on the unobscene but similarly horrifying F word

every community has its horror stories.

the hospital community is replete with stories of long-gone patients strolling down hallways at night, sounds of children crying, surgeries gone wrong.

the political community has its own stories of how people with 'misguided' political orientations were rounded up and thrown into detention.

the ruling party community has stories of how after trials, threats and one video, their opponents emerged smelling of roses.

Likewise, the da'wah community has its own horror story. Remember, we are all callers, many just don't realise it yet.

I call it the F word.

Futur -.-

Futur- i don't know the exact meaning, but to me it means something like going astray after you have followed the Light. sounds very philosophical, even Star Wars-ish, but that's what it feels like. and futur can exist on many levels. for example, say you were very spirited and energetic one day, and the next day you feel 'ah whatever. i want to sleep.' that is futurish.

But the worst case is leaving da'wah, and there have been cases of this throughout the ages. You expect something to have a high fallout rate when it is something very much against the mainstream.

Here, things are very much ideal, with a good environment and a 3-year paid vacation. hoho *no, no, that was a joke, it's not a vacation Bank Negara*

Back in malaysia, with all sorts of threads pulling us away, the challenge is far greater.

Once my family went out for dinner, and we met this family, who my mum and dad knew. Previously, they were 'brader' and 'sister'. but now, *shudder*

so lots of things could go wrong actually. Too tied up in work, being locked up in a basement, suddenly feeling 'ah whatever. i want to sleep' for the rest of our lives. 

But why focus on the bad things when you have the good stuff? during the early stages of the Islamic call, Islam didn't have anything to promise its adherents. No free lunch at 1 o'clock everyday. No promises of power, no free 30 pounds if they came to hear what the Prophet had to say. Instead they were subjected to persecution ('you're an extremist!'), slander, torture and to the worst extent murder. Well actually murder is not all that bad. If you stayed true in your faith you were martyred, so maybe torture was the worst. wait, no, if you were tortured and you were patient Allah will give rewards in abundance, so maybe there is no such thing as a bad thing for a believer.

No promises.

Except that of al-Jannah (heaven).

"Verily, Allâh has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise.." (At Taubah:111)

Awesome.

So there's absolutely no reason to give up and back away when extremely hard challenges come. Even if we're alone, this Call has to continue, although i don't know what i'll do if im alone.

what does pressure and heat do to carbon? turn it into diamonds.