Bismillahirrahmanirrahim;
InsyaAllah I'm out to Corofin again this Tuesday for another 2-week GP attachment for this second semester. Who would've realized how swiftly time flied that it felt as if I was down in Corofin only last week when in actual fact the last GP attachment I had was in September last year. And yesterday I managed to 'lobby' a friend who owned a car to give me a lift to Corofin as I wanted to look for a place to stay throughout my impending attachment. The guesthouse that I stayed in last semester was quite far to the medical centre that I felt uneasy having to wait for the landlord to drive me over to the medical centre every morning and subsequently the GP would drive me back to the guesthouse in the evening. I mean everyday. Also more importantly I hope it would be much handier to be staying only a few steps away from the medical centre as I could go back for the afternoon prayer during lunchtime without any hassle.
Anyways the journey to Corofin yesterday was a lot different than usual in a sense that we were presented with white scenery along the excursion all the way. The surrounding had always been green before but the ridiculously low temperature that has hit Ireland winter this year got the leaves and trees completely covered with ice from top to the bottom. It wasn't snowing as much but rather the ice that formed itself coating the Irish land to its entirety.
"Do you not see that Allah drives clouds? Then He brings them together, then He makes them into a mass, and you see the rain emerge from within it. And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of clouds] within which is hail, and He strikes with it whom He wills and averts it from whom He wills."
[An-Nur, 24:43]
Corrib Park
I was made aware that the temperature in Galway nowadays has plummeted to as low as -11 degree C. Opening the door to step out of the house feels like entering into the fridge. In addition one of the Malaysian students' houses here had no flowing water most probably due to the ice forming in the pipes. Apparently Ireland is so unprepared for this kind of extreme weather.
The things that highly impressed me as I appreciated the extraordinary view outside during our journey to Corofin were the ungulates happily grazing the ice-covered grass on the meadows plus two or three horses doing nothing but standing by the fence staring at the cars passing by.
"Don't they feel cold or something?";
I uttered my innocent thought while my eyes kept overlooking the entourage.
"Allah must've made them adaptable to this type of circumstance";
my friend answered while she concentrated on driving.
I took a deep breath in concurrence before I continued,
"See, they don't seem to be bothered with the potentially fatal cold ambience. They don't attempt to sit close to each other to share the heat and they don't hide in the byres to avoid the killing polar-like climate. Instead they are enjoying their meal in the open as if they're not affected by the coldness at all."
I uttered my innocent thought while my eyes kept overlooking the entourage.
"Allah must've made them adaptable to this type of circumstance";
my friend answered while she concentrated on driving.
I took a deep breath in concurrence before I continued,
"See, they don't seem to be bothered with the potentially fatal cold ambience. They don't attempt to sit close to each other to share the heat and they don't hide in the byres to avoid the killing polar-like climate. Instead they are enjoying their meal in the open as if they're not affected by the coldness at all."
Isn't it wonderful to realize the beauty of God's creation, as in how equipped they are? Imagine if the livestock need to be taken care of to the extent equal to humans, isn't that burdensome for the farmers? Blankets or duvets for the cattle, warmed grass for the sheep and hot drink for the horses, oh my!
Some people around me were saying, "We recently had flood [in Ireland], now we are stricken by the supremely cold weather unusual for Ireland, I wonder what more is it to come". Then only it hit me on the forehead that ya, one ordeal has come after another- is this a sign of something for us to ponder? I bet it is.
"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and the sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return"
[Ar-Rum, 30:41]
Thank God Ireland has not been imposed with hurricane Katrina like in the States, tsunami like in Indonesia but indeed Allah has His own ways to test mankind. The difference between us is that whether we take the calamities as a point to reflect on what we have done or are doing, or we regard them just like any other tropical catastrophe that merely occur as a consequence of some scientific algorithm, a coincidence that doesn't worth spiritual contemplation.
"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allah who is the [continual] Provider, The Possessor of firm strength"
[adh-Dzariyat, 51:56-58]
Forgive us, Ya Ilahana..
