Updates in progress

Salam.

While it takes longer to the point that I have failed my own KPI, I will come up with better and more meaningful posts after this. Really is stuck with piling works.

Regards,
Administrator

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WORLD CUP= The World Sees(witnesses) You (your plight) Palestine

The URL for the jersey:

http://www.4shared.com/photo/j07eAKbc/WORLD_CUP_2010.html

Thanks for the support everyone. Take care and wassalam. May Allah bless us all =)

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Rights. Eh, rights? You sure right?

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and I pray may Allah always be with us. First, open your eyes. No, not that one. The other one. The one with veil. Your heart. Or rather, OUR heart. Open it now and see with it. Then witness that Allah is the sole creator, one and only God that He deserves the utmost rights about every single thing and I will elaborate further about that in the next paragraphs. Question. Is it right that we have rights? I mean, really, ours? Is it true enough? 

Okay. Let us think about this. Who creates us? Well, then are you sure that you really believe Him as our creator? Him as in Allah? The one and only? Look, this is the thing. If the answer is a yes, but a not so strong yes- which means a yes with some unexplainable hesitation, that means something is wrong.

Dear all,

Ask ourselves one simple question. Why are we Muslim? Sure, I too, will answer that we were born into a Muslim family, that's why. So does that mean that we are Muslim because we have no choice? Have us no choice really? Right, now we think about it. Maybe we never did before. Maybe because we thought it is just like choosing which garments or dress to wear or what to eat or where to visit on the coming holiday. Oh dear, no it's not the same. It is not supposed to be a matter of choice, but a matter of knowledge and ignorance instead. By right, the moment you read this blog, you are all matured and wise enough to think and make decision. So why not use this chance to really investigate and study the truth? It is not wrong that we were born into Muslim families, it's a bonus instead but given the challenge, deceptions and outside factors we are facing right now, we risk losing faith in our religion and faith in Allah, unless we have reasons why we chose this path, hence the need to look for them- the truth!

Many other questions must have crossed our minds isn't it? Why must I pray? Why must I fast? And why must it be 5 times daily and compulsory in Ramadhan respectively? Why must we cover certain parts of the body and why is it so many other restrictions in our life? Why are there too many dos and don'ts in Islam? Oh life is like a prison then but why? Bear in mind that answers might not be the same for a Muslim and a non-Muslim. Why? Because for a Muslim, the answer to all the above questions is very simple. Because Allah said so, that's the answer. But from here, comes the next question. Who is Allah and why must we do things that He asks us to do in the first place? This is when the word 'rights' as appropriately as it is, should be brought in. By understanding the authority that Allah has as the sole creator, we would then understand who actually has the right to own the so-called rights that we always talk about. Human rights, seriously?

Think about this. IP. Have heard of it? Okay, it's short for Intellectual Property. Now, an analogy. I invented something, say a pair of glasses that can make you see through everything, and I call it GlaThru. And hey, no copying. I have copyrights. I have right, don't I? The IP remember? The spare parts, manual and how-to-use booklet? Hey that should all come from me. Well why is that? Simple. I invented it. I know best about it and I invented it, okay? 

Fine. Come back to the main topic. Human rights. Who then should be given the right to define human rights? Isn't it not the one that creates human then? Yeah, let go off the ego, the partiality and all those inappropriate feelings, then one will admit- Allah, the creator of mankind, has the right to define what we should do and what we should not. What is prohibited and what is not. What is good and what is not. Allah creates us, so He knows best every single thing about us. Don't you think?

Now, let us pick a context of discussion that relates closely to real life occurrence. Prayer (solat) for instance. What if one day your friend gave an advice to you because you skipped prayers and decided to just study all day instead? Would you respond and say hey mind your own business please because I have right and I will do what I want to do? Err, let us put this into a correct perspective. Do you think that your friend was trying to 'conquer' your right? Are you sure? Don't you realize that if you really think about it, he or she is actually fulfilling the rights outlined by Allah that one must always remind each other as Muslims? Then whose right is that? Isn't it that of Allah? 

What about proper dress for men and women? One misconception should be corrected first though. Who says that only girls must cover parts of their body? If that's so, well I'd attend lecture naked, would I? :P No it's not. Men also has to conform to the rules. But the thing is, rules are different for these two genders and Allah does so because it suits each. Allah creates us and He knows us best remember? The point here is that, how many times did we refuse to conform to Allah's rule by using an excuse that it is our right to decide? Be careful everyone, dare we challenge Him, seriously?

