I Still Remember

All of these memories are playing vividly in my head.

The first time I was off on a plane en route to USA.

And we step our feet upon United Kingdom, and had several walks to and fro through the shops we managed to get by. Some even had the chance to drink Costa, the famous coffee there.

Then, we were up again soaring through the sky to land our feet on Columbus.

We're hit by realization that we were, in fact, in the United States of America when the cold blazing crispy autumn-ish air caress our faces :)

(And I still remember thinking how weird our seniors were, wearing sandals and short pants in the middle of this cold air!)

At one point, the first time I got to travel in USA was a trip to Pennsylvania. For an event, called Journey Through the Quran. And it was so very interesting, alhamdulillah alhamdulillah. First time meeting Amalina too, after such a long time...

Then the most memorable trip for Tamrin '10 in Buffalo, NY. I bet that trip and a whole lot of people involved with it made it most memorable. I'd say, this was the first beat of dakwah & tarbiyah, and how it really changed my friends and my perspectives to a bigger view of dnt. Our first snow experience was also there :') My first frozen trip to Niagara Falls too.

I still am stuck with this memory forever in my life. How pure it all began...how beautiful DnT really felt at that time. I guess it struck deep in my heart. The messages/taujihat given at that time is still clear in my head. I still remember who gave what, and who said what.

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I still remember that one time pre-Muktamar we had before heading to our very first time Muktamar in Missouri. We boarded the Megabus from Columbus - Indianapolis and had the kakak-kakaks Purdue fetch us. We were so excited going out of our state for the first time, we packed foods for our trip ^__^"

And, there we met Azimah for the first time. We had wonderful time in Purdue, subhanaLlah :') We ice-skated (for the first time ever in US!) there, and we made *ahem* great videos on Sayonara Jahiliyah.

Post Muktamar, we was brought to a delightful cabin at Lake Ozark, Missouri. Allah, I can't even tell how beautiful the place was. Where a vast, bluish lake overlooking the cabin. And there was a lighthouse too. You can bet all the other Allah's creations were continuously doing dzikr. Nature...is simply wonderful ! Here, we met Hazirah and Aqilah, Seha, and Zetty, and Shuque and Farah Liyana. And here, Amalina introduced me to Outlandish :)


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I still remember that time where I paid visits to Vandy. Where I had no clue whatsoever why I was there (just kidding ;p) and didn't really know the people there (well, maybe three people).

And there, I met my anak usrah and one of them went MIA. And the others tried calling her, but can't reach her, and these bunch of caring people just decided to go to this place Idontevenknowthename, and bought food for her (because we thought she was sick). And we put all the food in this paper bag we decorated so lovely, and secretly went to her dormitory and tried knocking her door several times, but to no avail, nobody answered.

So we just left the lovely paperbag-gift outside her door.

I still remember the walk I had with the Vandy seniors and Shira and Ain very early morning for qiamullayl to this one gathering place Idontevenknowthename. A basement room where it has a connecting cooking room beside it. Pretty useful, ey? Bagus untuk buat program underground huehue ;)

And that night, we decided to have dinner at this Arab diner, and these bunch of sweet anak usrah secretly treat me. Thankyou :')

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Skip skip skip to the final year~

I still remember during SSG, truly it was hard having Shira the only capable driver to drive to Reeds Spring, Missouri. A journey that took us more than a day to get there..It was crazy, ain't it? But she was, and is truly a great person. And admirable one, a very patient person mashaAllah.

We went to Indiana first, then proceeded to the cabin where we arrived late. The weather was quite hot at that time as it was nearly summer. But having sisters there, ahhh the weather didn't even matter. And the fact that I get to meet my anak usrah, that was indispensable :)

On our journey back, we went to IUB back to send sisters there and then to Notre Dame. God, I just love this place because it reminded me that moment where Shira and I were dead tired...and we planned to have just a nap (30mins or so). But we hadn't had a good sleep since Shira was driving the whole time, and I was trying so hard not to sleep when she drove (but I did, anyways =__="), and we had such a long journey to and fro from Bloomington to Notre Dame, hence we slept for 2 hours plus or so on the cozy sofa outside the dormitory hallways.

And we ran late to return the car...and Shira sped, and the police (as always) caught us. Shira went straight to work after that, and so we...returned the car later that day.

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There are lots of moments that I can't forget forever i.e., jaulah, daurah moments. And I still have them well kept in my heart.

Truth is, I missed 'em a lot.

Hence, this long windy post.

عَنْ أَبي هُرَيرَةَ رضي الله عنه قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: (لاَ تَحَاسَدوا، وَلاَتَنَاجَشُوا، وَلاَ تَبَاغَضُوا، وَلاَ تَدَابَروا، وَلاَ يَبِعْ بَعضُكُم عَلَى بَيعِ بَعضٍ، وَكُونوا عِبَادَ اللهِ إِخوَاناً، الـمُسلِمُ أَخو الـمُسلِم، لاَ يَظلِمهُ، وَلاَ يَـخذُلُهُ، وَلا يكْذِبُهُ، وَلايَـحْقِرُهُ، التَّقوَى هَاهُنَا - وَيُشيرُ إِلَى صَدرِهِ ثَلاَثَ مَراتٍ - بِحَسْبِ امْرِىءٍ مِن الشَّر أَن يَحْقِرَ أَخَاهُ الـمُسلِمَ، كُلُّ الـمُسِلمِ عَلَى الـمُسلِمِ حَرَامٌ دَمُهُ وَمَالُه وَعِرضُه) رواه مُسلِمٌ

On the authority of Abu Hurairah Radhiyallahu 'anhu, The Messenger of Allah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam said, Do not envy each other, or do najasy (in trading), hate each other, turn away each other, and do not buy any things being offered by others. O The Servants of Allah, turn yourself into kinship. One moslem is a sibling of others, therefore it is not allowed to oppress, neglect, lie to them, and undermines them. Fear of Allah is here (the prophet was pointing to his chest three times). The degree of bad things in each moslem is comparable to his action in undermining his Moslem sibling. Each moslems blood is unlawful, even if his provision, and his honor. (Muslim)

May Allah bless you all, wherever you guys are.

FihifziLlah wa fi amaaniLlah <3