Kisah Budak Sekolah Dewasa Yang Nakal

I had my Arabic and Tajweed tests this week. Last Monday was Arabic.

We did the written test in the morning. Myself and Ms. As finished the paper early. And we can't take the checking and rechecking and rechecking anymore, both of us decided to pass up the paper early.

As usual, whenever we had free time from the class like when the teacher cut the class short for a meeting or when the teacher could not come, both of us would go to Bateel near my house (which is only five minutes drive from the centre), get us those rich-with-chicken-and-amat-sedap chicken pie and the gebu-gebu donut. Then we would hang out at my place bersuka ria. By now I really don't care that my house is like the broken junk. Janji makan chicken pie bateel.

So we did the same that day. yay yayy chicken pie. Our second session of the arabic test for dictation and reading should start at 10. We have one hour to spend. Mafi mushkila (no problem). However, it must be that our clock's timing is not the same, for while we were bersuka ria, one of our classmates called Ms. As and asking where we were. Dah nak start exam ni.

Ayooo lagi mau basuh mulut, lagi mau lilit tudung. Lagi mau drive.

As we got in the class, my arabic teacher was a bit upset. "Because you were late, we cannot start on the imlak and we had to start on the reading first. And since you made everybody wait, both of you will read the last!!" Gulp. If you do know a Palestinian woman, you would feel kinda scared seeing her raised her voice. They have strong personality. And I felt that the rest of the students were just staring us down.

Ana asifah (I am sorry), said Ms As. I err couldn't muster to say that in public.

Ms As felt really guilty though. It somehow reminded me of my school days. I am kinda immune with teacher's wrath, really. If everyday you go to school, you know at least once a day you kena sindir dengan cikgu (minimal), you have start building around you a wall against any authoritative figure. And plus my arabic teacher was laughing off after that and joking why we didn't bring any food for her.

But unlike the anger I felt for my teachers then, I did feel a bit guilty. Reason is because I like her and it is not a nice feeling to know that I have displeased her.

Today, on our tajweed exam day, I bumped into her while were parking our car. All smiling and chirpy. And she said, "Oh! Lollies you know I have marked all the papers. And you got 100%"

Really? Alhamdullilah! And there I was gloating here and there. What a wonderful news before the tajweed exam.

"I am very please," She said. Oh fly fly fly.

So after finishing the tajweed exam (early), I nudged Ms As, "Jom pergi bateel and get something for our cikgu arab". So we gave her the rich-with-chicken-and-amat-sedap chicken pie and the gebu-gebu donut. She was happy. And she asked, are you giving me this because of the other day?

I said noooooo. I am giving you this because you give me full marks.

hahahhahaha

So if no full mark, no bateel?

Of course no. Hahhahahaha.

This time round, dah dewasa ni, I am not so nakallah. Tapi apakah motive entry ini sebenarnya?

Ayam Siat

Yesterday, I felt so much like eating mee hoon soup. And I made them.

Made begedil. Made super dengung sambal kicap (oohh terliur memikirkannya).Boiled a kilo of chicken breasts. Seperate the bones and flesh, put the bones back in the soup and proceeded to siat the chicken breast. A quarter way through siating I was thinking to myself, whylah I trouble myself like this. Letih woi.

And then when it comes the time for me to celurkan the mee hoon, I found out that I ran out of mee hoon. Ayooo. Whylah tak check? Bijak bijak. Since I didn't bother to make the nasi impit earlier, I had to resort to boiling the spaghetti instead. Sungguh tak sama.

Alhamdullilah the sambal kicap took everything over. So jadi sedaplah segala. Oooh perasannya. I don't knowlah about you, but I cannot eat mee soup or soto without sambal kicap. No sambal kicap on mee soup most likely won't eat.

And we had a luxury of everything. Loads of ayam siat. Loads of begedil. Sambal kicap yang boleh di top up sesuka hati. Bawang goreng and soup lah of course. I guess that's the best thing about eating home cooked food. Otherwise kenalah pergi buffet, eat all you can.

We had leftover of ayam siat. So, the next day, I made sandwiches out of them.

Mix with a dollop or two or three spoons of mayonnaise into the ayam. Mix them up. Get some bread. Spread butter on the bread (if you like). Slice up cucumber and get fresh green salad yang ada titisan air supaya nampak fresh dan menyegarkan seperti dalam gambar iklan burger. Spread the dolloped ayam siat onto the bread and put all greeneries for effect and make sandwiches out of them.

