Friends In Quantity, or Friends With Quality?

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

Assalamualaikum everyone! How's life? :) Sorry for not updating myself with you guys so much. Been too busy to cooperate with other commitments lately. And at last Alhamdulillah, after a month, hello blog! :)

So.. About today's topic. Friends In Quantity, or Friends In Quality? I chose to write about this because recently I've been trough quite a few circumstances where I realize about how important it is to have a good quality friend. At least one person.

Okay. It starts since I was in my first semester here. As I mentioned things here are different. I left my supportive friends and family back there in semenanjung. I had to. Jihaad. And start a new life chapter in Bintulu. I couldn't deny that I fell into my own weakness, plus, facing them alone. Rasa macam tak boleh bangun. 

"My weakness? They exist when my family and friends weren't there with me through my rough times. It feels like I've lost my brace."

I was a loner back then for the whole semester. Rarely walking in pairs, nor partners. Senang gerak seorang diri, because you don't have to wait for someone else until we drag our own time. Buang masa sangat. This is my opinion lah don't judge k.

And for this second semester, it is a different thing. Things get better Alhamdulillah, where I found a bunch of good friends, lillahi taala. All praises to Allah.

Here's what happened...

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FIRSTLY

A few weeks ago we had a 2 days camp, Kem Solatku Matiku. Alhamdulillah it went excellently smooth and knowledgeable. And I saw several of my friends started to show their interest in Islam. To get to know more about what Islam actually is. Alhamdulillah, such a heartwarming feeling. Syukur sangat.

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SECONDLY

I went for a short outing with Iylia. (Planned to keep her name anonymous but it'll be much easier to explain with a fixed name I guess lol).

We were sooo stressed out that week so we just spontaneously planned to have a 'short date' in TS. Jalan punya jalan punya jalan, it's already dzuhur. Cari tempat solat. Tak jumpa.

Then we asked this akak, she's a Muslimah and she sells a few muslimah clothing there. 

"Assalamualaikum kak. Tumpang tanya. Ada tempat solat tak kat sini?"

"Waalaikumussalam. Sini tak ada tempat solat, dik. Tapi kamu boleh cuba tanya kakak yang kat tingkat bawah ni jual tudung, dia ada bilik solat."

Okay. "Tak ada tempat solat" was a very shocking answer is it? So we did as we were told to. Alhamdulillah selesai solat zohor walaupun terpaksa tebalkan muka minta tumpang solat.

Then jalan punya jalan punya jalan. Asar pula. We were like "Takkan lah nak pergi tumpang lagi kat akak tu."

Hmm yeah. So Iylia told me. "Emm it's okay jat. I still have my wudhu though. And my clothes are already menutup aurat. We just need a place to perform solat. Let's go find a place where there's not many passerby.    

And we found this place. 

Kedai yang belum siap, with a dusty wide box. 

Iylia dust them off with her palms wrapped in plastic. 

"Okay. Clean. Boleh solat dah."

I watched her pray from her first takbir to salam. Allah. How big this Jihaad is Ya Rabb. Thank you for granting me a friend that keeps her Solah as her first priority. It really brings me along this journey. In my heart was like, 

"I hope you're not nervous performing your Solah here, Iylia. This is quite an exposed place by the way."

And right after she finished, I gave her that warm hug like we've never met for years. Lama. Dan rapat. 

"Thanks for being here Ejat. It's a big Jihaad."

Allah :')

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THIRDLY

On 30th January I had a hockey tournament to cope with since I'm the AJK Program. Although I didn't do much but still I'm an AJK though. We need to be there before the tournament starts until everything is settled. 

So unexpectedly, it ends until its almost Isyak about 7:45pm. Lambat gila perghhh.

I don't really mind if I didn't plan for anything that night but malam tu ada program kat Dewan Suarah Bintulu. Ustaz Kazim Elias was there. Sangat rugi kalau tak datang is it? Since we rarely have those kind majlis ilmu here. 

So the whole day my mind was really occupied thinking if I could reach there on time, it starts at 8:00pm. But seeing the tournament dragged about an hour late so I was just expecting to only be present instead of being there on time. 

While the tournament was going on I met Iylia and Sahira walking around our court, so I rushed to them.

"Ejat pergi tak malam ni?"

"I don't knowwww......................."

"Awww please do."

"Yes I am hoping that I could. Nak pergiiiiiiiii. Susah nak dapat ni T_T"

"I know.."

"Or if you guys could help me?"

"Sure In Shaa Allah. What is it?"

"Iron my tudung and niqab in my room, make them ready so I could just change my clothes after this tournament. Tak mandi pun tak apa. As long as I am there later."

"Alright sure."

So I handed them my keys. 

That night. 

I rushed home to get myself ready. Siap siap kat bilik Iylia. And she told me,

"Ejat. Your clothes are in the Padini bag. Tadi your roommate packed your things. Your clothes your pencuci muka your berus gigi. Siap ambil jubah zaty yang tak payah iron punya masuk sekali dalam bag. Mira kata takkanlah zaty tak nak salin baju sekali."

And I was like, Allahu. Seriously? Alhamdulillah! You eased my way Ya Rabb. Thank you :')

And on our way to Dewan Suarah, Iylia gave me her roti sosej. 

"Ejat. Here. Belum makan kan? Eat this. It's your rezeki."

Allahu. Yes I haven't took my dinner yet. Alhamdulillah. rezeki lagi.

Thank you Allah for this whole day of ease. So we reached there like 8:45pm, tak apalah as long as we were there kan? 

"Iylia. I don't have much cash right now."

"It's okay my dear. Iylia bayarkan dulu."

Again. Alhamdulillah.

Happy faces Alhamdulillah hehehehehe :3

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Alhamdulillah.

So to make this short, it is important to have good friends around you. They'll pass their positive vibes to you. Alhamdulillah for everything Ya Rabb. 

Moga bermanfaat untuk semua :)