Open Circle with Wardina Safiyyah

I had a problem with Islam because all the ustazah, everybody I meet, yang macam Islamic – tends to judge you, tends to talk about haram-haram-haram, semua dosa-dosa-dosa, azab neraka; yes we understand that but to me we must spread peace first. Like the Prophet said, when you go out, don’t talk about the nasty things. Islam is more than just facts and knowledge and solat -Wardina Safiyyah

MasyaAllah, how true isn’t it on what Wardina said. All her words are still fresh in my head even it was a few hours ago I met her at YMP’s Open Circle in PJ. A great discussion we had with around 50 lovely sisters and the title for the open circle was Falling in love again with Islam. 

When I first know about the OC (open circle), I quickly RSVPed to YMP’s secretary to confirm my seat as I don’t want to miss the opportunity to attend the event. Before I could ask anyone to join me, the registration is closed. Macam goreng pisang panas! So I went there by myself.

Since there’ll be a potluck teatime after the OC, I decided to bring some cute polka dot apam to share with the rest of the sisters. It was raining heavily with thunders and storms, but for this ‘majlis ilmu’, I tried my very best to go through the hassles and difficulties. Alhamdulillah, I reached the place safely.

Wardina was a bit late as she met with an accident on her way there. Cobaan... But she still managed to reach the house and greeted everyone one by one (bersalaman). When she salam with me, she was like,”Eh, it’s you!”

I just smiled and said,”Yes, we met before.” Yeah, this is my 3^rd time meeting her and it’s good that she has good memory!

Okay, enough with the introduction, let’s focus on the points that we discussed in the OC:

1. Wardina reminded us to always bring the small Quran with tafsir and put in our handbags. According to her - read the Quran and its meaning, insyaAllah you’ll find peace. She loves to read surah Furqaan and a few more surahs. She said that she started bringing the Quran in her handbag first without reading it. Then, the willing came later to read and understand it. 
2. Being Muslim is not just about solat, sadaqah, and fasting. Islam creates bigger meaning in life. For example, take away food in polystyrene containers (for tapau) is not that Islamic. It’s totally dangerous to our lives to eat from the container and put a non-recyclable item to waste. We should bring our ‘tupperware’ when we take away food.
3. What other people think of you is not what you should think about the most because somehow this perception and your feelings to prove to them, will eat you. The more you think that you need to show you’re good, the more you want people to notice you and the more you want to be credited for all your work – this feelings will haunt you and demoralised you. Just be honest in what you do. There will be time when people acknowledge you when you lease noticed. Allah knows what had happened, what is happening and what will happen. So, leave it to Him. You’ll grant your rewards sooner or later.
4. One of the main topic of the discussion was on hijab. Everyone started to give their opinions about hijab and how they started to wear it. To my surprise, they were so many girls who just started donning the hijab just like me! MasyaAllah, I feel so blessed! Some girls went on about why they were afraid to wear it before. Some mentioned that they were afraid of how people think about them later. Personally, I was thinking about donning the hijab years ago. But I kept telling myself that I’m not ready for it and I’ll wear it after I got married. Reason being, I want to wear beautiful dresses and do nice hair on my wedding day!!! Hahaha, how ridiculous right?! But as time passed by, I know that I can still be beautiful on my wedding with the hijab. But now I’m very happy with my decision to wear hijab even I haven’t tie the knot yet. It’s the feeling of freedom!
5. Do a lot of self – reflection, seek knowledge, find our own goal in life and always remember that we are just actors on the stage. And the stage is actually the world we are living in. Remember that this world is temporary and the hereafter is forever. Become more pro-active to seek knowledge and do share knowledge with others.
6. Get yourself surrounded with good people. People who will always want to improve themselves and who don’t judge you. Well, as a start, why not join Young Muslim Project (YMP)?! There’s talks, open circles and events that we can join.
7. Forget about your past and repent. Seek for Allah forgiveness. He’s the Most Merciful and Most Gracious. Do your sujud and do not repeat your mistakes. We are as human being, could never run away from making mistakes in our lives. Moving on and build a new life is what we can do to be a better person.

There were so many other things that I would like to share with you about our open circle but I don’t think I can write everything here. In fact, some of us – including me, did shed tears when Wardina talked about her past and how all of us can’t forgive ourselves with the mistakes we did. 

Above all, let’s try to search for reasons why we are here in this world. And do share your thoughts about Islam. Sharing is caring! :)