Last of all, let us then take a look at a larger context. Human rights, again. In some Western countries, they already legalised homosexual marriage. So what do you think? Will you accept that homosexual marriage is part of human right? How about prostitution? Human right again? Mind you, some significant number of people across the globe believe it is so. Not a surprise okay, but human rights really? Do we not think that this is the consequence when we allow men to define their own rights without referring to the guidance by God the Almighty, Allah S.W.T? Ask ourselves again, where do we come from? Are we not from a tiny sperm that fertilised with an ovum? Who are we? Feel strong do we? Think carefully..

Alright, prostitution. Guys, if you accept it as a human right, I have you this question. Would you allow your own wife to become a prostitute because it's actually her right? Or your mother? Your sister? Anyone? Ladies, you don't want your husband to enjoy the 'service' do you? Your dad? Your brother or your son? Or you yourself will you? Then why? Isn't it not a human right?

That is why, as far as a rational discussion is concern, one would admit that people have different desires and unique preference to something, and these desires might go against life norm suppose we have no guidance or refuse to follow the guidance sent down to us. Thus, we need to ask and ask the same question all over again. Knowing that we are always imperfect and flawed, what do we need? Isn't it not a guidance? The true one? Do we care about truth? Or do we just pick and choose only ones that suit us? Who are we to do so then? Well, think carefully, again.. 

The lesson that I hope would be understood from this post is this. We must always not take things for granted but look for truth with an open heart. In other words, don't follow or do things so easily without any proper knowledge about it and more importantly, don't ever act foolish and question One that knows better about what He asks us to do. Seek truth, and insya Allah, God willing, truth will therefore come to us. If we were asked on when to go back to follow the path of truth and our answer is 'one day,' just imagine this. Suppose Allah make us stop breathing and we (while gasping for air) ask Him when will He give us back the breathing, and he said, 'one day!' What will we do then? Think.. hard..

Thus, do as instructed. Do because Allah wants us to do so. (He surely has reasons for it and certainly it's for the good of us, and not Him, because Allah never relies on us, it's the other way around instead). Non-Muslims may need different answers, but as time crawls, more and more must-dos in Islam were proved to be parallel with Science, which by right is actually the law of Allah (Sunnatullah). These are answers they want to hear. But us, we want these answers too, but we have better reasons for everything, because we know He creates us and He owns all the rights we falsely believe is ours. Remember, we were not created but to only worship Him, Allah the Almighty, the One and Only, the All-knowing. Wallahuaklam.

Surely Allah knows best. =)

"This post as a reminder is for both you and me, because my principle is this. If one day I stray from the correct path (I sure hope not), I know I have you to correct me. ameen.."

-Ibnu Hanaffi-

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PPM 2010 at Pasir Puteh, Kelantan

Assalamualaikum

There are too many things to revise by now and I have yet to settle many other non-academic stuffs. Fine though, this is a real challenge to me on prioritizing.

Just to conform to the KPI (Key Performance Index) I have myself set for this blog, this post is supposed to be for last week's allocation. And this time around, perhaps as timely as it is, my post will be about PPM (Piala Perdana Menteri), a debating championship involving all boarding schools (SBPs) nationwide. This year, it took place at SMS Pasir Puteh in Kelantan. Oh my God, it took me 2 days until I realized that it is actually an all-girl school! Well, doesn't make any difference. Neither am I flirty enough to benefit from that. Just that I thought we have Amina Wadod there. Fortunately, we don't ;)

MCKK, Malay College Kuala Kangsar participated in the tourney and this year both English and Malay Language debating teams made it to the national level. It is important to tell about this as there has been a major change in the system and the way PPM was conducted recently. In the previous years, all schools, or rather SBPs were coming for PPM but this year, only the champion and first runners-up from the zone level championship were making their way to national level PPM. 

Hence, we have less teams than we had before. Chances of winning could be more or even less, depending on how we deal with it. It can be more, because there are less teams to be defeated to go to finals. On the other hand, it may be less, as we may be on the side of the losing teams, biased motions etc. you name it.

For both categories, we have 10 teams from different schools placing their bet to proceed to the finals to be held on the 31st of July this year. MCKK BM team was grouped with TKC, SBPI Gombak, SBPI Temerloh and SMS Lahad Datu. We lost two matches and won other two over Lahad Datu and Temerloh. Those with 3 wins made it to semis so that was the end of the battle for these boys this year. 

