why chicken can't fly and turtle's shell aren't smooth

i was walking home from school through my usual path...
though am living in Egypt's capital...Cairo, "in a sense", i still feel like am back in my grandma's village...hehe
because i get to see donkeys, horses and even chickens being taken care of lovingly by the citizen...(one of the uniqueness in Cairo)...

well, last two days as a flock of hen ran pass me...i remembered a cartoon story where a man screamed over his escaping livestocks..."catch that bird!!!"..and suddenly a memory of about 10 years ago flickered through my mind...

i was in primary, and my bro and i used to spend our holidays at grandma's...she usually needed to tuck us in to make sure we sleep at night...hehe...everything and every time was game to me before...and to make us stay still in bed, she'd tell us bed time stories...

one of them was..."adeeq, liyana...do you wanna hear about chicken and turtle?"... (my grandma speaks malay though)
yes!!!...and we quickly get under the blanket nex to her...and my grandma begins~

long...long...time ago, chicken can fly...that is why they look like birds...it is told that birds need a special gold on their wings so they can fly...at that time, chicken used to look like any other birds...flying pleasantly...whenever they come down for food, they will keep their gold safely...

turtle on the other hand, cannot fly...and he was so amazed by flying creatures...he so wanted to fly himself...so, one day...turtle braved himself and went to ask chicken the secret of their flying ability...chicken told turtle the truth...

"to fly, u need to have the gold with you!"
"where can i get this gold?"
"i can't tell you, it is only for birds!"
"owh...you look really good when you fly...it must've been amazing!...can you take me with you?"
"no! that's ridiculous...you are too heavy!"
"can i borrow your gold then?...i really wanna know what it feels like to fly..."
"hmm...but how will you wear the gold? you don't have wings..."
"i'll put it in my mouth!"
"u uh -shaking his head- it will fall down if you open your mouth"
"oh please please please please please chicken...i promise i'll keep it safe! by the way, you are always known for your beauty and generosity!"
"urm...ok then...just for one time since you seem so excited, but however amazed you are, never open your mouth!"
"i promise!"

so chicken lent turtle his gold and put it in turtle's mouth...immediately, turtle was able to fly...he went up...up...up...and up to the open sky higher than the top of the tallest tree...the view was so splendid...
"how is it up there?" asked chicken...
excited and eager to express himself, turtle quickly replied..."fantastic!!!"

but woopss...turtle opened his mouth as he speaks, and the gold was thrown out from his mouth onto the grounds...without the gold...turtle lost the support on air...thus he began to fall...down...down..down...and crush!!!...he cracked his shell into tiny diamond-shaped crease...

chicken - my gold!!!

turtle - sorry...huhu

chicken, realizing that his gold had be thrown down onto the ground quickly went looking for it...pecking every few feet of his ground...but he never found it...so they never flew since the day turtle lost their gold...till today, the chickens are still pecking the ground searching for it....

so that was one of the countless bedtime story my grandma told us...

i did not remember the story precisely, but that's how it goes if am not mistaken...:D
a memorable fairy tale...hehe...

inna ma3al 3usri, yusra...

bismillah...

are you aware of your breathing? (provided that you have normal healthy lungs)
well, i would like to bring us all back to the minute we were born...obviously, nobody recalls that moment...but...did you know, that it was a difficult one?

in our mother's belly, we do not need our lungs to breath,
we simply take e-ve-ry-thing from our mother...namely, nutrients and oxygen...
so, definitely...the lungs we had before was different from what we have now...

our alveoli were collapsed, lined by thick cells...and the vessels were congested with blood as there were no particular blood flow within it...all the exchange of nutrients and disposal of waste products were managed by the placenta...

but once we are independent, this circulation needs to be changed...
oxygen have to come from our lungs,
nutrients from our intestines,
disposal of waste products through the kidneys...
every organs now holds a responsibility to make sure we can live...
we cannot depend on the placenta anymore...
and the most vital system to ensure we are alive at that moment is...
our respiratory system!

in that important moment, a baby have to learn how to breathe...he must expand all his collapsed and thick wall alveoli...push out all the congested blood in his lungs to make space for air...it is not an easy task...it needs effort!

