Saturday rendezvous

We did the craziest thing today.Nik and I were at Jalan TAR before shops were open.There were stuffs we wanted to buy for Z who's spending the weekend at INTAN on her competition project.We hope her team will win something.Mak pun kiasu! :)

While shopping for this and that, I stopped at this small watch shop.The owner was an old Chinese man who looked like he had a PhD in watch repairing.Yup, he had this Professor look on him especially when he put on his magnifier eye glass on him.As he was changing one of the two batteries of my watch and spray-pumping something off my watch, I watched keenly and asked what he was doing. He raised his voice and scowled, saya spray buang habuk pun awak mahu tanya..kalau saya tak buat, nanti habuk masuk apa mcm?

Whoa...he pressed my wrong button too so I gave him good..hello..saya tanya cos saya mahu tahu..you buat anti-rust kaa apa kaa..weiii..no need to be so grouchy so early in the morning...start your day positively..bla bla bla.I think he must have thought I work for kedai mamak sebelah tu sebab sapa je dtg shopping sebelum kedai buka? Haha.

And I told him I think Malaysians can no longer respond to curiosity or people being friendly with them (I was making or attempting a small talk).Told Nik..he came from repressed racism...so when he heard my good English lashing out at him, he mellowed down and tried to crack some jokes..too late, babey..too late.But I remained polite.And that ill mannered cranky old man asked me to come back again if I had probs with my watches.Malam la sikit.:)) But what would you expect, right? It is after all Jln TAR.

Then we rushed to Crystal Crowne to join my UoL alumni.The usual crowd but there were also new faces.Azhar's gal from Birm is in town.Cantik jelita and we were all trying to match make her with Delesh.Haha.Lawak gila usik Delesh.I told Dr. Aizi,his wife and Annie, if Delesh masuk Islam, senang kita nak berpersatuan and he would no longer have religious diet prob.And Raj is now Mohd Rafi cos' he was the one greeting everyone selamat hari raya at the entrance.Amin ketawa besar when I told him this.:))

Nice time just talking nonsense at the do. But it was nice time going through Liverpool history as a busy port, the dev of unis, the Malay community there, etc.Dr. Aizi was saying kapal Titanic tu dibuat di Liverpool and you could actually see the word Liverpool on the ship before it sank.

And we also spoke of students who went overseas on government scholarships who refused to return to serve the nation (one of our alums org kuat JPA) so now trick dia hantar students kat tempat2 yg memang upah 1 juta pun depa tak nak jadi PR or work there..places like Russia, Japan where food and communication is payah.Ahaks. It's not just about breaching your contract,right (paying back is not the same as actual service for the needy..lagipun amat ciput the payback..now gomen letak harga 1 juta for breaching your contract or if you don't pay your younger sibling will not be given any scholarship abroad till you pay back your loan) but we also spoke about how these kids do not take care of their aging parents and possibly adik beradik yg susah yg lain.

Anyway...

Another round of open house kejap lagi.Jgn mati kenyang O Malaysians!

Footnote on Z and team's win: for those on my fb list,this is a repeat story (of a proud Momma).

Traditionally, there would be only 4 teams in the Finals but the judges were so impressed with the performance for this year that they decided to extend it to 5 teams and the 5th team was Z and gang's yang belum masuk uni but kawan2 dia mmg pintar: Megat and Amir will be going to London Sch of Economics,Rachel will study Law at Cambridge and Z will be at XYZ uni.( winning team consisted of 3 students from Cambridge,1 from LSE).Z's team je yang ada the only Malays and the only Indian and although I'm usually not race-based in my judgment but it's telling, the intellectual gap of these races..nothing has changed that much since the 60s.But maybe not intellectual gap..it's the inability to communicate well: language, delivery,organisation of thoughts.This was the comment made by Z when I asked where the UIA students were.They were there but!

Anyway, Z and team got 4th place,bringing home RM1300.One of the judges was top lawyer Edmund Bon who said those in the finals focused on how and not why when dealing with public policies on Msian education. I wish I had time to watch and listen to these kids.Tapi kita pun sibuk with open houses and Z tak kasi kita pergi. No parent went.:(,

Siapa berok mat yeh sebenarnya?

It will get worse when Z leaves us...but Nik and I were talking about some people who cheat on their spouses (berok2 mat yeh).The guys talk openly about stuff like this at their workplace.Nik and I are pretty open about these things...we'd update each other if and when we cheat (cheat main dam).Ahaks.On a serious note, we believe in the sacredness of the family institution.Musnah keluarga, musnah negara.

Nik's theory is this: those who cheat with the wives of others would have been seasoned adulterers cos' those who have not 'done it' would feel guilty or sinful of doing it with other people's wives.

Those who target divorcees think it's an easy job for them cos' they think that the women are sex starved and would welcome them readily.It's easy to generalise, isn't it but I would blame the men more than the women.

Another theory is if you frequent porn sites/brothels/karaokes, you would look for pros or gros to fulfill your 'unregulated' sexual needs (we thought of someone we both know who has this prob) and we speculated over his lifestyle.And whether the wife sudah ditundukkan dgn ilmu penunduk for being so permissive of the husband's unhealthy hobby or she has simply given up.I pity such a woman and may my anak cucu never see that day/be in that position.

We talk mcm org pencen takda kerja lain nak fikir! But frankly, these kinda stories are so common.

LGBT seminar

Kak Oni rang to ask if I could represent IMAN at this lgbt half day seminar at IKIM.I had to cancel my meeting with a potential client with Dr. Azman.

Interesting papers although there was hardly time for us to come out with real resolutions cos' of time constraint.I asked Datin Azizan to organise another follow-up session with focused groups..tak tau apa jadi cos' I left early, rushing to another appointment on campus.Then Dr Maszlee and gang sambung meeting over my lunch with Pian, insisting I belanja. Oh well! :))

But I truly liked papers by Ustaz Hanafi ( founder of SIDIM) and Dr. Harlina (medical perspective).Ustaz Hanafi,IIUM alum turned businessman..had so much money he didn't know wht to do with his life before he decided to do community work saving all sorts of addicts..from drug addicts to sex addicts to mat rempit addicts etc.It's so amazing that the Prof. from Jakarta who does similar work in Indonesia said he wanted to adopt his model and that all Muslim countries should too in addressing their lgbt issues.According to Hanafi (a young chap with a great sense of humour), his rehab centres (ada 10 buah bungalows around the nation with JAKIM Pahang showing fantastic support and work..I thought I saw Abi's pic in one of his slides and he said "I like this ustaz..he works with the abos and does fantastic job with the lgbt group as well."Need to check with my sister.Abi is my bro in law who works with Jabatan Agama Phg) have 1500 sex workers enrolled with them (mak nyah)... 25 have become hafiz..2 will continue their studies in the Middle East.Fantastic, kan? Ustaz Hanafi's approach berjaya mengubat bkn sahaja drug addicts but sex addicts as well.He was saying apa2 addicts..petandanya keluar peluh sejuk, tangan dan badan menggigil and air liur meleleh..fuiyooo..if you have these symptoms, contact Ustaz Hanafi..ahaks.Ustaz Hanafi said face-booking pun boleh ketagih.Bolehlah pi berubat kat SIDIM. Cegah sebelum parah. :))

If I rajin, I sambung.This seminar is very da interesting.

Disturbing news

Maybe it is no longer news for most people but for me, what I found out was something shocking.And disappointing.And worrying.

For those who golf..I found out they have female caddies (many are young and sexy Indonesian girls) who when paid extra (RM50), boleh dipegang2. I guess this is something we pick up from golf courses abroad.I read about the controversies girl caddies service stirred in the UK..someone commented..nothing more than a social escort service.Apalah nak jadi with this world..why is it so preoccupied with dot dot?

The same with karaokes in KL.A corporate friend was telling us at an open house over the weekend how one company spent RM10k providing 7 GROs to entertain 3 important clients (semua Melayu..company tu, clients tu..the GROs).They have special rooms at the karaoke centres for kerja2 maksiat nih.In fact punya tak tau malu, each of them can perform indecent actions publicly if they want.

But you knw what? Kalau dah biasa, dah jadi darah daging...you'd feel nothing.That is why we must constantly pray for iman and God's protection that we'd never meet orang-orang macam ni.

My first temple wedding

One of my colleagues' daughter got married at a Hindu temple today.For those who know Assoc. Prof. Dr. Subra (who has served for so long at IIUM that I see him listening in to Friday prayer sermon almost every week from Level 3.He and his wife, Dr. Mona are such wonderful people),it is his first daughter,a doctor who got married to another charming young man,also a doctor.

Many of us Muslims may have some fear going into other people's worship places cos' we've been taught by our parents, ustaz and ustazah of some old schools macam2 but I went to respect my colleague's respect for me to share his happy and proud day.The Prophet had taught us this.

I'm glad I went.I learnt the Hindu wedding rites, met new people and was mesmerised by the colourful modern sarees women wear these days...so stylo woh.Indian women are soooooo beautiful and graceful.I think they belong to the urban middle class.Rambut pun ramai yang blonde.Cantik!

I need to buy a new camera.Could not capture anything cos' camera rosak. Sorry.

Rezeki dari arah yang tidak disangka-sangka

Rasa nak meletup jantung sebab excited sangat nih.But first, syukur alhamdulillah kerana pertemuan-pertemuan menuju ke arah kebaikan.Semoga ini jalan yang lurus.Jalan ke syurga.

Our clients since yesterday had been talking stuffs CERDAS was made for.We had 3 consultants yesterday and another one today.Wough...and Dr. Azman, En. Z (a businessman and social activist) and I will be meeting Haji Ali of my surau to work on a framework..OMG! OMG! rasa nak melompat2 at the prospect of making the project a success.Can't say what it is but once it's launched, kita boleh cerita lagi but at the mo, am just sharing with you the joy of working with knowledgeable people, Islamically committed and having the means and track record of making it happen.Subhanallah, the price of patience!

Dato Hamidon also dropped by with a couple of proposals which my Dean will have to consider.If it happens, we'd get to do what we want to do without going through redtapes.I need to work with people who speak my language. :)

Meanwhile waiting for a meeting with Dominic on empowering women and unemployed youth.Masa terasa mcm terlalu perlahan..(rupa2nya jam tangan I mati baterinya)

Before I go to my next meeting, here's from Ustaz Rizal (our regular reader) who is getting married on Sept 16:Selamat Pengantin Baru, Rizal.Semoga jodoh ini kekal dan dirahmati Allah sehingga ke akhir hayat.

