Maryam, Maryam... oh Maryam

                Dalam kesibukan kerja yang semakin menjadi-jadi, saya ambil kesempatan ini untuk berkongsi pembacaan saya dengan niat utama agar keluarga dan sahabat handai turut dapat mengetahui kisah ini J                Suatu masa dahulu, sewaktu masih di universiti, seorang sahabat yang jauh diperantauan (Hanna are you there???)    pernah bertanya kepada saya, “Sahabat Rasulallah s.a.w yang mana awak paling suka?”. Suatu soalan yang sukar untuk dijawab kerana latar belakang pendidikan saya hanyalah pendidikan “biasa”, mendapat pendidikan agama secara informal dari ibu ayah di rumah dan sekadar menghadiri sekolah agama, itupun waktu sekolah rendah! Soalan yang mencabar minda. Namun, tetap dijawab agar sahabat tidak menanti, dengan pantas “Saidina Abu Bakar” dijawab. Kenapa saya memilih Saidina Abu Bakar?  Kerana beliau adalah satu-satunya sahabat yang paling banyak kisahn...

      One of the good things that happen in Ramadhan every year is that those who teaches the afternoon session get to go back early ;) (who's not happy about it?)Though the classes ended early, yet I still have to travel an hour before reaching home. 1 hour = 60 minutes = 3600 secs Now, that's a lot of seconds. As to utilize all the time that I have ,while driving, I would usually turn to ikim or hotFM for entertainment. Ikim would most of the time be intellectually engaging, I love that. It keeps my mind busy. Whereas hotFM, is just for the ears, just for some noise. I guess the talk on ikim today incited me to update my blog today ;) It was Brother Shah Kirit talking. I've always adore those who reverted to Islam. Among them: Yusuf Islam, Brother Ridhwan Tee, Yusof Estee, Suhaib Web, Brother Shakour and Matin (my lecturers in IIUM). They have an understanding of Islam that is super much better than myself-one who's a Muslim through heredity. I do f...

School break is always a relief for the teachers. It means freedom from the pupils and school, though not entirely, but most of time..YES! (Can you imagine, living without school break for the children? and the teachers??) As for my break, I'd started with travelling and spending time with my two  lovely gorgeous friends to Singapore (am not telling you about that in this post..), then travelling locally and most importantly, managed to visit the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) yearly book sale (yup, he was "bad"). In this post, I'm about to share an idea brought by the author Karim Rashid, which I bought during BBW, in his book Design Yourself (fantastic book!) Before we begin, lets have a brief introduction about this author. You can read here.  One of the ideas which he wrote in his book was "Adding by Subtracting".  It really catches me to read the combination of such opposite words. The idea he brought was to make people to value QUALITY rather tha...

Salam and Hi Alhamdulillah, Malaysia is still a safe country where everyone can easily commute from one place to another. Not only that we travel because of work (like myself), but we're also able to see our loved ones, who could be residing hundreds of kilometers away. "Kampung" is a Malay word which means the area out of town and its very commonly heard during the festive seasons where little children would say "nanti saya nak balik kampung.." (i'll be gong back to kampung). Other than literally be out of town, it also brings the meaning of meeting the grandparents and relatives because kampung in social context means a place where families gather at the house of the grandparents, which usually IS at the outskirt of town. Below are two pictures which I've taken from my last visit to my kampung in Teluk Intan, Perak. Early 1960's: My Great Grandmother with Mama Atok's first house after the Independence of Malaya 2012: Teluk In...

Salam and Hi This would be my first entry for 2012. Alhamdulillah, manage to find a topic which intrigue me to write a post :P When Islam was revealed to the Prophet pbuh, many rejected the message brought by him. Islam came as a religion which guides everyone in all aspects of life, from worshiping God to the ways we sleep (the adab of sleeping). What makes it more interesting is that it teaches us about the relationship between men and women too. In Islam, there are boundaries between the men and women and as to set the line, the relationship falls into two categories which are: 1. Mahrams 2. Ghayr Mahrams There are various books and sites that could help us to understand further on this topic but here is a link that, InshaAllah, could enlighten us too.   CLICK HERE Other than that, below is a diagram in Malay language which is very helpful in making us to understand the relationship between men and women. Source :  Pahrol Muhammad Juoi. "Solehah Pilihan." S...