As for the English team, it was pretty better. They were in the same group with TKC, SAS, SBPI Temerloh and the host, SMS Pasir Puteh. They made it to semi, fortunately but well, to cut this short they have to let SAS en route to final despite some tangible facts that they were much better than SAS. Well, people will accuse me of giving a loser's excuse here, but hey, if you were there, you would have agreed with me that their third speaker should have been the reason why MCKK should win the debate in the first place- if you are neutral and impartial enough. ;) But well said, bygone is bygone and what matters now is how do we look at it and there must be lessons for every occurence in life. At the very least, we have to admit that Allah has the power and ultimate decision on when to let luck be in favor of us in terms of winning- hey it's not that we do not win, it's just that we will, when Allah wills it such, one day again insya Allah, amiin..

Kinda sleepy to write more though. But that is that. What's of utmost importance is this- I did my part as best as I could (never enough, yes I agree, I felt so, too) and drive myself out of God knows how much uncertainties and hesitation to learn from life long lessons that I can grab from all around me. After all, life is not that long is it?

Take care.

Assalamualaikum.

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What Goes Around Comes Around

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

No, it is not deja vu. I have not had it before. Neither had the others. It is simply the thumb rule of reciprocity. What goes around comes around. But that is that. Newton's third law of motion also applies here. What you do is what you will get in return- as a consequence, it depends on how you get it started.. This is rather conceptual, I know but I am not going to include even one solid example about it. I have many. I believe many people, too. But just think of this and relate it if what we have in our daily challenging life. The survival of the fittest by Darwin, if there's a truth about it, has nothing to do with evolution and should not be the way we see it (though that is what it conventionally all about-the theory of evolution). Instead, to be the fittest, and therefore survive, we must understand this law deduced by Allah the Almighty God. Taking this on a deeper level, we in Islam however believe that patience must always come along the way. In a best-seller book of La Tahzan (Arabic words for Don't Be Sad), the author clearly explained how we may come across with people who wrote something bad about us using a qalam (pen or pencil) we sincerely bought for them! Err, so what goes around now, do not come around? 

The truth is, if we are patient, then it is Allah's merit that we get in return, and the guilty will be punished by Allah with due consequence- and now our rules stand back ;) However, in today's era, it is not so us to just be patient and do nothing about it- at least a piece of advice would do, if we don't go for a more radical action :P

People also like to relate the occurence in life with Qada' and Qadar (Divine Will and Decree) of Allah- which is good, because that way, we actually associate everything to Allah and therefore (by right) surrender to his Willingness and the fact that He has the power in every single thing. One note though. It is more appropriate if we associate Qada' and Qadar with sunnatullah (Law of Allah) rather than destiny. They might be the same to a certain extent, but let me further elaborate on the way we should look at it.

If we take it as a destiny, then we tend to have lack of effort and sometimes motivation to achieve good things in life. Why? Well, because it's destined to be that way, isn't it? So, what's the point of trying so hard? Live with this principle- then success will always be at bay. Worst, we may eventually question Allah- Why did you make me like this? Why do you make this as my destiny? Ah huh? Seriosly? Do we dare question Allah, the All-Knowing? That's why, we just have to look at things from a better point of view. Sunnatullah. It is very simple. You do more, you gain more. No pain, no gain, so cliché right? Everyone has heard of the quote ;) But that is the whole point. We must strive our best and always go for an aim with greatest attempt and effort so that what we acquire at the end of it is well worth it. No short cut to success, yes you're right. I was thinking about that too. :) So, let us have a paradigm shift, today if we haven't, to admit that Allah has right in every single thing He does. Despite this though, praise be upon Allah a lot, because we mankind was created in the best way that He still granted us the free will to believe in Him, and also to decide what kind of life we want to live with. So my dear brothers and sisters, let's go make some colors on our fabric of life today and pray to Him a lot. Insya Allah wallahuaklam, He surely knows better.

Wassalam.

P/S: Some simple explanation about Qada' and Qadar here.