Pesan Rizal pagi tadi dlm teks tazkirah dia:
Sesungguhnya amalan yang baik menghapuskan kejahatan termasuk bisikan-bisikan syaitan maka jagalah solat, banyakkan sedekah, bagi yang mendidik, kata-kata nasihat kpd murid2 juga menjadi pelindung kita dari kejahatan dan menghapuskan kejahatan.

Welcome

Thank you for accepting my invitation to be part of a smaller group.After years of I-Glassing, I find that sometimes it is not safe to share everything with the public so you, my friends are among my trusted friends and readers.Thank you for following this blog.

Z has been accepted to study at Uni. of XYZ and we would be accompanying her just so I could delay my crying.However, we would be flying earlier than her (MAS was fully booked!) with her arriving at Heathrow 10 mins earlier than Nik and I.It is a funny arrangement but pray that we will be under the protection of Allah.

InsyaAllah I will take you through the journey/s in the UK/Europe if I get the chance to do so.

I hope everyone is back at work after a nice Raya break.

Prayers for Nura Che Din

Nura is standing next to me with Shahmiah and Ju

(at NZ High Commissioner's home last year)

A good friend of my Waikato days is lying in coma in Kuantan at the moment.An sms from a fellow alum yesterday said that she collapsed in Kemaman and was rushed to a local hospital.

Nura Che Din is not the kind of person who would hurt even an ant.A soft spoken person who laughs more at your joke than anything else.This is how I remember her now as she lies unconscious in the Medical Centre in Kuantan. Close friends rush to the scene.Badri and his wife, Az (also Waikato alums) sms-ed, updating me progress. Nura's husband in his confusion and sadness found time to thank us for our sms-es. When we were not too busy with work, my family would visit Nura in her Shah Alam home (vice versa) but the last time I saw her was at the NZ High Comm function in 2011 and her last email to me was also last year in October, saying "Kak Freda..Kak Freda" over some article meant for women which I shared with her.This memory puts a smile on me now. Selalu every raya she would email me raya wishes..this year both of us sibuk cos' I tak hantar/call..dia pun tidak. My only regret now.

Epah her good friend at Waikato was informed and I tried to reach out to as many Waikato alums who know her and we recited yassin as we recalled her kindness and sifat lemah lembutnya sepanjang our friendship.

I remember the car accident (Epah langgar kereta police! but the police was in the wrong..buat U-turn tengah2 highway after clearing up another accident) on our way back from Manukau to Hamilton. Epah was driving. Nura and I would laugh at this when we got to look back at some of our adventures abroad.

The sheepskin I pesan some years ago is still lying good downstairs (she went back for a holiday a couple of years or so ago and I kirim a couple of sheepskins..setengah orang would find excuses not to entertain, kan? But Nura gladly obliged.Begitu mulianya dia)

Nura, I hope you hear this..we all love you and pray to Allah that miracles will happen as we pray for you.And to your family: please stay strong.

Raya yang sensasi

Koleksi gambar2 di bawah ini tiada kaitan dengan blog entry ini (pics below were taken on August 25, 2012 diambil dari fb NR)

old friends with their families at Azam/Maslinda's Open House

Dato' Manja silap masuk frame (supposed to be all ladies)

Datin Rita, Datin Hanim and me

the backup singers...(me not in the pic)


candid!

I dah turun ke lantai! :)

Syok juga musim2 raya mcm ni..bertandang dan berkenalan sesama Muslims.Yang tak kenal, kita kenal.Yang kenal, kita rapatkan lagi silrahtulrahim kita.

Today punya cerita sangat-sangat menarik. Secara kebetulan, kami diperkenalkan dgn salah seorang tetamu tuanrumah.Dia seorang hafiz muda, mukanya sangat bersih bercahaya.Bicaranya lembut.Cerita punya cerita, entah mcmana timbul kisah sepasang suami isteri yg hampir bercerai sebab isterinya kena sihir (rambutnya disimpan dlm botol kecil dan dipuja oleh bekas bf nya).Suaminya perasan perubahan diri isterinya...dari seorang yang ceria dan penyayang, dia berubah menjadi pemarah dan tidak hiraukan keluarganya lagi.

Suaminya pergi berubat ke sana sini.Dengan izin Allah..satu hari, isterinya menemui sebotol kecil yang berisi rambutnya di dalam kereta boiferennya.Dengan serta merta dia teringat akan suami dan anak2nya.Lantas dia mengambil botol kecil berisi rambut itu dan menyerahkan kpd suaminya yang kemudiannya menyerahkan kpd ustaz yg merawat.

Selebihnya kasihsayang Allah ke atas hamba2 yang teraniaya.

Oh wow!

So gals and guys, do be very careful if you notice changes in yourselves. If it's not you, cepat2lah berikhtiar kerana achievement syaitan/jin yang paling besar ialah meruntuhkan rumahtangga manusia dan memporak-perandakan kehidupan anak Adam cos' ingat, dendam Iblis adalah sampai ke kiamat.Jangan kita jadi agent dia.

Ada part two cerita ini. :))

More cousins emerging

Raya day 4.

It is only during the raya period that you'd know that you have so many long lost relatives, yah? Today, Zam of London visited my mom's.We'll definitely look him up soon.And his other cousin is a chef in Ireland.Woohoo..tiba2 kita jadi international. :))

Last nite we went beraya at 11 pm.My friend ni used to work at Esso.Her home..so green.Loved it! We had a nice conversation over coffee on cross-culturalism at workplace ( her area of expertise).

Two LinkedIn messages which made me so happy... One of the two came from a famous film producer kat US who wrote to say he'd be happy to participate at the Islamic Film Fest I'm helping to host next August.Mat Salleh masuk Islam ni juga seorang poet.I pray to God, He would make things easy for us.Sapa2 nak tolong jadi volunteer esp. IIUM alums can beep me.We will need all the help in the world.

Z is busy getting ready for her new life in Sheffield.Dalam kesibukan nak siapkan itu ini, she kaypoh with her Sabah project (McKinsey presentation is a day before her flight to the UK - kalau menang dapat iPad) and there's a separate activity (a competition) she and friends masuk and now shortlisted as top 24 out of 250 teams - the final will be held at INTAN on Sept 7-9.Kalau menang dapat RM4K.Tajuknya to do with public policy.Apalah budak2 mentah ni tau..haha ( they are competing with uni students) but I have to salute their kiasu spiritlah.Megat and Amir will be going to LSE and Rachel got Cambridge.Suka kan nengok budak2 muda ni so active and so kiasu.Who says the country is swamped by low quality young minds and that our education system sucks? If you have time, listen to the young voices on Sept 7-9.

Jangan mati terkejut!

My cousin, Baha

Raya, day 3.

Today we decided to visit Baha's place. I do not know where to begin with Baha but we used to mengaji Quran together.He's 4 years younger than me. We would always remember him as a good son cos' he takes care of his parents well especially his dad, aruah Pakcik Abas who died of cancer a couple of years ago.The family owns a construction business and Baha was his father's apprentice since after SPM, always that gentle and respectful son.

Today we sat listening to Baha's stories.Yup, business is bad, he said.There's hardly any project.I'm diversifying, he said.And he shared with us his visions and plans.He told us how he got the land in which he built his own home."Dad gave the land as a gift to my brother, Lan ( they all got one but given in stages).Then one day I received a phone call asking if it were true the land was on sale.I didn't know Lan was selling..so I rang him up and said hey, if you were selling, please sell it to me." And he bought the land and built a home where the siblings and mom are all closeby.

His dad must have loved him so much cos' the family business and building were given to him and he had converted 2 storeys of one of the buildings to accommodate a tahfiz school..with a hostel for 60 kids.He said he wakaf it for his dad and mom.My god..I felt like bursting into tears then.Mulianya budak ini.Tak perlu pergi university pun to be so enlightened! He said soon he would open up the opportunity to contribute to others who want to mengumpul saham akhirat..RM10 per unit.Even my bibik bought a unit! :)) If you are interested, look up this facebook and contact the ustaz who runs the tahfiz.Baha has nothing to do with it.He said he cuma kasi space..the building and whatever to do with the tahfiz school, mmg ustaz tu yg responsible 100%.He said he didn't want people to think he's making business out of the tahfiz school.

The fb account is Tahfiz Al Quran Dar Al Abrar.I have not looked it up.If you can't find it, let me know.

Another thing Baha's dad taught him was never bagi or ambik rasuah while doing business.They do not believe in cables except cable Allah.2 years ago,Baha won a project worth slightly over a million ringgit tanpa cable..he said this was his first after his dad's demise.He said no cheating and no sub-standard quality...selebihnya serah kepada Allah.Ada rezeki, ada.Kalau tak ada, takda..tak perlu tempah jalan ke neraka by doing benda2 haram.Sekali lagi I felt like bursting into tears.If only there were more contractors and business people like Baha...

And I am proud of his achievements.May Allah grant him more wealth which he would give back to the community.

Selamat Hari Raya

Today is Raya ke 2.How did yours go?

We solat Raya at our surau..first time they held it there.If not, the yellow mosque would be our fav. spot.Khutbah Raya masjid kuning selalunya world class.It's like attending a lecture at a uni.Last year's was particularly superb.

At the surau, Ustaz ulang point2 masa tazkirah Ramadan.Ahaks but I like what he said about wakaf-ing, citing Dato Harun Din who was given RM1 juta by a grateful client.He gave the whole sum..wakaf-ing to a mosque.When asked why..he said he'd rather collect his saham di akhirat than di dunia.And this was true in the early days of Islam when early Muslims gave all for the religion.And that's how Islam came to us...travel is not cheap, folks.

I started with a certain amount of money at the beginning of Ramadan...at the end of it, I have RM10K more! So, do not be afraid to sedekah or wakaf your money.Bak kata Ustaz, takda sapa jadi papa kedana kerana bersedekah.

For those who sent me Raya sms-es, thank you for remembering me (my international ones from Qatar,Cambodia, UAE,Yemen were touching...like Maher yg kami bwk balik beraya when he was a student at IIUM. He called up and ckp that he would never forget my family's kindness...geez...ini yg dinamakan hati mulia, ya? We didn't expect anything in return).But this year's Raya SMS wish goes to Dr. Isham and wife, Dr. Fadzillah:

Senyap tak bererti hilang.Diam tak bererti lupa.Jauh tak bererti putus..walau di mana kita berada, kita tetap sama,sejauh mana kita pergi, kita masih tetap junjung langit yang sama.Maaf jika ada khilaf dan salah.Selamat Hari Raya.

To which I replied: woit..bukan ini raya SMS you sent last year?

Haha.

To which they answered: apa nak buat..itu je yang ada.

Guling2!

I nak pi beraya lagi ni with my school mates who I have not seen for 30 years.

