#bismillah and i hope every muslim in the world also get to experience this ramadhan in peace and that they get to share it with their loved

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RAMADAN IS COMING AHHH RAMADAN IS COMING 🥹🥹🥹<33333

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rahmah

Bismillaah

This post is inspired by my friend, A, who attended the camp in this post with me. Thank you always for your patience and kindness while being in my company, and the company of others. May Allah Bless you always <3</p>

dear A, 

i still remember feeling soo fatigued and lazy on that friday morning and i regretted signing up to go for the camp. when we met you told me the same but after getting through the weekend i’m glad we both made it. 

here’s the poster

the camp mainly centered around the theme rahmah, or mercy, in line with this year’s (every year’s???) ramadhan theme ‘rahmah begins with me’. there were three main components; talkshow on rahmah, social experiment and team building activities. apart from those there was also qiyam, morning tazkirah and kurma sessions. 

1. talkshow  

the talkshow was titled ‘selfie vs wefie: rahmah’. the use of selfe vs wefie is to enjoin us youths to engage in acts of kindness together, and not merely as individuals. blessing is in togetherness after allll. i loved the talkshow moderated by ustaz saifuddin and panelled by ustaz izhar and ustaz faritz. insyaAllah i will share some of the beneficial pointers i’ve gained!

1) what is rahmah? 

the root word of rahmah is found in two arabic words: rahima and rahim

the verb rahima means to have compassion and mercy

the noun rahim, as in silaturrahim, means womb. thus silaturrahim means familial ties, bonded by the womb.

therefore rahmah means mercy, kindness and humanity

2) who gives rahmah?

ultimately, Allah ar-rahman ar-rahim (Most Merciful, Most Kind) is the giver of rahmah. and although we can never compare to the magnitude of His mercy, we should try to emulate this blessed quality and shower it upon fellow human beings, animals and the environment. every act counts, no matter how small you view it. an act of kindness goes a looong way! recently with the rising awareness of saving the ecosystem, the call to eradicate the use of plastic have been very popular. switching to reusable utensils instead of using one-time use plastic utensils may be a good start! we might just save a turtle <3 </p>

3) everyone has a part!

i have been quite hard on myself whenever i vow to do something good for the world, but never being as good as *person A* or *person B* or anyone i come across doing something significant and positive for the world. haha remember the inferior complex? ya i guess looking at people doing so much more than i could ever imagine myself doing totally wiped out my own initiatives to put in any effort. which doesn’t do anything for anybody! 

so it was such a timely and consoling reminder when ustaz shared that everyone of us have different capacities of spreading rahmah, and that is ok. because Allah created us all different, with different strengths and weaknesses so that we can complement one another. i might be better in maths and my friend might be better at expressing ideas, together we could help each other out in our own ways :) i remind myself and i hope everyone too will not compare the degree of our efforts to spread rahmah. furthermore being kind is not an individual effort and it’s not something mutually exclusive. collectively, all our efforts would surely bring lots of amazing positive changes and ultimately a continuously better world for all. everyone has a part in being kind, and everyone plays a part in being kind. so never compare, and focus on giving our best! 

Allah has stated in surah az zukhruf ayat 32

أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ ۚ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۚ وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِّيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا ۗ وَرَحْمَتُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ - 43:32

Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in degrees [of rank] that they may make use of one another for service. But the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they accumulate.

so that we may help one another, and be kind to one another. really the differences that bind us. 

ustaz also mentioned that muslims aren’t people who merely go with the flow of situations. we are capable of making decisions and taking action. and it is our responsibility to make choices that are wise and in Allah’s favour. choose kind always! we have the power to change situations.

may Allah grant us the patience, ability and strength to always be kind to all that surrounds us! 

4) humanity

it is the quality of being human. towards ourselves first and foremost, then towards fellow human beings and other creatures. 

one thing that hit me hard was this statement: if we are good to others but not good to ourselves, we wont last in the long run. sometimes i gungho action wanna be all selfless putting others 100% before myself, but time and again people have reminded me not to forgo my own needs. selflessness i guess has its limits. self-care is crucial, because as cliche as it sounds, how can i give my best to others when i am not at my best? perhaps i could, but then again in the long run i’d burn out. i believe fulfilling our own needs is important so we may function optimally, and in turn be at optimal service to others. we are not striving to be candles, burning ourselves and fading away to give light. we aim to be like the sun, giving light while still shining bright insyaAllah. 

5) empathy 

rahmah begins with the heart!!! let’s strive to spread impactful rahmah, so the world may go round and round with kindness!

since it stems from heart, the sincere intention to spread kindness and be kind should also be planted in the heart. may we always sustain this intention and act upon it. 

6) some examples of rahmah  

spreading rahmah or kindness is lyfeee and there are so so many ways to do it. any act has the potential of making the world a better place for somebody, even if that somebody is ourselves. here are some examples:

raising awareness on pertinent issues

having humility in leadership

seeking guidance 

engaging in volunteer and humanitarian work

ustaz izhar shared that he started an instagram page @abandonedsharedbikes to let relevant shared bike companies know of the locations of....abandoned shared bikes. ofo/obike/mobike vigilante like that, so they can take it away. this also was in line with his principle of do something for nothing. 

he also shared that a way to spread kindness is by first, finding a cause to do so. it might be youths, eldercare, ecosystem, refugees or food wastage. find something that is close to your heart. from there, the least someone can do is to genuinely care, and then raise public awareness.

i’d love to listen to what the people around me are passionate about, and i’d love to know yours too, A :)) i also believe these causes may be personal! i will roll the ball and share the causes that are close to my heart and which i am passionate to learn more about and be of service to; youths, mental health and equality. haha in macro das quite sumting to put on my plate but i promise i will start small and hopefully work my way up. in my best capacity. insyaAllah!!! 

