picture in my mind

I actually feel so knackered tonight, but I have to say something because tonight was a wonderful night. I went for APEX Iftar, and although that in itself was wonderful, talking to Farhana who just came back from Zaytuna College was what made it absolutely memorable. Her face, even before she started rattling off about how awesome everything was, said it best --  it's like, I could see it in her face that she'd fallen in love with the place. I suppose I may be romanticising this: but I think if you actually see someone who's fallen in love, for real, you can tell just by their face. There's a yearning there, written in their features, and their hearts are quite obviously somewhere else. Needless to say, I am beyond envious. Envious in a good way though -- because I was happily basking in her radiance (and devouring everything she described), and hoping some day, when I've treaded on the path I'm meant to, I'll feel like this too.

And I walked home thinking about just how wonderful everything is and feeling so inexplicably happy, because just knowing that such good people exist, such as those at Zaytuna (Shaykh Hamza and friends as I like to call them), it's like a beacon of light, you know. I felt so happy, I could cry. That Rasulullah s.a.w.'s legacy can live on so tangibly, and that there's a very real and present hope in the world. At moments like this, all one can do is say thank you.