Ilmfest : The Festival of Knowledge
Definitely A Great Experience
16-17/5/2015
These two days, were definitely two of the greatest days in my life.
Let me tell you what made me want to go to this festival.
Well, I’ve always wanted to join a talk or conference; Islamic conference to be specific because I feel the need to go there. My lack of knowledge in my own religion makes me feel embarrassed and humiliated sometimes. Not towards the society, but towards my Creator, Allah SWT.
When the notice was put up, 20 seats will be sponsored for this festival, I was so excited, then without thinking of anything, I signed up for it, Alhamdulillah I got a place!
I did that without even thinking of what people might think of me and I also didn’t have the heart to tell anyone. Because for me, one of my dreams, to listen to Yasmin Mogahed live was coming true that time, so I didn’t care much.
Then when the names were put up on the board, I received so many different reactions.
“Seriously, Aliah?”
“Alhamdulillah”
etc
I told Qim about it. Was it that weird, a person like me, wanting to go for an Islamic conference?
Oh maybe yes. I also wonder, why did I want to sign up in the first place?
But then I realised, it’s Allah who knocked my heart that time.
There’s something great about our heart. It’s simply like glass. It can be really hard, or really fragile. But most importantly, it’s definitely its nature to be moulded into shapes, different kinds of shapes. It can be moulded. Same goes to our hearts. And subhanallah, alhamdulillah, I just feel that, Allah listens to my intention, or the wish that I’ve never told anyone about it. I want to attend an Islamic conference so badly, at least once before I leave KMB for good. Alhamdulillah, He grants my wish.
Oh yeah, I just notice one thing about wish. If something you wish and hope for is for the sake of Allah SWT and His deen; He will definitely make it easier for you.
It’s my great gratitude to thank Kak Elly and Brother Amar Razali for finding sponsors to give us the free tickets, may Allah bless all of you.
And I feel that it’s indeed my responsibility and obligation to share the knowledge I gained from the festival to all of you.
16 great scholars were gathered in this festivals; they’re from all over the world, having great background in Islamic studies, and they definitely have inspired me in so many ways.
When it’s an Islamic talk, people often think that it’s all about hijab, ikhtilat etc. But no, it’s something that is very basic that I think our societies, the Malay Muslims nowadays are lacking of.
That is the fundamental thing about Islam. The understanding about our own religion, the kalimah that we tend to take for granted of and when all of these basic things are not mastered and fully immersed in our hearts ; that’s when our ibadah is not complete and religion duties become a burden to us.
Thus, we shall go back to the basic thing in Islam.
Two things that I learn from this festival.
- Never lose hope, never give up because Allah never loses hope in us.
- Doa connects us with Allah and it helps building strong bond with our Creator.
To be honest, there’re so many things I want to share but this will take me hours to write about it. Maybe I will update it from time to time and you just have to stay tune :P
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