Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
“Ya Allah let me learn something useful today, amin.”
With unusually high spirit, thick library books borrowed
from the library tucked safely inside her backpack, she opened the door and
started walking. The sky was rather dark; those fluffy white clouds weren’t as
white as before. They were gray. As those gray patches moved slowly, the wind
suddenly blew them away harshly as if uneasy with their slow pace. Soaring
pigeons seemed breathless, trying to keep up with the clouds.
“Tup, tup…”
As the mystifying sound of the first drops of rain falling
down on the brown soil entered her ears, she spontaneously turned her head
towards the dim sky. “Raining?”, whispered Minah to herself. Her footsteps became
faster and faster until finally, Minah started running towards the bus stop.
Pe’ah and Hani who were walking beside her, arrived at the bus much faster and
just stood there under the roof of the bus stop waiting for her; panting.
As her steps brought her nearer to them, Minah tried to look
for a spot to shelter herself from the heavy rain. To her disappointment, there
weren’t any space left under that roof. People, big or small, chubby or not;
were all there, waiting for a bus to come. In Minah’s mind, she could almost
imagine during akhirah; just like this roof, only selected people would be
sheltered under Allah’s arasy, sheltered from the unbearable boiling heat, safe
from harm. Her cold fingers pulled up the hood of her orange sweater, covering
her drenched scarf. Her dark brown eyes were vigilant; she was just unwilling
to miss the next bus.
As sudden as it started, the rain stopped. Amazed, Minah
looked up and saw the sunlight peeking out between the branches of a tree near
to her. Oh! Cool! The buds are coming out!, thought Minah in her mind.
When she returned her focus to the road in front of her, the young woman’s jaw
dropped. People were already crammed inside the bus, leaving no space between
them, not even a cat could fit in. But you see, Minah wasn’t ready to give up.
This is not the day Minah would be late to class. On the first day of a new
cycle? No, no. As she hurried towards the crowded vehicle, Minah caught a
glimpse of Pe’ah and Hani inside the bus.
“How could they….?
T_T Sampai hati… ”
She tried to hop on but was pushed out right before the
doors slammed shut right at her face. The bus left, and suddenly, it struck her
mind; she didn’t know how to get to class! Rummaging her pockets
to find her trusty phone, Minah’s expression changed to a dark gloomy look when
she realized that her phone was drenched. The screen showed nothing but
the reflection of her own sad face.
Minah pushed the “on”
button several times, shook it up and down, right and left to no prevail. The
panicked young woman took a very deep breath, trying to digest what just
happened. “No, no; wake up phone!
Don’t die on me.. Why? Why is this happening to me??? Why meee???” The five stages of acceptance glaringly
manifested inside herself- deny, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Minah slowly massaged her throbbing temples.
“Astaghfirullah.”
Still digesting, Minah just hopped onto the next bus. Her
eyebrows were knitted to each other, forehead wrinkled up, the angles of her
lips went downward, and her eyes; the sorrow within those glassy eyes completed
the most depressed picture you would ever see. Minah paced towards the window
and held on to one of the green poles to maintain her balance. Avoiding the
unfamiliar faces around her, she glanced outside the window with a concentrated
“asam keping” sour expression on her face. The bus halted as it arrived
at one of its stops. The sound of the doors opening caused a reflex, turning
Minah’s head towards them.
At that moment, a little boy with a small plastic shovel in
his hand went into the bus with his granny, with the most heart-warming smile
on their faces. Minah felt a little bit irritated by their smile, if not very. How
can one smile at a time like this? Frustrated, she wiped the drops of tears
on her cheeks and quickly turned her face to the window. Staring at her own
reflection, a thought suddenly unraveled inside her mind - a memory from her
past of someone she respects. The eyes of that person showed huge concern when
his mouth uttered, “You’ll know how low your iman is, when even smiling for
the sake of Allah becomes so hard…”
“Astaghfirullahalazhim..”
“And how many a prophet [fought and] with him fought many
religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what afflicted them in
the cause of Allah, nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah loves the
steadfast. Ali-Imran : 146
As she stood there inside the bus, Minah’s mind started to
ponder. Didn’t she make doa to Allah this morning, so that she could learn
something useful? These unfortunate incidences which occurred one after
another, haven’t they given her anything?
The day replayed itself like a film inside her head. When
Minah first arrived at the bus stop, she couldn’t find a place to shelter
herself from the rain and the roof of the bus stop made her think of akhirah,
when only the chosen people would be sheltered and protected under His arasy.
Will she, Minah binti Imran, be one of the chosen ones? She’s done quite a lot
of good deeds. “I’ve always tried to be the best to my parents”, she
thought. “I’ve given sadaqah to the needy.”
“I’ve never missed a single lecture.”
