Love - What, How?

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh...

This is just too good that I could not wait to go back and do the translation myself, I will, but in case I forget, let me just post it here first.

An email a friend sent in 2009. She joined multiple muslim matrimony sites and stumbled upon a profile and this is what the guy said.

"Say it. When you say the words "I Love You", they should carry with them the desire to show someone that you love them, not what you simply want to feel. 

When you say it make sure you really mean it and are willing to do anything for that special person. Empathize. Put yourself in someone else's shoes. Rather than impose your own expectations or attempt to control them, try to understand how they feel, where they come from, and who they are. 

Realize how they could also love you back just as well. Love unconditionally. If you cannot love another person without attaching stipulations, then it is not love at all, but deep-seated opportunism (one who makes the most of an advantage, often unmindful of others). 

If your interest is not in the other person as such, but rather in how that person can enhance your experience of life, then it is not unconditional. If you have no intention of improving that person’s life, or allowing that person to be themselves and accepting them as they are, and not who you want them to be, then you are not striving to love them unconditionally. 

Expect nothing in return. That doesn't mean you should allow someone to mistreat or undervalue you. It means that giving love does not guarantee receiving love. Try loving just for the sake of love. Realize that someone may have a different way of showing his or her love for you, do not expect to be loved back in exactly the same way. 

Realize it can be lost. If you realize that you can lose the one you love, then you have a greater appreciation of what you have. Think how lucky you are to have someone to love. Don't make an idol of the person you love. This will place them under undue pressure and will likely result in you losing."

At that time, I doubted my ability to love somebody else, and I think its still the same case now... gosh... I still haven't changed, have I?

Me Farewell Montage part 2 :)

Me Farewell Montage round 1 ;)

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...

My farewell montage by lovely colleagues...round 1!! :)

Touched...!! sob..sob..sob...

Alkisah Sebuah Rumah

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh....

Lama tak share benda yang bermanfaat di sini, came across this one in FB, definitely worth sharing. :)

****************************************************************************************
Petang itu kedengaran rungutan tangga sudah tidak terbendung lagi. Dia terus berleter.

“Penat letih jadi tangga. Waktu orang naik, aku kena pijak. Waktu turun pun orang pijak aku. Seronok jadi atap. Tak pernah kena pijak. “

Mendengarkan kata kata tangga. Atap terus bersuara.

"Hoi tangga. Aku lagi sakit tau. Berpanas berhujan siang malam. Mendidih kepanasan bila tengahari. Bila hujan aku terpaksa menahan kesejukan. Yang seronok jadi tiang. Tak kena panas. Tak kena hujan. Tak kena pijak.”

Mendengarkan kata atap, tiang terus bersuara.

“Mana kamu tahu? Aku dok tahan pikul atap, segala alang rumah bertan-tan siang malam. Aku terpaksa pikul jugak. Tuhan saja tahu betapa beratnya. Yang seronok jadi dinding. Tak payah pikul. Tak kena panas. Tak kena pijak.”

Mendengar kata-kata tiang, lalu dinding menjawab.

“Akulah pelindung khazanah rumah ni. Aku lindung aurat tuan rumah, hartanya bahkan aku terpaksa jaga sepanjang masa. Kalau aku tak ada semua tak guna.“

Wahai anakku,
Aku ceritakan ini untuk mengingatkan engkau bahawa setiap manusia mempunyai tugasnya sendiri. Kamu buatlah kerja yang diamanahkan padamu sebaiknya. Jangan sesekali engkau berdengki pada orang lain. Sebab mata kamu hanya dikurniakan penglihatan daripada segi zahirnya sahaja. Sedangkan realitinya mungkin tidak seindah yang kamu lihat di minda. Jadilah diri sendiri, jangan cuba jadi orang lain.

