Support

Assalamualaikum...

This is a true story. There was one man, a dad of a son, whom always came to watch his son playing sports at school. More interestingly, he was blind. People always wondered why and finally had the courage to ask the poor old man. Why did you come if you can't even see your son playing? The humble old man simply told them that to him, what matters above everything is not the fact that you can see your son, but when your son realized your presence, he will therefore felt motivated, supported and encouraged- hence do better in his whatever doings. People were equally shocked and inspired by the sincere answer from the noble blind old man.

Sometimes we do not know how much people around us try their best to help protect us, motivate us, make us happy and do everything they can to cherish us and enhance our life. Have we ever appreciated them all. Are we aware of them in the first place? Take some little time to ponder about people around us especially the family and friends, we may then be surprised by how much they have done their best just for us. Do we then take them for granted? Going deeper and rather on a larger perspective, these people and their kind acts, who granted them all to us?- Allah the Almighty God, the sole creator of the whole universe including time, space and distance we are bound to. Have we ever thanked Him? Are the five daily prayers just enough? Or more than enough? Think and think again.

We experience life to ponder and understand. We eat to live and not live to eat. But in love's case it is fantastically different. Because it is best if we love to live and also live to love both.

With love,

Amirul (Ibnu Hanaffi) :)

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Want to strive

Assalamualaikum and good day to all. Ups and Downs in life have been part of me now. It is very difficult at times to accept failures especially when it is the same thing all over again. When then I need to buck up and rebegin the journey, it is very difficult and sense of giving up appears to take over. It is always then something unexpected that comes out of nowhere, providing me back the spirit and desire to keep moving and going, and because it is unknown, I always believe that it is a 'gift' from Allah the Almighty God. Ameen~ Last weekend, the time was spent at Tronoh, battling in Nasyid competition and secured the fourth place despite the feeling that we have badly performed! haha that was not our best (not a surprise if even we ranked last- thank God that's not the case) because the best us, even with limited resource, will deserve the first place. :) After all, being me, despite the youngest in the team, I pointed out to them that the more important thing from all the days we had all been going through is the chance to know each other and build a brotherhood tie (ukhuwah) among ourselves. That is certainly of utmost importance. I always aim for something bigger for things I do in life, so that either a success or a failure, won't make so much difference, because I value the process much more than the result. Similarly, the journey is way more significant and lesson-contained than the destination itself. That, is and will always be one of my principles in life. Praying to Allah to do more and gain more and still find it hard to contribute as much to family, the way I did to others whom I barely know. But I believe that it is a matter of time, and the power of dreams that will make me achieve what I want.                                                                                                                                                    What is dangerous is not that you don't reach a high aim, but when you achieve an easy task. Be preoccupied not. :)

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Me is Me..

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and a good day to all beloved friends and followers..                                                                                                                                 First of all, I want to extend my warmest apology for not updating my blog for more than one month. Now, it is always a time to walk the talk. Academically, I am way to go and unless I make serious amendments, I will not be up to par again. Dad has always wanted me to score high in study. 90 % of his SMSes to me were about study. I know that I am more than able to achieve high and I have never failed to prove it since I was 5 and I am always on top since. Complacency came into picture of my life along the way and I was buried beneath the ground. Now I am staging a comeback and ready to restrike. Genius was not born, they were made. I am not a genius but I aim to make myself one. And right from the start, I know I could, and more importantly I have to. Walk the talk, again. I will make this slow, but steady. Engaging in more responsibilities and learn as much as possible especially from science, environment and people I look up upon. Currently with the need to head the coaching team of MCKK debating team, I will myself improve first. It is just a matter of time before I make myself into the IMU debating club, so that I can learn, and spread the knowledge. It is all about articulation, knowledge and eloquence. Sacrifice is inevitable. No excuse. Just go ahead. At the same time, I am going to sketch a plan for the upcoming holiday in early May. One week should be more than enough to help make something for my two sisters whom will sit for two big exams this year. I am playing roles as a Muslim, a son, a student, a brother, a friend and a man whom lives with honesty and sincerity. A guy who holds firm to his principle, that as far as history is concern, he will only forgive but not forget. Cheated once, no more second, always counted, trust is lost and sorry, it remains that way, forever. I am very positive that I am born to contribute to the society, but I am more than just positive that I will not contribute to the society, unless my family benefited from me FIRST.                                                                                                                                                   With love. Wassallam.    

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2Ds: Dancing or Debating?

haha sometimes it is not easy to realize that life is so fun, intertwined with moments of boredom and uncertainties. But I kinda, like the life I have now. Way to go though, I have greater aims and much bigger things to achieve and I really wanted to fulfill them.

What could have I done to take the plunge, and get myself out of this slow moving easy going environment? What could have made me feel more powerful and forced to jump to my limits? Alright, I have to make decisions, the tough ones, breaking more walls, and perhaps (sometimes) hearts, and move on to get to the next levels. By the end of this weekend, will come up with a 3-month plan and will work out on it. See if I could have done more and will let the time decide.

