About Giving and Taking

This is my first entry for the new year. My last one was few days before Eid last year and after that I was not updating my blog. I could give million reasons for not updating but suffice to say the interest in me has for some reason wane down a lot, although, I still keep my moleskine updated as much as possible.

Last year was a mixed-bag for me. Career wise, I was promoted to the management position and alhamdullilah, was confirmed on time despite the ups and downs of the office ambiance and politics. At personal level, I lost my only sister due to cancer on 21 December. She was suffering for several months and her final days was so agonizing even for us to watch. Berat mata memandang berat lagi bahu memikul. But alhamdullilah, her passing was peaceful and judging from her face just before she was laid to rest, I can only say that it was a releive for her as her face was so calm, fair and peaceful. I hope Allah has bestowed upon her all blessings and put her together with those who Allah reda in alam barzah and may Allah also give strength to those she leaves behind, her husband and her children..

The beauty of being a Muslim is that we will be reunited with our love ones in akhirat but it is for us to decide and strive that the meeting place will be in jannah..this belief gives us strength to continue living with syariat and remind us of how fragile life is and how we should not be forgetting that we come from Allah and to Him that we will come back...

My other half, Dayah, Zudin and me went to Bali also in December during the school holidays. It was so unfortunate for Pijah as she as not able to join us due to her SPM exam although the ticket was already purchased. Ape nak buat, tak de rezeki. Insha'allah, we will find another occasion where we can go as a whole family or perhaps when Fatin is back home this year...

My azam for this year is to be better than last year..but, above all, I really like to perform the Haj together with my other half if Allah permits it...as of now, we were told that our turn will be in 2011 but we are trying to appeal for this year's pilgrimage to Mecca..May Allah allow for for that to happen...amin ya rabbil alamin.

On Sadness and Happiness During Eid Mubarak

Today is the 28th Ramadan and insha'allah in two or three days, we will celebrate Eid Fitri of 1430H. At the office, many of my staff are already on leaves and perhaps few of them are already on thier ways to thier hometowns for the celebration. Those still working are practically just waiting to go home and essentially festive mood has overwhelmed the desire to do anything. We were told that for today we can go back one hour early and I am definitely sure this is a welcome news to everyone.

I did not quite fulfill my target to have a perfect Tarawih jemaah this year as I already missed three days. But overall, I am quite please and thankful to Allah as I did not really suffer prolong gout or headache that limit my ability to go to the mosque. This year also is quite a strange year for me as I did not get a single Buka Puasa invitation from any company except from my own. Perhaps, I am already out of the radar or could be people just become fed-up to invite me again because I always prefer breaking fast with my family and shunt the invitations. Whatever the reason is, I actually feel releived as I do not have to brace the evening traffic jam to go to some of this functions and more often than not, miss more tarawih prayer .

On one of the Ramadan Kuliah Subuh I attended, the Ustaz mentioned that for some reason we the Malays like to associate Eidfitr with the feeling of sadness and despair. This can be observed in many ways such as they way we melodize our Takbir Raya and also the way we sing the Raya songs ! Full of sadness, full of hopelessness :-(

Granted that some Raya songs are rhytmic in nature but majority of our Raya songs I would say, are very sentimental and touching. The true spirit of Eidfitri should be a joyous one and that is why Allah ban fasting on the first day of Eid so that all muslims can celebrate the joyous occasion.

As a muslim, , we have been guaranteed by Allah to be free from the feeling of fear and sadness as qouted in the following ayat:


What I understand is that if we do all the things asked by Allah and avoid all the things that are forbidden, we will be among those that will be at peace all the time ! Hence..why do we need to be sad especially during Eid ?