Thursday, February 11, 2010

Brotherhood

Thursday, February 11, 2010 2


The believer is friendly, and easy to befriend. And there is no good in the person who does not befriend and does not get befriended.
{ Musnad Imam Ahmad }

I just came back from Austria yesterday. It was a wonderful journey. I never thought myself would travel to Europe especially all by myself. This had been a real travel. Not just a vacation.

Before reaching Austria, I've been thinking about how life would be as a Muslim traveling in Europe. I feel really lucky to have been sent to Jordan to further my study in Medicine. Practicing Islam has been very easy in Jordan as it is a Muslims country.

Mosques are everywhere.
No doubts when eating.
and so on...

In Europe, it'd been quite a new experience.
You can't expect to find any prayer room in public. If any, it would be the prayer room for Christians. I mean, it's like a church.

Dogs are everywhere. So it's kind of doubtful to perform prayer in any public areas.

That was one thing.

Another thing is about foods.

It was quite tempting actually seeing seafood or chickens or lambs or any meats or even salads. I was being too careful in eating. As if all of their foods contain wine. Well you can't blame me, because that was what I saw on televisions. Europeans like to put some wine on any of their dishes. Even Martha Stewart put some wine in her salad. haha...

About 9 days in Austria, my main menu each time was breads. haha...
I also brought some foods from Jordan. And luckily, I ought to find some Halal restaurants in Austria. They are usually Turkish restaurants with Kebab as their main menu. But still, you can't expect to just walk and suddenly found a Halal restaurant. It's not everywhere. I had to search on the internet for any Halal restaurants. haha...

The third aspect I would like to mention is about brotherhood in Islam.
Ukhuwwah Islamiah.
Or whatever you want to call it.

In my early journey in Austria, I kind of felt alone. I mean, it was like I was out there all by myself. There was nobody to refer to. Well don't misunderstand. Austrian people are very kind and helpful. But, it was like lacking of something.

In Salzbrug, I found Arabic words in a shop. It is indeed a shop owned by Arabs. And there was this feeling. It was like they are so close to me. The word is relieved. I don't know why. It was not like Austrian people are bad. To be true, they are wonderful people who are very friendly. But when I met any Muslims, there was this bond. It was different. We were like brothers. I got excited.

For all He has done to me, I'm very grateful for what I am.

It's true. Traveling is one of many ways to know people. And to realize how grateful we should be of ourselves.

I will try to upload some pictures here maybe next time. But it's not a promise though. huhu..

Thank you.

[ :: Abdullah :: Hidayat :: ME :: ]
Thanks for everything. It really was an exciting journey
:)


 
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