Where Gratitude Walks the Hills of Gombak

The last time I set foot on the campus of International Islamic University Malaysia in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, was in 2022. When I returned in February 2026, the air felt different—warmer, almost intimate, as though the trees and quiet walkways remembered me. This was not merely a university to me; it was the place where my eldest son had grown into himself, where he earned his bachelor’s degree beneath the soft Malaysian sky. Every corner seemed to whisper fragments of his journey—late nights of study, earnest prayers before exams, and dreams that stretched far beyond the hills of Gombak.

From this very campus, a door to Europe opened. A lecturer here entrusted him with an opportunity to study for a semester at University of Limoges in France—an experience that broadened not only his academic horizons but his understanding of the world. What humbles me most is that from his first day at university to his sojourn in France, the path was cleared by the generosity of Khazanah Foundation, a scholarship foundation owned by the Government of Malaysia. Tuition, travel, living expenses—every necessity was quietly and graciously borne.

Gratitude, I have learned, is sometimes too vast for words. How does a father measure thanks for a future made possible without the burden of debt? Standing once more on that campus, I felt a silent prayer rising within me—for the lecturers who believed in him, for the institution that nurtured him, and for the foundation that carried his dreams across continents. Some places do not merely educate; they transform lives. And in that transformation, a parent’s heart finds both pride and profound humility.