A Blessed Land Indeed

Sorry for the lack of updates. First it was the excitement of going back to Malaysia, and then there was also the need for recuperating and self-pampering back at home.

Let me share with you some of many first sights I encountered in the hour after I arrived. Well, my family picked me up from the airport. They looked great; there was not any distinct difference in them after the ten-month period since the last time I saw them. Personal life aside, we later headed back home that is in Shah Alam. It was already Maghrib by that time, and fretting that we could not make it in time for the prayers, the family decided to stop at an R&R by the name of Hentian Dengkil.

With the exception of the airport and the highway, that was my first sight of this country I love and its people after a long period overseas. People thronged in what was clearly an array of thriving business of a food court. They must be all selling halal food, I thought instantly. And cheap some more, at least compared to the ones I have in Sydney. What a pleasant first sight it was, to see that we are still blessed with every opportunity to get easy access to the thing we need for living. It was not long before I realized that it was already past seven o’clock, during which the time majority of business Down Under already called it a day.

I headed straight to the musolla after that brief moment of observing and comparing. They had this very nice musolla, adorned in a modern style with a somewhat vast praying area fit for at least 150 men at one time in my thought. Even the ablution department was very stylish that I was tempted to guess that they were mostly made up of imported tiles and stones. Looking at the lavish praying place, I could not help but recall my very own experience of praying in the middle of nowhere, at the strangest of places for a number of times because of the rarity of proper praying facility. It was awkward at first, trying to hide from public eyes that look into religious life so differently but with the flow of time, I got used to it. The fear was almost replaced by the sense of proud for being able to perform the obligation obediently. Still, finding some praying space in an open park or a parents’ room of a shopping store or a corner of a building was never easy. I finished the Maghrib prayer with a sense of relief knowing that whenever I got stuck away from home anywhere in probably the next two months or so before I fly back to Sydney, I can rest assured that a convenient praying area is just a short distance away and is not difficult to find.

We are living in a blessed land indeed my fellow friends, so blessed that sometime we just could not care to give a good look and appreciate it until we lose it. Let‘s remind ourselves to always be thankful to Him for this wonderful life we are enjoying. Have a great holiday everyone.