Book Review

Haziq was asked to make a book review of any topic he wishes. This is what he wrote


Book Review

Title: The Holy Qur’aan

Author: Allah, the Lord of the Worlds

Genre: Comprehensive, covers every aspect thinkable

Why should we read it?
There are many benefits as to why. It is the book of which the words have been preservedfor more than 1,400 years, unedited. It is complete and perfect, and is a miracle both linguistically and intellectually. There are neither contradictions nor doubts in it. Its content include, but not limited to, how to greet people by giving the greeting of peace, stories of the great people of the past including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, the equality of woman, miracles of science, the demarcation of what is right and wrong, the limited world now and the never ending hereafter. It tells you how to worship the true Lord of the Worlds as He wants to be worshipped, without which human will be inventing their own ways to worship God or create their own God which always turns up to be a mere creation. It is the only book that can be read over and over again and each time with a refresh profound understanding. It gives contentment, peace, humility, love, fear and awe to His might. A universal book that can apply to all time periods and it has the solution for all of mankind’s problems - depression, discrimination, and inequality, political, financial, social, and moral. This is the book that gives guidance to mankind and in its pages contains the true salvation in this world and in the world after. Also, the Quran isn’t just a book, it is God’s speech, a discourse, in its original form, and should be treated likewise.




I pray that whoever reads it would be guided to pick the Quran and read the Great Book for themselves and may Allah guide them.



This is another book review he wrote.


Book Review

Title: October Sky

Author: Homer H. Hickam

Genre: Memoir

Why should we read it?
It is a book that can relate to teenagers or anyone that has experienced teenagehood very well. It is the story about a group of teenage boys living in a mining town, Coalwood, West Virginia in the 1950-60s, who against all odds from a rocket group and make rockets, the highest reaching 5 miles into the sky. It is a great read and very inspirational, and can be a good boost of morale or spirit anytime.

Jack Getting Wiser

JackJack sometimes would get in his reflecting moment and think about deeper things. I really should be recording his words but alas I forgot.

Jack told Sya the other day, "You know if you trace back everyone's parents' parents and their parents and their parents, we all go back to Adam. We are all really brother and sisters. All of us. Everyone of us in the world."

Wow! He gets overwhelmed by this idea. That's really alot of brothers and sisters.

Jack is not into world problems. To him the world is a happy world and having brothers and sisters is a beautiful thing.

He is just happy that he has so many brother and sister.

But this big family are fighting just about everywhere in the globe.

____________________

If you do read my past posts about him, he usually cries easily about things. Lately he has been crying each time he reads the last four verses of suratul Fajr. He heard my little talk to some teenagers the other day about these verses.

Really, I think sometimes I underestimate some children. They do and are ableto understand. perhaps it is their fitrah in them. I wrote about the surah HERE.

I ask Allah to give me patience and wisdom to nurture my children. And they become among those who are righteous.

Sod Lam Kha

I just finished my arabic exam. By the end of the two hour exam, my neck became stiff, out of stress looking down on the paper. There were two short essays of which one of them I err memorised beforehand (because I target it will come out and it did). But I am not saying it will be good though. Another one was an impromptu one about the kaabah. Insya Allah khayr.

So in the spirit of learning arabic, not that I am good at it, but I thought of sharing. One definitely cannot learn arabic using the transliteration. One must know how to read arabic from the font itself. Only after that, the words will jump at you if you look at it with contemplation and reflection. And that is just by tracing a word to word arabic word in quran without actually learning arabic formally.

For example if one transliterates the word 'ilm. You cannot tell that the word 'ulamak, 'alam, 'ulum, mu'alim are the derivatives of the word 'ilm. But you can sort of tell when you read it in arabic.

علم علماء عالم علوم معلم

Most arabic words are derived from a three letter word. For example 'ilm (علم) is the three letter word and from it other derivatives can be made as the examples above.
Can you spot the similarities?

Most of the times the meaning are similar. However any change of tashkil or harakat or baris can sometimes make the meaning difference. And that is why it is important to recite the quran correctly and to not make mistake in the harakat.

عالم can be read as 'alam or 'aim. The former meaning world and the latter meaning the one who knows.

I use to wonder how do the arabs understand or even read their paper without harakat. But slowly I am beginning to get the feeling of it. You have to know the word and also the context of the word in the sentence. Knowing grammar of arabic helps you to know the harakat of the letters also and is really important in understanding the meaning of the quran.

Anyway, today I just want to bring you the word soleh. صلح

The word صلح is usually translated as righteous. Or in malay just plain soleh/ salih.
The root word (صلح) actually carries the meaning of rectification, and being worthy or suitable, etc.

If you notice in one of the morning adzkar,

ياحـي يا قـيـوم، بـرحمـتك
استـغـيث، اصلـح لي شَ ـانـي ِ
كلـه، ولا تكلـني الى نفـسي طـرفة عـين

Ya hayyu Ya Qayyum birahmatik astaghis, Aslih li shakni kullahu wa la takilni ila nafsi torfata ain.
O You Who is Everliving and Sustains and Protects everything, I seek assistance through the means of your mercy, rectify for me all my affairs and do not leave me to myself,even for the blink of an eye.

