2nd Syawal 1432H

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah for Allah has given us the sensitivity and patience to reflect on our time and circumstances. He is Time, hence, we are grateful for every little thing that happens as we learn from His wisdom why events occur the way they do. Therefore, we are not agreeable to some people who dare conclude that our life (apart from our mother and work) is 'lonely' and 'empty'. Allah...

We will not defend or justify ourself, instead we'll share something of His af'al that we saw today. We wish to share not because we are 'lonely' and 'empty' but simply because we love celebrating life by sharing its lessons InshaAllah.

This year's Eid  is one of the few exceptional occasions as we've decided to observe Eid not in our hometown, Penang. We are in KL. The last time we had spent Eid in KL was in 1995 when our late father was ailing and hospitalized. We happened to be in Barcelona during the last week of Ramadhan that year but decided to drop our work commitment and came home to spend Eid with him. We had feared that it might be his last Eid with us. Sadly, our instincts were correct. He passed away on 12 Syawal. [Al Fatihah].

This year, tonight, 2nd Syawal 1432H, in the still of the night as we look out from our living room, we reflect on today's events.

Today, we witnessed a special reunion. Imagine this. A lady in her early 20s, had not been seeing her mother for a year because she, at such a young age, independently decided to embrace Islam. She broke the news to her family during last year's Eid, her first Eid as a Muslim. Since then she was not allowed to come home. But today we saw how her sweet mum showed us that a mother's love was in fact unconditional. Oh, surely we're honored that we're able to host the young revert as she experiences her second Eid as a Muslim. And we're especially delighted to welcome her mother who flew so far just to meet up with her Muslim daughter after a year of separation. Today, we saw how a mother is always worried about her children's welfare no matter what. "I am alright about her embracing Islam, just that she must follow the religion of her choice properly! Please, do look after her." - that's what she said. A universal lesson there for all of us, that mothers only want the best for their child and they want their child to excel in everything that she/he chooses to do.

Today, we also witnessed from another mother the same kind of unconditional love. This mother decided to look after, not one but two of her daughter's illegitimate child. Obviously and amazingly, she's a mother who has plenty of rahmah toward her daughter, MashaAllah. We heard how she spoke about patience and submission to Allah's test and decree. We saw her extraordinary degree of faith in Allah's mercy and forgiveness, Subhanallah!

So, what have we learned on this second day of Eid-ul Fitri? We learned that we should all stay true to our fitrah of unconditional love because our Creator has created us with His divine unconditional love. And who are we to be judgmental toward our fellow creatures?

Allah Hu Akbar wa lillahil Hamd.