I can't help it

KL dah mula boring cos' most people have travelled to their kampongs or holiday destinations.

I decided to go to the hairdresser..rambut belum 'set'.Haha..lama dah tak dengar perkataan tu..nak set rambut.

Googled up for the best hairdresser in town.Found a few, heard of one but decided to go to the other one at KLCC.

Wough..sakan, you! Berjam2... Lepas tu shopping lagi.Lepas tu naik taxi biru mahal mcm bedil..taxi biasa RM20-25, si biru RM62.20. Cekik darah! I miss my car!

I nak masak for tomorrow..we have a raya gathering kat surau after solat raya thr.Mlm ni kawan2 surau buat takbir raya from house to house.I will prepare dessert jelah cos' Nik didn't officially sign up for the takbir semalam.Takut byk sgt rumah and the guys tak larat dah.

Have a good one, folks. We will lunch with my mom in law 1st day raya then shoot bck to Raub besok after or before Zohor.

Mengapa saya keluar syiah : a short review

I promised I'd do a review of the book, written by Sayyid Husain Al-Musawi but read in translation (the Indonesian version is by Iman Sulaiman).The book was written before the author was murdered and diisytiharkan murtad and all his scholarly titles withdrawn by pihak berwajib Iran in 1421H ( which is what Gregorian year, folks?)

Basically the good old Imam was perplexed over many irregularities practised in their religion.Key issues related to sexual behaviour were raised especially the contract marriage called muta'ah (only practised by the Shiites and not the Sunnis) as well as their humiliation of the Prophet.Rasulullah s.a.w. was ill-mouthed and humiliated till I dare not repeat it here.It's obvious ajaran Syiah sebegini sangatlah sesat and we should support apa juga usaha kerajaan membendung kemaraannya di tengah2 masyarakat kita cos' like Arqam, the attraction is sex again.In muta'ah, if you have a male guest in your house and if he fancies your wife, you have to offer your wife to serve your friend sexually.Or if you are travelling and your wife is left alone, she's free to have sex under this muta'ah agreement.You yourself can do the same while on your business trip.But the condition is that your muta'ah partner must be Muslim.It's ok if she or he is a sunni. In the case of there is no Sunni or Shiite Muslim to do your muta'ah thingy, it is prohibited to do it with non-Muslim but it is considered darurat so you can do it with sunni or shiite man yakni homosexuality is OK here.Gosh! Also it's ok if the gal is a child! Khomeini once had sex with a gal aged 10 via muta'ah..the daughter of one of his guests.

I feel like throwing up! If anyone reading this and having problems in this area, please get professional help! Do not, I repeat, do not use religion to facilitate your sick mind.

Now you know why certain cults or 'religious movements' have so many followers.Most of the time, they have that sex appeal.

With that tuan2 dan puan2, saya isytiharkan tazkirah kita sempena bulan yang amat mulia ini officially closed.Thank you for your support.Semoga kita semua diberkati dan menjadi lebih baik dari sebelum Ramadan.

Sekali lagi, selamat hariraya, maaf zahir dan batin.

The calling

I didn't plan to visit my late cikgu Quran at all but when my kid sister rang me up and said my mom said I should visit, I reconsidered but my two older sisters advised me on the phone not to go cos' thr would be bad jam in Raub as people travel to KB for raya.

But sampai je at my office, I felt the calling..a very strong urge to drive back to Raub.I rang up Nik to inform him and if he wanted to go.He had a meeting with his Tan Sri and said impossible to join me.So despite feeling tht it would be a dangerous drive ( in fact I felt I would be involved in a car accident), the calling was too strong.

I went prepared...said my doa perjalanan, said my syahadah, played the Quranic cd and at the toll was given a cd on zikirullah which I played along the highway..in heavy rain.

Dengan izin Allah, I selamat sampai but jenazah had gone to the kubur.I didn't want to travel any further so stayed chatting with makcik matun who was not feeling well.She's the niece of aruah.A bit like Wea Zawiyah..kept asking me the same stuffs every 5 mins.I gave her and the maid some sadaqah which brought tears to her eyes..geez..senangnya nak buat org tua menangis...

Then I went visiting my two sisters (the only ones still in Raub).Have not seen my Kak De for almost a year.So we chatted, laughed and teased each other.Then I went to my Long's.The same thing..she gave me the long overdue Rawa trip gift.

Then I left for KL.It started to rain again...

At 11km from Bentong..I saw a car fast moving into my lane..I gave it a long honk but was aware this was the calling..the accident I knew was going to happen even before I left KL....the other car was really outa control..I swerved to my left and it hit me bad on my right....I was screaming my head off...folks...I thought you would not see me here anymore..I thought my head and parts of my body would be smashed and thrown all over the road.When I felt nothing...I simply could not believe it but knew what had saved me...the sadaqah and the zikirullah still playing in my car! Subahanallah...you are just a creature of God....

I was shaking..trembling in the cold rain.Didn't know what to do...then the police car tiba2 muncul..what a blessing..that they just happened to ronda that area (apparently kawasan yg sering kemalangan).It would have been a longer wait but everything went very fast..my sisters came and my husband was already at the Bentong police station by the time they towed my car there.

My niece and hubby (both are doctors) dropped by too..they were on their way back to Raub.We hugged, so relieved I was OK. It's funny how everyone reacted to my news...My eldest sister went hysterical...she was saying..oh my god oh my god..my sister is the nicest..dia sangat baik orangnya...and rushed to the scene, leaving my third sister who was taking her time to get ready...haha..kesian mereka...but the story did make me a little teary...I know everyone was reminded of the death of another sister..who died in a car accident in Ramadan...so I know where the grief, panic came from...

My mom tak payah cakaplah...she was asking Sal for Nik's tel no sebab nak marah dia for allowing me to travel alone...walhal Nik pun scolded me..haha..but I had asked him earlier, right? But Nik said I called him when he was in a deep meeting..he thought I was going with my sister..

Anyway, syukur alhamdullilah I'm OK.Semoga apa2 dosa I gugur with this ujian.I redho.

So many funny things happened in the series of events that followed.I was texting and calling close friends..some calls went unanswered so whn one call came through..I gave the caller my usual assalamualaikum..to which the caller jawab fluently waalaikumussalam..before going mana lu letak itu keleta? Saya tatak nampak.

It was Ah Ho, the tow truck driver! :))

While I am still shaking as I write this, I wish to remind everyone to be mindful when you are travelling this raya..jgn lupa doa perjalanan, do your zikir along the way..and yes..sadaqah before you travel.

Remember Izrail jengok kita at least 17 kali satu hari.It is so easy to die.Our job is to have some preparations.

Stay safe!

Al Fatihah

Just got news from my sch alum fb: one of my guru mengaji (also my mom's neighbour, the mother of Tan Sri Abi Musa, Chairman of Tabung Haji) passed away Subuh today.

Al fatihah.

An elegant and beautiful woman, even in her 90s as she lied sick.She was a gentle Quran teacher.

May her soul rest in jannah.

Hari-hari terakhir Ramadan

You'd feel it in your bones, yah? The sense of Ramadan leaving.

My surau pun mcm in slow motion mode.The Ustaz from Segambut was harping on working on mendapat hidayah based on his interpretation of al fatihah's tunjukkan aku jalan yg lurus dan bukan jalan sesat.Pretty nice.Using Qardawi's argument, he said hidayah ni boleh kita dapat dari 4 cara yakni secara tabii..a given mcm tak perlu ajar, kita tau sendiri.Mengambil contoh lembu sakit perut..dia tau mcmana nak ubat sendiri ( yakni makan tanah liat) or baby tau menyusu tanpa diajar.Point ke 2 hidayah ni melalui akal; next melalui agama and finally melalui pencapaian kemahiran.Qardawi advised to go for hidayah melalui agama cos' agama will correct akal.Also to go for pencapaian kemahiran...er..I tak berapa faham part ni..but I guess it'd be a combination between experience and skill/ilmu.Close to enlightenment gamaknya like some non muslim scientists or scholars dpt hidayah masuk islam melalui kemahiran bidang mereka.Wallahualam.

Cerita sampingan which I liked this evening : perihal how Saidina Abu Bakar kerana imannya yg tebal would be the first to believe whtever tht came from the Prophet pbuh contoh: peristiwa yg tak terjangka oleh akal seperti Israk Mikraj.He didn't hear it from the Prophet pbuh mula2nya.Abu Lahab yg bwk mulut dgn harapan Abu Bakr would debunk the 'new religion' as ridiculous.But apa kata Abu Bakar As Siddiq? Mana kamu dapat berita ini? Abu Lahab: dari Muhammad..aku dengar sendiri.Abu Bakar: jika dari Muhammad, lebih dari ini, aku percaya tapi jika dari engkau, selamat jalan (lebihkurang gitu lah skripnya).

Ustaz kata begitulah iman kalau dah tahap tinggi.Wht cannot be seen or explained by akal would be readily accepted.Then he went on about ibadah gone wrong..kalau kita masih buat maksiat..beli ekor, kaki perempuan (kaki lelaki I must add) dan membuat apa yg dilarang oleh Allah maka we should reassess ibadah kita..masih ada yg tak betul..and he went back to that verse tunjukkan aku jalan yang lurus recited in al fatihah tu tadi.

Nampak simple, kan? But we know it is a continuous effort to stay on the straight path. I guess this is what differentiates between being manusia yg Allah beri akal dan hidayah and animal yg hidup based on instincts sahaja.

Malam ni takda gelak ketawa.Ustaz Segambut ni gentle but firm.

It gets better each day

Tonight's tazkirah is the best, methinks.The ustaz used to lecture at ITM in the 80s but he's from Indonesia.Isi ceramah dia padat and we learnt new things..although some we had heard before from past ustaz2.Yang I suka about bertrillion2 malaikat turun utk catat amalan kita di bulan ramadan and he said just talk to them and say your prayers supaya malaikat angkat ke langit persembahkan kpd Allah.Malaikat2 4 itu adalah Jibrail, Mikail, Israfil dan Izrail so mintalah yg baik2 berkaitan dgn umur panjang, rezeki yang halal, hujan dan angin yang rahmat (tugas Israfil selain tiup trumpet kiamat is to turunkan hujan dan angin..so kita doa hujan dan angin rahmat bkn yang membawa bala so negara kita aman damai).Waktu paling baik to converse with them from maghrib to dawn.Bumi ini gelap dgn malaikat and if I tell you what I saw masa ceramah tadi, you won't believe it..me and makcik sebelah I je yang nampak...I saw it first and asked her did you see benda besar bersayap hitam ni? She said yes, yes...It could be burung helang but it disappeared so fast...adakah...?? Izrail datang menjengah? But memang he menjengah kita beberapa kali a day, right? So kena pohon sekiranya masa untuk pergi, biarlah dalam Islam dan iman dan diterima amalan2 baik kita.

