The Wise and the Patient.

Since we move to this house, i sent haziq to the masjid nearby for his quran. Alhamdulilah he enjoys his class even though none of the sheiks speak english and he doesnt speak much arabic either. But well, he'll pick up here and there i suppose.

When he first had his exam with this blue eyed sheikh, he told me he couldnt even look at the sheikh. The exam was one to one and face to face. And the sheikh would look at him above his glasses with deep piercing blue eyes. Eyes so blue that you can swim in it.

Haziq further describe this exam sheikh as someone who looks so wise. You can see wisdom in his eyes in his face in his smile and in his question. Even when he singles out haziq and ask him, "hal anta tafham?"( do you understand). It is as if only wisdom springs from his speech. The fact that he speaks arabic fusha (standard arabic) makes his speech beautiful. Masya Allah!

This sheikh we always refer as The wise sheikh.

And there is another one. He is the mudir of the centre. The kahuna. Haziq describes him as a very patient man. Haziq also said his feet is like those who is firm. He has firm and steadfast feet. How do you know this Haziq. I don't know, i just feel so.

Well perhaps the sheikh is.

He is the firm and patient sheikh - based on his feet.

As long as they are good description. Otherwise better to keep it to yourself.

I ask allah that the sheikhs are even better than what we think of them. And may their good characters rub on their students.

Having said that, we are not taksub to any of Allah's creation. Allow me to share this clip. The sheikh being address is Sheikh Uthaymeen rahimullah

Allah Gives it Life

Among the joy of gardening must be to see a dead plant revived to life again.

Especially after witnessing many wilt to the increasing heat, or lack of maintenance, or pesticides or whatever that Allah wills.

Your effort : Good soil, placing it where it will receive right amount of sun depending the type of plant, right amount of water, fertilisers.

Whether it will live or otherwise, is entirely up to Allah. Until when it will live is up to Allah.

Al Fussilat 41:39
And among His Signs (in this), that you see the earth barren, but when We send down water (rain) to it, it is stirred to life and growth (of vegetations). Verily, He Who gives it life, surely is Able to give life to the dead (on the Day of Resurrection). Indeed! He is Able to do all things. (39) 

Ar Rum 30:50Look then at the effects (results) of Allâh’s Mercy, how He revives the earth after its death. Verily, that (Allâh) (Who revived the earth after its death) shall indeed raise the dead (on the Day of Resurrection), and He is Able to do all things. (50)

Meanwhile, since we do not know Allah's scheme of things, we put our effort and tawakkal.

I suppose the joy of gardening is seeing the fruits of Allah's plan. Thus seeing life in His signs. 

2013

Already the third month of the year eh? Alhamdulillah for the chance to continue living and amend and work harder. By the way did I tell you I turned 40 last year? Alhamdulillah. A strong reminder that youth years are over and I can only pray that the little deeds I tried to do are accepted. Ya Rabb.

Some changes this year with timings. My lover's office changed his timing from 730 in the morning to 7. His office is approximately one hour away. So he needs to be out by 6 to be on time. The thing is, he usually sends the kids to school. Thus giving me time to cook before I go to class.

To send the kids now, he should go out the latest 540 in the morning and the kids will be there at 6 in the morning waiting for the gate to be opened.

Cut story short, it is decided that i will be sending the kids from now on. This would jeopardize the quality of food because I usually use that time before my 8 o'clock class to cook.

To top it, the traffic to and fro to this current house has worsened. With the roads that are forever under construction, I can only make premonition that it'll get worse. I have to be even more creative with cooking that should be quick and easy. Buying out is among the most top three options. :P

I suppose this the answer to my du'a that I ask Allah to give barakah to my time. Usually when you are busier, you tend to use your time better. Alhamdulillah ala kulli hal. We must try to make best out of this situation. Sure I am disappointed with his office but we must seek goodness to calm the heart. Of course meanwhile I ask lover if they allow to do flexible timing. Tapi I know the answer with these arabs. Dia orang kerja doha aje, senanglah cakap.

So I get to hear first hand whether the kids are doing their adzkar. Haziq has a funny way ensuring they do recite though. Main snap-snap finger aje.

I get to memorise in the car. Baca kuat-kuat dalam kereta macam dalam studio. I will upload more lectures on the iphone/ ipad. The car has bluetooth connection to the sound system. Memang blast! I am hinting to lover, I want an increase in allowance. Tee he he. Kerja lebih tak ada cuti tak ada mc babe. Tapi rasanya tak ada can. It doesn't hurt to try.

