Recap: Leadership course by Dr Tareq Suwaidan

Bismillah.

*smiling* I know I know it has been ages. But one thing for sure is that something has succesfully pulled me back in here. Long story cut short, last Saturday (18^th Oct 2014), my family and I went to a leadership course delivered by one of the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Dr Tareq Suwaidan from Kuwait. I was excited even the day before knowing that I would be listening to someone my dad known from his uni as they spent the same years pursuing degrees in the US. And also I have never met any Muslim Brotherhood leader. Having heard so many amazing profiles and had wanted to meet them personally and see them with my own eyes. Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah for the opportunity to listen and to be in the event.

Below are few points from many that I managed to scribble on my Samsung gadget while listening:

“History will repeat itself. Not by event but by cycle.”

“You cannot have change without pain.”

“Huge problems facing the Muslims today are backwardness in behaviour (look at our behaviour to the parents, if caught in bad traffic), cleanliness, management, effectiveness and most importantly in ideology (Islamic understanding) and leadership. Someone asked me when do you think the Muslim will be ready and revive? I answered him, “When they can put their shoes properly on the rack in the mosque, then they are ready.”

“No behaviour will change until you change the ideology. We often see parents treat their children with punishment. “If you do like this, you will get this”. It should have been explaining to the kids and encouraging them. Make them understand.”

“The purpose of Islam and purpose of the prophet Muhammad sent to us was for us all to be happy here in this world and also happy in the hereafter. Not to rule the world or to prove that we are the best.”

“We must think with love not with prove. It is not our purpose to prove them wrong when they refuse to believe in what we believe. “

“Imam Shafie said that whenever there is a major opinion clashes among scholars, nobody should attack anyone or each other.”

“It is not enough to have a good goal, behaviour, knowledge and intention but not competency.”

“Do not confuse leadership with taqwa.”

“Age and seniority are not criteria for leadership. And do not confuse with gender.”

 “In leadership, men can decide right away. Women would normally hesitate. But women are better in three areas; creativity, consulting, and when they plan men have no hope.” J

“Freedom and free election must come first then only comes shariah law because shariah can only be effective under a free environment.”

“It is impossible to be united. So let’s be united on issues. Look for issue that can unite people.”

“To change the ideology, we must emphasize on the education and media.”

Of course there are many more and longer. MashaAllah. 

All I can say that the two-hour session went unnoticeable and it was mind boggling and thought provoking. At the end of the session Dr Tareq reminds us to reflect on our understanding of the deen (the religion) as it is the ultimate and ideal solution to many challenges today. May Allah reward Dr Tareq for his work and effort and make us all under His guidance and mercy. Ameen ya robbana.

Bits and pieces from past Ramadhan

Bismillah.

Wishing all Muslim readers "Ramadhan Kareem"! May we take maximum advantage in these 30 days by doing more good, improve what is lacking and make this holy month full of blessing as a turning point in doing so, InsyaAllah. Reminder to myself and all.

Being in this fasting month, at times childhood memories will come and knock our doors...

...vision blurring...

...It took hours for my parents to wake us kids up for sahur. The process was long. To shake us up from sleep was one thing, to get us to the bathroom to wash our sleepy face was another. And from bathroom to the dining table not to forget (since each of us would try our luck to slip away and get back to bed or sneaked out to sleep on the sofa). When everyone was there at the table, it was unusually quiet for a family with five small kids. Yes, we were all there sitting but our eyes still shut. Even if we were eating, we chewed our food in slow motion with eyes closed or half opened. And sometimes our parents would took our zombi face pictures cause they know we hated it and to make sure we are awake and finish the food.

May Allah bless our parents for their efforts in moulding us with constant patience. ;')

Rasulullah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Have your pre-dawn meal (sahur) because there is a blessing at the pre-dawn meal time.”

(Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim)  

The Prophet recommended taking the sahur (night-time meal). He said:"Do not miss the sahur for it is blessed; take even a mouthful of water. God and his angles greet those who take their sahur."

