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Posted in Peace Be Upon You :)

So this is your first time here, am i right?

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

I’d better regret for something I’ve done rather than regretting for something I didn’t.

After being back and forth about making a blog so here I am, literally are writing for my own blog! Uwauuu

The main reason I blog is because I want to share my knowledge or any beneficial insights that I have to the world, effortlessly and in a more friendly way. I can write absolutely what I want (tactically, of course) and its your choice to read it or not or to come back for more or not. I mean, it works on both ways; I have my rights to share and you have your rights to receive or to decline it.

Before this, I used to post my personal reflection on my Instagram’s story but later I realized its not that practical as what I thought it would be. My intention was to benefit my followers but not all of my followers were open to read my personal reflection whether its useful for them or not so I thought of other alternative way (I haven’t receive any negative reaction,though). And tadaa, making a blog would help I guess. I hope. InsyaAllah!

My way of writing would be like this; I largely linked it to the stories of our prophets or any particular story that was mentioned in al-Quran. Hence, my blog here was also a platform for me to share the taddabur (reflection) and also some hadiths that I have read or listened to from accredited sources which mainly based online. Mind you that I’m not a tafsir nor hadith expert. I’m still learning, crawling my way to master them both. If I ever write anything wrong and you knew what was right, please correct me for the sake of other ummah, nicely. I beg your pardon for every shortcomings that I have as I’m only a human. If you can be a little less judging here, that would help too. ๐Ÿ™‚

I tried my best to write a really beautiful, enriching and accurate content for you guys, my readers. I don’t aim for million readers nor 100 subscribers but I just hope, at least, one person could get benefit from it and that would be more than enough. If he or she then shared it, then subhanAllah I hope Allah grants all your wishes and doas, aamiiin.

Alright, thats all about it, guys. May Allah put barakah (blessing) in my blog and also in your day! Barakallah.

Nur

Posted in A Thought At A Time.

I Guess I’m Back! – about Quran and What It Has to Do With Us?

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah
my favourite flower besides yellow rose >.<

Assalamualaikum and hello everybody? Am I being missed? I think nope. Lol. Have to be honest here.

Quran and Us?

I have been reached by somebody who wanted to be “connected” to Quran just like how she saw me doing it and asked how to do it so. I was like… very taken back cause actually, I was struggling too.

I don’t always have the passion to learn Quran. I mean, I was interested and love to learn it but I can’t deny the fact that there was one point, actually quite a few moments, where I just wanted to take a break and call it a day. There was time I managed to fight back, pushed myself and studied anyway in terms of memorizing some of the short surah or just simply read the tafseer but there were also times where I really “call it a day”.

The main point is, I do struggle a lot in this path but I guess you and I know that, we still need to keep moving – at least until the end of our lives. Yes, the end of our lives.

Why Is It So Necessary, Though?

MasyaAllah… good question by the way. Some of you might already had the answer crossed your heart and mind but some might not. This goes to both “some”. InsyaAllah. And… the reason might not be strong enough, but it is strong for me.

  1. The Quran itself was the mukjizat (marvel) of our prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Could you imagine, like the other prophet have mukjizat of talking to animals, one could stand in burning fire, one had his stick transformed into a snake and a lot more (well you might know better than me) but the greatest mukjizat of Nabi Muhammad s.a.w was a book. A book. What is so special about a book? Why would it be “a book” after all?
  2. This means that we were meant to read. The Companions have Quran in their heart as they immediately memorized and practiced every revelations that came from Allah to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w but we, those who live in this generation must first read the Quran, the mushaf itself. To read is then only we could understand. To understand then only we would be able to contemplate. We contemplate then only we could relate the verses to our daily life. To relate then only we can be certain that Quran is really, was sent to us the humankind.
  3. Quran is Allah’s words after all. Its like He is talking to us directly and its depend on us to actually feeling it or not, which we should be feeling it anyway. He taught us about stories of past generations, moral values, foods to be eaten and should not be eaten, about women and men, kids, the whole community as a whole, government, nature and basically everything. It is complete, unquestionable, practical, transformational and absolutely certainty. If only we learn Quran with our heart, then we would know Him for who He really is. To know then only we can really be in love. To being in love with our Creator is the love above all, the realest and the most pure. We would never be devastated or disappointed.

“He is with you wherever you are”

[57:4, Quran).

If you feel so distant from Allah, open the Quran. If you feel sad and nothing ever excites you, open the Quran. If you are stressed, annoyed and after binge-ing to Youtube videos or Netflix but the hole in your heart is still empty, open Quran. Even if you are super happy and thankful, open the Quran. Truth is, Quran is for us whenever and wherever (as long as you take an ablution and in a clean place). This message is meant for me before anyone else.

We don’t need to be at certain phase to open the Quran. We have to start somewhere and brush off what other people would say. Its their mouth anyway, let them be. Its your body anyway, your ibadah (worship) so carry on, let yourself be. At the end of the day, we realize what we should be doing but to procrastinate has always be the main problem. “Kill” the procrastination, we don’t have much time left. We need to stay awake, be realistic and stand strong on our feet – its the time to fall back to Quran and never retrogressed.

