Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah
My cousin brother had already passed his contract of marriage, praise be to the God. I thought of calling him to congratulate him but somehow I felt shy, huhuuu. I didn't see his marriage ceremony nor paying respect to the ceremony. Moreover, next week I actually have a test for mid-semester and I felt that it's not safe to go out from my campus. It was postponed until the opening of the half semester break.
It's not actually easy to manage the time even if we are not working. I tried hard not to waste time and filling it with remembrance to Him. Sometimes we would also be deflected by "satan" and in this matter I do not want to blame anyone including satan. Satan could come to us in many forms. I still remember some discourses that I had about lord Buddha Gautham had to also encounter marn (satan) that tempted him in many ways when he meditated. Although he's not mentioned in glorious Quran as anything related to revelation but I still respect his teachings even when I return to the path of ancestors. I also acknowledge that prophet Jesus a.s was also tempted when satan who came to him to deflect him in many ways.
So, we must be really careful with environment around. Take heed in the changes in ourselves. I am actually reminding myself because every time I feel that the God is leaving me. I am so afraid because I only have Him as my Protector and Friend. Even if I am surrounded by people like parents, siblings, and friends, my real Friend and Protector is actually Him. They will eventually leave me. If He leaves me too, then I will be dead in this life and the hereafter : (
Wednesday, 13 Zulhijjah 1432 (9th Nov 2011)
I supposedly to see dentist last Wednesday to remove plaques at my teeth. However, I had fallen asleep after sunrise prayer service. I hate myself for being a person who's not punctual. That's not a good morality. When we make deals and agreement with people, we must be honest and punctual because He is recording our attitude, acts and words. This is not British culture. This is a culture of a servant of the God who submit themselves to Him. Then I called the medical center at dentistry department and setting the appointment again. So, I have to see the dentist on Thursday which is the next day.
At night I just went to find some food. I just went to Pelita Muslim Indian restaurant at Sungai Dua gate which is close to the mosque after night prayer service. I prayed in the mosque because I always went there when I was a first degree student. I miss the mosque and if I could live inside the mosque I would be so glad. But I just can live far away from Him : ( I had some mutton soup with two slice of bread and it tastes nice. I can't really eat rice here because I am not used to Southern Indian way of cooking. The curries are fierce because they use fierce spices. It's actually harming for spiritual growth. I think I must stick to my dates stock. I could survive with only few dates per day but I am afraid that sometimes people around would feel weird if they see me looking skinny or thinking that I am trying to avoid them. I love everyone who loves the God (Allah) no matter how they look like or what they are. I have weaknesses as a human-being which makes me worried would affect others around me. I don't really care about myself.
Then, I spent my time walking around the area of Sungai Dua. I took some pictures at places where I always walked so anyone passing here could also walk together, hahaha. Not only Malaysian students in overseas facing sadness in foreign countries when breaks come. We local students also feel the same especially when we have no one to talked with. Being a master student is not the same like being a degree student where we have groups of friends around even if not from the same course but we still share other classes or row. Being master students no matter with classes or only conducting research, we have to work on our own. We also have to live alone and isolated from others. My row has less people. It's like I am living alone in this world and perfect for meditation and being tempted by "satan" : )
Bali Bali Food Court
Bali Bali food court is actually a Chinese food court. Last time I was so fed up with mamak restaurant for their service that made me having some drinks here. I didn't take any food there but just drinks. I saw a Hui girl here but I am not sure whether she had her meal there. Her name if I am not mistaken is Mo Di and she was my German language classmate. There is also Indian hawker there, but I am also not sure whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. My Spaniard ex-classmate, Celia also had her meals here and she complained that curry in mamak restaurant has strong smells which could not simply being removed by washing hands with soaps and it also sticks to shirts. I just have my meals in mamak's if I have no choice because if we look at the way some of them serve the food, it would fall into haram (illegal and spiritually harmful) category in term of cleanliness. I am actually very particular with food and would rather fast as I hate eating, it tooks away my time in doing other things. Yet, many people who doesn't really know me still look at me as a person who has no religion because I don't like to show off my faith to people and I walk in and out non-Muslim places of worship. Faith should be kept firmly in the heart and we pray for faith to be granted to us by the God. We avoid hurting people with our words or attitude and it would be useless if we only show that we physically keeping cleanliness but inside of our heart is rotten. We emphasize both cleanliness physically and spiritually and His Mercy will reach everyone, inshaallah : )
