a blessing in disguise?
As I am writing this entry, death tolls from the recently hit by quake Yogjakarta keeps on rising by minutes. The first thing that crossed my mind upon learning that news was, "MashaAllah, satu lagi ujian Allah pada hamba-Nya." Face of a friend that I know of who's reading medicine there emerged in my head, apa kabar dia dan kawan-kawannya agaknya..It kinda saddens me thinking about the conditions of fellow Muslims around the world; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of lands and dignities in Palestine and Chechnya, the occupation of the minds in lots of other Muslim countries (or any title they claimed to be). As if that's not enough, we had tsunami in Acheh and Sri Lanka, followed by the major earthquake in Pakistan, and now another trial from Allah SWT to test His servants; the recent quake in Java, which just opened up another possibilities of an eruption of Gunung Merapi later on, wa naudzubillahimindhaalik. And what about the chronic unfinished business in Sudan and other parts of Africa, and the silent tumours of Southern Thailand and Cambodia which are killing the Muslims there very slowly?
There's so much things happening I don't know where to start. How could someone so tiny (literally) and incapable like me offers any good when the world is falling towards a great imbalance of basically everything!
Hmmm.
But I also learnt that chances are nil if we only play a bystander role. Our ummah is haemorrhaging (read: bleeding profusely) and in dire need for our helps. Perhaps Allah SWT gives the Muslims all of these catastrophies to test how far other Muslims would go to offer help. Ingat kisah burung pipit yang nak tolong padamkan api yang dinyalakan Namrud untuk bakar Nabi Ibrahim A.S dengan menggunakan paruhnya? Burung lain tanya kenapa ko buat ni? Impossible la boleh padamkan..(that's my line..). Tapi si pipit tu kata, "Inilah usaha yang aku dah buat. Dapatlah aku menjawab bila Allah bertanya nanti, apa yang aku dah buat.."
That was a bird, of beak the size of lesser than a teaspoon. What about us? The complex being that has been given the responsibilities as khalifah cum servant in this world; of every details of deed and sin is written down each moments, what do we answer when Allah asks us later? Not only that we're not helping, we somehow contribute to the damages by our acts and ignorance, what more of the fatalities we've caused with our own hands!
Nonetheless, I've also learnt that it's never too late to repent. What's done is done, and there's a lot of opportunities to amend the damage. Help, by all means. When we're comfortably eating nasi lemak and teh tarik during one very fine morning, our brothers and sisters in Sudan are dying of hunger and thirts, and late at night when we slip into our warm duvets, the homeless kids in Palestine are dying of coldness and deprivations. There are a lot of non-profit organizations out there that offer the platforms to help. Here I give some of the main charity bodies that runs the appeals and works, with them soiling their feet in these messy yet inshaAllah rewarding business, the least we can do is donate and support right? Afterall, I remember one of the hadith which says,
“A Muslim is a brother of (another) Muslim, he neither wrongs him nor hand him over to one who does him wrong. If anyone fulfils his brother’s needs, Allah will fulfil his needs; if one relieves a Muslim of his troubles, Allah will relieve his troubles on the day of resurrection; and if anyone covers up a Muslim (his sins), Allah will cover him up (his sins) on the Resurrection Day.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Please do help.
May Allah SWT help us back later.
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