Sometimes in life we always said this to ourselves 'I should have done it long time ago' but the fact is we did not. We too sometimes wonder why things didn't happen to us earlier, only now? Why? I guess it's all about fate.
Let me share a few of my experiences in life which is a reminder not to take things for granted, thus we remember to thank Allah, everytime we are showered with his blessings.
I moved to my 'home' in 1991 and less that 2 minutes away is a mosque which formerly was just a surau. Every year during Ramadham I would see the people in the neighbourhood, walk past my house to go to the mosque for terawikh prayers. Then, not even my first love could persuade me to go. Everyday during Ramadhan and year in year out that was how it goes and I was never among them.
There were many excuses, some genuine some not. My youngest baby was born in 1991 so for many years the baby was the excuse but not forgetting I had a live in helper, so I could go if I wanted to but after being at work during the day, I thought I just wanted to be home with the baby in the evenings. The other was that women were not expexted to go to the mosque for prayers, remember in my earlier blog I mentioned that women in our family did not go to the mosque, doing my prayers at home was just as good I thought. However when you do the prayers on your own you lose the rewards of jamaah prayers and most of all you lose consistency, at least for me. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I don't. It went for years, until if I remembered, it was my son who gave me the encouragement to go. It was not until the year 2000 I stepped in the mosque for terawikh prayers and after I did the 2 rakaat tahyatul masjid prayer, all I did was cried my heart out for I had managed to do something I have not done since. It felt such a great achievement for me, finally I won and Syaitan lost. Noone will understand, I was afraid and worried as I thought I needed to know some etiquette to be followed by being in the mosque. That night God Al'Mighty gave me the Hidayah to start anew and I thank Him for that as I felt He still loved me. After that night the rest is history. That Ramadhan too I make doa to spend my next Ramadhan in Mekkah and Alhamdulillah I spent the last 10 days of the next Ramadhan in Mekah, the year was 2001. I will at another time write about the situation leading to that first trip to Mekkah. So, though the mosque was there all this while, I wasn't benefitting from it. Astaghafirullah.
Another instance, in 1986 a very good friend of mine gave me a book with doas after I went through my first traumatic experience, when I lost my first love to another being. I used the book after that but rarely. Then, the message was to ask God Al'Mighty for help but my heart was so blind even though I could see so clearly. Years later when my first love left me for the second time, I began to seriously use the book of doas to ask Allah for forgiveness and help. The year was 2001 and it was 15 years later that I made full use of the book and I still have it till today. Never underestimate the little things in life that comes your way. It may be God given to you but it's up to you to make full use of them. Why didn't I use the book earlier, the answer if I can compute is that God did not give me the Hidayah before, maybe due to the fact that I did not try hard enough to be the righteous person I should.
To my children and grandchildren, make the mosque activities as a cukture from young thus you will not have to experience what I did, wasting all those years. Always question why things or people was sent your way by Allah. Don't let them pass you by without any effort to know how they can influence your existence. Find out the rewards that comes with each ibadah cause the lack of knowledge on the rewards makes you less likely to rush and reap those rewards from Allah. The rewards of terawikh, qiamulail, Quran reading etc.. is Taqwa.
To end my Ramadhan blogging, since Eid will be day after tomorrow, this is the answer to the question what is the nikmat/rewards in fasting? The nikmat is for us to become righteous (Taqwa) in the eyes of Allah. As Allah's Firman:
To All Happy Eid Mubarak.
Let me share a few of my experiences in life which is a reminder not to take things for granted, thus we remember to thank Allah, everytime we are showered with his blessings.
I moved to my 'home' in 1991 and less that 2 minutes away is a mosque which formerly was just a surau. Every year during Ramadham I would see the people in the neighbourhood, walk past my house to go to the mosque for terawikh prayers. Then, not even my first love could persuade me to go. Everyday during Ramadhan and year in year out that was how it goes and I was never among them.
There were many excuses, some genuine some not. My youngest baby was born in 1991 so for many years the baby was the excuse but not forgetting I had a live in helper, so I could go if I wanted to but after being at work during the day, I thought I just wanted to be home with the baby in the evenings. The other was that women were not expexted to go to the mosque for prayers, remember in my earlier blog I mentioned that women in our family did not go to the mosque, doing my prayers at home was just as good I thought. However when you do the prayers on your own you lose the rewards of jamaah prayers and most of all you lose consistency, at least for me. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I don't. It went for years, until if I remembered, it was my son who gave me the encouragement to go. It was not until the year 2000 I stepped in the mosque for terawikh prayers and after I did the 2 rakaat tahyatul masjid prayer, all I did was cried my heart out for I had managed to do something I have not done since. It felt such a great achievement for me, finally I won and Syaitan lost. Noone will understand, I was afraid and worried as I thought I needed to know some etiquette to be followed by being in the mosque. That night God Al'Mighty gave me the Hidayah to start anew and I thank Him for that as I felt He still loved me. After that night the rest is history. That Ramadhan too I make doa to spend my next Ramadhan in Mekkah and Alhamdulillah I spent the last 10 days of the next Ramadhan in Mekah, the year was 2001. I will at another time write about the situation leading to that first trip to Mekkah. So, though the mosque was there all this while, I wasn't benefitting from it. Astaghafirullah.
Another instance, in 1986 a very good friend of mine gave me a book with doas after I went through my first traumatic experience, when I lost my first love to another being. I used the book after that but rarely. Then, the message was to ask God Al'Mighty for help but my heart was so blind even though I could see so clearly. Years later when my first love left me for the second time, I began to seriously use the book of doas to ask Allah for forgiveness and help. The year was 2001 and it was 15 years later that I made full use of the book and I still have it till today. Never underestimate the little things in life that comes your way. It may be God given to you but it's up to you to make full use of them. Why didn't I use the book earlier, the answer if I can compute is that God did not give me the Hidayah before, maybe due to the fact that I did not try hard enough to be the righteous person I should.
To my children and grandchildren, make the mosque activities as a cukture from young thus you will not have to experience what I did, wasting all those years. Always question why things or people was sent your way by Allah. Don't let them pass you by without any effort to know how they can influence your existence. Find out the rewards that comes with each ibadah cause the lack of knowledge on the rewards makes you less likely to rush and reap those rewards from Allah. The rewards of terawikh, qiamulail, Quran reading etc.. is Taqwa.
To end my Ramadhan blogging, since Eid will be day after tomorrow, this is the answer to the question what is the nikmat/rewards in fasting? The nikmat is for us to become righteous (Taqwa) in the eyes of Allah. As Allah's Firman:
Al'Baqarah 2:183
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -To All Happy Eid Mubarak.
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