Anas ibn Malik reported :

A time of patience will come to people in which adhering to oneโ€™s religion is like grasping a hot coal.

Sunan al-Tirmidhฤซ 2260

… A Hot Coal? Isn’t It Super Hot?

Yes, it is super hot indeed. In fact, it is almost impossible to keep on grasping the hot coal. But that’s the reality that we are facing in this current age – we are really holding onto that “hot coal” when in reality we are just practicing our deen.

Its easier for people nowadays to judge over someone who came back from a religious camp for example, rihlah rather than over someone who came back from three days one night backpacking trip to London. No hate, going both to religious camp and also having vacation trip are completely fine and is important to uphold a healthy body and mind but judgement is more likely to lean against the first example than the latter one. At least, one face got frowned and the situation turned awkward. Now, chasing the “akhirah” seem so lame or boring or even outdated when the real life actually begins there. Allah has said โ€œAnd the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious). Will you not then understand?โ€ย (Quran, Al-Anโ€™aam: 32).

So you see, it appears that we are re-introduced to those days where Islam were odd and whoever embracing it will be isolated and left alone. We are re-entering that period again. We are expected to hold that hot coals in our hands, just like the Companions did before.

So Are We Going to Make it? or… We Let Go?

Fortunately, Allah and His prophet S.A.W do not leave us in a mess. The prophet S.A.W said, reported by Imam Malik r.a,

I have left you with two matters which will never lead you astray, as long as you hold to them: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of his Prophet

al-Muwaแนญแนญaโ€™ 1661

Having said all of that, it is clear that holding on Quran, alongside of the sunnah of Rasulullah S.A.W is vital for us to survive in this generation full of deceitful wiles and nasty temptations. It is very important for us to understand Quran with our heart and act according to its teachings so that we would be of those who “grasp the hot coals” successfully as that action is more worth it than to hold all pearls and golds in the world but in the end being burned by the Hellfire, together with the hot coals we refused to grasp in the dunya.

May all of us being given the strength, guidance and power to stay istiqomah on the straight path till the end by Allah. May we become of those who are always in seeking knowledge and never get tired of Quran. Aamiiin.

Nur

Posted in A Thought At A Time., Anxiety Talks

Let Go and Let God.

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

Assamualaikum warahmatullah lovelies โค

First of all, I am really sorry for this super duper late entry. I really tried my best to update as soon as I could but, you know, Allah’s plan is better and insyaAllah today will be that day – where I end this entry that I’ve been trying to finish it and rewrite it over for the 6th time.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

I’ve came to a good number of people who expressed their concern to me about their future. They were really anxious and incredibly worried about where they’re going and what will the future hold for them. They were also tied up with things and responsibilities and not to mention, expectations where they desperately wanted to achieve to please the people around them. All of these remind me of something – of who I was way back then, when I know nothing about this one beautiful hadith.

On the authority of Abdullah bin Masud, who said : the messenger of Allah, and he is the truthful, the believed narrated to us: โ€œVerily the creation of each one of you is brought together in his motherโ€™s belly for forty days in the form of seed, then he is a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the breath of life into him and who is commanded about four matters: to write down his means of livelihood, his life span, his actions, and whether happy or unhappy. By Allah, other than Whom there is no god, verily one of you behaves like the people of Paradise until there is but an armโ€™s length between him and it, and that which has been written over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Hell-fire and thus he enters it; and one of you behaves like the people of Hell-fire until there is but an armโ€™s length between him and it, and that which has been written over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Paradise and thus he enters it.โ€

aaaa I suppose you don’t really get it at the first catch, am I right? – Its okay, I am here. I’ll try my best to tell you what I got from this beautiful hadith that I hold onto wherever I go, wherever I’ve could been, for it put a serenity in my heart and warmth to the rest of my body.

This hadith tells us that as soon as the angels blew life into a human (even when we were not even a newborn), Allah the Almighty has aligned us His beautiful decree for our firstly, sustenance meaning our rezqi, secondly which is death, thirdly is our good deeds and lastly each of our happiness and calamity. This means that every single details of our life starting from the months even before we were born, the current moment which is now until the very end of our life has been outlined by Allah, attentively, lovingly. Be it our wealth today and tomorrow, our dark days and bliss every now and then and the death of people we’re missing now, its all has been decided by Allah SWT. Its all has been decided.

I don’t know about you but the first thing that came to my mind when I learned about this hadith was, “Ya Allah… why would I worry so much things in my life all this time?”.

Like… why?

Its all has been decided by Him, The Almighty the One Who Decides, and then there I was worrying sickly for whats to come as if He has never think of me and left me unconcerned when all my life, every inch of my life be it the small reason I was smiling back when I was a baby until now I’m typing this entry for you guys have been decided by Him. Every single part of my life has been carved by Him, wonderfully. And no doubt of yours too.

“If He has planned wonderfully just like you said, then why do bad things still happen to me”

First of all, thank you for saying that. I am more than glad to tell you why.

