The realm of souls

Prophet (pbuh) said: “Souls are like crowds which gather together. The ones who met before get along well. The ones who did not meet before, cannot get along very well and separate.” (Bukhari, Anbiya, 2; Muslim, Birr, 159; Abu Dawud, Adab, 19).

Ever get that moment where when you meet someone for the first time, and you suddenly just click? As if you knew or met each other before? This hadith clearly states that before we were born, our souls were already created. And we were able to talk and get along in a place, long before we were born. 

I found the hadith above quite some time ago and I find the idea of souls extremely interesting. We were something before Allah put us here. We were something before we came into this world, into these lives, and into these bodies. Then I did some research on the creation of the souls and found this piece of text:

"Did All Souls Prostrate Allah?
It's reported that, in the realm of souls some of the souls prostrated Allah while some didn't. Is it true? Were souls subjected to a test before coming into this world and some became rebellious while the others were obedient.

Answer:
In the realm of souls, all souls prostrated Allah (swt). The rumours reporting the opposite are not authentic. This event took place in the realm of souls is not a test; it is a promise taken from humanbeings by Allah. Man has been sent to this world in order to be tested. Those who fail their tests are the ones who break their promises."

From ALLAH we come, and to ALLAH we shall return.

Source of Hadith
Source of Text

Patience is a virtue

Sometimes when you do something for Allah's sake, you are tested with what seems like more than you can handle. Remember that Allah will never give you more than you can handle, and the challenges you are put through and how you act upon them, define who you are and will shape you into who you will become.

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

I've found that praying always helps, and try to remember that whenever you feel like something is taking too long, maybe you're not being patient enough. Patience can be a virtue.

It's hard but try to look at the positive side of things. Be thankful for what you still have because complaining, shows ingratitude towards Allah; The One Who has given you everything that you have, The Reason why you are still breathing , and The Reason why you will succeed.

May Allah have mercy on us all
May Allah see our efforts
May Allah give us strength
May Allah give us patience
May Allah give us knowledge
May Allah guide us and keep us on the right path

Amin

Drowning

Allah does not only test us with hardships but also with ease and blessings. When life beats us to the ground, we are in the perfect position to kneel down and pray, but what about when we're feeling like we're floating on top of the world? It's easy to lose sight of everything else around you and what's really important. I'm drowning in an emotion that I've never felt before and I grown too attached. I am losing control of the situation, as well as losing control of myself. I've never wanted something so badly in my life before, and it's making me impatient. So what should one do with impatience?

Trust in your Lord... for verily, after hardship comes ease, and He is the best of planners.

"Only those who are patient shall receive their reward in full, without reckoning [39:10]"

Tears can extinguish the fire of Hell

There is a hadith, in which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, says:

"No one sheds tears but Allah will sae his body from the fire of Hell. If the tears trickle down a person's cheeks, his or her face will be saved from any degradation. If one out of a group of people cries, the whole group will be blessed by Allah. Only tears have unrestricted power. Verily, tears can extinguish the fire of Hell."

This shows us how wonderful it is to cry for Allah's sake. Tears are not something that we can fake. They are the result of true and deep emotions. The Prophet says that "the Hellfire is forbidden to touch the eyes of the one who sheds tears at the remembrance of Allah."

Meditate on the last part of the Hadith that I told you, on how "tears can extinguish the fire of Hell." This is how powerful your tears are!


Source of text

What is the use of silent gratitude?

As I sit here and watch the sun rise over the horizon and shine through the empty spaces between the trees, at the same old spot that I always watch it - my bedroom window, I can't help but be reminded of Malaysia. I think I miss Malaysia, the land where, for me, there are no impossibilities, and I am as free as a bird. A place where I can enjoy the moment, and not think about anything other than deciding what food I should order at the restaurant. I miss the scenery, and how much it made me glorify our Lord. I miss the humidity. I miss spending quality time with my family there. But I love it here too. I love it so much. The freshness of the air, our beautiful garden, the convenience of everything. So, I guess, I'm thankful that I am able to appreciate both. I really do love my life, and it's time I started showing my appreciation... towards my surroundings and the people surrounding me. I am not thankful enough for them, and I can never be. Allah has given me too much and I am going to appreciate it before it's too late.

