SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Ustaz Yendri Junaidi, Lc., MA., one of the Dai Ambassadors of Dompet Dhuafa 2023 assigned to Sydney, Australia, shared his notes for several days living in the Emerald City. As Australia’s largest city and known as a multicultural city, Sydney in Ustaz Yendri’s view remains quiet. He also began to reflect on his blessings when he was in the country.
“When do we realize healthy favor? When it hurts.”
“When did we realize the joy of working? When you lose your job.”
“When did we realize the favor of the crowd? When in a quiet and deserted area,” Ustaz Yendri wrote in a note given to Dompet Dhuafa.
For Ustaz Yendri, the land where he was born reminded him of the blessings of crowds, where people pass by and greet each other, even if only with a smile. Sydney is the most densely populated city compared to other cities in Australia. However, one of the Dai Ambassadors of Dompet Dhuafa even felt that the city was deserted.
“Not much different from when I first went to Australia in 2017, this country and continent still feel lonely, for me who used to live in a crowd,” said Ustaz Yendri.
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Now, Ustaz Yendri feels that the “crowd” is also a blessing he should be grateful for. Now that he is living in Sydney to continue his preaching of Dompet Dhuafa, he begins to miss it all.
“I used to complain about traffic jams, deafening horns, people screaming in markets and streets; now I miss it all,” he admitted.
In addition to the crowd, Ustaz Yendri remembered the ease of religion in Indonesia that he could not feel in Australia. One example is the ease of building mosques. But that convenience is a concern for some people. Some people complain about many mosques and prayer rooms. The reason is that they are worried that the congregation will be divided, and the sound of the call to prayer that continues to sound will disturb comfort.
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But in Sydney, it is the opposite. It takes a long and tiring struggle to be able to build a mosque. Most mosques in Australia are churches bought by Muslims and then transformed into mosques. One of them is Masjid al-Ummah which Bangladeshi Muslims manage.
“From the outside, we wouldn’t have thought it was a mosque. The only thing that allows us to recognize that the mosque is the symbol of the moon at the top of its minaret, which was previously a cross,” explained Ustaz Yendri.
It continues; changing the cross symbol into a moon symbol also requires a lot of funds and a long time. So, the mosque’s existence feels very special for Muslims in Sydney.
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It is true what people say. Favours only feel the price when they are gone …
Therefore, let us learn to be grateful for what and however we feel now. Ustaz Yendri advised us not to complain easily because it could be what we complain about; one day, we will miss it. As the poem goes:
كم من زمان بكيت فيه فلما صرت في غيره بكيت عليه
“I often cry over a condition. But when it comes to other conditions, I miss the previous conditions.”
(Dompet Dhuafa/Ustaz Yendri Junaidi, Lc, MA/Ronna)