Ustaz kata sapa2 menghadiri majlis ilmu, ganjarannya mcm 1000 kali solat sunat..setiap tapak ada ganjarannya.Apatah lagi kalau solat wajib/sunat berjumaah, berzikir, baca Quran, sedekah paling mengetop, even tidur is ibadah in Ramadan.

Hari ni habis lewat cos' the prayers were long.If I remember more,I tambah later.Didn't bring my notebook tadi.Fishbrain.

A meeting of minds, friends and all, part two

I have another story which I must record cos' it is so touching.It's my surau story again.

You remember bdk yg baca selawat and sleeps at the surau tu? Well, Nik said he jadi religious cos' he lost his gf at age 21.Cancer.Masa tu dia dikejutkan bhw ajal is not for old people.And he turned to God.Dia suka azan.Lama2 surau suruh dia azan and then I guess baca selawat every teraweh.He comes from a well to do family and this is why it is so touching...dia tinggalkan keselesaan rumah to sleep with nyamuk in the surau (masa ramadan jelah).It's been 9 years since he lost his gf.Tadi we watched him from afar as Z and I got into the car to go home.Surau pun dah kosong.We saw the young man melipat2 sejadah dan menyusun2nya.Tiba2 my hati tersentuh...mulianya budak ini...and he looked so alone and so lost...menyerahkan dirinya ke alam Tuhan...sedih,kan? He could have taken a different route, kan? Pubs, women, drugs, etc etc.

Bertuahlah ibubapanya kerana mendapat seorang anak yang soleh.

A meeting of minds, friends and all

I had my iftar outside again folks but was in time for the surau's tazkirah.Mlm ni tak sedap cos' ustaz cerita pasal solat jamak qasar as travellers.Ni in preparation nak balik raya la ni.Yawn...but hey, byk benda kita buat sebenarnya salah.You can't simply jamak suka hati.Samalah juga like you can't simply solat duduk just becos' you feel tired ke hapa cos' solat berdiri merupakan rukun solat.Weiii..byk benda I didn't know nih.Ustaz kata mereka yg solat berdiri adalah mereka yg ada pendirian.Manakala mereka yg solat duduk adalah mereka yang ada kedudukan.Ahaks.Why do you think I suka sangat pi surau dengar tazkirah? Ustaz2 dia kelakar!:))

I was with my Prof. Council friends and Dato Seri Rector memikirkan isu 'negara' :). I like this group.Easy to work with and Prof. Riduan was kind enough to take the minutes this time.I told Prof. Aslam and Dato Wira..I ni sejak sekolah jadi pencatit minit mesyuarat sampai I jadi Prof. So bless Riduan for being such a generous person and volunteering himself to write the minutes.

The iftar was with Sultan Pahang..we saw him giving duit raya dlm envelope tebal to this law student in wheelchair.I heard him ask him, ayah kamu kerja apa? The boy said kerja kilang.Then Sultan bisik stg to his aide and then the envelope.After the crowd cleared,I suruh budak tu kira duit tu.I think Rm5K.Phuiyooo...he had found his lailatulqadr!

Z's A Level results came out today.Syukurlah alhamdulillah...she cleared Shell's uni entrance requirements but may have to nego with her sponsor cos' she missed 3 points to get an A for her Math making it 2As for History and Econs and a B for Math (biasa her grade is C so we are very2 grateful actually).Cambridge A Level exam is said to be tougher than the other A Level but I knw Z worked very hard the second year of her A Level prog at KYUEM so kasi chan la kat Z for not getting 3As.It could have been worse ==> air batu campur..A B C for History Econs and Math.Thank God, that didn't happen!

Tazkirah malam ini

...was by an ustaz from Bandung.My God, he's as funny as Salleh Yaacob.Wajahnya pun mcm tu! Haha.

I arrived when they were doing their witir.Mlm ni habis cepat pulak terawehnya.Ustaz Rashid was not there to give the in between teraweh tazkirah so looks like I didn't miss much.But the forum perdana tazkirah penuh dgn gelak ketawa la pulak sampai Ustaz Bandung ni tak habis his 10 points on why doa tak makbul sebab hati dah mati.Byk sgt detour dia but mmg nak pecah perut mendengar his stories.Antaranya nak lembutkan hati anak, suami or isteri..he said tengah mrk tidur, cabut sehelai rambut, sambil genggam dlm tangan, zikir Ya Roheem till we fall asleep..then he kasi contoh isteri nak buat kat suami yg mata keranjang..suami tidur pakai songkok...buka2 nak cabut sehelai rambut, tengok2 suami dah botakkan his rambut.She tries angkat his ketiak..pun habis kena cukur.Ahaks...can only come from ustaz from Bandung, right? :))

He said hati yang mati antara sebab doa kita tak makbul.Hati mati sbb kita tak suka baca Quran daily.He said syurga merindui 4 golongan manusia: org suka baca Quran, org suka sedekah terutama suka kasi org miskin makan..I think 2 points tu lagi dia tak sempat kupas...ceramah is limited to 30 mins je...tht is why dia tak leh cerita sampai habis.

But I heard for the first time that penghuni syurga ramai wanita.We are often told penghuni neraka ramai wanita..this is true but it is also true that penghuni syurga pun ramai wanita.How come ustaz2 tak pernah beritau kita perkara ni?

Ustaz cerita how a beautiful woman aged mid 30s dtg nak minta doa temu jodoh.Ustaz kata beli jodoh dgn duit dia..niat then sedekahkan wang itu kpd anak yatim.He asked for all the money in her purse.The woman gave RM35.Three months later she rang ustaz kata belum jumpa jodoh.Ustaz kata did you give everything in your purse the other day? The woman said no (she had lied to the ustaz by saying RM35 was all she had).So the second time around, she gave all (RM35 also...it so happened.That's like 100,000 rupiah or something).4 months later she rang to say, dia sudah ketemu jodohnya.

This is not the first time I hear this.2-3 mlm lepas pun Ustaz Rashid told quite a similar story psl kontraktor sedekah dulu to get his wish granted.Let's try it! I want a new LV! :))

The Curve

Raya will not be perfect if you don't do your last minute shopping.We had done ours but today for lack of a life, I ajak Z pi the Curve to join the last minute shopping for some.It's the last weekend, right? Nik needed his sleep so kita ladies lagi seronok mengukur the mall at our leisure.

Wough, security guards everywhere.Nice and feeling safe.Great!

As we passed by many eateries, kita nampak our non fasting friends makan...soup, noodles, steaks, O'Brien's sandwiches..ice creams..Z said get some and tapau home.No..I want to sit and eat with them..giggles...Z said go ahead..me: nanti kena tangkap? Z: just tell them you uzur...more giggles..boleh ke??

We moved from one shop to the other.I found something I liked at Metrojaya.Nice viscose cotton.Price pun reasonable.Got sale some more.Z found a nice maxi at another shop.No sale.:(

Then Z said let's check out this new place..artists ramai beli kat sini.So we went.The designer was in.Kita pun tanya berapa harga baju2 kurung tu semua.Mostly close to RM2K sepasang.Control macho and still went on, belek2.Then asked the designer berapa kalau nak tempah sepasang kain sendiri.RM1K.Control macho.Oh.

Lepas dua tiga minit lingering,kita kata thank you.Out of sight, Z and I went w-h-a-t-t??? RM2K???

Last year we did that with a designer..lepas setahun dah tak boleh pakai! Gemok! ( in my case, I lost weight.Ahem) RM2k hangus just like that.No thks this year.This year,both of us went cheap.Slogan dia: biar comfortable.But if we look like maids this raya...you'll understand why.:))

Ramadan weekend

A lazy one here.Everyone is still in bed after subuh prayer.I'd go to the pasar with Bibik in a bit.

Last night we broke fast at my MIL's after visiting Nik's cousin in Duta Mas, just out of surgery for breast cancer. She's keeping strong.Muda lagi.Semua org balik dgn rasa insaf.My sister in law and me.Nik was also affected.He and the kid sister grew up with this cousin when my mil went back to uni.The parents had all gone and cousin N is the only child.Ah..sad,sad.I hope Allah will protect her and ease her pain.

Last night I arrived late for the tazkirah.Didn't miss much cos' ustaz jemputan from Patani didn't turn up.The ustaz yg selalu jadi moderator had to speak alone.Microphone pulak low battery so suara perlahan and tenggelam timbul.Not our night, folks.But I heard a bit: kalau nak muka bercahaya, buat qiamulail; nak kaya, bykkan bersedekah; nak selesaikan masalah dan doa makbul,bykkan beristighfar.I tak sempat bwk notebook cos' I came bck from swhere.Baju pun mcm nak pi tengok wayang.Haha.Yup, kena marah dgn Menteri Dalam Negeri.:)

Nak finish up my Mengapa Saya Keluar Syiah.Dasyat shiah ni..I didn't know it is tht sesat.

Tazkirah selepas subuh

Dengan izin Allah, I managed to catch some words of wisdom at the tazkirah last night at the surau.When I arrived, the jumaah were doing their witir prayers.I thought I could sneak into the garden,Tengok2 ramai pulak men melepak kat luar! I guess these were the ones who wanted to do beyond the 8 rakaat and akan sambung kat rumah.But rasa terkantoi juga lah they saw me dtg lewat and not in my prayer garment.

I joined a group of budak2 yg sedang minum soda kat bawah khemah tu.Sorang umur 13, the other 12 and the sister was 9.I asked the two older boys pasal apa tak kat dlm solat? They told me they did witir secara sendiri cos' dah tak larat.Aik? Muda lagi dah tak larat? So you knowlah the mother in me..pok pek pok pek on fadilat solat berjumaah.Haha.Then we got to talk on recycling materials (sbb i tengok surau ni beli polystyrene cups and plates everynite.I cringe just looking!)Nasib bdk2 tu tak lari and continued sitting with and listening to me. Read on why polystyrene is bad here http://verdant.net/nofoam.htm

Intipati last nite's tazkirah :

1.Cari kebahagiaan akhirat.Barangsiapa mencari akhirat,dunia akan mengekorinya (ini dari hadis).Tetapi barangsiapa yang leka mencari dunia, akhirat akan tinggalkan dia jauh di belakang.
2. Buat baik sesama manusia sebagaimana Allah telah berbuat baik kepada kita.
3.Jangan membuat kerosakan di muka bumi ini kerana Allah tidak suka akan mereka yang membuat kerosakan.
4.Jika kita ada masalah, jangan mengadu kepada manusia tetapi mengadu terus kepada Allah.

