Islamophobia and our duty as Muslims

Have you ever ready to defend your faith and religion of Islam? Have you thought about what you might say and explain if you were confronted and provoked by someone saying that Islam is a violent religion? Have you prepared yourself, have you enough knowledge of Islam?

To be frank, I am ready to say that:

"No, Islam is not a violent religion. Its word itself means peace, and Islam taught us to be kind and loving to all."

That's all. Period. Sadly, I could not provide proof nor examples from Quran and hadith, because they are not in my head. I have to flip through the Quran translation, read thoroughly the hadith, the history of Islam, understand them. Try to embed them in my mind by reading them everyday. 

In fact, that's what every Muslim should do. I know it's my duty, I've known it long ago..but still I take being born a Muslim for granted. 

Reading stories and watching videos regarding reverts amazed me. All of them experienced indescribable-wonderful feeling after they utter the syahadah. From this particular video, at the end part of it, this girl asked us who are born Muslims, not to take it for granted. It stabbed my heart because her saying is so hurtful-true. With she, being in a surrounding where everything seemed difficult for her to be, act and live as a Muslim, stay strong in sticking to the truth with an ultimate believe in Allah, then why me, the one who is born in Islam feel it's difficult to even defend my religion by means of explanation and evidence? 31 years as a Muslim and yet still no deep knowledge of my own religion??? It's heartbreaking-sad... :(

Being in this world where Islamophobia is rising, makes me wonder how to explain to the fellow non-muslim that Islam is not about hate and violence. The latest incident occurred in Norway, where the killer's act was driven by his hate towards Islam and Muslim immigrants shocked the world. In my mind, the least we should do is to show good example and manners of how a Muslim should act and behave towards others without leaving our obligations to Allah. Try hard to be tolerant, gentle, kind to everyone and at the same time apply the Islamic rules in all our aspect of life. May Allah grant us with kind and wisdom, insyaAllah.

Let's pray for a better situation for Islam and Muslims. Let's do what we can do to protect our religion from slander and negative views. Let's show good example taken from our beloved Rasulullah SAW in everyday life. 

Oh Allah, do not let us get strayed away from you. 

Oh Allah, make me and all of us better Muslim..aminn!!

Finland part 2

Finland is one of the Scandinavian countries which also consists of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. All of these countries except Norway are also in Schengen area (European Union countries).  Its neighbors are Russia and Sweden, and also Estonia separated by the Baltic Sea.

The first impression when we first arrive to Finland was it's full of trees! Of course, with 338 thousand km2 and not more than 6 million people, most of the lands here are still virgin. Most of the population concentrated at the south Finland around Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa region.

My first experience with Finnish people was quite..well..unpleasant I would say. My husband and I were trying to ask 2 old ladies on which bus to take to go to back to Helsinki. We were somewhere in Vantaa trying to find a car dealer shop, but to no avail. They seemed scared when they saw my face and it became worse when I spoke English. They went further away and left me with no answers. I was a bit sad, maybe because I wear hijab? But later on I realized the real, main reason why they tried to avoid me was because they knew little English (of course younger generation speak English well).

But, generally Finnish people put importance on privacy.  They do not easily chat with strangers at bus stop. When stepping on the bus, they will prefer sitting on an empty two-seaters, and if it happened that they have to seat beside someone, you won't hear any words uttered unless they have known each other. Silence is also important in Finnish society, everyone even babies are calm in the bus.

Very rare that you receive smiles from strangers when you walk pass them. During the first moments I had tried to smile at everyone I passed by, but most of the time they just ignored me and looked down to their shoes. I was a little bit upset and I thought they acted like that because I am a Muslim.

However, as time passes by, I begin to understand the Finnish people more. From my point of view and from my readings, they are quite reserved people (like me hehe). Furthermore, They do not do small talk. They just say it straight to the point, with no such introductory questions like "How are you?", " How's your kids?" bla..bla.. They won't share their private life with friends easily, and if they tend to ask you questions regarding your personal life (family, etc), they'll do it carefully and will not ask you more questions regarding the same matters.

