.بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
When an opportunity is Written for you, it will be yours.
No ifs, no buts: it’s already, by the Will of Allah … yours. Even if you have to wait for it, for, say… nine years. Even if you end up having to… go on some insane, treacherous, winding quest through some mountains for it. Fire and (figurative) beasts and all.
Have you noticed how… Allah Will make things smooth… when they are meant for you? It’s like… this unique ‘ease’. Even when moments feel kind of difficult, in that mind of yours. Allah is Al-FattaH, the Opener. Of doors, of seas, of… galaxies, Dear Reader. The Opener of opportunities, Tayyib (good) for you. And! He Knows your heart. Better than you, have ever, will ever, know your own heart!
.وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ
“And He is the Subtle, the All-Acquainted.”
— Qur’an, (6:103).
No matter what. What your Lord, Most Merciful, Has Written for you: it’s yours.
Whether it be: a friend whom you feel like you just… know, ‘already’. As if… ‘for years‘ or something.
Or, something you have wanted to do, for a while. And maybe you’d ‘forgotten’ about it, but Allah never either errs, nor forgets. So, there it is, in the very right time, in the best of ways: presented to you. A gift from the Almighty. Now is the time, and it’s actually… always been yours. Just: in the right time, and in Allah’s chosen ways.
And all you find you can really do and say, in retrospect: thank you Allah. I could never have done something like this… ‘by myself’, ‘for myself’. Never. Subhaan Allah .
[We just need to trust Him more. He is the Most Deserving of being trusted, leaned on.]
Today, my friend ج and I had visited Trafalgar Square, for Eid in the Square.
I just learnt that ج’s aunt had four horses in her back garden. Four. Horses. [!!!]
We’d stopped at the local masjid for Dhuhr: entered via a particular entrance. But the sisters’ section had seemed closed. The door would not open. So… what to do? I needed to do wudhu, and… the other nearby masjid (East London Mosque) had been a bit of a walk away.
We ended up leaving the building, and then walking around it, to the other entrance. A different entrance that I’d come to know about (and, indeed, this is how I’d come to first visit this particular masjid), AlHamduli Llah, because Allah had presented me with a particular opportunity via a sister I work alongside. And the opportunity for that job role: via my aunt, via the Assistant Principal of the school, AlHamduli Llah. And: as a result of a certain door, for a certain university that year, having been closed by Allah . All with good, Divinely-Ordained… reason.
The right things for you will be for you. AlHamduli Llah.
The doors — to the women’s prayer space, and to the wudhu area — had been opened that way. We’d just had to… walk around. That is what Allah had Written for us.
We had taken a double-decker (one of the newer, electric ones, that is,) bus to Trafalgar Square. My little tutee, whose name is Erik, loves buses and trains. And actually… so do I, deep down. I kind of wanted to sit up at the front today, but… those seats had been taken. Different seats had been… meant for us, on this day.
We stopped to get some ice-cream. Specifically: with chocolate sauce for me, and… raspberry sauce for ج. Keeping up the spirit of Eid and all!
We had to wait a fair while to receive our orders. Order number 086 had been we.
And when our number had appeared on the screen: collect order 086. We’d gone up to the counter to look for it. It had not been there. And then, suddenly: it had disappeared from the order screen altogether.
When I had gone to ask one of the people working there about it… Another customer had basically been more assertive with his request for his order. We’ve been waiting for so long! Where is the order?!
So he got his. I had to wait a little longer.
Eventually: I asked a brother working there, explaining that… our order’s just gone from the screen. He walked up to the ice-cream machine, and it seemed like a dual cupholder had been there for us, order attached, but then left unattended. Within moments, he’d kindly prepared our order, and we got our ice-cream.
Sabr, friends. Sabr.
It was a good ice-cream though, and… worth waiting for.
Worth… contemplating on such things as the ‘angry foreigner’ trope, as opposed to the ‘civilised, respect-worthy white person’ idea, afterwards.
Oh, and: I got yet another thing to write about on this here blog out of the whole thing, AlHamduli Llah
Eid in the Square.
So many people, Maa Shaa Allah . All kinds of people.
And stalls: for example, one by the Yunus Emre Institute, which is an organisation that is dedicated to supporting the learning of traditional Turkish arts and culture. Like: hüsn-i hat, the art/science of calligraphy.
It is like a “science,” according to one of the calligraphers, one of the hattats, that had been there today.
She’d said that there’s a particular way, in terms of precision, in terms of form. And: they train under specialists (masters of calligraphy,) and then are able to receive ‘Ijaazaat‘, i.e. official permission, authorisation, to then go and teach.