And the taste is just like the chicken sandwich that they sell in those expensive kedai kopi. Just put it in the plastic container thingy, label it as setarbak. Letak harga mahal pun orang beli.

Sudikah anda membelinya? Dapat free lollipop dengan setiap pembelian.

Sesedih sedih aku pun..

As much as I am sad of the demise of my mum, I think it cannot be compared to my friend's sadness.

Ms Y just lost her father. Ms Y is a revert and the rest of her family are not. Knowing that her father died as a disbeliever distraught her tremendously. For we all know the fate of the disbelievers.

I have no words to comfort her. I am just lending her my ears...

We had a small talk with Ukht Waf. And Ms Y raised a few questions..

My father is living in a country which has no knowledge of Islam. The only knowledge of Islam we have is the man can marry four, the muslims do not eat pork and they like to fight and create war. We know nothing of Islam. Can this be considered as deprived of the knowledge of Islam that Allah may forgive one for that?



(silence filled the room)



You know my father never worshiped idols. He does not believe in all that. I have talked to him. He believes in God. Can that be considered he is not a mushrik?



(further silence)



When I heard he was really sick, I told my sister to put the phone on his ears, and I recited the shahadah to his ears. Who knows that he actually believe then.



(still silence)



Can I make a dua for him?

No. Sister you cannot.


I cannot? Not at all? But if we are righteous child, we can make dua for our parents..

Only if the parents are muslim sister.

And Ms Y cried.



And I further realised how much Merciful Allah is. Even after the death of our parents, we can still pray for their forgiveness. And their good deeds and good ilmu they spread will still work for them. Do we even realise how comforting that is to our heart? Knowing we can do such and such for our parents and also for ourselves?

---

Teringat kisah Nabi Muhammad masa the Year of Grief. masa time ni, the muslims kena economy sanction by the Quraish. Tahun ni jugalah Khadijah r.a. dan juga bapa saudara nabi, Abu Talib meninggal dunia.

Kita semua tau kan, despite the closeness of our Prophet s.a.w. to his uncle, his uncle remained a mushrik till the day he died. This grieved our prophet very much. And he made dua to seek for forgiveness for his uncle. And Allah revealed this verse

It is not (proper) for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allâh's Forgiveness for the Mushrikûn (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allâh) even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire (because they died in a state of disbelief). Tawbah 9: 113

This ayah was also revealed

Verily! You (O Muhammad SAW) guide not whom you like, but Allâh guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided Al Qasas 28:56

Dan teringat jugak kisah Nabi Nuh. When he pleaded his son, who was a disbeliever, to follow him to the ark. But his son refused and claimed that he can save himself by climbing up the mountain. He was later engulfed in the high water.

As a father, Prophet Noah a.s., was sad to see his son died in the water, he asked Allah.

And Nûh (Noah) called upon his Lord and said, "O my Lord! Verily, my son is of my family! And certainly, Your Promise is true, and You are the Most Just of the judges." Hud 11:45

Allah said to him

He said: "O Nûh (Noah)! Surely, he is not of your family; verily, his work is unrighteous, so ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge! I admonish you, lest you be one of the ignorant." Hud 11:46

And Prophet Noah a.s. repented

Nûh (Noah) said: "O my Lord! I seek refuge with You from asking You that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have Mercy on me, I will indeed be one of the losers." Hud 11:47

The same goes for Prophet Noah a.s wife and Prophet Lut's a.s. wife. Both the women were perished due to their disbelieve

Allah has made an example for those who are an unbelieving people: the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut. They were married to two of Our servants who were believers, but they betrayed them and were not helped at all against Allah. They were told: "Enter the Fire along with all who enter it." (Surat at-Tahrim 66: 10)

Not to forget the infamous of all Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Abu Lahab.

Perish the two hands of Abû Lahab (an uncle of the Prophet), and perish he![] (1) His wealth and his children will not benefit him! (2) He will be burnt in a Fire of blazing flames! (3) And his wife too, who carries wood (thorns of Sadan which she used to put on the way of the Prophet (SAW) , or use to slander him)[]. (4) In her neck is a twisted rope of Masad (palm fibre).Al Massad 111:1-5

And all of them remained to be among those who disbelieve despite having the best of opportunities being the closest to the prophets and their final abode is the Jahannam.

