A Sunday in UPM

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Sandalwood - Kayu Cendana

I almost forgotten about this site. Have been quite busy lately. It has been almost two years I am stuck with the thesis. I had sent few things to be corrected and still not receiving approval. I guess my supervisor is a kind of perfectionist. It is good to be a perfectionist but we cannot be sure that everything that we produce is perfect. So, brothers and sisters. It is not easy to produce a thesis... I think I would just send it in total to the school to be evaluated maybe like next week before the due date on 7th of December 2012, insha Allah... hehehe...

I had also tried to maintain my rituals as always but I find that it becomes more tough as the day time seems to be shorter than the night one. Maybe in our region. I do not know about other regions unless if I check the weather cast and observing their time.

Well, this evening I just followed my mother to an agricultural expo in Universiti Putra Malaysia. To be honest, I do not like to be among the crowd though sometimes I would feel the importance to have some friends to talk with. I love peacefulness and tranquility more and feel better when I am alone. I am just like that. 

I did not buy anything but my mother bought few things she likes, hehe. I think it is ok as long as she knows the limit and not wasting. Other than that, most ladies sure love to shopping and but things that they like. I understood that and my mother has not really bought anything like jewelry for herself. We do not believe in anything like gold or silver as possession because we are nomadic kind of people. Some of my sisters who had already been to the expo yesterday said that they are interested in business and trade. Well, it is not my nature and inclination. I do not care if people say anything like I have got no life or anything. We do anything because of "specific purpose" and because of the "necessities". What do we really need? Are we really deprived to practice the life of merchants and traders? If we set up the business, we would have to get loan and being tied to materialism because we would always need to roll the capital. We would also have to be aggressive in order to survive in business world and we may tyrannize others or being tyrannized too.  It involves the karmma and it would not easily being stopped...

I just asked my mother to help me to buy a sandalwood tree to be planted behind our house. It is useful for religious rituals and respecting the scripture. It is also a Mediterranean culture to lit up sandalwood in scripture recitation and to "purify" the house's smell for rituals. We have also got some little "lady's finger" plants distributed by the ministry of agriculture in the expo by just filling up the form. Because it involves the "efforts" that I have to write to get the plants so I accept the trees. I do not like to take donated things because it involves our ancestors' dignity and advices. I tried to tell this to all of my family members but because they are not specifically being trained in religious responsibilities so they do not really understand what am I trying to tell them. I think I need to ask people on how to take care the sandalwood tree.   

How's brothers and sisters 'Ashura fasting yesterdays? I just performed it on the 9th day of Muharram and on the 10th of Muharram. It is an optional fasting anyway just to commemorate the liberation of Moses a.s and his people from Egypt but if brothers and sisters performed that. I would like to congratulate you. Other than that I just did some light chest beating, mourning and some prayers for imam Ali r.a, imam Hassan r.a, imam Hussain r.a and other family members alone at the mosque after the Maghrib. 

I walked to the mosque because I do not like people to see me like following some kind of cult and maybe sometimes there are differences because of jurisprudence school as I am a Hanbali in the midst of Shafi'ies. So, praying and worshiping in a larger space would be better because I could hide behind the walls and pillars. I saw Twelver Shi'a brothers performed beating and procession too but I do not think that it is necessary to hurt ourselves just to show how deep our love and sorry for the Ahl Bayt and imam Ali r.a family. I am aware that there are few of the Twelver marjas talked about the importance of the mourning for them. 

I think it is just more than enough to be moderate and pray also for all bani Hashim clan and all Muslim brethren regardless nations and spreading love to all people regardless faith and background. Try not to be selective. Prayers for mercy to be granted upon all is better than prayers for anathema on others because His Forgiveness is wide. 

Reminder too. This month of Muharram is among four respected months within our traditions and rites. We should try to avoid tyranny, war, battle, quarrels and stay away from fighting others or each other if they do not start anything which harm us or our existence. Verses mentioning about these could be founded in Surat al-Tawbah verses 6 and 36. There are also numbers of hadiths mentioning about which months are those respected months and hadiths about practices in the respected months ranging from extremely weak to valid. 

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

CNY: Sungai Petani 2012

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Village Mall

Mangrove Forest and River 

Masjid Sultan Muzaffar Shah

Fajar prayer service with mum in the congregation.... I noticed a fellow Muslim Chinese brother there but I didn't get the chance to talk with him because he quickly disappear after the service. Usually I would choose to pray beside Muslim Chinese brother because of the sense that we are the same people, haha.

Old SP Town

Having some breakfast, nasik lemak tungkup tunjung with mum after prayer service. Nice view huh...This one is beside the old bus station. I used to take bus from Penang to Sungai Petani while being an undergraduate student and I stopped by here during holidays. I stayed at our old house alone with an axe in my hand while sleeping. This place sometimes make me feel not safe but it is my hometown. I was born here and three years of my early life was spent here.