[You can also receive an Ijaaza in such things as… Qur’an recitation.]
Then: there is also Ebru. This refers to the Turkish art of sprinkling and swirling a particular type of paint onto a pan of oily water, and then dipping paper into it. The end result is beautiful: floral, and/or reminiscent of latticework, foliage, and more.
We had witnessed, today, a little boy, one of the guests at this stall, being invited to try out the art of Ebru for himself. Sprinkling colour pigments, different colours. Swirling. Dipping paper in. And a lovely pattern had emerged onto it.
In general, Turkey, and in particular Istanbul, would appear to be a place of significance for many Muslims today. For example: it is where one of my current friends, ع, had started learning Arabic, and where her parents currently live.
It’s where… some people are Divinely guided to, on their journeys in faith. It’s somewhere that is special to me too, AlHamduli Llah . Prior to really coming to Islam, in my very heart, at the age of eighteen: Allah had taken me to… Istanbul. Aspects of it: truly inspiring, Maa Shaa Allah , and I would recommend visiting the city, whether you are currently Muslim, or not.
Other stalls that had been held at this event had included: one by the London Muslim Health Network. Another: by the Association of Muslim Police. One… selling dresses made of vegan silk.
Plenty of food stalls too: Venezuelan street food. Desi. Turkish. Uzbek (whose sign had mentioned something about the historical ‘Silk Road’).
A Somali Museum stall. Mendhi. Another health stall: specifically for mother-and-baby health, and mental health, and otherwise. Oh! And:
A science stall, run by a company called ‘KidWise’, which has its own science lab built especially for kids, here in London. They also travel to places, for parties and such, and offer tutoring in STEM up until GCSE age, I think.
Today, they had been running a stall based on the phases of the moon.
Allah had also opened another opportunity for ج. He Knows what your heart wants, and He Knows the best time, and in which capacity, to Provide for you.
ج has been wanting to volunteer with the charity Islamic Relief. Today, we had found an Islamic Relief stall at the event, and she managed to sign up for volunteering with them! AlHamduli Llah
Dear Reader.
Do you believe in ‘Love at first Sight‘?
Because I do. Today, I saw something that just made my heart… gleam. I felt giddy, this child-like gleeful energy, AlHamduli Llah … Because… I had seen… a stall having been held by the Muslim Scouts!!!!!!!!!
When I was younger, I’d so wanted to be a Scout! Some of my cousins had been participants of the local Muslim Scouts, but I… had been… a little above the age range, to join back then. A childhood dream, ‘unfulfilled’, until…
I saw it. There, today. Camping food pots, neckerchiefs, badged-up hoodies and all. This. Is. My. Destiny. In Shaa Allah
One of the sisters running the stall had explained that it’s not really quite what the movies might show… Being a Scout doesn’t really entail… selling cookies and so on. It’s about building life skills. And I really want to (as a volunteer,) own one of those uniform sets, In Shaa Allah In Shaa Allah
I could cry. Tears of joy and gratitude. I could cry.
Today, after having gone through a difficult mental time this morning, I had actually prayed, while in that masjid, to Al-FattaH, the Opener, to open for me a way out of something difficult I’ve been facing. And to Open the doors of what is meant (and good, basically) for me, and to bar me entirely, essentially, from what is not.
I really do love such things as… Islamic calligraphy. Science, including astronomy, AlHamduli Llah . Being Muslim. And: being an actual member of the actual Muslim Scouts, In Shaa Allah
On the bus ride back home, I’d encountered a small group, of tourists, presumably. And one of them had been shouting things out of the window. Like: “Excuse me. Are you Batman?!” to people wearing Covid masks, it seemed…
ج and I had stopped to get some drinks; we’d walked by the serene, Spring-reflecting canal. Found some family friends of ours, at my house, including little five-year-old Ayan, a real little cutie-pie, Maa Shaa Allah . He’d referred to me as… a Nanu. A grandma: his nan is my aunt. Do I really look that old already?!
And then ج and I had eaten some chicken biryani together. And, later: we had some chai. And, certainly, this day, and the conversations, and the hope and comfort Allah , the Most Merciful, has Given me through it: all Written. All: meant to be. AlHamduli Llah .
[I sincerely hope that I will be seen wearing my striped neckerchief around sometimes, soon, In Shaa Allah . Because dreams really, really do come true, because… Ar-Rahmān (the Most Merciful) is also Al-Wadūd (the Loving and Affectionate One) and He is also Al-FattaH , the One who opens doors, and makes things possible.
AlHamduli Llah ].
Journey to the Heart of Islam. 