Here's the funny bit.Ustaz kata kadang2 org telefon dia mengadu hal.Dia pun tak tau nak selesai macamana.One day, a man rang him up and asked him to interpret his dream.The man said in his dream,he was on the beach with his wife and her gf on the other side of the beach.Then suddenly there's a huge wave like tsunami which swallowed both wife and her gf.After everything reda, his wife was there, safe ( masa ni I dah berguling2 dah ketawa with Z.The rest of the jumaah pun gelak). Ustaz kata engkau mimpi sedap2, aku pulak kena pikir apa maknanya.:)) He told the guy, maknanya isteri kamu selamat dari tsunami.The guys lagi kuat gelak.Freudian slip tu.

Have a good weekend,everyone!

Berita baik bagi wanita-wanita Muslim yang tidak berpuasa pada 10 mlm terakhir Ramadan

Allah Maha Kaya.I was wondering about this.I'm sure I was informed years ago hukum hakamnya..bolehkah wanita2 malang ini menjumpai lailatulqadr dlm keadaannya yg sebegitu.No one responded to my enquiry earlier.

Alhamdullilah on my way home from work,I tuned in to radio IKIM.One listener dok marah org main lagu raya during the last 10 days.Dia minta pihak berwajib campur tangan.Ahaks.He said kalau ada org2 besar meninggal, all forms of entertainment dibatalkan.Hanya mengaji Quran.Betul juga.

Anyway, seorg pemanggil wanita bertanya bagaimana wanita yg tak boleh solat kerana uzur (oklah..kerana period/nifas) boleh mendpt lailatulqadr.

Ustaz kata (he's so knowledgeable..lupa pulak sapa namanya) itu paling mudah bagi seorg wanita.Dia niat je nak jumpa lailatulqadr,pahalanya pun dah dpt.Woohoo..niat je tuan2 dan puan2! Lagipun dia boleh bangun mlm dan doa for keampunan dan keselamatan dunia dan esp. akhirat.Tak perlu duduk atas tikar semayang pun.Sambil baring pun boleh buat.Then do all the zikir.Woohoo..mudah banget nak dpt lailatulqadr kalau mcm ni. :))

Mcm tulah indahnya agama kita.I have decided to go to the surau time forum perdana kejap lagi.Watch this space.

Nostalgia ramadan

Standing from left: my 3 older sisters (the gal on the right I tak kenal)

Sitting cute from left are Mek, sulky me and aruah my 4th sister, Siti Nurul Anwa who died in a car accident at 34 (al fatihah)

Are you like me who would get sentimentol di bulan ramadan as it comes to an end? You'd think of the dead..your dad, your sister, your grandmothers (I never met any of my grandfathers), your cousins, your uncles and aunties who had all gone. Even my guru mengaji, Pak Aji Asmawi.He's from Sumatera but a Singapore citizen.I miss him cos' he taught me the value of humour in seeking/teaching religious knowledge. Going to his place was something I would always look fwd to: not only my sisters and I would be given apples/oranges after mengaji but cerita2 hantu. :)) I saw him in Singapore a few years before he died.Al fatihah.

Tahun ni our annual tahlil for all of them lambat sikit.I hope my other half would not forget to fill in the form before the week ends this week. Our surau buat tahlil for the dead every night before teraweh.But you gotta pay seikhlas hati...for the surau anyway.Byk nama-nama menarik as the mc reads out who the tahlil is for.

p/s The pic was taken in Cameron Highlands.Mek told me once that the older sisters told her as they helped to dress us up that we were all going to London.Coming back to a warmer climate in Raub, Mek was asked by her friend where she had gone over the holidays.She said, "We went to England.Sejuk, awak!" Haha.

Perawi-perawi

Folks, tak sama if I'm there/not there.Our two perawis malas nak cerita cos' dah ngantuk.The tazkirah mmg biasa habis lambat and we usually get home just before 11.30 pm.But often very energised.I guess the two need to get up early tmrw.I have to send Nik to the airport lepas Subuh besok. Z tak tau apa pulak plannya.

Anyway, both of them said ustaz reminded all if this Ramadan is to be our last...maka perlu kita pulun habis mengejar pahala. Also, nanti bila nak masuk syurga, jam sebab berebut2 org nak masuk kecuali satu pintu..yakni pintu sedekah so kalau nak green lane, sedekahlah byk2.

Nik ckp ustaz also reminded all jgn kita lalai dgn kemewahan kita cos' mmg ada dlm Quran bhw Allah akan tarik balik if we terus lalai. Ustaz gave the examples of negara2 kaya mcm Iraq dll.

Z pulak ckp if kita pi ke majlis ilmu, satu langkah kita pergi ibarat dapat seribu pahala.Juga kalau kita penuhi satu hajat org, Allah akan memenuhi 1000 hajat kita.Phuiyooo..pls email me your hajat sebelum ramadan tamat. Jgnlah yg pelik2.:)

Enjoy your last 10 days of this blessed month.

A quiet iftar

Can you beat this: Z and Nik semua berbuka kat luar (different events) ? I thought I had one at a different location but got the dates mixed up.Not this evening.

That leaves me, my mom and Bibik. 2 of us tak puasa.Guess who? Haha.Anak bulan syawal terbit awal for us.

So I read a book Bro. Jamal of my Muslim NGO kasi last Saturday at ACCIN meeting.Tajuknya Mengapa Saya Keluar dari Syiah by ulema shiah terkenal dan disegani Sayyid Husain Al-Musawi,diterjemahkan di Jakarta. Phuiyooo..asyik membacanya...ilmunya padat, bahasanya cantik dan philosophical. Will do a short review after habis baca.But looks like ulema yang jujur will not run away from the truth. Not easy to buang kedudukan, kuasa dan pengaruh..silap2 kena bunuh..not sure dia ni hidup lagi ke tak.

So you will have to google sendirilah tazkirah for today.Perawi lagi satu pun tak pi surau. :))

Stories at sahur, part 2

This entry is based on Nik's memory of last night's tazkirah at the surau.

It's about menjaga keturunan yang baik melalui pemilihan pasangan yang bertaqwa dan beriman.The story of Umar again...choosing a wanita beriman for his son and how cucu cicit dari pernikahan ni membuahkan keturunan yg begitu menjaga pekerti and menjaga aib keluarga.There's a story about Malik Aziz (tak silap cucu Khalifah Umar) yang bought the whole of hamam cos' he didn't want to see wht he was not supposed to see and didn't want others to see wht they were not supposed to see(so he had chased everyone out from the public bath).Org kanan bapa dia said this was arrogance on his part.He should not have bought exclusiveness.Malik apologised.The guy said but I will have to report to your dad about this incidence but will say you have taubat.Malik said yes, please do but my father will not ask you what wrong I have done.The man said how do you know? Malik said sebab dari kecil mereka telah dididik agar menjaga aib masing2 walaupun antara anak and ayah/ibu dll.

Wough..so terperinci!

The other story I like is about kisah Nabi Sulaiman wafat dalam keadaan berdiri cos' that was his request to Allah sebab dia tengah supervise jin2 buat Baitulmuqqadis..he didn't want the jinns to know dia dah wafat so that mereka kerja siang malam siapkan project besar ni. :)) And that was wht happened sampai tongkat dia reput dimakan anai2 dan akhirnya baginda rebah.Baru tau baginda sudah wafat.

So kata ustaz,don't think jin2 ni tau semua benda..yg beritau tu syaitan so hati2 bila pergi jumpa bomoh yang suka menilik and tell you this and that.Semua tu tak accurate sebab yg membisikkan adalah syaitan.

Iftar-ing outside

Iftar at the Islamic Art Museum

Apologies folks...looks like no tazkirah this week...I was iftar-ing outside this evening and more this week and next.Will get notes from Nik,insyaAllah.

Today was at the Islamic Art Museum with my Fulbright group and other invited guests, hosted by the US Embassy.Seated at my table was Dato Mahadzir Lokman, Assoc Prof. Dr. Shahrim, Johan of Petronas, Puan Sharifah and Gayah.Nice company sebab we share common interests..art, galleries, paintings, cooking, books, communication.Mahadzir Lokman was so funny.Bdk pelayan from Bangladesh tu dia panggil Sharukh Khan.."Hello Sharukh Khan..ini boleh angkat, itu dan ini.This one, no."Senyum lebar si Sharukh Khan.Was talking about the forgetful Wea Zawiyah with Johan cos' I forgot his name every 5 minutes! I had to tell him the Wea Zawiyah story nak ke Kuale Kangsor every 5 mins.We had a good laugh over this! The young man will alert Gayah and I of the next art exhibition at Petronas.

I told Gayah..our retirement will not be dull with these newly found arty crafty friends..they are so friendly..Dr. Shahrim paints and cooks.Nanti G and I nak join kelas memasak dia.Kelas painting dia pun I nak join but quite pricey, apparently.Will call up his guru Raja Azhar.

Johan and I dok soksek soksek abt how ML malas nak layan my question about his fall.Rupa2nya dah lama and the story is so complicated.Haha but J told me.Kelakar gila..not the fall cos' it's pretty bad but my persistence to know but tak dilayan.:))

G and I stopped for tutty fruity for our gals.G is such a good mom.

Second-hand tazkirah

Sorry folks..I was too tired to go to the surau this evening.We had to do our raya shopping today and doing it with both Nik and Z would mean lots and lots of walking.:) But we got what we wanted.

Did my teraweh at home after my home spa with Bibik.Ah heavens!

Tonight's tazkirah is from Nik's memory (and interpretation).He said some student from Syria, home for summer, gave the talk.All this shiah-sunni divide I tak suka sgt nak bincang kat sini.Lagipun I wasn't there.Anyway, we had a little debate over one of the stories related by the ustaz during teraweh tazkirah ( we usually have two rounds of tazkirah..satu in between the 4 rakaat tazkirah..satu lagi after solat teraweh and during our moreh..tht forum perdana thingy)

Nik cerita pasal org yg kuat beribadah non stop for 60 years but satu hari terjumpa dgn satu perempuan dan berzina dgnnya. Masa nak balik ke rumah, he bumped into one fakir yg sedang lapar.He had 2 keping roti so he gave it to the fakir.Belum sempat sampai ke rumah, Allah ambik nyawanya.Dan dikatakan setelah ditimbang berat dosa pahalanya,this pakcik layak ke syurga bukan kerana amalnya yg 60 tahun itu tetapi sebab sedekah 2 keping roti itu.