The word aslih أصلح is translated as Rectify.


Then we have the word amilus solihat عَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ

solihat is صالحات

this is derived from the word صلح

وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ - amilus solihat is translated as good deeds.


Why Allah calls it solihat – because the deeds make them proper and good. The deeds are to correct and rectify the person. It makes them good and rectify the world affair and akhirat.

What it also means is doing deed that will rectify you so that you become among the solihin (صاليحين). The soleh people (solihin is the plural for soleh) are the people who did deeds that rectified them and they become those who are rectified or those who are worthy because they are rectified.

Becomes worthy for what? Rectified and only then will be يصلح suitable/ worthy/ fit to be among Ar Rahman in His Jannah.

Jannah is only for the one who are rectified and had taqwa and did deeds that rectified them and made them worthy.

Jannah is only for the righteous people who had taqwa and did righteous deeds.

Jannah are for the صاليحين who had taqwa and did عَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ. They become يصلح for jannah with the mercy of Allah

May we be among them.

Jack Can Swim

I remembered writing in the blog about sending the kids to swim last two summers. But then we had ramadhan and we went back to Malaysia and then come winter, I didn't continue with the class.

I enrolled them again last summer. They went for one month. Then we had Ramadhan and we went back to Malaysia and wehei now is winter. But this time, I wasa bit more serious. I have committed themselves (and me as the driver) to continue their swimming class and paid in advance last summer. This is in line with my mission and vision for them this year, Insya Allah.

So I have been spending some of my evenings ferrying them to their swimming class. And had to spend more time at the pool watching them.

Sya was doing very well. She seems to have flair in swimming. She looks very graceful in the water. Well done Sya! In three months she has jumped from Level 1 to Level 5. Allahuma Bareek.

Now jack is a different story. I have been watching him flapping his hands in the water and kicking wrongly or not kicking enough, holding on to the wall with one hand and pretending to swim with the other, cheating laps. Basically he just didn't get it. Even with the aid of the board he could half drown himself. Panas aje gua tengok.

Ferrying them home I would tell him what he did wrong, "You didn't raise your hips enough, you must put your head in the water, your hand must be straight. you didn't kick enough." And at home we practiced it on the bed. And in the car going to class, remember hips up, kick kick kick, head in water."

Months and months I am watching him in agony thinking how expensive the class is and wondering when will he get it.

But this year, he showed changes. Masya Allah. Like alot! He knows how to kick, raise his hips. I only corrected the way he raised his head to get some air. And for now, I didn't have to pay attention and watch him like a hawk anymore. I could actually read a book.

And he is now kept chosen to be the exemplary swimmer for his class. Allahuma Bareek.

Ya ya makcik sangat gembira.

Remember children, when we do something we do excellent all the way. This is IHSAN. The outcome is up to Allah. But try the best you must!

In the mean time, ketahuilah ibu membebel sebab ibu sayang.

Kasi Ibu Encouragement Sikit

With rusty brain like mine, I do find learning difficult and memorisation hard to enter, very easy to leave the memory.

Haziq and I started memorising together because I made it into a friendly competition. I had a head start but he has now leapt so far from me. Allahuma Bareek. May Allah make him (and my children) among the people of the Quran. Those who memorise the words of Allah. Those who understand it and apply. And Quran will be for them and not against them in yaumul akhirah and that Quran will only increase their status in yaumul akhirah. And that Quran is their intercessor in yaumul akhirah.

Saying out loud, "Boleh ke Ibu ni Haziq?"

Ibu, he said, nenek yang umur 82 tahun pun can do it, Insya Allah you can. Allah al Musta'an!

Umm Saalih, A Grandmother Who Completed Memorizing the Qur‘aan at 82 yeas Old.

O Allah bless him.

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.

While I am At That

While I am lamenting about my arabic class, I would like to share bits here and there of some arabic words that I learned in the Quran (from my teachers). My knowledge is limited though, I am just sharing what I learned so perhaps it may give you benefit Insya Allah.

Referring to Surah Baqarah verse 23

وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِۦ وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ

And if you (Arab pagans, Jews, and Christians) are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (i.e. the Qur'ân) to Our slave (Muhammad Peace be upon him ), then produce a Sûrah (chapter) of the like thereof and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allâh, if you are truthful.

The word that I would like to bring your attention to is ROYB. In the english quran translation it is translated as doubt.

The arabic word for doubt is also syak. Yeah like the malay word - syak wasangka. But Allah choses the word ROYB for doubt.

Royb means doubt but that which causes turmoil and unrest in the heart. The kind of doubt that will shake a person and causes confusion and anxiety. According to scholars of tafseer (We used Sheikh Saadi and Sheikh Uthaymeen) why Allah uses roib?
Because the doubt they are having is doubt to their own creator. These doubts that they have causes much turmoil in their heart and also fear.

Among the meaning of the Quran that are lost in translation.

Mari kita belajar bahasa arab.

Progress Kelas Bahasa Arab

This is my fourth year learning arabic and without shame I have to say it is getting harder. T__T.

