Minimalist Indonesia

  When in Jannah, I want to ask Allah to draw me a constellation of my own life. Especially from the moment He started to guide me back into Islam. From being forced by my research supervisor to sit and listen to him translating the Quran every time we meet, to voluntarily joined a Quran class for 10 days commuting back and forth to Jakarta, until completely falling in love very deeply to every aspect of it.  Or how I started with Surah An Nuur ayah 35, which then a few years later the same ayah become a pinch on my heart in Madinah until making its way to the connection with Surah Al Ahzab ayah 35 too.  Or when I studied Surah Al Ahzab, then I still have a question on how did we win the war, which then answered from another set of syiar that I attended to met an old friend. I believe all these scattered dot are placed by Allah for divine reason. I believe when I look at it all, these dots are connected and forms its own constellation. MY own constellation. Just like how ...

  It is humbling to see how every moment in our life that looks random is not actually random at all. Like the ayah in the Quran, one to another which seems unrelated, could have a connection with the other ayah few pages away. But if we zoom out, we'll find the symmetry, and just like how stars are aligned, it forms a beautiful constellation that will guide us somewhere. *** I met an old friend from high school tonight. Last week I met another one too. It's amazing how we came from the same high school and become a complete opposite to one another. One wears niqab and be even firmer in the deen, and the other even dare to say The Prophet ever do gamble without a proper research. I feel my face turned red when the word about The Prophet were threw casually like that. I came home and sit for a few minutes in my desk just to search the hadith. I couldn't find it, and as it turned out my friend just quoted from some posts.  But what amaze me even more is the fact that my frien...

  ‘Yaa Allah, I know You’re there. I know You’re listening. I know You’re close to me. Please.. forgive me’ *** My heart is full every time I come back from a dakwah session. Maybe because I still don’t do the offline ones often, so it still feel magical everytime I attend one. Today, is a monthly session about the sahabah and today’s topic is Nuaiman bin Mas’ud. A day before this, I just finished the series on Surah Al-Ahzab which makes me cry because ust Nouman was also cry when he said “ whatever you do, keep holding to The Book. Because at least this can be our argument that Yaa Allah we may have messed up but at least we didn’t let It go”. My shalah after that was different and full of tears.  Although the series is completed, but the discussion was more focused on the munafiqoon and Ummahatul Mukminin. The story of the war itself was not deeply elaborated, so I still had question. I know we win.. but how? Little did I know, the answer is provided from today’s session whi...

  As a first born daughter and grand-daughter from parents who got married so young, I have multiple roles in the family other than that two. I am a sister for my siblings and cousins, and also a 'friend' for my aunts, because they trust me with their family and kids stories as if I am an outsider. Today, I am visiting my aunt and we had a little talk about a school which is one of the best Islamic school in Indonesia. But the reality is their teaching does not fully reflect Islamic teaching, and the social life among the students. So she should be toughen up, to go against her youngest daughter's tantrum comparing herself and her friends. "Of course the mother is the madrasah.. but the father is the headmaster!" my aunt conclude her story about dividing role between her and my uncle. We laugh. She was right. Kids education supposed to be on both responsibilities because if not, the mother will always be the bad cop and kids will hate her for that. Her image to th...