Was invited to join a dance, Zapin dance, traditionally originates from Johor, a type of dance I find quite masculine (the steps and movement etc) relative to most other classic Malay dances, so I took the offer, and of course the challenge and went for the first practice just now. Well, obviously, chicken dance and Poco-Poco are the only 'prior experience' or talent (if you swish) that I have so far, then what about a new one huh? Let's give it a try, certainly not a problem.

By the way, being new I am, I just sat there and watched them do their movements first, well maybe next time sooner after, my turn comes. Something, in the middle of the boring mood, caught my eye by the way. This one guy, a senior, who has been making a number of announcements when we have short breaks between two lectures, and he is a debater. An IMU debater, ex, in INTEC's case. He was having sort of discussion with I don't know whom, at this one side at the corner on the fourth floor. I assumed they were preparing for a debate or something. So, I can't help myself, but wonder, oh God, do I really have to do this?Like, dancing? Seriously? haha How about debating? I know quite sometime later, I will have to make a decision. Something to do with my life in the long run. I always look ahead and wanted to take the most and best out of everything. I really do. And debating, is the real life I was in. I look forward to get to that again, insya Allah. Seriously, I miss those times, when we fight, and when we talk, then we fight because we talk, and we talk because we want to give a fight! We debate, we discuss and we share ideas, it was really fun back then at school. Hopefully, that kind of moments would come again in my life, though maybe much more diffferent from what I expect it to be. Oh no, really, I am debataholic!! Wana go for it! :P

I have been doing good with books, because I like to read and make friends with books and 'socialize' with them. But as we go along, new things come in the way and you learn new lessons. Books are, yeah, books. I have to (unfortunately) finally accept that things are different in real life. Like, you know, they are real, so when you consider that, you need to account for how dynamic many things can be. The people, the circumstances, everything is like a whole different world. Instead of shifting from this other dimension of life though, I prefer to stay in between, and see if I could overstep to the other dimension, one at a time, but seriously world of words on printed books and eye straining laptop screens is much different from the world you are realistically in. Still, though like two sides of a coin, they are different. I am getting used to this and on my way to understand life better. I must now equip myself with as much knowledge as I possibly could, stretch my limit to its very max and make more successes. They said, if you wanted change, be the change!

Yes, I certainly will.. :)

Wassalam.

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Family

I have started rolling with two weeks already behind me. Never satisfied at the pace I am speeding, but it will take time before it all flourishes. As for now, I am prepared for more things to come. Lecture starts tomorrow on Monday so have to get used to the new timetable (or rather new life routine). Sorting out things is a sure matter. At the same time I am gradually tracing back my old friends from the Alma Mater and catching up on most of them, as far as I could reach. These three months, February, March and April will be a period of time when some of us are making their ways overseas, so break a leg dudes! We have gone our separate ways but there are many media and platforms that can keep us in touch and not falling apart. I believe that in the long run, the brotherhood ties will bring us all back together. There are indeed many things to make up with especially by me. Somehow I wonder what have I done and ended up with so many regrets that I think I always could have done more. Talking about us, there are both good and bad news. Nevertheless, life must go on, and there is no dot in this journey till the moment we breathe our last.

My family is of utmost important. Two sisters of mine are going to sit for important big exams this year-SPM and PMR. This is another issue indeed. Or rather a task to mind and give attention to. What is my part in making them successful? I am their brother, so I must really figure out fast on how to contribute. There are of course many constraints but surely not inevitable excuses that I can not handle. Being as far as I am from them (who are at home-8 hours if you take a bus), I must think of doing something useful and fruitful. Time is a real challenge. But no matter what, fuh, that's what makes me better and stronger of course.

Till this point, I will keep on going, clearing the path from the bushy days ahead, and Allah knows best what He has in store for me. Insya Allah I am praying that everything will be fine and at the moment, anatomy and physiology books really get me hooked. 

Wassalam.. :) 

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My housemates

Alhamdulillah so far everything is fine. IMU is a great place and I have yet to explore greater things. Will be pushing myself to the wall. INTEC's life is now only a thing of the past and it has been a virtually empty unproductive time and worst of all, I wasted two years. They went down the drain. Just like that.

Promise myself that I am gonna make this all up. And for the sake of doing it, I am ready for anything! Will have to be more organized and it is time to show people what I have got in me. I have been too slow at my pace of progressing-it must be that way no more.

The time has come dear! I have everything I want now, and insya Allah with His help and blessings, everything is gonna show up as planned. Slowly, but God willing, steadily will I make my way to the top again. It is a waste to not make full use of this opportunity. May I be the best me, coz only by choosing to be that way, the best is unleashed. I am waking up, from a sleep I myself have no clue about. And the dreams were the nightmare, and the days ahead are real. I am gonna face and wallop them all.

Housemates here at Vista Komanwel C are great! Love them all and hey, I barely get started with cooking! What? haha thanks mom, will become an expert when the time comes and will show you what I could do.

I wanted to have greater love to everyone, my family and friends especially and I want to do more. It is either now, or NEVER.. :)

Wassalam..

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Valentine-The Follow-up

Let me break it down for you,

From the previous post, I meant to deliver the fact about how wrong it is for Muslims to celebrate Valentine's Day, taking its history into account. But then again, my intention was rather not to be too specific. I was referring to knowledge in general, and not only Valentine-it is only a timely example. There are two situations here.