Unless Sheikh Rizal can correct me (if this story comes from hadis sahih), I think the take home lesson is ikut apa Quran kata: jgn hampiri zina langsong cos' tht is dosa besar.I remember Prof Karcic,a Bosnian Prof of Law at the uni who said the same thing...the Quran said do not approach zina..the Quran does not say do not commit zina cos by then it would be too late,isn't it? My point of contention of the story above is..(unless it is a genuine hadis) how do we know the abid went to heaven and so easy too.I have heard of the story of a woman who prostituted herself cos' of poverty and fed a thirsty dog and went to heaven for such kindness but I have not heard of an adulterous abid going to heaven cos of two pieces of bread.If any of you know more of this story, please beep me here.I fear some people may take the easy way out...let's do wht is wrong and if we bersedekah, we'd still go to heaven.

Be very,very afraid cos' I think everything is by the grace of Allah.There is no guarantee if we pray for 100 years, our place is the jannah.We can only pray for that mercy and grace.

Menyesal pulak I tak pergi surau mlm ni.I would have asked questions.:))

Happy Nuzul Quran

Malam ni is 17th ramadan, the date when Quran was first revealed. Ustaz said if we stayed beribadah dan mengingatiNya pada mlm ini, we should bersyukur and should do more cos' the period of keampunan yakni phase two of ramadan sudah bermula.We were reminded to berlumba2 untuk mendapat taqwa yg Allah cuma kasi free di bulan ramadan..bulan2 lain we have to work hard to find this.But in Ramadan, we need only to pray for taqwa and Allah grants it.Remember, if you don't ask, you don't get.

Ustaz teraweh read surah Toha and related the stories in it..wough...so touching.Kita semua nangis.It's about how manusia paling gangster waktu tu sampai nama dia di carta teratas kat kaabah (selain nama2 poets yg handal2) yakni Umar wanted to find Rasulullah s.a.w. to kill him cos' he had challenged their way of life/condemned their tradition and cuba bawa agama baru.Where is he, where is he, said Umar with pedang terhunus.Mukanya merah padam cos' sangat marah.Kawan dia yg ada said you wanna kill Muhammad, your own sister had converted to his religion.Maka makin marah Umar and he rushed to his sister's home.

The ustaz's version is different from what is commonly told to me.She was not reading the Quran yet whn he came.Umar sempat tampar pipi adik dia hingga berdarah hidung adik perempuan dia.And her hubby tried to stop Umar from further abuse but Umar cekik leher adik ipar dia sampai kawan tu nyawa2 ikan.Sat tu di belakang adik dia terlayang stg..ayat quran yg ditulis mungkin pada kulit or stg.Umar tanya adik dia wht is this.Adik dia kata you can't hold it till you have washed yourself.Maka sekeras2 hati Umar,ada juga lembutnya..dia pun pi mandi.Then he read the Quranic verses.It was surah Toha ayat 1-5 yang menobatkan kebesaran Allah dan why Allah turunkan Quran:

1. Tor.Ha.

2. Kami tidak turunkan Quran kpdmu (wahai Muhammad) supaya engkau menanggung kesusahan.

3.Hanya untuk menjadi peringatan bagi orang yang takut, yang melanggar perintah Allah.

4. Al Quran diturunkan dari tuhan yang mencipta bumi dan langit yang tinggi

5. Iaitu Allah ArRahman yang bersemayam di atas 'Arasy.

Menggigil tubuh badan Umar tatkala membaca ayat ini lantas dia bergegas nak jumpa Rasulullah.Nasib waktu tu bapa saudara Nabi, saiyidina Hamzah another gedeber ada.He said let me handle this gangster.If he comes secara baik, kita sambut baik.If he's looking for trouble,maka bertemu buku and ruas.

Bila Umar jumpa je Rasulullah s.a.w. terus baginda dipeluknya dan dia terus mengucap.Berita itu disambut baik even by para malaikat.It's like winning the olympic gold which we missed tonight.:))

But so inspiringlah this story.It makes you appreciate Islam more..org lain nak jumpa dia, sikit punya payah..we were given..and yet...

Happy Nuzul Quran.Semoga kita khatam byk kali dan memahaminya sekali.Ustaz tanya Quran turun kat Selangor je ke sebab Selangor je cuti.:)

Yup, it's another wonderful evening

I made the right decision by not having my iftar outside...was invited to a family iftar in Putrajaya and another one in Bangi.

Tonight was another great evening at the surau.Tonight's ustaz was imam masjid negara..oh my god, he's so funny...I ketawa berguling2 when he related a story about how he arrived late at one mosque and prayed on saf of ultramen,batmen,supermen..and they would slide on the floor.Sounds familiar, yah? :))

Ustaz ni is also a nazir masjid satu msia and he says our surau is extraordinary and memang lain.He said he'd do a paper to suggest a similar model to be copied by others..antara perkara yg dia suka ialah membaca doa dlm bahasa arab dan melayu, menterjemahkan secara ringkas intipati bacaan2 quran yg dibaca dlm solat teraweh, forum perdana konsep kita dan majlis santai bwh khemah kita.I also notice ustaz2 sekarang muda2...that is why they adapt well to innovations..The man behind this fantastic management is Haji Ali..a yuppy..an engineer by training..young chap.Well..about Nik's age.Of cos' he has a strong backup by other yuppies and a strong financial backup as well by ahli2 masjid yg lain.Dulu surau ni agak boring and I thought not that friendly so I would do my teraweh at home, but this year in particular, you feel the good vibes sampai kita syg nak miss praying thr.Tahniah to the team.

Sebab I dah sleepy, secara ringkasnya, ustaz ckp the following:

1.Jgn tinggal teraweh sbb mmg ada hadis bhw Allah akan ampunkan dosa org2 yg berteraweh, bertadarus dan berqiamulail.Tak boleh buat all 3, at least one of them.

2.Org berpuasa, Allah ampunkan dosa2 dia kecuali dosa sesama manusia..tu kena usaha sendiri le.

3.Tiga perkara yang kalau kita pandang dapat pahala: quran, kaabah dan wajah ibubapa kita.

If I rajin, sambung later.zzzzzzz

Notes before iftar

Z has gone to iftar with her cousins and aunties in Putrajaya.I malas nak pergi cos' just got back from my scriptwriting wshop then my ACCIN meeting at Perkim.They (accin frens) are all going to Equatorial in Bangi for iftar.Too far for me.Lagipun I will miss my surau,right? Sapa nak ambik notes? :))

It has been an interesting and full day for me.We had loads of laugh at the scriptwriting workshop esp. when academics presented their work.Kaku gila.We'll get better.

The ACCIN guys pun byk discussions today.I pun letak my two sen.Being the only lady was not a problem.No issue of the guys ignoring my voice.In fact, they listened well.I used to have some difficulty getting heard in the past (not from accin but other men elsewhere).

Besok our creative recycling workshop will start.We have the venue shifted from MPPJ hall to dewan ilmu at the al ulum surau.Sarah was so kind to shift her tadarus class to the surau hall.

Watch this space.I hope to take some pics tomorrow.Ohh..this is so exciting!

Tazkirah paling best!

As salam folks,

Hari ni punya Ustaz the best of all nights.Dia dari Kelantan tapi muka mcm Mawi (the thinner and younger version). Sebab musabab I like him:

1. Cerita dia pasal perbualan malaikat dgn Allah mengenai orang yang suka duduk dalam majlis ilmu.Allah perintahkan para malaikat duduk bersama dalam majlis2 ilmu dan catitkan apa hamba-hambaNya buat.Malaikat akan beritau mereka berzikir mengingatiMu Ya Allah.Kata Allah Aku akan ampunkan dosa2 mereka selagi mereka duduk dlm majlis2 ilmu itu dan tidak Aku beri mereka azab selagi mereka di situ.

Ustaz ni pun beri contoh masa gempa bumi di Turki yang tidak musnah was the mosque dan pangsapuri 20 tingkat bersebelahan masjid.Adapun amalan penghuni pangsapuri itu adalah menyeimarakkan masjid itu..mereka akan turun solat berjemaah ramai2.Itulah yg menyelamatkan mereka.

2. Ustaz kata bulan Ramadan ni semua kelapan2 pintu syurga terbuka dan pintu2 neraka ditutup.Siksaan kubur pun off sebulan...syaitan2 diikat tetapi ustaz kata dlm ramadan ada juga org kena santau, kena bomoh so ada dua pendapat di sini..ada yg kata jeneral2 syaitan je diikat tetapi setan yg kurang tajam taringnya masih bebas..wallahualam.

Ustaz ni boleh mengubat org and rating sihir paling tinggi now ialah ilmu pengasih.Yang kena bukan anak dara ke teruna ( masa ni I tengah santai minum teh tarik terus tersedak! Ahaks...weiii, got market value lagi ko? Haha.Na'uzubillah!)Satu kes lelaki umur 60 tahun.Dengan satu pompuan who called him on the phone je then from thereon mulalah drama2 meluat kita berlaku sampai lelaki ni hilang susut badan dan tak perdulikan anak isteri lagi.

Satu kes lain,wanita berumur 55 tahun diilmu pengasihkan dgn budak muda umur 24 tahun..habis reta, gelang emas dia serah kat bdk pengikis ni.

Yang kes paling terok satu kakak in her late 40s ke hapa..yg tak kaya or cantik ..dia tak kerjapun tapi ada satu man dah syok dgn dia.Bila communicate dgn ustaz..setan tu kata "hambo sajo suko dia..geram je nengoknyo" ( jin kelantan tu)

Wough...sensasi tazkirah malam ni.:))

And I made new friends every nite..so ada juga cerita2 hangat surau like the elderly women ramai juga nak bermenantukan bdk yg dok baca selawat teraweh tu..i thought budak but dia berumur 30 tahun lebih, kerja kat satu MNC..haha..lucu but dia sudah ada gf.Sorry moms! :)

Tazkirah malam Jumaat

My French friend ( married to a Malay man) yang since so long tak pernah tak pergi teraweh except bila period all the years I know her (since 2001 tak silap) told me ustaz mlm ni is her favourite.True enough..even the moderator knew.In his intro said Ustaz ni a fav. esp. with kaum muslimah.

The first cerita kita dah dengar ..kisah anak tangga tiga tu.However, the following agak baru for me.Here's sharing:

1.Sahur tu hukumnya sunat.Makna sunat bkn jika dibuat pahala, jika tidak,tak apa.The real meaning of sunat is jika buat dapat pahala,jika tak buat, rugi.Rasululah s.a.w. bersabda bahawa sunat melambatkan sahur (paling afdal 5-10 mins before imsak but kalau takut tak sempat, try la 5.40 am ke if subuh is at 6 am).Sunat juga menyegerakan berbuka tetapi kata ustaz idak le immediately lepas Asr.Kah3.

