To my forever beloved sister, Kak Ina and her husband, Abang Hashim, I would like to dedicate this slideshow to reminisce the sweet memories we all had together on your special days. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to stay long in Malaysia and had to fly back right after your wedding. May Allah bless your life with happiness and barakah. And may both of you complement each other well. Stay strong in navigating your life ahead. Chaiyok!!!

Coming back from meeting with JPA today, I was immediately reminded by my housemate that I had a package waiting for me in the hall. I can't remember buying anything online for the past few days. When I tried to guess the content of the package, I could tell right away that it was a book. Huh, since when did I buy a book? For sure it's not a textbook.

But I was wrong. I did order a book and it was on Wednesday. Haha, what a memory I have!! Actually, I expected it to be thicker since I paid 20 dollars for it. Uh, never mind. I remember ordering a copy when listening to live Ilminar from AlMaghrib Institute entitled "Navigating Through Volatile Times". One of the speakers is the co-author of this book.

Puas sudah aku memaksa diri untuk tidur. Kejap lelap kejap celik, lelap dan celik lagi. Bosan. Lantas aku turun ke bawah mencari-cari apa yang boleh dimakan. Dilin sudah nyenyak tidur, Amy masih lagi gigih bersengkang mata. Kembali ke kamar tidur, aku hidupkan kembali komputer riba.

Rindu buatku susah tidur. Aku rindu saat yang telah berlalu. Saat yang sangat istimewa. Aku rindu Ramadan yang lepas. Tahun ini, penangan Ramadan benar-benar terasa. Sedih mengenangkan dosa yang aku himpun selama ini. Takut mengenangkan apa akhirku nanti. Malu mengenangkan aib yang akan terpampang di depan himpunan manusia kelak. Namun begitu, aku lega dapat mengalirkan airmata ketika meminta. Meminta kepada yang aku yakin Maha Mendengar. Meminta kepada Tuhan yang berkuasa ke atas hidupku. Aku juga bahagia dapat bertarawikh bersama teman-teman. Kadang-kadang bergilir menjadi imam. Hafalan mereka bagus apatah lagi bacaannya. Gembira ketika bersahur dan lebih-lebih lagi ketika berbuka. Paling penting, hidup terasa aman kerana hatinya tenang.

Minta diampunkan dosa diriku dan keluarga, mohon diberikan perlindungan dan petunjuk, harap dibukakan hati kepada hati yang ikhlas keranaNya, minta itu minta ini. Seronok meminta seperti anak kecil.

Lega. Sekarang baru aku terasa ingin lelap. Andai kata esok masih hidup, semoga adalah peluang untukku beramadan lagi.

It's difficult for me to like writing. I mean, serious writing. Not just jotting down class notes, that's a totally different story. Penning down my thoughts can turn out pretty haphazard. My brain is not used to transcribing and translating ideas into words (hahaa sounds like the Central Dogma). Sometimes, it could take ages for me to do so. Yes, I know, my brain is that slow. That's why I never enjoyed any writing class I attended before. I wonder why some people find it so easy to just write. Luckily, I still have the interest in reading books and learning language. So, I guess that would be enough to compensate for my lack of interest in writing.

Anyway, talking about writing or writing system to be specific, it has long intrigued me why some languages of the world do not have writing systems that are uniquely their own. Needless to go far beyond the national border. As far as I know, our very own Malay language had never possessed one either. Yes, we are using modern alphabets nowadays but I'm just curious where the original Malay writing system had gone.

Is it because our ancestral root is relatively young compared to much older civilizations like the Chinese or the Indian? Being historically young and susceptible, we are often subjected to more dominant influences at the time. All this while, we've been adopting foreign writing systems such as the Jawi script and the Latin alphabets. Some said that literacy among Malay people in the past only prevailed after the arrival of Arab traders. There is no valid answer for this because no one knows what really happened prior to that. Records tell us that the tradesmen brought along with them the religion of Islam and their Arabic literature. Some of them eventually settled on this land, married to locals and a number of preachers started teaching the Holy Quran to the masses. Consequently, education was no longer exclusive to the nobles and people started to read and write.

Or it might be that a long period of political instability and a series of foreign conquests which had suppressed the establishment of the writing system. For a society to establish its own distinguishable writing system, it must have a stable, strong and independent government. Before the age of globalisation, seclusion from the rest of the world can also give rise to a unique identity of a nation. Since writing is the culture of learned society, world's writing system usually originated from societies where knowledge is highly regarded. And it becomes increasingly sophisticated when there is need for documentation. Administrative records, academic publications and accounts to important events all need proper documentation. We hardly see these evidences in nations that are unstable and prone to foreign conquest even though there are some exceptions.

