Being the best listener.

One day as I was reading on how to maintain good relationships, I came across a section on being a good listener and comforter. It said something along the lines of:

"When one confides in you, do not burden him in listening to your own problems which deem bigger to you."

Sometimes with the intention of making someone else feel 'thankful' of their 'little' tribulation, we tell people of our own 'big' trials we face as a response to their monologue of sorrows.

Example #1 

A comes up to B, feeling down.

A: B, you know what? I was rejected by the parents' of the girl I liked for so long...

B: Well, your situation's better than mine. First I was rejected, like you. To make it worse, the mother splashed water in my face and then I was bit by the family's cat before I got out of the house...

Example #2

After having a hard day, C decides to find comfort in G.

C: G, hari ni kan, aku jatuh tangga..... sakit betul.

G: Well, aku lebih teruk... aku jatuh tangga, lepastu terhantuk kat dinding, sekali tiba tiba ada pakcik security muncul terus terpijak kaki aku...

Whether we realize it or not, at times we are B and G. What we fail to see is that A and C simply yearns for comfort and concern. Like a simple: "Kesiannya... abih ok tak?" This is definitely not easy to do, as we are always tempted to tell others our stories which we deem are far more painful. But let's keep that for later. For we must understand, different people have different capabilities. What they feel as a difficult period, is something we should acknowledge. Let's change our shoes and try to be in the position of our friend. 

How does it feel to have just fallen down, and while struggling to get back up, someone verbally bashes you up by saying that the fall was nothing compared to theirs?

I think... that we should try our best to be there when one needs us. I've always believed that if we lighten the burden of one, our own burdens will be lifted. Be it today's or tomorrow's burdens. 

Just a little time, attention, care and concern can change someone's day. So when someone needs somebody, let's be the somebody and give whatever that we have. Love needs to be spread, doesn't it? =)

I miss you so.

Saat tidurku tidak lena

Tika rindu datang menjelma

Aku tahu ini cinta

Duldul, I miss you.

I might be wrong, but I would like to believe... that when you put your paw on my hand, it's your way of saying:

"It's okay kholah, everything's gonna be alright." =)

A favourite dish!

Presenting..... khaw neow ma-muang! A dessert which I first tasted and immediately fell in love with at the Ambassador's villa in Egypt when I was there during the end of 2009. I think whoever created the dish is a genius. Khaw neow ma-muang is a dish which comprises of sticky rice, eaten with mango and topped off with a coconut milk sauce. It took me a long, long time to remember the name. I recall the ambassador having fun teaching us how to pronounce the word and without any fail, he would repeat the name over and over again. 

"This is called Khaw. Neow. Ma-Muang."
"Khaw Neow... wait, what?"
"Khaw Neow Ma-Muang."
"Right. Khaw Meow-"
"Khaw Neow. Nee-ow, not Mee-ow."
"Okay..... Khaw... Neow... Ma-Muang"
"Correct!"


10 minutes later...

"Wait, what's it called again?"

So eventually I gave up and decided to give it a simpler name: Meow Meow. A year after not eating Meow Meow in 2011, I suddenly remembered about it during my days in NLB, so I asked a fellow colleague about it... thinking that it is a Chinese dessert. But unfortunately she didn't know about it and said that it might be a Thai dish. I googled, and yes, she was right! I've yet to make Meow Meow myself though... maybe I will one day, InsyaAllah.

Hmm. Good food makes me so happy. =)

A new phase.

After discovering frog images on my blog and tolerating with them for a very very long time, I decided that it is time. This is it! Farewell frogs, wherever you came from! 

But I just had to find out the origin of the frogs...

I googled, read, deduced, and concluded. The root of the problem was that I had been using Randa Clay's blog template since 2009, so due to many downloads of the very same template, the image served by the image provider Randa used exceeded the bandwidth limit. Because of this, the provider stopped serving the image, and with that, frog images appear on my site. And these frog images, are well known as the PhotoBucket Frogs. I secretly wish that they used butterflies or bluebirds or smiley faces instead though.


I can't give a more detailed explanation though - like what's a bandwidth and all. I'm not an IT expert... 

Okay, so to get rid of the images I had two choices. One, to search and then download the image in my previous bluebird template before uploading it to a personal image provider. Two, to simply get or create a new template. I chose number two for the convenience.

