Why We Human Being Are Arrogant?

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

There are so many ideologies in this modern world which were the past ideologies that evolved to be the new one. Nowadays, people might coin those ideologies with neo- something... Nothing new, not even atheism. Sometimes, we always think that our ideology is the pure truth and we began to force others into our ideology and understanding. That is a reason why people keep chopping off others head. We think that we are right while others are wrong and that also makes us feel that we are superior over another. Arrogance is generally defined as offensive display of superiority, feeling that we are very important in the midst of society, pompous, behave in a haughty way toward the inferiors (those that we think as inferiors) and others.

Arrogance may impact environment around us. In Arabic, we call it as takabbur. It is a characteristic which suit the God but not His creatures because creatures are not the Real King. For example, an arrogant teacher, or professor, or boss might make the life of his or her subordinates in hell. In human history, people keep rebelling from arrogant rulers and trying to overthrow them.

The lecture that we listened just now is about why human-being are arrogant? Is it because of our knowledge? Our racial background? Our position in the society? Our success? Our nation is a superpower in the unipolar today's world? I just get few essence of the lecture but little we get, little we share with friends and brethren. 

The second point that I managed to keep in my short term memory is about arrogance with the possession of knowledge that we have. Our brain is the center of our nervous system. As it is not a biology class, so it is simplified as the back of our brain is a place where our memorization and logic being kept for a long time. It is a memory card for human. That is why elders telling us not to slap the back of a little child as not to make him or her slow in learning. The ustad mentioned that for him as an example, he learned at a memorization center to memorize Quran for a period of two years and he managed to memorize all 30 paras of the Quran. Everyday two pages or four pages if a person is hardworking. However, he said that to "keep them all in memory" takes a person more or less 10 years. A person who memorizes Quran still need to repeat and repeat his or her memorization. 

Thus, a person who possess a certain knowledge or sciences should not be arrogant of him or her self. Because in a blink of an eye, the God could just grab it away from us through asbab or reasons such as we might fall down and affect our brain or being hit by an accident which causes us concussion. Even the God is capable of making us senile. A person who lives a long age will return to be a child. When we are young in teenage years, we may be arrogant and talking like we would never go through the cycle of life. But when we go through the cycle only we would experience what it is. And elderly person will cry like a child, peeing in his or her pants without realizing it, and wearing diapers. The God takes away the mind of a person when he or she reaches certain time. Natural causes are just asbab or the reasons. Thus, a person who gets straight A's in his or her examination must not quickly be proud as all of that is fake and not real. The intelligence that we have is actually His possession, it is not ours.

How about our race? Whether we are Arab, Quraisy, Bani Hashim, Jews, Levites, Palestinian, Cana'anite, Egyptian, Malay, Korean, Chinese, Brahmins, and others? What makes us so special over the others? Our culture? Our religion? Our language? Our appearance? Our nose is pointed than others? Our skin tone? Our holy lineage because our ancestors are prophets? Everyone are the descents of a prophet. Adam a.s is a prophet isn't he? He is the father of all men. 

Perhaps there are also those who comes from apes as the theory which is proposed by Charles Darwin. I do not fully reject his theory, maybe his ancestor was an evolved ape and he might be right for his ancestors, haha. He's not the only one who talks about apes as the ancestors of certain 'human.' The Hindus had already talked about this in their epic which are Mahabharata and Ramayana. As for me, I am not an ape. I am a human, I am a descent of prophet Adam a.s just like other human-being, haha. In Islamic source, human is originated from Adam a.s who was created out of water element and earth through a celestial decree. When we die, we will return to water and earth. No matter if we are cremated or buried, we will return to the earlier element alike.   

Says the God in surah Ta-Ha verse 55: "From it (the earth) We create all of you and to it will We return all of you and from it We will take you out again."

The ustad said that this verse is useful for those who are out of temper. The verse may be used to calm down other creatures as well such as fierce dogs. Take a grab of soil and recite the verse, cast it to them insyaallah. Also we may recite this when going into markets as a reminder to ourselves and everyone.  As per closing the post today, it is said in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 2 verse 11 that: "the eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled, the pride of the man will brought low. Only the Lord would be exalted in the Day (of Judgement)." This verse is from my Bible not from the lecture.

The lecture is delivered by ustad Muhammad Qassim Ilyas the memorizer of Quran in Masjid of Jerlun, Alor Setar, Kedah Darul Aman.

