Banyak habuk la kat sini. Construction depan kiri kanan.

Ok, I cried. The last time I cried at a Raya commercial (or any other commercial) is the 2006 Petronas ad by Yasmin Ahmad.

So many trivial things we question Him. Lack of this or too much of that. When some people in this world lack basic human rights or even basic necessities. Yet, even though they don't have the best of everything, they make the best out of everything. And find peace in relationship with God, and solace in companionship.

We may think that because we have wealth and health that we are better than them or better off without them. Life in this world is a test. Blessings we are bestowed with is a test. Hardship we have to endure is a test.

One day, while the Prophet was with his Companions who gathered around him, he prayed,  

"O God, grant me life as a poor man, cause me to die as a poor man and resurrect me in the company of the poor." (Tarmizi)

Even the Prophet Muhammad himself prayed to God to die in poverty, and He was always keen to help the poor by giving them what he had, and when he could not find anything, he would ask his companions to help, and not to leave a poor man without help.

It should not be perceived that by the Prophet's giving and encouraging his companions to give would mean that he would accept that the poor may continue to ask for help for the rest of their lives. On the contrary he was keen on teaching the poor the importance of working to fulfill one's own needs. He wanted them to avoid the disgrace of asking and begging and enjoy the sweetness of giving.

In the end, our ibadah, our iman, our sincerity and our deeds to the community is the yardstick that matters to Him and nothing else.

Reference:
1. Link
2. Aisyah Ummul Mukminin: Keanggunan Sejati by Sulaiman An-Nadawi (gift from Cik Su)

Petua Imam Ghazali mencari Lailatul Qadr

Tanda Tanda Malam Lailatul Qadar

Pesan junjungan besar Nabi Muhammad S.A.W adalah malam qadar berlaku pada satu malam daripada 10 malam terakhir (hari ganjil) bulan ramadhan.
Petua oleh Imam Ghazali dan lain-lain ulama untuk cari mencari malam Lailatul Qadar

Jika awal ramadhan jatuh pada hari:
I) Ahad atau rabu malam qadar dijangka berlaku pada malam 29 ramadhan
II) Isnin – malam qadar dijangka berlaku pada malam 21 ramadhan;
III) Selasa atau jumaat – malam qadar dijangka berlaku pada malam 27 ramadhan;
IV) Khamis- malam qadar dijangka berlaku pada malam 25 ramadhan;
V) Sabtu- malam qadar dijangka berlaku pada malam 23 ramadhan

Kata Sheikh Abu Hassan bahawa mula dia baligh, dia sentiasa dapat menghidupkan lailatul qadar pada malam yang tepat mengikut petua diatas. Walau bagaimanapun, janganlah ibadat pada malam ini sahaja, carilah malam qadar pada malam-malam ganjil yang lain juga.

Tanda malam qadar ialah :
Malam itu tenang, tidak dingin dan tidak panas;
Siangnya cahaya matahari warnanya pucat;
Pada malam itu malaikat jibril akan menyalami orang yang beribadat pada malam itu dan tandanya ialah kita tiba-tiba rasa sangat sayu dan kemudiannya menangis teresak-esak secara tiba-tiba.
Marilah kita beramai-ramai memeriahkan suasana 10 malam terakhir ramadhan dengan beribadat kepada allah swt dengan ikhlas dan penuh keimanan, mudah-mudahan kita dapat kurniaan allah yang kelebihannya pahalanya melebihi – 1000 bulan atau 83 tahun umur kita.

Diadaptasi daripada: [X]

Diriwayatkan daripada Saiyidatina Aisyah R.A bahawa Rasulullah S.A.W. apabila tiba 10 hari terakhir bulan Ramadhan, baginda menghidupkan malam-malamnya dengan membangunkan isteri rumah dan menjauhi isteri-isterinya. Imam Ahmad dan Muslim meriwayatkan:

Maksudnya:
"Rasulullah berusaha sedaya upaya dalam malam-malam sepuluh akhir Ramadhan melebihi usahanya daripada malam-malam lain."

