My daily life...keeping an open heart!

I was getting very busy this past few days. I feel like I have to do everything... it certainly feels that way when one gets too tired. But then, a few days ago, I heard a lecture on "IKHLAS" - how one needs to understand the reason behind his/her deeds. Why we do things really matters. We don't do things because we want to get some praises from people... it won't be worth it. It should be more than that - when Allah acknowledges your work, that is when your deeds count. It sure is easy to say than do.

We often complain how people do not acknowledge our work... they don't even say thanks or even mention about it. We often also heard people say like "engkau ingat siapa buat keje ni!" But it sure is good to be able to praise others for how good they have done their job - in Britain, people usually say "That's brilliant!" Even a small task is praised.. Here, people are less expressive.

Actually, we are taught that to be thankful to people is to be thankful to God. How lovely... it is true what Sheikh Abdullah repeatedly stressed to us in his lecture that people around us are tests for us.. Somehow, it is easy after understanding this to go through your life without feeling uneasy or tense. I believe living in Swansea and going through the islamic classes, I am beginning to understand life more, things starting to make sense. That remembering Allah is more about remembering His love than His wrath. And remembering Muhammad p.b.u.h. is clinging to sunnah and missing him as our Idol of life .. In our daily life, we have to always read the signs of Allah and His messages and that things do not happen at random. There must be reasons behind everything. When we understand this, for every small things, there are lessons to learn.

With children, we have to do this all the time... helping them to understand life and relating that to Islam. Only then, it will become a way of life... Allah send messages everyday for those who wants to take heed.

I remember on my way to send Amir back to his school yesterday when he mentioned to me that there was one horrible boy, had a bad attitude. Just recently came back from Umrah, according to Amir, the boy seemed to behave even worst. When our child say this... what do we say? they gets all kinds of advices from many sources.. you name it - the simpson? Mr. Bean? Merlin? The world is an open school but we cannot let just about everyone to be their teachers.

I believe we need to help children to understand that we have no control over other people's behaviour.. so there is no point of backbiting or talking about it with other people than to help the person improve himself. I ask Amir if he is the judge or is Allah the judge of people's behaviour. I told him, if he wants to be the judge, then he is doing Allah's job... which will tire him. Allah does not get tired doing His job.. so let Him be the judge for He is the best of all judges. I told him to stop being judgemental... after all, we are not perfect ourselves.

Oh my! For all I know, I was not advising him but advising myself. That is why I love having conversation with my children... it is not about educating them but reminding myself.

Something funny happened when we were having dinner just before we send Amir off. He said his friend, Nadia was mad at him because he was trying to save his iman and he texted her that he will no longer reply to her messages. He narrated the hadith, DO NOT GO NEAR ZINA. He was taught to stop talking unnecessarily to girls… what can I say? Kids are better learners than us, adults.

As we were driving along the highway, I kept my eyes on the sky. I remember one night when I was watching the stars with amusement (perhaps there were too many stars that night) and called my friend/son, Zakaria… told him to look up there. He told me that he used to lie down under the sky in Sudan watching the stars…. They seldom have clouds!

Sitting beside the driver, I love watching the sky and admiring the beauty of the different shades of blue and white here and there. I told my husband that I look at the sky as a large canvas … Allah’s work of art for He is the best artist. Such incredible blend of colours with different shapes of clouds. On that big canvas, sometimes, I can see islands and oceans, with many different animals, I sometimes can even see dinosour… how powerful are our imagination. I believe between those shades of blue and white, there are messages and signs for us to read. It is open for us to interpret and contemplate. Things are never straight forward ain’t it? And that is what makes life so interesting.

Wallahu a’lam.