A friend in need...

My dear friends and fellow readers...

I would like to extend here, Dr. Ez's blog, giving the day to day account of his beloved wife's condition. (Please click here...)

I am sure that Dr. Ez will appreciate your good wishes and your prayers...

Thank you very much...

Small Kindness...

The square numbered face on my wrist stared back at me in silence.

“Must hurry!” I muttered, pulling my socks and fastening the laces of my shoes in turn. With the thick winter jacket flung over me, I stepped outside the door of my rented abode at 29, Banff Road.

The early morning cold air, suddenly slapped my cheeks. My teeth chattered under my breath just as soon as I sped across the busy Wilmslow Road, towards Worldwide, the huge Muslim grocery store, just across. I was practically in gear 4, sprinting to the bus stop.

“Must not miss the bus!” I told myself. Just then, my eyes caught sight of the back of the number 111 bus, just leaving off. My heart suddenly sank.

“Good morning!” I said, trying to sound cheerful to a lady sitting on one side of a seat, slowly bringing myself down onto the seat still vacant on the other side.

”Hi!” said she, flashing her superbly white teeth from between thick pouting lips.

Just across the road, heavy machinery was at work, tugging and sawing off trunks of old trees at Wilmslow Park while I sat intrigued, beside the lady.

“Why do they have to do that?” I asked spontaneously, my eyes still transfixed at the site full of activities.

“Well! Winter can be cruel around here with strong gusts of wind. Branches might fall, hurt people and destroy things, you see!”

“I see!” said I.

“May I ask you something?” said the lady, her eyes looking directly at my face.

“Sure!” I said.

“Why do you have to wear that?” she asked.

“What thing?” I said, in a voice laced with an element of surprise.

“That! Covering your head!” she said, pointing her fingers up her head, and twisting them around in a circle.

“Oh! We call this hijab! It is what practicing Muslim women should be wearing.”

That was the beginning of our conversation. We talked and smiled, interspersed with occasional laughter. About our countries of origin, sunshine that we craved, right down to the different kinds, shapes and tastes of bananas which we missed so much! For she was from Jamaica, a country with a climate not much different from that of Malaysia. Just like any other places in the UK, seeing, eating and tasting the same sized bananas in Manchester can be very boring.

Just then, a number 111 bus turned round the corner at the traffic lights. Behind it, there was another one! I could not believe my eyes!

“Two at one time?” I said, my eyes were rolling.

“Yes! Sometimes they come aplenty, while at times when you most need them, they just don’t come!” said she, with a sigh.

“Nice talking to you!” I said, getting up and held my hand out, signaling for the bus to stop.

“Thank you too!” said she.

“Thank you? But why?” I said, puzzled. My head tilted to one side.

“For keeping me company with your pleasant stories! And your recipe for banana fritters just now!” said she, her face lightened up in a broad smile. Her hands were waving gently towards me.

“And you, me!” I half shouted, my face beaming; my feet already touching the steps of the bus.

My heart felt elated. Suddenly, the cold morning air did not seem so stiff anymore……

"We will set up the Just Balance on the Day of Rising and no self will be wronged in any way. Even if it is no more than the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, We will produce it. We are sufficient as a Reckoner." (The Quran, Surat al-Anbiya': verse 47)

Sheikh Yusuf Estes here in Malaysia….

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you should never miss.

Come! Meet and listen to the real American Ambassador of Islam – Sheikh Yusuf Estes, formerly a very active Protestant priest, who has now reverted to Islam.

Click here for the schedules and venues of his talk around Kuala Lumpur....

Click here for venues of his talks, entitled "Why Scientists and Doctors are Turning to Islam for Answers?" and another "Do Dakwah Now!" around Johor Bahru.

Prayers...

Was so tied down with work. It is the end of semester and examinations are on. Piles of manuscripts to be marked, tests, quizzes, assignments to be corrected, then scanned for OBE. Also a couple of theses (Masters and Ph.D.) which I need to examine.

