Eid Mubarak

Eid Mubarak to friends, acquaintances and strangers. I apologise for all of my wrongdoings and faults, intentionally or unintentionally, physically, mentally and emotionally. I'm merely human and am grateful to be given another day to reflect and repent.

Eid ulFitri means many things literally. It could mean a celebration for the end of fasting. It could mean a celebration for paying your alms dutifully. It could also mean a celebration for personal progress.

Whichever it may be to us, I hope our Ramadhan was fruitful and full of barakah. May Syawal bring us victory and blessings.

May He grace us with His Love and Mercy and allow us another Ramadhan to celebrate. InsyaAllah. :)

Flowers in Progress

Drawing something abstract while doing Muhasabah (self-reflection) and Muraqabah (being watchful) is a good way of multi-tasking. I also knit and crochet. 

You don't need to have prayer beads to remember Allah. :)

Other things you can do while Muhasabah and Muraqabah

• cook and bake
• exercise
• crafts - from sewing and quilting to woodwork and carpentry
• any hobbies

It's nice to be productive while you review your spiritual and personal self. I hope this helps us all get closer to Allah.

Bismillah & insyaAllah.

Reflections.

I've been making self-reflection a daily habit, most of the time during the few minutes before I go to sleep.

During the day and night, while we move along with our lives, whether we are alone or interacting with loved ones, acquaintances and strangers, we don't really have much time to reflect before and after our actions. I know that we should live life without regrets but a life without a single lesson learned must be truly wasted, don't you think so?

"Blessed is He who made the constellations in the heavens and made therein a lamp and a shining moon. And He it is Who made the night and the day to follow each other for him who desires to be mindful or desires to be thankful."

Al-Furqaan, 61-62.

We are taught and trained since very young to hone our deductive and mathematics skills. It sharpens our logical thinking. It heightens our intellectual prowess. It lets us understand cause and effect, and in turn lets us find valid solutions to get to a desired conclusion. Life is about constantly checking yourself, making sure you know your mistakes and making sure you don't repeat them. It's an innate mechanism of learning. That's how babies learn to understand sensations and emotions.

Most of the time, our lives are so fast-paced and we are from a generation that is more profit-driven than ever. Most of the things we do benefit ourselves more than others, even when it is intangible. It's a scary state of mind and personality.

I'm far from being a good person or Muslimah so I think a session of self-reflection daily would really help to put me back into humility and gratitude to Allah. How terrible it is to forget His every single blessing.

For all the sins and evils I've done, Astaghfirullahalazim.

For all the blessings I've received, Alhamdulillah.

For all the inspirations I've seen, Subhanallah.

For all the aspirations I have, InsyaAllah.

Ramadhan is going away again and I hope we all enter Syawal with the victory worthy of celebrating.  Eid Mubarak, everyone.

Of Early Education for Muslims

When I was young and went to the madrasah, we were told to Fear instead of Love Allah and to reap His rewards like collecting game-points.

"Do this so that you'll get enough merit to enter Jannah. Why? Because Jannah is the happiest place ever. You can get anything you want!"


"Fear Allah because He will punish you, because He is Powerful. Yes, He is Merciful but it is not a sign of respect if you say you love Him. How can you Fear someone you Love? Better to Fear than Love."

It always made me feel like I'm in the wrong for feeling like we are all just being selfish and greedy by wanting to enter Jannah because it's a wonderful place and not because it means our love is His and He loves us.

It always made me wonder if any one of my God-fearing (but not loving) classmates would end up resenting Him for all the punishments He gave but will not be grateful for the even greater Blessings and gifts He showered us with.

Also, the 6 years in the madrasah were filled with failed attempts to explain religion scientifically because, I suspect probably quite correctly, that the teachers do not see science or philosophy as integral aspects of dakwah and do not promote questions among their students. They are really just reciters of what they've learned before.

It's in the books written by other scholars, therefore, it must be true. No need to cross-reference with science or philosophy.

I am blessed to have gone to an Islamic University to study Architecture. Architecture students are taught to question everything. Our favourite question is "why" and so it is to no surprise that we were the more eager to understand beyond the written statements of scholars about Islam. If there is a philosophy behind it, we wanted to understand that. If Islam is the truth, we wanted to see how science is explained and accepted in Islam.

We questioned but not to raise anarchy. We questioned to eradicate those inkling of doubt that came in our heads when logic did not mesh up with what the teachers of our youthful madrasah preached about.

One of the first things I learned from the numerous religious classes by the university is that our religion is about knowledge. The first revelation that was sent down to Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by Jibril (AS) is "Read". Searching for knowledge is a kind of Islamic jihad. Well, if you make it your Islamic jihad, of course.