Sealed with salawat and prayers for peace, mercy and love, amin!

Interpretation of Faith

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

source pic: beautifulfoolishness.com

This is the interpretation of faith or iman in the view of Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jama'ah of Syafi'ie tradition that I listened through Radio Malaysia Kedah at 14:00 today just after Dzuhr prayer service. Although the ustad is a bit proud with his Syafi'ie tradition line of Yemen but it is still a beneficial knowledge for everyone. I am familiar with it anyway. It is our ancestral tradition. As long as we do not condemn each other without sound knowledge and understanding, I will be in agreement with it and I guess it is not a sin.

There are four interpretations of faith which are:

i. faith according to the prophetic tradition which is mentioned in the hadith

ii. faith through keeping practices

iii. faith through morality

iv. the sweetness of faith

First Interpretation

The first one is the faith of the people who keep the prophetic traditions in which we call them as sunni or sunnah. It is the faith which is mentioned in the six pillars of faith.

Second Interpretation

The second which is the faith related to the practices. The practices are prescribed in the scripture and the hadiths regarding the five basic pillars of the law of life. About the characteristics of faith, it is mentioned in the glorious Quran verse 14th of surah al-Hujurat where the Bedouins said: "We have the faith!" and the God cast His words in noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w tongue: "Say (to them), you are not faithfuls but say to them (that they should say), "we already submit ourselves to the path," since the faith is not yet in in your heart. And if you obey the God and His messenger, He will never decrease even a little merit for your deeds. Indeed, the God is All-Forgiver, the Most Merciful. 

I hope that nutty bigots who never tired of stupid enmity and calling themselves as previous Muslims like people care, displaying the distorted verse from surah at-Tawbah about the order to kill everything could also spread this verse to everyone, hahaha... Through this verse, it is expounded that although we had already submitted ourselves to the path, we are not yet faithful since the faith could be somewhere out of the heart. So, this revelation descends into the heart of the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w through the statement of the Bedouins who called themselves as the faithfuls, and the God revealed to the prophet s.a.w to correct their statement.

So, in the second interpretation or opinion about the faith by the people who follow prophetic tradition, it is important for every Muslim to keep their practices in consistency. When we go through the first part which is the faith with heart, proclaim it with tongue, we then will keep practices in our life with our body parts. Said the prophet Muhammad s.a.w recorded in the hadith: "When we see a person who always going to the mosque, be his witness that he is a faithful person. The place to prostrate (masjid) is prospered with the faithful people."

In the surah as-Sajjadah verse 15th, the God said: "Indeed, those who have faith in our verses (proofs) when reminded by the verses will fall down into prostration and exalt (the God) with praises of their Lord and they are not arrogant." 

The verse implies that those who are faithful will be:

1. Falling down into prostration when listening to His verses. It implies the act of awe and worship to Him with body parts

2. Exalting in praises to the God. This implies the exalting is with tongue since our tongue articulating exaltation and praises to Him.

3. A person who is not arrogant. He or she accepts whatever truth coming to his or her, humbling themselves and never looking down to others though a person who told him or her the truth is not of a great position in society, without any possession and others.

The Devil is the first creature of the God who is arrogant. He refused to obey the God to prostrate and humbling himself down in respect to fellow creature who is Adam. Thus, he becomes a subject who lose hope to His Mercy and Guidance and his envious self swear to Him to destroy man's soul into condemnation. Human-being could also be like this, thus we must be so careful. We had seen this around and even in human history.

Third Interpretation

Many law of life scholars also holding this interpretation of faith where a person needs to have his faith according to the six pillars of the faith according to prophetic tradition, keeping the act of worship in daily life as a daily practice, and honoring high morality. Why those in Afghanistan behead others' head? Why those in Somalia and Africa killing each other? Why the people in the Mid East keep chopping each others' head? Everyone should ask themselves why... The answer is within ourselves.

Last night I had a conversation with Mid East congregation after I ask them the book on Three Fundamental Principles by the Reformer Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab. I already have copies of that book either in Arabic or in Malay. I just want the explanation book but perhaps they think that I am a beginner since I am a "Malay" and do not speak in Arabic. I don't like people asking me my ethnicity, anyone could just talk in any language they prefer and I would respond if I understand them. It is just offensive for me as I prefer to be known as a Muslim and Malaysian so that I feel close to my compatriots and brethren in faith.

