The Plan.

Indeed we plan, but He decides, and that of course is the ultimate plan He has in store for us.

Everything exactly went as planned. SubhaanaLLah. I was talking to a friend of mine, Zulzawaid, that I want someone to just throw me off to an Arab country, and let me be a stranger there. Let me force myself to speak in Arabic in any circumstances. Let me improve my Arabic for like a year or a semester, then insyaAllah may Medina call on me, as and when they want. Well at least I won’t stutter when someone speaks with me in Arabic then.

I got accepted into some universities, of which, such as UIA(International Islamic University of Malaysia) and UKM(National University of Malaysia), I did get my first choice for the Bachelor's programme, but I chose YU(Yarmouk University, Jordan) – a university in an Arab country that has never been on my list, not until I got into Pre-Universty 2.

7 September 2013 – The day I started embarking on a new journey to an Arab country; Jordan specifically, to pursue my studies. Alhamdulillah, those O and A level results of mine did ease my journey; though it was not a good one to start with, but Alhamdulillah for everything.

Well I guess I won’t talk much about the time in Jordan, since it has already been shared in my previous post. On my way to Medina, I had already planned to enter the Ma’had, or what they called as the Diploma level or the Arabic Language Crash Course, but I wished to enter the final level, that is the fourth level(there are just four level by the way, each level for a semester).

My brother said that if I want to enter the Ma’had, do not ever mention the choice of programme that you want to take in the degree(if asked), and so I did what was told. After answering some questions, he did indeed ask me, for three times even,"What course/specialization you would like to take in the Bachelor’s level?" and I did say that I am still unsure as I’m just a new student here, still deciding and all, but surprisingly, every time I answered, he would say afterwards the course that I’ve been keeping from him. Somehow he just seemed to know what I really want, that is Da’wah and Usuluddin(Preaching and Islamic Theology).

After deliberately failing for the first interview, I was asked to go for the second interview to determine my mustawa or level in the Ma’had. The questions were quite easy, basically touching on Arabic grammar though, but I did manage to answer each and every question he asked of me. He was even like impressed by my answers. Then he asked me what level would I want and I said,"Four."

He then looked at me and said,"Three.. can?"
I was like, “erm, four? Haha”

After a little commotion, I finally stepped out of the room with disappointment. My brother then tried to persuade the persons in-charge, or see what he could do to raise my level. So finally the Syeikh said that if I really want to go to the fourth level, then simply be a mustami’ for a week, means, just sit in any of the third-level classrooms, and judge for yourself if the class is really boring or too low for you and all. After a week then see him back.

Now this is where the change of hearts began.

On our back home, I said to my brother that I was not satisfied with the decision that they put me in the third level. Well it’s not like I could not answer the questions or stuttered much. After listening to all my words and feelings, he finally said something which took me aback for a while. He simply read to me this verse from Chapter 2 in the Quran:-

وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَن تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

..but perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.

(QS 2: 216)

So I returned home and sit for a while, thinking deeply on the verse that has just being mentioned by my brother. Then on that very night, I did my Istikhoro Prayers. Alhamdulillah, and to my surprise, right after I did my prayers, suddenly I decided to just accept the fact that I’ve been put in the third level, instead of four. Just a moment before I had set on my mind that by hook or by crook I must enter the fourth level, instead of three, but just right after I did my Istikhoro prayers, I said to myself, maybe this was what Allah had planned upon me. It was simply a miracle i could say, the sudden feeling of 'acceptance' and all, it was just indescribable.

The next day I got my class room number, and while we were searching for the class, I said to my brother, “Jaf, just one thing, do pray that there will be no guy that I know of, well at least not from Singapore.”

Shortly after, we found the class and upon entering, suddenly a voice came out from behind, “Assalaamu’alaikum !” – It was Naufal.

We got along very well Alhamdulillah. He was so smart. To an extent that I guess he’s the smartest in the class. Well I had to just take my hats off him. Some of us including myself even, did struggle and had to read the topics in the textbooks umpteen times to fully grasp the meaning of the topic, but as for him, one time is more than enough, and yup, he is a fast learner; a truly gifted student, and at the end of the day, indeed he proved me right by scoring a ‘Mumtaz’ for his GPA (Mumtaz is 4.5 and above by the way), while me, a mere 4.3 for the GPA. Alhamdulillah anyway.

Next semester insyaAllah, the final level for the Ma’had. I had to really focus on my studies to be able to get past the Ma’had, and then proceed to Kulliyyah(The bachelor’s level) insyaAllah.

I still remembered the time when I was in the third-level and had to take the mid-sem exam for ‘History’ subject. I was totally confident that the test was on the next day and not on that very day, and so I laid out my plan, today, this page up till this page, and tomorrow that page until that page and so on. When the times up, I would have finish revising the topics. So that was the planned plan, that failed though :(

I was totally shocked when I came to know about the supposed date for the test. Unfortunately, QoddaroLLah wamaa syaa-a fa’al. He knows best. However much, I am still grateful for the results, as I did get at least a 'just pass' for the subject. Alhamdulillah for everything.

Time flies really fast, and Alhamdulillah i did get a lot of benefits from both the seniors as well as those from my own batch. Naufal, Yamin, Mateen, Syafiq, Nabil, Solihin and Iqbal. They are all seriously good, smart, matured and have their own mind, their own set of goals and things alike. Some of them have even memorised fully the Noble Quran and are now focusing on memorising Hadiths or things alike. Well i guess i have to really learn a lot from them, seriously.

Do pray for me,
Assalaamu'alaikum.

p/s: Pardon my usage of the English Language, it has really been such a long time since I last used them.