Now that I am no longer that kid, I started to appreciate sahur as it helps me to go through the day better. For me having sahur before fasting would automatically tell my mind that I am prepared and ready to go down the battlefield, to face the day of hunger and abstinence. Even when in boarding school or in campus, being away from my parents, I still wake up for sahur. And Alhamdulillah, I am glad that I was placed with roommates who appreciate the same. Sometimes we went out to mamak stall at around 4am in the morning just to have sahur since there was no food at home. Sadly, some youngsters don't even bother to wake up for sahur. May Allah guide them.

I had experienced sahur in my mother's hometown in Pulau Sebatik in Tawau, Sabah. It is a small village and the local community would assign people to go around the village about an hour before sahur time by pickup truck and let the Qur'an recitation or selawat from the cassette blared from the speaker to wake the whole village up for sahur. Cool huh? Not that we can find that here in the city area. hehe. 

So, Muslimin and Muslimat, try to make your sahur even if it's just a gulp of water. 

Have a productive day and smile always! (:

Perfecting My Solah 2013

Bismillah.


Last Saturday, two of my sisters and I with some friends from work attended subjected seminar in Politeknik Shah Alam. It was held by Al-Khaadem Foundation with Sheikh Hussain Yee, a Malaysian chinese Muslim as the speaker.

Looking at the title, I'm sure that you knew what the event was about. 'Perfecting Your Solah (prayer)'. But let me remind you of the word 'perfect' here. It means the slots are focusing on fine-tuning your solah and perform solah the way the prophet did. Insyaallah :)

There are many things that I learnt that day. So many that I wow-ed to myself and said, " I didn't know that.." and sometimes I even said, " That's so easy!" Those are my expressions.

Below are couples of points that I managed to jot down:

• Sutrah. It is an object that a person places in front of himself to prevent his solah from being cut off by anyone (or anything) passing in front of him. This is done by praying towards a wall, a pillar in a mosque, or an object placed on the ground in front of oneself. 

"He (the prophet P.B.U.H) used to stand near the sutrah, so that there was (a distance of) three cubits between him and the wall, (there was) enough space for a sheep to pass." (Al Bukhari and Muslim). 

       
We see this happening especially in public prayer room like musolla (surau) in malls or rest area. Ladies usually will put their belongings like handbags, shopping bags or their shawls in front the prayer mat. Those objects acting as sutrah. Just knew that it is a responsibility. Moreover if we are praying in public prayer room. Be careful though.

• There are few things that somehow, Muslims in Malaysia do but there is no dalil (proofs or evidence from Qur'an) or hadith (the Prophet's sayings or acts) to be based on. Those things are:

           - Du'aa after Iqamah.
           - Tapping a praying man as a signal to join and follow as jamaah prayer.
           - Reciting du'aa together  after congregational(jamaah) solah.
           - Voluntary(sunat) solah 2 rak'ah before Asar.

         I have heard the above even earlier from another ustaz not just from Ustaz Yee.  These are
         culturally taught in Malaysia. If the prophet did not do, better to leave it, right? :)

• There is no concept of replacement (qada') for solah. Qada' is for fasting. Like Muslim women they will only have to re-do the fasting based on how many days they have missed to fast in the month of Ramadhan due to menstrual period. But no concept of re-do or replacement of solah. It is always 'cash', no 'credit'. If we missed solah,  repent and seek for forgiveness (taubat).

• Voluntary solah can be done in sitting position.

• Saf (prayers row).  "Keep your rows straight (during solah in congregational), for keeping the row straight is part of the perfection of Solah." (Al Bukhari and Muslim)"

          Look below how we should stand shoulder to shoulder leaving no gaps. This goes to the both 

          feets.

The people in the upper image do look like a strong army in defense position. 

• Solah while travelling. If one is going for musafir (travelling) and has completed ablution(wuduk) before leaving the house, he/she does not have to renew the ablution but only make a few wipe with water onto the shoes/socks and scarfs or shawls provided those socks and scarfs are not being taken off. Subhanallah!  How easy and practical Islam is. :') (Please seek for further clarification on how to do this correctly)

          In a climate like Malaysia, this rukhsah (bending rule) will last for a day and three days for  
          traveller.

