Lecture The Race Towards Allah by Sheikh Sajid Umar @ KGPA

Alhamdulillah, it was such a pleasure for me to meet eye to eye with Sheikh Sajid Umar. Masha Allah indeed the Sheikh is so knowledgeable, humble, eloquent and always smiling. I enjoyed his lecture entitled The Race Towards Allah so much. I was surprised to see a low turnout at the event as I think the advertisement was good, and it was similar to what they had on other talks. I felt pity for those who didn`t come because they really missed such a beautiful lecture and Q&A on the topic of increasing our piety further. I posted here some gems that I managed to capture during his lecture:

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Great Malay Article on " Why keeping away from Hijab?"

Serangan ke atas pemakaian menutup aurat bukanlah sesuatu yang baru. Rentetan sejarah umat Islam menunjukkan bagaimana ia sangat-sangat di musuhi oleh golongan kuffar. Hijab hanya sejenis pakaian yang Allah tuntut kepada wanita beriman. Tetapi ‘fesyen’ itu menimbulkan kegerunan dan kecemburuan mereka yang memusuhi Islam, sama ada di kalangan yang jelas kafirnya, mahupun mereka yang masih menggunakan nama Islam di dalam kad pengenalan mereka.

1 Julai 2009. Peristiwa berdarah berlaku di khalayak ramai, di dalam mahkamah yang sepatutnya membawa keadilan. Marwa al-Sharbini dibunuh oleh seorang pemuda di dalam mahkamah, di hadapan hakim, peguam serta pihak polis. Ditikam sebanyak lapan belas kali. Ketika itu dia sedang mengandungkan anaknya.

Sebelum itu, seribu satu peristiwa lagi mencatatkan permusuhan musuh Islam kepada tatacara berpakaian Islam.

Bumi Turki tempat berdirinya empayar Uthmaniyyah merekodkan seribu satu sejarah hitam dalam melaksanakan kewajipan Islam termasuk menutup aurat. Bermulanya kejatuhan empayar Uthmaniyyah, ia telah mengubah landskap kehidupan rakyat Turki. Pada tahun 1924, Mustafa Kamal At-Tartuk memulakan proses sekularisasi perlembagaan Turki. Di antara kesannya termasuklah pengharaman hijab dan azan dilaungkan di dalam bahasa Turki.

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Gems from The Eternal Journey - Part 2

Alhamdulillah the course has successfully ended yesterday with lots of beneficial `ilm to be taken away. I pray that Allah will grant me the tawfique to impart the knowledge into my life and to always uphold it to the best of my ability, inshaAllah. Mixed emotions of sad and joy has always filled in my heart every time the courses ended. Joy because of the `ilm learned and sad because of not wanting so bad to leave the class. 

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Gems from The Eternal Journey - Part 1

Alhamdulillah, The Eternal Journey Week 1 has successfully ended. Too much have been studied and learned from Sh. Reda Bedeir. This course (TEJ) is all about tafseer of Juz Tabarak, which is the 29th Juz in the Quran that consists mainly the topic of akheerah. I would like to share some gems from the course that are indeed so beneficial to all of us, inshaAllah. I am so impressed and amazed at Sheikh Reda when he quoted so many verses from the Quran just from the back of his head, complete with not only chapter numbers but also the verse numbers as well. Subhanallah

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Comment on Obedient Wife Club`s statement

Salam. There was a big public outcry over the statement of President of OWC , Dr Rohaya in which she said a woman should serve her husband like a first class prostitute. Upon reading the statement from a newspaper , I instantly agree with her statement without thinking much that other people would falsely interpret it. I believe what she meant was that a wife should treat her husband like what a prostitute does when she receives a client. I read from somebody`s post in FB i think, in which she said when the client entered the room, the prostitute would take him to shower, bath him with her hands, then after that she would cut his fingernails or at least do sort of manicure to him..all these actions are done with the purpose to sooth him out and make him calm. Walla! That is basically what a good wife should do, not a prostitute! But it seems that the wrong people have taken care of that. But i think maybe very little number of wives who actually do the same thing what the prostitute do to those men. 

I came across with the note from Dr Harlina Harliza Siraj commenting on the statement made by Dr Rohaya, the president of OWC:

I was in Sitiawan when I first heard about the report on the launching of the Obedient Wives Club by Global Ikhwan last week.The first question that hit my mind then was, what neccesitates the setting up of such a club in this country? What are the main objectives and what does such club aspire to achieve? When the launching was highlighted by all the media in the country and of course, by some international news agencies as well – the key point quoted from the Deputy President of the club, Dr Rohaya Mohamad (who was my senior in Seri Puteri as well as in UKM more than 20 years ago) was somewhat shocking.

