In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Alhamdulillah. All praise to Him and only Him.
Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.
I got the chance to join an International Business Case
Analysis, Go Ahead Challenge by the biggest bank in Malaysia as well as London,
for about 6 days.
The biggest blessing that I received from Him was not the
cash prize of 3000USD, but the enormous valuable experience I gained.
Its not only the business experience that I gained, I gained
a lot of experience in terms of handling the corporate world. Experience of
answering questions from non-Muslims. The struggle of maintaining the good name
of Islam. To let the world know, about ISLAM.
I was the only Muslim with Hijab, from 6 Muslims in the
competition. These are among the questions that were asked by the foreigners
from Mongolia, Philipines, Hong Kong, Cambodia,Tanzania and Singapore.
11. How many times do you pray
a day? How can you be so consistent? Aren’t you tired?
22. How do you pray, do you
have specific actions/words?
33. Why are you covering your
whole body, don’t you feel hot in here?
44. Can you wear sports attire?
Does your religion allow that?
55. Can you go and swim at the
beach?
66. Why are you not joining us
to go for clubbing tonight?
77. Why can’t you drink? Or eat
pork?
88. You can’t touch puppies?
But puppies are so cute.
99. Can we not touch you at
all, not even a hug?
110. So if you can’t drink or go
for clubbing, what’s your entertainment?
111. Will your marriage be
arranged by your parents, can you live with that?
112. So, you can’t even touch
your boyfriend, what did you do when you date?
113. So what if you skip one
prayer, what happened?
114. How do you call your God,
can you like talk to Him?
115. If you come to Philipines,
where can we bring you? Manila is all about partying and our foods are mostly
from pork.
And much more questions.
But the hardest thing for me was to
explain to them, that I can’t shake hand with guys. I kept bowing at them, like
Japanese. Tell me about the weird looks I got from them, not understanding why I
can’t touch them.
From that moment, I know. Allah has chosen me, to test me
whether or not I’m fit enough to join the corporate world, to show the world
the beauty of Islam. To prove that Muslimah with a hijab can do anything.
There’s always a way, just believe in Him.
So for the past few days, I kept answering their questions
about Islam. But the most response that I got was:
“I have a Muslim friend but she didn’t wear hijab and she
didn’t pray. That’s why I was shocked to see you; it’s a culture shock for us”
See. The world needs us. The corporate world needs us.
We, the practicing Muslims.
Show the world that this is the real Islam.
Show the world that Muslims are not terrorists.
Show the world we are the best ummah.
The world DOESN’T KNOW. So, it is our responsibility to let
the whole world know how Muslims operate.
Muslimah does not go to school to just be a housewife, or to
just be in a Muslim community.
Get out from our comfort zone, its time to challenge
ourselves. It is the time for women to rise. Dr Fadhilah
Grine said the same
thing during the first session of Heroes.
Wake up akhowat! The world does not evolve around IIUM only.
It is not about giving dakwah to our community only. Its surrounding does not
evolve around ikhwah and akhowat only.
We must show to the world that a Muslimah with Hijab can
survive in any situation. Be creative, think of a solution. Don’t just give up
and say,
“No, corporate world is not for me. I’d rather stay in a
small company so long as I don’t have to face those challenges”
“I’m not strong enough to be in the corporate world, I’ll
just become a teacher or a housewife”
Come on, you gave up so easily? Remember that this verse:
If our generation does not do something about this, there
will never be a successful Muslimah in the corporate world that will inspire
our future generations.
Remember, during the Judgement Day, He will ask all of us.
What did we do to spread Islam to the world?
It is the time, for Muslim to conquer the world. And it is
our turn to shine.
It is the time, to show the WORLD, what we are capable of.
Trust Him, He will definitely show you the way inshaAllah.
InshaAllah.
-Aqilah Zahirah Abu Hurairah-
2nd place winner for
2nd place winner for
International Business Case Analysis, Go Ahead Challenge by the biggest bank in Malaysia as well as London
one of my most dearest friend, close to my heart
1 comment:
kudos sistah!
jazakillahukhairankatheera :)
really appreciate this sharing ^__^v
Post a Comment