So long as we have enough money to get us by food and rent, I think many of us will be happy in our own little (real) world... an alternate life, away from the daily 9 to 5 grind, away from toxic people, the ultimate peaceful lifestyle.
Call it an escapist fantasy if you will but I am in the mood to challenge my reality and tweet it for some improvements
how can I live better? What can I do more with my life?
Those who don't dream, don't achieve!
I want much more than this provincial life!
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned
Bruce Campbell lives an alternate life. Though I wished he build a tree house, he spent $218,000 to renovate a Boeing 727 plane. He has installed a sink, washing machine - maybe an air conditioner?
If I were ever to take a romantic, alluring cross-country road trip, I would want to have this tiny house on wheels. Who needs lodging reservation when you are taking your home on the go? You don't have to constantly worry about meals or bathroom breaks. You can take all the comforts of home into the wilderness and enjoy the best of both worlds. Sigh. One Day InshaAllah!
I would love to have a tiny home like this one on the right. They are very beautiful and have a low impact on your budget and your pride. Buying a home has become a trap not a milestone. I can't imagine invoking the curse of Allah and paying debt for the next 25 years.Why would you want to own a place and be stuck? A tiny rental place forces you to be outside more and gives you the luxury to be flexible. You can get up and relocate any time. There is less tension to decorate. You just need basic aesthetic things to make the place peaceful and comfortable. If we simplify our lives and live with less - our overall quality of life will improve. Its easier to organize when you have limited space. You focus on things you really love and want from life.
The house of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) was the best home and it was really simple. This is Prophet Muhammad's (s.a.w) replica house, based on the exact description in authentic aHadeeth, on display in Jeddah.
The entrance to his home was not a door, it was just a curtain, Visitors didn't knock. They called his name (Surat Alhujurat). Once Aisha (r.a) placed a curtain with an animal print and the Prophet (s.a.w) had it taken down because angels would not enter a place where there were images of living creatures. SubhanAllah! Having angels in his house was more desired by him than fancy decoration (s.a.w).
His (s.a.w) personal items included a spear, bow, arrows, and a sword. He (s.a.w) had a stick that he used to lean on when giving Khutbahs and walking. One can tell a lot about a person from the things that they keep in their house. Many of us just have clutter which reflects our diorganized lives and unfocused minds. It is evident that the defence and protection of the Muslim Ummah was a matter of immeninet priority to the Prophet (s.a.w).
Aisha (r.a) had very few kitchen items: waterpot made from skin, plates, and bowls. As you can tell, she wasn't much into cooking but she conduced it to please her husband. Her real interest was in learning the Deen. So while Safiya (r.a) is remembered as a great cook, Aisha (r.a) is celebrated for transmitting the largest number of ahadith from the Prophet (s.a.w), after Abu Hurirah (r.a) and Abdullah ibn Umar (r.a).
The roof was made of palm tree branches. If it rained, the house got wet! The pillow he (s.a.w) used was.... a brick! ﷺ and he (s.a.w) slept on a straw mat which left marks on his back.
Sometimes though, every once in awhile, we get the consumption itch. We start noticing things that we usually ignore, like how shabby my couch is. I wish my place was a little nicer, I wish I had some nicer stuff. Usually, this isn’t fuelled by our own actual desire for stuff, but by noticing other people’s stuff, or by feeling like our own home isn’t up to other people’s standards of what a home should look like. Trying to keep up with the Joneses is a futile endeavour, about as helpful to my overall happiness as having a splinter. That said, trying to ignore the Joneses is just as tough, since it’s seems like the whole point of social media these days is to show each other how awesome our lives are.
My alternate awesome life would combine my love for Hadith and Travelling, like Shaykh Waleed AbdulHakim. He is a travelling Imaam and Professor who has gone extensively across Europe and Asia with the message of Islam. May Allah preserve him and make me a follower in his footsteps aameen.
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He has taught several classes in Sweden. On one of his teaching trips he also visited IKEA. He said that "it is so massive that it is bigger than... NINE football fields, IKEA was founded in 1943 by a 17 year old boy (Ingvar), who started by selling matchboxes at the age of 7 by going around town on his modest bike. An alternate life? He then expanded by selling pencils, pens, and even fish, until he used his uncle's kitchen table and started the furniture business! Today (71 years later), IKEA has 349 stores in 43 countries, and it is the world's largest furniture retailer, and Ingvar at age 88 is the 5th richest person in the world with $42.6 Billion, but more importantly, Ingvar founded the world's largest charity foundation (INGKA), where he donated more than $33 Billion dollars (75% of his wealth)! Despite his wealth, he lives a very simple life, taking only economy class flights, driving an old 1993 Volvo, avoiding luxury hotels, and eating cheap meals at his own IKEA stores, all to save money for charity!"