If He had left you gleefully with easiness in life, are you confident enough that you would remember Him at least once a day? The answer is prolly no. Just see how we were when He granted us our duaa and we would still be procastinating our prayer to Him, when in return He is All-Sufficient. He does not need us to serve Him at all, it is us who need to have Him in our heart so that we would be truly alive in this playground.

Every hardships that happen to us are His way of calling us to Him. Be grateful when we were reminded of Him for He is Al-Hayy and al-Qayyum, the Ever-Living One and the The Sustainer when all this world will perish and nothing will last. So, back to the square one – always head back to Him cause He is the One who Remained.

And all in all, I think its the time for us to be less worry about the future. One thing that I realized after implementing this hadith in my life, I became so free. So free that for every thing that happen in my life, I would be so overjoyed thinking that it was planned by my Creator. Like, I would be chasing over classes and yes I’d tripped over something while walking or nearly missed my bus but you know, Allah the Best of Planners has it all figured out for me so why would I worry? Why would I disappoint?

Okay the truth was I still be crying a pile in any other day but deep down after all those storms ended, I could patted myself on the back and said, “Its okay. Allah has it all figured out. I don’t need to burden myself with things I can’t handle. He will handle it for me. I just need to work my best, and have tawakkul in Him”.

When I said “have tawakkul”. Please let go. Let go and LET GOD.

Please, I’m saying this again – I love you, let go and LET GOD, for real.

I know how hard you’ve been keeping things to yourself and how perplexed your mind are now but in the name of Allah, let go all of them of which you were so stressful about. Let He take care of it and believe that He will.

I’ll tell you one story. The story of the mother of Nabi Musa a.s.

His mother was worried sick when she knew about the news of the Pharaoh wanted to kill all of the newborn baby boy of Israel. She was greatly concerned of her beloved baby boy so as she was back and forth about the fate of her and her baby, suddenly a crazy thought of passing her baby down to the river came into her mind. The shocking thing was she unknowingly did the exact thing she was thinking and just as she saw her baby flowing in the river, she wanted to wail her loudest, regretting her decision but, but my dear girls, Allah had held the weak heart of hers and made it firmed again and as a result, Nabi Musa a.s. was the person we now know he was – a powerful man who first were abashed for his inability to speak coherently, had innocently killed a man by punching him strongly and lastly a chosen prophet of Allah SWT to guide his men.

You see, Prophet Musa a.s.’s mother knew nothing about the future of her great son where she once were so worried about but having that deepest tawakkul in Allah’s help and mercy, she went on with her life and at last being reunited with Prophet Musa a.s again. She even got to breastfeed him after he refused to get breastfed by anyone, like anyone at all. And who made it all happen? – Allah The Almighty.

Love, have trust in Him okay? Its not easy as we have been too frequent of letting things weight on our shoulder when the reality is, without the help of Allah nothing would work for us. We have been told that “with effort, you will definitely gain your success” when such thing never existed in Islam. Yes, I repeat my words,

It never existed in Islam. It is toxic and I hope you throw it away from your heart and mind.

But say whuttt isn’t “usaha tangga kejayaan?”

Have you ever wonder how a student who studied 24/7 but didn’t get straight A and then another student who studied last minute but then got his straight A? Back then I didn’t get to interpret this scenario well. I thought it was Allah testing our iman (faith) if we didn’t get our desired grades after working so hard for it. At last after I knew about the hadith above then only everything makes sense.

Our effort is actually the way of Allah wanting to reward us. We put our effort, He grants us His rewards. His rewards is His rahmah (blessings) on us. His rahmah is our ticket to the Jannah. If we work for something and didn’t get to achieved it, fret not my friend. It wasn’t because you didn’t do your best or your best was not enough. Its Allah granting your wish in another way around, in ways you thought have never could possibly been, in ways you thought impossible. Sit down and count your blessings now, girl.

Have you ever do any good deeds and not being contented by it? For instance, have you ever made a kid smile and giggles and then you feel like cutting yourself? – Of course no. Adversely, you would be soooooo happy seeing that kid happy and that is exactly what Allah wants you to feel – happy, content with a flowering heart after doing good. Plus, He’ll grant you his rewards. Allah has only wants goodness for you. Only goodness of goodness.

Another hadith or a verse from Quran (I am terribly sorry for being forgetful about this matter) that keeps on having my heart blooming flowers was, okay hold up I need a moment to calm my excited heart.

The sky and the mountains were very angry if we didn’t do our job of becoming an ‘abid and a khalifah in this world for Allah. Truthfully, the sky wanted to collapse itself onto us while the mountains wanted to crash on us seeing we living as we pleased without having clear purpose of our existence. They just wanted to make us perish from this world out of their hatred on us. However my dear girlfriends, Allah then said to them, ” You do not know how it feels to create a creation. You don’t know that feeling”. This sentence Allah said melted my heart, cause all this while I thought I am not worthy enough to be loved by Him. I have wronged Him so much and maybe disappoints Him a lot but, despite of all that I was and who I may become, He has always purely loving me, endlessly and entirely. He has always chose me, and also YOU, His dearly creation as His centre of view. He has never ever wanted to put us in any harm, nor that He wanted to punish us. And that is why don’t be discouraged in difficult situations. He has never wanted to make things hard for you.