I would like to think that Dr Rohaya's statement was taken out of contact, when she was quoted to say that wives must be extremely good and skillful in bed, better than the first-class prostitutes or sex workers, to keep marriages intact and reduce the divorce rate in the country. I immediately realized, this comparison was going to be explosive, sensational and would stir up a lot of concerns from members of the public. I decided to give the club some time – at least they should almost immediately, come out with an official statement to clarify and correct the misperception that had somewhat tarnished the reputation and good image of wives in general. Although subsequent follow-up by a news agency indicated that  some members of the club agreed that the statement was taken out of context, there was no official statement of clarification issued by the club, at least by Dr Rohaya herself as the representative. Not that I know of, untll the time this note is completed.

So, what now? I am all out for any collective effort that promotes and protects the sanctity of marriages in our society. However, I have problems with proposed solutions that are simplistic and somewhat superficial, unbalanced and non-holistic. And as far as I am concerned, the suggestions by OWC are included into that category. I am sure we can do better than just looking at women as sexual objects, and men as individuals govern solely by their raging testorones. How can we garner and enrich the sense of respect, mutual interdependence and genuine care that are paramount for our well-being, if we still regard each other by levels of superiority and inferiority, obedience and disobedience based on sexual submission?

In the eyes of Allah, we all stand tall and proud as `ahsani taqwim' – the best creatures ever created.

But,in the eyes of men, where do women stand?

Allow me to suggest an answer to that question. In the eyes of men, women would be seen as how they ( women) see themselves. If we engage ourselves into thinking that a woman's worth is mainly focussed at her sexual prowessness, how else more do we want men to see us?

After all, sexuality is a very complex yet essential part of our life. It is influenced by so many factors – either externally as well as internally. A woman will face a decline in her libido or sexual desire during pregnancy, breastfeeding, depression and climacteric. So does a man, who has his own ups and downs throughout his life. And I always believe, sexual intercourse is actually the peak form of communication between husband and wife. If the couple hardly communicate during the day ( either verbally or non-verbally), they would not be able to fulfill their physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual needs during the sexual intecourse that night. If couple could communicate openly to each other especially on sexual matters, I do not think we need a club like OWC.

Wallahu a'lam.

I really would like to see my dear Dr Rohaya Mohamad aka K.Aya one day, InsyaAllah. And we'll talk, like we used to - as sisters. And as always, we will agree to disagree...........

Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj

There`s Nothing Wrong With This Marriage

There was this beautiful woman, who wanted to get married, but she wanted a very pious husband, so she said that she’ll marry the man who recites the whole Quran every single day, fasts for the whole year and stays awake and worships Allah all throughout the night.

She was a very beautiful woman, and a lot of suitors wanted to marry her, but they knew they couldn’t fulfill the conditions she set. Until this one man stepped forward and said he could fulfill them. So the Imam got both of them married.

After the first night of the marriage, the wife sees that the husband doesn’t recite the whole of the Quran, nor does he fast, nor does he stay awake in the worship of Allah, she decided to let it roll on for a few weeks to see if there were any changes, there weren’t, so she filed a complaint and asked for a divorce.

They are both taken in front of the judge, and the judge asked, ‘What were the conditions of the marriage?’ the man replied ‘They were for me to recite the whole Quran daily, keep fast for the whole year and to worship Allah all throughout the night.’

The Judge asked, ‘ did you fulfill them? The man calmly answered, ‘…yes.’

The judge answers, ‘you lie, your wife has said that you don’t, that’s why she’s asking for a divorce’.

But the man insisted that he had fulfilled the conditions, so the judge asked, ‘did you recite the full Quran everyday?’ The man answered yes. The Judge, baffled asked, ‘how? How can you do that?’ The man coolly answered, ‘I recite Surah Ikhlas three times a day and according to Prophet Muhammad (saw), reciting Surah Ikhlas three times is equivalent to reciting the whole Quran.’ The Judge was intrigued, so he asked, ‘how did you fast the whole year?’ The man answered, ‘ I fasted for the whole month of Ramadan, then kept another six fasts in the month of Shawwal, according to Prophet Muhammad (saw), keeping all of the fast of Ramadan then keeping six fasts in the month of Shawwal, is as if you have fasted for the whole year.’