Consequently, I feel it's hard for me to find Finnish friends. Being me as I am (I am also quite reserved and find it hard to have friends easily with me to start it first), left me being like a Finnish people in the laboratory:) I hardly talk and with only 3 women in the lab, I feel like a machine.. heheh..nevertheless I am used to it now :|

But, luckily our kids have made the networking with the Finnish neighborhood much better. Starting from the daycare, and now Zahirah is in her preschool while Sakinah is in a different group, help us to having a nice relationship with Finnish people and its culture. The fastest way is through their friends. Our daughters' first best friends were Ona, Peppi and Jazmin. Ona and Peppi are Finnish and they are sisters, while Jazmin is originally from Hungary. Then come Olivia, Martha, Vivi, Tuuli, Venla, Olli, Emma and the list goes on.. When the parents' meeting was held, we chatted and got to know each other.
From swimming classes, they knew Sarah and Hilmi, which happened to be Tuuli's sister.

Our kids' relationship with their friends grow stronger and they get invited to their friends' birthday parties, or simply invited to play at their friends' house via the parents. Now in my phone contact list, there are numbers of my Finnish friends created by the friendship of our kids. When I send my daughters to school and daycare every morning, I will pass them by and say hello, smiling at each other and chat some words. It feels good not to be aliens in the neighborhood:) And I feel quite relieve knowing my kids are happy at school and daycare, with many friends around and they do not feel isolated. Of course they feel very happy with their Malaysian friends, but most of the time they spend is at school/daycare.

Yes, Finnish people are quite reserved, but once you know them they can be friendly and helpful. There's still lot to dig about Finnish culture, but probably I have to switch the area of my research if I tend to know more :)

Finland part 1

I have long planned to write about Finland, in some different ways which will be memorable to us in the future. Of course it's beneficial to observe and replicate what is good for us. Finland is a modern country, and most of the population is the member of Evangelical Lutheran Church. Muslim and other religion comprised a little more than 1%. (The percentage- I took it from Wikipedia).

Finland, or Suomi ( in Finnish language) is the place where Nokia was born. I bet most of you guys didn't know it until now right? :) I knew it when we (my husband and I) decided to come to Finland to further our study. Why Finland? Well that's a different story :)

With its extreme winter (with -20 degree at worst), you can imagine how we at first cope with that. Compared to Malaysia with its warm weather all the year, we were very much 'frozen'. In addition to that cold, icy and crispy winter, the sunlight was rarely seen especially in December and January, which added more to our miserable depression. At that very time, lights were switched on regardless of day and night in our little house.

During those dark and frozen days, I realized that it's not wise to keep on being a depressed person. As a Muslim, the important medicine to all this depression-related things is to be nearer to Allah. I knew it is His plan for us with that kind of weather, to seek for His guidance and be closer to Him, begging for His forgiveness and praying that He will grand us peace of mind and happiness. Every time I complained, I realized it's not the way I should react. But being a human being, I easily forgot that and kept on moaning. Ya Allah, please forgive me...:(

Despite its chilly winter, and the need to wear all that thick, buggy clothes, my kids do love winter. They could play with the snow and skate on the ice. We have been here for 3 years, and my kids had started complaining of the warm weather when it was spring, summer and autumn on our second year here! (I have to keep reminding my kids not to complain too much about the weather or everything else and we have to be thankful to Allah, always). Probably they heard all the sighs from me :( Bad examples!!