What I can't agree is that they contradict in words. They wanted non-Muslim for example Jews or Christians to embrace the seal of prophethood but they keep repeating offensive words to these people in generalization. I made friend with few priests and shammas (deacons) from Middle East Orthodox Churches and also those from Orthodox Churches in India. Many of them do not offend me so I feel free to contact them and getting information needed and they answer my questions without offending me and my religion. If I have people of the book friends who embrace Islam insulting their family members who do not embrace Islam, I myself would slap his or her face as they are takabbur of themselves. It is a mazmumah (disgusting) characteristics for creatures. We must first understand that Guidance is not in our hand!!! Allah 'Azza wa Jalla is the One with authority in this matter. If we receive Guidance, we must be thankful and grateful to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla and not to look down on others. Our responsibility is only to tell others the good news and not to chop off others' head if they do not accept. Unless if they threaten us with their swords or M-16, then it would be foolishness to let our head being beheaded or kena tembak bocor.

My personal opinion, if we want to spread His Mercy to others, just leave offensive words behind and talk only about Him, sharing whatever we have in our limited knowledge and practices. Let others insult or say anything they want. The angels are behind those people who insult others turning the words back to them. Know first what are their philosophies and creed. It is not as easy as reading books written by few people like Ahmad Deedat, may Allah be Merciful to his soul and others like Zakir Naik. We need to go to the base just like these people did and mingle with the people we wanted to talk with. Human are of different level of knowledge and background just like us as Muslims. We condemn people in distance but we never bother to be among them, talk with them, and never bother to ask what are they doing... So, what do we expect? We expect people to listen to us? People treat us just like we treat them. My second sister now began to read these kind of books too and sometimes she might quarrel with me since she could not understand when I do not agree with the offensive parts for the people of the books or any other non-Muslims. When we do not agree with something, try to find other alternatives which could make everyone understand what we are up to. For now, I don't talk with people if I know their level of understanding though they might 'appear' to be pious. It will just complicate matters because people have different understanding and worldview. Even in the same house.    

Said the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w in a hadith: "The highest faith is the proclamation with tongue and the confidence in heart that there is no gods but only the God. The lowest one is when a person casts away obstacles in the road, helping to repair the road as to avoid others from falling into accidents, being merciful to animals and fellow human, and others." These are the signs of faith in a person. There are about 63 to 73 branches of faith, one of it is feeling shy.

Fourth Interpretation

The person who feels the sweetness of faith is a person who knows his or her God which is called as ma'arifatullah. This faith can be seen in a supplication which we recite three times in morning and evening which is: "I am pleased that Allah (the God) is my Lord, and I am pleased with Islam as the law which leads my life to Him, and I am pleased with Muhammad s.a.w as my prophet and the messenger of the God to me."

This interpretation is equated to a hobby, for example someone who loves to watch movies, he or she can stand sitting on the sofa for 10 hours watching movies without feeling bored. Or someone who loves to fish, he or she could sit on the bridge or spending few hours at the bank of the river trying to get some fish for his or her satisfaction. In our history, there are many scholars and sages who are devoted to the God, they pray hundreds units of prayers just because they love the God and it is their hobby in their free time. Some of them chanting holy verses everywhere without stop like a scholar in Yemen where his mouth could not stop chanting holy verses until he has to put a stone into his mouth to prevent it from reciting holy verses in toilet. 

We are suggested by scholars and people who follow prophetic traditions to recite the supplication to the God الَّلهُمَّ ارْزُقْنا حُبَّكَ وحُبُّ رُسُلِكَ وحب مَنْ اَحَبَّكَ وحب ما اَقْرَبِ إليكَ which means dear our Lord, sustain us with the love to You, and love to Your messenger, and love to those who love You and love on what brings us closer to You. We are suggested to supplicate may the God grants us with love toward all of those mentioned in the supplication. 

In this interpretation, through faith, a person will get to know the God. He or she will only agrees with the God and not others. The prophet Muhammad s.a.w traditions and sayings will be his or her model to perform daily life. And the interpretation is also a kind of level of faith that someone is going through step by step. In order to reach the stages above, a person needs stairs and the stairs are ulamas with efforts, scholars and sages. 

