بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
📑 3 valuable lessons out of many lessons which I've recently learned Alhamdulillah from yesterday's outing and adventure around Samal Island with some loved ones and sisters in Islam:-
1🔹 One sign that you consider some individuals to be your friends or whom you genuinely care about for Allah's sake: You easily forgive them for Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala no matter how many times they may have done something which may seemingly or supposedly offended or disappointed you, such as changing plans suddenly, not fulfilling a promise or being unable to follow up with a particular thing they enthusiastically agreed to do, forgetting specific facts about you, not being able to spend some quality time with you because you both had to be somewhere else simultaneously, or answering your messages late at times due to busyness or lack of strong signal in certain areas etc. - even without asking or expecting them to apologize, you instantly pardon their shortcomings when you remember how the merits of staying connected to them for Allah's sake outweigh their negative traits and mistakes. If we wish to maintain friendship with anybody for Allah's sake, similarly if we're serious about wanting to keep the marriage strong with one's spouse to please Only Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala, then we should recall how they're humans like us with innumerable imperfections and therefore train ourselves to patiently tolerate some of their qualities or tendencies which we may not always like. It's impossible on earth to find a friend who is devoid of flaws and deficient traits 24/7.
2🔹 Allah the Almighty knows best. When you strive to actively study about Islam and continue doing what you can to strengthen your knowledge of Tawheed (Islamic monotheism), through consistently studying from authentic sources, obeying many of Allah's Commands become easy and manageable whether you're a born Muslim or Muslim revert. As a Maranao born Muslimah Alhamdulillah in Saudi Arabia, I witnessed so many Maranaos behaving in ways which undeniably contradict our Islamic values including not wearing the hijab properly when outdoors, enjoying listening to music instead of attaining inner peace and comfort in reading more from the Noble Qur'an, being overly approachable to some non-mahram males as if they're your "buddies" etc. and this is generally due to being negligent regarding seeking and steadfastly implementing beneficial 'ilm (knowledge). In contrast, MashaAllah, a lot of us notice how a considerable number of Muslim reverts are very quick and eager to apply their lessons learned (for example wearing the niqab, maintaining pleasant connection with one's relatives, avoiding major sins such as gossip etc.) and they don't hesitate to be from Allah's obedient servants because they put admirable effort in learning more about our Deen (religion Islam).
3🔹 On our way back to Davao city from Samal Island while I was conversing with some elderly females in a jeepney, asking them questions in English language etc. because I'm not yet fluent in Tagalog (but
Inn-sha-Allah I hope to improve my ability to understand and communicate better in Filipino language), this stranger was loudly mimicking some of the way I talked saying random statements like "yeah? Why you speak English? Ya? Speak Bisaya "n!gg@", no English "n!gg@" etc." also mentioning the f-word, s-word and probably b-word etc. throughout the ride until he arrived at his stop while I sat far away from him, contemplating if I should respond or not but Alhamdulillah I didn't say any comebacks that time although it's easy for me to verbally retaliate because:
1. I wasn't one hundred percent sure if he was making fun of me indirectly. I assumed he was speaking with someone on his cellphone as I focused on the front view where the driver was.
2. I thought maybe the guy was mentally and/or emotionally unstable and I didn't want to waste my energy constructing sentences which he wouldn't comprehend anyway.
3. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me overreact if there were no doubts he was acting like a miserable jerk. I also assumed that there's a possibility he had a bad experience in the past with some "Englisheras" so he's one of those irrational goofballs who intensely dislike anyone using the English language in his presence or he feels extremely insecure whenever somebody does something he can't do and the way he copes with his insecurities is by childishly mistreating any person who makes him feel inferior or terribly sorry for himself. So what I did was say Du'a behind the niqab asking Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala to teach the troublesome troll a lesson if the overgrown bully was actually poking fun at my way of speaking.
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May Allah the Almighty reward those Muslims in Samal Island for the delightful lunch and merienda / afternoon snacks they generously gave during our visit and May Allah the Most Loving keep them steadfast upon the truth and correct 'Aqeedah belief and enable us to meet in Jannah Paradise again with Allah's Mercy and increase the barakah blessings in their lives always. Ameen.
