MEKAR: tak terkata..

Assalamualaikum wbt...

"And He has united their (the believers) hearts. If you had spent all that is in earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah has united them. Certainly He is All-Mighty, All-Wise."

(8:63)

MEKAR: Mesra Kembara 2010 di South Devon, England. 2-5 April 2010, sempena Easter break.

"Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of the night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding. Those who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heaven and the earth, (saying): "Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose, glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire".

(3: 190-191)

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Post ini sepatutnya saya tulis lebih awal lagi, maafkan saya. Sebelum saya terpaksa berhenti menulis seketika untuk fokus kepada exam, rasa terhutang kepada keluarga dan rakan-rakan lain jika saya tidak menulis lansung berkenaan program MEKAR yang sya hadiri baru-baru ini.

Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. All praises to Allah, the One, the Most Merciful.

Praises to Allah kerana memberi saya peluang untuk merasai nikmat-nikmatNya, sehingga kini. Ketika program ini, tak putus-putus pujian diberikan kepadaNya kerana sesungguhnya apabila kita bermusafir, terlalu banyak perkara yang kita pelajari dan kagumi. Alam ciptaanNya TERLALU indah...gambar tidak dapat menggambarkan yang sebenarnya...

Subhanallah, maha Suci Allah yang tanpa bantuan sesiapa, menciptakan alam yang tiada cacat celanya walau sedikit. Teringat surah al Mulk...

"Who has created the seven heavens one above another, you can see no fault in the creation of the Most Gracious. Then look again: Can you see any rifts? Then look again and yet again, your sight will return to you in a state of humiliation and worn out."

(67:3-4)

Allah suruh kita pandang berulang kali, untuk mencari jika ada sebarang kecacatan pada ciptaanNya, namun pandangan kita sendiri yang akan merasa penat jika kita cuba juga untuk mencari kelemahanNya, kerana sungguh, sesempurna ciptaanNya, lagi Maha Sempurna Penciptanya. Subhanallah...

Truly, I was speechless. Ketika saya pulang ke Dublin, rakan-rakan bertanya pengalaman menghadiri program MEKAR, dan saya tidak dapat memberi satu jawapan yang memuaskan hati saya untuk disampaikan kepada mereka, tentang betapa cantik, indah, kagumnya saya terhadap segala-gala yang Allah tunjukkan kepada saya. Subhanallah...

Keduanya, nikmat berukhwah.

Lihat kembali ayat pertama yang saya letak pada permulaan post ini. Kecil rasa diri melihat cinta dan kasih sayang yang dicurahkan oleh individu-individu sekeliling sepanjang program ini. Subhanallah, walau baru pertama kali bersua, terasa seperti sudah bertahun kenal! Benar kata-kata Allah, dan ikatan ini tidak lain adalah hadiah daripadaNya. (dah tak tahu nak hurai apa, sebab juga tidak terkata perasaannya)

Pengisian program: TERBAEK laa. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Fasilitator yang dibawa khas dari Malaysia, terlalu banyak perkara yang dipelajari sepanjang bersamanya..syukur pada Allah.

Seperti program-program dahulu yang saya pernah hadiri, saya cukup bersyukur kerana diberi kesempatan untuk bergaul mesra dengan kanak-kanak, kerana banyak ibrah yang saya dapat apabila bersama mereka yang masih tiada dosa ini. Teringat satu kem pada awal tahun 2009, mengenai pengalaman menarik menjadi fasilitator untuk kanak-kanak sekolah rendah:

kem bina insan

Ketika program ini, saya telah memakai badge kartun comel tertulis 'Proud to be Muslim' sehari lebih awal daripada peserta-peserta lain. Satu ketika, ketika berada di dalam caravan...(kami tidur di caravan sepanjang program ini, best!)

"Kakak Huda, where do you get that thing?",tanya salah seorang daripada mereka, sambil menunjuk kepada badge yang saya pakai di jacket.

"Can we have that too??It's beautiful", sampuk seorang lagi.

"You will get this badge tomorrow, insyaAllah. You just have to wait, ok?", balas saya.

"Alaaa...we want to have it now", balasnya, tidak sabar untuk memiliki badge tersebut.

Kemudian salah seorang daripada mereka membaca dengan kuat,

"Proud to be Muslim".

"Yes," balas saya. "Do you proud to be a Muslim?", soal saya sambil tersenyum.

"Yes!!Of course!", jawab mereka serentak.

"Why?",soal saya lagi, ingin mengetahui respond jujur mereka nanti.

"Because..err..because you can eat roti canai!Yeay!!", balas salah seorang dari mereka. Tergelak semua orang sekeliling. Mungkin adik ini associate muslim with halal food at the first place.

"Because..i know why. Because you can be good...", balas yang kedua, sambil tersenyum dan tenang memberi jawapan.

Subhanallah, sejuk hati saya mendengarnya. Beruntung sungguh mereka, dapat merasai nikmat Islam dengan sebenarnya sejak kecil, lebih-lebih lagi apabila tinggal di bumi asing, yang Muslim adalah golongan minoriti. Apabila kenang kembali, saat saya sekolah rendah dahulu, rasanya saya tidak mampu memberikan jawapan seperti mereka...

Allah terlalu baik!

Dan di bawah terdapat sedikit perkongsian gambar sepanjang program.

Ikan yg macam leper je..1st time tgk, subhanallah

Sea lion. Obesity maybe?;)

Ketika di Living Coast

Amaran kepada penguin(^^,)

Bebas berjalan di sekitar tempat

Jaga-jaga.Penguin melintas.

