#1Hari1Ayat: The Starting Point

(Q. S. Al-Isra (17): 7)

For those of you who follow my Twitter perhaps have read that I got an email from US, saying that she is curious about Islam as she read through my blog :)

Buat follower Twitter saya, mungkin ada yang sempet baca, kalau saya dapat email dari Amerika. Si pengirim bilang, dia makin penasaran sama Islam saat membaca blog saya :)

I tell you, honestly, when I got the message, I was speechless.

The next second, I found myself screaming and showing the message to my mom, and I burst into tears.

Jujur nih, waktu nerima email tersebut, saya nganga.

Terus, saya lari ke mama dan nunjukin email itu dengan mata berkaca-kaca.

Actually, it's not my first time receiving a delightful response like this one.

However, as I always have curiosity for some parts of the world that I haven't visited yet, I couldn't be more excited to reply it. Blame it to my super busy schedule that I could only found some time to reply it yesterday. And she writes back soon after then.

Sebenarnya ini bukan pertama kalinya saya mendapatkan respon dari pembaca blog saya.

Tapi, ngeliat email dari si pengirim ini, saya juga penasaran pingin tahu seberapa besar rasa penasaran dia tentang Islam (hmmm, ngerti ga? :D). Sayangnya, karena saya suiiibuuuk banget, saya baru bisa jawab kemarin, yang dia balas dengan cepat!

Everybody, please say hi to Addison, “hiii” ;)

Semuanya, bilang hai ke dik Addison, “haaaiii” ;)

Now, Addison have a few questions in her message which actually make my forehead wrinkled.

Hmmm, how can I explain something that has becoming my way of life for more than 25 years.. But as I promise to her, I'll try my best. Let's start from the simplest question,

Nah, Addison punya buuuanyak pertanyaan yang bikin dahi saya berkerut.

Saya jadi bingung, gimana ya cara jelasin sesuatu yang sudah menjadi gaya hidup saya selama lebih dari 25 tahun.. Tapi, janji adalah hutang. Yuk, dimulai dari pertanyaan yang paling gampil, hahaha.

“What made you started this blog?”

Apa yang bikin kamu memulai blog ini?

So, back in 2011, in order to graduate from my university, I wrote a research about football. At that time, I met a girl, she is a fan of this football player who happened to be my informant. We always watch the match together, and after some weeks passed, I had a chance to meet her parents.

Ceritanya, di tahun 2011, saya nulis skripsi tentang sepak bola. Saat itu, saya ketemu seorang penggemar pemain – yang juga jadi informan saya. Kami sering nonton bareng, sampai suatu waktu, saya ketemu orangtuanya.

Her dad greeted me nicely, saying “you must be Kak Prima. Vio talks much about you.”*

I nodded and smiled.

He continued, “I should thank you. Because of you, she becoming more determined in her praying.”

And I was like, 'what?'

Ayahnya menyapa saya, “ini pasti kak Prima ya.. Vio banyak cerita tentang kak Prima.”

Saya mengangguk dan nyengir.

Lalu beliau melanjutkan, “harusnya saya berterimakasih sama kak Prima. Sekarang Vio makin rajin sholat lho.”

Dan saya – dengan begonya – setengah nganga lagi macem, 'sumpe lo?' XDD

After her dad a little away from us, I ask Vio.

“What makes your dad saying so? What did I do?”

She said, “Your tweets, kak. You always remind me that we have to pray, and our Allah is very great, and everything.”

Saya tanya deh ke Vio.

“Kok bisa ayahmu ngomong gitu? Emang aku ngapain?”

Dia bilang, “Tweet-mu kak. Kamu kan selalu ngingetin untuk sholat, bersyukur, and the bla, and the bli.”

I fell in silence for a second. My tweets are mine, and I never think that I point the tweet to a certain person or group. Most likely my tweets are reminders for myself. So I was surprised.

Saya terdiam. T-w-e-e-t?

----- Jaman 2011 belum banyak ustadz/ustadzah/akun Islami di Twitter kayak sekarang (atau saya yang gatau), tapi buat saya, tweet saya itu ya buat saya. Kalau memang ngingetin sholat, itu ngingetin saya sendiri. Jadi saya kaget gitu..

Learning this, I began to understand that every single of us have a power to influence people, no matter how small our act is. If less than 140 characters can make a girl doing good deeds, what about more?

Demikianlah, saya jadi mikir, lho aku punya 'kekuatan' untuk mempengaruhi orang?

Yup, SEMUA orang punya kekuatan ini.

Dan kalau yang kurang dari 140 karakter aja bisa bikin orang berbuat baik, gimana kalau lebih?

That's why I THINK I should start a blog soon.

A blog about my apprehension and my experiences in adhering my religion.

I am not the most religious person ever, nor the one who understand everything about Islam.

I am still learning day by day, though.

Makanya saya memulai blog ini.

Blog yang memang saya tujukan untuk membagikan pemahaman dan pengalaman saya dalam beribadah.

Saya bukan ustadzah, bukan juga penghafal Al-Qur'an, masih belajar-an banget istilahnya.

I could be wrong for some people, and some other people might think what I am doing is a useless thing.

But, Allah already stated it (Q.S. Al-Isra (17): 7),

“[And said], "If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to yourselves....."

Mungkin beberapa orang akan bilang saya sok tau, sok ustadzah, sok apalah – dan beberapa orang lain juga akan bilang 'ah elah prim, ga penting banget seee'.

Tapi Allah aja bilang, “kalau kamu melakukan kebaikan, itu adalah untukmu sendiri.”

This blog, is what I am doing for myself, as well as for a bunch of people who – because of His willing – came by to my blog and left a note, and I hope I can put a full commitment in writing positive things :)

Blog ini adalah untuk refleksi saya pribadi – dan untuk orang-orang yang Allah sudah takdirkan untuk mampir kesini – saya berharap saya bisa berkomitmen dalam menyampaikan hal-hal positif :)

For you, bloggers who read this, I also would like to hearing from you, what made you started your blog? ^^

Kalau kamu blogger, cerita dong, apa sih yang bikin kamu nge-blog? ^^

Lots of love,

Prima

*'Kak', think like you say, 'bro' :)))

**story about Vio and I is a true story, though I used fictional name, and she might also forget this ever happened. I re-write this story for a few times, and one of the story (Muslimah and Social Media) won a writing competition held by Muslimah Center FUKI, University of Indonesia last November. Alhamdulillah.

**cerita saya dan Vio ini berdasarkan cerita nyata, tapi besar kemungkinan dia sendiri udah lupa. Haha. Salah satu dari gubahan (halah) cerita ini memenangkan lomba menulis yang diselenggarakan oleh Muslimah Center FUKI, Universitas Indonesia, November lalu. Alhamdulillah.