"Islam wants people's hearts to be at peace, put a stop to provocative thoughts and over active imaginations, so that people may live their lives in a decent and calm fashion, free from such thoughts an able to go about the tasks and duties for which they were created."

- The Ideal Muslimah

The Perfect Weekend Getaway

This weekend, I went on a trip to Lake District with Coventry University Malaysian Society. I had 

such a fun time, I didn't want to go back home. These are a few photographs of the things we did :)

All set to leave for our first outing at Lake District

Everyone is quiet when eating 

Amazing scenery at the park

Hiking! I never realised how much fun hiking is. The view at the top is totally worth it.

We had a picnic on top of a mountain!
An amazing view, wherever we turned (except for the ground because there was sheep poo everywhere)

Style

If you ever want to see the world,  climb to the top of a hill or a mountain. It will make you realise the beauty of Allah's creations, and how small we and are problems are, compared to our surroundings. SubhanAllah...

Beautiful flowers and trees everywhere

Our cottage was right next to a stream. The place we stayed at was very nice and calm.

I love gardens!... but I don't know how to garden :(

Making friends. Kak Sue thinks I'm gedik... which I'm totally not, by the way.

Kak Umi always takes care of me. I wish I could be as kind, hardworking, and as passionate as her.

A classic group photo in front of our beautiful cottage.

This sounds so cliché but we made some great memories. I had fun, so I'm extremely glad that I decided to go on this trip. They make me laugh a lot and I've learnt a few things from them. I hope to get more involved with the society.

President and Ex-President helping to prepare for din-dins, and kak Hannah bossing them around, haha.
Our table looks fantastic. I have never dined like this before!

Unexpected visit to Liverpool, but sadly, we arrived after The Beatles museum closed,  and I did not even have a chance to check out the Tate. Damn... I like Liverpool! It's such a nice place, and seems to have a lot of things. If I were to study or work there, I would be very happy! If not, I will come and visit again, another time!

I've learnt quite a few things from this trip. I've learnt that it's important to mix with different kinds of people with different opinions. Just because we do not agree with some things, does not mean a friendship cannot form from the little similarities that we might have. If we start listening to what the other has to say, even if we do not agree with it, we might learn something new and understand each other better. It's because of our lack of understanding, that we judge...

A little preparation never hurt nobody

Last night, I did a short performance with Ahmad for Warwick's TESL "Bring A Dish" Party, and it got me looking back on all my previous performances. Every performance that I've done so far, I've always done something wrong, whether it's with my singing, forgetting the lyrics, or being too nervous to interact with the audience. But I'm actually quite surprised at myself and how much I've achieved. I've gained so much and my confidence has boosted massive amounts. Don't get me wrong, I still get nervous and tend to feel like I'm not good enough at times, but every performance, and every new song written, is an achievement unlocked in my book. And the thing is, I don't feel like stopping. I want to keep going. I feel like God has given me a talent and I don't want to let that go to waste. I finally found something I'm good at.

But one thing that many people fail to understand is that life is about balance. Just because you're good at one thing, it doesn't mean you should put everything into that. This is actually a reminder to myself that I need to try and put a little bit of passion and effort into different things, and keep my options open. Because in life, you'll come across a corridor full of doors and when the time comes for you to choose a door, you want to make sure you have a number of them unlocked before you decide which one you want/need to open. You never know what God will give you in this life. We can plan, but we will never know. So prepare because surely, Allah is the best of planners.

Feeling vunerable

"Guard your heart, guard your mind, and guard your soul, because shaytaan is always looking for a way in."

Oh, Ya Allah, please help protect me. Help purify my soul. Lead me towards the right path and make it easy for me to know what is good for me, because I want to be good enough for You.

It's that time of the year again...