Manusia hari ini suka sangka-sangka

Ada sangka baik

Ada sangka buruk

Orang beribadah disangka riak

Orang rileks disangka malas

Orang berpakaian baru disangka menunjuk

Orang berpakaian buruk disangka hina

Orang makan banyak disangka pelahap

Orang makan sedikit disangka diet

Orang yang senyum disangka mengejek

Orang yang masam disangka merajuk

Orang berbincang disangka mengumpat

Orang yang diam disangka menyendiri

Orang yang menawan disangka menggoda

Orang yang ceria disangka mengada

Orang yang bertanya disangka menyibuk

Hakikatnya...

Mana tahu yang senyum itu kerana bersedekah

Mana tahu yang masam itu kerana mengenang dosa

Mana tahu yang berbincang itu memberi pendapat

Mana tahu yang diam itu kerana beribadah

Mana tahu yang menawan itu bersih wataknya

Mana tahu yang ceria itu cerdas mindanya

Mana tahu yang bertanya itu perihatin orangnya

Justeru itu….

Sesuatu perkara yang kita lihat

Jangan suka sangka-sangka

Sikap sangka-sangka akan memusnahkan jiwa

Kerap sangka-sangka mengundang celaka

Jangan terlalu bersangka-sangka

Jauhi sikap sangka-sangka

Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Jauhilah kebanyakan dari sangkaan (supaya kamu tidak menyangka sangkaan yang dilarang) kerana sesungguhnya sebahagian dari sangkaan itu adalah dosa; dan janganlah kamu mengintip atau mencari-cari kesalahan dan keaiban orang; dan janganlah setengah kamu mengumpat setengahnya yang lain. Adakah seseorang dari kamu suka memakan daging saudaranya yang telah mati? (Jika demikian keadaan mengumpat) maka sudah tentu kamu jijik kepadanya. (Oleh itu, patuhilah larangan-larangan yang tersebut) dan bertaqwalah kamu kepada Allah; sesungguhnya Allah Penerima taubat, lagi Maha mengasihani.

Surah al-Hujurat, ayat 12.

Nukilan asal : https://www.facebook.com/tolahah.muda/posts/771812599502107

Tanda Putera - Siapa makan cili dialah terasa pedasnya....!!

Assalamulaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...

In Astro there was commercial of yet another Indon movie, Ainun  & Habibie. Being a fan, I subscribed when I have the time. The story was about the former President Habibie, how his story from being a young engineer in foreign land, till he was called back to serve his country. I began to wonder when would Malaysia made such film. Films that would honour the prolific figures that help in developing the country in the early days. Little did I know, there was such effort and it was held back by our very own country men. Its a shame, all effort are being put forward to stop the release of this movie.

I salute the director, thank you Shuhaimi Baba, put taking the pain to make this movie.

I watched this on Merdeka eve. Saat di mana anak-anak muda kita berpeleseran menunggu detik 12 malam, dengan barisan konsert dan tayangan bunga api, dengan pergaulan bebas sampai ke jam entah  berapa pagi (I know....I've been there - the stay out late part that is..)

I first came to know about this movie when it came out in Utusan Malaysia that DAP banned the show in Penang. Why such pushback? they were claiming that this movie is racist. Really? I have to see to believe it, and based on my non-expert opinion, its a simple history movie.

History has to be told, else, we would be complacent and the events will repeat itself. What happened then, was the radicals and the subversives that cause chaos in the country, they incite hatred among the people, and what better way to do that? of course by attacking the racial unity. We all know that DAP was founded based on communism and it is written in history that they were behind those chaos that leads to May 13th incident. So happened that was the incident that re-joined Tun Dr Ismail and Tun Abdul Razak hand in hand to save Malaysia. The rest of the story revolves around the friendship of those two figures and the sacrifices made for the nation.

Its not a film against the Chinese, we all know not all Chinese are for communism, and we also have Malays as few of the top leader in PKM. Jadi, kalau ada yang nak melatah bila tengok filem ini, saya rasa yang paling cepat terasa ialah komunis. Yang DAP zaman sekarang nak terasa kenapa? Apakah mereka masih mengamalkan fahaman komunis? atau mereka memang tidak pernah mengubah arah haluan perjuangan mereka setelah sekian lama?

