KosovoAlhamdulillah my friend and I have gotten back to Galway last night safe and sound . It's good to be home really. Italy was great despite of some unforeseen circumstances that appear to happen without me expecting them. However i accept those things as a kafarah for my sins which are good to have when i'm still alive, that's what i think. Venice, Pisa, Florence and Rome in memory. Lots of things that i've learnt which make me value my life more.
I'm not in the mood of writing a travelogue but i wanna tell u about a generous man that my friend and i met last night. We arrived in Dublin Airport from Rome Ciampino Airport at around a quarter to 8 and waited for Buseireann bus in which we bought a return ticket beforehand. Outside the airport there were many other buses waiting for passengers before heading to Galway, which one of them is the red Nestor bus. As i chatted with my friend i saw a person in that Nestor bus doing some 'familiar gestures' from the corner of my eyes. Then at the very last moment only i realized that the person might be performing the prayer aka solat. I was glad to know that there was another Muslim with us in that area.
I kept on watching the man to see who actually he was until he got off the bus and came close to us. I think he somehow looks like Sami Yusuf. He greeted us with salaam and asked what were we waiting for. As i said that we were hoping to get a ride on Buseireann for home, he was pretty worried on our behalf as the bus might not come at all. He offered us a free lift (as he is the bus driver of the Nestor bus) if the Buseireann bus did not show up by 9 but he left the choice for us to decide. He wanted to give us a free ride for the sake of Allah and asked us to pray for him and his family.
As the time went by, the Buseireann bus still didn't appear itself. The temperature freezed us to the bones. Worried to have yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran, we made our mind to choose Nestor bus instead. We got onto the bus and again the generous man told us in a smile that he's helping us for the sake of Allah, and asked us to make prayers for him, his family and relatives.
The bus headed off to Galway smoothly with him chatting with the front-seated Irish passengers friendlily at times as he drove. After a while I dozed off in the bus and woke up to know that we were already in Galway city. At that time it was about 12.03 in the midnight. My friend and i got off the bus and took out our bags from the bottom part of the bus. The generous man then asked us, how are we getting home? I answered that we'll try to catch a bus or get a cab. Concerned, he offered to send us home with the Nestor express bus after I told him where i live. So we got back onto Nestor but he first went to look around in the inside of the bus just afraid if there's anybody who was still sleeping in the bus, and there was. He woke up the Irish guy who didn't notice that we were already in Galway.
On our way to my house he let us know that he's from Kosovo and had been here for 7 years. He's thinking of going back to his home country in a few years time. His wife's wearing hijjab as well as his sister etc. He was concerned about us as we are also muslims and mentioned that a cab may cost us 10 euro just to get home. He also greeted us Eid Mubarak and asked if we went to the Eid prayer two days before. Then i told him that we're actually from Italy for a holiday. I was so ashamed of myself for being in Italy during Aidiladha, i mean not with the Muslim community to perform the takbir raya and all. Actually i didn't realize that our trip falls on Aidiladha when we bought the tickets. Astaghfirullah. As an option we planned to go to a mosque in Rome if we are able to spare some time for the Raya prayer. Unfortunately we didn't get to. I feel so guilty at the bottom of my heart for leaving the prayer behind; which only comes twice a year, giving our trip the priority. This was so wrong. I'm not putting this thing at its correct position. And chatting with the generous man gave me more than a slap on my cheek for what i've done. Thanks Allah for sending me this man to make me realize how i've been making the decision insensibly.
You know Kosovo is a place where they have wars to fight for their religion, for their belief. Like this generous man, he came from a problematic country but still practice Islam with his very own heart. Not like us, or perhaps me actually. Sometimes when I am presented with a better chance I tend take the things I already have for granted. We put less value to things when we feel comfortable with it, like Islam when we were grown up with it. Think about other people who strive for their religion, where the matters being traded are between life and death. Life and death.
"And when We show favour to man, he withdraws and turns away..."
["Dan apabila Kami berikan nikmat kepada manusia, dia berpaling dan menjauhkan diri (dengan sombong)..." ](Fussilat, 41:51)
I express my gratitute to Allah for meeting me up with this man, who taught me to how choose my priority. InsyaAllah, i pray that next time i'll never repeat the same mistake again. May Allah bless the generous man (named Muhammad), his family, his relatives and all Muslims all over the world. Ameen.
* Please, anybody who has links or article or just anything that can help me to know more about Kosovo, please please let me know ok. I feel the obligation to know about our other Muslim friends from other parts of the world.