Mashaallah... Rasulullah S.A.W. yang maksum dan diampunkan dosanya dari hujung rambut ke hujung kaki pun berusaha bersungguh-sungguh untuk mendapatkan keredhaan-Nya. 

Post Pre-U

 My tutorial mates. They're the funniest bunch, I tell you.

My best friend at PASUM, Siti Nabihah. She's going to pursue medicine at UM! She's a total genius and most of the time I sit in a corner and have a "Hey I'm mediocre but I'm nice" stamped on my forehead. She taught me a lot about Islam that I've never known before and I'm grateful for that.

Nina and Aisya. These two girls are the duo Nabihah and I are most close with in my tutorial class. They're both going to pursue medicine at UM leaving the imprints on my forehead vivider than ever. They're geniuses. All of my close friends are geniuses T_T

 Good luck in UM, both of you!

 I'm not nice all the time but I'm still mediocre haha.

 These geniuses again. Egh. i kid!

Miss Fusako Soeda Hayashi! She's so so nice and she gave us these paper ball thingys Japanese kids play that I... misplaced T_T

 Malam Emas thingy. With Jess and Sasha, grew closer with them in Sem II, and my English presentation-mates which we awesomed at (we think) alhamdulillah.

My first roommate, the ever so comel Kak Huda. She's currently pursuing mechanical engineering at Hiroshima University (another genius -_-) I learned so much from her and talked so much with her and laughed so much with her. I introduced her to Aiman Azlan and she introduced me to Hilal Asyraf hehe.

These two are my balcony neighbours and my very close friends and arguably the people I spend most of my time with at PASUM. They helped me so much in my studies, and I had many good memories with the three of them. Ain's pursuing chemical engineering at UTM and Finie's pursuing medicine (again) at UM. I swear my tujuh keturunan is going to have free medical attention in the future.

As for me, well, I didn't get to pursue dentistry like I always wanted, but I got an offer to pursue psychology, alhamdulillah, nevertheless.

Long story short,  I applied for dentistry at Al-Azhar University and alhamdulillah, I got an offer! Syukur. Though I'm skeptical if I can cope with the extra subjects of tafseer, fiqh etc what with memorizing one juz every year... Don't get me wrong, I love this, truly, this is my chance to improve myself spiritually, but I'm just afraid of coping. I know the limits of my abilities, and sometimes you have to step down even though you want something.

Pray for me.

Cooking frenzy

Saving up these recipes for later use. Bear with me.

(This looks mighty fine. And it's not that hard to make! )

Nutella Hot Chocolate

1 serving

1 cup milk (I use skim)

2 1/2 Tbsp Nutella

1 Tbsp Cocoa

Tiny pinch of salt

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, whisk all ingredients together until well blended and hot.

Pour in a cup and top with homemade whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

Homemade whipped cream

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

2 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon and garlic shrimp

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (juice from 1/2 lemon)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients except for the butter in a bowl.
2. Let marinade for 15 minutes, stiring occasionally.
3. In a medium skillet over medium heat melt the butter.
4. Add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes per side.
5. Sprinkle with a pinch more of Kosher salt.
6. Serve.

Got these from thehungryhousewife.com. Usually I go to picky-palate.com and blogresipi.com during a sudden late-night hunger strike but their recipes require some ingredients that doesn't lay around the kitchen that often.

Anyway, looking forward to making these soon, inshaallah!

Dear amiga,

How I wish that I could tell her that she's not alone. That I, and I'm sure all of her dear friends would stay by her side, even if we're miles away. Even if we haven't met each other for months. Even if we don't know what she's going through and that it's okay if she won't tell us what's going on. Really, I don't mind. But what I do mind is that how I wish she has the strength to go through all this. How I wish I could tell her that I always miss her and her quirky attitudes and her happy-go-lucky ways and that she's lucky in ways that she don't realize and it hurts to see her like this.

Chin up, dear amiga.

He knows best. He always does. Something that is seemingly good for us might be bad for us, and the seemingly bad might be the best for us in the end. We can never know which is which and when is when. Only He does.

It'll be okay in the end. It always does. Let's find the strength to go on; and forward.