First, how do we risk ourself to be sinned for doing things we have no knowledge about.

Secondly, how do we avoid doing prohibited things without any knowledge for its prohibition by Islam.

Nobody's perfect. I believe, many would just take Valentine's Day as an awaited special day of the year to show their true love to their loved ones, similar to other special days like anniversary, birthday etc. But that is the danger of being too sure, as I described in another post.earlier. Turn the pessimistic thought into curiosity for the sake of seeking the truth and so that we do things because we have good reasons for it. This explains the first situation, which we should avoid so that we will not waste time regretting the past, only because we follow, rather than know.

However, my emphasis in this post is for the other one. I have to admit that sometimes, I am myself very optimistic to Islam that I tend to follow everything it says. It is not wrong, I suppose. But still, there's a defect in this. We are encouraged to find knowledge about things we should avoid doing, but as many might not realize, we are also in the same way, encouraged to seek knowledge about things we are instructed to do. An easy example would be the prayers (Solat). Do we know why is it made compulsory? And do we know the meanings of all (or at least most) of the things we recite when we pray? Think about it.. and I would hope and strive to make learning my top most priority as life is a continuous process of learning..

indeed... :)

Regards,
Wassalam..

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Valentine’s Day

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

Allah S.W.T has made a very clear explanation in the holy book of Quran in the second Chapter, Al-Baqarah, verse 120 with the following translation:

“Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with you unless you follow their form of religion. Say: The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance. Were you to follow their desires after the knowledge which has reached you, then would you find neither protector nor helper against Allah.”

We might have been too optimistic to too many people in this world. And the world now is one without border, one that is more dynamic and sophisticated than ever. Consequently, it creates such a world in which the word impossible, in a certain extent, valid no more. Despite certain belief that things can hardly be hidden nowadays, we might want to think otherwise. As opposed to the belief, people now are more cunning, and unluckily might not be on the good side. Are we living comfortably enough that we never realize the threat that we are facing nowadays? Be careful, a person you trust very much might be the one you should be afraid of most. We do not want to condone negative thinking, but it’s even worse if we get easily fooled and taken for granted out of our pure kindness and absolute innocence.

As Muslims, we are strongly encouraged to seek knowledge as it can be likened to a wall that protects a garden from the outside threat. Knowledge makes us safe, hence helps us stay on the true path. Valentine’s Day, celebrated annually on February 14, has its own history. Do we ever care about this, right before we join the party? Are we aware of what it means to wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to someone we love or don’t we care? Islam does not stop us from loving but it’s what we do to love that might be wrong and against the Islamic teaching. Therefore, we must be more careful and love Islam by making it our way of life.

Truly, there are different versions of history behind the celebration of the Valentine’s Day and of course, we need to know and study them, so that we understand the reason for its prohibition by Islam. The article I read from Utusan Malaysia dated February 9, 2009 gave a brief example of the history and in this post, I am going to make it even shorter-a very brief one.

First, Valentine’s Day is associated with the celebration of Lupercalia by ancient Romans, during the pre-Christianity era. Lupercalia is a cleansing ceremony or ritual they celebrated from 13 to 18 February. In the first two days, they worship Juno Februata, a Roman Idol for love. On 15 February, they had to choose two strong men whom, among other things, will march while women tried to get to them for animal’s skin they brought, believed to enhance their fertility.

The second story is associated with the death of a priest, St. Valentine during Claudius II’s reign, who was a Roman King. This story comes in two versions. Firstly, the Roman monarch and followers, whom worshipped idols, were against Christianity. Christians were tortured, jailed and prevented from disseminating Christianity. St. Valentine was not spared. He was finally brought to death sentence and this was executed on February 14, hence the date of Valentine’s Day.

The second version of this story is rather different. Claudius II prevented young men during his time to get married. This was so because Claudius II believed that these men were stronger that way. However, St. Valentine saw the opposite and secretly arranged the marriages of Roman young men. Eventually, when the King knew about this, St. Valentine was caught and sentenced to death. His death was recorded to be on 14 February 269, hence again, the Valentine’s Day.

Next, Valentine’s Day was by history, celebrated in conjunction with the fall of the great Islamic Empire in Andalusia, Spain. St. Valentine was responsible in the attempt to defeat Islamic reign during that time. This was looked up upon as a great contribution, and as a sequence, 14 February 1492, which was the day Islamic power in Spain lost to its enemy, become a day to celebrate love, as they believed that Islam was a religion which perpetrated cruelty.

The list of stories above is not exhaustive, so feel free to find more and you might want to correct mine, if in case I was wrong. I hereby would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a happy and blissful day. May Allah bless us all and may we talk again later (on my blog).

Take care, everyone.

References:

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Meaning of The Holy Quran

Mohd Amirul Asyraf bin Mohd Hanaffi (Ibnu Hanaffi)

jako_imp@yahoo.com

Mohd. Yaakub Mohd. Yunus

Utusan Malaysia (Monday, 9 February 2009)

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Lalala lala.. :)

hehe.. I will start updating on this blog again sooner or later.. :)

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