I just started to read again, slowly. Alhamdulillah :) Thanks to all lovely ladies to keep on sharing reviews on books that encourage me so much to read (and make me jealous a bit to think how amazing you guys are to always be with books haha).
To write reviews on Malay books, it makes me think thrice either to write in Malay or English. Adoi. Anyway, let's check this book out.
Title: Semusim Di Barzakh
Author: Hadi Fayyadh
Pages: 299
Publisher: Iqes Tijarah Trading
Publication Date: June 2016
Synopsis:
Roughly - it is about a guy named Fayyadh (known as Fadh) who was not a religious guy, in fact he lived the life opposite to what Islam has taught us. He secretly in love with Humaira' who was a beautiful girl inside out - truly a girl most men are wishing for. He did not tell her though about his feeling. But, guess what... he was expecting to meet Humaira' during the reunion (after 3 years) then he found out that Humaira' had actually committed suicide!
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| Synopsis on the back cover. |
During the reunion trip, Fadh experienced an abnormal situation. Something happened to him that got himself into an accident where his car fell from a bridge. Since then, he witnessed everything involving his death, burial and things that happened next.
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Generally, this book brings us through a journey that is not the world we are currently living. This world is one of the life phases and as Muslims, I believe that all of us believe in the Afterlife (barzakh, qiamat etc) - that no one know what it really looks like except the scenarios shared by Rasulullah SAW and in Quran.
The overall plot is a bit cliche, but never mind... I prefer to look forward to life lessons this book can offer me. And as expected, there are a lot of them. Maybe I will share some of them that I found the most significant to me.
The story is based on true story anyway.
1. Deeds are by their final actions.
As Muslim believes in Qada' & Qadar, we need to know there are 4 main things that have been predestined by Allah even before we were born - rizq (rezeki), death / lifespan, deeds / actions and whether he will be happy or not (means whether or not he will enter Jannah).
A person's final actions will determine his ending in Akhirah. He can be a very good person through out his life but if suddenly at the very end of it, he died while doing things that are characteristics of Hell's inhabitants... that will be his ending and vice versa.
In this book, we can relate this point to Humaira'. You need to read the book to understand why she committed suicide even though she lived her life accordingly. If possible, it is better to understand the hadith for this point - Hadith #4 Imam Nawawi.
Yes, to a point it is really hard to think about Qada' and Qadar as these are beyond the imagination of human. We have no idea to which ending we will go. We don't know what are the best for us. But, this does not put away the point that we need to try our best in our life to be a better person each day and to ask guidance from Allah to achieve that goal.
2. As long as we are still alive, it is not too late to change.
Once it is time for us to leave, our soul (ruh) will be separated from our body (jasad). By then, no deeds will be recorded. We will enter the phase in between dunya and akhirah. It feels so hard for me to write this as I need to admit that the world - a beautiful place that is actually a trial by Allah to us. It is just a transition for us before entering the Akhirah (the never ending place that we will be).
T___T
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| credit - http://productivemuslim.com/itinerary-to-afterlife/ |
This book makes me imagine the barzakh - from the moment Izrail separates my soul to the burial and everything next. It is really scary to think about. The author described what Fadh encountered and experienced in 'Barzakh' that he prayed so hard to be able to re-enter the world - to fix everything that he had done, to ask forgiveness from other people, to change his lifestyle. But as we know, nothing can be done.
The readers will be reminded with many advices:
- to cover our aurah,
- to stay away from bad actions and alcohol,
- to maintain good relationship with our parents,
- to believe for the beautiful results for every trials,
- to keep on praying for good ending of life,
- to be more sincere in everything we do,
- to appreciate the time,
- to never think we are too young to die,
- to always try our best to help other people,
- etc.
3. Quotes / Hadiths / Quran verses to ponder.
- Masa berlari seumpama tidak mahu sesiapa mengejarnya. Sungguh benar pepatah Arab, "masa itu tajam seumpama mata pedang, jika kamu tidak memotongnya, maka dialah yang akan memotong kamu."
- "Hati adalah umpama kaki yang sedang berjalan, tidak akan terasa sakitnya lagi kaki yang memijak duri apabila ia sudah biasa memijaknya. Pada permulaannya, sakitnya bukan kepalang, namun apabila dibiarkan terus berjalan, walau dengan memijak duri, kesakitan itu akan hilang."
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This book is one of the best selling books in Popular, I think in MPH as well. It is quite famous on Instagram too. Grab yourselves a copy of it, I can say the experiences gained in this book are hardly to be found in other latest books - despite some flaws like the paragraphing. :)
My rating: ★★★☆☆
My rating: ★★★☆☆
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170903 (wow it is September already?!)
...waiting for Maghrib