The Judge remained silent, he couldn’t give a reply saying the man was wrong, so finally he asked, ‘ how did you stay awake all night and worship Allah, when your wife saw you sleeping?’ The Judge thought the man wouldn’t be able to answer this one, but the man, cool as a cucumber answered, ‘I prayed Salatul Isha with jamaat, then the next day prayed Salatul Fajr with jamaat, according to Prophet Muhammad (saw), the one who prays Salatul Isha and Salatul Fajr with jamaat, it is as if he had stayed up all night worshipping Allah.’

The Judge sat there looking at the man; the final verdict was about to be released…

He said to the man and his wife, ‘…go, just go, there is nothing wrong with this marriage’…

source: Iluvislam.com

Virtues of Expressing Condolences

I would like to share a beautiful piece of `ilm that was delivered by an ustaz at the nearby mosque. The ustaz delivered the topic of wailing for dead person, as one of kabaair (major sins). As a human being, we are not immune from having calamities and incidents befall on us. Perhaps we can be proud of our happily ever after married life, but we can`t get rid of the fact that some day we`ll be losing people that we love so much. Facing a death of our loved ones can be so tough, and for some it will be like their lifeline is chopped off. As a Muslim, we are given guidelines on how to act and behave when facing a death. Allah has mentioned in the Quran that a servant of Him will be given various kinds of tests in order to measure his level of piety. One of them is in the form of death of loved ones. As a Muslim, we are given permissibility to feel sad and sorrow when our loved ones die, since it is a natural feeling bestowed from Allah on us. Despite how calm he/she appears upon receiving the news of a death, it might be just on the outside. Deep inside, any normal person should have the sad feeling. It is okay to cry. It is okay to keep silent for some time. However, the problem will appear when the crying turns into wailing, shouting in denial, and to the extent of tearing apart clothes, as some cultures do. This is what a Muslim should stay away from. We should never wailing for dead people. 

On the other side of bridge, relatives or friends of the dead should visit and express their condolences to the family of the dead person. The Ustaz mentioned that there is a reward waiting for the people who do this noble deed, which is a special fur coat designed exclusively to these people. The coat as described by Ustaz, is a pride for us in akheerah just like wearing jeans is a pride for youngsters (especially ladies) in dunya. It is an attire that makes us stand out. Subhanallah, don`t we want that? To me, it is indeed an easy thing to do, yet Allah is Most Gracious and Merciful to His servants. Even with that easy deed, He has promised us a great reward! So let`s do it!

The ustaz further said that when calamities befall on servants, one should check if he/she has one of any below reactions:

1. Thanks Allah for not giving down worse test/calamity

2. Thanks Allah for giving us perseverance to endure this test

3. Thanks Allah for not giving worse test, which is test on our religion (diverted from being dutiful to Allah,etc)

Energizer Night Run - I was there too!

The much boo night race Energizer Run had me as one of its 10k disappointed participants. Initially I was sooo refused to join the crowds. However, since it was fully sponsored by my division (except for the gas and toll to Sepang Circuit), i told myself: hey, why not give it a try? So dragging along Azah and Aida, we signed up for the run monthsss before. On that running day itself, I couldn`t help but to blame myself for signing up for the race! Menyesal menyesal hehehe..it was a sudden regret inside myself..but hey there was no turning back!

So three of us embarked on 5.5 night journey on the Sepang circuit. Well, it wasn`t qualified to be a run at all, since both I and Azah walked all the way from the start till the end of the track. I did want to run, but , as a considerate friend, I didn`t want to leave Azah walking alone since she insisted from the beginning that we walked, not ran. Well, apart from badly shamely organized, i did enjoy the experience. A lot of people of various kinds were there: slim, fat, tall, with stroller, with bags, even kids could be found there. 

We finished the run after about 40 minutes walking. Not bad, actually. At least, we didn`t cheat by cutting through green , in which i believed could save us about 2 or 3 kms! we thought of doing that, following a few runners (or better walkers) who did that, as a result of finding nobody manning the point, but I told myself, hey, it was sooo uncool to do that. We have paid RM50 to use the track facility, so we should use it to the full max. So we continued the rest of the journey with integrity to the max, hehe. Alhamdulillah `ala kulli haal. Even though going back empty handed due to laziness to queue for the goody bag , it was an awesome experience though!