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Multitasking

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

It was quite some time that I felt something was wrong with me. I can not really cope with what I studied and I didn't feel like studying at all. It felt as if everything was a sheer waste of time and energy as I tend to forget things and required more drilling and repetition to retain inputs in the brain. I just kept going and thought that maybe it was due to some problems and unsolved matters that remained undecipherable. Seriously they took a toll on my brain and under pressure as a medical student, I occasionally thought of giving it up- at least for a while. Time by time, I even looked further ahead and knowing that a doctor is a profession with supposedly no margin for error, nothing seemed to make me feel better. I never helped myself to justify this ongoing self-degrading phenomenon and I started to feel bad about myself. All I could do was to pray and at the very least maintained the best level of my minimum performance. And Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, Chapter number two, Verse number 155, translated as follows;

And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.)

It is typical me to always have many things to achieve in life. I like to set aims but too many aims are always troublesome. I did really well being whom I was before and as time changed, I finally realized that I too have to change. I am currently pursuing a degree in medicine and that certainly suggests that I should be more focussed on what I am doing. No more grab it all but now is a time to avoid the greed for knowledge and make way for prioritizing. Multitasking, as the title suggests.

I stumbled upon an article about Multitasking from STARMAG authored by Jessica Yadegaran and it had a life-changing impact to me personally. Well, not so much of the whole life, but the way I conduct myself especially in doing works and finishing tasks- this of course includes studying and memorizing facts.

I read the article over and over again and try to understand as much as I could from it. Allah is great. He actually wanted me to learn a lesson and the absence of productivity was actually due to the presence of multitasking- and that is the way I see it. I used to be a high multitaskers and I thought I was really good at it but it proved me wrong and dragged me down so much towards stagnancy, if not deterioration. So here I am again with an end to a journey, and the beginning of a new one.

Let me make it short. In the article, the writer explained a result of a research conducted by cognitive scientists from Stanford University about multitasking. They recruited 100 students from which they divided into two more smaller groups. One is the high multitaskers and the other is the low multitaskers. People who do at least 5 things at one time are constituted as the former while those with lower are grouped in the later. After running a number of tests involving memory and one's attention to stimuli, they found out that the low multitaskers significantly outperformed their peers. This suggests a fair conclusion that brain is to a certain degree negatively affected from the habit of multitasking. In further elaboration, it says that one can have trouble remembering, focusing and switching tasks be it at work or even at school, because of too much of multitasking. Three major aspects briefly introduced as affected are safety, productivity and also education. Safety- one example is when one is driving while at the same time texting message on mobile- which is considered very dangerous as the car is left on autopilot mode so unwanted accidents can at any time take place. A simple one, isn't it? I won't elaborate on the other two aspects though.

The lesson from it is that we need to sit down and look back at the way we train and set our brain. In my case, I know I have to be more realistic and considerate to my own medulla oblongata and therefore limit the burden of tasks I put on it at one time. I honestly feel some changes after I came to realize about this and after I made some amendments. It is easier to remember things now and focus on tasks that I am up to. So friends out there, have you had the same problems? Consider multitasking as one factor. Maybe it'll help. Hope this sharing can help you make your life different, a little, if not revolutionary. Thank you very much for reading and for your time.

With love,

Mohd Amirul Asyraf bin Mohd Hanaffi

P/S: That's my real name, in case you don't know whom Ibnu Hanaffi is. ;) Take care!

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As-Shifa' Edition 022010/39

Assalamualaikum.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Mind you it's not a profit-based blog. It is only a way of me sharing pieces of thought, knowledge and feelings (story of personal life). Here is the front page of the magazine.

And please go here to download your copy (E-book)

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused- the need to be redirected to a number of websites, it is uncalled for and so  I apologize in advance. Thank you for your time and please enjoy reading.

P/S: Don't know why Facebook has blocked the content coming from 4shared (used by me to upload the file).

Jazakallah. Wassalam :)

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Courtesy and Opportunity

Assalamualaikum and happy reading to all.

How are you doing? Life is going fun huh? Or the other way around? Whatever it is, believe me, it is meant to be that way. Allah knows better and He only gives us kind of life we can live with.

Do we look around and ponder about His wonderful creations? :)

  

OPPORTUNITY

What is the opportunity we get in life? If it is a difficult thing, then it is an opportunity to perhaps learn from our mistake or at least learn to be stronger and more patient. Allah said in the Holy Qoran that what you think is good may not be, in reality good for you and what you think is not may be in reality, good for you. He creates us, so surely He knows better. On the other hand, if life serves us something good, it is an opportunity to thank Him and be grateful and share the happiness with people who may not have the same gift from Him. Opportunities are all around us today. Do we or do we not realize about their presence?

