7 things Madrasah-Polytechnic students can relate to

Madrasah (مدرسة‎): It means 'school' in Arabic. A term used in many countries for Islamic religious schools. In Singapore, madrasahs are considered as private schools. Male students wear long pants, collared shirt and songkok (cap). Female students wear long dress/baju kurung/pant suit and tudung (headgear).

1. Culture Shock
   This is the most common of all. 
   Most of us madrasah students will surely experience this if they choose to go 'academic' afterwards. The worst is usually during the orientation days; the kind of games they host, the level of entertainment, the deafening audios, and such. The atmosphere is just too unusual and..... Odd?
   
   Just FYI, in madrasah, males and females are segregated when playing games. We do not have body or skin contact with the opposite gender. The amount of entertainment is kept to a minimal and no, we do not blast loud music during events. Only soothing songs, instrumentals or nasyids/qasidahs (spiritual songs) will be played.

2. Sneak out of lecture to pray
   This is challenging. We used to be connected to the masjid (mosque) or musolla (a space to pray) 24/7. We could even hear the adzan (call to prayer) and will proceed for prayers immediately. Its a routine that has been practiced for years, since the age of 7 (yes we study in madrasah for 10 - 11 years since primary 1).
   Fun Facts: Madrasah used to have kindergartens as well back in the 90's.
   
   In polytechnic, we need to find our own space and time to pray. If our schedule collides with the prayer time, we have no choice but to sneak out of lecture and rush for prayers. BUT YAAAY most of the schools now are musolla-ready. They even provide us with the necessities. Many thanks to the people/management who initiated this - you guys have made our lives a lot easier!
   
   
3. Not sports-inclined
   Well, this does not really apply to the guys unless they too, got asked questions like
   "Do you have CCA/sports in madrasah?"
   
   As for the ladies, we often get questions about headgear and long pants.
   "Don't you feel hot?" "Isn't it uncomfortable to run around in those?" "How do you go for a swim then?" Alright chill, let me give some enlightenment.
   
   Firstly, yes we do have sports and CCAs in madrasah.
   Regarding the hot issue, we feel hot at times but we are used to it so yeah no worries we are cool.
   Comfort? Frankly speaking, we do not see any huge difference between wearing shorts and pants.
   How do we swim? Have you ever heard of 'muslimah swimming gear'? Yeah, we rock that thing in the pool. Its pretty vogue y'know? Maybe you should get one too. ;)
   
   
4. The urge to converse in Malay
   Madrasah is flooded with Malay students, so we converse in Malay 99% of the time. Honestly, it does feels a bit weird to have a mixture of races in class (polytechnic). In madrasah, we tend to speak Malay even during English lessons hahaha. It became a habit. Our teacher then jokingly came up with this cute punishment - pay 10 cents for every Malay word uttered. Lol.
   
   But wait, we do enjoy picking up Mandarin words from our Chinese friends and trade them with Malay words. Win-win situation! That's the beauty of being in a multi-racial country yes? Definitely.
   
   
5. Being labelled as malaikat (angel)
   The way you introduce yourself to a new friend is important in this context. They will surely have another impression of you the moment you mention 'madrasah'.
   
   We are getting used to people labeling us 'angels'. Yes apparently we madrasah students do not sin at all. Thank you but you are being too nice we can't handle. (please sense the big sarcasm here)
   
   
6. Education stream confusion (express, normal academic or normal technical)
   During freshmen year, one of the frequently asked questions is "are you 17 or 18 years old?" And when you say 18, BAAAM they will confirm plus chop thought that you took N levels & had to go to secondary 5.
   
   Okay understood cos that's how the system works. But not for us though. It is actually compulsory for some madrasahs to do an extra year of curriculum (hence sec 5) as we have to sit for STE (a big exam by MUIS in Arabic/religious subjects) in secondary 4. It might be too taxing for us to do both STE and O levels in the same year. We do not practice education streams.
   
   
7. We do not have friends of the opposite gender
   This is the funniest of all. Come on. Living in this cosmopolitan era, how could one not have any friend from the opposite gender? With the presence of social networks and all............
   You get me right?!
   
   So anyways, 4 out of 6 madrasahs take in both male and female students. We behave like normal kids, study the same subjects (with additional religious subjects) and are friends with everyone! I am not sure about secular schools but we were trained to be well-mannered and dress modestly.
   But apart from those, we are no aliens. Just normal human beings. 

Disclaimer: All the points above are purely based on my own experiences/opinions, supported by a number of friends who have mutual thoughts regarding this. 

The Power of Patience

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

It's Sunday, and it's the last day of term break :( 

School will be as usual for the next 6 weeks... before we settle down for study break and finally, THE EXAMS! Am I supposed to be feeling excited or otherwise? Hmm lol.

Anyways, spent my Saturday (yesterday) productively, Alhamdulillah. Attended a talk by Sheikh Daood Butt at Masjid Ar-Raudhah on 'adversity' and 'women in Islam'. Met quite a number of sisters whom I've not met for quite some time...also a lot of sisters from NYP. :)

I didn't really expect the crowd to be sooo overwhelming but I'm happy to say that most of them are youths, just like me. I hope more youth will attend these kind of majlis 'ilm in the future, Insya Allah. :')

Now let me share some useful points given by Sheikh Daood Butt.

The most conspicuous one was on patience, in my personal opinion. I feel that most of the nation here are lacking of patience, including me. Hence, it is really a good topic to start off.

Patience: It is something needed to develop our lives. Allah SWT emphasizes on patience in the Al-Qur'an. With patience and taqwa, InsyaAllah He will grant you success. 

This can be related to the story of our Prophet, Yusuf 'Alaihissalaam. He was tested several times since young. His own siblings did not like him. Then, when he was thrown and found from the well, he became a slave. Later, because of some incident, he was brought to jail for years.

Yet, he remained calm and stayed patient throughout. He believes that, if he put trust to Allah SWT, something good will happen. True enough! After the sorrows he went through, he was elected as the minister of agriculture. 

You see, from being a slave, to the jail and finally becoming a minister. Subhaanallah, nothing is impossible when you have the patience and taqwa. Lastly, he was reunited back to his family. Such a blissful ending. 

(Refer to the story of Nabi Yusuf 'Alaihissalaam for a precised story.)

Apart from that, always take failures as blessings. I'm sure all of us have encountered failures, at least once. A simple example: Failing your test. How should you react?

Instead of emo-ing and isolating yourself, or feeling discouraged, why not you take it as a lesson. Learn your lesson and start bucking up. Without you realising, it is actually a blessing because that failure made you realise on your mistakes.

".و اصبروا إن الله مع الصابرين..."

“…and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.”
[Al-Anfal 8:46]

Sheikh Daood Butt also shared some tips on attaining patience when you face trials:

1) Think of good rewards that will come in the future

2) Expecting and hoping for the time of ease

3) By thinking of Allah SWT's blessings that we already have (Relatable to Prophet Ayub 'Alaihissalaam's story)

4) Think of previous things where Allah SWT blessed us after hardship.

Above all, be reminded that THE REAL TEST is: How are we going to PASS in the hereafter? 

Not your exams, your image, your driving license etc (applies to me especially).

Sometimes we tend to think too much of our worldly desires till we forgot to read the Al-Qur'an. :(

If you're facing difficulties, turn to Allah SWT and make DU'A. Whatever addiction you are facing, you can overcome it by consistently turning to Him, Insya Allah. :)

I'll end this post with a hadith:

"No one can be given a better and more abundant gift than patience."

Allahu a'lam.