The world is a book, and I have read some of the pages...

Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Recently i made a journey of a-thousand mile (literally), alhamdulillaah.

I was blessed to be able to meet many Muslims and be part of their lives as they took me into their blessed and happy homes, i was awed by the beautiful creations of Allaah the AlMighty everywhere i went, learnt the struggles faced by my brothers and sisters in upholding their faith, was humbled by many incidences that brought me down to my knees, witnessed that kindness and love exist across faith, race, color and status, experienced what brotherhood in islam really meant, corrected many perspectives and misconceptions i have in/of my own life, appreciated the manifestation of creativity in arts and science that Allaah has given to His creations, observed the many pleasant and harsh reality of life, really understood and put into practice what trusting Allaah really meant and many thousands of other lessons of life, which, inshaAllaah, i will share in my writing in the future.

The truth of the matter is this, i started the trip with one small notebook and came back with tens of them! :)) Alhamdulillah.

Gilbert K. Chesterton was right when he said,

The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.

That trip taught me many life lessons. From the things i saw to the ones I experienced myself. I remembered there was this one particular moment of difficulty i faced during the journey, i had to remind myself of the story of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) when he was thrown into the fire, the angel Jibreel (peace be upon him) asked him, 'Do you need anything?'

Prophet Ibrahim answered, 'Nothing from you. Allah knows my condition (status).'


With this lesson from my Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), at that trying moment i faced, i closed my eyes, whispered to myself softly, and prayed to Allaah ' Ya Rabb, I am Your servant, and i am pleading to You for help, You know what i need, You know my conditions, so Ya Allaah, please help me, please help me, please help me.'

And you know what, of course He Did! SubhanAllaah. He had sent me help via another kind-hearted and wonderful Muslim who assisted me that day. Allaahu Akbar, Allaah Kareem, Allaah AlWadood, the Most Loving, The One Who Knows....

Indeed, my eyes became teary remembering this verse...

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say: Travel in the land and see how (Allaah) originated the creation, and then Allaah will bring forth the creation of the Hereafter (i.e. resurrection after death). Verily, Allaah is Able to do all things”
[al-‘Ankaboot 29:20]


Yes, all so true, so true, so true. I saw all that. SubhanAllaah...

At every moment during my trip, I have prayed to Allaah to fulfill the wishes and prayers of all individuals who had asked me to pray for them, and also to reward abundantly with His unlimited blessings upon every soul that has helped me in any way, assisted me, cared for me, held my hands, put food on my plate, put roof over my head, provided mattress for my tired physical, gave me blanket to warm me up, directed me to the right medication when i had fever and bad cold, started conversation with me-the stranger, gave me their warm smiles, soothed me with kind words, peaced me with their loving hugs, showed me directions when i lost my way, pointed me to the halaqahs, brought me into their gatherings, drove me to places, took the trouble to fetch me from my stations, made me giggle and happy etc- either directly or indirectly during this journey of mine.

That was a traveler's prayer to the kind souls she met during her journey. May Allaah bless you all my brothers and sisters, May Allaah bless us all, Ameen...

Throughout the journey, I must admit that i am a little bit like Edward Weston. Why? Because i acted exactly like what he once said...

“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”



So, my dearest friends and readers, here, i would like to share with you just some from the thousands of photographs i took. They are not necessary the best ones as some of them cant be shown to public *wink*, but, these photos nevertheless should give you some general ideas of what i saw and captured through my lenses. For me, i only want to capture a second of the part of the reality...

May we all able to learn and benefit from them one way or another...



Ramadhan Mubarak, salaam and peace to all...