I started my attempt in creating the template. After 10 seconds I decided that there was no point to it - I had forgotten all html knowledge I ever had. But that's alright... I've never been into html that much, plus I think that there are more important stuff that I need to recall. So deciding not to waste much more time, I scoured the internet looking for free downloadable templates.

... and I wasted approximately 45 minutes. The irony. 

Perhaps blogger has lost popularity so the amount of templates has become rather limited. There was only one more thing I could do then - use one of the provided blogger template on the Blogger Homepage. It's something I thought I would never do, but to save my blog from frogs I just did it. It turned out to be pretty nice, actually... much to my amusement. =)

So insyaAllah more posts will be coming up, with new thoughts and views on certain stuff. Till next time, Assalamu'alaikum. =) 

A reflection of emotions.

I love listening to Emily Bear's piano pieces. And this is one of my favourites. You should listen to it too... maybe you'd love it as much as I do. =)

This is Emily's musical interpretation of the Northern Lights, as in the video. And this piece won the 2008 ASCAP award for original compositions for composers 18 years and below. Emily was 7 then.


I honestly love this piece because it kind of brings me to another place. And when she slows down, there's this sadness because there's no one around you. Then it picks up and speeds, looking for that someone you've always longed for. And suddenly - just suddenly - it becomes beautiful all over again. Because you realize that the person has always been in your heart. And then you feel complete again. =)

Updated time table.

Realizing that I posted the wrong time table in the previous post, here I am to upload the updated one... jadi doanya saya perlukan untuk jangka masa yang lebih panjang k =) 

InsyaAllah exams are scheduled to end on the 24th June for me, but since a runoff election will be contested on the 16th and 17th June following the presidential elections which were held on the 23rd and 24th May, there's a huge possibility that my paper on the 17th would be postponed to another date. Honestly speaking, the political scene in Egypt is getting interesting... with every blink of the eye something new happens. But I need to run off to do my revisions so I think I can't do an update on that. =( You can just follow the news or watch Al Jazeera English live on Facebook! Yup, you heard me right! Live! On Facebook! (No, Al Jazeera didn't pay me for free advertising...)

Hmm, to think of all the information you can actually get on Facebook..... =) *happy thoughts*

Till next time, Assalamu'alaikum! =)

After ups and downs.

Assalamu'alaikum =)

After weeks of not holding my laptop, and months of logging in to blogger but not typing anything, I've finally decided to..... update! (Obvious much, hehe.) Alhamdulillah, life has been beautiful - many amazing things have come my way and and I've been up and about doing a whole lot of other stuff as well! So insyaAllah today's post will be filled with many many pictures. If a picture really says a thousand words, then today's post will be like, a million words! Or maybe even more! Bismillah.

Firstly, March 28th came and so did Duldul. We had this 2-month-old kitten joining our family and life has been so much happier ever since. Alhamdulillah. Thank you Allah for him. =)

When I study... he sleeps right in the middle. Motivating much -_-

A cranky Duldul who just woke up from sleep.

Duldul actually leaped on the bed to watch a drama with us! 10 minutes after, he fell asleep though. Sometimes I don't understand him -_- 

Duldul is a gift from Allah =)

This year's assignment which gave me sleepless nights, sleep deprivation, terrible backaches, countless clueless and hopeless moments. Yet aside all that choosing to research on the spread of the Arabic Language in Singapore and the effect it has on the Malay Language was exciting because I was learning a whole lot of new things! =) InsyaAllah I'll be doing further read-ups during my holidays in Singapore - given that I have the time insyaAllah. Overall, I'm happy that I managed to complete this with very limited resources. Alhamdulillah. Please make duaa that I'll get a good grade for this.....

5th April. Shared what I knew in a workshop conducted by the I.T. Unit. 

Alhamdulillah all went well...

13th April. Had fun during the badminton tournament! 

Who says we Azhar students aren't capable of doing sports? ;)

Will be participating in the 9th International Calligraphy Competition organized by IRCICA with a number of talented Singaporeans... I don't know what else to say. Doakan ok. 

Finally, my exam timetable. Am going through it right now.

To sum everything up..... doakan saya. =) Till next time insyaAllah! Assalamu'alaikum.

Current interest.

