Bismillah.
Alhamdulillahi hamdan yuwafi ni'amahu wa yukafi u mazidah
I am loving the posters created by my team mate at Exa Publishing. She is getting better at it. Alhamdulillah. It's always good to see how people or we ourselves grow from strength to strength, push ourselves forward and increase our knowledge and skills from time to time. I think that's why we are taught to make duá: "O Lord increase me in knowledge." We should strive hard and learn as much as possible. We ought to soar to greater heights as far as knowledge is concerned, like getting a higher score in the school monthly test, a higher CGPA each semester, and learn more salawat/hadith/Quranic verses/du'a for example. There's no doubt we must aim higher as far as education is concerned. In Malay we say belajar setinggi yang boleh.
There still exists in the Malay society a culture (for lack of a better word) of people trying to be humble and call themselves orang kampung (village people). Or sometimes we use the term orang kampung as a derogatory terminology referring to people who live in remote/rural areas who are presumably backward in terms of education and material possessions. I think we have to grow from that narrow mindset because it is not necessarily true. Moreover, I learned at a corporate training, a couple of months back that: "It is not humility to discount one's own ability."
I come from a small village (kampung) in Penang. I stay there occasionally. My family is there. I have a small bungalow house and a small plot of land there. I consider myself orang kampung of course because it's a fact. I consider myself as orang kampung who have made some good progress compared to who I was 30 years ago. The majority of kampung folks there have all advanced considerably. Alhamdulillah.
As a matter of fact, my kampung is one of the last few kampungs left on Penang island. And mind you there are many people in my kampung who are highly educated. Some of my neighbors are PhD holders, professors, medical doctors, lawyers, magistrate, wealthy businessmen/women, we've got a couple of millionaires in the kampung and the Penang mufti lives in my kampung too. What I am trying to say here is that there's nothing wrong with being orang kampung who belajar tinggi-tinggi who attains the highest education/success possible, and still be humble.
Having said that, I also enjoy being a city girl who wakes up to a beautiful view of the KL city landscape. We have to be broad minded folks, accept His bounties and be grateful no matter where we are, in the kampung (village), in the sub-urban or in the city. It is all His manifestations. It is all His afál (actions). Everything belongs to Him. And the quest to belajar tinggi-tinggi, to continue learning as much as possible, is a lifelong quest.
Allahu a'lam.
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