A Heart Serene Part 3- Virtual Tour to Jannah

There are so many things that I would like to share about the Heart Serene seminar here. So many beautiful ahaadeeth, verses and advices that I learnt. And the pinnacle of the seminar was the interesting 'virtual' Jannah tour exclusively led by Mr Tour Guide, no one but Sheikh Riad himself. Subhanallah the tour was indeed beautiful despite the fact that our sight was our limited imagination, guided with description of it by Sh Riad where he quoted on haadeth and verses in Quran which describe about features of Jannah. The tour was also aided by nice smell thanks to volunteers who sprayed it and sounds of birds chirping as soon as the gates of Jannah 'were opened', and not to forget the sound of river water flowing down. Sheikh brought us strolling inside the Jannah, well I should mentioned here that our views varied, depending on how our imagination inside our mind took us through. Before setting our feet in Jannah, we were welcomed by its gates.

Jannah was flanked by eight gates:

1. For those who constantly establish salaah

2. For those who did Jihad

3. For those who went to Hajj

4. For those who observed fasting 

5. For those who frequently gave sadaqah

6. For those who suppress their anger and forgive others

7. For those who always remembered Allah

8. For those who were saved from reckoning and chastisement. 

From which gate would we enter Jannah? Well, it is possible that we could enter it from any of the 8 gates, just like Abu Bakr when he was given a glad tiding by Rasulullah that he will enter it from all gates. Subhanallh, what a blessed reward! When we entered the Jannah, the smell of musk filled the air, and sound of birds chirping brought the feeling of calm. Then we paused at River of Kauthar, river made of milk and river made of honey. It was funny when Sheikh told us to don our swimming suit and get ready to jump into the river and swim!. He also mentioned that the edge or the bank of River of Kauthar was made by pearls, how beautiful it is! We were told that those who drinks from river of Kauthar shall never feel thirsty again! Then we were brought to fountains of Jannah. One of them is the famous Salsabil fountain.  

Then we moved to a tree whose trunk is made by gold. Also there is another tree in which its length of shadow is the distance covered by a man galloping his horse for more than hundreds of years! Subhanallah! We walked further until we reached a beautiful stunning mansion. That is our mansion. You know, it is so big so much so that the height of its ceiling is ~16 miles! Subahanallah! Also, there were so many trees. Those were the trees planted by Allah for each dhikir that we made in dunyaa. You know, one interesting hadeeth is that every time we say a word of dhikir, be it Subhanallah, Allahuakbar, etc, a plant will be planted in akheerat for us. Thus, the more dhikir we make, the more trees are planted exclusively for us. So, guys and girls out there, never forget to say dhikir, anytime, anywhere! 

We then were served our first meal in Jannah. Do you wonder what is the food that will fill our stomach ? It is the liver of the fish. According to Sheikh, it is a part of the liver that tastes soooo good. It will be our appetizer before we indulge the main meal. Then what happens after eating? Toilet? Hmmmm, well in Jannah, there is no dirt, no impure and filthy things. So where does our food go? Well, we will only defecate by little burping. That`s it. It was funny how sheikh made the sound of burp. And before I forget to mention, the only way to get the food in Jannah is by desiring it, and it will appear in front of our eyes. You know, inside Jannah, there shall be no death. So after we indulge in a bird, or any other animal, it will be re-built and become alive, with Allah`s wills and continue its life inside Jannah. 

What about the women of Jannah? Well, I believe all men inside the hall would be smiling when sheikh mentioned about this. Subhanallh they are sooo beautiful! They are full with lights all over their body. 

Well, of course that was only the surface of what`s there in Jannah for us. More and more and more awaits us. You know, this virtual tour really indeed made me forgot about dunyaa and its fake attractions.Whenever Sheikh described what were there awaiting us, I wished that the tour would turn into reality and that I won`t have to go back to dunya but to remain there. Ya Allah, grant this helpless servant Jannah! 

Nuclear- Why Is It Still A Good Choice

I happened to read this article wrote by someone for Los Angeles Times where he commented about relevance of having to opt for nuclear power despite the Fukushima incident. If the total emission of CO2 can increase much further and if CO2 emission is really the culprit for global warming, I couldn`t agree more with him. 

Happy reading!

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AlMaghrib Seminar : A Heart Serene Part 2

Sheikh asked one question today that makes me ponder : If your boss asked gave you job promotion offer with the condition that you have to form a team of fajr prayer, where you have to go to the masjid and perform the prayer, would you do that? Silently in my heart : Yes inshaAllah i`m willing to do it. But if Allah asked you to do the same, with the promised great reward from Him, would we be willing to do it with the same amount of willingness? Well you see brother and sisters, we all very quick in getting tangible results/ rewards. But here Allah`s commandment an orders carry much weight than those tangible things we get in dunya. But we tend to forget the rewards that awaits us in the day of judgement if we do all good stuff here in dunya, just because it is intangible and not immediate. Subhanallah. Wallahi it`s true. Wake up sisters! Wake up brothers!