Char Koey Teaow Stall in Old Town

Foods

These cuisines and things could be easily founded in the natt in Sungai Petani Old Town...

Khao Nieow Gai Thoat

It simply means chicken with glutinous rice or pulot ayam goreng. We bought this together with the following snack from a Muslim Thai auntie who talks vulgar words, hahaha. 

 Miang Kham

A kind of Thai snack known as Miang Kham which consists of Cha Plu or Daun Kadok as the wrapper. Ingredients inside the leaf would be shallots, fresh bird eyes chili, ginger, garlic, lime, onion, roasted peanuts, small dried shrimps with sweetened nam pla sauce. Nam Pla is fish sauce and it is wrapped separately in the plastic like we can see in the picture.

Mentarang

Urmmm, I don't know what is this called in English. It's called as Mentarang in Malay. Perhaps a kind of Moluska. I'm not good in Biology anyway, haha. I think this could cause us impurity too if eaten but mum said that it is not mentioned in their school of jurisprudence which is Shafi'ie school. They sold this along side the beaches at Perlis such as in Kuala Sanglang and Pantai Sabak in Selangor. This one was bought in Sungai Petani in Central Kedah. A kilo in Sungai Petani, RM8 and RM9 along Pantai Sabak.

 

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

Merry Xmas and Happy Hanukkah 2011

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

It is Christmas today according to Western calender. As a Muslim, I do not celebrate Christmas like Christian friends. However, I wish Christian friends Merry Christmas. In conjunction to this celebration there is also the memorial festival of Jew friends known as Hanukkah so I wish those who celebrate it Hag Hanukkah Smeah.

Hanukkah is a festival to celebrate the victory of Yahuda bin Mattatai in a rebellion toward colonizers. He ordered candles to be lit up again in the temple of Jerusalem after the profanity made by Antiochus IV Epiphanes inside their house of worship. The Greek king had placed idols and defecated it with pig which is illegal in their religious jurisprudence. It happened during the period of Seleucid empire hold control on the land of Judah.

Half an hour before the mass began

As for Christmas, I suppose that everyone knows about it and that the date is not exactly the date of prophet Jesus a.s birthday. I went to Assumption Catholic Church in Campbell Street to see how Catholics conducting their prayers for Holy Mass during their Christmas celebration. It began at 10 am and went on for about an hour and half with opening prayer, sermon and closing prayer, bread and holy water and hymns. I didn't take the bread and the blessed water anyway. I am not familiar with Roman Catholic rites though I memorized few Arabic Psalters. They had provided prayer books to parishioners. It is useless for me anyway because I don't know which part to refer when the cantor telling parishioners to open up sections but thanks to the uncle who provides me with the new order prayer books. I just mentally recited Quranic verses and dzikrs while the prayers went on in the place of worship.

I saw few Caucasian families perhaps tourists. Some of them seem at lost too so I guess they perhaps are not church goers as compared to local Christians whom are of Chinese, Indian, and Eurasian descents. Locals seem more polite as they bend down before sitting at the pew. A Caucasian who sat at the front pew perhaps is not a Christian but only following his girlfriend. The hymns and prayers followed by music from the music keyboard. I thought they would use the old pipe organ but there was no such thing in the hall. I could see people especially ladies chanting something with rosaries. 

After the mass session finished, they greet each other with the greetings of the festival. I went out after being an audience and just return home because I feel quite tired walking around before reaching the area. I also saw the Old Anglican Church known as Saint George Church is in function with many Caucasian devotees perhaps British and those from Commonwealth countries who happened to be tourists here. I thought that it is just a monument.

Assumption Catholic Church, Campbell Street

I arrived at Sungai Dua around 12:40 and having my lunch there before a junior, Charlie messaged me asking me whether I am free to company him having lunch but Dzuhr prayer service was almost there. I just politely tell him that I just had my meal. I just regret I didn't prepare another cloth because it is not really suitable to enter the Masjid with the cloth worn during others occasion and I could not perform the ghusl. I bought toothbrush and toothpaste at Maju Jaya department store to clean my mouth because we need clean mouth to recite holy verses. Next time I would bring hygiene stuffs with me for ritual purposes.

Before we perform salat service to the God, we need to make sure that we are physically and spiritually clean. After Dzuhr prayer service, I went to see Charlie at Khalil restaurant and having some talk with him before returning to my room. As it is, this is my experience today. I need to rush finishing the thesis, it makes me suffocating. I hate this worldly stuffs :'(  

Allahumma salli 'alaa Muhammad wa 'alaa aali Muhammad... Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, 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!