Copyright © Sis Zabrina 2007

Sis Zabrina, Author
Life is an Open Secret - 18 Inspirational Stories from Ordinary life experiences
~Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories~

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Comments

Anonymous said…
As Salaamu Alykum,
Well sis, the people you met were not the only kind souls, you are kind yourself."I Just Have A Feeling You Are."
I was looking at the slide show and "Chicken Soup for the Muslim Soul?"
I'm glad you had a good trip, and may there be many more.
Salaam, Young Reader.
Anonymous said…
salam sis..
u write well..
but i would like to point one thing.
an egyptian fren of mine who speaks arabic of course, once asked me why i never say masya Allah when i see beautiful things. and i said, in malaysia.. we misunderstand. we say masya allah when things are bad. and subhanallah when things are good. and she said.. but its sunnah to say masha Allah (not subhanallah) when u see amazing things. Masha allah is hard to translate succinctly into English. The literal meaning is "what God has willed". The sense in which it's used is more like "what a wonderful thing God has willed".
u can check with ur arab visitors.. of course subhanallah is also praise to god but saying masha allah is the right thing. its just like saying subhanallah instead of alhamdulillah. theyre both praises to god, but one is more appropriate than the other.
thanks :)
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Dearest Young Reader *hugs*

You are too sweet sweety...(double dose of sweetness!), Alhamdulillaah, Allaah has blessed me with so much kind-hearted people around me. And i did had a wonderful trip. And inshaAllaah, i look forward to more in the near future too!;)

Love and Hugs
Sis Zabrina
Anonymous said…
salam sis, its me again.
i was just reading ur other posts and noticed that u do say masha allah for good things. so u know this info already.. hehe sorry abt that. i am trying to tune myself actually.u see, before, i hv always used it for not-so-good-things like 'masha allah, i forgot to bring my keys' haha.. wrong usage there. anyways.. ramadan kareem..and take care..
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Dear Anonymous,

There are always confusion on these two words- not only in Malaysia but literally, all over the world. You are right that these two kalimahs of praises: MashaAllaah and SubhanAllaah are of both praises- but MashaAllaah is more used when we are praising something that shows the magnificent of Allaah's work, while SubhanAllaah is a general praise for Allaah. These are the definition i am used to, and learn from my many gurus, alhamdulillaah. I could be wrong, If anyone out there is able to assist, please do so! We are here to learn and correct each other for the sake of gaining Allaah's Love, Mercy and Forgiveness... Thanks anonymous, you brought up an excellent point to discuss! :))

Salaam
Sis Zabrina
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Dear Anonymous, its ok. Mistakes happen :). I love the saying of Caliph 'Umar who once said...

"The person I like most is the one who points out my defects".

Ain't he a good example to follow? Sometimes it bruises our ego to be corrected, but, if we truly understand that when someone correct us, they usually do it because they love us (Prophet (SAW) had always ask us to think good of people, right?) and want us to be in the right path or have the right knowledge, we will be smiling to that person instead of the other way around!

Take care and Ramadhan Mubarak to you too! :) Salaam

Sis Zabrina
Anonymous said…
What a lovely post :) Your journey was truly blessed, Alhamdulillah!

Eid Mubarak, dear Sister, to you and your family :) May the day be filled with love and joy!

Ya Haqq!
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Dear brother Irving, Eid Mubarak to you and your family too! Ta qabba lal laa hu min naa wa minkum.

Alhamdulillaah, the journey was a fantastic experience for me, there were uncountable light-bulb moments for me. I would definitely do it all over again when i have the chance!

May your day be filled with His Blessings too!

Salaam
Sis Zabrina
Anonymous said…
FYI, I am currently helping some friends to raise donation for a friend in London afflicted by cancer. Perhaps, you would like to turn a glance or spread the words around. Here is the link and many thanks.

http://nonesuchideas.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/hulurkan/
Sis Zabrina said…
Bismillaah

As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,

Brother Hasnan, JazakAllaah for the information. I have contacted the person personally and alhamdulillaah, have proceeded from there. Thanks for sharing. May Allaah gives his wife and children strength to face this very trying episode of their lives, Ameen...

Salaam,
Sis Zabrina