The advantages of solat Istikharah..

I'd like to share my experience on doing solat istikharah....

The first time I performed solat istikharah was when someone asking me to be his gf and that happened during I was in form 4... And I don't think I did my solat istikharah with a good naiwatu.. I already knew the answer and was expecting the same answer to appear in my dream and it did appear... BUT, the relationship lasted only for a month.. Again, things happen for a reason but from that time onwards, I never did solat istikharah dalam hal mencari2 jodoh nih...


The second time was, when I was offered a JPA scholarship to pursue a German Engineering A-Level programme which obviously was not in my list of interest AT ALL. Physics is a big NO-NO for me.. But the idea of pursuing abroad was ahead of me... My mom despised the idea of me being an engineer and at that moment, I was already in UPM pursuing my diploma in animal science..

Mom: "Two engineers in the family are enough, your ambition is to be a doctor, remember?"
Me: "Urm... But I want to go abroad......."

So, I decided to perform solat istikharah... It was weird actually, cos my decision was biased towards going to do my A-level. Then, I woke up without any dreams, but I felt like I don't want to leave UPM (saya takde bf UPM lagi time tuh, so takde kaitan dengan leaving somebody ek..)
Yet, I still went to register at INTEC, Shah Alam the next day but I felt really reluctant, so halfway through the registration process, I told my brother that I wanna go back to UPM....


........... 7 YEARS LATER........... jeng..jeng..jeng..


And after 7 years of that very last minute decision, I am a proud veterinarian.... And some of my friends who did enrolled for the programme had to settle down in local university instead because they didn't passed the exams and learning German language according to them, is tough... Another interesting fact, I married Jai whom I first met in a dairy farm during my practical. If I went to do Engineering, would I get to know him?

I performed another solat istikharah when I was making decision between 3 universities, UC Davis, University of Florida and North Carolina State University. I dreamt of meeting UPM's Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academics and she told me to go to UC Davis and she sees that I will win a Nobel Prize one day.. (Selingan : Ok, I know my dream was some sort of a high achiever's dream, tapi layan jelah nox.... )

To make the story more interesting, the supervisor whom I contacted in Florida suddenly didn't reply my email and the one in NCSU said he could not give me a conditional offer letter before I officially apply into the program. So, I went ahead with my only option and I got accepted! From about 30 people shortlisted for the interview, I was among the twelve that got accepted. I don't know how many people actually applied during my year, but this year my department had 200 applicants...................................................................(panjangnye dot, berfikir sejenak)

And now, here I am in UC Davis, doing research on a cat disease which I am very fond of since I was in my 2nd year when I learnt about that disease in Microbiology class.

Despite the fact that I nearly failed to find any supervisors for my PhD and one that accepted me when I was in Malaysia didn't remember at all of her promise to me, I managed to settle down with another supervisor, a better one actually! My supervisor is one of the experts of feline diseases and among the pioneer researchers of Feline Coronavirus. My supervisor decided to retire soon, so he had no PhD student, but after knowing that I'm very interested doing research on this particular subject, he accepted my request.

I don't know what my future would be if I chose the other path but what I know now, performing solat istikharah is a big advantage if you're in doubt. And remember, things happen for a reason!