trippin'

Two of my high school friends are getting hitched soon, so that gives us a pretty good reason to pack up and go road tripping. It was suchhh a fun trip - I didn't realize how much I miss high school until I'm surrounded by these junkies hehe. Put us together and somehow, suddenly - it's high school all over again!

Anyway, this was my first vacation to Melaka, and already I was falling head over heels for the iconic city. We bumped into Henry Golding and some us of had stars in our eyes, no kidding! At night, Melaka city gets more and more happening - the trishaws were fully lit, the stalls, musics, hawkers were up full force and there were night cruises along the small Melaka river too.

Pretty sights everywhere, masha Allah.

At the risk of sounding completely high school I must say - Jonker Street is ah-may-xing! But by 10 pm and five-durian-spring-rolls later, we realized that we were no high school girls and were already slowly dragging our feet through the crowd. Had late dinner at Dutch Harbor Cafe just because the owners were nice enough to help take pictures of us girls (Yea, we're easy like that....)

But much to our surprise, the food were really tasty and their service deserves my personal five sparkling stars  simply because it felt personal. I had the best brownies in the world and even my friends were gushing over how good the pizza and pumpkin soup were. Either the food were reaaaaaallllly good or we were just hungry out of our mind lah!

Of course the highlight of this post is this: The girls planned a mini belated birthday surprise for yours truly =D And this deserves a post because even though we've known each other for12 good years but for the life of me, I couldn't remember the last time we celebrated my birthday together! 

....and a birthday in Melaka? That's a first all right! :)

Love you girls, like masha Allah a lot okay! :D

Xx.

Be Gentle

Allah’s Apostle reminded men to treat women nicely, for a woman is like the most curved portion of the rib i.e. its upper portion. If you force it to straighten, it will break. But if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. He (SAW) then repeated - so treat women gently.

May Allah grants all men understanding.