Journey of love

Bismillah.
I was lucky last weekend when my auntie from my husband's side invited us to visit Maqam Habib Ali bin Jaafar al-Idrus. When she called my mother in law, we (me and my parents in law) were in JB at Larkin. My parents in law were very kind to accompany there... :) as I needed to collect the goods for my small online business of long hijab (tudung labuh/mini telekung). And while we were jalan-jalaning there, Wak Ati called mother in law... (Mak) to ask if we'd like to come along to Batu Pahat.

Mak was psyched... she was reallly happy and who wouldn't be? :) Especially Wak Ati who was kind enough to remember Mak who told her before that she and Abah (father in law) would like to go. And Wak Ati asked too masyaAllah, may Allah bless her for this :) I pulak.... just happened to be there. We were all just happened to be there. It was very well unplanned and I didn't know how to describe the feeling... Surreal, but acceptable with all my heart.

Wak Ati and Wak Jai picked us up while we were waiting at Dunkin' Donuts Larkin (had a nice brunch there :) And off we went in their Proton! We came by bus and was bringing soooo many things masyaAllah I felt so grateful when we took the car. Honestly, I've grown up all my life with car with my father... with my in laws I have to adapt and get use to public transport hehe.

And then, we drove off to Batu Pahat.... who would have guessed. We only planned to go Larkin and be home at noon and suddenly we went all the way to Batu Pahat (which is a few km away from JB, which is saying something).

At Batu Pahat Wak Jai drove to visit maqam Habib Ali bin Jaafar al-Idrus... a wali of Allah whose life was blessed with bringing himself closer to Allah, till Allah honored him the title of wali, a friend of Allah, recognized by Allah... loved by Allah. I remembered how my father took us to see him when he was alive. My husband also got to visit him twice: once, before our marriage in which Habib Ali advised him to get married :) And second, after our marriage with my father... with Habib's dua, I feel (and think) our marriage happened and the many duas of other habibullah.

The life of Habib Ali was full of trials but that was what Allah promised... "And we will surely test you with some fear, hunger and shortages of property, people and produce. But give good tidings to the steadfast. Those who, when a calamity befalls them say: "We belong to Allah and to Him we return." Upon these are prayers from their Lord and mercy and these are the rightly-guided ones." (Al-Baqarah: 155-157)
At 35, he lost his wife. Around the same year, he also lost 2 of his children.
Habib must have loved his wife very much because he didn't remarry. According to Wak Ati Habib said, "Tu isteri habib dunia akhirat". 'She is my wife in this world and the next' (Hababah Sharifah Alawiyah Al-Habsyi)
'Habib nak besarkan anak2' 'I would like to see my children grow' ...*touching..*

As we sat next to maqam habib, he was buried right beside his wife.... Wak Ati told us how he had expressed that wish before, to be buried beside his wife. Though by the time he passed away the cemetery was closed for anymore burials. But the people fulfilled habib's wish... as the people love him too.

And so he was buried just, nicely, beside Hababah Sharifah Alawiyah. Next to Hababah, is their daughter who passed away at age of 2, Sharifah Zahrah. And next to Hababah on her right, her mother, Salmah. All reunited in the yet another temporary world of Barzakh, a preview of Jannah (Paradise). Hababah's mother, Habib's mother in law was also a wara' (devoted). A family of pious, good and successful people, insyaAllah in religion and in the Hereafter.... how wonderful it must be.. How joyous to be together again (Sharifah Zahrah and her parents, imagine that *Allah...*)

As we sat next to the maqam, we read Al-Fatehah for the four souls.. (we gave salam first). My father taught me to read Al-Ikhlas and I did 33times, the pahala gave to Habib.. (may Allah accept this small sadaqah of mine to this man of God). We also read Yasin. I sent my husband's regards to habib (my husband was at work..) My husband asked to doa for us with the barakah of Habib Ali waliullah taala.

May Allah place Habib Ali and his family amongst the successful in the Paradise.
May Allah grant us all the Grand Syafaah of Rasulullah s.a.w. in the Hereafter.
Amin.

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An article of Allah's Test : http://members.cox.net/arshad/allahtest.html
For my online shop, http://facebook.com/farrasyah.shop (I sell tudung labuh that can be used by muslimah :)

PS: I got to know from Wak Ati Habib and his wife also used to sell kain! I'm loving this line of job! Alhamdulillah.
During the journey, we ate lots of stuff including pisang goreng,epok-epok, putu bambu it was great! tho i missed my husband, of course all the way hehe.