The chosen.. Alhamdulillah!!

Alhamdulillah, all praise to be to Allah! For lending us an opportunity to still be alive in this worldly dunya.. 

A clock tower in my uni (University of Birmingham), aka Old Joe! 

Giving a chance to live in this 4 seasons country, which definitely different from my home country (Malaysia), make me feel a little bit eager to learn about Islam deeply! 

Yeah, I always take things for granted back then, back to my ‘Muslim surrounding country’. You know, when you were surrounded by a Muslim culture, and being ask to do this, not to do that, without any clear reason behind it, you are totally in mess! I mean, as a young folks, we always follow what the other previous people do. For example, when I was 12 years old, my father always pushed me to wear a hijab whenever I wanna follow him out to somewhere. And at that point, I am not really aware what the clear reason behind wearing the hijab. Yes, I knew that every single Muslim women need to cover their hair, but not in clear version. They only said, ‘Allah will be angry if we not follow His rules’, that's all. Until I was like in secondary school, I learnt the ayah about the reason why He order us to wear a hijab, ‘..to make us recognised and not be abused..’(33:59). Telling you what, I am not blaming my father, indeed I am very thankful to him for whatever I am become right now! Alhamdulillah! Thank you Allah for borrowing me a parents that always do the best for me! 

The university's park in Oxford. Winter is just around the corner!! Lets prepare ourselves to not be freeze! 

When I first came to this country, I learnt  and practicing a lots about ‘Rukhsah (concessions)’ in Islam. For example the jama' and qasar (okay tak tahu apa in english) and the khuf things, which I don't even know it when I was in Malaysia. 

Yes, when we are far away from our country, and family, the feeling to find our own identify is really strong than anyone can tell! And with all the hurdles and obstacles that I faced, I realised that nothing will be done, except by His Will! 

All the mess that I did whenever I start my works! 😂😂

My workstation in school.

And my workstation in....my room!! Weehuu!!! 😜😜😜

When I am here, honestly I really keen to empower my self with Islamic knowledges, always try to attend an Islamic talk, join a halaqah etc. Frankly speaking, all these things won't happen if I am still in my ‘comfort zone’ (means still living in my country). Not mentioning that I'd better, actually I am still struggling towards it, but the thing is, He choose me to be given a ‘hidayah (guidence)’ to stay and shift into a better path than before. And for that, I really thankful to Him! Alhamdulillah! 

Thank you Allah for the bless 27 years in my life!! 

(Just something to be pounder upon, I don't really like the idea of what our eldest (Malaysian) told us so far about ‘Allah will angry, if we not follow His rules!’. This statement will makes our toddlers/kids become scared to the Almighty! Instead, we need to develop a love for Allah in their hearts, so that they will intentionally and willingly following His rules!! Okay, this is just my tuppence worth, as I am not really a mother, but hopefully in future, Ameen, insyaAllah!)

From Birm with love❤️❤️❤️

Sufiah

Love: The heart of Marriage

Just wanna share something that I got during the seminar by Alburuj Press, with Yasmin Mogahed, couple of days ago.. 

“Love is any emotion. Eg. hatred is love, because someone take away something that you love, envy is love because you want something that you love etc.. 

Love is not a fairy tales. Its a realistic kind of things. We aim for the ‘halal’ love by marrying someone that we love, InsyaAllah. But marriage itself is not the final destination nor the ending, it just a begining to put our path back to Allah. 

In order to do that, we need to choose our spouse who can be the coolness of the eyes, not the one who can fix, fill or complete our empty heart! Allah is the only ONE who can fix it up for you! 

We all are a slave, either you're a Muslim or not, you are a slave! If you chase after power, you're a slave of power, if you run after money, you're a slave of money etc. You are the slave of what you love most! 

As a believer, we are a slave of Allah. Means, we have to put Him first in everything as we claimed that He is the eternal lover. Then back to our marriage, husband/wife and children are just a tools to please Allah, they obviously can't give us total comfort and happiness in our life! He is the one who give us life, and He is the one who can take it away from us. 

In Quran, Allah said, 

Yes, marriage is a sign! Its a sign to direct us the true path. From example, if we want to go to London, using M6, then we see a London exit signboard, we won't stop there right? It just a sign, not yet arrive to the destination. Same goes to marriage.. It just a sign or mean for us to get close to the Creator! 

Apparently, not all people will get married  in this dunnya. Marriage is just a gift/rizk from Allah to His slaves. Whatever He directed us to is the best afterall! Believe and put our trust on Him. Bad things won't happen to good people! All matters that happen are good for us either its easy/hard/simple/difficult to get. As He said in Al Baqarah verse 216 ‘...and may be you hate thing which is good for you, and that you love something which is bad for you. And Allah knows and you know not’. Its just a way to strengthen our iman or raise ourselves into specific level! SubhanAllah! 