          I have blogged earlier on my experience wiping my socks/ winter boots. Click here.



In a nutshell, I'm really glad coming to the seminar. Yes, we learned how to solat since primary school and continued to secondary school. But that is just basic. Learning process never stops once you graduated. You will be in various situation throughout your life and experiencing conditions you never thought you would be in.

This is where continuous learning would help. Always find room for improvement. And you will be surprised to know that the more you learn and understand, the easier it gets. Requoting Sheikh Yee's words, "We feel it is hard to do, because we don't have the right knowledge"

SPEAKER PROFILE:

SHEIKH HUSSAIN YEE

President of Pertubuhan Al-Khaadem

He is the founder and the President of Al-Khaadem 

organization, born into a Buddhist family and later 

embraced Islam at the age of 18 in 1968. He received 

his formal Islamic Education in Madinah & Syria and also 

attended lectures by renowned Scholars such as Bin Baz 

and Nasiruddin Al-Albani (May the mercy of Allaah be 

upon them).

He is a well known personality in the international circuit 

of Da’wah giving regular lectures across the globe and 

appearances in Islamic Channel UK, IERA, Peace TV and 

many more.

p/s: He is an excellent speaker and he jokes too. The seminar was very lively. :)

Hope this sharing will be beneficial and clear any doubts. Wallahu'alam. Allah knows best.

Jumuah mubarakah, everyone!

TY

First Infant

Bismillah.

Dear beloved readers,

I am just so happy and overwhelmed to share this with all of you.

Last Tuesday, 5th February, we welcomed a new family member. My sister in law has given birth to a baby boy in the afternoon. Alhamdulillah, the baby is well, two eyes, a nose and a mouth, ten tiny fingers on both hands and feets. Perfect. Alhamdulillah.

Well, this is the very first time for everyone to welcome the third generation of Yusmadi. :) This has taken everyone to another rank. For my parents, they have got a new status, grandparents. For me and all my sisters, we are a bunch of crazy aunties now. My brother and sister in law, they can proudly call themselves 'abah' and 'ibu' now. Apparently, everyone is affected by his arrival. See what this little kid is capable of doing. :) And it is so obvious that everyone is delighted and that I could tell from the smiles and grins which are drawn constantly on everyone's face. Including me! :)

Name given is Mursyid Muhammad Abdul Rahman

I did not know getting a nephew made me feel this amazing. Which makes me think and wonder how great and amazing would it be to have an infant of my own. Whoaah! Subhanallah! (Glory be to Allah)

25

Bismillah.

This month marked my 25th birthday. Im a quarter-century old now. Haha. Sounds old enough? :)

On the first day of work this year, I received a card and a small-size coffee chocolate bar from my employer which were found on my table. That was a bit new for us all in the department to get such on birthday occasion. Anyway, thank you. For those who made the effort to spare some of their time getting a boring girl like me something to walk home with i.e. the yummy cake and pretty presents, I thank you in a great amount. For those who remember my birthday and took all the hassle to get to my FB page and posted a wish though I unrevealed it, I deeply thank you and thank you. :')

Anyway, this year I purposely didn't write any post on 2013 resolution since I wanted to bring it together on my birthday which happened right after new year. 

Knocking on twenty five has actually made me think what have I done for the past years. Twenty five sounds like a very long time if you have to wait that long to grow a durian tree or to get to your turn to perform hajj pilgrim. But to pursue everything starting from learn ABC and 123, to be able to know various behaviour of human and how to respond to them, to be able to tell if this people have potentials or whether they can be trusted or not, to be qualified to get a job interview or to get a well paid job, a twenty five years seemed not to be enough or rather short period of time.