---

Allah knows best.

Hugs Ms Y.

I pray that all of us and also our family will not die unless we are in the state of Islam.

Things That Make Me Go Grrrrr

Now I can tell you among the things that make me go grrr as a continuation that I am garang (last post).

You know when you are at the cashier counter. And you want to fill up the things the cashier just registered. So you have to take up the fresh plastic bag and put your stuff in there. I always have problem with these plastic bags. Somehow they are not Lollies friendly. I always have a hard time opening up the bags. They are forever sticking to each other. I believe the more I rub the bag to open it, more electric charges discharging off of me making the plastics stick even more. It is so frustrating. Even more frustrating when the cashier is done with her job, and I have pile of things to be put in the bag and the waiting queue is long. All staring at me impatiently and no one cute is in the line.

My lover, though, doesn't seem to share this predicament of mine. He does not have any problem with the plastic bags. I retorted and said, that is because you have sticky fingers. Lizards and frogs have them too. :P

Indeed we should go plastic bag-less.

Before typing up this entry, I was enjoy my lempeng laden with onions and chillies. Cicah pulak dengan kari ayam pekat semalam. I ate them when it was still steaming hot. Glorious simple food! I was enjoying the curry swirling in my mouth and the sliced chillies are teasing my tongue when suddenly I found myself biting the food bomb. Do you now what a food bomb is? It's the cardamon. Ohhh and the explosion leaves you with an after taste lingering in your mouth for like the whole day. Total anti climax.

And biting a cardamon is one of the things that makes me go grrrrrr.

I also get Grrr when I accidentally kicked the table's foot or the bed or something. The toe hurt so much that my mind goes blank for a second but the pain remains forever. I really do feel like strangling someone when this happen.

The same goes when I bend down to take cengkih from the lower cabinet only to get up and bump my head on an open drawer above. Sakit tak terkata!

Hmm what else ah? I cannot think anymorelah. My head is steaming now due to the cili pedas in my lempeng. Tapi ahh sedapnya. Obviously by the time I finish typing this the cardamon taste has gone. But I tell you it was there like forever.

I am Garang

Someone just told me that someone said, she takut to want to tegur me. When this someone heard me made a joke, she was really surprised. And actually ask someone, whether I am usually funny?

Hmm

Hmm

Hmm

I really don't know what to make of these.

Am I garang, I ask myself? Do I look that scary and people rather not approach me? Or aloof? Or kerek looking?

And undeniably, I know she is not the first to think so. I know quite numerous people feel the same way. This is more apparent during the working days though. Unfortunately among the female gender.

Self reflect : Tak kot. I think I am friendly. Approachable. Warm. Accommodating.

True self reflect : Hmm perhaps not. Sometimes I probably am not as approachable to people I do not know. Tapi bukan semua orang macam tu ke? Hmm but I do wonder myself why other people make friends more easily than I do. But then, most of the time my efforts are too little.

But if I do fall in love with you, I would go an extra mile for you.

Too Much Romantic

I remembered more than three years ago when my lover announced that he is accepted to come to Qtar. I remembered how I cried. I remembered how I didn't want to go.

I remembered also how depressed I was coming over here. I was either crying or arguing with him. I didn't like everything. I didn't like the lifestyle and the activities that I have to endure here. The makan and makan and makan and pot luck and pot luck and gatherings and gatherings and the borak and borak are just too much for me.

Allah has planned that things happen the way it happened to all of us. My mum passing away was a big milestone for me. So much so, with her death, I knew for certain that I must be with my husband. Life is too short to be away from each other.

Then I started making myself busy and became the ASS and met lots of people and assumed responsibility of editorialship tak fofessional.

Then again I complained to lover about the lack of religious knowledge especially the children. Alhamdullilah, even before I came here I have been teaching Haziq the Iqra' so we just resume from there. There were Fardhu Ain class for the kids but I knew it was not enough. Conducted in mainly Indonesia/ Malaysia was tough for my kids. So I knew I had to give them more. I tried the best I can. Still i don't think it's good enough.

