Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah.
We are told, as stated in the Holy Quran, to proclaim the bounties of the Lord!
Of course, there were many bounties in the last decade 2010 - 2019. I wish to highlight just two and both occurred in the final year of the decade in 2019. Both were good examples of the Lord's unexpected bounties, of His unanticipated generosities towards me. And I'd like to think that it has got something to do with doing my small bit for the religion through this space, among others.
By the way, this entry is labeled under 'Personal Ramblings' in case you are wondering about its relevance.
The first highlight of the last decade has got something to do with a mosque.
In a posting made in 2017, I mentioned a mosque in Amsterdam, upon watching a short film on Al Jazeera on how the Muslims in Amsterdam had struggled for 20 years before they could begin the construction of a mosque in Amsterdam. It's very touching. It's a very beautiful mosque, the largest in the Netherlands. You may want to watch the video from my blog post here:
When I visited Amsterdam in June 2019, on my way back from attending a course at Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, I was feeling exhausted, to be frank, so that my trip to Amsterdam was just free and easy. I thought let's just get the Google Map to show me which mosque to visit and hand over a small fragile gift which I had carried by hand from Malaysia through London and Glasgow. It's a small habit of mine, to share some Malaysian cookies with mosques/Muslims that I visit in faraway countries. I recalled a couple of challenging experiences hand-carrying fragile stuff in Thailand and the North West of China.
Now back to Amsterdam. So my mother and I walked from our Hotel De Hallen in West Amsterdam following the Google Map direction. The map identified two mosques in the neighborhood. So we walked around 5 minutes until we came to a canal and saw the signage for Masjid Ghousia across the river bank.
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| Masjid Ghousia |
So we walked a little farther before stopping to ask a local lady if she could tell us how to get to the nearest mosque. In my mind, I was referring to Masjid Ghousia. She said: "You are near, look there it is!" So I turned around following her hand gesture and saw this:
Subhanallah!
I got goosebumps as I slowly recalled the posting I made in 2017. This was the mosque I mentioned in this blog, about the communities' long struggles to get it built. MaShaAllah!
In my humble opinion, this is an example of Allah's wondrous ways of delighting His servants. You weren't expecting it and there it was.
The lady explained to us how to get across the river bank. It was just a short walk to the nearest bridge. But before that, we spent some time admiring the mosque.
The mosque was closed at that time as it was early Sunday morning and the next prayer time was about 5 hours later. It's a very beautiful neighborhood. The mosque's design blends well with the surrounding buildings. There was a lovely cafe next to it. We had our breakfast there and continued to admire the mosque's architecture from the cafe.
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| There's a chic cafe next to the mosque |
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| Westermoskee Ayasofya Camii was officially opened in April 2016 the construction took only 3 years, the fundraising, planning, and approval took them 20 years, the result is breathtaking |
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| The main entrance |
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| View from the side window |
It's unfortunate that I didn't get to meet the Imam personally. But I was grateful to know that the small gift I left at the front door had been safely collected by the mosque's committee member and delivered to the Imam. Thanks to Instagram.
Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah.
And... the second highlight of the last decade for me was, of course being a student at Strathclyde Uni. I obtained a partial scholarship worth MYR 35,000 from the uni to undertake an MBA at their center in KL in 2018. I should complete my studies and graduate this coming Summer bi-iznillah. I am so proud to be associated with a UK university that has been named 'UK University of the Year - 2019' by Times Higher Education (THE). In 2012, Strathclyde won the same prestigious award so that makes it the only uni to have won twice! In 2016, Strathclyde Business School (SBS) won the 'Business School of the Year' award, also from Times Higher Education.
Alhamdulillah. In line with the uni's slogan - 'The place of useful learning', I shall continue to pray so that Allah would grant me useful knowledge.
Allahumma inni as aluka 'ilman nafi'an.
Aamiiin.
May Allah increase His bounties to us as we express gratitude for His generosities.
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