Assalamu Alaykum.
For a new Muslim here in Manila, there are indeed a lot of challenges that could come your way... Being alone is one and looking for Halal foods, looking for Musallahs to pray in, looking for Masjids on fridays, and the list goes on and on... But Alhamdulillah, meeting new Muslims friends here in Manila made me feel less lonelier. By attending simple Muslim gatherings and lectures I was fortunate to meet a lot of them whom I can now consider my family here in Manila. What is best is that we share the same beliefs and we understand each others problems and we help and try to support each other.
Last Saturday, after attending a lecture about Christmas <
click here> I was able to spend the rest of the day with the other Muslim participants. Well, what we did was just the simple family gatherings a real family would do... Pray together, eat dinner together, and yes, we had our own "(unmarried) boy's night", too. haha. Just scroll along to see how I really enjoyed that company I have been looking for after months of studying in medschool. After all, I was a member of the Muslim community before I became a med student. :)
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| taking a break |
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Good (looking) brothers with beards
We are the "Beard Brothers" haha |
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| I always enjoy Muslim gatherings like this |
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| Of course, the Halal-cooked foods too :D |
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| And the company of good friends |
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Never forget your prayers :)
Photo by Sis Maya Dorado |
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| A great view up here... |
Then after the sessions and after the Maghrib prayer, some of us went home and some decided to go have dinner at Gateway Mall... Being gallant, gentlemen, the boys volunteered to carry the bags and the "kiddie carrier" (I dont know what its called hahaha). What we did was took another adventure and eventually got lost along the way. haha! Here's a summary panel of what happened:
Movie Title: "The Lost Fathers"
Casts: bro Adam (red lines), Ayan (blue), Ismael (yellow), Ahmad (camera man)
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| Looking for the meeting place |
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| Going to foodcourt |
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| We found another TacoBell but it was not the meeting place... |
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| Going up... |
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| And down again... |
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| Finally! The right one! |
When we arrived, the first group were almost done with their dinner :)
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| Dinner Dinner Dinner, Alhamdulillah |
Then after dinner and lengthy discussion about our future plans... The "married ones" (haha) went home with their wives, the ladies too decided to go home... and we, the "unmarried" boys decided to spend the night together... It's Boy's night baybeh!
But woops, Prayers should come first... It's already Eisha prayer. So we went to another nearby mall, New Farmers and looked for their Prayer room... And prayed...
And then, after hours of looking for a place to go, we end up in J.Co at UN Avenue in Manila.
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| Boy's night at JCo UN avenue |
We seldom do these kind of things. We talked and discussed a lot of things, both important matters as "how to become better Muslims", bout our studies, work experiences, etc and other things that are not worthy of mentioning here -_- hehe.
Nevertheless, It was indeed a day worth remembering... before I finally go back homt to Sulu and end 2013 :)
Salam kasilasa!
AIMD
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