Summary of the Lesson

The first interpretation of faith is related to the six pillars of faith, a person must know it together with the learning of the obligatory characteristics and impossible characteristics of the God, sciences of the Quran, creed according to prophetic traditions, companions of the prophet Muhammad s.a.w, the Asha'ari and Maturidi. As for Asha'ari, the ustad said that he had a dream meeting with the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and in his dream, he was advised to keep the creed. Imam Syafi'ie also memorized the Quran since he was seven years old. According to the narration of Imam Hanbal, Imam Syafi'ie had narrated about his dream where he met the prophet Muhammad s.a.w in his dream. The prophet s.a.w asked him where he came from (his house)? He said that he came from the house of Quraisy. Thus the prophet s.a.w asked him to come closer to him and he put his saliva into the mouth of the child. This is in his dream and vision. After that, he never wrong in reciting holy verses and narrating hadiths.

In surah Yunus, it is mentioned that those who are close to the God never feel scared or sad as for them is fear to the God and faith in Him. The God promise them with good news in their worldly life where noble people will love them. The God will call His archangel, Gabriel a.s and telling him that this person is the person which I love. Go and tell everyone that I love this person. The archangel Gabriel will go to heavens and telling everyone to love the particular person. It will also reach the heart of other faithful servants in the earth. How could we detect this kind of person? The ustad said... Look at how the person brings himself or herself in the society. With whom they mingle with? If they mingle with people who do vices, they would pray for them may the God be Merciful for those people. 

The God knows whatever happens. Every deeds and everything we talked in our heart will pass Him first. The noble messenger, prophet Muhammad s.a.w also being notified by the God on what happens in his nation. If his nation is in good condition striving in charity, he will praise the God. If he sees that his nation is in bad condition, he will pray to the God for salvation and forgiveness.  

People who are loved by the God

1. Are promised with good news

2. Having good dreams and visions, such people are the Imam Syafi'ie, the Imam al-Ghazali, and other ulamas and they have also stated in their books about their dream and vision for record. The ustad said, ulama from Syafi'ie school always look at Quranic verses with their heart. I agree, and other ulamas are also the same. They deserve equal respect. Not like us who only look at everything with our physical eyes.

3. People who holds tasawwuf in which the beginning of tasawwuf began sciences of religion and the law of life. Then it will continuously be supported with the practice of the sciences and knowledge. And from that, they will receive the Love of the God where the God will teach them knowledge which they themselves never know. This could not be sought in school or university. Because it is in His authority as what has been mentioned in surah al-Qalam, He teaches human on what he does not know. It begins with collections of basic knowledge and sciences and basic practices. The knowledge where the God teaches people He loves is called as the knowledge which is granted upon or 'ilmul-wahbi. 

Everything that the God grant to us in this world is something which is borrowed. It is not permanent. It includes knowledge and sciences. It also includes sons and daughters. Everything belongs to Him. As for children, as they are not ours but the God, we must teach them sciences of religion, the law of life with love and never neglect them. Teach our children with revelation, prayers, fasting, and everything in the basic pillars of religion. Teach them how to pray when they are seven years old, make it interesting and fun for them to pray obligatory salat service. Don't let them do it alone. Teach them fasting in Ramadan, teach them step by step. Don't ask them to fast like adults until they reach 10 years old. Teach them with creed as what has been prescribed in Quran and Sunnah. Children are not something to take as easy. They are responsibility. And they are not ours as everything is not permanent. Even if we have friends, our friends is only borrowed by the God to us. They are not ours. They will go different directions from us when certain period in our life come. Ibn Hatim had said: "Since friends, lovers, and everything will eventually leave us, I make faith and practice as my lover and my friend." Such a nice words of wisdom, I love this philosophy. 

Said the prophet s.a.w in a hadith: "Indeed Constantinople will be opened to His light again by a good chief amongst human-being, and his soldiers are amongst good soldiers amongst soldiers." It appears to be from the prophecy of the prophet Muhammad s.a.w that sultan Muhammad al-Fateh was the one who opened the city. He is actually a person who performs tasawwuf and always praying salat nawafil apart of other obligatory salaat services. May Allah be Merciful to his soul, amin. 