On another note, I admit I am tired out at the end of the day and prefer to spend time at home. Alhamdulillah, I rarely got invited. Come weekend all i want is to have a good morning exercise with the kids, hearty breakfast, halaqah after solat jumaat and board games after that or outing with them alone. And KAFA on Saturday. This is joy to me. Alhamdulillah.

I pray that you are in Allah's protection always.

The Flowers are Brighter on the Other Side

We were told by our compound guard that they had bouganvilla planted in all houses. But ours didn't have this colourful easy to maintain flowers. Instead we had bushy, half dried creeping jasmines. Of course, if this country is autumn with pleasant sun, creeping jasmine on the wall would be nice. Alas, the summer is cruel, it wilts the fragile leaves and flowers. So i pulled out all the jasmines and planted a few bouganvilla around the wall. Personally, I think, this is the easiest plant to grow in this country. Very little maintenance except watering, fertilsing and pruning. And yet, under the hot sun, it blossom to bright colour flowers. The climbing one has the most beautiful effect. It's climbing very slowly though. I planted it last November. It's quite a tall wall to climb.


Look it's peeking out from the wall now, exclaiming, Freedom! Tee he he


Only one for now though because this one had a headstart compared to the rest of the bouganvilla. In November it was already at half the wall. It takes about three months to climb the next half of the wall.

And these are my neighbours'. Masya Allah!


Subhanallah. It's really nice to have all the neighbours who love flowers as well. Alhamdulillah I get to enjoy the colours everyday.

Tight Space

I am beginning to love my new house. Its smaller but very cosy. It's easier to clean up as well (relative). But there are a few things that bug me initially.

Like for instance, my compound is right at the smack of the heart of traffic jam. AFter a few route run, I have found a reasonable route that I think is the fastest. This route, will force me to take Salwa Road which is actually a very long road, running from the central Doha up to Saudi. It's like an extended Jalan Tun Razak.



This road however has been on construction for ages and just recently managed to install a new traffic light set very near my house. And because the road is still under construction, it has a lot of diversion and winds about.

To get to my compound, I have to be careful that the car behind me is not trailing me too near because I have to make a quick swerve into my very tight compound entrance and pray to God that my car doesnt scratch the compound gate.

To top it, to actually get into my garage, I have to make another swerve into a tight corner and quickly get my car straight again to enter the garage.

The parking garage space is long. Yes, it can fit both our cars even though my lover prefers to park outside because to park both, it really is a bumper to bumper situation and I have to drive up close and personal to the wall and the other car have to get up close and personal to my car. Suffice to say, it's easier to park one car outside.

But that is no matter. The bigger matter is, it is a very loooonnng, narrow parking space.



To ensure easy exit out later, the getting in must be good. All eyes must be set to 360 degree so that the car doesn't rub onto anything. And to exit, will be another round of carefulness.

Now I am getting a hang of it.

Yeah I am. The moment I get onto Salwa Road and had to swerve left right at a speed and avoid slow cars and diversion and must finally maintain the middle lane to get a good spot later - I am already feeling like Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron) in "The Italian Job".

I am Stella Bridger with a Hijab

And when I swerve into my tight compound entrance, I am her again, swerving and making 90 degree turn into the metro line and making continuous calculative judgment and more tight corners. All eyes on the road. Sharp and quick!

And into the long garage with very little space to maneuver. There is no room for mistake! Do not even sweat!

And then halt!

Alhamdulillah safe and sound. And back into mummy's mode.

My Stella Bridger moment.

Nevermind my shortness, I have got a huge SUV instead of a mini cooper to compensate for it.

We are Going on a House Hunt

We are going on a house hunt
We are not sure which one
What a beautiful time
We are not sad.

My house contract will be ending this coming 20th June. We wanted to continue staying because we loved it. Qadr Allah the landlord didn't want us. He in fact has bigger plans. he will demolished all his 6 villas to build flats on the very spot.

What a pity. the houses are very nice. Well maintained. Wonderful finishing. Well sized. It is almost ideal.

I guess we can see it coming. Our house is currently surrounded by the giant flats. The house is a dwarf compare to its surroundings. We also see potential parking hazard ver soon once the flats get occupied. Man it is beginning to be a trouble now. I am an expert in writing NO PARKING in arabic now and putting it on the respective windscreen.

