Whilst my dear Huda was -voluntarily- picit2 my kaki, and whilst I was reading random entries of my khad-safiy, a thought hit me: I actually haven't shared my Tarim experience here, yet.

Perhaps a biiiit, and some pictures, but definitely not much on the activities and ambience. (I did some verbal sharings with colleagues during Contact Time -as Mudir requested- with some students- with family and friends, but not much in written form). 

***

Alhamdulillah, we managed to stay in Daruz Zahraa' for 14 days before shifting to Madrasah Az-Zahraa' up the hill once Dowra commenced.

Spring cleaning on the eve of 'Eid - we S'poreans were assigned to the musolla!!! I found LOADS of siwak there, lost/misplaced/forgotten/tercicir...

The senior said they'll usually burn them later on.

Almost every night of Syawal (our 2nd week there) there was Maulid and activities planned by the seniors :)

Alhamdulillah, managed to do some visitings as well. Maktabah Syeikh Omar al-Khatib, S'porean Raya gathering, makan @Kak Diyana's place, ziarah Maqam Nabi Hud alaihis salaam, Maqam Syeikh Abu Bakar bin Salim @'Inat, Zanbal (1st visit)...

Then Dowra started. And the super-packed schedule began!

My usual daily schedule looked like this:

Between 2:50-3:30am: wake up. wash up. prepare for Fajr. wake the remaining room mates who might not be awake yet. 

Formula: The earlier u wake up, the faster u'll get to use the toilet insyaAllah coz the shorter is the queue! (Or if u're lucky, no queue at all).

The best thing about being here: nobody will let you oversleep and miss your Fajr nor any other solah. Not only that, insyaAllah u'll also NEVER pray unless in a jama'ah! <3

The earlier you make yourself to the musolla, te earlier u'll get to start ur late night prayers n Witr, and then join in the pre-dawn Adzkar. Lovely, heart-tugging adzkar, do'a & munajat...

Kalau dapat join lambat, macam sayang gitu.. huhu.

All the way till Azan at ard 4am.

Subhanallahi wa bihamdihi subhanallahil

Adzhim 100x

Solat sunat Fajr

Do'a

Jama'ah Fajr

Adzkar.... and whilst reading Wirdul Latif, we'll do the morning musafahah (shaking hands with EVERYONE else in an orderly manner)... surah Yasin, do'a, wird as-Sakran, wirid Imam an-Nawawi..

Dars Habib Umar (Fiqh: Kifayah ar-Raghib fi Hidayah at-Tholib) until syuruq.

Around 10 mins after syuruq: solat sunat Isyraq n Dhuha, breakfast, prepare for school...

8am-11+ am: school (with 10 mins recess in between 2nd and 3rd lesson). On Sundays n Tuesdays we have dars with Hubabah (Akhlaq, from the book Ajalatus Sibaq written by Hubabah's very own father Imam al-Haddar rahimahullah), and so it ends when Hubabah wishes, according to her packed schedule. 

Break for Zuhur, or sometimes us S'poreans we have a translation session with Ustzh Thoybah, where she'll translate what Hubabah shared with us earlier on. Have always benefitted from her inputs & additional sharings, maasyaAllah.

Around 1pm we'll have our ghada' (lunch) which was normally flavoured rice with around 2-3 pieces of fish and a bit of tomato-chilli paste, eaten in a dulang with another 4-6 sisters (sometimes even more, with 2nd servings. hehe). Barakah sangat makanan tu... simple, yet filling and delicious. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah sbb gue tak cerewet bab makanan. So tak kisah je kalau menunya sama hari-hari :') 

Then from around 1:45-3:15pm: free and easy. Usually it was either washing clothes (manually) and dry them, or read a biiiit of smtg (so that I won't feel too guilty n unhealthy lying down straight after lunch. Huhu) before dozing off for the super precious qailulah. 

Yes, here I truly appreciate every single minute of qailulah. Even a mere 15-20 mins nap can be so refreshing and really helped to recharge the body for the remaining programmes for the day (and night).

After Asar, we will have our usual musofahah (shaking hands) while reading surah al-Waqi'ah and Hizb al-Bahr. Then there was Rowhah with Habib Umar -hafizahullah- from the beautiful Quutul Quluub and lovely Rasyafaat (oh the melody still rings in my ears!)...

Then we Singaporeans and the Westerners (Aysha Khan, Zahidah n her sister, Alia n Maryam, Samara), accompanied by the kind Ustzh Farhana Munshi will make our way down the hill and take the 'long and indirect way' to Habib's house (the direct way is much shorter, but it isn't proper for us to take that route because we would then pass by Darul Mustafa where there would be a lot of men.. See how well we are taken care of? :))

Reached there around 5:50pm, learn more about Sayyidah Fatimah az-Zahraa' with Ustzh Thoybah, stopped at around 6:20pm for Maghrib.

After Maghrib, we'll check whether the other room has been opened. If yes, we'll head there for an Shamail/Khuluquna/Da'wah session with Habib Kazhim or Syeikh Umar al-Khatib.

The Struggle. 

Weird, but real.