The current state of health isn't really easing my efforts to write a proper post, but as of the moment I am very much interested about the Kony 2012 campaign. You should go and check it out as well and find out more. There is more to what is being shown within the 30-minute video. =)

Tangan yang menulis itu gerakan hati...

Mata tertumpu kepada tangan yang menulis khat. Nafas cuba dikawal sebaik mungkin. Sambil menulis, sambil itu juga mendengar kata-kata guru khat saya...

"Dahulu... khat juga diraikan macam pertandingan tilawah Quran antarabangsa di Malaysia. Sambutannya memang hangat. Ramai peserta dan penulis khat bersatu, menyumbang dan berusaha mengekalkan kesenian Islam..."

Kata-kata itu terputus. Supaya sepenuh penumpuan dapat diberikan kepada apa yang ditulis.

"Orang orientalist juga pernah cuba menghalang perkembangan penulisan khat..."

"Tapi... ada apa dengan khat yang membimbangkan semua orientalist? Khat cuma satu tulisan. Cuma sekadar buat cantik aje... Kenapa itu pun nak halang?"

Soalan itu datang dari hati yang cuma cenderung pada kecantikan penulisan. Menulis, tetapi belum cukup faham. 

"Khat lebih daripada tu. Khat...


... adalah satu syiar Islam yang sangat kuat."

Saya tersenyum. Hari ini satu ayat yang mudah membuatkan saya diam. Saya disentakkan dengan sesuatu yang saya belum pernah terfikir. Sesuatu untuk hiburkan diri saya. Juga sesuatu untuk isikan minda saya agar boleh berfikir sepanjang hari. Berfikir dan terus berfikir... =)

A fast one.

I was browsing the time lines of some of the caliphates when I saw this:

Great libraries were burnt. Libraries. Books. Why? Burnt libraries = fall of empire. Beginning of Mongol influence. Think. Think. Think. Why burn libraries? Why not mosques? Why not business ports? 


History! Books = history + culture. History + culture = shapes person's identity. 
Person void of identity = easily influenced.


All this may not make much sense but I just want to jot this down before I go to sleep. Will do more readings before I arrange my thoughts.


Wonder if what I think is true, and whether you get what I'm thinking of =)

Terganggu.

Saya manusia biasa. Saya juga akan terganggu pada masa-masa tertentu. Cuma saya rasa sangat bersyukur, sebab Allah kurniakan saya keluarga, dan teman-teman yang sudi mendengar. Sudi menasihat. Juga sudi mengingatkan.

Bila fikiran terganggu, macam-macam yang bermain dalam minda.

"Awak, kte selalu tengok orang lain bagus sangat... dia boleh pergi *dars banyak banyak tapi tak pernah nampak penat. Kalau bercakap selalu bagus. Bila bagi tazkirah mesti berisi. Lepas tu bila kte tengok diri kte, kte fikir... kenapalah kte tak macam tu..."

"Iyalah... Allah kan cipta orang berbeza-beza..."

Terdiam.

"Oh... betul juga kan wak. Kte pernah dengar Albert Einstein nya quote. Dia kata... "If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it'll spend it's whole life believing that it is stupid". Hmm betul lah kan kata awak..."

Kawan saya mengangguk. Saya terdiam lagi. Kemudian perkara lain pula datang menganggu, tanpa saya undang.

"Hmm tapi wak, tak masuk akal lah perbandingan tu. Kalau kita nak judge ikan tu dengan keupayaan dia sama ada dia boleh panjat pokok ke tak, mestilah tak boleh. Benda tu luar tabi'i. Luar kebiasaan. Tapi kalau kte, kte kan boleh usaha untuk jadi rajin sampai boleh gi dars banyak banyak juga. Kte boleh latih diri juga sampai boleh bercakap dengan lancar depan orang ramai..."

Kawan saya termenung. Saya juga terdiam melayan fikiran. Tiba-tiba kawan saya bersuara.

"Kenapa awak kena jadikan orang lain kayu ukur untuk keupayaan awak sendiri... Allah cipta semua orang kan dengan keupayaan masing-masing. Lain orang bagus dalam lain benda. Lagipun... semua tu mentaliti awak sendiri. Awak rasa awak tak bagus, tapi sebenarnya awak boleh. Kenapa awak kena fikir yang buruk pasal diri awak?"

