The ABCs of Life

We had a discussion on the purpose of life during our first class today and though the answers are clear and evident, not everyone feels that the answers would be theirs if asked with the big question promptly.

I, myself, in a smaller context; am still wondering what is it that I seek from my love for writing and all my writing related activities. Not that I do not know why and what should I write about, but how would I present it in the most effective way as there are so many writers out there engaged in the same field of da’wah, scribbling notes of reminder and remembrance in the name ALlah; calling and inviting people to kindness and peace … what should be my specific purpose or goal?!

For my beloved readers, something to ponder upon - THE PURPOSE OF LIFE from www.islamreligion.com.

p/s: poster; courtesy of Ahmad Affzan Abdullah. Jangan dok tanya muka sapa ehh …

‘Eid Mubarak to all, and may ALlah accept us and all our deeds, forgive us and all our sins.

Alhamdulillah, we’ve celebrated ‘Eid this year in Southampton on Friday, 12th October 2007. That’s a day earlier than Malaysia. It was a bit surprising since everybody was talking about ‘Eid falling on Saturday. Nevertheless, I had a pleasant Friday ‘Eid with friends and my little family to celebrate it with. I cooked Laksa Johore for this special occassion and Alhamdulillah everybody seems to enjoy it and practically everyone had a second bowl! Though none of the guests ate it the way a true Johorean would do; according to my husband - with hands, not fork and spoon and on a plate, not a bowl - the purpose of serving something edible to be enjoyed has been accomplished!

Ramadhan and ‘Eid seems to remind me so much of home. Especially after receiving the ‘kuih’ parcel from home on the last week of Ramadhan and a card from Atok (my grandma) on the very day of ‘Eid! Atok surely knows how the post office works ah?

I called my grandma’s house on the next day to talk to my family and it was so wonderful to have a little chat with nearly everybody! My parents and siblings. My aunts and cousins. Atok. I miss everybody!

Zakwan is leaving for a secondary school in Gontor, Indonesia soon. Ijlal is about to pursue his ‘flying’ dreams in Vancouver before the end of this year. I wish I could see them before they lea ve. ‘Ala kulli haal, take care brothers, be good and mindful of Allah so that He’ll always guide and protect you.

To everyone reading this entry, please accept my apologies for every naughty wrongdoing of mine, and please oh please, remember all of us here in your sincere prayers to God.

‘Eid Sa’eed Mubarak, taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum …

Lots of love from all of us :X

I think it was 2 days ago that I finally landed on bro Muadz’s blog, again, after so long. One of the latest entry was on Nisa’ Malaysia’s visit to a house where one of the most famous Malaysian rock star, Amy (Search) with his wife Norish and kids live. They were there for a noble purpose. To share knowledge and experience, to exchange the greatest gift from God, love fillah - because of ALlah, the most powerful tool in connecting human hearts. The rock star and his wife is now on a mission after being blessed with the opportunity to experience the great journey of Hajj, where changes, really big changes are taking place. I wish them all the best and may ALlah help them throughout this struggle. May ALlah grant us all the patience to improve and to be consistent in our quest of obedience. For more stories, please click.

Talking about change reminds me of the talk by a brother on the 1st week of Ramadhan. He shared about how Ramadhan has always been the month of change, and should be, for all of us. Ramadhan, in which the wind of change sweeps through every Muslim mind is like a 29/30 days program where Muslims simply tuned to do good, more goodness and absolutely kind. He talked about how lazy and non-Islamic some of us could be the rest of the year but when Ramadhan comes the true Muslim spirit simply turns on. You rarely see rows of people for Jam’ah (congregational prayers) unless it’s Jumu’ah, but when Ramadhan comes, every prayer is like Jumu’ah and Jumu’ah is merrier than ever before. People even spend longer hours in masjids (mosques) at night, performing Taraweeh prayers, keeping themselves busy with the Qur’an, reading it from cover to cover, making more time to understand its contents. Many Muslims set a big budget for Ramadhan. For sadaqah, zakah and some people take the opportunity not only to spend but feed others voluntarily in this blessed month. Some part-time Muslims would be allocating more hours to being one even if they can’t do it full-time. Even heavy smokers feel it’s easier to keep the cigarettes inside their boxes, untouched …at least till night comes in Ramadhan.

