Cubit paha kiri, paha kanan terasa kebas

Assalamualaikum. How is everyone? A few days ago, I posted a picture of a muslim woman representing Palestine in the previous Olympics. When I saw the picture for the first time, I felt so proud  of the woman , that I wanted to share it with my other Facebook friends. What makes me feel proud? The fact that she represented her country in the Olympics? Olympics kot!. Err. No, the image of a muslim that she carries even though she participated in an event with many non-muslims competitor.  She still covers her aurat. She still wears hijab. Masya-Allah.

She is a fighter!

Being different than everyone else can sometimes give you an awkward feeling. But if being different is the right thing, why do we have to be afraid? Based on my experience studying in a private school a few years ago, wearing hijab seems to be something that is so unfamiliar to the other students that I felt quite insecure when it comes to wearing hijab. Other students would keep on asking the reasons for me to wear hijab.  One of my roommates (not the one in KMB, hehe) even persuade me not to wear hijab (cannot blame her tho, dia golongan yang tak paham). Anyway, now when I think of it again, why worry about other people's perception towards us when we know we are doing the right thing? What can be more important than Allah's view towards us? 


Anyway, back to the picture I shared on facebook (shown above),  I got one comment from my Chinese friend regarding the photo.

"still can't help but to think she ran very very slowly during the istanbul indoor games earlier this year, almost everyone was one lap ahead of her. :\"

You know, she might not be the best runner among the athletes competing for Olympics, but she has taught me many things. Despite of the lack of her preparation (due to the war and the scant training resources available in her homeland), she still tried her very best and she was still able to compete with the best athletes, from all over the world. It was not an easy thing to do, but she was able to do it. She is an amazing woman! Good job, sister!

She said:

"My dream is to do something for Palestine and show the world that Palestine deserves to live and stand on the podium.” 

What a big dream she has. So people, we as muslims who leave in peace (Alhamdulillah), what are our dreams? Do we only want to achieve dreams that only benefit ourselves? Do we only want to get ourselves busy with our own things, without even thinking and praying for our Muslim brothers in Syria, Palestine, Burma and other parts of the world? Or do we want to do something for Islam? The choice is in our hands.