Jack cried when we told the children. Awww he has a tender heart. Almost upon cue, I consoled him.

Begin

Insya Allah we will find another place. I love this place too. But it is temporary. All places are temporary. In fact everything is temporary. Allah has given us a nice place to enjoy temporarily, and we have occupied it to the best we could, it is time to move on. Let us pray that Allah will replace this house which is something better for us in dunya and akhirah.

End

Now, I am going out almost everyday hunting for the house. Am scrolling adverts. Stuck like glue on the monitor screen. Dive my head into the papers. The market doesn't look very exciting. the price is slightly up.

And worse nothing can match what we have now.

I need to read again what I told Jack.

Goto begin

May Allah replace us with a better house that will only bring us closer to Him.

Be Good to Thy Neighbour

Next to my house is a local family. Not only are they local nationality, the man of the house is also the brother of my landlord. So sangat-sangat VVIP.

Anyway we didnt get to a very good start. When we parked very near to his house border, he sort of told my lover off. And sometimes when we try to make eye contact, we as in my lover and the man while me with the wife of course, you don't find the arab men to talk to women neighbours like we do in Malaysia. Anyway when we try to make eye contact, they avoided us. What more, the wife upon reaching home from work, drove by the driver, will wait for the car door to be opened, the gate opened and the nain door opened, then she will walk straight into the house.

Anyway we basically ignored each other. But one day I was listening to a lecture which advised to be good to neighbours. It was the first 10 Dzulhijjah, to do something extra to gain ajr. As usual the mu'alimah suggested exchange (or maybe just one sided pun tak apa) of food or anything. So I said to myself, what the heck, why not. No harm done insya Allah.

I know they have kids - 3 young boys in their primary school age - thus I bought a dozen of personally selected Krispy Kreme Donut.

When I ding dong their house, the helper spoke to me through the intercom with the voice that sounded panic and bewildered, "Yes. What do you want?", she asked. I had to explain that I am their immediate neighbour and I have something to give her. When she opened the gate, her face still panic-looking, her master was at the main door equally looking surprised but all of their expression changed when I passed them the Krispy Kreme box, "For the boys" I said. Then the helper went cheerful and thanked me on behalf of her master.

I didnt speak to the master.

I felt... good doing it. It doesn't really matter now whether we never talked, really what do you expect with the locals here, nor do we have eye contact or anything. I am just glad I did it.

One fine day, here was a ding dong at my house. It was the maid next door, and she practically screamed at the intercom, 'I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU MADAAAAAAAM". I opened the door and laughed. In her hand was a huge wovened basket of assortments.

Wow! I told my lover. This must be expensive, judging by the the quality of the confectionaries. Hmmm could this pose some form of dillema. I mean I would love to exchange food once in a while but I really do not want to make it into a competition. Surely I can't afford expensive confectionery like this. Well we agreed that we give when we want to give and what we want to give and will Insya Allah try our best to do it for Allah. The last bit is the hardest.

After sometime, I went to buy a cake for them.

A few days ago, they gave me this fancy decorated chocolate ala ala hantaran kahwin. Seriously nak makan pun sayang tau. There is candy floss in small cases too. Macam make up pulak.

Arabs really love this fancy confectionery. And that is why chocolate shops like patchi and godiva and many other confectionery shops are thriving. All these fancy decorated sweet shops are really good business here.

I wonder if I make something homemade would it be good enough to give them? Ataupun we will stick to a safe one, cakes and sweets of the sort. Yeah maybe we'll do the latter.

Ooooppsss

I was driving to pick up the kids the other. I got at the junction where I am supposed to turn left. The traffic light was red and I stopped.

Then I heard honking. I ignored it for a few seconds because honking is so common so why bother. It has become some background nice sometimes. But the honking went on. I turned right. There was a Ford Mustang next to me. The driver was a man with long red curly hair tied up in a pony tail making a huge mop style hair. He was smiling and talking something in a made up sign language.

Oh he was asking permission from me to cut queue and whether he can go in front of me. Oh, what a nice chap, asking permission to cut queue. That was new. So I let him while I busy myself doing what I like in the car.

But he couldn't get in immediately because there was not much space in front of me and the light was red. So there he was waiting at the end of the line of short poles that are put so people don't cut queues or to put division between those who wants to drive straight or make a turning.

