ARE WE AT HOME???

We are now in Malaysia..after living in UK for 4 years. I love swansea. Although PhD life is full of twists and turns, life was good there. We have many good friends even the imam of the mosque is our close friend. Before we left, they threw a party for me..sister Hala from Egypt was the one who organised it. She is very good at organising any events. Other sisters was there too.. we had been together for so long and now we feel very close. I love these sisters.. regardless where they are from, we share many beautiful moments together. The university mosque has been a meeting place for good people..alhamdulillah. Allah has been very kind to send us good friends that we cherished all our lives. I know I am going to miss the mosque and the mosque community terribly.

Sheikh Mohsen - our imam from Egypt. He is a hafeez, knowledgeable and always willing to help. I have followed most of his classes since he came. He taught us tajweed, arabic, hadith.. and answers almost anything we want to know. We were so lucky to have an imam who is very approachable, kind and at the same time, has sense of humour. Adam - a nigerian student doing Masters - is a very hardworking person. He never complains when he cleans the mosque after any events. The most important is that he does it with sincerity. Always smile and kind to everyone. I believe the mosque is blessed to have him. Fatma - my newly founded friend who is very keen in learning the tajweed. We spend many hours reading and discussing the tajweed together. I miss those good moments together. We also have sister Mahfuza and so many other sisters who are dear to my heart - we share beautiful time together at the mosque. If not in this dunia, we make doa that Allah will gather us again in Jannah, ameen. Perhaps there, we can sit under the shade of a tree and talk old times together ..


I miss Swansea University mosque. This has been home to me for 4 years. When i stayed in Swansea, we (the family) moved to different houses trying to find comfort in many ways but the mosque is always there - for me to feel close to Allah and to learn more about the religion. Like I said, Allah reveals knowledge in different levels and the mosque was where I found myself discovering new things and in teaching myself to have trust in Him. Sometimes we thought we have the trust but we might not. If we have trust in Allah, there will be no fear and no grief. We are all striving our best but we might not have strive hard enough. Lets make dua that Allah will help us in keeping us in Iman and continuously receiving guidance from Him.

The night before leaving Swansea, we hugged each other (the sisters) and hope to see each other again when I come back for my viva in October, insya'Allah.
I miss them now.. I love the environment where I found friendship, peace and serenity in my heart. That is the place where I found greater light.. the lights Allah send through people around me - Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Yassin (our sudanese sheikh), Brother Assim, Brother Arjan and other people too. May Allah reward them tremendously and help them in their effort to help revive Islam in the muslim hearts. Hopefully there are many others like them.


Now we are here, in Malaysia. It is not that we are not happy to be home but we are still adapting to the new life. My son, Amir is going through many different experiences. I guess it is quite an emotional procesa at the same time. The night when we arrived at our house, he said to me "We did not get home, we left home". My heart cried listiening to his words - the words came from him. How true! I felt the same but I can't say that to him! I have to give him confidence that this is home or perhaps, sooner or later, we will feel at home. A few days later, he started to enjoy playing with his cousins so things were not so bad. But he then said, "I can't believe I said this but I missed school". He said that it is like you have lots and lots of money and suddenly you got bankcrupt. That was how he described his new life.. losing his friends and back to having no friends. This was when he had not started his schooling.

After a few days, we got news that he was accepted by his old school. We sent him to his class and we could see gleaming faces when they saw Amir. All his friends remember him and was so excited about having this UK boy in their class again. So now, Amir is quite happy. We were so pleased that now, he enjoys school. In fact, on the second day, he asked us to send him to the night class when he wore his dad's shirt to look cool. Indeed, he looked cool. He likes to maintain his coolness. Last night, we sent him to the barber and he got a cool haircut. He got admirers in the class!!! He told us that yesterday, after he read a passage, the children clapped their hands. I admit that his english is very impressive, especially pronounciation. Well, I am just glad that he enjoys school now!!

In life, we will undergo many different changes and in general, no one likes changes. People are scared of changes because there are too many uncertainties. But I believe as long as we have trust that Allah will decree what is good for us, we should never fear nor grief. What is planned for us will happen and it is up to us to either be grateful or to complain all the time. To be grateful is the best blessing one can have. May Allah include us among those who are successful - in this life and in the hereafter. May Allah continuously guide us with His light wherever we are. AMEEN.