Weird isn’t it feeling there’s so little time in Ramadhan when we actually do less cooking, washing or driving out for lunch? When we wake up earlier and sleep much much later? It’s like there’s never enough time to do things because there’s this voice in your head telling you to read the Qur’an, to do more prayers and recite adzkaar, to visit your long-time-no-see friend, to do good, to be kind.

Ramadhan is an evident motivational program for everyone to recharge their imaan (faith). It might even be a total makeover for some. And what’s with all that?

Not only one could see that Ramadhan is a blessing to us, but more importantly deep down in our souls (as long as it has not been sealed from the truth, wal’iyazubillah) there’s still conscience and desire to do good and be kind. I just love how this brother motivated us to CHANGE; not by telling us that we should just weep about our sins, feel scared of the hellfire, death is near so repent and repent … but he stressed that there’s good in all of us, and by the virtue of doing good deeds and blessings from Allah we’ll be able to defeat Shaytaan, avoid evil and please Allah. And all of us, could enter Jannah, InshaAllah. Imagine rewards multiplying for every kind deed in this blessed month. Imagine the forgiveness one could attain in this holy month. Imagine how change is possible and we should not let this Ramadhan pass without grabbing the chance to do so!

There’s more in us than just forgetfulness and lust. We can do this! We can be good, we can be kind, if we want to. And we do want to. Except for sometimes, our wants had been buried too deep, down in the holes of dunyaa that enables both forgetfulness and lust to overcome our desires to be naturally obedient servant of the only One. If you’re think you’re bad, you’re not good enough to be among the pious and kind, try searching deep down and think again. I wish you’ll find something to recover your imaan. If you can’t and you’re fasting … SEE! That’s one a must do good deed in Ramadhan! Even if you’re not, you do have a kind heart to be reading this entry till the end

Some people are afraid of changes. They are more afraid to be called pious than to be compared to Shaytaan. Pious isn’t cool. Nope, it’s just not the in-thing, yet to be the latest trend.

Muslims are actually cool. Really, really cool. They make the world a nicer place to hangout in peace. But real Shaytaan won’t want you to be one because they want you to burn with them in hell.

Why should we make Shaytaan happy and live in misery?

Come on dude, there’s everything cool about Jannah yet nothing is about Jahannam right? And that is, a literal fact.

Ramadhan; in which lives the obligation of sawm (fasting) is a quest of taqwa as mentioned in the Qur’an:

[2:183] O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) Taqwa.

(Taqwa: humility, self-restraint, God-fearing)

Attaqwa hahuna - humility is here; in the heart (al-Hadith). As Taqwa is the main goal, Ramadhan would be the best excuse to learn about patience, to say goodbye to all sorts of bad habits and to be kind. Really, really kind. Not only by performing kindness; in acts or words, but with a good heart. A really good heart. A heart that understands what submission to God really means and how humility amongst His creations is as essential as breathing is to the human body.

Many people has mistaken Taqwa with a very narrow meaning that is only achieved through exclusively specific rituals or ‘ibaadah such as salaah, relating it to the importance of observing one’s relationship with ALlah yet forgetting the rest of His creations that he/she lives with. Taqwa might present a special bond or relationship with God, through acts of obedience and constant remembrance, but the definition expands and embraces other aspects of humanity relating to our need and relationship of and with fellow men and women and every single creation of His.

Taqwa is not just about waking up in the middle of the night to do tahajjud and struggling for khusyu’ in prayers, or reciting the Qu’ran from cover to cover and other authentic adzkaar, but as Islam is the way of life, the journey to Taqwa should enhance the role of a true Muslim in his every doings of his daily life.

Therefore, have we - you and me - in this special month of change, hope and endless rewards and forgiveness … have we tried to achieve Taqwa by being a better person to another person? Have we struggled to be a better wife to our husbands, a better mother to our children, a better child to our parents, a better neighbour and member of our community? Have we tried to be kinder in words and gestures even though things go exactly the way we don’t want it to?