Another to ponder: Are you really pleased that Allah is your lord, and Prophet Muhammad is our prophet, and Islam is our religion? If we say yes, well..we`re in trouble. Say instead: InshaAllah, i`m trying. Why? It is because we many times ignore Allah`s orders and commit sins over and over again, the same sins. We find it hard to obey Him and not being watchful of Him. So do not claim that we are pleased with Allah as our lord, instead all of us are trying to attain it.

In a hadeeth, Rasulullah s.a.w said there are 70,000 people will enter Jannah without hisaab. In another hadeeth , Rasulullah asked Allah to increase the number since it is little, then Allah granted it by making in each one of the 70,000 people, another 70,000 will be granted the jannah without hisaab. That makes up a total of 4.9 billion. Man! 4.9 billion! It`s a huge amount! Don`t we wanna be one of them? Don`t we? InshaAllah we will. All what these people do is go die and enter the Jannah. Joke by the sheikh. Well, to be granted such a big blessing, in the hadeeth it narrates that, it is the person who doesn`t do Ruqyah, believe in superstitious, but to put total reliance and trust in Allah. So here the importance of total tawakkul of Allah is so magnificent, that Allah grants us with such reward. Subhanallah. Let`s strive to be one of 4.9 billion!

AlMaghrib Seminar : A Heart Serene Part 1

Alhamdulillah...Sh Riad Ourzazi is sooo gorgeous and awesome! AlMaghrib has finally kicked its first seminar off last weekend at Faculty of IT, Uni. Malaya. At last I did register and attend the class after thinking over whether to go or not to go due to financial reason. Well, in simpler word, yeah...I`m broke! But I told myself, well why not just go to the free class session on Friday night and let see how it goes...money can be forked out, but this golden opportunity is tooo much to be missed! So I went and listen to the opening lecture of the seminar. Sh Riad talked about what ihsaan is, and how important it is to execute ihsaan to our parents. Basically this topic is based on masterpiece of Ibn Qayyim ibn Jawziyyah: Madaarij Salikeen or Stations of Travellers. Sheikh introduced the hadeeth of jibrael which is about Jibrael, in the guise of a man, cloaked like a traveller, came to see Rasulullah,pbuh and asked him about 3 things:

1. What is Islam ?
Rasulullah said Islam is shahadah, 5 daily  prayers, Ramadhan fasting, zakah and hajj at Mecca.

2. What is Iman?
Rasulullah said Iman is believe in Allah, angels, Quran, Rasulullah, Day of judgement and believe in qada and qadr.

3. What is Ihsaan?
Rasulullah said is to worship as if you see Allah. If it`s not, Allah sees you.

Every time Rasulullah gave the answer, he said, true!

Ihsaan can be done to: oneself, to parents, kinship, etc. Sh did stress on the importance of doing ihsaan to our parents as he quoted a couple of verses from quran which Allah enjoins us to do good to our parents right after the command not to take any associate besides him. He also mentioned that it is a grave sin to dishonor our parents and our other deeds will not be looked at by Allah if we fail at this stage. Subhanallah. Father is the middle of gate of Jannah. We have to treat them well regardless of his treatment to us. It is his right to be treated well by his children. As for mum..well, what more to say then..In quran, Allah forbids us to say even 'uff' to our mom, whereby in real world, it is so hard to find a child with that uniqueness. The sheikh even gave us homework , which is to call our mom and ask her to make 1 du`a for us for a mom`s du`a is very mustajab. Well i did the homework, but on Sunday and it was done by texting my mum, rathen than calling her :)

Beautiful Reminder - Stop Arguing

I found this very beautiful reminder of the importance to avoid arguing or to keep it at very minimum level. I think this hadeeth hits me so much cause I like to get into discussion that sometimes turn heated to the level that it becomes trivial argument. Astaghfirullah!

‘A’isha reported Allah’s Messenger (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying: The most despicable amongst persons in the eye of Allah is one who tries to fall into dispute with others (for nothing but only to display his knowledge and power of argumentation). (Sahih Muslim, Book #034, Hadith #6447) 

 

I honestly cannot understand people who just love to constantly debate and waste hours just to prove themselves right. It truly is a despicable trait that someone who is productive should refrain from.

If you fall into an argument, ask yourself; is this beneficial to continue? Will I gain rewards in the hereafter if I convince my brother/sister of my argument? Or is this pointless argument that neither guides nor has any benefit? And, do I have certain knowledge on this matter and am I being humble?