Since the beginning, writing has been driving our world towards progress. Writing is such a powerful tool used to deliver knowledge, ideology and philosophy. It moves people. It stirs emotion in people. It widens up perspective. When abused, it causes people to do the unthinkable. So, beware of those who are gripping the pens. They could be academicians, mavericks, tyrants, secularists or even commoners. But be even more aware of those who intend to make us stupid and subservient through their writings or anything equivalent. Be selective of what you're reading and of what you want to believe for sometime they can lead you astray.

Ya Allah, Tuhan yang Maha Mengetahui , sesungguhnya aku tidak mengetahui apa yang ada di depanku, maka berilah aku petunjuk yakni apa yang lebih dekat kepada kebenaran.

Ya Allah, Tuhan yang memasukkan cinta dan kasih sayang ke dalam hati manusia, sesungguhnya aku memohon cintaMu, dan cinta insan yang mencintaiMu serta cinta terhadap perbuatan yang mendekatkanku kepadaMu.

Ya Allah, Tuhan yang Maha Pelindung, aku memohon perlindungan padaMu Ya Allah daripada kejahatan bisikan syaitan dan daripada kejahatan diriku sendiri.

Amin...

Salam,

I read this from Khutbah.com and I thought it would be good if I could share it with everyone. Quite busy lately so this is the best I could do. Sharing is caring :D

Source : Khutbah.com by Muhammad Alshareef

It was narrated that in the days that Musa alayhis salaam wandered with Bani Israeel in the desert, an intense drought befell them. Together, they raised their hands towards the heavens praying for the blessed rain to come. Then, to the astonishment of Musa alayhis salaam and all those watching, the few scattered clouds that were in the sky vanished, the heat poured down, and the drought intensified.

It was revealed to Musa that there was a sinner amongst the tribe of Bani Israeel who had disobeyed Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala for more than forty years of his life. “Let him separate himself from the congregation,” Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala told Musa alayhis salaam. “Only then shall I shower you all with rain.”

Musa alayhis salaam then called out to the throngs of humanity, “There is a person amongst us who has disobeyed Allah for forty years. Let him separate himself from the congregation and only then shall we be rescued from the drought.”

That man waited, looking left and right, hoping that someone else would step forward, but no one did. Sweat poured forth from his brow and he knew that he was the one. The man knew that if he stayed amongst the congregation all would die of thirst and that if he stepped forward he would be humiliated for all eternity.

He raised his hands with a sincerity he had never known before, with humility he had never tasted, and as tears poured down on both cheeks he said, “O Allah, have mercy on me! O Allah, hide my sins! O Allah, forgive me!”

As Musa alayhis salaam and the people of Bani Israeel waited for the sinner to step forward, the clouds hugged the sky and the rain poured. Musa alayhi salaam asked Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala, “O Allah, you blessed us with rain even though the sinner did not come forward.”

And Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala replied, “O Musa, it is for the repentance of that very person that I blessed all of Bani Israeel with water.”

Musa alayhis salaam, wanting to know who this blessed man was, asked, “Show him to me O Allah!”

Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala replied, “O Musa, I hid his sins for forty years, do you think that after his repentance I shall expose him?”

Note : Allah The Merciful, hiding our sins when we're sinful and accepting our repentance when we ask for it. It's never too late to ask for forgiveness even though we sometimes feel that there's no longer hope to turn back.

While surfing through the Internet, I came across this amazing webpage about a guy who went traveling around the world in 634 days and capturing the essence of life of the places he visited along the way. Looking at all the beautiful pictures snapped and reading some of his commentaries suddenly made me feel like quitting my studies and traveling around instead. What fascinated me the most was that he daringly went off the beaten track. From Karakoram Highway to the mountainous parts of Nepal to surprisingly beautiful city of Isfahan Iran, you name it.

I love traveling. I'm used to it since I was a kid. Seeing great places gives me some sort of satisfaction. Sometimes, I can get a bit overwhelmed when I see the pictures of mega-structures like the ones of ancient Rome and Egypt (or other ancient civilizations), so much so I wish to meet the people living at that time. Just looking at the legacy they had left behind easily tells us that they were once among the greatest and strongest nations ever existed on earth. If I were one of them, I would have been proud.

But accidentally listening to Muhammad Alshareef's "Perished Nations" lecture hits me hard. The stories of nations that came before (Aad, Thamud, Lut, Firaun) have been repeated so many times in Holy Quran so much so Prophet Muhammad SAW's hairs had turned white. These so-called great people of the past need no glorification over their architectural prowess nor their mightiness. These were the people who were arrogant and turned their back to Allah. Indeed, their stories need our attention.

Yeay!!! Finally I managed to start my own blog. I'm not really familiar with how this thing works. However, been reading people's blogs for quite a while gives me a glimpse of idea on how I should get along with this. I can't promise to myself to update this blog regularly since this is merely an escape from my non-virtual life. Yes, people. We do have life to look after after all. I'll catch up with more updates later.