Additionally, when Allah created the Heaven, He made a house for every human, meaning whether he is a Muslim or not, Allah has made a house for him in the Jannahtul Firdaus – the highest level of Jannah. This shows how wadud (loving) He is to us, and how high his hope for us to get into His Jannah and meet Him finally. He just wanted to have us with Him when all of this ended.

I’m not going to write any further. I’ll leave you guys with these two gems to ponder on, and to cry on with me. lol. I am terribly sorry for my shortcomings for not being able to recall the exact origin of where I’ve read these gems from. I hope Allah would reveal it to you Himself, in the most beautiful way, in a way each of us would return back to Him as the way we should’ve been. Till then, take care and bye.

Nur

Posted in A Thought At A Time.

Endurance.

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

My mom is my role model. She seems like any other housewives but she is not. I couldn’t keep on track how many times she was tested by Allah s.w.t in her life, overthrown for many times and rise again and again. If anyone ask me who is my role model? – My answer would definitely be my own mother.

One quality in life that kept me enchanted by every single time, which I personally think my mom has it, is endurance. Endurance means the ability to endure any unpleasant, or difficult process or situation without giving away. I lost my mind for every time I come by a story of people, being put under misfortune repeatedly but managed to rise once again without complaining and relish their hour of triumph. For me, they are special kind of people and this does not only weighty in my eyes, but also for al- Basir (The All Seeing), and al-Hakam (The One Who Judge) – Allah s.w.t.

I totally could relate to some people who have came upon so many failures in life and eventually gave up. I understand their pain, and the pressure they’ve carried around on their shoulder and that feeling of ‘hopelessness’. Be that as it may, I still think we have choice; to give in and give up, or to sustain and survive?

I suggest you guys the latter one, although its the harder one. As a matter of fact, the hardest. But you know the drill, no pain no gain and no pain is ever wasted in the eyes of Allah s.w.t.

In Surah Maryam, there is one part after Maryam a.s has giving birth to her baby (Isa a.s), she was instructed by Allah to shake a date palm tree in order to eat the dates. She was starving, and also tired that she has no ounce of energy left in her after the deliver. However, upon hearing the summon she mindlessly shook the tree with all her might and Subhanallah, the dates coming off and she get to eat. Logically, her energy in shaking the hard-wooden tree would not be enough to make the fruits coming off from the tree but here, she managed to do it. How and why?

Its because of the Mercy from Allah s.w.t who saw her effort, in using all her energy to shake the tree (which approximately just 1%) and for that, Allah helped her with the other 99%. Here, we could see none of the effort and energy she has drained were gone wasted. Really, all help come from Allah s.w.t and only He is Alone who is able to do anything, and everything.

At the end of the day, we can endure more than we think we can

You might think that you’ve suffered enough now and tired of trying and trying but ended up in the midst of nowhere but, trust me when I say Allah sees you. He sees your effort, be it ridiculously small or enormously big, He sees and surely He will reward you for every.single.effort/pain/cry/moan/tears.you’ve.ever.felt in order to survive the ordeals He has put you into from time to time.

Do not ever feel bad for taking small steps in doing something, especially when it comes to wanting to rise again after hitting the rock bottom cause nothing is meaningless when you decided to take a step ahead in improving your life. Do not listen to people trying to belittle your efforts cause they know nothing what you’ve been through; only you and God knows so don’t mind them. And even if it takes you 1000 falls to be able to stand up straight again, believe in that 1001st of you accomplishing it. Hold onto that, firmly, without even a glimpse of doubts for Allah’s help and mercy.

And most importantly, please do not beat yourself up when things didn’t go as you planned cause you and I planned, but Allah planned too and He is the Best of Planners. When you’re fighting with your struggles know that being defeated is normal and that is a chance for you to stand up again, endure for countless times, and taste the sweet victory at the end of the trials. Yes, its easy being said rather than being done but it is not impossible. This is exactly why I value so much people who have endurance quality in them cause I know its not easy to endure the struggles and come out strong again after all those distress and anguish. These people are rare and for that, a blessing in my eyes.

I have read somewhere saying“Endurance is patience concentrated” and I could not be more agreed. In order to persevere all the hardships and tribulations being thrown on your face, patience must go hand in hand. Its not easy and that is why the reward is immensely great. Just like the story of Maryam a.s I have just mentioned before, its because of her patience that she could stand it when Allah appointed for her to get the food by herself prior to just delivering her baby.

Just believe that if things go wrong again after this time, know that if you choose to have patience over it and being grateful, later on the Judgement Day if your deeds alone could not help you to enter Jannah, Allah will put forth your rewards for being patient in the past and you are able to enter His paradise.

May you be given the gargantuan strength to overcome for whats to come. Aamiiin ya Rabb. I wish you the best for the best comes to those who wait.

Nur

Posted in A Thought At A Time.

