Sunday, June 17, 2012

Missing them

Assalamualaikum.

2 weeks of togetherness. Not during the flight  from KL to Abu Dhabi though. There was a commotion when the families tried to exchange seats in the plane. Even though we were placed a few seats apart from one another, I could still keep an eye on Dijah and my mum. Luckily, the seat arrangement from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah was better and everyone was happy.

We were quiet all along the bus trip from Jeddah to Madinah. There wasn't much traffic on the highway and only a bush or two in sight all along the journey. When the Mutawif showed us the minarets of Nabawi mosque, I couldn't help it, but shed tears of gratefulness for at last I was there. We rushed to check in Mubarak Madinah hotel and got ready for  prayer. Our hotel was only 100m away from Uthman Affan gate, so we often got back to the hotel for meals and short naps.

Kerol joined us the next day. He shouted 'Mak!' in front of the hotel amidst the crowd who had just returned from Zuhur prayer. He made fast friends with the other families. We offered him to sleep with us  since his hotel was further away. With his arrival, mum was able to haggle with the shopkeepers. He spoke fluent arabic, much to our delight!

Madinah and Mecca are the holy lands  for the muslims. Allah counts our  deeds. Fortunately, Dijah and I are open enough to discuss things and on our second day in Madinah, Dijah told me; ' Mak, if I did anything wrong please don't be mad with me.'  I hugged her and told her that I really appreciate the sacrifices that Dijah and her brothers  did for me. Kerol's 24 hour trip to Madinah from Jordan, Dijah being with us every single minute and her little brother taking care of my father. Not to mention the du'as from Halim and Aman that make our trip so much easier. My prayer is that, Allah will grant us good health, time and apportunity to visit these holy lands as a family, Ameen.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Your Mother

Just coming back from KLIA. Took a day off to  send Cik tutor to the airport. Both of us were still tired from our 2 week umrah trip. She's proved herself to be an obedient and reliable daughter and grand-daughter in Mecca and Medina. There were numerous   times when  unfavourable incident  happened , we discussed it calmly and  thankfully almighty Allah grant us so much happiness in the end.  May Allah reward her immensely.

She is in her late twenties, her grandma is 71 and I celebrated my 54th birthday yesterday. She could just ignore us and joined the high-spirited young ladies in our group who were always up to something. For example, wearing the black abayas and niqab so that they look like the Arabs and be among the first  to be permitted to enter Raudah. Malaysian and Indonesian ladies were always granted last, but we never complained because we knew it was for our own good.

We will never forget our first experience to pray in Raudah. We waited as early as 6 am, and when it was our turn  to enter Raudah, we still cannot pray in peace. We'd never give up though, and we planned our next strategy.  After fardhu prayer each day we will hug and forgive one another and both of us will hold my mum's  arms and lead her into Raudah. When she was safe on the green carpet, then only we would proceed to pray. It was indeed a blessing from Allah, when both of us can pray uninterrupted for as long as we like.

I cried my hearts out on the perfumed carpet of Raudah when I realised that this is the reward from Allah.
We always read this hadith, but in Raudah I truly know what it meant. 

Narrated Abu Huraira: A man came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man said. "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man further said, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man asked for the fourth time, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your father. "

For those out there who still  have the luxury of having their mothers around, please love them whole-heartedly without conditions. I know most mums are hard to be pleased but it is our duty to be good to them. If the reward in this world has already brought us joy, then I can't imagine what greater rewards that Allah would bestow on us in the hereafter if we are kind to our parents.