So it saddens me when these teachers who had the first chance to dip their knowledge into the minds and hearts of young Muslims aren't well-versed in philosophy and science, enough to answer the simple yet profound questions that came from children. They will shape our children's perspective of Islam and what we fear is the blind faith of those racing to be the ones with the most points to get into Jannah, greedy for the material rewards awaiting them.

Let's instil the greed for Allah's Love and Mercy in ourselves and our children.
Let's not let them think only of the many nubile virgins, delicious foods and wonderful rewards waiting for them if they go through motions and rituals.
Let's not assume their questions are not important enough to be answered seriously.

Bismillah and InsyaAllah.

Conquered by the Scandinavian.

Part of my job is to look for trends and websites for one of our lifestyle magazines. Recently, I compiled a trend page on Scandinavian furniture.I think I'm falling in love with the cosiness and masculine protective vibe that Scandinavian designed rooms exude. Here are some photos I borrowed from +obsessilicious. I couldn't find the sources for most of these so I can only point you all to the blog that I sourced it from.

I've added some comments on why I'm particularly drawn to these photos.

Enjoy the domestic Viking voyage below! :)

What I love about Scandinavian design style is how eclectic the furniture is allowed to get yet the room sustains a very homey and cosy ambience. 

I love the combination of the fluted timber wall and glass curtain wall. This picture is hauntingly beautiful especially because of how the vegetation indoors is more lush than those outdoors.

Low concrete ceiling and gorgeous mix of designer chairs. Not to mention the splendid view of the courtyard. How 'secret agent' is this?

If there's exposed roof trusses, I'll be staring upwards with a beatific smile plastered on my face. Combine this with a glass atrium and gorgeous trees blocking the views from outsiders. Imagine this room at night. Very bachelor-pad-ish but I'm betting this gets the guy lucky.

This is more modern, to my opinion. Especially with the neutral tones found in finishing and matching furniture. The design is not so harsh because of the curvaceous furniture and lush outdoor view.

A sunken kitchen! I love level changes in homes. It signifies the room boundaries without being overly closed-up and exclusive. And, of course, the timber finishes makes the kitchen more inviting and cosy.

A modern rugged take. Very minimal in furniture choice, finishings and layout but incredibly cosy.

I must admit that the bookshelves caught my eyes in this one. I don't really like the fireplace being soooo near to all those books. It looks unsafe for humans and literature.

The timber plank walls! The black stone flooring! And I'm guessing (or hoping) that the stairs are a mix of marble slabs and steel. Sexy materials all in one room. 

I'm not a fan of too much clutter (even though my room is in a constant state of clutter) but the dining table with mixed designs of chairs always remind me of the Mad Hatter's tea table, which I love and want for my own.

More glass curtain walls with huge trees outdoors! Not a fan of the bare concrete bricks walls paired with the Scandinavian furniture, though. Somehow, it doesn't mesh well.

Anyone who knows me understands my obsession with patterns. I also have an obsessive adoration to material juxtaposing. This photo is incredibly sexy to my eyes and I can only imagine running my hands along the fenestrations and grooves.

Sink or swim : Friendship

The concept of friendship is something that becomes clearer the older you get and the more mistakes you make (as in the more fake friends, toxic friends or mismatched friends). I think there must be so many labels out there on these "negative" friends yet the simplest "true friend" is enough to encompass all that is positive from this relationship.

Friendship, to me, has always been a more important aspect in life than romance (maybe because I lack the latter in my life thus far) and so I may over-think the things concerning friends. Fall-outs happen and I try to figure out why it happened and whether it could have been prevented.

Whatever it is, it's a relationship between two people. And like a relationship of romantic love, you need to work things out. Communication, trust, balance. If you don't have those, no relationship may work, even the unconditional love ones with your family.

Sometimes people are not aware of how they hurt you. Most of the time, good intentions turn into bad situations but I've always believed that this always happens if you're not being true to yourself. We, being human, like to dress up our selfish needs as good intentions. Come on. Don't deny it.

But just be careful to not be toxic to your friends as well as not to keep friends who are toxic to you.

(Here is a helpful page to help you identify you toxic friends or, God forbid, your own toxic traits)

If you're doing a favour, do it because you really are sincere and not because you want a reward.

If you're lending a helping hand, help because you know you are able to and your friend is in need and not because you want to look good or get some brownie points out of it.

If you actually have some hope or expectations of a reward or payment, tell them. If they are really a friend to you, they'd appreciate the honesty.

If you just can't seem to be honest with them, well, what's the point anyway?

The older you get, the oftener you tend to count your true friends. But why don't we make a difference here by counting how many people we are being true friends to. 

I'm still working on being a friend when you're in need. InsyaAllah I'll be a better one in the future. Bismillah.

Lover of Lines

A couple of pages from my moleskine. I'm thinking of turning these into embroidery / canvas artwork. It would be nice to run your fingers over those lines and feel a sort of texture, yes?