I Love You 3000

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

I’ve wrote today’s topic in my ‘common notebook’ quite long ago. I think maybe around last three months? Yea. Now that I’ve felt so much better than before (in terms of my health), I would want to give this topic a go. Letsszz :))

I watched Tarbiah Sentap’s short-film called “Titisan Suci” not long before. It has three series which for me easy to be understood as the flow was interesting, partly because the main topic was ‘real’ and speak right to my soul. Besides, each characters in this film truly shined. Overall it was a good short-film where I think we, the young generation should look up to. It was not that cringy or… you know… ‘sentap’ but it was fine. I mean I get it some people actually despised Tarbiah Sentap’s books cause they think the writers were rude or super harsh but whenever I asked them “do you read the book until the last page?” – the answer was a no which is the real problem here.

Ustaz Adnin Roslan (the founder of Tarbiah Sentap) is not someone rude or harsh in conveying his divine message or dakwah (Islamic summons) like most of some type of people in this whole wide world claimed him to be. He was being bold in bringing justice for Islam’s do and don’ts which for majority of people like us would feel like being attacked (although he was spitting a fact tbh) but you see, if you complete his book you would notice that he’s not like who you thought he was. He did sound like ‘scolding’ you at the first note, but at the end, he prevails us upon the mercy of Allah’s forgiveness. He pleads us to turn back to Him and not to continue being heedless in this fana (annihilation) world. He was trying his best to keep us awake and focus on the real world – the Day of Resurrection.

Okay that was a little bit out of the track. Well I’m not sorry.

From the short-film, there is one scene that I couldn’t get it out of my mind and it keep on playing on its own. I forgot which minute it was but that scene truly left an impact in my life. During that scene, these two men were talking to each other (consider one is A and the other one is B). A said to B something like this, “You see, Allah has 100% love of Him, and He has sent 1% of His love to the Earth and with that 1% was shared between 700 thousands of creatures in this world. Just you imagine… how much do we have left with just that 1% being shared by thousand of creatures?”

hm.. even if three months have passed, I’m still blown away by that lines.

And now, can you imagine? Just how many percent was left to us? And still with that 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000009% of love running in our veins is more than enough to make one to kill one another for love, to commit suicide in the name of love, to sell her own dignity for love, to give up everything and anything just for love, to feeling hopeless just because his/her relationship fall flat and such. Minus the negative ones – we had mothers who fight for her life just to give birth for her baby, fathers who got swollen eyes by doing multiple jobs to bring comfort for his children, a friend who is willing to assist his/her sick friend etc. We taught we have love enough already but we were wrong – its the up above who had it more than anyone else in this world and the entire universe. Its Allah.

Then, if human’s love was that big, how is Allah’s?

When a bad thing befalls on us, we tend to complain and find ourselves in total despair, thinking there’s no such thing as hope and give up. We tend to question why would Allah send us a test that we don’t think we can ever face but one thing we should bear in mind is, is He really punishing us like this or He is just building us in the long run?

How many times have you felt like it was your last time but believe it or not, you were still here breathing safe and sound? How many times you thought you had it enough and you just about to end everything or treat everyone badly cause your day was equally bad but later you found out someone spared you a cake or someone just made you laughed out loud? How many times you sat there alone, and reminiscing back why you didn’t make it years back but now thanks to the failures you’ve encountered, you knew better and are now progressing to be a better person? Ever think of why Allah sent you those hardships? – because Him Al-Wadud, the Loving One loves you very much from your head to toe that He needs to test you a little bit, just a little bit that you tasted all the bitter parts of life so that He would substitute it with sweet-honey-like parts later, if only you being grateful.

I want to share with you the story of Nabi Yusuf a.s which started by a plot of him being ditched into a well by his own brothers when he was young and then after being discovered, he was sold to become a servant of a rich mayor in the city. He was then falsely accused for doing zina (fornication) with the mayor’s wife and being jailed. What a tough life he had. I mean, since he was young he was isolated by his brothers and hardships befall on him one by one, continuously. If we were in Nabi Yusuf a.s’s shoes, I don’t think we could handle those trials patiently, exactly, like he did. Nabi Yusuf a.s just went with it and trust Allah the Almighty. At last, after he succeeded in interpreting the king’s dream correctly (with Allah’s will), he was released from the prison and the best thing was he got to reunite with his beloved father, Nabi Yaakub a.s after the longest time. (time to shed tears)

At the beginning of Nabi Yusuf a.s’s story, it seems like his life was so devastating and depressing that we questioned why would Allah put him in that kind of situation? But you see, because of Nabi Yusuf a.s’s suffering alone, he has saved lots of lives after he managed to interpret the dream of the king. He explained that the nation would undergo a famine as in future, there was not enough food stocks so the king commanded all of his people to prepare for the upcoming catastrophe. Because of Nabi Yusuf a.s, thousands of children were saved and new generation were born. A suffering of one child equals to thousand lives being saved and the generation continues until now. SubhanAllah … now don’t you think Allah has think of our fate every now and then?

MasyaAllah.