Say, "This is my way; I invite to Allah with
insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah; and I am not of those
who associate others with Him." -Yusuf:
108
“I go to usrah every week~~~ okayla tu…kan, kan?”
“Think again
Minah, think again…”, a familiar voice which came from a corner of her mind
echoed loudly in her in her ears. When Minah was on her way to the bus stop,
Pe’ah and Hani were already there waiting for her under the roof. Though Minah
did run, she didn’t exert as much effort as Pe’ah and Hani to get a place under
the roof. Is her effort, those deeds she listed in her mind enough to secure
her spot under Allah’s roof on the day of judgement?
In her mind, she could see herself dragging her feet so
slowly along this long path she has chosen, the longest road ever, I must say…
at times, her steps were stopped, just
because she doesn’t feel like walking…not only that, there were times she did
not only stop, but, she even turned around to find a bench and just sat down to
take a nap; when the others who are taking the same road were breathless,
panting all the way, holding hands running as fast as they can, eager to reach
the destination. Why in the world is she, Minah, napping on the bench at
the side of the road?
“dan berjihadlah kamu dijalan Allah dengan
jihad yang sebanar-benarnya. Dia telah memilih kamu,…” Al-Hajj : 78
“Berangkatlah kamu baik dengan rasa ringan maupun berat, dan berjihadlah dengan harta dan jiwamu di jalan
Allah..” Al-Taubah: 41
Staring out the window at the bright blue sky, she thought
of Pe’ah and Minah. It’s not their fault I was left behind… I was the one who was not paying attention,
preoccupied by silly silly things..
“Belum tibakah waktunya bagi orang-orang yang beriman,
secara khusyuk mengingat Allah dan mematuhi kebenaran yang telah diwahyukan,….” Al-Hadid:16
Minah came to a realization of the hard cold truth…she
hasn’t done anything but playing beside the path that she thought she
was walking on..playing around like a small child, deeply immersed in her own
jahiliyyah..
“setiap jiwa akan mengetahui apa yang telah dikerjakan
dan yang dilalaikan. Wahai manusia! Apakah yang telah memperdayakan kamu
terhadap Tuhan-mu Yang Maha Pengasih.” Al-Infithar : 5-6
***
Even though a humongous sack of bad undesirable things fell
upon her on that day, reflecting on the knowledge and the realization she had;
Minah couldn’t stop thinking of a beautiful verse from the quran,
“…boleh jadi kamu tidak menyenangi sesuatu, padahal itu
baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal itu tidak baik
bagimu. Allah Mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui.”
Al-Baqarah:216
Looking down at her shoes, Minah immediately noticed that
the laces were untied. She bent down and started working on them, tying them
into a ribbon. A small crumpled sheet of paper fell down on the floor when she
finished tying the laces. Curiously, Minah picked it up and started to read
what was written on it.
Go to Ploshad
Svobody,when you get out from the bus, turn right, turn left, and do
the hokey pokey and turn yourself around…
“Subhanallah!”
Yes. It is the direction to her class. Minah suddenly
remembered that she asked Pe’ah to tell her how to go there and Pe’ah wrote it
on a piece of scrap paper for her.
“Ostanovka, Ploshad Svobody.”
Grasping the paper tightly, Minah dashed towards the door
and jumped out from the bus right on time. Looking ahead at a path in front of
her, Minah’s heart was unlatched by the bright blue sky and the unfortunate
events which had happened just flew away, leaving behind a rainbow inside her
beating heart. Minah realized that she was depending on her phone, on her
friends; to get to class…the things that she depended herself on, they are also
weak and as small as her. When what she should do was to depend, and to hold
tight to the only one, The One Almighty.
“Minah!!!” cried someone from far. “Hani, Pe’ah!!!” shrieked
Minah excitedly. She ran towards them like she hasn’t seen them for decades.
“We thought that you were inside the bus with us but when
we realized that you weren’t, it was impossible to get out. People were
pushing. Oh, Minah, sorry.. we tried calling but you didn’t pick up~~ We didn’t
know what else to do.. We are about to go back to that stop to find you …”
With a big smile on her face, Minah took Pe’ah and Hani by
their hands and started walking. Pe’ah and Hani exchanged glances, full of
question; but started walking as well…
“Ya Allah, let us learn something useful today, amin :] “
‘Sesungguhnya dalam penciptaan langit dan bumi, dan pergantian
malam dan siang, terdapat tanda-tanda (kebesaran) Allah bagi orang yang
berakal. Iaitu orang-orang yang mengingat Allah sambil berdiri, duduk, atau
dalam keadaan berbaring, dan mereka memikirkan tentang penciptaan langit dan
bumi (seraya berkata), “Ya Tuhan kami, tidaklah Engkau menciptakan sesuatu
dengan sia-sia; Mahasuci Engkau, lindungilah kami dari azab neraka.” Al-Imran:190-191
by: A_pacEmakER
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