Home is a place for us to feel safe and happy. No one wants a home that makes you feel sad, scared or angry.

Sometimes we need to know that building a home is a long term commitment just like marriage, but of course challenges tend to happen and we need to listen and understand, and then try to resolve it. Yes, it takes time but it is worth the time cause things will get better.

Ignoring it or covering up for it might not be the best way cause you will tend to bottle up these issues. And these issues might lead to bigger challenges that you might not be able to manage in the future.

So talk it out. It hurts, but it helps.

Hassan, Ayah hope we can make the our home a safe, fun and happy place for everyone.

Every interaction is an intervention.

That sentence says it all. Every single thing we do can, and will, help people. Talking, listening, being there for them, buying food or anything can be a great way to assist or guide someone.

This works anywhere you go – at work, at home, in public, in a cafe, anywhere you go. This formula can be applied if you have genuine intentions to help someone.

There will be situations when you don’t know what to do because you feel super awkward. Guess what, the only way to get over it is to step out of your comfort zone. Do something that no one, not even you, expect yourself to do. Example: In a room full of quiet people and you feel awkward and don’t know what to do? Just try asking something to the person next to you. “Bro, after this we do what ar?” Yes, it’s weird but remember every interaction is an intervention.

I really hope that every interaction that I have done has been meaningful and beneficial to the other party in a serious, lepak and fun way InsyaAllah.

#HassanQ, there are many ways to help others and one of the ways is to interact with each other. Make others smile, make them happy cause that’s your strength! ❤

Today 10 Zulhijjah reminds me of a beautiful story about a sacrifice of a father and son due to a true Love.

Both Prophet Ibrahim AS and Prophet Ismail AS trusted strongly in Allah to carry out His order to sacrifice Prophet Ismail.

That was a big sacrifice that Prophet Ibrahim AS took. No matter how much he loved his son, Allah’s order is always prioritized. Because there will always be a reason, a hikmah, behind His commands. MasyaAllah! Such great example of a father and a servant, Prophet Ibrahim AS.

Listen to Allah’s commands and love your family. These are the 2 main takeways that I really want #HassanQ to understand from this Aidiladha celebration.

No matter what happens, Allah has better plans for us. It is always a test for us as His servant to see how much we love Him and our family.

I love you so much #HassanQ and I hope that this love will continue as you grow up and I grow old with your beloved mother. ❤

Working at Boys’ Town makes me realise that spiritual strength is so important. Why? Look at all the Christian staff and boys, they are so blessed to be working, studying, staying in a Christian environment. I noticed that they are so positive sometimes I wonder why they always look so happy. But I am happy for them.

Boys’ Town is open to ideas and I am appreciative about it as I want to give the Muslim boys some spiritual strength, some knowledge about Islam and about being a Muslim. I don’t need them to pray 5 times a day immediately but at least some basic knowledge is needed. Why? Because what if nobody cares about their spiritual strength and knowledge? They will leave Boys’ Town being a Muslim who do not know about Islam and that is very bad.

So I am hoping and trying to get youth officers, young asatizah or maybe some Islamic centre to assist our Muslim boys at Boys’ Town to teach or maybe just to share with them stories and knowledge about Islam. Who is Allah? Who is Nabi Muhammad? Who is Malaikat Jibril? These are some questions that the boys actually asked our Muslim staff at Boys’ Town. So if you are interested to assist the boys here, get in touch with me and we can work it out.

So Hassan, ayah hope you understand the importance of having spiritual strength because with it, you can understand a lot of situations better and you can be more ready for challenges in life. May you be a pious boy insyaAllah!

School Holiday is over. Syawal is over. All kids are back to school. Alhamdulillah!

The festive season and holiday period is a very important and exciting part of the year as most of the kids will be able to take a break from school and spend more time with their family.

Unfortunately, not all kids have that privilege.

Some families apparently _choose_ not to spend time with their kids. All the kids need to do is behave well and meet their parents’ terms. Day in day out, kids go for sports, play games and have meals. And yet…

When asked about seeing their parents, some of them have no feelings towards them. No eagerness to meet them. Haish.

May these kids be blessed with happiness and love. May they grow up to be a better person and have a better family. May their family love and care.

#HassanQ, be nice and love your family always.

Today marks the last day of Ramadan.

30 days of Ramadan passed so quickly. Even without keeping count of the days, we are now down to the final one. I still remember when I used to do countdown till the end of Ramadan and feeling it go by. But this year, it felt different.

Lots of things happened this Ramadan that I am very thankful and happy about…

1. HDB.

I finally got a house. A legitimate house for my family. That feeling, that kind of atmosphere; it is so great and very very happy. After a long wait due to documentations, I got it. We got it.

2. RYC.

Yes, I did not go for RYC. But the amazing part is that I managed to get the Boys’ Town Muslim boys to be involved and exposed to RYC which has been my goal since last year! Alhamdulillah! I didn’t really have any expectations but letting them go for RYC was just good enough for me as it is something that is very new to them. And the best thing is that after a long time without terawih, they finally get to experience TERAWIH in the camp! Yes, they don’t really like that part, but to me, the experience is important.

3. NENEK.

My grandmom has been in the hospital for a month and lots of unhappiness and arguments had happened among the family members. Sad at first, but when the month of Ramadan came, a direction had been decided and that made the family, my cousins, my aunties and uncles to come together to assist my grandmom in her discharge plan. Alhamdulillah.