In this story I noticed that its not that Allah didn’t love his prophet Yusuf a.s that he was tested as such. Its because He do and at the end, he gave Yusuf a.s a victory that no one would ever expect. He had been taking good care of Yusuf a.s since the first place. Just imagine, if he was not getting hatred by his other brothers and didn’t being left in the well, would he being found and getting sold to the mayor? And if he didn’t meet the mayor, would he being accused for committing zina and being jailed? Would he then get to interpret dreams? Would he even be able to realize he can actually interpret them? Would he had saved the kids life? Would we still be here?

This got me reminded of a saying,

If it wasn’t for the struggle you wouldn’t have the strength. God is always building you even when it seems like He’s breaking you.

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I just want to say that maybe, just maybe you are in a hard times right now but, I hope you won’t give up just yet and just keep on striving like you always do. Its okay to be slow, to take a break but do not stop. Allah’s mercy and love has no ends and just like Yusuf a.s, the victory of yours will rise soon. The key is to have patience and hope for Allah’s help. If He was the possessor of 100% love, know that His way of loving us is more than a mother scolding her child for playing with dirt, which means He might appear cruel to you and He’s breaking you apart but He is mending you instead. Nevertheless, you’ll never know for He is al-Latif (The Subtle One) that often protecting us in silent, in the most subtle way you could have never known.

I just hope we hang in there juuuuuuuust a little bit and we keep on believing Him although we didn’t see Him. And since now we are currently in the ten days of Zulhijjah, let us regularly do Tasbih, Tahmid, and Takbir as our way of saying “I Love You 3000” to our Lord, Allah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.

Nur

#Duaa

O Allah, I ask you for a steadfast faith, a fearful heart, good deeds, sincere trust [in You], continuous success in every trial and continuous gratitude towards Your favors.

Posted in A Thought At A Time.

The Word That Makes Us A Human

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

Its only been few days since the first time I started blogging but now the pressure is increasing and increasing, and honestly my head hurts. I began to find words to make my entry more interesting and leave a powerful impact but instead, it just sounded weird and I didn’t enjoy writing any single bit. I was frustrated actually, now. But, whatever, I guess I’m still going to type and lets see where it goes.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

I’m sure many of you guys have heard the story of Nabi Adam a.s getting expelled from the paradise for eating a forbidden fruit before, right? I heard about this story few times before but only now I’m getting the storyline clearer and masyaAllah I need to tell you that the story was more than just Adam a.s ate a fruit and disobeyed Allah. The hikmah (conclusion) is beyond that. Honestly, by this time, I’m just in awed by the amazing plot Allah has planned it to be. Indeed, He is al-Makir, the One who Plots.

I would like to begin this story with the part Adam a.s noticed the zaqqum fruit and went near to the tree. He heard the iblis saying that if he wanted to stay in the Heaven forever, he must eat the fruit from the tree. Firstly, bear in mind of these two things; first Adam a.s knew since the beginning that he was going to be sent down to the Earth, meaning that Heaven will only be his first home and then he should be descent down to the Earth just like how Allah has fated for him. Second, the zaqqum tree that I just mentioned was a tree that Allah s.w.t had reminded Adam a.s to not go near to, not to mention of even eating the fruit from the tree.

However, the longer Adam a.s stayed there, wondering about the tree, with Hawa, they began to fall to syaitan’s deceitful words. They ended up eating the fruit from the tree and right after that, without a waste of even a second, the clothes they were wearing slid away from their body and they became naked. They immediately covered their own private parts and was sent down to the Earth separately.

When Nabi Adam a.s was first created, Allah s.w.t commanded all the angels to perform a sujood (prostate) before Adam a.s. They all questioned Allah and justified that human would only disobey Him. Human would also do a lot of crimes and bring destruction to the Earth. Allah then said ” I know which of you does not know of” and that sentence alone was enough to make all the angels realized that they have crossed the line. They immediately did a tasbih to glorify Allah and made a sujood before Adam a.s. On the other hand, iblis refused to do so. He gave his own logical reasons, arrogantly, to not make a sujood before Adam a.s. He gave his excuse by saying he was made of fire and why would he perform a sujood before something made by dirt? It sounds logical, isn’t it? – But not for the al -Hakim, the Perfectly Wise. Since then, he was cursed by Allah and he shamelessly blamed Allah for his own misdemeanor. Iblis laknatullah then swore to mislead the humankind and make sure to deceive as many human as he could to join him later in the hellfire – which something he nearly succeed to do to Nabi Adam a.s.

On this note, there are few lessons that we can learn from our Father, Nabi Adam a.s. When he knew Allah wanted to send him down from the majestic Heaven, he felt extremely remorseful of his own mistake. He realized that he really has made Allah disappointed of him when Allah who was the Giver of his life, yet he disobeyed Him. Besides, he also didn’t even argue with Allah’s decree on him, at all. He didn’t blame Allah nor was he giving an excuse by saying “You know I’m going to eat the fruit from that tree, you know I’m going to slip away, you planned it from the start to ditch me away to the Earth and now its my fault? Its your fault!”, which exactly the despicable thing iblis laknatullah did before. Instead, Adam a.s just accepted Allah’s decision as it was and even begged for His forgiveness afterwards. He begged non-stop. He repented greatly.