The faith may increase or decrease. It depends on environment. If we are in good environment, good deeds will arise more while evil will sunken a bit. Even if a person who knows religious sciences would still fall into evil as their environment would influence them to reject whatever being taught to them. Sometimes it might be due to non-halal sustenance (such as from bribery, cheating, and etc). When the food that we get not in proper manner and morally bad, our prayers and supplication will be rejected by the God. It is not only about avoiding pork, hog, monitor lizard, snake, dog, birds like eagle, bear and other animals prescribed in the Quran and Sunnah which should be avoided as food. Or only about alcohol consumption. It is more than that.

This is some essence of the half an hour lecture delivered by ustad Aminuddin Abdul Rahim at the Zakat Tower aired in the Radio Malaysia Kedah. The producer of the program is madame Hasmah Bahari. I wish it is not only beneficial for my self but also to those who passing by this humble site of a faqir, insyaallah.
    

Sealed with salawat, prayers for peace, mercy and love for brethren, amin!   

Semester III Gonna Begin

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

I wish everyone passing by in good condition and wishing everyone well-being. For record purpose, I must pay back third sister since I had several times mentioned about borrowing some cash to survive. I had borrow from her about RM4000. When we borrow from someone, we must hold our words. Even death touching us, we must pay back or at least try to pay. I payed the study bill with 75 bank notes of RM50, the turn number 1173 around 15:38-16:30 at counter no.1. 

I helped third sister with her thesis proposal and she might give me something. I don't want anything, I just wanted to help her because I want to help her. She is my own sister. I had owed parents more than my life. I doubt that I could pay everything before I see the Glorious God. I must also pay dad RM5000 for the first two semesters registration, also RM2000 to mum. Though they never ask me but I must be considerate and compassionate as it is not easy for dad working day and night for some money to make a living with family. He might need it for his future guarantee, he is already an old man. Parents deserve to live in peace and getting merits for themselves in the hereafter through practices. My first degree debt with the National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN) would be around RM16000, calculated and predicted together with 3% and the interest according to years. It supposedly to be RM9000 without any interest or service charge because I just borrowed that amount and strictly using it for registrations and related courses according to unit requirements. I don't use that loan for my daily life in the university while being a first degree student.

I do not know whether I should regret choosing this way to further studies or not. I am already half the way and I could not act like a coward, running half way. If I am in the battle, I must move up to the front line facing bullets or else I will get His curse. I actually wanted to study Quran and Sunnah just after I finish up my first degree but I end up like this. I just can't stand people coming by at home keep talking about what would I be in the future.. I can't run from them since I do not know where to go. All of my friends fade away and I can't hide from them, nor finding my friends maybe to hide from these people...

I do not intend to further phd anymore after this, let people say anything they want. It is just a certificate, our virtue is in our heart and mind, not in the paper. I just don't care anymore. I pray to our Lord, Allah 'Azza wa Jalla to set me only to get ready to see Him. I am already tired with this world. After I settled everything at the bank, I actually felt that I wanted to cry as I have to be a beggar but I have to hold up my tears... Just feeling weak and it is so shameful... Right now I am staying for few hours more in Azren's room because I had a problem with my roommate. He keep reminding me not to bring scouting friend though I had already told the guy not to stay in the room anymore. I don't receive any scouting friend anymore. Even when brother Shuhaimi called me yesterday asking me permission to stay for a while in my room, I had rejected him. I feel like crying while typing this too. I don't want Azren or anyone seeing me crying... Just like Amir, my homie  and ex-colleague said... No matter how suffering we are, hold up our tears, cry alone...!!! Don't show it to others...!!! Terima kasih lah Azren tompangkan aku, aku wat susah ko je, kalo tak arini ko dah leh balik... Aku malu sebenarnya tapi dah terpaksa... Lenkali aku cuba kurang susahkan orang... Selamat bergraduasi, best of wishes...! I wish dear brother Sayyid 'Eidan and family a blessed fasting and abstinence period too.  

Anyhow, I would just cry at the masjid kneeling before the God for guidance and strength. I feel restless for this semester and the coming semester :'( The first class which I am going to repeat will begin on Thursday the next week, 16th of Syawwal 1432 H. I am still not done with third sister works and also my own thesis chapters. I don't want to see anyone including my sisters crying, I will cry for them though many people cursing my face when I try to reconcile everyone. May Allah forgives everyone, as they do not know nor understand... Today is 10th of Syawwal.... We have plenty of time to finish up 6th days of Syawwal fasting... Insyaallah, I would try to fast beginning this Monday... I wish those who fast the 6 days of Syawwal to be blessed with His Grace and Love... Those who had already finished, I wish you congratulations, may Allah keeps you in consistency under His Shade, amin!  

