My Birthday Wish/Plan

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

As I was stirring the pineapple filling over the fire for my pineapple tarts, I started thinking about my life and what I should aim to do better.

And the first thing that came to my mind is that:

I should be nicer to Hubtobe. Truly, he treats me very well; never complains even when I bully him or rant and rave about my day. He's patient and always gives in to my whims and almost always lets me eat wherever I want. Though of course he can get really annoying when he starts nagging at me about things or when he misinterprets what I say or forgot my instructions.

But at the end of the day, I think he puts up with alot of my nonsense; more than I put up with his... and so alhamdulillah syukur to Allah for giving me such a person whom I have yet to cherish properly.

So this year, I promise I will try to be a better person. I pray that Allah gives me the strength to be patient and help me cleanse my heart of these darkness and bitterness and meanness towards Hubtobe. Insyaallah, Amin...

Secondly, this year, I also aim to learn how to cook more dishes and bake a bit more. While my mother is still strong and still around, I should learn as much as I can from her and in the future I will learn from my mother-in-law as well. These are all knowledge and they come from Allah. Someday when I have children, I will make sure both my boys and girls know how to cook because knowledge shouldn't exclude or judge based on race, religion or gender. There is no such thing as bad knowledge. It is only how we use that knowledge that determines if it is bad or good.

Lastly of course, I pray that this semester ends with a second upper honours degree and that my parents can be there to see me take my certificate and be proud. They didn't even know that I got a perfect score of 5 for my gpa this year. Alhamdulillah for that. I want them to be proud of me; to know that their efforts at coaching me since young has paid off and that the sweat and pain that they took to raise me has moulded me into a better person.

Eid Mubarak!

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Alhamdulliah, Allah has allowed us to live through the Ramadhan to meet Syawal. 

I don't particularly like Hari Raya because of all the wastage and excessiveness that people including me go through. We buy too much tidbits and too much delicacies hoping that guests would come... but people don't usually eat so much... so it's just for show.

Then of course when we all congregate at my grandma's house, it is very disturbing to see the clothes that people wear... see through, body hugging... and the excessive make up and made up nails... It saddens me.

But apart from that, I am happy to have met some of my aunts and uncles whom I love so much... plus I got to see my granny and kiss her.

I'm just waiting for the chance to go out with Hubtobe for Hari Raya and take photos with him. =) I miss him too. Hari raya will be different in the coming years once we become permanent additions to each other's families.

Berkahs from Allah s.w.t

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

There are always these simple things in life that you have that makes you feel grateful for His blessings and His love.

For example, I bought this new plant yesterday. Isn't it beautiful?



Then it got me thinking- Allah shows His magnificence when He creates such beautiful creations... and He must truly love beauty and perfection because isn't all that He created beautiful and perfect?

In every living thing He created, He had blown into it, His spirit of life and in that, allows us humans to be close to Him everytime we are near His creation. I love my plants and I take care of them everyday because of Allah. Because I marvel at how they grow and how they stand strong resisting wind and rain, cold or sunshine... Subhanallah...




Apart from that, there is also the pleasures that He has given me in terms of food. The first is a picture of sushi I bought from the Hei Sushi Kiosk. Not much, but enough for break fast. It occured to me while looking for sushi that I must find the halal one and not simply eat at any sushi kiosk. The halal-ness of a food would complement the journey I have taken during my fast.

Next is a picture of mooncakes that Hubtobe bought for my family. Isn't it lovely? I marvel at the intricate design on the mooncake skin.



Allahuakbar!

Expectations of Rewards from Allah

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Today, it seems, Daily Reminders shared a wonderful link with us all; one which I'd like to put up here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiRD0ONUjK0

The speaker in the video talks about achieving Ihsan 24/7.

So, what is this 'Ihsan?'

In Arabic, Ihsan means "perfection" or "excellence" and is applied most in matters of one's inner faith, iman, by showing it in both deed and actions. It is the Muslim's responsibility to obtain ihsan in worship, such that Muslims try to worship Allah as if they see Him. But, we know we cannot see Him, but we believe that He is always watching over us.

As said by our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, "[Ihsan is] to worship God as though you see him, and if you cannot see Him, then indeed He sees you." (Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim)

So back to the speaker- is it possible for someone to achieve that level of Ihsan 24hours a day, 7 days a week? Masyaallah...

His answer is yes and this marks the difference between a Mukmin and a Mukhsin. The difference is in the level of expectations that the Mukhsin has with regards to the rewards from Allah. The speaker then goes to explain it in this way:

The average Muslim who prays 5times a day, has his niat to do worship to Allah in total of less than an hour. But compare that to someone who does everything with Allah in his intentions- he goes to school because of Allah, he goes to sleep because of Allah and he even goes to gym because of Allah... and he believes that he will be rewarded by Allah. Insyaallah.

