All Hearts are dead except those with knowledge... All those with knowledge are asleep except those who perform good actions... All those who perform good actions are deceived except those with sincerity... And all those with sincerity are in a constant state of anxiety... [Imam Shafi'i]

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Death & Dying

Salam pplz,

After a whole month of practically all my family members at hospital i really needed a spiritual boost and Allah has been kind enough to give it to me today. I must mention beforehand, i'm not like most people who praise Allah (SWT) in sad moments and forget Him in happy moments. I'm complete opposite to that, well, not completely. I find it easier to turn to Allah when i'm happy, i can even cry a lot then because i'm so happy with the blessings I have, but when i'm facing a calamity, i get so lost and confused, i 4get what i'm doing, i become very self-absorbed...

So last week was very bad 4 me, even though it was IAW at uni, i didnt wanna spend any time there. All i wanned to do is wander, to where - i dont know, when - i dont know, how - i dont know, i felt so lost. I just needed some time out, or i thought. But after today I realise what i was lacking. I was lacking spiritual awakening. Subhanallah, I becamse so ignorant of Allah (SWT) and I know thats the case when I start doing things i usually wouldnt do, little things that build up to big things. Anyway, today insha Allah (and alhamdulillah) i overcame that, mainly due to the Daar Aisha 1 day course on Death and Dying. To those who didnt go, let me tell you, u missed one of the most thought-provoking talks ever!

I took notes of the session and some of the things we learnt were so amazing! If anyone wants to read it lemme no and i'll type it up and email u insha Allah. It's well worth a read, i went teary through most of the talk. Ami mon theke dua kori for the sister who ran the course that Allah (SWT) grants her and her family peace in this world and peace in the next insha Allah. Ameen.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Lunch with Nahid

Salams all,

I wrote this blog msg ages ago during the break but stupid comp did stupid things so i cudnt do anything right. Alh all is working well now, so here's my blog from during the break!

Today was probably the most exciting day of my utterly boring holidays, actually one of the 2 most exciting days during my break. The other day (apart from 2day that was exciting) was the YMSA Picnic which alhamdulillah I had a great time at, but I guess there was a lot of responsibility on me as well. So the fun aspect of it was slightly less than today but I hope everyone else had fun insha Allah (it looked like every1 else was having fun!). Insha Allah I hope we can continue this as an annual thing for YMSA every year.

What happened today was that our dear friend Nahid wanted to treat us all to lunch on the occasion of her getting a job! So we all headed to Rockdale today to have Nando’s for lunch. After a half an hour walk we finally found the place! It took us probably more than another half an hour just to choose what to have for lunch! Several batches of people came and left but we remained as the most annoying, and probably the noisiest (due to Nahid I assure you, lol) bunch there. So finally we ordered and guess what? I never knew Nando’s was so spicy!!! Shobar nak mukh theke pani tani ber hoye obostha ki je holo! And our Flynn, regardless of having the non-spiciest lemon and herb sauce “for those who love cool” (I think that’s what the menu said about it) was having a hard time with the spices, lol. Then can you imagine Rabz and Nahid’s situation who ordered the Extra-hot sauce with their food!!! I neutralized the jhaal with probably a few litres of tomato sauce and then I was fine. But the rest of the girls were still panting for breath!

After that ordeal we went to the nearby lake (I don’t think u cud call it a beach, or cud u? correct me if I’m wrong - it may be an artificial beach :S) in Brighton-le-Sands. After the 30 min walk to find Nando’s we were akready in Brighton-le-sands by that time. Since the lake/sea/something??? was right across the road we all went for a visit. And since it was isolated and we were the only people there we started
to go slightly crazy!!! Flynn was doing cartwheels (NO I will NOT attach any of
those fotos, lol, if u wanna c, ask Flynn and get it off her personally), Emu and Nahid were dancing and replicating scenes from “Titanic” (arms stretched, in front of the ocean… u no, the “jack, I’m flying” scene). HP was running around like a kid who had been given freedom after being grounded for years! It was raining too, which may have been romantic if we all didnt get cold!

Well, I won’t blabber on any more, here’s some fotos as a reward for reading all this
junk… Enjoy!!!

We were #8 in the order queue, cute chicken, eh?

Nahid posing excitedly at the beach, lake, river???

Flynn's artwork on the sand

Rainbow (purrrtttyyy)

View of the place from higher up

Entrance to our world

The rest of the beach was clear sand with no foot prints but u can tell the bit that we chose as our hangout, see all the footprints!