Always in my Heart

I often do my maghrib prayer at The Al Azhar Grand Mosque.  Yesterday, I did the same. I love that mosque.   Here are some of the reasons.

First, the emotional memory. I went to Al Azhar Islamic High School. At the school, doing prayer together after the school hour is  mandatory.  We usually did the prayer at the Grand Mosque. We did that for about three years.  The mosque is always clean and comfortable, so I love to spend more time inside it.

The Second reason is the founder. One of the founders, Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amriullah, popularly known as Hamka, is a widely respected Islamic cleric. I admire him for his tolerance, strong stance regarding Islamic faith and belief, wisdom, and knowledge.

Third, the activities. Every day, there are always religious activities. For example, there is always a sermon after the maghrib prayer. And whether in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening, there are always classes for Islamic teachings. And there are always a lot of people coming to the mosque so that it always dynamic and full of energy.

Those are three reasons why the mosque is always in my heart.

Jealousy

Sometimes, when I hear one of my friends praise another friend, I feel jealous. When a friend dominates a chat room, and gives any response to what someone says, I feel jealous. And when someone I believe is not better than me can do something good or beat me, I feel jealous.

According to a dictionary, jealous means Envious or resentful of the good fortune or achievements of another. When you feel jealous, you want the good fortune and achievement of another to be given to you. But often, that is not all. You often want someone to lose their good fortune and achievement. In the worst scenario, you might want to harm that someone. Another form of jealousy is when you want others to remain poor, foolish, and without any good achievements.

A preacher once said that a jealous person mentally suffered. Why? His/her blood pressure increases. At the same time, the person he/she jealous at is feeling happy. They do not care about people who are jealous at them.

What could we do to stop this feeling of jealousy? First, let us focus on your strength. Everybody has a unique strength. So we must capitalize on it. Our strength might be other people’s weakness. Second, let us never stop learning so that we would always be a better person.

I should trust myself

It was one Thursday afternoon. I was on my way to the prayer room at the basement, situated on an office building in southern Jakarta. I wanted to hear a sermon. I always love doing that.  As I entered the prayer room area, a man said, “Hey Mister”.  I knew he said that to me. He was mocking me. Hearing that, I felt angry. I stared at him, but I said nothing. Then I decided to continue to go to the prayer room.

I listened to the sermon from the beginning until the end. It was a good one. However, that is not what I am going to talk about here. I am talking about the mocking. Since I was a child, I am often bullied because of my skin color, which is different from most Indonesians.

Being treated like that often discourages me. However, I must not give up since I believe that I have strengths and potentials.  Besides, why should I care about what strangers say? Most of them do not know anything about me. Many of them even cannot speak English fluently. So, I should trust myself that I can be a better person.

Be Grateful

A few weeks ago, one of my friends told me about what had happened in his office. He was called by his boss. Let’s say my friend’s name is Noah.  The boss asked Noah to edit the book he was writing. As the employee, Noah could not refuse his boss’ request. The Boss knows exactly that Noah is a good writer. The boss could have asked someone else to edit the writing. However, when it comes to writing matter, Noah is the only person the boss can count on.

At that time, Noah was upset. He said that he had already had a lot work to do.  From Noah’s point of view, this writing job is unimportant and not urgent.

After hearing Noah’s story, I remember something about trust. Trust is something you cannot ask for. As well as respect, it should be earned. This means that people will trust you after you show them that you can be trusted.  This is not an easy work.

Since it is often difficult to gain other people’s trust, we should be grateful when someone trusts us to do something. Of course that something should not violate any norms. A trust shows that others are convinced with our capability.

Let go of the past

There was something emotional when I, together with my family and relatives, celebrated Hari Raya Idul Fitri last month. As usual, we gathered at my late grandfather’s house, situated on western Jakarta.  However, that would be the last time we celebrate Hari Raya there. The house has been sold, meaning that now it belongs to someone else.

My grandfather, together with my late grandmother, lived there since 1961 until they passed away.  Their children, as well as some of their grandchildren, had the experience of living at that house.  So we can say that the house were full of memories.

The house was our “hometown”. I and my cousins loved to gather there. When one of our family members had his/her birthday, we celebrated the special day there. When one of our family members was looking forward to welcoming a special moment, like marriage, we gathered there to discuss the preparation.

However, we cannot stop change. We have to live it and let go of the past. We must look at the future to be a better person.

Just yesterday, I heard the news that the house had been torn down.