يا رب القوات كن معنا يا رب القوات إرحمنا .... O Lord of the Strength, be with us... O Lord of Strength, have Mercy on us... اللهم صل على محمد وعلى اهله و صحبه أجمعين... Our Lord please be in contact with our prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family and his companions... Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy and love, amin!

Serawak Easter 2010

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

These were taken in 2010 few months before I become a post-graduate student. I went for Serawak, the Land of Hornbill and coincidentally it was Easter celebration. In conjunction to this event, I went to Saint Thomas Anglican Cathedral in Kuching to listen the Easter sermon but could not be there for long as the time coincides with Maghrib prayer service. 

The next day would be their procession day for their religious figure which is Jesus Christ. Didn't join the procession but I went to museums and looking for colonial buildings around. I'm not familiar with Anglicanism but I guess they have their sacraments almost the same to Old Catholics. I know few points on Orthodoxy where I had asked some friends from Middle East seminaries to send me files about their theology, most of them are in Arabic. The sermon in the cathedral was conducted in English so I can understand what people were talking about. However, I couldn't snap pics while they were conducting rituals in the prayer hall to respect them. I just went out to Kampung Surabaya across the Kuching Waterfront for Maghrib prayer service.

 Entrance

 Few minutes before Easter service, climbed the stairs. It's quite hilly

Have to hastily go out for Maghrib prayer service

I can't find public prayer rooms in the town there except for Indian Mosque at the end of the town which takes quite a time to walk and my prayer time will be injured. The easiest way to find mosque is to take boats at waterfront to another side where there are several Malay villages. Kuching Waterfront area is weird... Trying to retrieve more pics in Serawak as to make sure they could be preserved in printed form before I delete everything.

Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!

News from Friend: Tibetan Summer Retreat in Bhutan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

Just saw some pics by a friend, Sherab Palsang who lives in Arunachal Pradesh in Indian eastern region. He is a Tibetan monk in exile which I had known since many years ago. He had many times invited me to visit him at his monastery but I have to finish this studies and lack of mobility. 

He went for Singapore when I was in the first semester doing this post-grad degree but I was occupied so I can't see him. Maybe when I get proper job and stable that I would plan a visit to India and visiting him beside traveling to other parts in India. I hope he at least could come to Penang or Thailand and I would be glad to meet him, having cup of drinks. I had lost his monastery address. I have got some English books to be donated to the monastery library for educational purpose. Some had been donated to mosques and random libraries. People need education to be civilized.

These pics are about summer retreat during Shrawant to Bhadrapad months in conjunction to events in August and September. Thai Theravada Buddhism called it as Warn Khao Pharnsa (Varsha) which begins around the mid of July and ends in the mid of September. Monks would retreat and fasting in their monasteries rather than traveling around. It is to avoid harming little creatures and crops if monks traveling around during the period. Let us see how Vajrayana-Tantra Buddhists performing their varsha or rainy season ceremonies. This is also my first time seeing Tibetan style ceremonies.

 Sakya Rinpoche which is the monastery head in India arrived in Mon Thawing, Bhutan.

 Confession ceremony where monks would confess their errors and ordination ceremony 

Trairattana ceremony

Pattimokka (monastic rules) recitation in the hall in front of Wairocana statue

Laymen devotees at monastery compound

Sadhana mudra ritual where devotees would go around the mandala

Feast where they distribute barley porridge at the monastery head quarter

Sherab graduation day, guess this is more than six or seven years ago since the pic looks old. I think Sherab is at the middle. They look almost the same, hehe. I am proud of you, friend. It's not easy to be ordained

Special thanks to our friend, Sherab Palsang for pics sharing. Sharing is caring. I would visit you and your monastery if condition permits me, someday... You live in such a nice place with fresh air. It is a good place to study :)

Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!

Aidulfitri 1432 H Pic: Mum's Cousins

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

Manage to get some pics from files sent by little sister. Thanks, little sis... This pics featuring pak su Omar which is our maternal uncle. Pak su Omar is mum's cousin brother. The title pak su means little uncle because he is the youngest of his siblings. Their mothers are siblings where our grandmother is the youngest of four siblings. All of them had passed away including our beloved grandmother. 