You see, its ironic to think that when Nabi Adam a.s who really wanted to be a permanent resident in the heaven at the first place, did something that he thought could help him achieve his dream (he was deceived by syaitan) and yet, was sent down to the Earth for the rest of his life until he was brought back to Allah. Don’t you think it sounds familiar?

I mean, these days we’ve seen so many people get tricked by the syaitan’s whisper by committing corruption when they knew well that it was forbidden in Islam, period. However, they chose to still do it anyway to get what they want which no matter how grand or worth it the benefits may seem, the truth was, the ugly yet explicit truth was, their action was never been blessed by Allah s.w.t. And at the same time, the blessing of Allah is what we are hoping for as its the master key to enter the Jannah (paradise). So, what to do if we have slipped?

Just do exactly like Nabi Adam a.s did – turned down our ego, repent, say Astaghfirullah, and be determined to not repeat the same mistake. Allah knows from the start that we are bound to make sins but he taught us to always come back to Him whenever we went overboard. Do you think Allah didn’t know that Nabi Adam a.s would eat the fruit from that tree? He knew, but that was the beautiful reason behind it. He sent Adam a.s to the Earth not to punish him, but as a lesson for us, the future human generation to always repent to Allah whenever we messed up, whenever we broke His rules. And the best thing about it was Allah will always, always, always accept our repentance if we do it out of our full sincerity and determination of not repeating the past sins. SubhanAllah, isn’t Allah is so great? Indeed, He is.

I remember of Ustaz Nouman Ali Khan has said once in one of his lecture regarding Suratul Hadid (he explained the middle verses) that since the early stage of human-hood until the end of it, we kept on asking for Allah’s forgiveness as we humans, the creation of Allah that even He knows, we will always got deceived by syaitan and as a result, we sinned. Ever since Nabi Adam a.s, the first human ever created, sinned and begged for Allah’s forgiveness until the days on Mahsyar (the place we will all gather together on the Day of Resurrection, meaning the end stage of human-hood), all of us will asked Allah to complete the light coming out from our body and to forgive us (the light will be our torchlight on that day cause it was pitch-blacked and one person has three source of light coming out from them; the heart and both of our palms) . Yet again, “to forgive us”. See, Allah knows that we are in need of His forgiveness ever since we were first born, died, alive again and then on our way to His Heaven. Hence, why do we keep on delaying our taubah nasuha, my dear friends? ๐Ÿ˜ฆ

I prayed that Allah s.w.t softens our heart and make us His servant who always come back to Him to ask for His forgiveness whenever we slipped away. May Allah helped us to utter the words that make us a human – to say Astaghfirullah whenever we sins from the bottom of our heart. Indeed, He is the Most Forgiving and may Him forgive all of our faults and lead us to the straight path. May we be chosen to enter His Jannah, our very first home. Aamiin ya Rabb.

Nur

Posted in A Thought At A Time.

Underrated Love Story : Sayidatina Fatimah r.a with Sayidina Ali r.a

Posted on by jarienaristonsyah

Bismillah.

This topic is really dear to me as I have always been a fan of love story happening during the days of prophet-hood especially when it involves the love of srikandi (heroines) of Islam. To me, it was far perfect than any love novels/dramas/movies that seem perfect on the exterior, but covered layer by layer with false hope and lies which result to high expectation of love a.ka. total disappointment in a relationship. yea.

Long before I knew about ikhtilat (connection) in Islam, I thought love is all about being in love with one another and that you must be in a relationship first in regard of knowing each other better before you move to the next big step – a marriage. I must say I have only 0.1% understanding about love in Islam. I didn’t know much but I thought I have it all figured out after spending lots of time completing those K-dramas over the years. And, without me knowing I have too wanted to be in love in rush. Talking about the disappointment I just mentioned before… lol

You see, love is such a sacred and pure thing in the world. It is so precious and secretive that different people have different wonderful ideas of it. But one thing that I know about love is that, it is always about sacrifice. And, Sayidatina Fatimah r.a made it all clear.

Fatimah r.a has always loved this man ever since they were both kids. They grew up together and she has seen that man flourished to be a very powerful and inspiring young man. That man has participated in lots of jihad war together with her own father, Rasulullah s.a.w and the other sahabah. He has all of what it takes to be somewhat we call now, our future zauj (lol) and that man was Sayidina Ali r.a.

Before I continue their beautiful love story, I wanted to explain the distinction of qualities between these two beautiful souls. Sayidina Ali r.a was someone who was quite tough and very masculine. He was also very matured compared to his young age as he has always been interacting with people who were older than him. Thus, he was wise, straightforward and might sound a bit rough when speaking to him. He was gallant too. Allah s.w.t didn’t bestow him a sword of his own without any reason, you know. But anyway, he was very brave, kind and respectful. Rasulullah s.a.w acknowledged that Sayidina Ali r.a was the most knowledgeable, the most prudent and the first child to embrace Islam.

