Reflection

How hard do I really try to make my life revolves around my religion?

I’ll give you some examples and ask yourself, which one do you usually do?

1. I plan to wake up at 5am tomorrow to study. While I’m on it, I might as well pray tahajjud.

OR

I plan to wake up at 5 for tahajjud. While I’m on it, I might as well stay up a little bit and study.

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2. When planning for a journey, do you say - Let’s leave the house at 10am so we can have lunch at Tapah R&R at 2pm. We might as well want to catch Zuhr there too.

OR

Let’s leave the house at 10am so we can make it for Zuhr at Tapah RnR. We can take our lunch there?

See the difference?

I admit, sometimes I slip too. As much as I tell myself that I love Islam and remind myself to do things solely for Allah, I still forget. I don't just forget once, but a WHOLE lot of times. But you know what? We are taught in Islam of how merciful Allah is. We should never ever lose hope in Allah. The moment we are reminded of how much we are consumed by this world, take a step back. Just one tiny step back is enough to make us look at things clearer. Make loads of Istighfar and start again with a feeling of gratitude for the realisation. Don't think for a second that we got to that realisation by ourselves. We did not make it on our own. And lastly, sincerely pray for Allah to accept our Tawbah & make us remember Him always.

Now that it's Final Exam time, I wanted to remind myself on how I should make a conscious effort to continue making my life revolves around my religion and not the other way around. I don't know about you, but I'm really worried that my attention for finals will divert my attention towards my ultimate goal. Small things like continuing reading when you can clearly hear the adhan just because you don't want to lose the momentum, shows how lightly you take your religion. May Allah protect us from that.

While my mind was on this, I received a text message from a very good friend who was at Twins of Faith. Bilal Philips had just spoken about education and he said,

“There are 2 groups of people: Muslims who happen to be students, and students who happen to be Muslims. Always remember that you are Muslim first.”

It was so spot on! Well, I was not at Twins of Faith (I was kinda disappointed about it at first) but Insha Allah khair, it all happened by the Qadr of Allah. He knows best and I should know by now that learning can happen just anywhere. Also, all praises be to Him for I had really amazing friends who would text me from the conference and share with me some of the things those amazing shuyukhs said. Fatimah, being the serious knowledge seeker she is, even wrote notes about it on facebook and tagged me. Jazakumullahu khairan everybody. You know who you are :) I am truly blessed to have friends like you.

*Hint: Khadijah & Asma' cepatlah updateeeee ;)