Ustaz kata 2 perkara yang Allah segerakan balasannya ialah:

1.berbakti kpd kedua ibubapa

2.mendamaikan dua org yang bersengketa atau merapatkan hubungan silrahturrohim.

Ustaz cerita kisah dia visit mak dia one day.Mcm biasa dia kasi duit kat mak dia.RM200 or RM300 ke hapa.I didn't jot how much but I remember idak le sampai beribu2.Balik je dari kg, he got a phone call minta dtg ceramah mlm tu cos' penaja dah approached 9 ustaz..semua berhalangan.Penaja dah buat kambing golek 2-3 ekor, khemah dah byk, org jemputan dah ramai but no ustaz.Kebetulan Ustaz takda plan mlm tu so he said oklah.Ceramah israk mikraj.

Bila habis, penaja pun hulor envelope.Ustaz tak tengok pun.Wife dia tengok bila sampai kat rumah.In the envelope, RM1600.Ustaz kol balik penaja jam2 tu juga takut penaja tersilap kasi dia envelope..takut duit nak bayar kambing golek 2-3 tadi or upah pasang khemah.Kah2.But penaja said mmg tu peruntukan bayaran dia.Phuiyooo...

Ustaz juga beri 4 rintangan yang sering melalaikan kita dari berbuat baik dan beribadah:

1. Pengaruh kawan2

2. Kesibukan dunia

3. Nafsu

4. Syaitan

Dan org yang betul2 berusaha utk mentaati Allah akan disayangi dan dibantu Allah dgn memberinya kekuatan jiwa dll.

Sekian.Wassalamualaikum warahmatulllah hiwabarakatuh.

Guests from Pakistan

Sheikh Dr. Ameen was born and raised in Makkah.He would be our teraweh imam for a couple of days..last year he came too but I somehow missed him.Dia punya reading mcm Imam Masjidilharram..masa solat, I perasan depan kaabah...high kejap.:))

Sheikh tengah nak raise funds for two madrasahs in Karachi.If we nak sedekah on behalf of ibubapa yg dah meninggal also can.Masa teraweh, he read surah ArRahman on nikmat Allah mana yang nak kita kufurkan atau kita dustai.

Masa ceramah,another ustaz from Al Azhar kupas ayat tu lagi..apparently Allah ulang ayat ini sebyk 31 kali kerana:

1.Allah nak kita insaf akan nikmat yang Dia dah beri kpd kita.Kalau dah ulang byk kali tapi masih bebal..teruk tu kerana nikmatNya memang tak terbilang...dari kita dlm kandungan Ibu hingga sekarang terutama nikmat Islam dan iman.

2.Allah juga ulang2 ayat itu sebab nak kita sedar nikmat yg berbeza2 yang telah kita terima.

3.Nikmat besar yg Allah gives us is the Al Quran..untuk selamatkan kita and for us to use as a guide.Dalam surah Tahrim disebut bhw Quran adalah petunjuk paling lurus.

Bulan Ramadan juga mempunyai nama2 lain :bulan Al Quran, bulan rahmah, bulan kesabaran, bulan kasihsayang, bulan keampunan.

Ditanya moderator mengapa habis je Ramadan, kita tidak juga berubah.Kadang2 makin teruk jadinya.Ustaz jawab sebab mindset kita buat ibadah hanya utk ramadan..kita jadi hamba Ramadan bukan hamba Allah.Kalau jadi hamba Allah, kita berterusan amalan baik kita..sebab sifat taqwa subur di dalam diri kita.

Maksud taqwa sidang pembaca yg dirahmati Allah sekelian ialah bila kita merendahkan diri kita kpd Allah; kita juga mensyukuri nikmatNya; kita jadi waraq yakni bkn sahaja kita menjauhi perkara yg Allah tak suka tetapi juga brg2 yg syubahah dan akhir sekali, kita yakin akan kebesaran Allah.

Maka sahabat2 sekalian, marilah kita menghidupkan balik hati2 kita agar Nur Islam itu, Nur Iman itu kembali meresap ke dlm hati kita dan cahaya iman itu terpancar di wajah kita.Hati yg mati tidak akan dpt kemanisan beribadah.Buat dosa pun dah jadi biasa.One ustaz said a few nights ago..jiwa tu sentiasa tensi..solat lama sikit, tension.Doa panjang sikit, tension.Wa na'uzubillah.

This reminds me of former Director/Imam masjid SHAS UIA..Ustaz Farid...muka dia bercahaya sampai orang sejuk dan tenang memandang wajahnya.Wajahnya sentiasa tersenyum.

Sayang, he has left IIUM.

Sekian tazkirah ringkas kita hari ini.Ustaz Al Azhar ni serious sikit orgnya.Takda joke yg funny2.

Shortcut to paradise

Tonight's ustaz has an interesting personality.He speaks Malay with an Arabic accent (mcm P.Ramlee ckp "Ana mau fetola..fetola"), his English mcm Queen of England bercakap (with some exaggeration..but betul pronunciationnya) and his Arabic mcm Arab.He does not like the forum perdana setup di mana berceramah dlm suasana santai with people makan minum.He said his guru Sheikh Nuruddin ajar adab2 majlis ilmu..org tak boleh makan minum dan jgn menyampuk tanya soalan sedang guru berceramah.I think ada betulnya sbb kadang2 annoying juga kalau byk ngat senda guraunya.

Anyway, ada beberapa points je I nak share from the tazkirah yakni 4 perkara yang boleh melepaskan kita dari api neraka jika kita amalkan (zikirullah) terutama sepanjang bulan ramadan yag penuh keberkatan ini:

1. Zikir syahadah

2. Istighfar minta ampun dari Allah

3.Doa pohon masuk syurga

4.Doa pohon hindar dari masuk api neraka.

Baca 70,000 sehari.

Ada satu kisah di mana seorang pemuda kashaf telah dijemput makan kenduri tapi sedang dia nak ambik makanan, dia tak jadi sebab nampak ibunya kena siksa di alam barzakh.Pemuda itu tak jadi makan.Org tanya why.He told them what he saw.Tak jauh dari situ, seorang Sheikh yang dijemput telah terdengar cerita pemuda ini.Dari tadi dia dtg awal and sementara menunggu majlis bermula dia telah berzikir ashhadualla illahaillallah muhammadarasulullah sebanyak 70,000. Lantas beliau berdoa kpd Allah dlm hatinya,"Ya Allah, sekiranya zikir aku diterima oleh Mu,ingin aku sedekahkan pahalanya kpd ibu pemuda ini."

Tak lama lepas tu pemuda kashaf tadi bernafsu utk makan kembali.Dia telah melihat ibunya telah terlepas dari siksaan kubur.

Ustaz juga kata kalau kita nak hindarkan apa jua masalah kita ( from masalah kesihatan to finance to whatever) banyakkan beristighfar juga (70,000...more is better).InsyaAllah satu ketenangan dan pertolongan akan tiba.Let's try it and tell me how it worked with you.

Note I ni agak kabur mlm ni..there's one part where I scribbled baca 3x selepas setiap solat dan selepas iftar.Atas nota ini adalah 4 perkara yang disebutkan di atas tadi..you guys buat la dua2... Baca 3 x lepas solat dan iftar 4 perkara tu in addition to zikir 70,000 syahadah dan istighfar.

Poverty in Batu Kurau

As salam sidang kuliah kita hari ini.

I thought ceramah kat surau malam ni tak sedap sgt hingga uztaz dari Utara ni cerita pasal kerja2 masyarakat mereka di Perak and each day find poor people.Ustaz went with one of the imam muda and bdk muda tu menangis menengok satu dangau or danau? (rumah pondok kecik) kat Batu Kurau. Lantainya tanah.Imam muda took off his shoes kerana menghormati tuanrumah dan rumahnya.No toilet.Ada ibu tua yang lumpuh yg dijaga anak lelakinya berumur dlm 30an.Ditanya mana toiletnya..he said kat semak so every time mak dia nak buang air, he will usung her.Kesian,kan? So the religious activists panggil org bancuh simen buat lantai dan kasi kerusi roda kat anak muda ini so that dia tak payah la usung mak dia lagi.

Tak payah pi jauh nak bersedekah..kat Msia masih ramai yg dhaif..just go down and look for them.Urban poverty pun bersepah2.

Ustaz kata Mufti Mekah baru2 ini ditanya oleh rakyat miskin kat Somalia apa hukum puasa kami yg tidak bersahur dan tidak berbuka kerana kami tiada apa nak makan.Mufti tu menitis air matanya.Besok I don't want to buy kuih koci, murtabak,puding,kuih tepung pelita kat pasar ramadan.Beli air kauthar je.

Mengikut hadis Rasulullah s.a.w. ada 5 perkara yg akan mengurangkan pahala puasa kita atau puasa kita ditolak terus:

1. Berbohong/ berdusta

2. Mengumpat (terutama secara bersiri..tak habeh at workplace,sambung kat rumah)

3. Menjadi pengadu domba bagi meretakkan hubungan dua org beriman atau siapa saja.

4. Bersumpah palsu

5.Melihat sesuatu dgn syahwat

Again, the stress on sedekah during this month...malaikat akan doakan pagi2 lagi bagi mereka yg suka bersedekah agar ditambah lagi rezeki dan lain2 kebaikan termasuk kesihatan,terhindarnya musibah,dll.Kalau kedekut, malaikat doakan agar muflis.

Sekian utk mlm ini.But Z and I gelak berguling2 cos' the announcer ckp mcm dj radio (yg bahagian tengah mlm).Nik said dia top corporate guy.Mesti cita2 nak jadi dj masa kecik2 dulu.Haha.Is this bersiri or wht?

Momma's gal

Top left to right: Z with Tunku Abidin (2nd son of the YAM Dipertuan Negeri Sembilan); Johan Merican (CEO of Talent Corp); bottom left: Z with Azran of Asia-X and finally, Z with KJ.

Not tonight

Sorry folks, no kulliyyah ramadan tonight cos' I had to leave early..tengah syok jotting down ustaz's ceramah on memuliakan Al Quran esp. in Ramadan since Quran turun bulan ini,I was called to go home by Menteri Dalam Negeri.But intipatinya kita kena baca dan practise-kan apa dlm Quran agar berkat hidup kita.Makna berkat ialah kebaikan kita bertambah dan kita semakin bertaqwa cos' yang masuk syurga itu hanya org bertaqwa.Manusia bertaqwa adalah manusia yang paling baik di sisi Allah.