People are created with different attitudes and behaviors. A more common term used in psychological field is personality. We have people who are easy-going, neurotic and sensitive, serious and philosophical, introverted and quiet, extroverted and outspoken, and the list goes on and on.. The thing is, do we respect and acknowledge other people as the same mankind the way we think we are? Do we even realize that a hot-tempered person today may become the most patient individual the other day? Do we know that people are bound to change if God wills it such? Do we then provide some space for positive perceptions towards others? Start think deeply about this now and question ourselves- Are we whom we are now because we are the best type God creates or is it not a matter of complementation? Be grateful for who you are but at the same time, do not look down upon others and feel that you own the best type of personality, because God is fair and He creates things for reasons-and He knows best about them.

COURTESY

Apart from maintaining good relationship with Allah the Almighty, the All-Knowing God, we are commanded to maintain a good and friendly ties with all mankind. Either one can not be taken for granted and ignored.

One way of doing it is by saying thank you, if not giving anything in return. God needs not anything in return and is not affected even to the slightest by those whom are ungrateful, but human being are very fragile and weak, to the point that they always want some sort of appreciation and acknowledgement. But it is not wrong in the first place. What is so difficult about uttering the word thank you to someone who did something more than just saying thank you to you? Do you even have the courtesy to do this? Do you just forget or simply don't care? I on a personal basis never wanted to be treated as though I am reusable. Attended to when needed and utterly ignored at personal whim.  It hurts so much when it happens but then again, it is an opportunity to evaluate a person and distinguish on which one you can trust and which one you can't. Even more hurtful, is when a person blatantly claims credits out of your hardwork and never thank you for the help you give and finally treat you as if nothing happened in the past. Maybe sometimes we don't realize that this is what we condone in our daily life but we should take some quality time to really think about it and fix what's necessary. If any of you ever made me happy and helped me in any way but received not any thank you from me, let me apologize wholeheartedly now and let you know that I appreciate all your good deeds and May Allah bless you.

You are not happy alone when you smile, you make us too..

Reading this blog is already a contribution- though I may hardly know who you are and when you do it. But you must know, that I appreciate it with the sincerest feelings I have in my heart.

"Do good to others, and others will do good unto you."

Wassalam.. ;)

.

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Under Hot Sun

Assalamualaikum and good day to all- even if you read this at night, don't care :p

Today I followed my dad to fetch some stuff he uses for his landscaping work. It was around 1 pm and therefore very boiling hot. I bet it reached 42 degree Celcius already (err how do I write symbol in blogger :P). The thing is, this is what he always does to earn money for the family. Hard, exhausting labour work. My dad is aging faster because of this and he quite always complains about chest pain- which makes the whole family worried. More worrisome, hospital is what he is most anti at, all the time. Sigh~ Wana wait until I become a doctor? That is more or less 5 years down the road my dear. Nevertheless, we try our best to always care about what he eats and make sure he has enough rest and other necessary things that healthy lifestyle constitutes. It is not easy though, but it is what that makes us feel closer in the family. I, as among the eldest after my Along and elder sister, am aware of my role and responsibility as part of them. It takes time though, to really walk the talk. I want to do more for the family, because my 20 years so far has less to do with them. I want to become a better son. A hot son, if you will (as in hot artistes and rockstars :P) The way I shall put it, I want to be a hot son, for a dad under the hot sun. 

Love the same blood! :)

MCKK (Malay College Kuala Kangsar)

The  boys are now busy with exams. They are about to embark on another battle of the year, PPM or Piala Perdana Menteri, a debate tournament among SBPs (boarding schools) in Malaysia. Earlier this year, in the UIA Interschool Debate Championship, BM team lost at quarter final and English team was not bad to end their journey at Octo final. They could have done more, and as part of the coaching team, I always know and make myself aware that I hold big responsibility to achieve the goals, of helping them win and more importantly still, of proper upbringing of MCKK debaters- whom should never be devoid of values as a leader and a true human being- with courtesy and high competence in life. I train myself to be that first before I want them to. :) Perhaps, as part of KPI (Key Performance Index haha now everyone wants to have KPI :P) for blog after this, I shall write more stories about the boys, and not forgetting the fellow respected coaches.

It ends here today. Keep in touch all! And yeah, take care ^_^

Wassalam.. :)

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