But then again, there are usrah activities. Alhamdulillah for the Ustazs from Indonesia who are here as Muezzin. And there are also efforts bringing in speakers from Malaysia. Abdullah Yassin, Dato' Ismail Kamus, Azmil Mustapha, Dr. Hassan Mahmud Al Hafiz, Hussein Yee (He is coming again this middle of the month), SaifulIslam and many more. Alhamdullilah.

Not to mention International speakers like Hamza Yusuf, Yusuf Islam, Yusuf Estes, Bilal Philips, Yvonne Wridley and many more. They are brought in by F@nar and Qtar Guest Centre.

This year, Alhamdullilah, has turned into an amazing year to quickly eat up the romantic fruits. So much so I have to make a list for you.

Barakallahufik to the Malaysian ladies who put so much effort to start a fardhu ain. they braced through so much politics and perebutan kuasa and bureaucracy. Now the Malaysian fardhu Ain classes are conducted in Fanar every fortnight on Saturday evening. Unfortunately the kids' classes are full. But there are still spaces for the teens. Interested?

Q@tar Guest Centre (QGC), one of the most prominent daawah centre here in Qtar are also conducting classes for children from the age 4-13 on Saturday morning. It's called Q M Y S A P. Qtar Muslim Youth Saturday Programme. They started with the boys' class since last December. Refer to the web page HERE. It's a wonderful programme which not only are offering religious knowledge but also ensuring that they do sports. For mow the kids are doing football, volleyball ad basketball. Soon it will be swimming. And they are also looking at horse riding and archery. Ohh la la. The head of this programme is Dr. Bil@l Philips himself. What more is, the fathers must attend the boys' programme too for they have a class for adults. Kalau tak mo datang, takleh join. Sorry.

They are reviewing the Fundamental of Tawheed and the fathers yang kena buat presentation on each topic. My lover presented a topic on Fortune Telling and Astrology last week. tee he he

They just started the girls programme under the same banner. Alhamdullilah. I uhuk uhuk am the programme's treasurer. Mak gatal volunteer uols. Padan muka kena balancekan balance sheet tiap-tiap minggu! The mothers also must attend the adult class and are also reviewing the same book. Naturally I chose the same topic as lover's to present. Please wonder why. Tee he he The parents must do sports too. Seronok!!

The children are using The Islamic Education books by darussalam. And we are using the Fundamental of Tawheed. I must tell you, I am not entirely fond to read tawheed book. So it's kind of good to be forced even though I have only managed up to page 22. Tulisan dia keciklah uol. Pinau mata makcik ni hah.



I love the idea of this programme. I pray it works out as the per the objectives.

Alhamdullilah, I am still at my arabic and tajweed classes. In the tajweed class we are reciting up to Al A'ala at the moment. I am happy with both of these classes. Indeed, these two classes have opened up so many doors for me. Alhamdullilah by the Grace of Allah. I am ever thankful to Him. May Allah reward all the teachers and sisters there with Jannah.

I am also attending another class which is Tafseer class. At the moment we are doing Al Baqarah (now 74-82). This is just a wonderful class to go to. I have always love tafseer but not as much as these. And I know what she is doing is nothing heavy pun. Just scraping to help us open more doors. I pray that Allah makes it easy for me (and for you) to go to tafseer class. So we can be carried away savouring the world of the Glorious Quran. There are homework of course. Alhamdullilah english is not a problem to me (I am saying this because I notice English is an obstacle for a few sisters. May Allah make it easy for them). I thank Allah and I pray that I can use this ability for His sake.

After the class sometimes we have general lectures on Fiqh and other things. Otherwise normal programme is to review the book The Ideal Muslimah by Dr Muhammad Ali al Hashimi.



My lover has started to take up class too. :D :D :D Alhamdullilah. Allah is most Merciful. Makcik suka banget. He is going to the lectures by Bilal Philips on Tafsir Al Mulk. It's open for both men and ladies (but I tak pergi). Be there at Fanar mosque on Friday between Maghrib and Isyak.



The truth is there are just so many avenues to learn about the deen here. You are really spoilt for choice.

For arabic : Go to either QCPI or Maryam center (the one that I go to) for beginners (FREE). For advanced got to Qtar Guest center ada for men or for women (ada bayar sikit). Go to Qtar Uni. Ramai gak Msians yang pergi ni. (ada bayar banyak). And many more paid ones.

