A Quality Day

It was another day in the campus again. And another failed attempt to settle the pending errand.
As I arrived at the office, I saw the sign "Office Closed", but I pushed the door anyway.
"Oh...it's Quality Day, we are closed..please come later this afternoon, but not sure if we can serve you, do call in first, ok?.."
"O...ok..thank you.."
I know, it's Quality Day, that's why I am here. I walked out slowly.

Well..at least this time I won't be wandering around since I ought to attend this official program. Besides, I have three other appointments, to meet three students, interestingly from three different programs, BAR, ENMS and Law, for three different reasons.

Met the first student. After having breakfast together, I walked with her to the building where Quality Day will be held. At the registration counter, I signed my name and was presented with a souvenir and a lunch coupon to be used here, at the campus for today or tomorrow, they reminded me.
" What about KLCC? Can I use this coupon there?....oo...cannot aa?...too bad.." I joked with them.

The souvenir was unique.
It was a copy of the Holy Qur'an(in Arabic, of course) with translation, also in Arabic!
One of my colleagues walked towards me with a somewhat mischievous smile while opening the pages of the Qur'an.
"Look..look at this..." she said.
"I know...it says here.. laa taqrobu..and the translation is, laa taqrobu..."
We laughed together at our minimal Arabic proficiencies. She was my room mate during our hajj few years back, where we had quite a bit of fun practicing our spoken Arabic.
I should have given the Qur'an to the student who was with me at that time. Why didn't I think of that...she is doing a degree in Arabic Literature. May be next time.

We continued our conversation while I waved my hand to some of the other colleagues who passed by. It was a good day, seeing many friends and colleagues whom I had not seen since the last Quality Day.
Under the palm tree, I took the opportunity to share with her about the continuous struggle that human had to endure in order to be on the right path. Physically young and beautiful, she would need a tremendous amount of spiritual strength to guard her soul from the deceiving whispers of our worst enemy. The enemy who took pride in his physical attribute that lead to his cursed destiny, and subsequently luring human to his trap through physical attraction.

He (satan) replied: 'I am better than he. You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.' (Saad:76)

Trying to find a more comfortable place, we walked to the library only to find that it was closed. Why? It's Quality Day..So we just stood there, outside.

By then I realized that she chose to remain quiet most of the time. I continued by reminding her that at her age, she is now at a critical juncture in character building process, and that she should pray for a trusted teacher to be the guiding hand. Her current world is surrounded by academics, lecturers, professors, but a true teacher, a 'murabbi' is granted only to those who sincerely seek and pray for one.

Soon afterwards, seeing other students came, she politely excused herself and left. She was never in any of my classes before but was somehow sent to me by Him. I was dragged into her personal life by some unexpected events and now I felt responsible to share with her what was part of the 'spiritual syllabus' that I had always incorporate in the lesson in my class. May Allah guide and protect her always.

While chatting with the other students, two more came. I recognized one of them immediately, he is already in the fourth year. The other one looked at me from afar while scratching his head and courteously asked,
"Do you know me, madam?"
I had to admit that I don't, but slowly his face turned familiar.
" You were cuter back then.." I blurted out, and he gave a sheepish smile.
He is also in the fourth year. I have to say that both of them looked more matured now with an aura of confidence on their faces. Alhamdulillah..They will be graduating soon and the challenges of the real world awaits. May Allah bless them with true success in their life.

The next appointment was a lunch date with a small group of ENMS and Law students. It was simply fun and joyous moment, eating while catching up with their latest grievance of having endless quizzes, assignments, exams etc etc. What else can we expect from a student's life? Been there, done that...

Going back to the library after lunch, we discovered that it was still closed, so I decided to leave and said my goodbyes to them. It is always a pleasure spending time with these cheerful students.
When I drove out of the campus I heard the azan for zuhr prayer from the university's mosque at the background.

I ended up not attending the program that I was there for in the first place, and I would have to come back for the unaccomplished mission, but it was nevertheless a quality day for me, in my own special way.

Alhamdulillah..
Thank you Allah for giving me the honour to be a teacher to these wonderful students.