Br. Pilot
Have you met a pilot in person? Unless one of your relatives is a pilot, meeting one in person sure is a big deal, isn't it? Not only did I meet one, I even spent some precious time with this guy. (and this is a Malay pilot I'm talking about!) OK. This happened when I was spending time with a jama'ah whose 'amir was a Singaporean. Mael, Wae, Ramli and a couple more students from INTEC were in this jama'ah too. I joined them a bit late though, thanks to my poor planning. This pilot guy..well, he was tall and sturdy, bright-skinned, and good-looking too. It was his home village we were spending time at if I'm not mistaken. When it comes to sharing experiences, he was not stingy at all. He said in all his years of being a pilot, he has faced all kinds of evil temptations (wah..evil tu..) And trying to stand up against them, many of his friends have fallen face-down. He was very grateful that Allah swt was keeping him in the right path. One thing about him that impressed me was that every time he listened or read about stories of the sahabah, he would weep a lot. His heart was really affected by how these great people were willing to sacrifice everything in the cause of Allah and His Rasul, especially the parts when they had to deal with so much opposition from the musyrikin. Indeed, these are the stories we should be reading to our wives and children (bagi yang dah ade lah). We only had a few days together before we had to split up upon going to the next masjid. (p/s: To whom it may concern, you guys may add to the story or even correct it..this was a long time back that I've forgotten much about it).
Ubai, Fauzan and Ehsan: The Huffaz Trio
This took place in Negeri Sembilan. These three young men are among those many fortunate youth who have been honored as the people of Quran. They were 16, 17 and 18 years old respectively. Being huffaz, they have the entire Quran sealed inside their chests. Having them in the jama'ah was a blessing really. Thanks to them, I had much of my tajweed checked and corrected. But those three can be quite a handful on occasion. Well, being 'grounded' in the madrasah with all these tight routines, going out on khuruj was sure an opportunity to kick back and relax. To them khuruj was a means to freedom. On the other hand, khuruj to me is my madrasah, mobilized madrasah. =) Anyway..that wasn't a big deal though..after all, they were still kids. But no matter how much relaxed they might seem, they never left their Qurans aside. They always kept these small Qurans with them and would refresh their memorization whenever possible. Throughout the 40 days, I must admit that the traces of their routine did get into me somehow. Apart from the prescribed 'amal that we were supposed to observe, we did a lot of fun-but-legal stuff together as well: from taking a dip in the river to being out in the bushes looking for durians...but the best part of all was we being like brothers to each other. They all had intention of going on to their 'alim courses soon. Ubai was mentioning Pakistan, Fauzan and Ehsan were weighing up Indonesia and the UK. I send my best du'as for them. Hope they won't forget about me when they all have become great 'aalim in the future. Looking forward to seeing them all as full-fledged 'aalim. At least I can brag a thing or two about having spent some time with them..haha takdelah..
p/s: May Allah swt reunite us back in the best of ways..ameen