I'm back

Assalamualaikum.

Gosh, it's been a while since I've written a blog post. I never realised how much I missed it. It's only been a month or so but a lot has happened. I wouldn't know how and where to re-begin. I guess I should start off with why I've been neglecting this space in the first place...

SoundCloud

If you really knew me, you'd know how much I love to write. I don't do it often, but I love it. And it's actually quite strange since I'm a designer yet I've never been able to visually express myself. That's where SoundCloud comes in. Many of my close friends know that I write songs and recently, I've been doing it at a more regular pace. I've found that songwriting is such an amazing, fun, and creative outlet where I can experiment with music and lyrics, but also express how I feel about something. And I guess that's why I completely forgot about this blog: I found an alternative way to talk about what I'm thinking and feeling. I don't know much and I'm not that talented but I enjoy it, nonetheless, and insyaAllah, I hope to improve and get better!

In other news, 

I've just finished my degree, alhamdulillah, and am planning to apply for a Masters in Creative Advertising or Graphic Design. It's so difficult to get enthusiastic about it when all I want to do at the moment is sit and write songs. But I need to remember, that life is about balance and I need to do what I can now to build a supporting foundation/platform for myself, before I can start making my way to where I want to be. Gradually but eventually, insyaAllah.

Okay, that's all I can be bothered to type about, for now. Bye.

I think nowadays we really overlook the little things. Things that our ancestors fought for. We should be more grateful because the freedom we have now is all because they fought for it, they fought for a better place so we could have better lives. Before this, to love someone with a different skin colour to you was crazy, absurd, and impossible. But now we take things for granted. Even the fact that we can walk down the street safely, the fact that we have so many opportunities available to us and the fact that woman have equal rights, for example. I need to be thankful and appreciate more that I can live my life in peace because some people don't have that. Don't look at the things you don't have in your life, look at the things that you do. And when it comes to people, why are we always looking out for differences that set us apart? Look for the similarities that could be the first step to building a bridge towards a better friendship or relationship.

Tom thought it would be funny to quote "Puzzle piece" to me. He completely forgot that I based some of the lyrics from that song on some stuff he told me, so he was technically quoting his own relationship.

Lek lu

Life's a funny thing and it's filled with different kinds of people. We're all trying to get by, but it's the way we get by that I think is interesting.

I have friends my age from secondary school with children. Then I go on Instagram and I see a photo of an almost-30 year old unmarried Malay girl skateboarding. Then there's me, studying, and still so very dependant on my parents.

So who's to say who is living the correct life, going at the right speed, and doing the right things? We all want different things in life, and we all have different priorities. None of us have the right to judge and point fingers at a person and say, "you're going through life wrong, you should do this instead."

We're all heading the same direction anyway, and in the end, we all want the same things. It's just, someone of us have figured it all out, some of us are clueless, and some of us are still planning. But since when has life turned out the way you planned it?

Anything can happen, and Allah knows best. As Firdouse would say, "lek luuuuu"

My course mates are funny.

“Oh Allah make my Faith Strong, keep me guided on the Path that pleases You, And oh Allah make keep me among the Righteous and raise me on the Day of Judgement with those whom have earned Your Pleasure. Aameen Thuma Aameen”

Surah Al-Ala, The Most High.

The other night before I went to bed, I was on the Quran app on my iPhone, reading through surahs when I came across surah Al-Ala. The great thing about the app is that it has translations and I read through it. Surah Al-Ala, meaning The Most High, is an amazing surah and I fell asleep with it in mind.

But when I woke up the next morning, I checked Twitter to find someone had direct messaged me. It was from a muslim guy who I follow but have never met and do not know. He had sent me an audio link of surah Al-Ala. MashaAllah, what is this!? A coincidence? Did the guy know I was reading surah Ala, last night? I asked the guy and he said he sent it randomly, and once I told him about what happened, he too was shocked. Allah truly is amazing. He is The Most High, just as surah Al-Ala describes. But I couldn't understand what it meant, was Allah up to something?