Its 4 seasons and the extreme difference (sometime) between the winter and the summer make the life here somehow interesting. When it was very cold, you wish the summer is coming soon, and when you were sweating in a warm summer, you wish the cold wind will pass you by. Hehe..people won't easily get satisfied, but every second we have to remember to be thankful to Allah for all the wonderful things He has granted us, alhamdulillah:)

The winter will slowly (hmm not that slow, it usually lasts about 5 months) go and then the spring comes.  During this 3 years, I could say that spring time in Finland does not mean that we would see flowers blooming here and there. It's the rising in temperature and the melting of the snow. But for me, the soft touch of the wind to your skin and the mild sun shine is just perfect. I love the smell of the air in the spring, but not when it comes to the spreading of the pollen! :) (I will sneeze non-stop till I get my pill). And again, all praise to Allah for the wonderful moment of spring every year :)

I would say summer is the most favourite season for Finnish people. They could enjoy the sun very much and they would take at least one month vacation, likely to their summer cottage. For us, who always miss Malaysia and its weather, summer time is a season which will remind us of the environment there. And it's fairly easy to cope, no snow boot (but sometime you need rain boot because it could be rainy), no jacket etc. We could wear the same attire which we use in Malaysia. And my kids will shout it with joy: " Yeayyy..boleh pakai selipar bila nak keluar!!" Hehehe for you it may sound overreacting, but we could only wear slippers during this short (3 months or less) summer season:) And the kids will ask us to go and buy nice sandals for them. Zahirah would want the princess-girly type, while Sakinah would choose cool-easy-simple style of sandals. :) Alhamdulillah for the joyful summer!

Now, in this month or in the early of next month, the official autumn is coming. All the leaves will turn yellow and slowly they will fall off from the tree. Finnish people called it 'ruska'. To those who like photography, this period of time is perfect for them. The colourful and magnificent scene will make your heart blooming, and sensational feeling of admiration to the creator (Allah SWT) will creep in yourself. It will be beautiful in its own way. I am not a photography-crazy woman, but probably I could take a chance this year to capture the beautiful scene, insyaAllah:)

Being in Finland and experiencing these colourful seasons is among the beautiful things which we have gone through. Of course there's hurdles here and there when we experienced all these seasons previously, but I want to be a more positive person, especially regarding the changing seasons here in Finland. I know it's from Allah, and I should not look it from negative sides :)

Let's enjoy and be thankful to Allah for everything! :)

Life balancing

People always talk about how to balanced between work and family life. But I feel it's always easy said than done. You dream of to be a better student, employee, mother, wife, cook..and the list goes on..

How on earth you could be a better mother when you came back from work (or university), feeling so damn tired, then you have to cook, with your kids busy asking this and that and at the same time your head is aching, your body tells you to lie down and your mind is full of problems from work?

They expect you to smile when you seriously feel stressed out?? They say you have to spend time in the gym to relax your body, hence your stress level would go down. But hey, you don't have free time to go to the gym!

Excuses! (Say them? Say you?)

I think, from a Muslim point of view, the root of the balance issue is a balance between what we do which benefit us in this world and the hereafter.  Yes. There's no other way for us. That's the only way. It's final.

When we understand the important point about life balancing, I bet we won't complain on the small things anymore. Should there be complains, it has to be on (not all, but some which come to my mind):

1) How easy we delayed our prayer
2) We have not read a single page of Quran in one day
3) We don't make a do'a for our parents
4) We forget to donate some of our rezki to others in need
5) ...

And the list also goes on...

Oh Allah, give me strength to fulfill all the duty as a Muslim in a better way.

Hanya kepada Engkau aku sembah, dan hanya kepada Engkau aku meminta pertolongan.

Sakinah

Back from holiday, Sakinah always refuses to go to the daycare. Tons of reasons she gives, and the worst part which I could not resist is the part when she starts crying. She is cuter when she is smiling, like in the picture below..:)

She said she wants to go to the other group (the bigger one). She is bored staying in the group she is in right now. The bigger group is at different building, where there is more space for her to play and run. The group she is in now situated at smaller building, and it's such a small house where she could not make herself invisible from the nurses there.