My phone quivered from beneath the loads of papers. Message in:

“Just want to inform you. Dr. Ez’s wife is critically ill,” message from Dr. Mz, a very dedicated doctor and specialist radiologist who is now stationed at Sg. Petani Hospital.

My thoughts immediately flew back to the trying times, 3 years ago, while I was struggling at the Radiology Dept, HUSM, Kubang Kerian. Dr. Ez, my field supervisor during my Ph.D, who was and still is the Head of Radiology Department. Without his intervention and relentless efforts in modifying the normal procedures for the management of patients, it would have been very difficult for me, collating the data capture. It was truly through his kindness that made all that seemed impossible at first, became a reality in the end. Dr. Mz was also a Masters Student of Dr. Ez.

It was during those stressful times that Dr. Ez broke the news to us i.e. my research officer and Masters student and I. His wife (also a medical doctor by profession at the USM Medical Campus) was diagnosed with leukemia, stage 4. It was so sudden. He sounded devastated and that was understandable. For his wife had just delivered another baby a few months before that. His wife could not understand why she was drained all out each time she returned home from work. And being a caring husband, Dr. Ez attributed her lethargy due to stress at work, then caring for the new baby and the other little children of theirs. Little did both of them expected that a predicament was at work.

My heart goes out to Dr.Ez, whom I am deeply indebted, whose selfless efforts made it possible for me to complete my studies. Please do join me, to pray for him and his family. Oh Allah, please give Dr. Ez, his wife and family the strength to face this calamity. May she be cured…for truly You are the Greatest Curer of all diseases, Most Beneficient, Most Merciful…Amin, Ya Rabbul Alamin.

Sense of decency (2)...

(...continued)

My fingers reached out for the ticket from inside my purse and handed it out to the man in blue who stood waiting.

All of a sudden, the sultry woman with the nail polish stood up, her fingers in the air.

She said, “I am sorry! But my ticket is right here! In the pocket behind my back!” and then she stooped, extending her posterior wrapped in the tight pants, right in the direction of the man in blue.

The crossword puzzle man lifted his head, his lips ajar. The woman reading the book beside him, turned up her face, her eyebrows raised with a frown on her forehead.

The man in blue started to laugh, breaking the silence in the carriage.

“Well! This is one of the perks that come with this job, you know! So, I am not complaining!” said he.

There was laughter. From all over the carriage.

I stood up and offered, “Here! Let me take the ticket out for you!” and without waiting for anything else, took the little card, decked out in orange, from the woman’s behind.

“Here you are, love!” said the man in blue again, after punching a hole in the little card.

I quickly took the card from him and slipped it back to its former place. The owner, still had her fingers in the air.

“Thank you!” said she, as though nothing strange had happened. Instead, she started to blow her breath all over the tips of her fingers.

“You’re welcomed!” said I, trying to refrain from shaking my head, then the inside of me was saying, “God! Don’t these people have the slightest sense of decency left in them?”

“Are you a teacher?” said the other woman, who previously was reading her book to the nail polished woman.

My ears were still perked up.

“Oh yes!”

“Whereabouts?”

“Manchester! I have just returned from home at Notts. Going back to work at school. How about you? What do you do?” she said, still blowing her breath profusely away.

“Oh! I am a teacher too! At Greater Manchester!” said the woman, adjusting her bookmark and closing her book.

“Where are you from then?” said the other, scrutinizing her own fingers.

“Oh! I have been around to see my life partner up at Nottingham for the weekend. We have been together for quite a while. Most of the time, she travels up to my place at Manchester. But this time around, I thought I will do the traveling and spend our weekend together at Notts for a change!” she said beaming a wide smile.

Hearing that, my right hand flew to my heart automatically. The crossword puzzle man cleared his throat and shot me a glance, then rolled his eyes in the direction of the ceiling.

Once again, my inner self whispered, “She? May God forgive us!”

“Why does suddenly, this journey seem like forever? I would have to shut my ears from now on!” I told myself, my eyes looking at the square numbered face staring at me around my left wrist.

Suddenly too, I remembered the words from the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him):

“When you are immodest (unashamed) then do whatever you desire.” ~Al-Bukhari~