Sejarah tetap tinggal sejarah. Harus kita ingat, masih ada element yang hendak meruntuhkan perpaduan rakyat Malaysia, menidakkan kedudukan orang Melayu, elemen itu sangat jelas sampai ke hari ini. Melayu mudah lupa, kata Dr M. Sebab itulah kita harus diingatkan sepanjang masa akan sejarah hitam ini. Agar kita lebih berhati-hati dan bersedia menghadapi segala kemungkinan.

Yang saya sedih bila tengok komen di FB, anak muda melayu kita yang terikut-ikut mencela filem ini. Saya kira Shuhaimi Baba tidak perlukan penghargaan tinggi melangit, cukup sekadar generasi zaman sekarang mengambil iktibar dari sejarah lampau. Yang filem rempit lah, gangster jalanan la, dan segala macam cerita hantu yang tidak membangun minda disanjung-sanjung, award berderet-deret, perlakuan mereka dipraktikkan dalam kehidupan seharian....tapi filem sejarah sebegini di caci maki...apa nak jadi dengan generasi melayu zaman sekarang. They are fighting the communist battle for them, and the communist didn't even have to do a thing. Poke a little bit here and there and there you have it, the young Malays will go all out for them. Its downright shameful.

Ya Allah, kurniakan kesedaran kepada generasi ini, untuk membezakan mana yang haq, mana yang batil...amin..

Nouman Ali Khan in the house ;)

Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh..

I am attending this, insyaAllah. I have never seen him spoken before, but two of my friends quoted him as their favorite speaker. So when I found out that he's coming to Malaysia, I quickly registered and sometime later I checked out his video on you tube. This one is an eye opener.
How can I miss this?

Twins of Faith 2012 Malaysia

Assalamualaikum w.b.t ..

Jeles kemain nengok ahkak sorang tu dok update hari-hari kisah pengembaraan di bumi pak Obama, banyak benda nak share, tttaapppppiiii......malas dah sampai tahap ke-8. Susah sangat nak lawan.. (yes, kill me now!!)

Anyhoo...taking from one of the habits of effective people, first things first, ITS BACK!! what is back? The Twins of Faith is back. This year with even more programs, jammed pack and looking at the agenda, I wish I can attend all, but I don't think its possible.

Some last minute promotion of the program. More on their website here.

am going, in Sha Allah :)

Ya Hanana - Cinta Masjid (TV AlHijrah)

Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

I am currently gugu gaga over this, loving this mucho, could not get this out of my head :)

An Unexpected Briefing #airnzhobbit

Just a short one today, I thought this is funny and creative. The link was actually passed on via related work email. :)

Are you ready....?

Lagi-lagi hasil plagiarism :P

I still could not quit my day job yet...hehehehe... :D

Wordless Wednesday - Wishlist!!

keren bangat!!!!

Nak mintak belated birthday gift...sapa sudi bagi...hehehe....Kak Tek.....!!!! :D
Resepi kat sini.

June is here!! :)

Warning : this is not an educational post :P

Its my month!! Many happy things happen this month. In school, there used to be not less than 10 of us celebrating birthday this month. So a whole bunch of Geminis and Cancerians will be happy this month. For me, personally, many life events also happened this month. I celebrated my work anniversary this months :) I made my umrah trip, and my world cup trip also in the month of June. For the past two cycles, the company's major turn around was also scheduled in June, and I get a surprised birthday celebration in one of the occasion :D. Well, that was the story from 4 years ago.....sigh....I am old...in the company I mean!!

Do you know that June is known for the large number of marriages? Yes, it is, it occurs over the course of the month. According to one etymology, June is named after Juno (Hera). Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month.^[1] -

This is from wikipedia of course, for Malaysians we couldn't care less about Greek mythology, its school holiday, and that is why your mailbox will be jammed with invites comes June...and this is why you keep seeing June babies increasing, year in and year out :P

For my friends out there celebrating birthdays in June, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! may Allah grant you his utmost blessing and a fruitful year ahead ;)

Honeysuckle - June birth flower

Rose, another June birthflower :)

p/s: Europe is going to war..!!! and I am watching the war from here...hahaha..no trip to watch the war live :P

Wordless Wednesday : Muchas gracias!!