7) Allah’s rahmah in ramadan!!! 

there are 3 things that are testament to His abundance of rahmah towards His servants in this blessed month:

multi-fold rewards for worship

Allah’s forgiveness

lailatul qadr

granted, fatigue and lethargy is extraaaa due to lack of food and water intake. however Allah has promised the incentives of multi-fold rewards of worship and doing good in spite of the lack of energy! i feel so loveeed and appreciated :’) i hope we take this opportunity to be steadfast in performing good deeds. there is probably no better time! alhamdulillah plenty opportunities are within arm’s length. saying bismillah while unlocking our phone (thank you H for this!), volunteering with various organisations, qiyam organised by mosques and so so many more. anywhere and anytime is an opportunity to do good and spread kindness. at the same time don’t feel pressured if you are not in the capacity to do as much as the people around you! our battles and hardships are relative and unique for ourselves, so don’t discredit the yourself for not doing ‘enough’! cannot do all does not mean cannot do none at all. Allah is asy Syakur, most appreciative and He always acknowledges your efforts. 

furthermore every act can be considered as an act of ibadah or worship, whether at work, in school or even making kuihs! by planting the right intentions, we can make ordinary tasks an act of goodness. maybe these daily tasks take up much of our time and by the time we are done with them, we don’t have much energy left to continue with the extra ibadahs we wish could do. seize the opportunity and make daily tasks and commitments as acts of ibadah :)

would like to share a hadith on rushing to do good (and not procrastinate it huaha ya Allah please ease our affairs)

عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال‏:‏ ‏ "‏ بادروا بالأعمال فتناً كقطع الليل المظلم يصبح الرجل مؤمنا ويمسي كافراً ويمسي مؤمنا ويصبح كافراً، يبيع دينه بعرض من الدنيا‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏رواه مسلم‏)‏‏)‏‏

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Be prompt in doing good deeds (before you are overtaken) by turbulence which would be like a part of the dark night. A man would be a believer in the morning and turn to disbelief in the evening, or he would be a believer in the evening and turn disbeliever in the morning, and would sell his Faith for worldly goods." [Muslim]

fastabiqul khairaaaat!

that’s it for the talkshow i am so thankful for all the valuable and might i say holistic insight! the panelists are amazing masyaAllah. 

2. social experiment

one of the youths acted using crutches carrying loads of ntuc plastic around the neighbourhood’s shopping and transport complex. when anybody from the public came forward to help, the rest of the camp pax would surround him/her and do a mini flashmob reciting quotes on kindness, cheering and saluting the kinddd so kind person. i loved this so much because it was #humanityrestored and it felt so so heartwarming. there are still kind people, and this brings me hope. honestly if i saw someone in distress, would i have come forward to help? seeing people across the age spectrum coming forward to help our fellow youth actor was ughhhhhh so emotional and heartwarming. i hope i will do the same, maybe start with giving up my seat on the bus :))))))) my heart was so full, and i was never prouder of the citizens of my home country huehe. 

here are the quotes to motivate us to be kind!!!

an act of kindness goes a long way

we cant help everyone but everyone can help someone

the reward of goodness is nothing but goodness

humanity begins with me

3. everything else 

of course i’m not doing justice by compiling everything else into one and saying they were great!! haha alhamdulillah i had an amazing with the pax and my group members participating in teambuilding games, listening to beautiful reminders from beloved asatizah and performing the night prayers together. 

an interesting aspect of this camp was kurma (date) sessions (not the matchmaking kind...fortunately? unfortunately? :p) where anybody could come forward and gift a kurma to someone they’d like to express their appreciation towards. sis didn’t give or receive any extra kurma, but please know i appreciate each and every one of you! despite me nodding off every other hour (nat kidding it reached the point where i fell asleep during prayers ha....haa) and wanting to go back to sleep on my bed, i’m glad i stuck through till the end. i managed to gain so many amazing new insights and the social experiment we prepared for together was super memorable, i’d do it again even if it meant using up lots of energy. 

A, i haven’t the chance to properly thank you yet. thank you for patiently entertaining and sticking by this klingy friend of yours!! thank you for sharing this beautiful experience with me although we were both so tired, especially you being from work. you’ve always been so kind to me in your own ways and words, and i hope i will be able to return the same if not more towards you insyaAllah. i guess one of the most memorable moment we shared was the ‘reenactment’ of the story of prophet musa when he helped take water for two ladies hahahahaha (we were both waiting to take milo but a bunch of guys hogged the area when our dear guy fren offered to take water for us huaha dun weri reenactment insyaAllah wont until the part where prophet musa married one of the two ladies he helped take water for coughs hahahah) xD 

ultimately, the message i took home was to be kind. to myself, to people, and to God’s creatures; the living and non-living. may we all do our part to be kind and collectively make this world a better place, and work for the best home in the next world, amin! 

it’s a shared responsibility in this world that we share, lesdudis togedaaaaaaaaa. remembering the sun that gives and never expects anything in return, let’s also do good for nothing ;-) 

semoga Allah redha

lots of love,

<3