*Blink*. the light is now green. I gave him time to get in front of me because I am patient that way. And at that very moment, I heard a short police siren. Oooppss the big police Toyota Landcruiser was next to him pointing to him! He tried to say something to the police by giving some made up sign language. But the police was not buying it or he couldn't understand the sign language or he didn't find his mop red hair cute, followed the Mustang and tell him to stop over.

Oh!

But he did ask for permission.

Ladies First

I went to the bank to open an account. We finally found a bank which allows joint account and also account for women who does not work (not that we have been dilligent enough to look for it though). Because lover works, we went after office hours. If I need to go to the bank during the office hours, I can chose to go to the lady's section of the bank.

There will be no men in the ladies' section. No man allowed. No male workers. Niqabis can take off their niqabs and women staff are usually very glamorous. In Arab world, glamour means GLAMOUR with a capital G.

So we went to the normal bank where they serve all genders. Women have the privilege for an all woman's place but if they want to, they can go to the all gender place.

After sometime sitting there, more people came in and more women came in too. The manager of the bank (male) quickly came to us women, and asked our needs and if your needs are easy, they quickly entertain you. He didn't ask from any of the men. Thus as it goes in this country, many women skip queue.

Really, this is a normal scene in this country. The women get served first. The women, even she is last on the queue will be called up to the front. Not in all sectors though.

They don't do it when you queue for fast food in Qatar. Unlike Saudi, where almost all places are a total segregation between man and woman. If you are in Saudi, I suggest you tell the women to buy if there is a woman's section. It is way faster.

In Qatar, if you need to make car inspection or car insurance, it is much faster to ask the wife to do it. It'll be done in a jiff while the men might have to queue for hours. Even if you had an accident, they will give priority if the one who called is a woman. Men will be treated with double standard and maybe harshness.

When a woman wants to cross the road, the locals would press brake even if they are speeding. You can tell where they are from if they don't stop for the women - usually the Asians. When man wants to cross the road, pandai-pandai engkaulah.

Not because they are miang but they really do not want to leave women in distress for long. Well there are some cases of miangness, but most of the time is the respect for women and the idea that women should not be distressed for long.

For now, in this country, the woman are treated like queens. I suppose, when woman demands total equality, they will get it. And by then, do not expect anyone to hold the door for you anymore.

Haven't Talked about the Dune for a Long Time

It's coming to winter nowadays. The weather is really pleasant. And indeed is not the time to be spending indoors. I went to dunes as usual. Didn't snap as much photos as before but bits of this and that.

Here is one. I don't know whether it is clear enough in the photo. It shows a car riding on the steep crescent of the dune. This requires high powered car, skill and bravery I must say. I have neither of those thus I will probably never do the stunt.



Or perhaps a youtube on the show. Don't mind the roaring engine sound that shook the sanddune.

Free Parking

When I came to Qatar in 2005, there was only one parking place that charges the patrons which is the airport parking. The rest of Qatar is free parking for all including the kerbs and whatever space you can squeeze your car on.

A few years later, they started dishing out summons those who park on kerbs and slap you with three demerit points while they are at it. (maximum demerit points is 14 for license suspension (i think)).

Then i think it was last year that they "beautify" the open parking space at the most prominent souk here - Souk Waqif. With a toll booth, clearly identifed lines for your parking bay, smaller space to park for everyone's mostly 5.4 gazoline drinker vehicles and smaller space to manouver as you reverse your car to get out and they began to charge you QR3 per entry.

This year the first major shopping mall is beginning to follow suit. With a whopping QR2 for one hour, QR5 for two hours, QR8 for three hours and QR10 each for further hours. The reason, as quoted by management which had inputs from loyal shoppers, is the difficulty to find parking at the mall because many selfish users are parking without actually going to the mall rather to work at nearby offices.

EVERYONE LOVES TO PAY FOR THEIR PARKING SPACE

Oh well.

So I went the other day, forgetting that they are already charging the parking. When I got there and saw the booth and the gantry and the signboard about the parking charges, I regretted immediately for coming. (We can still enjoy free parking elsewhere here). The parking space has gotten smaller. Also they put a sensor on the floor in a form of two small humps thus not allowing my long car to enter fully into the bay.

Anyway when I am done with shopping (got three scarves really nice and cheap. Wee heee)), I proceeded to the parking meter machine. Lo and behold! It was out of service! Great! And there is only one machine there. No information was put, so I had to assume that there is another parking meter machine at another exit in the middle of the mall.

Lo and behold again! It was also out of service!

Getting a bit pissed off, had to walk further to find another machine.

Lo and behold again and again! It says it is out of service in arabic!

