Hoping stars.

I am not perfect, thus it has never occurred to me to make myself perfect. It is utterly impossible.

But, I want to be better. Better in the sense, that I realize that I feel closer to my Almighty Creator, I feel stronger in walking His course, I feel humble in living this life.

I am in dire need of that, plus, my fourth semester seems to be challenging enough after I have been thrust with responsibilities that I have been eluding previously.

I thought to give me a self a break of all the worldly enjoyment will be great - will be more self fulfilling, if I can put it that way. Who knows? I never try it out.

*****

Lessons from Kg Kemburongoh

As a persian proverb goes, it needs a dark sky to see the stars. And literally, that is true enough because as soon as I arrived at Kampung Kemborongoh which is located far up Kundasang to meet a muslim family who is residing there, I looked up at the sky. To my astonishment, the sky was scattered with brilliant stars glimmering all the night.

But this is not a resort, nor a star observatory. Back down to the earth was a poor Dusun village thriving by its own. To enter the village are few kilometers (maybe 7 to 8 km) of unpaved road - and, I say, it is not easy. Let alone that, the village itself has nothing to offer which make the remote area become somehow isolated - far from the reaching of globalization.

In spite of all that, it needs a dark sky to see the stars. And that is exactly what had struck me there. When we visited this one Dusun family, they greeted us well. There were Grandparents, the uncle, and a girl named Syuhada. Her singled-mother mom and some of the siblings were off  to Keningau (if I am not mistaken) and while her sister, Biah was going out for additional class in nearby school. These, readers... are the stars. Hoping stars which needs to be cultured and nurtured with appropriate education.

How, praise to Allah, in such a family, success is quite contagious. Two of their sisters are in some Sekolah Agama in Sabah and insyaAllah, their younger sisters may follow suit.

It is not easy to live as a native Sabahan who residing in separately remote village - Moreover if you are muslim. Churches are held up for each village, no matter how small the village is and there is always missionary group who will try to shake the unnurtured believers - by an act of material endowment.

That is why in Sabah there are many cases of people, basically as collective as the village, convert out from Islam apparently because of the clenching poverty and also - sadly - because there is no one steadfast enough (or even sometimes there is no one!) to educate them about Islam.

I can still recall the beautiful voice of the kids, bellowed to Abang Nadir, "Abang, nanti cuti datang balik ya!"

Taking for Granted

Now, I realized of how much things I have taken for granted. And of how I live in a world of projection from my  lack of concern towards my surrounding. Stop blaming who and who, the question is what will, you  and I - we - could do to preserve our Ummah?

As a muslim, it is highly recommendable to care, to help and to mingle with the poor and the orphans. There are so many verses, amongst them are in Chapter 2, al -Baqarah verse no. 83;

(be good) to orphans and to the very poor; and speak good words to people.

In Al-ma'un, verses 1 to 7:

Have you seen him who denies the religion? He is the one who harshly rebuffs and does not urge the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who do prayer and forgetful of their prayers, those who show off and deny help to each other. 

This is as important as any other virtues for a muslim. By God's will, this act may lower our ego, and eliminate all the spiritual diseases that might nest in our heart. Na3udzubillah.

Dear my friend, for this upcoming Ramadhan which is a month of multiplying rewards from the Almighty - Let us lend a helping hand to alleviate this burden.

Yes, we all view Islam to be upheld and to be prevailed in this universe. Note that that is a long term goal and it needs a lot of effort to realize it. Just stream the sirah nubuwwah and we will see that our Prophet did not start big, he started little but effective. Cater the individuals need than systematically build Islam; gradually time - with perseverance and patience - will show us the result, by Allah's will. We lose the dependency on our Creator and our directed dependency have been distorted by many worldly factors - a phenomenon our prophet called "Wahn" - the love towards Dunia and afraid of death (read: death should be remembered, not be afraid)

It is not just in Sabah, but anywhere around the globe, we shall help and utimately love them.

Muslims gain less nowadays because they are afraid to give more.

note: please surf here if you want to know more about situation in Sabah, and to contribute. Jazakallah.