but hey, after 21 years alive...(me)...no one even realize that they were breathing...
breathing becomes so easy that there is a quote saying
"as easy as breathing~"

our lung structure changes...the blood pressure in the lungs becomes low, the alveoli walls are thin and there are huge spaces for air to fill in...

sorry for the long introduction,
so...what does all this have to do with the title?

well, the title is actually a verse in the quran in surah ash Sharh, verse 5...which again is repeated in the next verse (verse 6)...
(bismillahirrahmanirrahim)
 "fainna ma3al 3usri, yusra"
(verily, along with every hardship is relief)

i would love to convey to everyone reading this (especially myself) that...
don't be afraid to face hardship!

why?

#1
Allah has promised in that verse that along with every hardship there is relief...
if you read carefully here...the 'hardship' is a specific noun as it begins with an 'alif lam'...which means only one hardship... where else, the 'relief' is general noun thus it is countless...

#2
you've faced it!
at least once...(when you were born)...the difficulties of starting to breathe (as i have explained above)
you were brave in that moment...nobody knows how difficult it was for you,but now...do you realize how easy it is?

#3
if you prepare yourself for a difficult path and worked for it...you know that no matter what is the outcome, you'd never be disappointed... as the sweetness of a victory lies in the effort
*you cannot claim a victory (to yourself) if you knew you didn't worked for it
-we can't lie to ourselves, even if we do...we know it...this is what i believe...but,we can ignore-

so, be optimist...and don't be afraid!

that's all
take what is good, ignore what is bad...and do correct me if there are wrongs...:D
happy eid!

~love the food!

10 nights

salam eid al-adha...

tomorrow will be arafah day...
and the best 10 nights are about to end...

just like to remind myself and everyone else, about how much good deeds we have done so far...there is still time to compensate if we lacked...

eid al adha in egypt is surely fun this year thanks specifically to
*khadijah and her mother's delicious dish!
*ustazah maha for willing to teach us how to make egyptian cuisine (derang tgh menuntut sekarang) and break our fast together
*gen6 babies...(they weren't around last yr...) -hani, ulfah and iman!
*my housemates...:D...love you gurls!
and most of all...
*all my friends!

*tadi terbaca berita jemaah haji malaysia yg meninggal dunia...ramainye...kite happy2 kat sini, tp ade org yg tgh sedih*

what made me rethink

somewhere around January, 2010
i was in a meeting room

it was made compulsory to have a 'tazkirah' in a meeting...
i didn't bother much...i composed myself to focus...

remarkably, (not that it wasn't expected...but it caught my attention) the director himself gave the 'tazkirah' for that meeting...
he said he'd like to start with reading some verses in the Quran...

the first eleven verses of surah al Mu'minuun...he recited it and translated it and explained it to us...

in the eighth verse,

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

"Those who are faithfully true to their Amanat (all the duties which Allah has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility and trust etc.) and to their covenants (promises)."

he explained to us, that because of this verse...we were holding that meeting...we were given the responsibility (an Amanat) by the society to run an event...and as we have took this responsibility, we were to do it as best we could...

y?
because we are muslims.
*the explanation were longer...but long story cut short~

this struck me...
though i've heard of this before, but the meaning of "Amanat" or "covenant" never sunk in me deeply before...as it had on that meeting...

it made me recall all the responsibility i held:
a slave of Allah
a daughter of my parents
a sister to my brothers
a niece to my aunts and uncles
a granddaughter to my grandmother
a student in the path of Jihad
a friend
a house mate
a leader (at that time)...and many moresss
*not as much compared to those married and with kids...hee


have i fulfilled all my Amanat?...
i wasn't sure at that time...
i usually tend to ignore things that are sophisticated...and focus on the priorities...
here...i found out how much i've belittled what i should have forgone...

and in that split second...it made me vow: to try as much as i can to fulfill all my duties!
that moment made me rethink and reorganize my aims and intentions...

small, passable events, when we ponder through them...they usually store useful lessons...:D
so, that's what i wanna share today~
a reminder for me (da buat "vow" tuh!) and for those who read this...(sorry it's kind of boring)