A Scene from the Future

In the morning, I get this from a friend;

ربنا يجمعنا في زمرة الذين أعزُّوا دينهم   :)

In the evening, I say Ameen to someone saying this prayer;

اللهم احشرنا فى زمرة المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم ..

Then I stopped for a moment and wondered which زمرة will I be a part of? Which زمرة do I want to be a part of? Will I be in a زمرة entering Jannah?

اللهم اجعنا فى زمرة عبادك الصالحين الذين أحبوك وأحببتهم ورضيت عنهم ..

Faith, no more for granted.

"I NEVER TAKE MY FAITH FOR GRANTED," that's the one thing Sarah Joseph kept repeating very sincerely during her talk last Saturday. 

She was a Christian, a very devoted committed Christian, and she said she lost her Faith once when she converted to Islam, but now she's never going to take it for granted.

After I left, I couldn't stop thinking how I have been taking my Faith for granted for so long .. not on purpose, but out of ignorance and carelessness. That doesn't make it any less of a shame though..

I'm tired of promising myself things that I never manage to do, so this time I'm not making any promises, just a sincere intention to start my journey of learning all about Islam. Questioning, Pursuing the truth, and Submitting to Allah. I couldn't help but think that being part of Zumaran must be Allah guiding me of where I should start. Ramadan is here. I'm off to a Umrah in a couple of days in-sha'Allah. SUB7AN ALLAH. I couldn't have made better plans for a new start..

Sarah also talked about how she stopped listening to music for a couple of years, not because she believed it's 7aram (forbidden) -as she doesn't believe it is- she only did that because it was a "distraction" for her along the way of getting closer to Allah. 

I'm getting away from many things that I consider current distractions in my life these days, and focusing instead on the things that matter.

Quoting a friend, "I want to revert to Islam" 

That One Single Precious Moment

Moments. Precious moments.


I'm a terrible person when it comes to remembering things!

However, we all have a couple of precious moments that we hold in our memories and love to re-visit from time to time. They make us grin, laugh, and even tear up because we wish we could go back. We appreciate those moments. They're precious..

I'm sure we all have some of those moments, if not many, I hope. I want to know what's the one single precious moment that you hold on to?

It can be that moment of success, that moment you met "the one", that moment you carried your first born, or that moment when you were the reason for that someone's smile :), ...

The one moment that inspired me to write this post .. The one moment that I wish to hold on to forever is something different .. It's the moment I hear something about my one and only Allah, and "feel it" deep inside. The moment I feel I love Him more than anyone and anything in this world. The moment I feel the strongest, only because He is by my side. That moment .. My most precious. I wish I can hold its memory and all those feelings that come along with it, in my mind, soul, and heart, for eternity..

What's the one single precious moment of your life?

A Tribute to Mr. Amin Selim (from someone who never met him)

Mr. Amin Selim. I've been hearing this name for a couple of years now, and never once was it mentioned in a negative context. I wasn't an IG student, and I haven't had the honor of getting to know him personally. However, I have four friends who know him well and have always been talking good about him.

On the day Mr. Amin died, I noticed everyone on Facebook and Twitter change their profile pictures and avatars to a photo of him. Facebook statuses, Facebook notes about him, and tweets all over Twitter mentioning what a great man and amazing teacher he was. Also, I was very touched by the event his students created just to make a خاتمة قرآن for him. 

I called a couple of my friends that knew him to tell them البقاء لله, and they were crying, not believing he's gone, going on and on about what a great man he was, and how he was the best teacher they've ever had. I'm a horrible person in situations like this. I didn't know what to say to them..

A whole week of seeing this man's name every time I get on the internet.

I was very curious to know how this man got everyone around to love him that much. How can someone possibly do that? 

Then came the ganaza announcement. Saturday 8:30am. Who will possibly go to a ganaza that early? I was wrong thinking this would result in only a few people attending. It seemed from people's posts and comments that everyone was going. I couldn't get my mind to stop thinking about all this..... I finally decided that I want to attend his ganaza. I thought a million times about how weird I'd feel and how weird I'd look, going to a ganaza of someone I never met. At the end, I decided I'm going anyway.

Saturday 7:30am, I woke up to the alarm clock, very energized, even though I had slept really late the night before. Yes, I'm finally going to see part of the difference this man has left behind. 

8:30am I was there. The ladies' praying area was almost full. More girls and women kept filling up the place. I kept watching people around, everyone looked sincerely sad, some were crying, and some were saying some prayers for the best teacher they've ever had. 

The ganaza prayer started when the place was literally packed. 

ثبت في حديث ابن عباس عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال: (ما من رجل مسلم يموت فيقوم على جنازته أربعون رجلاً لا  يشركون بالله شيئاً إلا شفعهم الله فيه) رواه مسلم

I'm positive that Mr. Amin must have done great things in his life for Allah to grant him all this love from everyone around him.

I want to dedicate this post to Mr. Amin's family and students. I'd assume that everything I've seen and heard about this man is a sign that Allah truly loves him. No one should worry about where he is now.

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : " إِذَا أَحَبَّ اللَّهُ الْعَبْدَ نَادَى جِبْرِيلَ : إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَبَّ فُلانًا فَأَحْبِبْهُ فَيُحِبُّهُ جِبْرِيلُ ، ثُمَّ يُنَادِي جِبْرِيلُ فِي أَهْلِ السَّمَاءِ : إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَبَّ فُلانًا ، فَيُحِبُّهُ أَهْلُ السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ يُوضَعُ لَهُ الْقَبُولُ فِي أَهْلِ الأَرْضِ " .

القبول فى الأرض ..

I'm not sure if I should feel sad that I missed out on knowing a great person like Mr. Amin. However, I'm sure that even though I didn't get the honor of knowing this great man personally, he still inspired me that it's possible to make a huge difference in this world, and leave a legacy behind..

أشعر بالغبطة نحو هذا الرجل الذى لم أره فى حياتى .. 

الله يرحمه ويصبر أهله ..