4. TERAWIH.

At first, I thought my Ramadan was sad because I actually only managed to terawih in the mosque twice this year due to many reasons. But when I looked back and reflected on it, I managed to terawih almost everyday – at work, with my mum, with my family, with my friends, and most importantly with my beloved wife. That’s the best part. Waiting for Hassan to go to sleep and then we terawih together. Alhamdulillah. I’m not saying we all shouldn’t go to the mosque anymore to solat, but both ways are great and have their own blessings. Allah is very, very just and giving.

5. MARRIAGE.

A friend of mine sought assistance and advice about marriage before Ramadan as things seemed to be going out of control before Ramadan. But guess what? With the blessings of Ramadan, Allah saved his marriage and now they are slowly progressing together. Slow yes, but good news. I always tell my friend that Ramadan is full of miracles and blessings.

So yeah. This Ramadan has been a fast and busy, yet exciting and meaningful month. Making people feel and appreciate Ramadan more than usual is such a memorable process.

#HassanQ, when you grow older, you will notice and understand that Ramadan is the same every year but the only difference is how you reflect upon it and how you experience this blessed month.

Ramadan, I will miss you and I will always do. Please pray for me and all my family members. Hope that we can continue doing good deeds and less sins after Ramadan is over. May Allah protect us all and forgive us. InsyaAllah ameen! ❤

Ramadan.

This Ramadan is gonna be different. It’s gonna be tougher, it’s gonna be better InsyaAllah.

Thinking about whatever I am going through now, I really hope I can make the best out of it and still strive for the best in Ramadan.

Ya Allah, do make things easy for me, my family and my friends and people that I know. Make this Ramadan a month that will change people towards goodness, a month that will bridge people together, a month that will strengthen relationships and also a month that will make all of us better Muslims.

Ya Allah, please control my desires, prevent me from doing sins, stop me from negative conversations.

#HassanQ, one day when you start fasting, just do your best okay? Be the best person that you can and continue to do that cause that’s all we need to do; be the best person in whatever we are doing. ❤

This is not my first experience in a cab in Jakarta. But it is my first time thinking and reflecting on it.

If any of you remember how it was in the cab surrounded by the bad traffic jam, and vehicles super duper close to your cab, and motorcycles squeezing their way in between vehicles, I was like wow this is damn packed and crazy! Haha.

But guess what, you hear them honking but you don’t see any one of them scolding or cursing at each other. I was told that they honk because they need to warn the drivers around them or to signal to others to give way or drive faster.

So I realize that Indonesian drivers are actually very nice and skillful. They might seem to be driving dangerously, but they are actually able to communicate and work together, somehow.

It’s weird but true. Haha.

And I think this is what we need in life or even in marriage – having an open mind to understand others. We might not be on the same page all the time, but we need to understand each other instead of assuming our own opinions of them.

#HassanQ, when you grow up and you think Ayah don’t understand you, explain to ayah and Ayah will try to understand okay? 🙂

Just today, I saw so many people who are successful in their work, business, products and etc. I am really happy for them and hope that whatever they are doing will also help the community insyaAllah.

Then I look back at me, what have I done so far to say that I am successful or I have succeeded in something? I would say I don’t know. I have done some stuff in my life and I think it’s okay la, not bad, I think. But I also hope whatever I do inspires, motivates and benefits the community at large.

So what is success to you? Success to me might be different from what is success to you. It is subjective. To some, success is going to school and passing your exams. To some, success is going to school and performing in front of your school.

But it is important to know what is success to you. Why? Because it will and can motivate you in life. It gives you a better direction on how you want your life to be and it can also help you to shape yourself better.

A wise lady told me before that success is something good that she does for others secretly and sincerely.

Must success always be loud and clear? Nope, I dont think so. It doesn’t have to be loud as you can always be secretly helping someone and as long as it keeps you going, that’s good enough. It doesn’t have to be clear as your success can change as your journey continues towards something better, and then it can be an even better success.

Don’t feel like shit, because as long as you are doing something good, that can be a simple success to you. Definitely own your success, don’t follow others.

Hassan, remember that you will decide your own success in life okay? Of course, Ayah and Mak will always guide you towards a certain direction, but you need to have ownership of it okay? ❤

Flag Day was tiring but also interesting. Why? Cause I really observed the people for the first half of the day because I also became very tired just like the other boys. Haha.

I was located at Raffles Place and was tasked to collect donations at that area from 8am till 5pm.

So we started with the morning crowd, and it was really rushing and everybody was walking super fast. It was like a human train was created once they all exited the MRT. Legit.

And because it was too fast, I had no way to approach them, no way unless I want them to langgar me la, but no. So I stood at the side and said, “Good Morning, any donations for Boys’ Town?” Whenever I say that, a few will roll their eyes to me but still walk straight. Only those that knew Boys’ Town or have heard of it stopped and donated.

Then I got tired for awhile and didn’t want to say anything, but this time I tried looking at everyone in the eye and smile. Almost none made eye contact and no one actually approached me.

So with this, I concluded that it might be social pressure because nobody stopped to donate so why should I stop also. Yes, you might be busy with work, but although helping others might add to your work, it will also add to your success, you know. But at least, awareness was there and they have now heard about ‘Boys’ Town’ before.

Hassan, whenever you see a tin or a donation box, contribute any amount k? Cause that contribution can change someone’s life. ❤