Saturday, December 13, 2008
The One-Week "Break"!
15 Zulhijjah 1429H

much have taken place since I last blogged. let's see:

1. Trip to Halab (Aleppo).
The journey by train took around 5 hours from Damascus Train Station. The 19 of us (12 akhawat + Kak Isma n family) stayed at Halab for 3 days 2 nights at Abg Zul's (Kak Isma's zauj) friend's place. he's a chef. no doubt, we were all well-fed throughout the stay. (but no weight gain for me; rather, weight-loss, since i was tested by diarrhoea n vomitting. perut masuk angin. lagi. takpe, cubaan~)

on the last day, Mardhiyah n me were determined to search for a library we passed by the day before (but didn't get the chance to explore it since we were in a group). so off we went -just the two of us- asking for directions (buat muka selamba ah apa lagi), until we reached the library! that was the second library in Syria that i stepped into after Abu Nour's library. one of the librarians was even kind enough to brief us on the history and facts related to the library. baarakallahu feeh.
next, on the way home (or rather, trying to find the way home, as we were unsure of the directions. haa..), we passed by a banner regarding an ongoing Khat (Arabic Calligraphy) Exhibition. turned out the place was right in front of us. of course, us, being Mardhiyah Yusoff n Khadijah Hussain, weren't going to simply ignore this opportunity. so, despite being acutely aware that we were being watched by many eyes (unlike Damascus, there are very few foreigners in Aleppo), we courageously (ahem!) entered the building and search for the exhibition. true enough, there it was, and so, within the short space of time (we were supposed to report home in around 15 mins time), we managed to feast our eyes with the wonderful khat masterpieces. most of which are verses from the Qur'anul Karim. sukeeee!!

Both of us were glad and happy that our rehlah was filled with more than just shopping, eating, and sightseeing. Initially, we were both sad because we had to miss one day of kuliyyah. the plan was to reach Damascus by 12 noon so that we could still attend our kuliyyah which starts at 1:30pm (Abu Nour) and 2:30pm (Fatah). but turned out that the 6am tickets were unavailable, and they bought us the 3pm ticket instead. we even had to miss Syeikh Na'im's dars on Fathul Bari (the famous kitab by Ibn Hajar that explain and elaborate the Sahih Bukhari) that night. but as Mardhiyah said, she had performed istikharah before going to Aleppo. and so she believed that where she was right then was the place that Allah wants her to be at.
best kan? :) tenang bila dengar macam tu. will learn from her, and perform istikharah more in life, biidznillah.

2. Trip to Nawa and Busra.
i've actually been there last time, but due to some reasons, i want to re-visit the places. we went to maqam Imam An-Nawawi; maqam Nabi Ayyub alaihis salam and one of his sons; the well (telaga) which they say was the place Nabi Ayyub cleaned himself during the time he was sick; a lake, where we rode boats, and also where some of us rode horses. including me. hee~ best tau naik kuda. the horse's name was "Andalus", and the owner (a boy aged around 11 years old) was Hassan. both the owner and the horse were very nice. hehe. the others paid 50 lira, when it was my turn, i tried for 25 lira, n he gave in. dapat half price~ :D

Last of all, we went to the Roman amphitheatre (the last time i went, it was closed), which was said to be the biggest Roman Amphitheatre in the world, and can fit around 15,000 people at a time. nantilah, kalau orang rajin, orang upload gambar tu. overall, the trip was completed with the Nasi Mandi (memang nama dia "Mandi" -mim, nun, dal, ya -bukan "mandi" bahasa melayu tau)) treat by kak Isma's family. baarakallhu feehim. Nasi Mandi is almost similar to Nasi Briyani, just that instead of dalca, it's eaten with light yoghurt and tomato+green chilli soup. bila panas2 n tgh lapar, dia jadi mcm chipsmore: kejap ada, kejap dah takde. :D

3. Hari 'Arafah -9th Zulhijjah. the best day in the whole year, the day Allah free the most number of people from the hellfire. alhamdulillah, get to fast on that day. get to perform Subuh jama'ah with the housemates. then get to tadarrus together. and after Asar, some of us went to Abu Nour, while some (like me) went to Jami' Iman -ada Syeikh Na'im! hehe. as usual, there was a short dars by Syeikh, then we started reciting dzikr and du'a till Maghrib. we even get to listen to a live recording from 'Arafah, and we did du'a together with the hujjaj (pilgrims) and said "ameen!".

alhamdulillah, I like how I ended the Arafah day, but i'm still sad because i feel that i did not optimise the first 10 days of Zulhijjah. i'm very sure of that. amalan kurang... sangat2... tak tau lagi dapat jumpa lagi tak Zulhijjah yang akan datang... hmMph. waktu yang akan datang tu isi dengan sebaik mungkin k Khadijah! (kadang2 macam GERAM nah sangat dengan diri sendiri. eeii!!! bila geram dengan diri sendiri nak buat apa eh? any ideas? i've tried pinching my cheeks. heh. also tried forbidding myself from the food that i know i'm craving for at that time. haa. budak betuah, banyak main2, banyak relax2, memang tak patut dimanjakan sgt2 -sikit2 tu boleh kot. hehe)