The articles they gave us gets longer with smaller font and difficult words. The comprehension gets trickier too. What is worse is, they have changed they teaching style too. All these while, we have been paying attention mostly in the grammatical aspect of arabic. Why fathah, why kasrah and why dommah. When we say muslimun, when we say muslimin and when do we say musliman for example. Thisis easy (relative) for me because it is like maths. This and this and this become these.

However this year, they changed the system and force us to make impromptu paragraphs or conversation or stories. In short they force us to speak and write. This is hard for me because I do not possess many vocabularies at all and when I do need these words, i cannot use it in proper context because to write a sentence you cannot just have a knowledge of the root word but you need to know how to apply all the grammatical knowledge correctly into the position of the word in a sentence.

To add to my already blurness, is, all my original classmates are all gone. ALL of them. There are new ones who have been studying ARABIC in the university, DIPLOMA in arabic. Who were senior students who decided to lepak in the class because there are no more arabic class for them, who speak arabic as their mother tongue language.

They have no problem whatsoever to understand article, or make conversation or write paragraphs.

Just last week, we were going through a particularly difficult article (for me). Everyone understood it at one go. I kept having to ask the teacher, what does this mean, what is this and this and this. I kept interrupting the class because I do not know anything. This has been going on for each arabic class but I felt last week was the max of it.

That day also we had to read out a paragraph that we wrote at home and mine was just b a d. The sentences were weak and didnt make sense. You can partly blame it on google translate. (poke eyes)

My ears began to turned red and my cheeks became birat out of flushness. My head felt like it was boiling to burst. It was so overwhelming that I felt like crying. Tears were already welling in my ears. I didnt by the way.

I went home feeling frustrated with myself. Frustrated. Stupid. Slowest.

Each morning before going to arabic class was a heavy chore to me. And the same as today. I am toying the idea of quitting this class and go back to the lower level. They are also doing conversation and writing but in short sentences. Perhaps I can pick up more vocabularies there. The only thing that is stopping me is I really do not want to kecikkan hati my current teacher.

Sigh

Today was another arabic class day. Drag my fat arse out of the house and fight shaytan who keep telling me to quit altogether so I would have time to do other things that are also important.

Drag drag drag.

Oh another new long article today with new words.

But today I decided, you know what, to hell if I sound stupid or feel stupid. I decided I want to take advantage of being the slowest student in the class. To ask and ask ask. The advantage of being the one who knows the least is the teacher kept talking to me and speaking slowly for me. Eyes contact and all. So I am just going to bulldoze this and take the opportunity of being the limelight in the class.

We had to write a short paragraph today. Impromptu one. Oh no! I need the Google translate thing. And we were supposed to write about our opinion on globalisation because that was what the article was about.

Oh well. I decided to write a three sentence paragraph in english and translate what I can.


.في رأيي، لا نستطيع أن دفع العولمة إلى الأبد
.العولمة تدخل الى بيتنا مع الشبكة الدولية والتلفاز والصحف
.هذا الوقت لكل المسلم لتقوية ايمانهم لفصل بين الحق والباطل


In engish it is SUPPOSED to sound like this

"In my opinion we cannot push away globalisation forever. It is coming to our house through the internet and television and the newspapers. However, it is the time for each Muslim to strengthen their eemaan to (be able to ) separate the truth and false."

I wanted to write further that we should take the opportunity to spread islam and introduce Islam as a beautiful religion and not the religion of terror. But I forgot the word "Opportunity" in arabic. LOL.

I know the arabic work I did is actually entah apa-apa lah. The arrangement of words are weak. But I am feeling elated still because I didnt use Google Translate (poke eyes poke eyes) and it is somewhat understandable.

After weeks of feeling down and stupid, today I felt great. The sun is shining and I can see clearly now. After asking Allah to make it easy for me and to decide whether to quit or not, I am deciding to remain in this level for longer.

In the words of my lover, "kayuh perlahan-lahan, you'll get there."

Best of Companions

One of the greatest parenting moments, to me, must be seeing your children in the right company. That when they get together, they play and they have a good laugh. And they thread their playing with remembrance of Allah, in their own way. Giving riddles. Reminding each other about an ayah they just learned. Or the hadith they just heard.Or a story they just read.

And to finish the day off with reciting quran to one another, swiping on each other's ipod, checking their friend's recitation. And then randomly select an ayah to see who can continue them.

Once in a while the parent would come in and join the fun and share what she learned and to reflect together.

And this would be Subhanallah beautiful. Almost heaven.

May Allah bring to my children companions who loves Allah and His words, Al Quran.

May the companions rubbed off perfume on each other.

The Prophet ﷺ reminds us of the importance of good company in this hadith (record of the Prophet ﷺ):

“A good friend and a bad friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might singe your clothes, and at the very least you will breathe in the fumes of the furnace.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

Good read BEST COMPANIONS

Droplets of Sins

Haziq is being cheeky nowadays. Sometimes he would go around the uncles to shake their hands before we leave home and said to them, "Our sins are dropping from us now Insya Allah." He even made gesture like as if droplets of sins are dropping from their handshake.

May he apply what he knows.

Al-Bara' reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "No two Muslims meet and shake hands without being forgiven before they part." [Abu Dawud]