So a couple of days later, I tell my friend about this and she says, 'SubhanAllah! This means Allah has a plan.' And she tells me about a video she watched on Youtube about the translation of surah Ad-Dhuha, and how she cried all the way through.

So, I watch this video... and although the guy in the video is giving a talk to a large audience, I felt as if he was talking directly to me. Everything he said was something I could relate to, currently. He talks about depression and even though I'm not currently depressed, it doesn't mean I don't feel lost. I've been stressed with work and the short amount of time that I have to get it all done by, that I haven't been able to truly focus in my prayers. And Sh Tawfique Chowdury talks about that exactly and says that he too feels that way sometimes.

Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar. Allah knew that this would happen, and He brought me a solution before I could even admit and realise that something is wrong.

Brrrrrr(mingham)

Winter doesn't want to leave. Even as I type this, it is snowing... in March. I remember, this time last year, there was a heatwave. Crazyyy

Last Saturday, Adam participated in Birmingham Malaysian Games where he played his all-time favourite sport, squash. (But at the end of the day, he said he never ever wants to play it again. I think he might be tired of it, haha.)

Adam with his medal

Participants, volunteers, a president and kak Umi

Sarah, Adam, me, and kak Umi

Despite the cold weather, we had such a nice day out...

Hahaha

The snow made the campus look like Narnia, so of course we had a bit of a photoshoot

The flowers don't stand a chance :( 

But these daffodils are fighting!

The snow is very deep. In some parts of the UK, vehicles, sheep and people
have been buried and trapped in the snow and have to be rescued.

These photos were all I took because my phone was low on battery and ran out of memory :(

Tick Tock

In one month, I will turn 21. I'm not like everyone else, panicking about getting older and not feeling young anymore. Thinking like that is so silly and close minded. You are as young as you want to feel or act, and there are many wonderful things in our future waiting to greet us, like new friends, new opportunities, new family members, our job, marriage, umrah... the list goes on. This life is short and it's a waste of time worrying about staying in the past or present. We are moving forwards and closer towards death without realising it. It's important to appreciate what we have while we have it and accept anything that Allah throws at us.
But to be completely honest, I did get a little shocked when I saw the number "21". I think this is because so many things have happened to me during the age of 20, and I felt like I didn't really want to let go of it because being 20 means those memories are still alive. I've never had that feeling before this (because nothing interesting really happened, haha.) But, like I said, time is moving quickly and there's nothing I can do but be thankful. I've really enjoyed being 20 and I look forward to what 21 brings.

20 and 2012/2013, I will miss youuuuu

Busy bee

Ya Allah, it is already March! Why is time flying by so fast? I've been very busy recently but now everything is back to normal. We can say hello to the sun and the spring, to the flowers and the birds, and goodbye to cold, winter days.

What I've been up to:

We finally did our performance for Warwick Mnight. It was nice to be a part of it again.

One last practice before the show!

Coventry University Malaysian Society at Warwick Malaysia Night 2013 :)

With Pei Shen and Amalina and I am wearing...a kebaya.

The audience! I don't know why, but it seems no matter how big or small an audience, I will always, always be nervous for a performance ;____; How do I get rid of this? More practice? Aiyaaa~

My Dikirians were ah-mazing. I'm very proud of them and I'm happy to know them.

I just feel a bit bad for letting them down with my poor performance, but what's done is done.

A couple of days after Mnight, I went to watch SingSoc Production of Twist of Fate. 

It was hilarious! I wish I could watch it again and bring along my other friends who didn't come.

I'll definitely be attending next year's, insyaAllah.

I wrote a new song! https://soundcloud.com/sitimel/beaten-up-and-bruised

CVUMASOC ice skating day :)

Kak Siti joined too, and she was so frightened like a little mouse. 

She couldn't even concentrate on looking at the camera!

It's not every day that I dapat keluar makan with Kak Siti. I will always see pictures of her makan sini, minum sana. I'm not a Warwick student ;___; and I'm not TESL. We ate at the Noodle Bar!