In contrast, Sayidatina Fatimah r.a was very motherly, soft-hearted and gentle. She has been taking care of our prophet Muhammad s.a.w with full responsibility and devotion ever since she was young. Do you remember the touching story of Sayidatina Fatimah r.a with Rasulullah s.a.w when she was only a kid? There was one time Rasulullah s.a.w was doing a sajdah at the Kaabah and upon seeing that, Uqbah bin Abi Muit splashed camel’s wastes on Rasulullah s.a.w’s noble body. This news reached Fatimah r.a and she hastily left her house and went for Rasulullah s.a.w. When she saw what had happened to her own father, she was really upset and mad. She glared, sharply, to the arrogant musyrik people there who laughed at Rasulullah’s condition. She cleaned Rasulullah s.a.w from the mess and courageously yelled at them for why do they did that nasty thing to her father. She has no fear for them at all. It was also narrated that her nickname was Ummu Abiha, which means ‘the mother of her father’. This was because she have been diligently taking care of our prophet Muhammad s.a.w, her loving father all her life until the passing of Rasulullah s.a.w.

Little did they know Allah has fated them to be each other’s spouse in the highest Heaven and they really had jodoh with each other in this dunya.

As we know, Sayidina Ali r.a has not many savings or property compared with the other companions. He has devoted his life to Islam ever since he was young and being occupied with series of dakwah and also with quite number of jihad wars he engaged in, he has almost nothing for saving. At the same time, two of Rasulullah s.a.w’s great companions, Sayidina Abu Bakar r.a and Sayidina Umar al-Khattab r.a who has more possessions compared to Sayidina Ali r.a, they also have asked Rasulullah s.a.w for a marriage with his daughter, Fatima r.h. However, unexpectedly Rasulullah s.a.w declined the offer. At last, it was destined that Sayidina Ali r.a who was pretty much like a poor man at hand but so rich in heart got to get married with Sayidatina Fatimah r.a, Rasulullah s.a.w’s most beloved woman in history.

The dowry of Fatimah r.a was incredibly simple. There was a story behind her dowry. When Sayidina Ali r.a was asked by Rasulullah s.a.w whether he had anything to give to Fatimah r.a, he said he only got these three things; a sword, an armor, and a horse. Rasulullah s.a.w suggested to Ali to sell his armor and with that he got 480 dirhams to put it before Rasulullah s.a.w. That was the dowry he gave to Fatimah r.a and it was even less than a poor might pay for their wives. (i think this part is so sweet i tell ya)

Alhamdulillah, with that they were married. Tabarakallah. Just like that, they tied the knot. The wedding was simple but blessed with immense of barakah from Allah s.w.t to the newly-wed couple.

So… you see, Fatimah r.a has liked or these days we called having ‘crush’ to Ali r.a since they were young but let us contemplate carefully how she carried her feeling all the way around before her marriage. First and foremost, she didn’t let her emotion control her. She chose to divert her focus on Allah s.w.t instead. She continued to worship Allah, strengthen her ties with Him and tried to assist our prophet s.a.w the best she could. Next, she didn’t peek on Ali r.a but instead, she lowered down her gaze and always preserved her modesty victoriously. She sacrificed, in the name of love. The question was to whom?

First, to Allah s.w.t by not putting her emotion and nafs first but rather to always put Allah as number one in her heart. That was not easy. That action needs a sacrifice. Second, to her own father Rasulullah s.a.w. Fatimah r.a could easily open up to Rasulullah s.a.w about her feelings towards Ali r.a and asked him s.a.w about it but she chose to not to. She sacrificed her feeling for Ali r.a by giving her full attention in helping to provide Rasulullah s.a.w instead. She combated her own yearning for something even greater, the love of both Rasulullah s.a.w and her Creator, Allah s.w.t.

I hope all of us, girs, can emulate Sayidatina Fatimah r.a’s modesty trait that kept her from any slander or deceit for as long as she lived. I hope if we ever fall in love, we would call Allah s.w.t first rather than calling that some random man’s number for help to calm our unstable emotions. I hope whenever we have realized our focus has shifted to a man we barely knew, we would immediately raised our hands to ask Allah for His guidance and strength to combat all these dreadful devil’s whisper and nafs. I hope whenever we missed for someone whom we shouldn’t, we are wise enough to realize this is all a test, a test which will make us stronger believer.

I pray that may we always put Allah and Rasulullah s.a.w first in our hearts and that we never turn our way back from our Creator, Al-Khaaliq and our beloved prophet s.a.w just like Sayidatina Fatimah r.a did. Aamiin ya Rabb.

Before I end this entry, I just could not leave without telling you guys about this one ruminating story of Sayidatina Fatimah r.a’s level of hayaa (modesty/shyness). Her hayaa was out of this world. I still remember about her asking Asmaa binti Umays to bury her dead body during the night as a reason to forbid any eyes to witness the shape of her body. Can you imagine that? I mean, you were already passed away hence there were no more sins to be accounted yet our Fatimah r.a still asserted Asmaa to bury her body at night to prevent people from noticing her dead body because of her extreme shyness. SubhanAllah. May we achieve that level of hayaa too. Aamiiin.

Nur