Ramadan in Korea pt.2 : The best gift on the 29th night of Ramadhan

Assalamu'alaikum! Happy Eid Mubarak. 

May Allah always bless you throughout the year!

I still can't believe it that Ramadhan has left us :'( 라마단 아주 그리워... But alhamdulillah, as always, Allah let me taste the beauty of this holy Ramadhan with the beautiful soul, people, and atmosphere although I live miles away from home. My first Ramadhan far from family. Memorable yet I still miss my family and friends. The foods are no different, but the people... no one can replace our family, right?

Anyways, if you haven't read my first post about Ramadhan in Korea please click this link! In the last two weeks of Ramadhan, Allah opened my eyes to learn and discover about other Surah in the Qur'an. Ramadan is the perfect month if you want to get closer to Allah and the Qur'an because this is the month of revelation and He rewards us with soooo many glad tidings and rewards. Masha'Allah. My favourite Surah always revolves around Ar Rahman, Al Kahfi, An Naba, and Al Mulk, but ever since I listened and learned more about Al Qalam and Az Zumar... my heart just dropped. Even Surah Al Fatihah... the mother of Surah, the first Surah that we memorized when we were 6 years old now feels different. Every time I read another Surah, jumped to the next verse, pondering about what Allah is trying to tell me makes me fall in love deeper and deeper. How can you not love the Qur'an when it is the only book where the Writer is fall in love with the reader?

“Islam began as something strange, and it shall return to being something strange

as it began, so give glad tidings to the strangers.” (Sahih Muslim)

This Ramadhan motivates me so much to learn the Arabic language, for Allah's sake Wallahi I am so jealous of the people who can speak and understand Arabic since they were born because in that way they would understand what the imam is reciting during Fardh prayer, Taraweeh prayer, and most important... the Witr du'a (prayer)! The Witr du'a mashaAllah dear brother and sister, people cried... people will cry rivers if only they knew the meaning. The Witr du'a should feel like...the detox of our soul? Pretty much. And Alhamdulillah... alhamdulillah for the blessings that Allah gave me, this Ramadhan got me realized that there is still a loooottt of things that I need to learn and discover. Yet...what I do is sleep. So many new goals and objective to achieve, I am so excited!!! Please keep me in your du'a xD heheheeeee

I am so jealous of the people beside me because they can cry during prayer, especially witr, to the point that I am so dedicated to look for Witr du'a with English translations on Youtube. And Wallahi mashaAllah I cried. Just wonder how would I feel if I can understand Arabic. MashaAllah what a beautiful du'a what a beautiful feelings :')))) Well this is just an example of witr dua, but wallahi wallahi so beautiful..........

Oh! I want to tell you one of the memorable days during this Ramadhan. So, on the 18th day of Ramadhan - 2nd of June, I went to Gimhae with GKS Muslim friends in Silla University: Amira, Ghazal, Rano, Fahd, Pranata, Normatjon, and Daler. We were planning to break our fast together alias buka bersama, this is our first time to break our fast together because we always did it separately or...I'll be in the masjid! We went by bus number 62 and took the train to Gimhae for 1 hour and half since 6.30 before arrived in Uzbek-Russian Restaurant. Oh anyway, it's in a different province but near Busan.

I was sitting beside Fahd in the train and talking about how much we love this deen and how grateful we are to be blessed with Islam. It is so beautiful. And we were talking about prophet Muhammad, especially the moment when Prophet Muhammad passed away yet he always thinks about his ummah. "Yaa Ummati...ya ummati...ya ummati....". And see ourselves? How many times in a day that we think about Prophet Muhammad. We talked about how we cried the first time we watched it, and whenever we watched it again and again, it always brings us to tears. Ya Allah... how I miss Rasulullah SAW... Allahumma Shalli Alaa Muhammad.

And you know, there is this famous hadith that we really love, and it should be enough for you to realize how much Prophet Muhammad cares, misses, and loves us. May Allah made us among the ummah of the Prophet Muhammad in the hereafter, aamiin.

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “I wish I could meet my brothers.” The Prophet’s companions said, “Are we not your brothers?” The Prophet said, “You are my companions, but my brothers are those who have faith in me although they never saw me.” Source: Musnad Aḥmad 12169. Grade: Hasan (fair) according to Al-Albani

Finally, we arrived in Gimhae just a couple of minutes after iftaar (sunset, maghrib. the time when Muslim breaks their fast). Me and Amira brought our dates and shared it with our starving friends. Hahahaha they ate it all! Then, after ordering some foods some of us prayed Maghrib prayer in congregation at a small Musholla (prayer room, smaller than mosque) near the restaurant. We got to eat Kebab, Samosa, and a lot of meat and lamb that I don't know the name of but the most important thing is it's halal and delicious!! We spent almost 100,000 won for one dinner, astaghfirullah but we have no choice because halal food is always expensive but whatever at least our heart is at ease and we don't do it everyday xD. After that, we took a walk at night and ate vanilla ice cream from Lotteria that only costs 500 won hahahaha #brokelife

We joookeeddd so much along the way, I am feeling like I have a family. Well, we often hang out with other friends too, but, maybe just maybe because we feel like we have this connection as one-ummah, as a Muslim, this feels....different. I don't know but I hope we can meet again together in Jannah and I prayed that Allah will guide them and makes it easier for them to practice and be proud of our religion. Insha'Allah.

"A Gift From Allah"
Allah answered my prayer on the 29th night of Ramadhan at 2 a.m during Qiyamul Lail. Alhamdulillah. I'd rather not tell you what it was, but this was the best gift that a humble slave could ever get from his Lord, his Master. I am writing this to keep myself reminded if someday I've forgotten about this :')

This Ramadhan was not perfect, but it left me a lot of lessons and make me realized upon every single blessing that Allah gave me. The atmosphere was amazing, even though I am miles away from being apart from my family and lovely friends. 2 hours journey back and forth from my dorm to the mosque that I've always trying to do whenever I have time. It feels miserable to remember that I only have to take 5 minutes walk to go to the mosque in Indonesia, few minutes walk to halal foods, those are one of the blessings that we tend to forget. This Ramadhan was not the best, but I have done my best. May He always bless us and give another chance to meet this beautiful month until next year.

Ramadan has left us, 
but don't let the lessons and positive changes it brought us leave from within us. 
This is not the end! You never know what little prayer/du'a can save you from the fire and admit you into jannah 🌺