Tajweed : Ustaz-ustaz indonesia. Haziq goes to one. Maryam Centre (the one I go to) and Markaz Mozza, near Al Waab Street and QCPI(FREE). BTW QCPI and Fanar are the same thing.

General Lectures : Do come to our weekly tafseer and general lectures at Markaz Al Zahra (QR200 you get books and stuff throughout the year).

Watch out for talks at Fanar (Hussein Yee is coming 10-14th February. So is his daughter. Both of them are doing tremendous daawah activities). The Malaysians do invite a lot of speakers as well. We have usrah groups and such.

Hadith Class : Every Thursday at fanar after Isyak. Brothers only.

The Lives of the prophets Lecture : For ladies only. If you have teenage girls I suggest you go. At Markaz Al Zahra on Saturday 5-7 p.m.

If you need details just email me at hudishh@gmail.com. But I am not handling any of these activities. I am just dishing information aje.

Anywaaayyyyyyyy..so much of my grief of coming here before. Ask me now, am I happy living here?

The Arabs Took Our Language

Did I ever tell you that I love my new Arabic teacher? Well not lah so new. I have been with her since last October. When she first came to our class, she seemed sooo garang. Her voice was loud and coarse and she seemed tough. But I guess that is the personality of a Palestinian woman. Very strong. When she speaks, she speaks really fast and you can hear her miles away. But she is hilarious! And the best part is, she doesn't even know she is funny. And she loves to wink when she makes jokes, which makes me laugh even more.

Anyway, since most of my readers (I think) are Malays or at least people who understand the Malay Language, you can probably relate to me when I said that some of our vocabularies are similar to the arabic vocab. You know like ilmu, fitnah, tamak, salji and many more.

So it is not surprising that when my teacher introduces new words, I would say, hey, we use the same word too. And it's not just us the Malays, the urdu language use alot of arabic words too. (In my class there are Malaysians, Indonesians, Hindi, Pakistani, Phillipines and Barbados. SO we have samples only from these countries)

Tired of keep pointing out that we use the same word too, she said, "Yeah! Yeah! I know. We borrow it from you." Hahahhahahhaha!

From then on, each time there is a new similar word, I would say, "Why you arabs are taking so many of our language?" She would laugh so hard and ruffle my errr hijab. By the way she loves to ruffle my head (should be hair, but since I have the hijab on..) She would reply and said, "We are borrowing language from all over the world, the Malay, Urdu and God knows what.". And the way she said it, with her booming coarse voice and her laughing face, made it so hilarious sampai meleleh air mata aku.

It's funny because we all know that it's not true. The arabic vocabularies are so rich and so clever and twisting.

Ana uhibbu mmudarisati fi Lillah.

Ana - I
uhibbu - I love (can omit the word ana if you use uhibuu)
mudarisati - my (female) teacher
fi Lillah - for the sake of Allah.

Signs

After three years staying in a gulf country, I think I can read some tell tale signs and forecast the change of season. I blogged sometime in November 2006 that one of tell tale signs that winter is coming is the morning fog. Read it HERE. And then of courselah the drop of temperature gradually. And the nice breeze and the calmer sun and flowers blooming everywhere. Read it HERE.

Likewise, when winter is ending, you will also be greeted with the morning fog. And temperature increase (huhuhu). Warmer breeze. And probably browning plants.

I went to the Aspire last Friday morning, which is by the way what we, the whole family, are doing every Friday morning since the winter started. It's really nice there in the morning. We try to uhuk uhuk jog, uhuk uhuk brisk walk or just walk or even taking a picture of my man doing the karate kid stunt. The Aspire has great jogging tracks and they make it slightly hilly so even if you don't run, at least you need effort to walk. The kids really need this. And I don't really like sedentary lifestyle that we have to live due to our current living environment. So haziq and jack ride their bikes and Sya rollerblades (early birthday present. better buy now when it's cold). Lover grumbles alot because he cannot continue his sleep. Then when I told him, I will go even if he is not coming (because the kids really do wake up early for this), terpaksalah gak dia ikut. Tee he he. Gertak acah aje tu.

Anyway last Friday we were greeted with a very dense fog. The kids were quiet on the way because it was kind of scary. There are always accidents on the road during this fog. Piled-up kind of accidents.

And when we got there it was kinda ghostly, but very nice.





Tapi winter dah nak habis. Huhuhu. temperature now is about 32C tengahari and pagi about 15C.