Strike while the iron is hot

Once there was a blacksmith and a young man who wanted to become his apprentice. The eager young man watched closely on how the blacksmith worked. When it's the time for the young man to do the job, he did perfectly from the beginning until after the iron had been put in the fire and at the point when the iron needs to be strike to attain the desired shape. He tried few times to do it but ended up not being able to shape the iron. He put it again in the fire, and tried it again, but with no luck. The blacksmith came to the frustrated young man and said, "Do you know that you have to strike the iron at the right time to shape it? Once you're late, you'll not be able to do it."
That's the story behind the phrase. I did not know that till I read it in a book which is called "Life is an Open Secret: Think About It" by Zabrina A. Bakar. I did paraphrase the story and change it here and there, so it's not plagiarism..:)hehe.

So, what about this phrase that I want to talk about?
About opportunities of course(duh!). Our Prophet Muhammad also reminded us about these opportunities that we have in our life in this hadith:

Ibn 'Abbas reported that the Prophet (pbuh)said, "Grab five things before five others: Your youth before decrepitude, your health before your illness, you wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death." (Al-Hakim)

MashaAllah. Very true indeed. [oh, i can hear u sing the raihan song. yes, i can..;)]

Let us think about it. Youth before decrepitude, or in other easier word to understand youth before old. So, what are the opportunities in our youth that we need to grab before becoming old? Yes, a lot.. I know. I remember most people will say.."Masa muda ni lah nak enjoyyyy.." Right? I agree, enjoy our youth. Do what we want to do. Enjoy every minute of it. But with what? It's the same with other four opportunities that are listed above. If we say, "Time skarang nilah

nak enjoy habis2, nanti dah tua aku insaflah gi masjid".. Sounds familiar? Yes, it's a mindset to some people that only when we grow old that we want to change to be a better person. But, here's the catch.. Are we sure that we'll have the chance to grow old? We do not know when we'll die, right?(life before death).. Or maybe one day, we'll be sick and bedridden...(Health before illness).... Is it too late at that time? Think about it.

Let us go back to once upon a time, a long, long time ago. Do you remember Sultan Muhamad Al Fateh, who successfully conquered Constantinople at the age of 21! *dush* How old am I again? Almost 21. What have I achieved so far? *dush* How many precious time that I've wasted doing nothing benefit at all..*dush*dush*

Why do we need to grab the opportunities? Because like the blacksmith said once we missed the chance, we will not be able to shape the iron. That tiny bit of chance. Like, when you have a lifelong dream to do something, and suddenly that opportunity is right in front of u..or Like, when God give us a flick in our heart (hidayah) and He open up a pathway for us to change.. to be a better person.. Grab it. Strike while the iron is hot. Don't miss the opportunity cause we might not get it again or it might be harder in the future. Go for it!!! Yes, take the first step..InsyaAllah, He will show you the way and ease your path especially if our niat is for Allah.

"O you who believe, if you help God, He will help you and make you steadfast in your faith" (Surah Muhammad, 47:7)

InsyaAllah, this is a reminder for me who's still learning and hopefully will be beneficial for you too..;)

March of the Penguins

If you are looking for a movie to watch, I'll recommend this movie.

"March of the Penguins"

Though, it's more like a documentary, I guarantee it's not boring at all.

Definitely worth it..^^

I watched it two times already!

Once on youtube, but it's not the full version, missing a part I think,

The second time, I downloaded it..:)

Here's some of the snapshots in the movie..

The last pic is my favorite,

I think this is what they are talking to each other:

The penguin on the right was saying,

"Hey, check this out, I'm flying.....~lalala.."

And the middle penguin said..

"Yea right, you are fat, how can you fly?"

The penguin on the left said,

"Oh boyy,,penguins can't fly lah..

I assure you, when you finished watching the video,

you'll feel inspired by the penguins..

They are the cutest.....!

Oh, and here's the trailer..