In an alternate life I would live in Sweden and write a lot of Islamic textbooks, novels and magazines for all ages then make as much money as as JK Rowling, 75% of which I will donate of course to fund more Muslim writers around the world, make more Islamic schools with state-of-the-art libraries (inshaAllah).
Another cool thing about Sweden that he shared from is travelouge is that, "although they are one of the richest countries in the world, only less than a third of the population use cars, because Sweden has the highest percentage of walking people (to work) in the world, and the rest they either use a bike, bus, or "water taxis", since Stockholm is made of 14 connected islands. Subhanallah, even the highest government officials (including the ministers) go to work by bike! As a result, the streets are hardly congested."
In my present life, I already commute between two cities for 3 hours each day.
It kills my feet and gives me motion sickness.
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Here he is in Taiwan,
where he taught Tafseer Surah Maryam |
Tafseer Surah Maryam puts Bible thumpers in their place. There are so many Christian missionaries who hit Asia but veyr few Muslims besides Sh. Waleed arrive at scene with an alternate choice. Did you know one of the reasons why Esa (a.s) is called al Maseeh is because he travelled covering a huge area with the message of Islam. May Allah accept this work from Shaykh Waleed and grant him the companionship of the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs and the Righteous on the Day of Judgement aameen.
What I like about Shaykh Waleed AbdulHakim is that he brings back wisdom from the cultures he interacts with. In a way he is giving Islam to the world and helping Muslims learn from the world as well. Once he wrote about the Twin Towers of Taipei in Taiwan (on right) being "the tallest building in the world until 2009, with 101 floors. It has the world's fastest elevator, moving at a speed of 1100m/min, it takes you to the top in only 35 seconds! The shape of the tower is inspired by Asian elements (pagoda) and helps it to be earth quake resistant.There is a massive giant iron ball at the top (in picture) weighting 660,000kg that moves opposite of the wind direction to balance the center of gravity in order to withstand the frequent typhoons and tornadoes."
In an alternate life, my husband wants to build the largest Muslim community centre/tower (inshaAllah). He wants it to offer everything from malls, Masjid area, councelling/therapy services, Islamic conferences, restaurants, libraries and sporting arena. Can you guess he is from UAE? :)
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Standing out of his lecture
hall in University of Zurich
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Albert Einstein was a student and professor in the University of Zurich.
One of Einstein's most powerful testimonies about God "Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that in the laws of the Universe, a Being vastly superior to that of human manifests itself, and we with our modest knowledge must feel humble towards it." Indeed, there are signs to those who reflect!
Sh. Waleed says "in Switzerland's alps, you drink water that looks as clear as the sky, you drink the milk and eat cheese from your cows every day, and eat the food you grow at the foot of the alps or the fish from the lake." In my alternate life I would choose living in this Alpine village over living in BORING concrete apartments any day of my life.
In Switzerland, the first Muslims arrived in year 911 from Andalus to the Provence of Valais (pictured here), who remained there for 62 years until they were defeated in a series of 5 battles in 973, where they were forced to flee. Muslims did not return to Switzerland until 1000 years later, and today, there are over 150 Masjids around the country, and growing at a rate of 1 new Masjid every 4 months Masha'Allah, as if the word of Allah is being echoed among those pristine green mountains!
He shared a picture of a Masjid from Ukraine once. "This is the Bakhchysaray Masjid (on the left) in the Crimean region, which is now all over the news for the possibility of a Russian-Ukranian war! What many don't know was that this was a Muslim majority region under the Ottoman empire, and it was the one responsible for collecting the Jizyah from the Russians for several centuries.
However, in the last century, the Soviet has practiced ethnic cleansing against the Crimean Muslims under the false accusation that they were spies for the Germans, so they mass murdered and mass deported millions to Central Asia, resulting in only 20% of the region being Muslims today, about 400,000, and if things escalate, they will have no choice but to be part of this horror all over again, may Allah protect them and protect people from the trials of war!" Aamen.
Shaykh Waleed AbdulHakim has gone as far as China and taught a Fiqh of Salah class in Maldives. His next mission is a one week course in Netherlands over the summer 2014 inshaAllah. May Allah bless him and take care of all his needs aameen. Another really cool personality who is sort of living the alternate life is Brother Imran Mansur, aka Dawah Man. In fact the entire IERA tam is on on it. They are in Brazil right now giving Da'wah to FIFA crowds. May Allah accept their work aameen.
What would your alternate life look like?