Bleargh!

Went to the information counter and calming myself while at that. It is an ugly sight to see a woman screaming at an information counter I think.

So I asked and the info counter girl said, oh it is still free.

Lo and behold!

Ceh!

In my defense, the papers said initially 1st of july then they said 18th July. When I went it was after 18th. Plus they should put some signange telling us that it is still free.

Alhamdulillah for calming down.

The Hot Water from the Hose is Unlike Al Hameem

It is the month of July again. Where the summer heat in the Middle East is soaring. Not to the fullest peak but already reaching 50 Celcius in the noon.

I am still steadfast in taking care of my plants. The challenges are high really. I must say many of the "softer" plants have wilt or burnt or died mercilessly.

When I water them in the morning, even before seven, the water from the hose is hot. Even when i water them later in the day, the water from the hose is hot. At night when the sun is shining on on the other part of the world, the water from the hose remains hot.

The conclusion is the plants are all the time enduring hot water.

Some die but many remain very much alive (at least that's what I hope for my small garden.)

Can you imagine being forced to take hot water all the time?

At least the plants are in my jannah - my garden.

Those in hell will be forced to take hot boiling water. And hell is no garden

Al Waqia 56: 51-56

Then moreover, verily, you the erring-ones, the deniers (of Resurrection)! "You verily will eat of the trees of Zaqqûm. "Then you will fill your bellies therewith, "And drink boiling water on top of it. "And you will drink (that) like thirsty camels!". That will be their entertainment on the Day of Recompense!

The arabic word to watch for is Al Hameem - EXTREMELY HOT WATER

Muhammad 47: 15

(Are these) like those who shall dwell for ever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels?

Al Kahf 18: 29

And if they ask for help (relief, water) they will be granted water like boiling oil, that will scald their faces. Terrible is the drink, and an evil Murtafaq (dwelling, resting place)!

Ibrahim 14: 16-17

In front of him (every obstinate, arrogant dictator) is Hell, and he will be made to drink boiling, festering water. He will sip it unwillingly, and he will find a great difficulty to swallow it down his throat[], and death will come to him from every side, yet he will not die and in front of him, will be a great torment.

As Sad 38: 57

This is so! Then let them taste it, a boiling fluid and dirty wound discharges.

And then there is Al Ghassaq which is boiling fluid and dirty wound discharges . The festering pus that oozes out of the skin pf people of hell. the juice of the people of hell.

As Sad 38: 57
This is so! Then let them taste it, a boiling fluid and dirty wound discharges.

The hot water from the water hose is unlike Al Hameem.

May Allah protect us from Hell fire.

When the Lights Went Out

As you know it is summer in middle east and it is hot. Reaching 50C in the mid afternoon. Thus you can imagine that we need the air condition all the time. All houses have air condition in every room except the toilet. And as expected the summer electricity bills shoot up. (water bills also because I had to use more water for the plants).

In this not so new house now we are even more dependent on the electricity. The landlord provided us with electric ceramic top cooker (tak suka!!!!)

Somehow the electricity provider has been doing a bit of hiccups in this sweltering hot season and have cut off electricity too many a time. This is not something normal and it has left us in the hot just a bit too frequent.

Normally, which is really really rare like once in three years, when there is a need of maintenance work or upgrading, they would notify us beforehand. But these past few weeks we have been experiencing black out surprises, not to our liking.

It was just a few days ago we had one at 8 in the morning. I rushed the kids to take their shower because without electricity the water pump is stalled thus leaving us without water very soon.

Then I cannot cook because we use electric cooker. (hooray for great excuses!)

No air condition. Alhamdulillah we could stand it for a while. The house was cooling.

Then no internet. That's like almost no life for me.

Not to mention my computer is acting up nowadays perhaps due to frequent sudden shut down.

Upon enquiring, they said its due to cable failures. Might take 5 hours to repair.

I decided to wait for sometime. Just in case you know. Come Dzuhur, we are already hot and we need food and things to do other than the reading and congkak game we were playing, I decided to go out.

The thing is, my car is parked within the compound of my house (Alhamdulillah). Under the shade. Alhamdulillah. Sealed by a roller shutter that I can use remote control on. Alhamdulillah. So Insya Allah tak adalah kisah-kisah macam ni lagi. READ HERE.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know already, roller shutter that uses remote control, uses electricity for it to roll up and down.

So when the lights went out, lollies got stuck in the house.