As we grow up, and I look back, I came to realized those rules once applied when we were younger has no longer binding us. When I was younger, I was not easily allowed to go hang out with friends at the malls as many of my friends had. At that time, I felt so uncool not to be able to do other things than go to school with friends. My parents would usually probe me with, 'Who are coming?', 'Would there be any boys joining?', 'What would I be doing with my friends?', 'What time will I be back?' etc. Now, they don't really throw me lots of that anymore. :) I actually feel thankful for what my parents had put me on. Because now I actually ask myself those questions before I swing my legs out from house. So, that has trained me to do self-check, weighing and considering before decision is made.

And when we were much younger, parents would buy us clothes. We didn't bother what to wear because we were so busy playing hide and seek in our so called 'maize' play ground in the mall. So parents had to pull us out from the rail of clothes to make us try out new garment in the department store. Now, they still bring us to the malls when buying clothes. It is just that we are not there to game anymore. We are there to help them select as our opinions are counts and matters now. Those are a few from many indicators that spell 'You are big girl now, Tasneem.' ;)

Life is a mystery. Sometimes it is exciting sometimes it goes the other way around. But I definitely learn something in my early 20's which is do not afraid to dream big. Not just dream but go higher and farther. Dream impossible if you want. As Allah mentioned in Qur'an:

"And man can have nothing but what he strives for."Surah Al Najm (53:39)

Aim for the stars. Even if you failed, you may land on the clouds or even better on Mars! At least you are going somewhere. :)

I definitely have a plan to live life for the next years. Just sometimes you would as well come up with a back-up plan, you know, should this does not work for you then you know life is not going to end because you have another considered direction to turn to. The second best option to path down. Hoping  whatever my plan is, Allah will always be in every steps of it. Ameen.

Lastly,

Ok. Blabbering stops now.

Much love,

TY.

Turkey: Our shopping spree

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah, my family and I managed to pull ourselves out from daily routine of work and escaped to the land of Baklava.

As for my parents, they both are so crazy for olives. They started to like olive (known as 'zaitun' in Arabic), when their Arabs friends introduced it to them when they still in the States. They could eat olives with almost everything, sandwich, spaghetti, pizza, pasta , fried noodles, pita bread etc. So going to Turkey has served them way right as the Turkey has Mediterranean climate zone. So, this kind of climate of relatively mild winter and very warm summer produces olives, figs, walnuts, grapes and fragrant herbs of rosemary, thyme and lavender etc. So they have bought kg's of green olives from the spice bazaar (also known as Egyptian bazaar) in Istanbul.

I had no idea olives could come in so many colour. Thought only green and black. hehe

Since mom is so much into this fruits and spices, so she bought dried figs, walnuts, pistachios, apricots, some Turkish spices for chicken marination, olive oil for skin care, and chili.

See the signage at the entrance. Misir Carsisi  mean Egyptian bazaar or market.

As for me, I know what I would be looking for. When I was in Bosnia, I always checked on Bosnian girls, especially how the Muslim Bosnian dress up. Since I saw them mostly in winter, so my observations is that most of them wear wide leg pants or jeans with a long winter coat and plain colour shawls to cover the head. Sometimes they go for skirts. For younger generations, they wear pleated jeans skirt which I find it stylish yet modest.  In Malaysia, it's hard to find jeans skirt which I like. Mostly they are too curvy or too tight at thigh area. So, I decided to get one for myself and was hoping that they have my size. The thing is that I realized when I shopped for skirts or pants, most of them are made in Turkey. And I was told by a Turkish friend that they could get those in Turkey with cheaper price. All this while I had been wondering where to get a pair of nice skirt and loose jeans pant. From that moment, I made an conclusion that is where the source is. Turkey! :)

You can witness below when I said Istanbul is one of the shopping heaven for Muslim women! ;)

You can get everything from top to bottom.

Skirts/ Pants

Pardesu ( A long garment worn by Muslim women. In Malaysia we called them 'jubbah'. In the middle east, it is 'abaya')

Love the colour!

Shawls, pashminas & scarfs

Pashmina

Scarfs and shawls retail store. They only take if you want to buy in bulk.