Think about your family and how it will be lovely if everyone could have one peaceful day without being scolded for being a little bit naughty, especially when you’re trying really hard to finish your taraweeh? Won’t it be ugly to submit to God, presenting yourself in the terrible gestures of anger and a mouth just cleared from harsh words to innocent little beings? Funny, isn’t it? Sometimes we do so many things trying to make God pleased and earn so many rewards and at the same time drive the world around us crazy?!

Remember when you cook chicken curry or those special delicacies for iftaar … remember your next door neighbour that might enjoy your delicious cuisine. Why don’t you walk that little extra mile to make someone happy and be rewarded for it! Or invite some lovely families and friends over for iftaar and exchange kind thoughts and love so that Ramadhan will be merry. Merry with the essence of ukhuwwah, for loving others and caring for them are just some other wonderful ways of do ‘ibaadah. Be extra careful though not to start a group for gossips. We aren’t God-fearing enough if eating our fellow Muslim’s flesh is just another get-together thing.

Some of us live far enough to miss our families. Why not give them a call just to say I love you and please make du’a for me? And don’t forget to bring some cash on Jumu’ah so that our other brothers and sisters in other parts of the earth might have a better life and learn to be happy. Well, you actually need not to wait for Jumu’ah, sadaqah is always a click away with technology.

To conclude, a truly humble soul shall manifest kindness you could not only see, but feel; as it heals the surroundings, the people and everything within. With a simple smile that helps you too smile along, or a kind advice to ease your burden. Be considerate, responsible and helpful. A Muslim should play his/her role and that is a person who protect others from being harm by his/her words and actions (meaning of al-Hadith). In short, Ramadhan is the best excuse to be a nicer human being, la’allakum tattaqun!

* me, reminding myself

It has been so long since my last entry on this domain. The laptop went KO again and I could do nothing but wait for a new PC to post again. It feels so frustrating to see it ‘crash’ when I’ve just moved, hoping to do and be better than before. ‘Ala kulli haal, alhamdulillah it’s here again and it’s Ramadhan! Ramadhan Mubarak to all, may ALlah help us all in this quest of taqwa.

The anthology is finally here. I’ll post a promo entry later inshaALlah. Seeru ‘ala barakatillah

… and my baby misses me!

We made a 2nd trip to the centre yesterday to submit my CRB form, again. Me, my husband and the little girl. We left the big boy at ‘kakak-kakak’s house (the Mayfield Rd. girls), being afraid that it might take some time there and dearest Handzalah will feel bored waiting. He was all happy going to ‘kakak-kakak’. No doubt, they treat him everytime with a 1st class service. Driving all attention to him, only!

It turned out that the submission and checks only took a few minutes so we drove back to the girls’ house hardly half an hour after leaving from their doorstep. I went in to fetch Handzalah but he was all busy with the laptop. Mai said he has been watching Spongebob. Our laptop is a bit ‘ill’, it keep on shutting down everytime we play a movie or video, hence, Handzalah might have enjoyed his short stay having the technology all to himself to watch all his favourite entertainment programs! I tried to persuade him to come home with me but he seems not interested and Mai said I should leave him for the day since I’ll be coming back to the area to visit a friend in the evening. I thought, no, he’s going to miss me if I leave him too long. But then, he might need a lil bit time-out from home with his favourite ‘kakak-kakak’, so we went home without him.

At home we had lunch together and I gave Fidaa’ her first introduction to solids! It’s apple puree for the day. Well, as expected most of the puree came out than went in! After lunch, Abuhandzalah was off to the office and I tried to finish my never-ending workload with the computer. Fidaa’ was already sleeping after a long feed, and oddly, I felt so lonely! The world seems a bit ‘wrong’ having so much silence around. Oh my, I’m missing my baby! He drives me crazy all the time when he’s nearby with his cheeky acts and witty stories. It’s not like he’s never been somewhere else but that’s usually when I’m somewhere else too doing something that I can’t include him with. Not when I’m working at home. Not like now. Oh my, I miss him! At this kind of moment, I always think of whether he misses me too?

Yup. I’m going back to school! Not to be taught yet to teach, surprise, surprise. That’s a big surprise to myself! I’ve been thinking of enrolling in a childcare course this year, but I guess there’s a bigger cause to serve InshaAllah, hence that dream will need a little more wait. I’ve always loved school, education and children. I’ve always wanted to be a part of an educational institution, a think-tank that’ll be able to generate fresh ideas for the betterment of the society. The only thing I never thought I’ll do, is “teaching” itself! Erm, though parenting is a bit of teaching, I’m still an amateur in it.