But naaahhhh, I called the cab instead.

Meeting the Parents

We had parents-teacher's day at the K@Fa we are doing here. This was the follow up after the mid term exam we had last week.

Subhanallah i never did know the amount of work that needs to be put in the whole affair. To write the exam paper. To reconcile with other teacher who is also teaching the boys of the same level.

Oh by the way, we have separated the boys and the girls for each level except for the youngest ones. And only female teachers teach the girls and the men with the boys. And I enjoy it very much. Finally I can hear the girl's voice! They have been too quiet all these while. maybe drowned in the rowdy boys' voice or mainly too shy to speak. After we separated them, they can finally give answers or talk girls' things with me.

That reminds me, we were in the subject of seerah and I was leading them to the story of the marriage between prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam and Khadijah. How Khadijah was impress with prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam good manner, trustworthiness and kindness. And the girls were oohhhing and ahhing. Amboi cerita pasal kahwin terus suka. And they started telling me what kind of man they would like. "I like handsome man", said one girl. Amboi!

Wokey, anyway, I was saying, we had teacher's parents day. So I finally get to know the parents. So many came! Masya Allah! Even though many came, but the ones that i want to see most did not come. Qadr Allah. My heart was swelling with happiness for those who came.

I have never talked almost non stop for more than four hours! And that also because I think I was too passionate in talking to the parents and sharing K@FA's aspirations and my own personal aspiration for the children and the parents, I took my time talking to them. Kesian parents kena beratur tunggu giliran.

I met a few parents who shared with them their aspirations too. Allahumma Bareek. And among them there is one lady who said for a year she was worried about her children's deen and spent her time teaching them herself. When finally she heard of K@FA, she quickly enrolled her children. Masya Allah! I was surprised because, her daughter is really very clever and seem to be at ease in learning the deen. She did a good job! She definitely must never stop teaching the children! *LOVES*

And also, since I am teaching the younger groups (age : 5-8), I find may parents who are concern that their children are naughty in class. And dengann sifat kemelayuan, many parents would say, "marahkan aje anak saya. jangan takut-takut." and "Tell me if he is naughty." I lover tau. mana ada marah-marah ni. LOL.

I learned tremendous seeing other more expert teachers handling this day and things in general. I learned more about parents. *EXCITED*

I went back tired and famish. But I felt happy to the point of crying. Mungkin makcik sedikit kememeh minggu ini.

I pray that all these children will grow up righteous and become the leaders among the muttaqun.

Now now now I have to concentrate on my own exam coming up this Wednesday. Exam yang ni tak ada parents teachers day.

Quiz

The New President of the ASS (the Malaya association that i was the editor for in 2006-2007) asked me to participate in a quiz for the Qtar national day. The quiz is for the non-arab expats in this country.

Hmmm hmmm hmmm.

Punyalah banyak hmm, finally I did agree to it. I don't know why I agreed. Whereas I know I have exams and TONNES of unfinished work this week. Sedikit menyesal pun ada.

But I went on anyway along with nine other team members who are more knowledgeable than I am. He he. We had to read up the history of Qatar. How it was found, formed and general knowledge.

The quiz was held last night. SOme written questions and some verbal. Thankfully it is team work effort. Kalau sorang-sorang mati kot.

The other countries that participated were India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Phillipines and I cannot remember the other one.

I haven't read anything factual as much as this in a few hours. To the extent I can now recite to you the country's national anthem. I can also list down the rulers of this country since 19th Century.

Kepala pun tepu.

Once in a while I would disturb one of the participants and discuss through. I think that was helpful. Talking helps?

Anyway the important thing to tell you is WE WON! He he. Cash plice woooo!!! QR5000 for the group. QR500 seorang. Alhamdulillah

Penyesalan yang sedikit itu tadi nampaknya sudah hilang.

Siapa nak kasi 500 ya tak?



Page 3, the Peninsula, 17th December 2010.

In case you are looking for me, I am right at the elbow of the quiz master.

The Day the Horns Honk!!

Qtar won the bidding to host the World cup in 2o22!!

They won hands down against Korea, Japan. The States and Ostrolia.

These are the number of votes
First round
Qatar 11
South Korea 4
Japan 3
US 3
Australia 1 (eliminated).

2nd round
Qatar 10
South Korea 5
US 5
Japan 2 (eliminated).

3rd round
Qatar 11
US 6
South Korea 5 (eliminated).

4th round
Qatar 14
US 8.