Latest collection :)

With some bunch of your other stuffs as well

Babe, we may have just started a new tradition!! :D

Small Wins!!

Remember the kids? Yes, they have graduated. In fact, out of the two parts of Design Project (we have DP1 and DP2) to be completed, the triumphed in DP2. In order to promote healthy competition, the faculty announced a winning group at the end of presentation day. This is not based on the presentation itself, but also content of the whole project throughout. The kids won DP2 last year. I was in the middle of TA and could not make it to their presentation.

This year, I took on another group of kids and start consulting for them in this sem's DP1. I met them twice, helped them a bit with the project and I was scheduled to attend their presentation last Saturday, but due to some reason, I could not make it. This morning I saw in my inbox an email from one of the kids, they won DP1 last Saturday!!!

The small things that makes me happy :D I will still continue with them till they completed DP2.
I am one happy alumni today, I hope these kids will graduate and continue to become a better engineer than I am!! ;)

Twins of Faith Day 1 Part 2

After Maghrib, the lecture series was continued with the session by Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips with the topic Cultural Islam or Islamic Culture. He opens up his talk by highlighting headlines from all over the world that give bad impression on Islam.

One case in Egypt a 35 years old woman was beheaded and her body parts was cut and thrown at a cemetery by her own brother and her son. It was mentioned that the son found out that his mother was pregnant after secretly being married for the second time. According to a culture in Southern Egypt (once where Shiite was big part of the community) once a woman becomes a widow, she is not allowed to be remarried. She is supposed to remain single for the rest of her life. Therefore, her action to re-marry has gone against the tradition and allows her brother to take matters in his own hands. This has got nothing to do with Islam, but since the family is Muslim, so that’s how people perceived Islam.

I guess it’s a common issue even here in Malaysia. We, Malays especially have too many cultures that contradict the shariah. Islam does not deny the diverse culture among different races; it is permissible as long as it does not go against Islamic rulings. Sheikh also touched on certain culture that was based by the Shiite and still continues till today, one of which is Maulidur Rasul celebration. Come to think of it, Rasulullah SAW has never celebrated his own birthday, nor does his companions once he died. It all started when a group of Shiite started all these extreme practices.

How did all of these started? It all can be summarized to 4 main factors, due to:
1. Pre-Islamic practise that continues till today
2. Adopted practise from other religion/community
3. Religious innovation
4. Religious fanaticism

Surah al- Maidah ayat 104

Sahih International
And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger," they say, "Sufficient for us is that upon which we found our fathers." Even though their fathers knew nothing, nor were they guided?



There is also an issue of Mazhab Fanaticism, we all know the 4 main scholars and how different continents follows different school of thought.

Nowadays it may not be such a big issue, but did you know that before the year 1925, there used to be 4 different prayers held at one prayer time in front of Kaabah. One imam for each mazhab conducts the jamaah prayer separately. They took turns after each other finishes. It was mentioned there used to be maqam for all the imams in Masjidil Haram. They were not buried there, but the followers of each imam built the maqam as a symbol to show which teaching that they follows. The wahabis took a firm action and torn down all the 4 maqam and insist there should be only one single jammah going on in Masjidil Haram at one prayer time. I was shocked to hear the story, as I never thought people will go to the extreme to demonstrate which side they follow, but in actual fact we have to bow down to the one and only, Allah SWT.

It is not wrong to follow all these imams, as they also follow Al-Quran and Hadeeth, but we have to be a responsible Muslim, try our best to find out what is the exact ruling, and if it is too confusing to decipher with our limited amount of knowledge, then yes, we should follow the wise, and InsyaAllah we will not be strayed from the right path.