Differently to nowadays, their family bond is quite close though they're just cousins compared to younger generations. Mum told me that their mothers would travel far from north to south or either ways in order to stay up at cousins or relatives houses just to tie kinship among generations and helps everyone up before great religious celebration. When they passed away, mum tries to revive it but I don't feel comfortable with it. The same thing goes to my sisters. Now only I believe that it is important. But maybe I am not as friendly as older generation because my life had been different from them. The same thing goes to others. I prefer to be a loner. Oh yeah, mum actually is closer to her cousins compared to her own siblings. Weird isn't it, haha.  

Left: cousin brother Zulhairi, mum, dad, pak su 'Omar

Left: lil sis, second sis, younger sis, me, third sis

In Yahya Halal Restaurant, Samnak Khan, Dannok Town, Southern Thai region. Left: Niang Ta which is pak su Omar's wife (they're cousins too), cousin brother Zulhairi, pak su Omar, taking the order is the restaurant owner, dad, little sis, younger sis.

Mak teh nord's family in Batu Maung, Pulau Pinang. From left front is cousin brother Sobhi, his wife and his daughter, cousin brother Sobri's wife and their second child, cousin sister Wani, cousin brother Deen wife 'Ashiqeen and son, cousin brother Sabri. From left behind: Pak Teh Mun (mak teh Nord's husband), pak teh Mun's mother, mak teh Nord, cousin brother Muhammad Adi, cousin brother Deen and his daughter.

Pak su Omar is the younger brother of mak teh Nord. They have other three siblings. One of them, Niang Rogiah had passed away last two years and followed by her husband in the next two months, Yazid. May the God be merciful to their souls. Both of them are good, tolerant and peaceful people. I don't have any pics of their children but I hope to keep them in this site as for me to remember them in prayers and services also to keep me track to relatives. Rogiah, Khalid, Nord, Che Nah and Omar are maternal cousins of mum. Their mother, Hasnah is a sister of my beloved grandmother, Seehah. Grandmother has four siblings whom are Mahdzoum, Zakariyya, Hasnah, and Seehah which is her. Mahdzoum is dad's mother. That makes mum and dad both cousins of mother side.  All of these generations had passed away.

Pak su Omar and Niang Ta still has other two sons whom are Zulhilmi and Zulhaikal. Both of them live in Kuala Nerang because they do not want to move out back to Jitra. Perhaps they have many friends there and that is common. We can't easily say goodbye to friends :) I was quite close to Haikal (Zulhaikal). He was so little back then when I was nine years old living in Jitra. I feel quite embarrassed to Khairi (Zulhairi) which is their elder brother though he was the same age with me. He was an intelligent boy and quite popular among girls and boys (being his companies) when we were school pupils, hahaha. He was in different class anyway. I was not well known in schools, even my class teachers don't even recognize my face not even schoolmates, like wind.

Wish cousin brother Zulhairi, a happy marriage... selamat menempuhi kehidupan bertanggungjawab, may both of you build up a peaceful house and harmonious family, granted by the God with pious children and generations, His Will. I don't think I would be there at your marriage and I would like to apologize though you may not see it here, hahaha. Just want to avoid people asking me about marriage though I am happy to hear this good news. I think that I am still young though I do not style myself according to latest trend or fashion like other young men. It's closer to the end as what is prophesied in scriptures. I don't want my generations to suffer great destruction of yomul qiyamah. Let it end with me hopefully :)

اللهم صل على حبيبنا محمد صلى الله عليه و سلَّم وعلى أهله و صحبه اجمعين... Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!

Aidulfitri Mubarak 1432 H

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah!

Aidulfitri Mubarak, congratulation for those who managed to control their desire in the school of Ramadan! Let us pray may our worship bein' accepted by the God and may our practices of charity and devotion to Him remain constant in the coming year, insyaallah...

Just coming home to the hostel from our beloved state, Kedah. Mum and dad could not stand celebrating raya in the city as all of the people return home to be with their family. Our grandparents had all passed away. I sometimes think that such a custom of balik raya or returning home to our hometown is not so important for me. However, it is important for mum and dad. This raya is a bit different. All of our family members return home, including sister who works in Saudi. Not just mum and dad.