When choosing a spouse, ask Him with Istikharah. Istikharah is to look for the best (Al-khair). Its not necessary to get a dream as a sign, (3 types of dream, 1. From syaitan, 2. From nafs/own desire and 3. Rukyah from Allah) yet we don't know for sure it is a sign or not. Then we need to go back to the dua in Istikharah, we asked Him to make thing EASY if its  GOOD in our religion, faith, life and hereafter and TURN IT AWAY if its BAD for us. Means, if it easy to get, it was destined for us, and if we face obstacles, try to leave it away! 

Again, marriage is a sign to direct us back to Him. If we put our life marriage in a right way, InsyaAllah the whole system will run properly! Prioritize Him, place our heart correctly by train it into the Deen,  pray 5 times daily ON TIME (its an oxygen to our heart) and dzikr.. Put Him first in everything!”

May He ease everything for you and me... Either you are married or not.. 

Allahumma Ameen.. 

From Birm, with love, 

Sufiah

Bidadari

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu....

Bidadari syurga didunia.. Penyejuk mata, penawar duka.. 

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu.. 

Untuk ibu dan ayah tercinta.. 

Untuk bakal suami jika ada rezeki didunia..

Untuk bakal anak-anak jika diberi kesempatan dan masa..

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu.. 

Lembut berbicara, tegas dalam urusan agama.. 

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu..

Hidup penuh kasih sayang, cintakan Allah, Rasul dan kedua ibubapa.. 

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu..

Aurat penuh dijaga, urusan akhirat menjadi matlamat utama.. 

Izinkan aku menjadi bidadari itu...

From Birm with love, 

Sufiah

Ultimate Test

While looking for some papers/journals to read, I came cross to this story about the Ultimate Test:-

Abu-ul-Hassan Siraj (mercy be upon him) said, “One day I set out for the performance of pilgrimage (Hajj). As I was making a circuit (Tawwaf) around the Holy Ka’ba, I happened to see a fair-faced woman. I said to myself, By God! I have never seen a woman with such beauty before. Perhaps she has all this beauty as she may not have suffered any grief or sorrow.” She heard this statement and said, “What did you say? By God! I am immersed in grief and my heart is afflicted with adversities and misfortunes and there is no one to share with me the pangs of grief.”

I asked her, “What has happened to you?” She replied, “My husband slaughtered a goat. My two small children were playing with each other and another was in my lap. As I got up, one of the children said to the other, “Shall I tell you how our father slaughtered the goat?” The other replied in the affirmative. Consequently, he. laid his brother on the ground and killed him like a goat.

He then ran away on account of fear, and climbed up a mountain where a wolf devoured him. His father went out in search of him and, during the course of his quest, he died due to the intensity of thirst.

I left the infant to sit and went towards the door of the house. The infant then crawled to the fire upon which the earthen pot was hung. As soon as he touched it, it fell and scolded him. As result his body was burnt removing the flesh from the bones.

I had one daughter left who was married. When she came to hear of this, she fell unconscious and died. It was I who was left alone.”

Shocked by this I asked her, “How did you bear all these misfortunes?” She said, “A person who would ponder over patience and impatience, would see much difference between them. The reward for patience Is great and for impatience, there is no reward.” Then, she recited the following three couplets which read: “I endured because endurance is the best thing to rely upon. If any advantage could be obtained by impatience, I would have adopted it. I endured many a misfortune, misfortunes of such intensity that if they were to have fallen on a mountain, it would have been reduced to dust. I have exercised full control over my emotions and never shed a tear. Now they are falling in my heart.”

Its really a tragic story though, but yet its still deep anyway! 

Sometimes, we are too busy to judge and compare others life without knowing how tough they gone through their life.

Life is a battle field anyway! 

Live! Life! Enjoy! And thankful to the Almighty for every little things He gave to us either good or bad.. Alhamdulillah.. May Allah bless.. 

From Birm, with love, 

Sufiah

Travelling alone- Solo trip! 😊

When I started to travel alone, people was like, ‘seriously?’, ‘aren't you afraid?’, ‘loner’ or even ‘pathetic..’ They can call me what they prefer, because its not even touch my heart as I know what the purpose I am doing that.. 😊✌️

I love to travel, even since I was born..lol! 😭😭🙊 

And thats the reason why I enjoyed travel alone, other than enjoying my ‘me-time’. But above all, travelling alone make me felt so close to Him. 

By travelling alone, especially when you are a woman, you need to be brave enough to face all the circumstance. That's how you will come back to Him. I mean, rather than believing other people, you will totally put your trust on Him. You will have some kind of faith that no matter what happen, He will always be by your side. And primarily, you will always..always..always..believe that He will always assist you in anything....

Allah.. Allah.. Allah... There is no God but Allah..the most Merciful, Kindness, Powerful, etc...

"Baiknya Allah pada kita, walaupun hari ini kita berdosa padaNya, tapi rahmatNya tak pernah kering terhadap kita.. Sebagai hambaNya, malu tak rasa-rasanya kita nak buat dosa?"

"Berharap hanya pada Dia, Allah yang ESA"

From Birm, with Love,
Sufiah