Enjoy watching!

Dare to be different

Imagine this situation.

You have a party to attend, and you dressed up specially for the event. When you walked through the door, suddenly everyone is staring at you. You were shocked and embarrassed as well. You looked around the room, everyone else are dressed formally while you are dressed as a pumpkin! You taught it was a costume party! If it was a costume party, no one would take a second look at you as everyone else will wear costumes too. But, in this case, you stand out from everybody else and every people stared at you like you came from another planet. Some even laughed at you. Just because, you are different than everybody .

That's the case where you involuntarily i.e you didn't know about the details of the party and thus, you didn't actually choose to be different. How about when you already know that it's a formal party and you still wear the costume? Because you just like to wear it and you've been wearing it to other events as well.

Well, the example, seems a bit hyperbolic [who would wear a pumpkin costume?].

But still I hope I made my point clear....hee..

Being different make us stand out from others. Being different makes people noticed.

So, it's not necessarily bad to be different. For example, in the case of doing an interview for a job. Hundreds of applicants will be applying the same position. Everybody has the same qualification and the same passion for the job. So, how do the interviewer make the choice? They'll choose someone that has something different from others.

Now let us relate this to being a Muslim. It's obvious when we go to the country where Muslims are not the majority, Muslims will stand out from others especially Muslim women because of our hijab. But, does that mean we have to be embarrassed with our difference? No. Instead, it's something that we should be proud of. We should be proud to say that we are Muslim to the whole world [This reminds of the story, "My name is Khan, and I'm not a terrorist"...hee...^^]. Our hijab is our identity and that made us special and different from others. Instead of feeling like it's an obligation, I think we should think that it's a present from Allah to make us feel special cause we are different. Different in a good way :)

I had few encounters where people asked me why I wear the hijab. And it makes me feel proud to tell them that I'm a Muslim. One of them didn't even know that Islam exist. The person thought I'm wearing hijab because of my culture. To me, that's the valuable experience when studying overseas. I can say that the experience here made me appreciate Islam more. It also open up my eyes and see Islam from a different perspective.

I admit, when I first came here, I felt awkward about praying in the open place in front of other people. I felt awkward trying to make wudhu on the sink. I felt conscious about what people

would think of me when I walk into class because I look different from everybody else . Now, Alhamdulillah, I feel more comfortable in doing all those things. And I'm happy that indirectly we can also spread Islam to other people .

[image taken from here]

try listen to this

Try listen to this..:)

I just love it!

Dilemma

I don't like being pull in two directions. You know, like you have to choose between two things..=_=

Both are equally important, but how do you make the right choice? Haishh..

For days, I've been trying to look for some answers. In Kuliah Selasa yesterday, they talk about taking risk and making decision. And there's this verse in the Qur'an which said,

..And when you have come to a decision place your trust in God alone, for He loves those who place their trust in Him (Al-'Imran 3:159)

Ya Allah, give me your guidance for indeed I am helpless without your help. At a time like this, I wish somebody could do the decision for me. But that's not the way it is. People always said, "Follow your heart". Can someone please teach me how to follow our heart? [I knowwww, it's not something that can be taught.] I'm just curious to see if someone has a solution..hee. Do let me know if you do :)

It's been pretty hectic for me these days. Endless stream of assignments. Thank God, I have no mid-sem test except for one subject. And the assignments, two of them are group assignments, so, it's pretty complicated since we had to collaborate together with other group members. It's hard to find a common time for all of us to sit together and discuss the assignments. That's the challenge I guess. Another thing is, when you are busy preparing for tutorials and doing your assignments, you can hardly find a time for you to do your independent studies. Yup, that's my problem right now,, I need extra TIME!!! =_= [Again, I'm asking for something impossible..heh]

Enough with my rambling. Sorry, this is just one of my way of getting out the feelings that I have. Hmm, in the end, I still have a decision to make!! Wish me the best! ^_^