Islam and Islamic culture could not be inherited, we may inherit the cultural Islam such as our Islamic name, but the faith can never be inherited. Islam by definition is submission to the will of Allah, and in order for us to completely submit, no one can force, it must come from the heart.

The last session on that night was by someone closer to home, Sheikh Hussein Yee and his topic was One Faith, One Family.

He made one bold statement, saying that the Muslim nowadays believe in more than one God apart from Allah. We may not agree, but his reason is clear when he mentioned the way we discussed matter with the not yet Muslim indicates that we also believe that their God exist. We acknowledge their way of life (religion) but the aqeedah, the belief that their god exist is totally wrong. We must emphasize there can only be one God, Allah SWT and whether or not they accept that, its another matter. Take note, even Shaytan believes in Allah.

Sahih International
For you is your religion, and for me is my religion." Al-Kafirun, ayat 6
Sheikh asked us to show courtesy to call them ‘not yet Muslim’ instead of non-Muslim. This is due to the fact that they don’t even know what Islam is all about, who is Allah. Everybody was born a Muslim, only the parents that they were born to taught them the religion that they know now. So its our responsibilities to try calling the others and bring them back to Islam. We are all children of Adam, we are ONE family. He left us with this one simple message I Shall Love All Mankind – ISLAM


By now, the clock was showing ~9pm. We still have one more agenda, entertainment. This time its from a brother from Britain (pronunciation brit-en) ;) Brother Muslim Belal. He gave a brief intro on how he reverted to Islam at the age of 19. He actually put all that out in a poem and the best part is, at then end of it, even his mother reverted back to Islam,Subhanallah… I could not find the video, this one I believe was about Palestine.

After Muslim Belal, comes Abdullah Rolle, but I did not stay on, enough for me to call it a day…pheww…that was long :D

Twins of Faith Day 1 Part 1

I don’t know where to begin in this sharing. Basically the twins of faith refer to both the Pillar of Islam and Pillar of Iman, which in short Iman and Amal. The theme for the conference is Best of Nations – Building an Exemplary Community. You can read all about it in the webpage. 

As I mentioned, the activity was jam packed from 10am till 10pm. Throughout the talks, the main motto echoed was ilmu without amal is as good as amal without ilmu,  both are in vain. Amal meant here is action on the ilmu, be it via sharing, teaching and basically giving back to the rest so that we can be the Best of Nation, Muslims as a whole. I’ll be going through in gist what the speakers mentioned and hopefully we will get the message they are sending.


Day 1: 24th December 2011
The session started with recitation of Al-Quran by a local ustaz, I am so sorry for not taking notes on the ustaz’s name. He recited parts of Surah Al Imran, ayat 102-110. Up next was Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim. He addresses the conference’s theme, which very much described in the ayat recited by the Qari. 


Al Imran 102-110
Translation of Sahih International


102: O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him]. 
103: And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favour, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.
104:And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.
105: And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment.
106: On the Day [some] faces will turn white and [some] faces will turn black. As for those whose faces turn black, [to them it will be said], "Did you disbelieve after your belief? Then taste the punishment for what you used to reject."
107: But as for those whose faces will turn white, [they will be] within the mercy of Allah . They will abide therein eternally.
108: These are the verses of Allah . We recite them to you, [O Muhammad], in truth; and Allah wants no injustice to the worlds.
109: To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And to Allah will [all] matters be returned.
110: You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah . If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient.


From this ayat, it is clearly stated that we Muslims has to stick together, work in making the world a  better place, help our brothers and sisters from going astray from the guided path. We, every single one of us are ALL responsible of that. Else, we’ll risk seeing the ummah collapsed.


Sheikh Yahya also mentioned that perfection is only attainable through constant pursuit, meaning we could not give up in the quest to create a better ummah. We will face different people and it’s important that we do not judge others by a moment of their life, take it easy on others, but the key message is, never stop in working to make a better ummah.