Lepak, we hang out around here, hehehe
So, I just hang around here alone for a moment watching at the moon and cars. I don't have financial support yet for videos right now. I would also love to produce videos about Muslims life if there are opportunities but for now it's enough with this site. We also have many brothers and sisters with sites about Muslims life and I am happy to see all of them. This idea actually came across when I talked with Dr. Diana Huang who is a lecturer in Women Development Center. Last time Azren had introduced me to her and her assistant, I guess her name is also Wenpei or Peiwen something just like my classmate name but I am not sure about their Chinese character name would be the same. We talked about Chinese culture in Penang and Malaysia. Some parts, we also discussed about why should politicians played the issues like Chinese National school or National school because it is a unique traits of Malaysia. I also had seen a travelogue magazine during we discussed with Dr. Huang. The magazine was published by Wang Changsong, a Chinese national student. He did the publication alone while he was a first degree student. I think that it could be something that could be taken as an example for everyone.
I am actually doing the same thesis about Multiculturalism or Assimilation in Europe particularly Britain who was also a master of vast empire (Great Britain). If we demand people to assimilate, then what degree of assimilation? Britain is a multicultural nation. I didn't tell her that I am of Arab-Gujarat ancestry where our forefathers had came here since before independence of Malayan Peninsula as a Federal component of Malaysia and we were also forced to have dual identity where another identity had been abolished in documents so many of us actually are not aware about ourselves. Some of us thought that we are Indians and some thought that we are Malays. At certain degree some of us would take "Malay" as their identity while in other places they would claim themselves as Hadrami-Yemeni Arabs though they speak Arabic no more nor looking like an Arab because of few generations had passed.
I had also visited Islamic Museum in Georgetown in the next day. I would put it here for other brothers or sisters of Arab ancestral lineage who are curious about themselves and their culture since we in Malaysia, Myanmar and Southern Thailand are not so significant like those in Singapore and Indonesia for diaspora of South East Asia region. This is not to encourage racism as it is haram! But at least we should be aware about ourselves and brethren of other nations could also learn together. We share everything that we learn and we should be happy that the God has created us with Love and Mercy though we are from different backgrounds and regions. I had also expressed my sadness that some of Muslim Chinese brothers had also being Arabized after returning from Yemen while I am a Muslim of Arabian ancestry encouraging them to flourish within their culture in Islamic framework. Many elders of Peranakan Arab (those Arabs with Malay mothers or other nationality mothers) had also translated religious books into native languages from Arabic. Now, we have vast books in Malay for aqeedah, tasawwuf, shafi'ie madzhab fiqh, and many others. If those elders using only Arabic, would we see Malay books for Islamic teachings today?
The God created people of every nations to know each other, not to fight over nationalism, being lazy to learn languages and to dwell in negativity. That is baatil (evil) and we should also imagine how boring is this world with only a uniform kind of people. That is why Islam is across the boundary of races and nations. It is the path of the God since the creation of human-being and not the path of human-being like Western ideologies. There is also issue about Malaysian Chinese cuisine which had been published in newspaper. It is called as Bak Kut Teh but had been mistaken as pork based cuisine though the meat in the cuisine could be substituted with something halal (legal) when we do it on our own. It shows that the comprehension of public about usool fiqh and shariah islamiah is still poor. I am so sad because His Wide Mercy had been hidden by people who call themselves as Muslim due to their own ignorance. We would make this an article if we have some time only if He grants it to us the chance.
Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!