National Park, Dartmoor untuk Kembara Kita

Lonely..?=)

Barry Head

Blackpoolsand Beach

Boleh lihat video program MEKAR di http://lightoffaith1924.blogspot.com/

Akhir kalam, rasa syukur yang tidak terhingga pada Allah...subhanallah, alhamdulillah, allahuakbar.

Wallahualam..

Mosque Open Day: Expect the unexpected

sumber


Assalamualaikum warahmatullah..

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"Hello, assalamualaikum Huda"
"Waalaikumussalam.."

"Huda free tak petang ni? Nak ajak jadi volunteer untuk Mosque Open Day.."
"Ooo..erm..yup, insyaAllah free je. Boleh2, insyaAllah. Lepas Zohor nanti Huda datang, jumpa kat sana ye"

"Tapi apa benda ye yang kita kena buat nanti??", soalku.
"Ala macam jaga makanan camtu je..tolong2 apa yang patut"

"Ha, kalau cmtu Huda setuju, hehe..orait2"

......

There were three of us, and we introduced ourselves to the other committee as FOSIS volunteers. When we arrived, there was nothing much that we can do since everything had been prepared by other people.


"Oh, we gonna have exhibition too! Bagusnya..."
"Anyway, nak jaga makanan apa ni? Makanan kat meja tu macam bukan untuk dijaga je..."

Dan kami benar-benar tiada kerja untuk dibuat. Kami cuma berlegar-legar membaca poster-poster di situ..

Tiba-tiba seorang sister mendekati.
"Alright girls, can all of you go outside and help with the things there?"

Kami bersama a few sisters mula melangkah keluar, dan..

"But three of you have to stay here. We have to be ready when the visitors come in. Do you know what you actually have to do?"
"Err..not really", jawab kami.

"Well, basically when people come in, approach them and explain to them anything about Islam as they go along this exhibition. Starts with the 5 pillars in Islam, insyaAllah tell them about Allah, prophet, Quran, answer their question and insyaAllah if they want to see how Muslims pray and our praying area, bring them to the upstairs. Is everything clear?"
"InsyaAllah..we'll try our best"
"InsyaAllah"

......

Subhanallah. Daripada niat nak menjaga makanan, sungguh tak disangka Allah pilih kami untuk sampaikan Islam kepada non-Muslims yang hadir pada Mosque Open Day ini. Ya, agak terkejut dengan tugasan ini, tetapi rasa sungguh bertuah dipilih Allah.

Kami mulakan tugasan dengan doa Nabi Musa..

"Ya Allah lapangkanlah dada kami, permudahkanlah bagi kami urusan kami, lancarkan lisan kami, supaya mereka faham perkataan kami.."

And below are some of the questions that people asked and some sharing from what we have experienced..

Questions:

Hijab
- why do you have to cover your body and hair?
I explained to her the reason of hijab, and what is behind this obligation to Muslim woman. I told her that we are safe when we're covered and I tried to relate this issue with the social problem that occured nowadays. When she knew that the Muslims have to cover all but their face and hand to wrist, she asked this:

"Guys can still be attracted to your hand and your eyes..right?? So?"
Yup, I agreed with her. I told her about the attractions that women have, and there are some part that men more attracted to and how Islam protects women about this issue.


Kaabah
- What is inside the square thing/black box in Makkah? Can you see inside it? Or can you go inside that box?

-Is your God inside that thing? Where is your God actually?

Frankly we don't really know how to explain clearly regarding the 'black box matter'(oh Allah, forgive us for our wrong saying) but we did explain to them about the concept of God and the fact that Islam don't use statue as idols.

Allah

-You have a lot of mosques..so where is your God actually? Is that mean you have a lot of Gods?

We give them the analogy of wind, and pain where you can feel it but no one can show how is wind and pain looks like. And also the concept of Oneness of God in Islam.

Prophets
-(info from a poster-Prophet Iliyas (or Elisha)) Elisha? A woman?

We told them the fact that all prophets are men and there are some reason for God to choose men instead of women to become the Messenger of God. Men are stronger, they can hold the most challenging task to mankind, and..

"Well, I'm not really agree with that. Women are strong too,"replied her.

I just smiled and told them the story about the Arabs during pre-Islamic time where the women being oppressed, women were treated like an object. And Allah knows better. The society during that time wouldn't accept Islam if it was from a mere woman. Prophet Muhammad as the Last Messenger, came from a respected family who was responsible to take care the well of Zamzam.

Quran

-Who wrote this book? What's the book contains?

And many more...

Subhanallah...

-there was one lady who are among the first comers, revert to Islam and learnt to pray immediately as on that moment, it was the time for Asar prayer. She followed slowly, and after prayer she had further discussion with an Irish sister. Subhanallah...

-some of the visitors able to watch us to pray Asar together, brothers and sisters. Alhamdulillah, Allah gave them this chance as some of them never see it before.

-a teacher came to learn about Islam just because there is one Muslim child in her class (bagusnya..)

-some people left the mosque just because they didn't want to take off their shoes

-and yup..Allah showed us a lot of things...we became speechless when three of us sat together back after Maghrib prayer. We learnt a lot..

When we explained the fact and figures about Islam to the non-Muslims, we felt there was something missing/not being explained yet to them..so to every people that we accompanied, we conclude the explanation by try to relate all of the things back to Allah and the basic concept in Islam.

May Allah protect us from any wrongdoings and give His guidance to everyone that came to this Open Day. Thanks to Allah for choosing us to explain about Islam to them..

"Have you ever heard about Islam?"

"No."

"Have you ever know about One God, Prophet Muhammad?"

"No".

Subhanallah.

Brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to tell them about Islam, whether directly or indirectly. At least by showing a good example of Muslim, insyaAllah Allah will give His rahmah and barakah to us..aminn.

p/s: Thanks to Rima and Noran..sayang korang..may Allah loves both of you more that I do.