The Last Halaqah

Salaamun 'ala man ittaba' al-Huda.

Last Friday, I didn't went to school for various reasons. Despite that, I still begged my father to send me to school after Maghrib. Why? Because that night was the night of our last Halaqah for our school days.

The atmosphere that night was truely melancholic. It's not that I won't be meeting Uncle Hamdan, Hashimi, Rafi', Rahim, Basyth and A'aiman anymore after this; I will be meeting them at school, insyaAllah. It is the fact that that night was our last time we would hear Uncle Hamdan's weekly treat of tazkirah as a group—that's what made me utterly in melancholy.

There was officially no tazkirah that night. It was a feast, commemorating the offical closing of our Halaqah. That being said, we were not left with no soup for the soul at all. We had our share of what we call in our-speak, sembang tarbawi, or educational chat (this is a literal translation that could not even match the nuance of the original term). Uncle Hamdan treated us with satay, lemang, nasi impit and seaweeds special from Korea.

After the feast, Uncle Hamdan asked every one of us to give our final speeches.

Basyth starts,

If we are alone, we will fall easily.

Hashimi's turn,

We are in a jama'ah; connect with each other.

Rafi' continued,

Do absolutely what Allah told us to, and we will be victorious.

After my so-so speech, Uncle Hamdan wrapped up,

Our work does not stop here. It must be continued forever, till the day of Judgement.

A'aiman bit late, commented,

Stay strong on this path of da'wah.

I will remember these words. These words are better than the upcoming SPM, the world, and all its contents ... Thank you, my friends; thank you Uncle Hamdan; thank you Brother Shahrul! May Allah be pleased with you all and bless you with His jannah!