It's Amir's Birthday, Sunday 8 March 2009. We went to Amir's school and celebrated his birthday with 13 of his closest friends. They are very nice kids... I am grateful that Allah send good children to be around him. We had cakes and food in one of the classrooms. They sang "Allah selamatkan kamu", we chatted, exchanged riddles, took pictures - in short, lots and lots of fun. Before we left, I gave him a card and a letter......
Dear son,
Today is your 13th birthday. Happy Birthday, Amir! Let me just give you advices like mothers always do.
After 4 years of living in UK, we are back home now. I know it is difficult to adapt back to Malaysian life but I am sure you will be ok, insya’Allah. God willing, one day we’ll go back there for holiday or even you might be going back for your university. If you strive hard and make the correct intentions, Allah will help, insya’Allah.
I want you to be successful in your life. I have friends who we claim to be very successful in their lives. The problem with us is that we always measure ‘success’ by our own standard. We usually put wealth into perspective when it comes to ‘success’. I want you to see life differently.
If we have a pure heart, it might be easier to see. Our hearts can be so corrupted that we cannot see clearly what is right and what is wrong. People can be ambitious and forget about the real life. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to love the world and to be scared of death. Remember one night in Swansea when we both watched a video showing Imam Al-ghazali’s poem. We were both near tears by his view of death. It is now my motivation of life and death. That life is not what we are striving for but it is life after death. Because when we can please Allah in this life, death will be a wonderful experience. Isn’t meeting your lover is something anyone would look forward for? And I’ve learnt that loving Allah will lead you to love his apostle, Muhammad s.a.w. I want you to love Allah and to have the love of Rasullullah s.a.w. in your heart. So that when the word Allah is mentioned, your heart will be touched. Likewise, when the name Muhammad s.a.w. is mentioned, your heart will be longing to meet him. It isn’t easy to have such hearts. You are 13 now. Do you know those people who are much older than you - most of them do not have Allah and Rasullullah s.a.w. in their hearts yet. Many have not reached there yet. Allah selected some people and left the rest. Those who choose to be guided and those who choose not to be guided – are they not different?
Today, my worry about you is lessening. For the past few weeks, I’ve seen you grow wisely. You have shown a lot of improvements. I am very proud of you, son. I want you to grow up to be someone extra special. I want you to live your life in a way that would benefit those people around you. I want you to do dakwah and to do it out of your love for Islam. I want Allah and Rasulullah s.a.w. to be in your heart. I want you to always put Allah in your top priority list. Whenever you want to do anything, I want you to think whether or not you would please or displease Him. When you have Allah in your heart, I shall not worry about you anymore. You will then strive for His sake. You will always want to try your very best. You will always want to help people not because you want anything in return but you will do that to please Him, insya’Allah.
My beloved Amir,
Your grandma, your dad’s mother was a special person. When we were in United States, she used to write to your dad and she would put such lovely words. I used to admire the letters. The first time I read it, I was like dumbstruck – I’ve not seen such words (we did not keep them unfortunately) because if you read the letters, you can see her love for him. May Allah bless her soul and gather her among His righteous servants. I don’t know how to write such. But I know that I love you very much and I have such high hopes for you, probably more than what I expected from your sisters. They are lovely sisters, aren’t they? I believe you are grateful for having them around.
Amir,
If I don’t give you the rights of a son, I will be sinning (You did asked me about this once). One of the most important rights for a son is to get good education. I believe now you are in good hands. Your teachers - they are people who knows what they are doing and where they want to go. You need people like them to be around you. I am sorry for the lost hours when I was doing my PhD. I know you had to stay home alone and your companions were just TV and internet. May Allah forgive your dad and I for not spending enough time with you and I hope you forgive us. This is our way of compensating our faults – to make sure you get good education/upbringing.
Amir dearest,
Happy Birthday … May Allah bless you and help you to excel. May Allah guide you always and keep you on His path. May Allah soften your heart as He has soften the heart of Saidina Umar, the one who was aggressively opposing Islam but then became the companion of the greatest man in history. Subhanallah! I pray that Allah will be please with you and that He has a great plan for you. I pray that you will be among those who are grateful for the bounties bestowed upon you. Remember that Allah said,
"If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and believe in Me so that hopefully they will be rightly guided". (Surah al-Baqara: 186)
Therefore, pray hard and my prayers are with you always.
