Series of unfortunate events - weren't they?

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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.

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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.

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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?”

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“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.

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“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