As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,
Recently i made a journey of a-thousand mile (literally), alhamdulillaah.
I was blessed to be able to meet many Muslims and be part of their lives as they took me into their blessed and happy homes, i was awed by the beautiful creations of Allaah the AlMighty everywhere i went, learnt the struggles faced by my brothers and sisters in upholding their faith, was humbled by many incidences that brought me down to my knees, witnessed that kindness and love exist across faith, race, color and status, experienced what brotherhood in islam really meant, corrected many perspectives and misconceptions i have in/of my own life, appreciated the manifestation of creativity in arts and science that Allaah has given to His creations, observed the many pleasant and harsh reality of life, really understood and put into practice what trusting Allaah really meant and many thousands of other lessons of life, which, inshaAllaah, i will share in my writing in the future.
The truth of the matter is this, i started the trip with one small notebook and came back with tens of them! :)) Alhamdulillah.
Gilbert K. Chesterton was right when he said,
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.
That trip taught me many life lessons. From the things i saw to the ones I experienced myself. I remembered there was this one particular moment of difficulty i faced during the journey, i had to remind myself of the story of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) when he was thrown into the fire, the angel Jibreel (peace be upon him) asked him, 'Do you need anything?'
Prophet Ibrahim answered, 'Nothing from you. Allah knows my condition (status).'
With this lesson from my Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), at that trying moment i faced, i closed my eyes, whispered to myself softly, and prayed to Allaah ' Ya Rabb, I am Your servant, and i am pleading to You for help, You know what i need, You know my conditions, so Ya Allaah, please help me, please help me, please help me.'
And you know what, of course He Did! SubhanAllaah. He had sent me help via another kind-hearted and wonderful Muslim who assisted me that day. Allaahu Akbar, Allaah Kareem, Allaah AlWadood, the Most Loving, The One Who Knows....
Indeed, my eyes became teary remembering this verse...
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Say: Travel in the land and see how (Allaah) originated the creation, and then Allaah will bring forth the creation of the Hereafter (i.e. resurrection after death). Verily, Allaah is Able to do all things”
[al-‘Ankaboot 29:20]
Yes, all so true, so true, so true. I saw all that. SubhanAllaah...
At every moment during my trip, I have prayed to Allaah to fulfill the wishes and prayers of all individuals who had asked me to pray for them, and also to reward abundantly with His unlimited blessings upon every soul that has helped me in any way, assisted me, cared for me, held my hands, put food on my plate, put roof over my head, provided mattress for my tired physical, gave me blanket to warm me up, directed me to the right medication when i had fever and bad cold, started conversation with me-the stranger, gave me their warm smiles, soothed me with kind words, peaced me with their loving hugs, showed me directions when i lost my way, pointed me to the halaqahs, brought me into their gatherings, drove me to places, took the trouble to fetch me from my stations, made me giggle and happy etc- either directly or indirectly during this journey of mine.
That was a traveler's prayer to the kind souls she met during her journey. May Allaah bless you all my brothers and sisters, May Allaah bless us all, Ameen...
Throughout the journey, I must admit that i am a little bit like Edward Weston. Why? Because i acted exactly like what he once said...
“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.”
So, my dearest friends and readers, here, i would like to share with you just some from the thousands of photographs i took. They are not necessary the best ones as some of them cant be shown to public *wink*, but, these photos nevertheless should give you some general ideas of what i saw and captured through my lenses. For me, i only want to capture a second of the part of the reality...
May we all able to learn and benefit from them one way or another...
Ramadhan Mubarak, salaam and peace to all...
Copyright © Sis Zabrina 2007
Sis Zabrina, Author
Life is an Open Secret - 18 Inspirational Stories from Ordinary life experiences
~Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories~
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