In the heat of a debate, a person’s ego might cause a person to forget the purpose of the debate and simply debate to prove himself/herself right. This is where a Muslim with taqwa would notice his ego and refrain from continuing the argument. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “I guarantee a house in Jannah (Paradise) for one who gives up arguing, even if he is in the right; and I guarantee a house in the middle of Jannah for one who abandons lying even when joking/for the sake of fun; and I guarantee a house in the highest part of Jannah for one who has good manners.” [reported by Abu Dawud]

Videos by Azrudi on Nuclear Incident

Wow, Mr Azrudi, one of key people in Nuclear Power for Malaysia recorded a video explaining in thorough detail what was happening at Fukushima Daichi Plant.

Nuclear Fukushima Daichi Incident

I`m sure almost everyone was in great shock upon receiving the news, first the tsunami that struck northeastern part of Japan, then followed by worst incident after Chernobyl 1986 of nuclear reactor Fukushima Daichi which become crippled soon after the tsunami swept away the back up generator. I was at my hometown, Wakaf Bharu, when the rare incident (nuclear disaster) took place. When I first read about the Tsunami on Saturday from local newspaper, I just shot a short glance at news about Japanese checking on condition of the nuclear reactor. It didn`t across my mind that this problem could be getting worse, as it is, now. Subhanallah, if Allah wills, anything can and will happen. Even if the best technology was deployed (I`m not saying here the crippled reactor was the best nuclear technology...rather it was 40-year old technology from US!)

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Greatest Women of Islam by Sheikh Tawfique Chowdry

Sheikh Tawfique was here in KL again! Well, way way weeksss before hehe. Well he was here in KL to conduct AlKauthar class held in Penang, the second city for AlKauthar in Malaysia. The title was Lord of the World. Well we had that topic also for our first AlKauthar seminar here in KL. I think every new city that AlKauthar stepped into would kick off its journey with this topic. It is about Akeedah, the first in Muslim`s checklist and the most core field of knowledge that every Muslim has to be equipped with. For failing which, her/his validity as a Muslim can be null. 

As part of Sheikh`s ilm tour while he was in KL, he was invited to give talk entitled Greatest Women of Islam at KGPA, after Maghrib. Alhamdulillah, being a big fan of his articulateness and eloquence, I managed to make it to listen his talk. I truly admire Sheikh`s lectures.

Special thanks to those who uploaded this recorded video onto Youtube. You can watch his lecture here.

Usrah Daurah 3 - Shahadatul Haqq

Alhamdulillah. I and my usrah team mates were blessed by Allah to be able to allocate our time attending the third Daurah of our usrah. It was held last weekend at Masjid Saidini Abu Bakr, which is located in Bangsar, just 1 km off my office. The theme for the Daurah was : Shahadatul Haqq. We were honored to have Pn Nurhakimah to deliver the topic to us. Kak Kimah is currently working for Petronas Cari Gali as Geologist and she is only 2 years older than me. She graduated from renowned university in Australia and did a major in Geology. She was actively engaged on Usrah and dakwah activities since she was in college. Personally, I was amazed by her istiqamah and courage in this da`wah endeavor. Listening upon her story, it made my admire towards her grew as she told us how in the early time she received objection from her parents to wear hijab. She had to struggle in previous years in order to stay put in this path. I was so ashamed of myself when I made comparison between her experiences and mine. How big the difference was! O Allah, guide this poor slave or yours towards a purer heart!

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Introducing...my first attempt Online Business

Alhamdulillah, during Chinese New Year break, I managed to come up with two blogs for my online business. Actually it is my long time mission to do business online, but I didn`t have any idea on what type of business to be involved in until only recently, the idea came and this time, without putting so much time in materializing it, I started up immediately the blogs.

Well I`m selling Serunding or Meat Floss and home made chocolates for goodies or gifts. The serunding is actually the business of my mom`s friend, just that I am making her a favor by marketing it online. As for the chocolates, I am selling mini chocolates intended to those who want to have chocolates as gifts to dearest one or even door gifts for wedding.

You can check them here

http://coklathomemadeforsale.blogspot.com/

and for serunding

http://serundinghaswide.blogspot.com/

Jaulah Usrah to Kuala Pilah

There was I, in Kuala Pilah for 1 day during Chinese New Year break. Alhamdulillah it was such resplendent time I had at my naqibah, Kak Akmar`s homestay located at Kuala Pilah. This idea of having jaulah was mooted by her during last usrah session, which she said our usrah meeting should be mobile, rather than sticking at one place only. We should take turn to hold usrah at our house if we could, or at somewhere else besides Surau TM at which we hold the usrah session regularly.

