That Iftar

Yesterday I had iftar at a sister's house. A close friend of mine. She held a talk at her house given by an Alimah (who's also my close friend) before we had the iftar. The evening's small event was only for sisters so we had two Malaysians (my housemate and I), a Sri Lankan, an Afghanistani and her daughter, two Iraqis, a sister from Trinidad and Tobego, a British Pakistani, a German, and the Alimah from Pakistan (I believe I got them all). How wonderful it was to have sisters from all over the world gathering in one room!

After praying maghrib, we had our meal. The food served was of a large pot of Briyani (cooked by the Afghanistani auntie), a feast of amazing German dishes (since the host was the German sister) and an addition of an Iraqi dish. Over the meal, we shared our stories, exchanged opinions, and discussed some issues regarding Islam/Muslim. Wallahi, that evening was one of the very beautiful evenings I've ever had though some of us never met each other. I felt truly blessed by being in the company of these people. We gathered in the month of Ramadhan, listened to a call to Him, observed the sunnah of making dua before breaking fast together, broke our fast together, and most importantly, we celebrated this one particular verse from the Quran.

Indeed, nothing stated in the Quran is of no importance. To be frank, I had this poster up my wall plainly because it was given by the Islamic Society (ISOC) during Fresher's Fair. Later on I discovered the beauty of this ayah as I started interacting with sisters outside my culture. Alhamdulillah, my university is very international so the sisters that I am friends with are basically from all over the world and they are all wonderful mashaAllah. I held on to this ayah all this while but I never thought the impact of it is truly vast. Everytime I interact with these sisters, there's always something new to learn and this doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime soon!

And yesterday was definitely one of the days that I had this burst of joyous blessing from this ayah.
I gathered strength from Syria, warmth from Asia, and awareness from West. It may not sound much but wallahi they are powerful. A tarbiyyah that goes straight into the chest, entered right into the heart.

It was so beautiful, I have no words for it. Thank you Allah for this experience. Thank you for bringing these wonderful people to me. Make them the people that you love, bless them with the gift of Jannatul Firdaus.