Happy Birthday, honey!
mama
Today is your 13th birthday. Happy Birthday, Amir! Let me just give you advices like mothers always do.
After 4 years of living in UK, we are back home now. I know it is difficult to adapt back to Malaysian life but I am sure you will be ok, insya’Allah. God willing, one day we’ll go back there for holiday or even you might be going back for your university. If you strive hard and make the correct intentions, Allah will help, insya’Allah.
I want you to be successful in your life. I have friends who we claim to be very successful in their lives. The problem with us is that we always measure ‘success’ by our own standard. We usually put wealth into perspective when it comes to ‘success’. I want you to see life differently.
If we have a pure heart, it might be easier to see. Our hearts can be so corrupted that we cannot see clearly what is right and what is wrong. People can be ambitious and forget about the real life. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to love the world and to be scared of death. Remember one night in Swansea when we both watched a video showing Imam Al-ghazali’s poem. We were both near tears by his view of death. It is now my motivation of life and death. That life is not what we are striving for but it is life after death. Because when we can please Allah in this life, death will be a wonderful experience. Isn’t meeting your lover is something anyone would look forward for? And I’ve learnt that loving Allah will lead you to love his apostle, Muhammad s.a.w. I want you to love Allah and to have the love of Rasullullah s.a.w. in your heart. So that when the word Allah is mentioned, your heart will be touched. Likewise, when the name Muhammad s.a.w. is mentioned, your heart will be longing to meet him. It isn’t easy to have such hearts. You are 13 now. Do you know those people who are much older than you - most of them do not have Allah and Rasullullah s.a.w. in their hearts yet. Many have not reached there yet. Allah selected some people and left the rest. Those who choose to be guided and those who choose not to be guided – are they not different?
Today, my worry about you is lessening. For the past few weeks, I’ve seen you grow wisely. You have shown a lot of improvements. I am very proud of you, son. I want you to grow up to be someone extra special. I want you to live your life in a way that would benefit those people around you. I want you to do dakwah and to do it out of your love for Islam. I want Allah and Rasulullah s.a.w. to be in your heart. I want you to always put Allah in your top priority list. Whenever you want to do anything, I want you to think whether or not you would please or displease Him. When you have Allah in your heart, I shall not worry about you anymore. You will then strive for His sake. You will always want to try your very best. You will always want to help people not because you want anything in return but you will do that to please Him, insya’Allah.
My beloved Amir,
Your grandma, your dad’s mother was a special person. When we were in United States, she used to write to your dad and she would put such lovely words. I used to admire the letters. The first time I read it, I was like dumbstruck – I’ve not seen such words (we did not keep them unfortunately) because if you read the letters, you can see her love for him. May Allah bless her soul and gather her among His righteous servants. I don’t know how to write such. But I know that I love you very much and I have such high hopes for you, probably more than what I expected from your sisters. They are lovely sisters, aren’t they? I believe you are grateful for having them around.
Amir,
If I don’t give you the rights of a son, I will be sinning (You did asked me about this once). One of the most important rights for a son is to get good education. I believe now you are in good hands. Your teachers - they are people who knows what they are doing and where they want to go. You need people like them to be around you. I am sorry for the lost hours when I was doing my PhD. I know you had to stay home alone and your companions were just TV and internet. May Allah forgive your dad and I for not spending enough time with you and I hope you forgive us. This is our way of compensating our faults – to make sure you get good education/upbringing.
Amir dearest,
Happy Birthday … May Allah bless you and help you to excel. May Allah guide you always and keep you on His path. May Allah soften your heart as He has soften the heart of Saidina Umar, the one who was aggressively opposing Islam but then became the companion of the greatest man in history. Subhanallah! I pray that Allah will be please with you and that He has a great plan for you. I pray that you will be among those who are grateful for the bounties bestowed upon you. Remember that Allah said,
"If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and believe in Me so that hopefully they will be rightly guided". (Surah al-Baqara: 186)
Therefore, pray hard and my prayers are with you always.
Happy Birthday, honey!
mama
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