Thus, originated from it, Kak Akmar had invited us to join her and her family at her homestay for the next usrah session. Only 4 or us were able to make it : Me, Efa, Kak Iza and Ain. Riding Efa`s car, we departed at 5 on Wednesday and took PLUS highway, which was against Kak Akmar`s advice to take LEKAS in order to avoid heavy traffic which she said started at Seremban R&R. Well, I and Efa tried to take that highway, but we couldn`t figure out how to get into LEKAS from Efa`s place! haha. But Alhamdulillah it wasn`t a bad decision though since the traffic wasn`t congested badly, except near the Seremban R&R , but that was due to accidents happened along the highway. You know, we were shocked to see there was not 1 accident involved, rather, there were like 4 of them starting from area close to the R&R. So we were stuck for only 15-20 minutes i guess. Not bad. 

We arrived at the homestay at 930pm and we learnt that Kak Izza and Ain arrived only seconds before we did! So we`re not really missing the bus. ALhamdulillah except from deviated 300m away from Kak Akma`s place, we did not get lost throughout the journey. Wow, upon reaching the homestay, which was named Teratak Akhma, I was amazed to see how beautiful, spacious it is! It has a mini lake in front of the house and there was a kayak for the guests to use it! Very beautiful MashaAllah. It also has basketball court and ping pong table, and not to mention the must-be item, which is the barbecue stove at the back of the house. Further info can be checked here : http://teratakakhma.wordpress.com/. I would recommend so much those who would like to find a homestay at Kuala Pilah due to various occasions: berangguh, vacation, team bulding, mini retreat, you can choose this homestay. So worth it! Beautiful and peaceful. 

So over the night , we had barbecue and chatted with each other. Kak Izza and her sister Ain are very friendly and bubbly. A lot of stories were shared from each other and I would say I was enjoying that night so much..but only with a little regret that we couldn`t eat much food since my stomach (me and Efa`s) already partially full with Roti John, which we had when we stopped in the middle of the journey due to suffering from unbearable hunger hehe..if only we knew that there was so much to indulge in at the barbecue, we would probably not stop and eat hehe..but that`s fine. 

The next morning, after having breakfast with friend Mee Hoon and cake (well they celebrated their parents`s 30++ anniversary..so sweet!!) , Kak Akmar conducted the usrah session inside a mini hut next to the house. Well this is supposed to be the main reason for our journey there. Those barbecue and slept over were only side activities , huhu. The usrah content was about by  Fi Thilalil-Quran (In the Shade of the Qur`an) Sayyid Qutb. Well, I have heard of his name before, but wasn`t really paying attention to who he really was, what contributions he made, what he went through his life, and what masterpieces that he had produced. Well, he is    actually an Egyptian living in the same era of Imam Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanul Muslimeen) in Egypt. Kak Akmar told us about his little background history and how he got to the point to produce the Tafseer Fi Thilalil-Quran. Then she further dwelled on the introduction of the book and its meaning. Beautiful content and perspectives I would say upon deciphering through the Mukaddimah section. According to Kak Akmar, this kitaab, if we manage to get hold of its essence and meaning, it should be sufficient enough for us in truly understand the quran with our hearts, and essence of what Quran is about. Allah knows best. 

Our usrah session went for almost 3 hours huhu, well that was because we deviated into lessons learnt from ISK and other stories. Then at 145, we ended the session. After taking our lunch with the left over food that we had for the breakfast, we departed back to KL. It was a little exhausting but interesting!

Story of Jin

I regularly attend the weekly Friday lecture delivered by different Ustazahs at HQ Building. All of them are really good, mashaAllah, especially Ustazah Faridah Hanum. Hailed from Singapore, i think she is full of wisdom. I like her talks so much! Alhamdulillah.

The topic presented by her during last week`s session was tafseer of Surah Jin. You know, i remember one of Ustazs told me that there are two topics that always successful in grabbing full attention from the audience: Nikah  and Jin (World of the unseen). So the topic of Jin , and unseen world, I couldn`t agree more that it really makes us glued to our seat. There are many new knowledges about Jin that I have acquired from the talk. Previously, I only get to know more about Jin from lectures given by Ustaz Ismail Kamus.

Jin, shaytan , iblis belong to the same category. They are all made from fire. You know fire consists of different colors: hottest being green, followed by blue, yellow and red. The trio are made from different colors, but the root is shared. Iblis is on the top leadership rank for all three and in fact, it used to be the leader of all angels before it decided to go against Allah`s order to prostrate to Adam A.S. Iblis is still alive  until now since Allah has granted his special request to remain alive until the day of judgement.