Next inline was Sheikh Alaa Elsayed, man…. this Sheikh is super-duper funny :) . He has his talk made into very informal and entertaining session. He has loads of sound effect to compliment his points, well, I am a bit biased. I just came back from a 2 days course with him, but I’ll discuss about that later. His topic was Building Blocks. 

I was seated quite in the middle of the auditorium

We know our end goal, a united ummah that helps each other to make the world a better place, but how do we do that? First off we need to have the knowledge, and we need to start taking action. And that is why the first word revealed was ‘Iqra’ which means read, gain as much knowledge as possible and start putting those knowledge into action. Building an ummah should start from the very first step, you got it right, your family, your babies in particular. 


What is the child’s first right? Even before he/she was born? You have to give them a righteous mother or father. You owe your children that. 
And now you can start talking about building an ummah, he mentioned briefly on guides to choose a righteous spouse, for both men and women. We have always been flooded with the hadeeth that guides the men on criteria to look for in a potential wife, but how do we choose the right men? He shared that as well. As I mentioned, he discussed this in detail during the course, which I’ll share later, ok? Main take away from his talk:


Raise your child to be a nation maker, not a nation breaker. One of the tips that he shared was, if you can’t help, don’t hurt. This is pertaining on how to talk to a child. When he/she did something wrong, be careful on how you handle the situation, be mindful of the language that you used. Make sure that if you could not offer solutions or ways to improve, do not turn the fault on them and start calling names. This in the long run may contribute to negative development of the child. I think most parents know this, but when tested during actual scene, some may tend to get carried away.


After the Sheikh, we had a light entertainment from Brother Boona Mohamed, a poet hailed from Canada. He was reciting his poems and the content was heavy. My ability to decipher words was heavily challenged listening to his recitation, he’s good. Throughout the 2 days he was featured quite a few times and some of the poems that he recited was Heroes. Thanks to some of the participant, they have uploaded some of the conference's recording and posted in you tube. 


So that was it the session before lunch on the first day. Pretty tight eh? After lunch, Sheikh Navaid Aziz made his appearance with his topic, I’m Muslim & I’m proud. 

The Sheikh is cute and cuddly like a bear. He has loads of stories, be it the stores from prophets to the stories of sahabah. I was in awe most of the time seeing how eloquent they were with all these stories. I bet they must have memorized the whole Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and only Allah SWT knows how many more kitab. I am seriously jealous. He shared a story of Umar Ibn al-Khattab on the how proud a Muslim should be. The story goes: 

Umar (r.a.) and his deputy and went to Jerusalem with his slave. They were having one camel on which each of them rode by turn. When Umar (r.a.) was entering Jerusalem it happened to be the slave’s turn to ride on the camel. Though the slave offered his turn to the "Khalifah" but Umar refused and remarked: "The honour of Islam (i.e., being Muslim) is enough for all of us." He entered Jerusalem holding the rope of the camel on which was riding his slave. His clothes were dirty and there were several patches on them. — Encyclopedia of Islam

The moral of the story: We Muslims should be proud by all the Islamic teachings, in this case being fair, and do not prioritize on how the others will look upon us. 
In order for us to be proud as Muslim, the importance of knowledge yet again is stressed, that is the essence of our izzah (honour, strength). 


The main theme of Islam is all ibadah are for Allah, love for one another and have mercy, compassion and forgiveness to others. We need to live by this element to show how good a Muslim is. He also shared few other stories that basically teaches us no matter how great we are being tested, never turn our back against Islam, be proud that we are a Muslim. He left us with a quote from the famous poet, Rumi, 

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself' (Rumi)

After the session, I moved on to one of the available workshop, this one runs by Dr Zaharuddin Abd Rahman, discussing on the Islamic approach of Family Finance. 