I was talking to my dearest sister, Lieawulf whom has been lecturing in a private college for quite sometime asking her for some helpful tips. She told me:“On your 1st day entering the class, show that you are kind to them but you can also choose to be fierce and roar in class hahaha…”. Well, that’s a message from a teacher handling college students. I’m going to handle younger children in primary and maybe secondary schools. I’m still unsure of what’s ahead, as this will be my 1st experience ever though as Lieawulf noted that “we - the sevenlords - are all talented” in this profession and I should just go ahead and test my skills hahaha. Well, my mom, dad and elder sister have been personal tutors for people for a long long time now though I bet none of you, if you know Lieawulf the way I do; an introvert who hardly speaks to another stranger will be a teacher! And what do you know? She’s even good at it! She has been an assistant to her Tae-kwan-do instructor for sometime, I have no doubt if she’s teaching that, but imparting non-physical theoretical knowledge is something too hard too imagine! And one ’secret recipe’ of the sevenlords, we seem a bit extra fierce most of the time, but deep down our humble hearts meant well and we’re the type of “I’ll do anything” for the people we love and of our concern such as our students (pendek kata garang tapi baik hati la tu … kot? ;)).

For the past year, I’ve been teaching 14-16 lovely girls Tafsir; the translation and scholars’ comentaries of the Qur’an and I really enjoyed doing so. I’ve just started coaching Lisa with the Arabic alphabets and I’m hoping I’ll be able to accomplish my small mission with her before returning to Malaysia. I’ve always enjoyed conducting study circles on Islam (usrah) and I guess I do have one or two skills up my sleeves but I’ll need a lot more to really teach properly, especially this time it’s in a formal setting and I have a syllabus to follow and finish! Good thing we’ll be sent for training. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah and those out there whom have trusted me with this valuable opportunity. Not just for some pocket money, but for experience and knowledge I might not be able to get elsewhere, in other ways. I wonder if teaching 6-17 year old kids could be a done in a more relaxing atmosphere, putting more interpersonal and group communication skills into practice. After all, teaching is not speaking in public, a one way communication system. Right? If it is, it’ll definitely be boring!

Any tips from teachers or tutors out there? Care to share them with me? Comment please :). At the moment, hoping for your prayers, God-willing InshaAllah, may everything goes well for the school and me.

For your information, Sekolah Malaysia Southampton will be in action soon InshaAllah. It will be held once a week, teaching Malay Language and Basics of Islamic Fundamentals (Fardhu ‘Ain) for children of Malaysian families.

p/s: Handzalah and Fidaa’ will have their abi to look after them when I’m teaching, Alhamdulillah.

I’m sorry to announce that nurinmz.com is temporarily “closed”. With extreme carelessness, I’ve left the computer to my little boy without signing out from my blog account first. Hence, my older posts and comments have been deleted. Thought I’ll write something new afer a long rest, but ALlah Knows Best, sendiri cari pasal. I’ll figure out how to get things back to normal later. At the moment I’m off to the island of Regrets.

Missing my friends. My dearest friends. For no particular reason except for a heart that still feels in a soul that’s still breathing. I miss them!

—
Love is blind.
You forgive,
you forget
for love
no matter how deep is the cut.

You saw those black spots
imperfection,
the dark side
airing negative thoughts.
But love is blind,
letting them remain unnoticed
perceiving only beauty and kindness
with all your heart.

Love is blind.
No wonder there’s never a mountain too high
or a jungle too wild,
no view could deceive
what a heart perceives
as love, perfection.
Devotion.
The sense of being complete.

But love, believes in eternity
where happines lies and freedom lives
hence, lovers fly to the skies
without wings, yet a heart fully determined.
And what’s with those glittering wonders,
temporal splendours
when the world shall only means darkness to the eyes
of those who believe.

I wish to love and see Thee,
to walk through this destiny
in blindness of hardship and sufferings
leaving pain and bad memories remain unnoticed.

Love is blind.
Thank God, it is!

khaleel el-wafy
644am, 23/5/07
S’oton.