I petik from one of my facebook friends who said he takes it from Reuters. he he.

And Qtar ran wild the very night and the following. Horns echoed everwhere. people honked their car horns. People blow the vuvuzela. People dancing on their car. Sitting out of the window of a moving car. Driving crazier than normal. Accidents too.

The first ever Middle east country will host the W0rld cup! Wow!



Anyway the truth is I was actually hoping that Qtar wouldn't win the bid. I have been through the experience of this country hosting a smaller event that World Cup which is the Asian Games. And the havoc the country runs into was a burden to people like me.

The house rental would go sky rocket high. Seriously during the time of the Asian Games, they even rent out houses which was build from gypsum for thousands. This year the house went down a little bit making normal houses more affordable. But with the coming sport event, I speculate the rents would go up.

Why just this morning we went to scout a house for a friend, and the same house we asked before has increased by QR2000 and upon questioning, the owner said, "It's the Games."

And they will get the experts to build the nation so they can spend billions on making the event. Experts selalunya mat salleh who will put up high demand and high perks and affording all the good houses. reflecting back in the year 2006 during the Asia Games. We were left with partitioned houses paying 10k at that.

The grilled chicken now cost QR4 more than yesterday.

I wonder also would this country be ready for the ripple effects that come with the events. Woman in little fabric. Booze. Mingling.

The general ruling in this country is that woman are not allowed to wear skimpily and everyone should obey this. When I came in 2005, people were more modest. I have heard of the locals would tell the women off for dressing too tight, too low and too short. Nowadays people do not seem to mind anymore. We'll see more of this or less of fabric in 2022.

Up to 2010, alcohol cannot be drunk in public.

I don't know how long will I be in this country. Would I even be here in 2022? I would be 50!! Would I even be alive?

But for now, I'll probably observe what this country will have to go through to be among those who host the world's most watched game.

And I suppose congratulations are in order. Hope it doesn't kill us too fast.

Matahari sudah bersinar kembali

I think my arabic teacher is realising something about the class. She must have noticed our blur faces. Two have quit the class. And a few more have said to me they are planning to do the same.

So last Monday she slowed down. Alhamdulillah. And the information she plans to give is little by little. She slowed down also on describing the nitty gritty details of the kana sisters and the i'rab(arabic grammar. You will find the word kana alot in quran). Instead she focused on vocabularies and encouraged us to build sentences describing pictures or giving opinions.

I went to talk to her to say thank you to her. i told her how much i love learning the language but understandably twice a week lesson won't be enough to expect all of us to be so fluent. She is a new teacher as in this is the first time she teaches non arabs. She realises also that non arabs observation on the language is different than the arabs themselves which she is slowly learning.

Then we can help each other. For her to be a better teacher as well as me to be a better student. Alhamdulillah.

The arabic classes here are the best for me. It suits my timing as a mother who has free time ONLY in the morning. It is for non arabs. And most of all, the classes are filled with reminders about Allah. At the end of the class, the teacher would pass out hadith. My arabic teacher would give hadith in arabic (without harakat) for us to read. I myself just hentam most of the arakats (of course strong sound i'rab will help you to read :P) and she will explain the meaning and peel short lessons from it.

I really love this. I love it so much that each time I think about it, I feel like crying. Even the books we used, the articles that we need to read would always include hadith or quran verses. May Allah bless them with manifolds of hasanat and bestow on the ilham to spread the deen.

Learning arabic languages at most places would be like learning any language but in the centre I am learning, it is really learning the language of the deen. (I am sure in malaysia is the same). Insya Allah tak mau quit!

So if i am not happy, I will tell (the teacher and err put a post here) because I want to stay as long as I can. Allah Musta'an.

Today's classes were great. We talked about good food, bad food. Describe pictures. Laugh. I can make jokes again. I had a great time even though more than three quarter of the words in the article are still alien to me. :P

Of course she ends the class by telling us there will be exam after eid.

Don't wanna be friend lah like this.

Having It Easier

Truth to be told, it has been an easier fasting month (for me) in the mid of the hot scorching summer in this country.

Since it is summer, the kids have no school. And since the kids have no school, I don't have to brace the summer sun sending them and picking them up like the previous years.

So I got to stay in the house most of the time the whole day and nearly for a whole week. The only time I go out is for my once a week Tauhid class.

