Freedom!

Assalam-o-alaikum!

Yay! I'm finally free with the medical college entrance tests! Even though I wasn't putting in concentrated effort, I feel like some big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and for the first time in years, I feel I am completely free - there is no guilt of wasting time and not studying!

The test for KMDC was on 30th October while the test for Dow Medical college (DMC), having being delayed three weeks due to the earthquake relief efforts, was conducted this Sunday, 13th November.

Alhamdolillah it went well! Jazak-Allah for your prayers and wishes! The tests were both Multiple choice... 100 questions each with negative marking of 0.25 for every wrong answer. I scored 90% and 88% in the KMDC and DMC tests respectively. The test scores make up 50% of the 'merit score' while the remaining 50% depend on your school results (Matriculation/O levels and Intermediate/A levels). InshAllah, I can hope to secure a seat in both KMDC and DMC, and then to choose where to go. The merit list for KMDC will be announced today while that for DMC on Monday, 21st November.

I'm feverently praying for my cousins, Saima and Anum, and my friends, Maria, Saira, Hira, Sarah to be able to secure their place in Dow as well! The fact is that we've, Alhamdolillah, only just realized that we need to direct ourselves for the cause of Allah and we really wish to get together for that. Being in the same medical college, meeting each other so often, would really help in strengthening our individual faith while being of some use to the community as well, inshAllah. Dow medical college is associated with a government hospital, the Civil hospital of Karachi and there are scores of poor people there in need. We've got a few ideas for how we could be of service to Allah and humanity at the same time - but we all need to be together for that! May Allah do what is best for us. Ameen.

Classes at Dow will most probably begin around mid-December after completion of various formalities. So I've got about a month of free time... it's a fantastic feeling! There's also the excitement of leaving for Hajj, inshAllah, on 25th December... ours will be a three-week trip to Saudi Arabia, and we'll be arriving in Makkah, inshAllah, by 3rd or 4th of January. The trip from Tabuk, in the north, to Jeddah will be by road in our own car inshAllah - an added bonus as I always love the prospect of driving through the beautiful Saudi Arabian desert. From Jeddah, we'll join a local Hajj group towards Makkah and on, inshAllah.

Hajj is indeed a great blessing and I hadn't thought I'd be called for it so early in life! I'd always maintained that one must go for Hajj as soon as possible - for a girl, after marriage - this was quite unexpected... but welcomed, Subhan-Allah! My parents already know how to go about it, having done Hajj already and my father knows the region like the back of his hand, Alhamdolillah, but being something entirely new for me (in the matter of rituals, not the area), right now, I'm just asking lots and lots of questions.

The prospect of beholding the Ka'bah again and the powerful Makkan landscape, the palpable serenity, the sweet-smelling air, the spirituality cascading towards the valley from Heaven... it's very, very uplifting. My soul is having the time of its life these days, getting a lot of nourishment so Hajj should be a long-awaited feast, inshAllah!

I'm getting to know lots of family and friends will be performing Hajj this year, like Faraz bhai's brother and sister-in-law, my Zoology teacher's sister and brother-in-law... great, alhamdolillah!

Now to move on to the next activity on my "Freedom list" ... probably writing for the local newspapers and an Islamic Magazine, Hiba.

Wish us cousins and friends lots of luck for the DMC list and please pray for us to be together, inshAllah!

Assalam-o-alaikum!