Kata-kata tu yang buatkan semangat tinggi semula. Mudah. Simple. Tapi sangat memberi kesan. Teringat mama pernah kata... kadang kita memang tahu kenapa kita perlu bangun semula selepas jatuh. Tapi kita manusia biasa, kita akan terasa nak dengar juga perkara-perkara tu semua daripada orang yang kita sayang. Kata mama, sedangkan menteri pun perlukan penasihat... Hmm, apalagi kita yang cuma biasa biasa kan? =) 

Kita takkan dapat putar semula masa. Apa yang terjadi, dah pun terjadi. Terkadang kita akan bencikan diri kita yang banyak kekurangan. Tapi yang penting adalah masa depan yang kita mampu corak... Masih ada harapan yang esok lebih cerah daripada hari ni. Esok insyaAllah akan bawakan kebahagiaan yang lebih banyak. Masih ada harapan itu. =)


*dars: kelas pengajian agama tambahan selain daripada kuliah seharian di universiti

I know, but I don't really know.

I've always heard people say: "Iqra! Read! Because that was the first revelation revealed to the Prophet. That was the first thing that He wanted us to know."

The first time I heard that during my primary school days, it inspired me so much. It was something so thought-provoking. Of the 6236 number of aayahs in the Quran, that was the first one. The most wonderful thing about reading is that it brings so much joy. I remember when my brother and me were younger, we were really into reading. We loved the library. I personally like the smell of the library. It has a nice scent. I remember times when my brother and I would complain that the National Library Board only allowed us to borrow 4 books using one card. We'd make frequent trips to Tampines Regional Library with my mum, who'd gladly help pick out books for us. We grabbed it all - science-related books, mystery books, fantasy books, stories on the past Prophets and sahabah... we had it all. Every time we were at the library we'd furiously find the next book in the series we were reading at that point of time. We'd anticipate school holidays, because that was the time that NLB would allow us to borrow 8 books. Talk about double happiness. And before we even got home we would've already start reading in the bus. 

It makes me smile, thinking of those days. =) We were young, we had nothing to worry about, and our lives basically revolved around family, school, and books. That was it. Sometimes we would read books and gain facts which are totally impossible to be applied directly in our lives, but it just gave us pure happiness and many 'Wow!' moments (phrase used due to lack of vocabulary, but I think you get the point). I mean, how would knowing that butterflies live an average of 10-14 days help us in any way? 

Then time passed and I had more responsibilities and more things to be taken care of (or so I think), and the love for books was there, but the time to read couldn't be found anywhere. It takes me quite long to finish one book, let alone four books. I let things the way it was, thinking that I've fairly known enough about the basic things I need to know. 

But the longer I spend learning in a higher institution, the more I realize that there is a difference between people who frequently read, and those who rarely read. Reading gives a person many bonuses. The maturity in thinking. A strong grasp of language. And an expressiveness in writing. I've lost the speed I have in reading, and I've lost the ability to digest knowledge like before, but I wish to continue what I had with me before, and start back again. I've to recap things like Islamic history that I've learnt during madrasah, and oh... here are the things which interest me at the moment:-

- Paper Money collapse

- Palestine, Egypt and Syria

- Philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophers Aristotle and Plato 

I know I can't have them all at one go, but I'm trying hard and taking small steps at a time. Eventually I know I'm going to reach there, so do make duaa' for me. 

Till the next post, assalamu'alaikum. =)

Back, insyaAllah.

It's been sometime since I last wrote an entry, and I believe that I really should revive this blog and continue expressing thoughts regularly before I lose the ability to write altogether. (Na'uzubillah!)

All this while I've been jotting things in my journal, and I have quite a number of things there - from thoughts, theories, and questions. Also ruminations on cliches and such. Like..... 

People always keep saying:

"Give, but never expect anything in return."

That's what you have to do if all this while you've only been opening your eyes. But when you open your heart, you'd realize that people - even those whom we dislike - have always been giving something; it's only that we refuse to receive and accept. Think about it.....

Senyum saje. =)

What's most certain is that you can always expect something from Him. His blessings are like a flowing river. Just like a flowing river, clean and pure.....

That's all for tonight.

I'll try to find time to write in more posts insyaAllah. Stay with me k =)