I have to help third sister with her thesis proposal. She would be busy after returning to Saudi. So, she sent me earlier to my hostel as it is difficult to get internet connection while we are off towns. I can see many changes in our state after 2-3 years. New buildings, new roads, and others. Raya is a generic term for celebration in Malay. We just call any celebration as raya. It means great day. It is a custom for Malaysian to return home during Aidulfitri or Aiduladha spending their quality holiday time getting along with family.

1st of Syawwal

We prayed in Sultan Muzaffar Syah mosque in Sungai Petani. I managed to follow mum and dad to visit sister Faridah. She is one of dad's nieces from our first grandma. She had already moved from Malacca with her husband and children since few years ago to our elders' station in Pantai Johor. It's quite complicated since those elders practiced polygamy marriage and most of them married their maternal cousins for the sake of family bond and religious purpose. They only marry people of the same caste or race according to Shafi'ie madzhab of Yemen. But that was in the past. Now, that is not effective anymore since many had moved out of their elders' stations. 

We exchanged information about our family tree line with her and she speaks in the speed of a bullet. How funny she is, loll. I get to know her son and daughters but not all since some of them are away. I hope to get to know them all but that is just a dream. We live far away and we don't always get along out of the celebration. I wanted to know more about dad's family. Most of them aren't really religious since elders passed away earlier. So, they have no proper religious nor moral education. I believe they are nice people. All of the people around the world are nice. It's just environment and destiny that molded us to be what we are today. We went to grandma (dad's mum) grave at the nearby mosque and I saw the banner indicating they are going to enlarge the mosque and moving the graves there.

2nd Syawwal

We went to mum's cousin brother. His son who is about the same age with me is going to get married in November. I can't believe that he's going to get married while he has no proper job yet. Maybe that is his destiny and I pray that he could get suitable job soon. He's a nice guy, but I am not close to him too though when we were kids we used to play around together. He was also a schoolmate when I was in Soltan Ahmad Tajuddin Primary School spending about a year there as a primary school pupil in Jitra. We are adults now, of course things would be different and I don't really spend my time with our relatives. Most of us are nomads. We moved here and there for study purpose, making a living, and others.

We spend a night at their house before going to Thailand in the day after. Second sister never enter Thailand in her whole life so she insisted to go there and trying Thai authentic cuisines. I had already been there with third sister for her hidden marriage, hehehe. We have to pretend that we don't know about the place though we had already been there since her proper ceremony is not done yet. It's just a little cowboy town, called Baan Daannok Samnak Khan after the passport control with halal restaurants but the most popular halal restaurant there was closed since the lady owner went home until the end of the 6th Syawwal fasting. So we just randomly going to a Tabligh owner restaurant called Yahya. The most scary part for us is that we crossed the border without any passport or grant for the car. If anyone wanted to enter Thailand from Malaysia, make sure to bring the grant of the car. I would next time always bring my passport if I enter places near Thai border. Those in Thai border control of Kwan Mai Dam or Bukit Kayu Hitam are quite negotiable and polite compared to those counterparts at Singapore.

Then, they went to an alley buying cheap stuffs. We can easily get cheap stuffs which looks the same like original ones there. I didn't buy anything since I am a student. Spending must be discreetly controlled. We returned home to our side at night before 20:00 since the border will be closed at 24:00. Many cars at the border. People as far as Singapore went there to have fun. It includes fun in the 'other way.' 

3rd Syawwal

I just followed third sister to Sungai Petani to our old house there after we reached Jitra. Mum and dad still maintain that house for everyone who have the need to return north to be stationed there or loading stuffs. That's why they do not want to sell it. I stayed there a night with third sister and helping her with her thesis proposal. She only has two weeks to finish everything and her supervisor is so irresponsible. I didn't know that she was doing her thesis proposal, so I just treat her assignment as a mere report. I plan that I wanted to help her out today. She has to return to Kuala Lumpur getting her second supervisor opinion and she also has to prepare returning to Saudi. Her leave is almost done. Please help me, brethren passing by with your prayers may I finish helping out my sister with her thesis proposal and finishing my own thesis by time. Thank you.

I wish everyone well-being and spirit of devotion to Him. It does not matter what faith people are, I don't care. May we learn everything which could lead us to Him and may He helps us purifying our soul. I wish everyone especially my beloved compatriot سْلامَت مِثَمْبوت هارِي رايَ عيدُالفطرِي مَعَفْ ظاهِر باطِن!

Sealed with salawat an-nabi and prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!