For dad, he looked for office shirts and suit jackets. We stumbled across a complex where you can find most of men's wear. So, it's dad turn after so many ours. hehe. The price is reasonable too. Okay, guys! Don't you worry because you have shopping spot too! :)

Sisters finding ways to fill up the gap while waiting for dad.

Their significant welcome treat. Free tea!

So, I guess what makes each trip different from others is what we managed to find and bring home. Things which is not available at home or if there is, would costs us more. Therefore, a reminder to all, always make a research on your travel destination on what they specialized at and what is plentiful there, so that you won't miss getting something worthy. And worth the flight ticket! :)

Turkey: Magical World of Turkey

Bismillah.

It took me nearly half an hour to figure out where to begin. Mom has done an excellent job writing on about 90% of our trip to Turkey. So, I am going to let you have the 'tour' with her. You may do so by clicking below links which is listed sequentially:

- Istanbul Aku Datang 1

- The Turkey Trip Summary Part 1

- Marmara Region: Canakkale- Troy- Asklepion

- Aegean Region: Kusadasi- Pamukkale

- Central Anatolia: Konya-Cappadocia

- Central Anatolia: Cappadocia, land of natural wonders

- Central Anatolia: Ankara

- The Turkey Trip Summary Part 11: On our own in Huge Istanbul

                                                                              ....

Once I set my foot outside the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, it was early, about 7am in the morning. As it was mid of November, the weather was cold and occasionally windy. Fairly low temperature at 15 degree. Looking at the grey sky, the cool air that I breathe, the mixed smell of au de parfum and tobacco, tall people in dark colours of winter wear, Caucasian women wearing hijabs and head scarfs, all of these brought back my memories in Bosnia. I know it is not fair to compare Bosnia from Turkey. But someone even told me that Sarajevo is like a piece of Istanbul. So, the blame cannot be put completely on me. ;)

Anyway, I would love to highlights on couple of things that I found them remarkable and worth of notice in Turkey. These are the things I personally fall in love with and keep saying to myself not to forget them. They are:

a) nature beauty and ancient historical place

b) shopping focal point,

c) food 

d) language. 

Today let me start off with what Turkey has to offer in regards to nature beauty. And the rest bullet points will come later, okay? :)

If you are looking for a place that could give you a wide-eyed gaze and cause jaw dropping, there are two places that will fit the bills. They are Pamukkale and Cappadocia.

Pamukkale in Turkish means cotton castle. Pamuk is cotton, and kale is castle. From the name itself I believe we can imagine how this place looks like. Well, it is not exactly a castle. It is actually a city which has travertines and terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing hot water spring. Pamukkale was also an ancient city which is called Hierapolis.

View from our moving bus to Pamukkale.

We went there just in time, an hour before sunset. So the view was magical with the sun shone on the white castle-like cascades and makes everything look glittering. Subhanallah!

Cappadocia is located in the central Anatolia. Apart from Istanbul, this was the only place we stayed for two days. Other place was just a night. The reason being that this place has got more to see that we need more time. We visited underground city which largely used by Christians as hiding place during Romans occupation and Gerome park, a fairy chimneys rock formation (historical site under protection of UNESCO). Breathtaking!

Shop in caves. Reminds me of the "Conehead" movies.hehe

The staircase leads to a small chapel built in the cave during Romans period

According to our tour guide, the sci fi movies of Star Wars were filmed here. Hmm.. what do you think of that? ;)

Mom and dad.. awww <3 font="font">

You can ride on the hot air balloon which is available everyday here (if the weather permits). The charges is USD200 per person with a certificate! hehe. 

The hot air balloon started to make its way to the sky..

Soooo excited! Look at countless balloons floating!

So, those are the places that I remember I had to take a deep breathe looking at them. Subhanallah! Wondering how amazing and magnificent these creations are. Lets ask ourselves back.. " How magnificent and great the Creator is, then?" God is the greatest. 

Up next: What to shop in Turkey?