He started out the session with the daleel from Al-Quran on Islamic finances rules. Based on his slide pack, both feet of the son of Adam will not proceed to the next stage in the life after death except after he has been asked 5 questions, two of which are: 

1. Where do you get your wealth and 
2. How do you spend it?

I have been surfing high and low to find the hadeeth or related ayat to this statement but to no avail. The closest that I got was the hadeeth narrated by Imam Ahmad about the questions in the grave, the period between death and resurrection, which asked on the 3 questions:

1. Who is your Lord? 
2. What is your religion?
3. Who was that person who was sent to you? 

If any other person out there that can verify the additional 2 questions and what part of the afterlife it was asked, please share it with me. 


It is important to note, a strong reminder issued by one of the amir ul-mu'minin with regards to dealing with Islamic rulings in financial matters:

Khalifah ‘Umar bin al-Khattab RA said to the traders in the Madinah al Munawwarah market:“O traders! Do not trade in our market for those who not posseses knowledge (of Islamic commercial laws); because he may consume riba’ willingly or unwillingly (because of the lacks of knowledge). ”

His session has opened my eyes to know more on my own financial business, how much of my current transaction involves riba’ and what can I do to stop this. 
This is not the end of day-1. Still there are 2 lectures from day 1 to be covered. Bear with me, am working on to complete this before this week ends, insyaAllah. And by the way Happy New Year 2012!!


Wallahua’lam….

Twins of Faith & Before I Forget

I know I owe the continuation of Surah Yusuf for quite a long time, I typed some, hoping to publish tonite, but realized that I had some missing facts to be clarified, and I left the binder in PD, so I guess that will have to wait.

Some updates, I feel guilty for not sharing this earlier, but better late than never, at least some bit of promotion despite the fact that not much difference that I can make tomorrow. What is it? I am attending this carnival tomorrow and Sunday, Twins of Faith, Family Carnival. It will be held at PICC. The activity are jam-packed from morning till 10pm on both days. Some of the topics that will be covered are Modern Economics vs. Sacred Principle by the famous Ust. Zaharuddin Rahman, One Faith, One Family by an oldtimer ulama', Sh. Hussein Yee and Exemplary Women of the Past by Sh. Alaa ElSayed.
There are also workshop session in between all those talks, some that I have already signed up to are:

• Women in the Eyes of God by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Harlina Halizah Siraj
• Struggling to be a Better Muslimah Everyday by Wardina Safiyyah Fadlullah

Just pray that I have the energy to focus on all of them, insyaAllah. :D

Before I Forget....by Melissa Hill

This is not a book review. Nowadays its really challenging for me to finish a book. Hence I make a point to have any book/magazine available in my bag all the time, just so I can finish a page or two. On the way to-fro Bandung, amazingly I finished this book!! Whats so special about this book? Weelll........it just add up to another my destination to go > the city never sleeps, yeah you got it right, New York. Not just New York, but during Christmas time!! There's a part when Abby, the main character bumps into a stranger that took her on a quick tour in the New York city on the day before Christmas. The way Melissa elaborate on the city's vibe in this time of the year makes me wanna go even more.

And to add more reasons, I just watched this last weekend

The whole story revolves around New York. Just watching how the city was decorated makes me wanna start planning already!! But wait, I still have few more places on my list to go, so NY has got to wait  ;)

And I will not plan to go NY alone, not unless I have Det. Flack's no in my phonebook..hehehe... :P

p/s: Kak Tek!! di manakah anda~~~ same shout out to Senorita Aida y mi amiga Dieya !!

Ramadhan Program @ Work

Kisah 1:
Sebatang pen digunakan untuk menggantung frame gambar. Pen itu dipaksa masuk ke dinding oleh tukul, setelah beberapa kali tukul, pen itu pecah, dan dibuang ke dalam tong sampah. Pen tadi mungkin jenama 'Parker' atau jenama "Kilometrico' , tapi hakikatnya bila tidak digunakan mengikut tujuan asal, pen itu berakhir sebagai sampah.

Begitu juga manusia, hidup tidak mengikut tujuan akhirnya kita akan menjadi sampah. Apa tujuan kita? Bagaimana kita nak tahu tujuan satu kamera yang baru kita beli, rujuk pada manual, lagi baik rujuk pada pencipta. Samalah kita, pencipta kita Allah, manual kita Al-Quran dan Hadith, apa tidak cukup lagi tujuan kita di bumi ini? Being a Muslim is not about staying in masjid 24/7. Islam calls for Muslim to work hard, so that we can help other people. Islam is a religion that demands the people to be the best that they can be, but have we?