I don't have to do groceries for I already have the major stuff. For the perishable I have my lover to order from. Unlike me, of course, he has to work and still walk under the hot sun drenched in sweat and bearing the heat (no wonder he lost so much weight). And then he will get orders from me to buy spring onion, keledek, togeh, tepung, shawarma and such. And I know he loves me asking him to buy this things.

I do almost all my cooking in the morning while I listen to the children practice their surah. And am free almost all afternoon to do what I want. Then when it is about one and half hour to iftar time, I would reheat the food, make some form of savoury or dessert (because I don't favour nasi for buka) that was prepared half way earlier, prepare some hot and cold beverage and Insya Allah leave myself about half hour to iftar time where usually i would tell the children to have their own "me" time and concentrate to make dua'.

By the way, the best time for dua' that one needs to grab is the time when nearing the iftar time.

The prophet (SAW) declared, 'Three men whose dua is never rejected (by Allah) are: when a fasting person breaks fast (in another narration, the fasting person until he breaks his fast), the just ruler and the one who is oppressed.'[Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi - Hasan]

I don't do the tarawikh at the mosque. Not my time yet. Insya Allah one day Allah will give me the time. I don't fancy bringing the cannot-keep-still JackJack to the long tarawikh prayer. He goes to other fards when lover is at home though. So slowly Insya Allah. And I don't feel easy leaving at home alone either.

And tarawikh usually finishes at 930 over here. And that is a loooong one mind you. On average, some mosques finsih tarawikh at 9.

Fasting in this country is easier and there are very little distractions. The malls (if yo do go there) does not play music. Usually they play dzikir or the quran. And the masjid here will get busier as Eid approaches particularly the last ten nights. There will be some selected masjids that will provide food for those who wish to do i'tikaf. But otherwise you can go to any masjids you wish. The last ten nights are the the most "festive" time at almost all masjids. The imam will start doing qiyam in the later part of the night and people who don't actually stay in the masjid for i'tikaf will come from their homes as if it is another fard prayer.

And if you are living in such environment, you'd feel you want time to stop in this last ten nights. You can feel that people are actually immerse in the business of worshipping Allah. It's like rushhour. fast and furious. I feel so much excitement during this time.

And when the Imam announced that the next day is eid, you may just cry because you would feel that you have not done enough. But then you will still enjoy the next day of eid when you go to solatul eid in the open. It is a glorious day.

Alhamdulillah. I have to remind again and again that time and easier to practice is an expensive commodity.

I am leaving for Malaysia tomorrow.

May Allah protect me from my own evil soul.

________________________________

By the way. I have a few books left for sale. The title is Explanation of Important lessons. You can read here for the review of the book.

If you are interested email me at hudishh at gmail dot com. First come first serve. :)

Answerable

Whoever feeds a fasting person will have a reward like that of the fasting person, without any reduction in his reward."[At-Tirmidhi, authenticated by Al-Albani (rahimahullaah).

Over here, there are plenty of charity bodies putting up a tent to cater for iftar targeting mostly the labourers. One thing that one can emulate from the locals here are their generosity for when they give, they really give.

It is a common sight to see local people stopping labourers in random to give food and money. Both men and women. Not to mention big donations here and there. It is not surprising if you hear stories of individual who, when they chance upon a group of Indonesians wanting to go for hajj, he sponsored 500 of them to go.

Anyway I was reading a newspaper strip about the charity bodies not happy with some of the chosen restaurant lack of quality in their service for the iftar tent. This is what they said, in the Gulf Times

They indicated that the contracts signed with some restaurants were cancelled on the second day of ramadhan when it was discovered that they were not abiding by the quality of the food and were resorting to fraudulent methods.

"This is an act of charity which we are carrying out on the strength of the money given to us by many donors. We are ANSWERABLE to the ALMIGHTY and to the donors.""

If we really believe and understand that we are all answerable, Insya Allah we are at a better place than where we are now.

I like this. I like it very much.

Loose things and Sterile House

Internet is back. Hoyeh!

It has been good though not having the internet for otherwise I would not have settled much. I am happy to inform you the momentous occasion that I have cleared up all boxes. We are officially moved in. (Tiru script Mrs Incredibles)

I have also pulled up all the will I have in me to tackle all the loose things. I really hate doing them. Mati akal. Those are the things that are packed in plastic bags or trash bag or dumped in a box and bucket and then strewn everywhere in the house.

They are all GONE! I hate clearing them but I did.

I am so proud of myself and I deserve a star!

Essentially the house is done. It just need some desterilisation.

The house still looks very sterile.