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"I Want to Repent but..." by Sh.Suhaib Webb @ KGPA

Sheikh Suhaib Webb was in KL last week.It`s glad to see him coming over to Malaysia again after he made his previous visit a few days before Ramadhan 1432H started(at least his previous talk @ KGPA). Sheikh mentioned that Malaysia is his second home since his wife is a Malaysian and thus he would frequently offer visits to Malaysia to see his in laws. As Malaysians, it is true blessing and advantage for us to be able to have him giving talk during his stay here for holiday.I guess he was left with only limited time to spend with his in laws here since his schedule was pretty hectic as he had to deliver a few talks here and there around KL. However I hope he has managed to use the limited time as fulfilled as possible with his in laws.

While I was in the US, I wasn`t really big fan of him. The only lecture that I listened to delivered by him was the series of The Wives of the Prophets pbuh. It is really a captivating lectures of history of our Ummu Mukminin. But now,since he is the only scholar hailed from US who has made regular visits to Malaysia and delivers talk here, I have started to know more about him, and now Alhamdulillah I have become so eager to attend more and more of his talks whenever I get chance, inshaAllah. The content of his talks are full of wisdom and easy-to-grab points and he would also elaborate it in related analogy that makes me couldn`t agree more with him. He also sheds lights on matters that we, perhaps already know, but due to our ignorance, not putting much thought about it.

The talk of "I want to Repent but.." was about repentance,

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Ini Sejarah Kita January 2011 @ Masjid Abu Bakr Bangsar

Our usrah group finally got a chance to participate in an awareness program titled "Ini Sejarah Kita" or ISK,in its abbreviation, held at Masjid Saidini Abu Bakr, Bangsar. My first thought upon hearing the program title was that it is indeed catchy as i thought the content would be what is usually delivered in regular usrah: the need to draw closer to Allah. However, i was wrong. Indeed the title speaks the truth for the content: the history of islamic empires, its glory and how once a big empire finally collapsed. I was excited to listen more to what was laid down in schedule.

ISK is an initiative by a few students belong to Majlis Syura Muslimin back in UK with the aim to create awareness among students (of course muslim) about the great of Islam empires we once had and how we should be proud of and strive to try to redeem back the flourishing period of Islam. Well, basically the content of Islamic empire history is no difference from what was taught in History class back then in Form 5, except with more extra stories. For those who are History savvy, or history passionate,they wouldn`t feel much excited, but for those who only remember words umaiiyah, abbasiyah, turki uthmaniyyah like me(hehe) , the content delivered was mesmerizing,enlightening,captivating and full of awe! Felt like i was learning the history of Islamic empires for the first time huhu.

Kak Shahira, the presenter did a really good job in delivering the to me, a very heavy subject. Her words came out from mouth like water, flowing smoothly, and full of confident, for 2 consecutive hours! Hat off to her! As what my friend, sher said she must have really deep interest in history for her to be able to talk so eloquently about Islamic history. I couldn`t agree more. She started off with the graph of Islamic empire`s glory.

Actually, according to Kak Akhmar, the content is excerpt from Hassan Al Banna`s book, hmm I forgot the title, but these students analyzed and summarized the contents then they came up with the graph as above. We started off with Umaiyyah kingdom, for 90 years, during which Islam spread so much to Spain, North Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and even to little Asia. Then Bani Abbasiyah took the reign after Bani Umaiyyah collapsed. During the reign of this empire, there was abundant activity translation from Latin`s hidden knowledge of wealth into Arabic for them to study further. All kinds of ilm: Math, Science, Physics, Chemistry, etc were deeply studied and researched further by renowned Muslim scientists: Al razi, Al Farabi, Ibn Sina, u name it. Islam had flourished so much during this period. According to kak Shahira, the most famous job during the period was translator. Then after hundreds of years, Islam empire was attacked by armada from Monggol in 1258 M. Then from that on,the empire started to decline badly before Turki Uthmaniyyah created a little hike of glory of Islamic empire. During this period, we had Constantinople (Istanbul)conquered, and the lucky man who was responsible for the conquer was Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh. Rasulullah was quoted in a hadeeth as he said: Sabda Rasulullah s.a.w. ketika menggali Parit Khandaq; “..Constantinople (kini Istanbul) akan jatuh ke tangan tentera Islam. Rajanya adalah sebaik-baik raja, tenteranya adalah sebaik-baik tentera……”.

I think that`s all i could summarize. I am posting here a video on Islamic empires below.