When I was in primary schools, back in the year 1993 to 1998, many of the friends used to tease my name. Rather than Maryam, they would call me MERIAM (which means cannonball in Bahasa Melayu). I was of course hurt by it. Not that I was fat like a cannonball or fiery, they just love to tease. Well, kids. But anyhow my ears were just too thick to listen to the calls that the annoyance faded with time. Once, I used to ask my parents, “Why did you guys named me Maryam?” and their reasons were very simple, “because your midwife was called Miriam”...”and Maryam is a name that is mentioned in the Quran”. How beautiful. I was named after the name stated in the Quran and also to reminisce the day I was borned, they named me after my midwife (perhaps they were over joyed to have a baby girl in the family). Alhamdulillah, I have a great name. Maryam is the name of the Prophet Isa’s mother. She was chosen by Allah to carry Isa in her womb without a husband or even getting married. This is an...

Salam and Hi, As I've been working for 6 days in a week since I got back from my Umrah, updating the blog was certainly not on the top of my 'to do' list. Sorry. However, the need to share my Umrah stories was always in my heart as I believe they have brought some impacts on my daily routines and... I really want YOU to be part of it too, so that all of us could learn and be a better person . What else that we are to do than to serve Allah. As the Quran mentioned: " dan aku tidak menciptakan jin dan manusia melainkan supaya mereka mengabdikan diri kepada-Ku/ I created jinn and the humankind only that they might worship Me" (Az-Zariyat: 56) Here is link to a blog which could represent me briefly about the journey that my family and I had during the two weeks holidays. Its from one of Abah's blogs (zainudinhajimeon.blogspot.com-umrah yang penuh bermakna) =) Masjidil Haram: Situation right after performing one of the daily prayers. Picture was taken from the sec...

Regardless of travelling every weekend from south- south east –north, the heartache is still there in me. Causes of my heartache? Many. Let’s not talk about them because they’re better not to. I bet some are facing even harder trials than me. So, I shouldn’t be selfish to brag about my problems in this blog. One way to ease the pain: Du’a I seek from you, dear Allah, to ease the pain, lift the hardship that we’re facing,. Forgive us with Your Power so that we will never perish because You are our hope. Pardon us for You are the Most Gracious and grant us speedy relief, good patience, abundant provision and gratitude to safety.

Looking at the current phenomena where zina (adultery) and booming of babies born-out-of-wedlock in Malaysia and around the world is just a proof of humiliating events that are happening. The United States ,itself, agree that their out- of -wedlock births is at all time-high, for the counting of 4 out of 10 babies in 2005 (according to a news). What about now in 2010? What about Malaysia? Frankly speaking, this is a phenomenon that is growing and should be looked seriously by everyone. Yes, EVERYONE . Perhaps we have not reached as much as the US but its worrying because the possibility is just around the corner. According to a reliable source, in 2007, there were 79 reported cases of baby-dumping (this sounds pathetic) in Malaysia and 4 were reported as abortion. These were the reported cases and deep in me, I believe the number is bigger than this and its just that many are keeping it as a hush-hush news (not reported and silence). I’ve been blog hopping and news hunting regarding...

Allah takes back people’s selves when their death arrives and those who have not yet died, while they are asleep. He keeps hold of those whose death has been decreed and sends the others back for a specified term. There are certainly signs in that for people who reflect. (Surat az-Zumar, 42) Malay translation: Allah memegang nyawa (seseorang) pada saat kematiannya dan nyawa (seseorang) yang belum mati ketika dia tidur, maka Dia tahan nyawa (orang) yang telah Dia tetapkan kematiannya dan Dia lepaskan nyawa yang lain sampai waktu yang ditentukan. Sungguh, pada yang demikian itu terdapat tanda-tanda (kebesaran) Allah bagi kaum yang berpikir. (Surat Az-Zumar ayat 42) Reflecting on this ayah after the Subuh prayer made me to ask myself this question: "Was I very certain to wake up this morning, last night?". P/s: Ramadhan Mubarak to everyone. Its the 2nd Ramadhan 1431H now. =)