But the speaker warns us that even when we're doing something good, but we have no intentions to do it for the sake of Allah, then it does not count. Although I agree, I also do think that this is up to Allah to decide.

I felt a bit humbled and humiliated after listening to the speaker in his video. Because this morning when I went to my blog, my intentions were to lay out why I was so angry at my Hubtobe for not finishing the food that I cooked.

As a wife, when she cooks for her husband, she does it to please Allah first, then please her husband.... not the other way round. And therefore, she should not take her husband's criticism of her cooking as a means to degrade her but as a means to improve her.

Allah knows how I'm feeling and only Allah understands, even if I didn't say it out loud.

Wallahualam Bissawab

Being a couple

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Alhamdulillah, Praise be to Him, we have made it through to the 16th day of Ramadan.

First of all, I'd like to put a quote I took from this blog entry :

"Jauhilah perhubungan cowo dan cewek (bahasa Jawa) sebelum kahwin, baik apapun bentuk perhubungan itu sama ada hubungan jiwa apalagi hubungan fizikal. Sedemikian banyak kemanisan yang dikecap antara hubungan dua jantina sebelum kahwin, sedemikian banyaklah kemanisan yang akan ditarik Allah sesudah di alam perkahwinan. Malanglah! Betapa manisnya masa cinta sebelum kahwin, hanya pahit dan sepah yang tinggal selepas kahwin, semua madunya telah dihisap dengan rakus dan tamak sebelum kahwin."

[ Stay away from relationships, be it emotional or physical, between male and female as long as you are not married. For as many sweetness that is shared between the couple before marriage, Allah will take as much sweetness from them after marriage. How unfortunate! No matter how sweet love is before marriage, only bitterness is left after marriage; all it's nectar sucked off by greed and gluttony before marriage]

I guess this entry is sparked off by an incident that happened last night at my cousin's birthday celebration. I must say that I was thoroughly surprised and happy that it was a cozy family affair that made me feel really comfortable and blessed.

It was very sweet to see my cousin and her husband around each other. Sometimes, I can't believe that they're already married. And I know they are waiting for their lives to be filled with the joy of being parents. And she reminded me about something very important yesterday-

That she and her husband are now halal and it struck me so hard how I envy that. For years in our lives before nikah, everything forbidden between a man and a woman is sinful and frowned upon by Allah. But everything after that, brings Him pleasure and we even get pahala for it.

Masyaallah... I'm sure no one wishes to have their marriage wrecked with unhappiness because Allah has taken away all the sweetness away because of their transgressions before marriage. And it made me also worry for my other loved ones who have yet to mend their ways and seek refuge in Him.

And so... I am looking forward to the end of this semester... and I put all my faith and yakin in Allah for He is the best of all planners.

Amin.

Of flowers and Hubbies

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Alhamdulillah, I have just returned home from sending food to Hubtobe for his buka, dinner and sahur. He sometimes forgets to eat or doesn't eat enough especially now that it's fasting month and he's working and schooling back to back. At times I don't trust that he'll eat unless he's eating in front of me.

But Hubtobe's so sweet... when I met him he said he was looking for a flower shop; said he wanted to buy a flower for me because he hasn't done so in a long time. Awwww... So I pointed to him to the florist on the other side of the street and I chose a sunflower!

I love sunflowers. They're so beautiful... masyaallah... in fact, all flowers are beautiful and I'm really itching to go to the nursery to get more flower pots. Preferably before Hari Raya for I think there might be a sale.

Here's the sunflower he bought for me today:


Hubtobe's really the first guy to constantly buy flowers for me... I don't expect flowers of course... but he's so sweet in that way.

Women can go silly at times when they get flowers. It makes them feel appreciated... especially after sweating while cooking and all those blisters from laundry and cleaning the house. That's why I buy flowers for my mom sometimes for no reason. Also the plants outside the house bring joy to her and my dad. =)

Anyway, I was reading Tuttie's blog a while ago and under her tags 'Busted', had me laughing so much! Especially the one where she found her hubby reading her blog! Lol. Then I read the comments and made me laugh even more. Yeah... I have the same feeling too! I mean, I don't really like ppl I know to read my blog. Hahahaha. weird or what. It's like she said- they're gonna psychoanalyze everything you say and then cross refer to their own memories of said incidents. -laugh-

But with that said, Hubtobe does read my blog... but he doesn't have much time to read it everyday... with all his workload and all. He managed to whine his way to letting me let him read my blog. Lol. Or wait... was that me? Hahahaha.