4. 'Eid! first day of 'Eid was.... sad. for some reasons, i felt very sad in the morning, even after the 'eid prayer. was crying...n crying... nothing serious, perhaps another case of "geram/sedih dgn diri sendiri" plus other minor stuffs that probably added up n became seemingly BIG, but actually were trivial matters, really. in addition to some uneven hormones (iyelah tu~), = tsk tsk.

perasaan ni kadang2 tak boleh dilayan sangat, makin dilayan makin mengada2. kuatkan diri je. tabahkan hati. ingat: semua ni dunia. perkara remeh. ada BANYAK lagi amanah dan perkara penting untuk dilaksanakan dan difikirkan. yang perlu, bersihkanlah hati dan ikhlaskan semuanya. untuk keredhaanNYA. k Khadijah? :)

5. 3rd day of 'Eid: Camp Rehlah to Wehdah organised by Lajnah Kebajikan Dmasyq. a one-day event held at Villa Toybah, situated around an hour from Dmasyq. it was the same place where we held our Lebaran Perantau during 'Eidul Fitr last year. all in all, the camp was ok. the games were fun, but could be more challenging. the forum was, erm, okay. i think so.-couldn't comment much because i fell asleep ler :S tried to shied myself from the sun, so i leaned against a sister's back, terus sedap je tertidur. heee. burok kan tu namanya?~). nevertheless, congrats to the organisers for their utmost effort to make it happen. jazahumullah khairan. the certificate n bookmark are nice ;)

6. School's going start soon, after a one-week 'Eid holiday (from last Friday to this Sat). planned to do alot during the holiday, but turned out that the week was packed with activities. adoi~ selalu macam ni tau. i'm still left with revision of the various school subjects, Qur'an memorisation, and halaqatul bahth (research paper) for Tafsir.

for this bahth, i was given a verse from the Qur'an (verse 231 from Surah al-Baqarah), and I've to research thoroughly abou the verse, and come up with the syarh (explanation) of the verse, it's meaning, the meaning of the individual words that are in the verse, the reason why the word is written the way it is, the hikmah, the 'irab, the different ways of reciting it (wujuh al-qiraat), the hadiths related to the verse, why the verse was sent down (asbab an-nuzul), and the rules that can derived from the verse (ahkam al-fiqhiyyah/ ahkam as-syar'iyyah) plus the evidences (dalil). phew~ dengar macam BANYAK yang nak kene buat kan? memang banyak pun! huu~ dateline is on 15th January 2009. which means i've more or less one month left to complete it. worth 30 marks beb. arghh!! (stress ah tu konon. padahal boleh duk sini type blog entry. lepas ni nanti kene cubit pipi lagilah nampaknya budak ni). i've did some research and photocopied lotsa materials. just haven't get the chance to sit down and go through them. before school reopens u gotta check them out eh Khadijah. u haven't got much time left, especially since u're going to attend the Ijazah Sunan Tirmidizi for one week starting 25th Dec '08 to 1st Jan '09, biidznillah.
it's going to be a like the Ijazah Sunan Abi Daud, starting from after Fajr to after Isyak. we are going to sit down -with the kitab Sunan Tirmidzi (it's one of the famous Hadith kitab) in front of us - and listen to the Syeikh reciting the hadiths. talaqqi concept. if let's say u have to go to the washroom when the syeikh is reciting the hadiths, u have to take note of the hadiths that u missed while u were away, and then, during breaktime/ any free time afterwards, u've to get someone who was present during the majlis to recite the hadiths that u missed in front of you OR you have to recite the hadiths while the person checked your pronunciation for you and corrected them should u make any misktake(s). if u manage to complete the whole kitab without missing any single hadith, only then will u deserve to obtain the Ijazah from the Syeikh. faham tak? it's okay if you don't really understand it, coz i know the process sounds a bit complicated and maybe even strange for some of us. just thought of sharing this with my readers coz for myself, i've always enjoy attending such events. best nah sgt ada kat majlis 'ilm, dengar hadiths2 Nabi sallahu'alaihi wasallam dilaungkan, bersama dengan jama'ah lain yang sama bersemangat. that's why i allow myself to miss a week of kuliyyah for this once in a blue moon event. in life u've to make choices. n most of the time, u've to make sacrifices in order to gain something. esp something precious. May Allah be pleased with me, my choices, my actions n most importantly, my intentions. ameen!

...
p.s. to Azua n Bik Pah who have arrived safely in Singapore, all of us at Dmasyq will surely miss both of u.
 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 12/13/2008 05:33:00 PM | Permalink | 3 comments
Monday, December 08, 2008
Selamat Hari Raya 'Eidul Adha buat semuaaaaa~
Maaf Zahir & Batin :)

 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 12/08/2008 03:37:00 PM | Permalink | 0 comments