I went to talk to the head of the daycare, Maisa. She seems so supportive and fully understands what Sakinah is feeling. I even broke down in front of her! She's so positive, and looks like she has an excellent understanding towards children behavior. Well, that's why she's working there :)

Parents want the best for their children, and so do I. It breaks my heart when Sakinah cried this morning, hugging my legs and telling me not to leave her there. I could not go to the university, feeling sad and worried about Sakinah. Previously, going to the daycare is among the best and happiest thing for her. Now, the feeling is gone. Deep down in my heart, I truly understand what she's feeling. She wants a different environment, same age friends to be around her, she wants to be more independent.

My Sakinah is a big girl now, not my little baby anymore!

Apabila kita gembira..

Terfikirkah kita, apabila kita bergembira, bergelak ketawa, merasakan kebahagiaan, masih ramai di luar sana yang sedang bergelut dengan kepayahan, kesedihan, ketakutan? Masih tegakah kita untuk walaupun tersenyum apabila memikirkan kesengsaraan mereka?

Sejak aku belasan tahun, sudah aku dengar akan kekalutan di bumi Palestine..namun pada masa itu, dan sehingga aku berumur 30 tahun, berita yang aku dengar hanya mampu membuatkan aku termenung untuk beberapa jam..kemudian perasaan sayu itu hilang digantikan dengan pelbagai perkara yang dekat denganku..rutin harian yang kadangkala banyak dipenuhi dengan perkara-perkara yang memang didambakan oleh nafsu manusia-berbelanja, makan, bersiar-siar..

Aku menangis apabila melihat satu video di bumi Palestine, di mana seorang bapa dengan sedih memegang mayat 3 orang anak-anaknya yang menjadi mangsa kekejaman Israel..tak terkata! Sakitnya jiwa melihatnya..namun lebih sakit jiwa bapa tersebut..Tersayat hati melihatnya, lebih perit rasanya perasaan orang yang mengalaminya..

Manusia makin gila dan rakus..! Apakah yang boleh kita lakukan untuk mereka? Ya Allah, Kau bantulah mereka!! Kau kuatkanlah mereka!! Ya Allah, hanya kepadaMu kami memohon, Kau berikanlah kejayaan kepada mereka! Sesungguhnya Engkau tuhan yang Maha Pengasih, Maha Penyayang..

Semangat yang hilang..

Dalam masa 2 bulan ini, sebenarnya banyak perkara yang ingin aku nukilkan. Pelbagai perkara yang berlaku, gembira dan sedih bercampur baur, dan ku sedari itulah warna-warna kehidupan! Alangkah indahnya sebenarnya kehidupan ini, sekiranya kita memandang dari sudut positif. Walaupun perkara yang berlaku membuatkan kita teresak-esak mengalirkan air mata, namun sebenarnya itu semua perkara yang positif! Kenapa? Sebab dari situ kita belajar satu lagi erti hidup ini.

Aku tahu dan yakin, ramai kawan-kawan dan juga mak ayah memandang aku sebagai seorang yang cekal semangat, dan berdikari. Hakikatnya, aku seorang yang pesimis dan tidak pernah mengimpikan kejayaan gilang gemilang. Aku hanya manusia yang boleh dikatakan tidak punya cita-cita tertentu dan impian menggunung. Setiap tahun yang berlalu, setiap saat yang terhitung, aku melaluinya mengikut rentak sekeliling. Tidak pernah memandang jauh ke hadapan, tidak pula menoleh jauh ke belakang. Aku melangkah seadanya, dan selalu hanya mengharapkan yang baik-baik saja, tida lebih dari itu. Lantas, apabila ujian melanda seperti sekarang, aku kaget..!

Mampukah aku menghabiskan pengajianku di sini?Tegakah aku mengorbankan tahun2 pertama persekolahan anak2ku untuk belajar di Malaysia? Sebelum ini, sesungguhnya aku sudah mengaku kalah..namun aku dapat merasakan Allah tetap membuka jalan untuk aku meneruskannya..hanya Dia yang Maha Mengetahui apa yang telah berlaku dan akan berlaku..Ya Allah..aku mohon kekuatan, dan tunjukkanlah aku jalan yang Engkau redhai..!