Kisah 2:
Satu program motivasi diadakan di satu sekolah.

Ustaz: Sekarang ustaz nak kamu senaraikan 10 kegunaan pokok kelapa

Laju tangan murid-murid menulis satu persatu kegunaan pokok kelapa. Apabila semua selesai, ustaz menyuruh salah seorang membacakan kegunaan pokok kelapa. Semuanya disebut dengan betul oleh murid tadi, kawan-kawannya juga begitu.

Ustaz: OK, sekarang, kamu terbalikkan kertas, tulis kat belakang kertas tu, 10 kegunaan saya (murid itu)

Masing-masing mulai bingung..berfikir, diam, termenung..tak tahu nak tulis apa.....?

Murid A: Entahla ustaz, menghabiskan beras agaknya...?

Setelah agak lama, tak ada seorang pon murid yang boleh menyenaraikan 10 kegunaan diri sendiri.

Ustaz: Baiklah cikgu-cikgu, lepas ni saya minta cikgu-cikgu menulis surat kepada ibu bapa murid-murid ini, 'kehadapan ibu-bapa peserta program, adalah baik jika tuan/puan membela pokok kelapa yang sudah tentu kegunaannya yang ada lebih daripada 10, daripada tuan-tuan dan puan-puan membela anak masing-masing yang tidak tahu apa kegunaan mereka ini.....'

Murid-murid hanya tunduk membisu....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
These are two of the stories told by Ustaz Hasrizal in his ceramah yesterday in our office. He touched the very basic fundamental of the existence of us as khalifah on this earth. This story came about when he was telling us the encounter that he has with somebody that questions the need to perform five daily prayers, to cover the aurat, to live the way Islam is. Actually there is more than this two stories, I wish I can tape it, but I couldn't. His way of delivering the points were so eloquent and everything falls smoothly and right into their own places.

He makes a comparison on the things that we should do and put it in the simplistic manner.

Katalah, satu hari anda dapat surat dari istana negara, 'anda bernama sekian sekian, akan dikurniakan darjah kebesaran dengan pangkat sekian sekian....sila hadir ke istana negara dengan mematuhi kod pakaian di bawah.....baju melayu hitam, kain songket, songkok hitam, kasut hitam berkilat...' 

Anda tidak punya baju melayu hitam, tapi adakah anda akan melepaskan peluang menghadap ke bawah duli dan menolak darjah kebesaran yang akan dikurniakan? Hatta apa pon syaratnya, dek kerana nak mendapatkan pangkat yang dijanjikan, anda akan berusaha untuk mematuhi kod pakaian agar dapat hadir dan masuk ke istana negara. Akankah anda bangkang kod pakaian itu? Mungkin tidak..

Begitulah juga dengan tuntutan menutup aurat..

There are many more, but some I forgot already (shows what my attention span level for now). But I highly recommend the ustaz if you are in the midst of planning a motivational program or anything of that sorts. He delivers the ceramah in mix language, both BM and English, and his vast travelling experience does add flavour to his content. Highly recommended. ;)

Sucikan.....

3rd day and counting.......

Image from Masjid Sultan, Singapore, women ablution area.

Its a new thing ;)

I have found a new thing, something that I can do!! Though not from scratch, I am liking it. As we gearing towards Ramadhan, the committee at work tasked me to come up with promotional posters. So I did some surfing and found some that I like. Thanks to the magic of www, I managed to come up with these:

Plagiarized from this site

 And another one:

Tiru bulat-bulat dari sini...

 Well....I don't think I can quit my day job yet. One simple step, I took like to 2 hours to figure out, then I consult the great Master  : You tube....hehehe....voila, done in less than 2 minutes..ddduuhhh.....