Pokoknya sidang hadirin yg dirahmati Allah (dah start daaah...haha) bagaimana kita nak jadi manusia baik di sisi Allah? ( ni nota dari ceramah separuh jalan tadi ni).Caranya ialah mempraktikkan akhlaq Rasulullah s.a.w. dan akhlaq baginda ialah akhlaq Quran.Membaca dan memahami Quran dgn betul adalah fardhu ain jadi jgn kita malas nak baca Quran sebab kita tak tau bila kita akan mati.Sabda Rasulullah..jgn kamu ingat kamu ada di pagi hari,kamu akan ada di petang nanti dan jika ada di ptg hari,jgn ingat kamu ada di malamnya.

Waktu I tengah syok jotting notes ni,Nik dtg melambai2 ajak balik cos' nak ambik Z from Hilton.Z ada berbuka puasa with McKinsey and para mentors internship prog dia (alhamdulillah she is so lucky..dapat dengar talks by captains of the industry..CEOs from everywhere and her dream came true dapat jumpa KJ! Tanya soalan panas kat KJ sampai KJ kata might as well I go home now.Haha.Lepas talk tu she told him pasal internship with KJ in which she was also shortlisted but his people tak call her back.KJ said he'd find out.Tak lama lepas tu,she got someone to speak to her but Z said now tht she's with McKinsey,and results A Level pun dah nak keluar, she does not think ada masa nak join).Apparently Z berdua je Melayu kat prog ni and the only one yang tengah tunggu A level..Yg lain tu dah kat uni or baru graduated.It should not matter..the experience should be good for her.Bdk2 Cina kawan dia kata wahhh..your English so good and you ask good questions..we got malay frens but they don't talk like you.Innocent kan budak2 ni? Of cos' there are others...cuma mrk tak jumpa cos' some of them went to Chinese school ke hapa.

Z also met the CEO of Talent Corp, Johan Merican; Tunku Abidin ( anak raja Negeri Sembilan who graduated from LSE and sgt2 vocal on many issues...a role model for our youth,really);Azran Osman-Rani of Asia-X; dan ramailah yg lain2nya.Kita dengar lah nanti cerita selanjutnya as Z works with her team on a project in rural Sabah.

I think it's wonderful that all these people from the industries are doing their bit grooming our young people not only teaching them leadership skills but stressing on the importance of giving back to the less fortunate.

We wish Z and those carefully chosen for this prog much success and that they would be better people after the experience.

Ramadan mengajar the power of consistency

Assalamualaikum folks.Kita sambung kuliah Ramadan kita hari ini.Mudah2an ada ilmu baru untuk kita baiki mutu puasa kita.

Another different ustaz today.Some of his jokes esp. on women I tak gemar sgt.And I find it rude also when men joke about nak kawin lain..especially depan isteri mereka.I thought ustaz semalam and hari ni pun lebihkurang je when talking about women.Yg semlm ckp women mcm jin sbb ada satu ketika tengah dia berceramah,he heard kelentang kelentong belakang tabir.Rupa2 the women menggoreng sesuatu.He said mcm jin.Hello..they might have been preparing for makan2 after the ceramah.But I didn't tell you this yesterday.I focused on good things je but after mlm ni..I feel like I have to record my protest and if ustaz or bakal ustaz reading this,please..have some respect for the women.Do not talk of them mcm kita ni sirens..pi masjid pun nak menggoda mrk (tundukkanlah pandangan mata tu if you ternmpk we tersinsing betis masa ambik wudhuk.Duh!Ha..mulalah I nak marah ni..haha).

Anyway, some new knowledge mlm ni:

1.Waktu berbuka puasa,just pray for anything you want..bkn setakat baca doa makan sebab doa orang berpuasa esp di bulan Ramadan, Allah kabulkan.Ingat, the first part of Ramadan adalah penuh dgn kemurahan dan kasihsayang Allah.Just ask.Nak kaya, nak cerdik, nak jadi lebih beriman,etc etc..say it waktu berbuka.

2.Banyakkan bersedekah esp. kasi org berbuka..pahala dan ganjarannya sgt besar..full marks wpun kasi satu org makan.One Prof from UM without fail derma RM4K every year.The 3rd year he gave RM5K cos that year dia naik pangkat.The following year, naik lagi pangkatnya and he gave more and more.

3.Solat tahajud kalau tak buat,banyak rugi.Tahajud menerangkan kubur kita nanti.

4.Jangan tinggal teraweh.Rasulullah s.a.w. tak pernah tinggal teraweh.

5.Lepas Ramadan..continue solat witir walaupun satu rakaat.

6. Jangan kerap pi tempat awam cos' that will kurangkan pahala kita..I guess sebab nampak byk benda2 kita tak patut nmpk atau byk buang masa dari mengingati Allah.

I like the cerita Ustaz cerita mula2 ceramah tadi.About 3 men who went to pray at the mosque whr the Prophet was and after prayer,the Prophet pbuh berceramah.The first chap duduk kat tengah2 sebab eager to hear, the 2nd chap duduk tepi sebab malu nak duduk kat tengah.The 3rd chap angkat bontot and blah.

Rasulullah s.a.w. bersabda bhw pemuda 1&2 will be so much loved by Allah dan akan tolong mereka dlm semua hal.The 3rd one you can guess lah apa dia dapat.:)

Wallahualam.Saya cuma mencatat apa saya dengar.

Islam itu indah,Ramadan itu rahmat

Gosh guys, I love my surau.There's so much love showered on this place.Takda la besar mana but meriah.We have a huge space that they buat 2 rumah for the 2 resident imam and tok siak,siap ada library and they set up a stage ala2 forum perdana kat depan balai ilmu where the ceramah is done after teraweh and we have refreshments under tents in the open air.Syoklah suasana santai gitu sambil dengar ceramah sambil minum teh tarik and makan kuih muih.But we do not talk much with each other..yet.Senyum2 dan angguk2 je.I only know a couple of people sebab jumpa setahun sekali je kan? Soon my green friends and I would be organising activities so tht we bond with each other.

I go only to the surau in Ramadan and today's ustaz kata dia perasaan yg dtg ni are "regulars". I thought dia mengerling arah Nik and me.Haha.He said yg timbul only di bulan Ramadan tu org kat tempat lain.Kah3, perli,nampak.Anyway, this young and clean-looking ustaz is from Penang but kerap di KL as penceramah.He grew with our surau..dari bujang sampai dah kawin dia masih one of our penceramah.

Yg lawak he said I often wonder di mana tuan2 dan puan2 berada di luar musim Ramadan.Kerja tempat sama, rumah sama, kereta sama...apa tuan2 dan puan2 buat?

The topic given was wht was the difference between puasa di zaman Rasulullah dan sekarang.I pun terdetik di hati...apa ke kelakar sgt topik forum ini.But ustaz pun lawak juga..he said patut takda beza..mereka lapar,kita pun lapar, mereka dahaga,kita pun dahaga..cuma bezanya mereka dapat pertolongan dari Allah (dalam hati I..aik?Adakah Allah tidak menolong kita skrg?) Wht he meant was masa kaum Muslim yg awal ni berperang di bulan Ramadan satu ketika itu.Allah bantu mereka.

Then he said bulan ramadan ada 3 perkara yg bulan2 lain takda iaitu keberkatan, keampunan dan pembebasan dari api neraka which we have to work hard and pray that we get it.For example keampunan..kita kena minta..tak minta, macamana Allah nak ampun.

Besok I nak ambik noteslah.Byk points lupa.Memory like a fish!

Nik's BMW was hit by a car tadi ptg.Proudly he rang me up saying tazkirah semlm sgt berkesan mengingatkan perlunya transformasi diri, "I tak marah pun kat org yg langgar my car tu.Somehow I ingatkan diri I, I sedang berpuasa."

Then I said excellent.Tu mesti ada dosa2 you Allah nak peringatkan.Then he said, "You ni kan...bla bla bla bla" (marah)

I laughed and reminded him not to marah,dia sedang berpuasa, nanti kena jual.Guling2.But he laughed after that.I suspect marah kat I tu sebab the earlier marah was repressed.:) But I also should not have said tht,kan? :)

It is a struggle,isn't it? But try we must.Selamat berjuang!

Law of Attraction

Bismillahirrohmanirrohim,

Sidang pembaca sekelian,

Today no tazkirah but nak share an element of law of attraction hari ni.Bagi yg belum tau apa itu law of attraction, sila google sendiri.

Baru blog entry yang lepas kita cakap pasal Ustaz Hasrizal.Well folks, tadi Isyak and teraweh dia solat dengan kita kat surau kita! Dan beri ceramah lepas teraweh.Power giler! I think it's high time penceramah2 kita dtg dari kalangan mereka yang berilmu tinggi.This guy is.English dia pun superb.Arabic dia pun dasyat! Yoko...swooon sekali lagi.Haha.

Let me share with you some of his points today yang buat semua orang rasa terkantoi:

1. Bahawa Allah khaskan sebulan Ramadan ni for us to re-assess kehidupan kita..consciousness kita. Amat malang (in fact neraka la tempat kita) jika transformasi diri tidak berlaku selepas Ramadan should we die masih dlm kekufuran sebab ada hadith Rasulullah s.a.w. mengenai hal ini tatkala baginda s.a.w. turun dari mimbar bertangga tiga dan setiap tangga,baginda mengucapkan ameen.Sahabat bertanya apa yang diameenkannya.Baginda s.a.w. bersabda:

- Malaikat mendoakan bahawa tiada berkatlah kehidupan seorang anak yg sekiranya ibubapanya masih hidup dan dia tidak berlaku baik/menjaga mereka (maka baginda s.a.w. mengameenkan hal ini)

- Then the Angel also said - Rugilah mereka yang tidak berselawat apabila nama mu disebut

(baginda s.a.w ameenkan)

- Finally bisik malaikat: nerakalah tempatnya bagi mereka yang TIDAK memanfaatkan bulan Ramadan dan membuat perubahan diri agar semakin hampir dan bertaqwa dengan Allah

(dan baginda s.a.w. berkata ameeen).Kalau makin jauh dari Allah, something is wrong somewhere tu.

2.Ustaz kata raising our level of consciousness termasuk mengawasi cara kita makan di bulan ramadan, menjaga perilaku kita, kata2 kita dan sensitiviti kita terhadap penindasan yang berlaku di luar sana...dan mendoakan agar inilah ramadan terakhir bagi regime2 kejam di luar sana.

Deep, isn't it? Byk lagi but ni je yg ingat setakat ini. :)

Budak kecik superman yang suka bising tu takda mlm ni so my solat was so good and the imam punya bacaan mcm imam kat Mekah ( even Ustaz Hasrizal said if only his home were closeby..he'd want to pray at our surau daily.You know the imam baca doa dlm bahasa melayu juga? Wough..power giler..)

I hope yours went OK too.Enjoy your ibadah!