Not every day I get to keluar makan with these two, either!! Thank you Kak Siti for belanja-ing us ngee

We had lovely weather the other day, so I went out for a run.

(Funny thing is, it's snowing right now. Yep, in March, haha)

Allyanne was terribly ill for a week and she could hardly move or speak. It was nice because the house was quite and clean. She just slept and laid there. Cute... like a cat.

~~~

This time of year is usually the busiest because of my assignment and since it's my final year, I don't want to fail!! I.Must.Graduate. But it's so easy to get distracted, especially since there are so many events happening. It's super hard to prioritise things but a lot of my time is wasted on Twitter, Whatsapp, Line, and Instagram. Argh, social networking, damn youuuu!! I have one project due next Wednesday, 20th March, and then I have my final everything due 26th April. No Easter holiday for me then (but I don't deserve one, anyway). I just came back from Post Mnight Social. It makes me sad because I don't think I'll ever hang out or even see those people again. But that's another event, out of the way. The next one is this coming Friday, which is TTFN's Song for Friends. I don't really know what to say about it except, yes, I'm nervous.

kthxbai

Allyanne

I was playing the guitar one day and Allyanne wanted to sing Mine by Taylor Swift. She really knows this song and I must admit, she's adorable when she tries, haha. She's growing up so much and it's happening before our eyes. Sometimes we don't even realise it because it's happening so gradually. I guess this is how our parents feel when they look at us.

Astaghfirullah

I opened up blogger because I originally wanted to post about how I feel my life is so difficult. I wanted to complain about how all these people in my life, the friends I have made, are so nice and sweet. And that it makes it so much harder for me when they will have to leave. Sometimes I feel I want to break contact with them. Stay distant so it won't hurt as much later on, or avoid talking to those who have already left.
Then I realised how ungrateful I am. My life is not at all difficult. I have been blessed and I am spoilt. I will never be grateful enough for what Allah has given me.

"Complaining is ingratitude. So when you complain, you show ingratitude to Allah."

Astaghfirullah.

People are just people and although you cannot help what you feel, is it not better to feel sad about something that is much more important? You cannot change the situations around you but you can, however, change how you react to these situations. Learn to accept the happenings around you for Allah has planned it, and no misfortune happens without His permission. It's time to concentrate on what we were put on this earth to do.

May Allah guide us and keep us on the right path, ameen.

Practicing to perform

I'm very tired of Dikir Barat practice for M Night and going to Redfern to practice our performance for ladies night. I know it's just singing but I don't know why, it makes me tired. I don't want to complain too much though, because although all this takes up most of my time, I know that I will miss it in the future. I will miss performing, practicing, making friends and hanging out. It's very fun. 

Below is a photo of the Dikirans learning their moves. I can see that they are all having fun and that makes me happy. I hope I don't let them down.

Group photo with the girls! We had a dress rehearsal yesterday. Is my outfit weird? Yes, I think so.

I may not know these ladies very well but I like them so much. They are so kind and friendly.

Another group photo with some of the dikirans. They are so sweet :) :) 

Hehe, me and Fatin playing with the Tomoto app on my iPhone.

Me and pretty Pei Shen!!

Haha, during the dress rehearsal, there were no plates left so we had to eat mee goreng in a Costa cup and use the stirring sticks as chop sticks. It reminded me of the time in Malaysia when we visited Melaka. We stayed at AFamosa resort with Haziq and for some reason, the kitchen didn't have any plates or cutlery?! So we improvised, just like camping...

Everyday, we sell food. I will sell it during practice, carry it with me everywhere. This bag has many memories; selling rice at the prayer hall; selling food at Warwick games; food delivery; M night practice, and many others...

I'm very, very tired and it's very, very late and I just finished practice with "Satu Arah". I really wanted to go home but felt too lazy to walk all the way home. But, alhamdulillah, I have a brother who can drive, so here I am, with my guitar behind my back, waiting for my ride home.