Tuesday, 11 September 2018

Monthly Favourites // August 2018

August.. has been filled with clarity, yet has also brought about a lot of confusion. Sometimes I feel like my head-space is filled with haze, and I roam about just.. searching. Life sometimes become so repetitive to the point that it feels like it is filled with dullness. Life loses its colour, its luster, its magic, its spark. Then you discover things that genuinely spark something within you again, and it feels like  God-sent rain to clear up the haze. The air clears up, your lungs is filled with fresh, new air, the world returns, filled with colours again.
 
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This month reached a low point where I became really angry towards God. I don't remember ever having so much anger towards God, but I was really angry, and all those anger was directed towards God. The feeling subsided, but the source of my anger remained: life has got me cornered, and boy did I feel defeated.

Initially, a few weeks prior to being cornered, before the snowball, I told myself that I'd say alhamdulillah - all praise be to Allah - regardless of whatever life throws at me. The snowball was small. I said alhamdulillah. The snowball got bigger. I said alhamdulillah. and bigger.. and bigger, and bigger, to the point that I got angry. Just pure, red, hot, boiling, poisonous anger.

The day after the anger, I was once again stuck. I wish I could explain to you how cornered life can make you feel sometimes. This time, I was too tired. I was in the musolla for zuhr prayer, I was exhausted, defeated but desperate. In zuhr I cried, and in my sujud I remembered an acquaintance quoted the Quran and told me that whoever believes in Allah, He will make you a way out from sources that you'd never imagine. And what she said next stuck with me: "He (God) will make a way out for you, not show a way, but MAKE a way. Meaning if there was no way before, a way will be made." And in desperation, I called onto Him and spoke to Him in sujud, saying, "Oh Allah, I'm so sorry. Oh Allah, I believe in You. Oh Allah, make a way out for me, make a way out for me, make a way out for me."

After prayers, doors (read: doors. plural.) were opened for me, one after the other.

Onto August's favourites:


Articles //
  • Mark Manson
    I recently stumbled upon Mark Manson who is the author of "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F-" which I haven't read but really want to read. His profanity and examples are highly resemblant of a horny college dude who thinks about life a lot and read books as a hobby. But whatever he says always manages to bring a new awareness in me and make me laugh.

    After reading a few articles on his blog, I started noticing that a lot of the things that he wrote revolve around the same theme as minimalism and it turns out that he too is a minimalist, which is cool. Maybe that's why the things that he says resonate with me. Here are the articles that I liked:

    ↠ The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F-
    ↠ Immanuel Kant and The One Rule For Life
    ↠ 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose
    ↠ Find What You Love and Let It Kill You
    ↠ Shut Up and Be Patient (♥)
    ↠ How We Judge Others Is How We Judge Ourselves
    Minimalism


    TV Series //
    Image result for dexter movie poster
    Credits: biokinetiK on DeviantArt

    From time to time I feel like all stories that could be told have been told, and life's just a big bore of recycled stories. This show proved me otherwise. Dexter is a blood spatter analyst who works for Miami Metro Police Department by day and is a serial killer by night. The irony, I know. There are 8 seasons in total. Each season introduces a new serial killer for Dexter to kill while Miami Metro Police Department tries to track the serial killer, too. The whole series is also a self-discovery journey for Dexter as a serial killer juggling normal life.

    Don't let the 8 seasons intimidate you as it intimidated me in the beginning because all 8 seasons are really, really good. My personal favourites: Season 1, Season 4 and Season 5. 

    I didn't think I would like it enough to watch all 8 seasons, but now that it's all over I would've continued watching it even if it was 16 seasons. It consumed me the same way the Harry Potter series and A Little Life consumed me, and I was so absorbed in it that I finished 8 seasons in 1.5 months.

    If you're into mystery, thriller and deadpan humour, this is for you. I honestly loved it so much and I'm considering watching all 8 seasons again, something I never do. The plot is also brilliantly written. 

    American TV shows annoy me sometimes because I feel like the writers always try to unnecessarily make it longer than it needs to be because hey, more seasons = more money and they always destroy the storyline while doing so. But with each season of Dexter, I feel like it expands on the background of each character, helping us connect and understand them while also progressing and not compromising the storyline.

    It's really great. 11/10 would recommend. Oh and I signed up for Netflix. It's honestly the best thing in the world for a serial binge watcher like me. Oh, and can we appreciate the intro of the series?




    Books //
    • Eeman Made Easy by Muhammad Mustafa al-Jibaly
    The 'Eeman Made Easy' series is a series of explanation of The Six Articles of Faith in Islam which are the belief in..
    1. Allah/ God
    2. Angels
    3. Prophets and Messengers
    4. Holy Books
    5. Day of Judgement
    6. Pre-Destination
    Each pillar in the Six Pillars of Imaan deals with unseen matters, therefore it gets tricky. I've read a few books which speaks of the unseen matters in Islam with absolutely no basis and references, and some of them are so far-fetched and out of reach that you wonder what the author was on when they were writing it. 

    The reason why I love this series so much is because everything the author wrote and used as reference are all based on legitimate sources of Islam: what Allah said and what Prophet Muhammad SAW said. The Quran and sunnah. The Articles of Faith are also matters which are not focused on within Islamic circles which is so sad because they are the very basis of our religion. Sadly people focus more on the halal and haram rather than the actual foundations of Islam sometimes. :( Therefore I would highly highly recommend this series. They're good. There are 6 books in total, one book for each pillar.

    Check them out here: Goodreads


    Till next time,
    Aisyah.