Ngah & Kayah's Drinking Well...

All praises be to Allah....

Am so grateful that my dream and intention has been fruitful…

Last Ramadhan , I received an invitation from an activist, who also happens to be my husband’s junior during their school days (Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR) old boy, Ipoh, Perak). This gentlemen has forwarded a chance to contribute towards a very noble effort.

In his flyer, it was stated:

Hadhrat Sa'd
(Radhiallaahu Anhu) said, 'Umm Sa'd (mother of Sa'd) passed away. What should I do?'

Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, 'Dig a well (in order to provide water).'

Hadhrat Sa'd dug a well and said, 'This (the water of the well) is for the reward of Umm Sa'd.' (Mishkaat - Chapter of Sadaqah).. (Hadith Riwayat Tirmidzi)

And something suddenly fluttered in my heart…Instantly, I remembered both my parents. They – who had toiled and faced such hardship bringing up my siblings and I. We would not have been like we are today if not for their hard work and sacrifices (my father passed away in 1997 and my mum in 2003).

And so, I immediately offered my hand in this gesture, so noble…

I wanted so much to ‘enshrine’ both my parent’s names in something that would give rewards for them in the hereafter until the end of time or as long as it is of service for the betterment of others…Alhamdulillah….Praises be to Allah for fulfilling my dreams and making this possible…(The proof is here).

For those of you out there who would also like to contribute towards this good deeds, please contact:

Dato' Haji Mustafa Kamal bin Zaini (hp: 019-2149345)
President, ACT Malaysia
www.actmalaysia.org.my ( Please click here)

May Allah accept all our righteousness…Amin, Ya Rabbul Alamin…

Caught by surpise!

Little did I know that I would be one of the subjects of entry for Madam Ainon Mohd.’s (the President of PTS Publications Sdn. Bhd.) blog ...

For Malay Language readers, the entry in her blog Universiti Terbuka PTS (or literally translated as ‘ PTS Open University’) is here.

Don’t know why…

But I do appreciate her highlighting this…even though, I think I owe it to my other half – for his ever ready attitude and willingness to send me to the venue and then pick me up at the end of the never ending workshops….Mdm Ainon's entry motivates me to continue adopting her new ideas and exploring new ventures in writing more books…

There are at times though..deep down inside, when I feel like ‘life for me is fast approaching into its twilight years’ especially sitting there amongst those young and vibrant participants at the writing workshops. However, when I recall my late father’s voice saying, “You are never too old to learn..Remember that!” then I would dismiss these little voices and instead hold on to his words – real tight…

How about you? Care to join us writers? It is never too late to make a start…Sydney Sheldon started writing his first novel at the ripe age of 52. ;-)

Feeling really good inside…

All Praises be to Allah (3X)...Alhamdulillah..Alhamdulillah…Alhamdulillah…

For the 4th consecutive week, I have made myself available and to be able to follow Mdm. Ainon Mohd’s free lectures (the big boss of PTS Publications - an aggressive publishing company, she was and still is my mentor in writing) at Taman Permata, Kuala Lumpur. Always updating us with new projects, forever inspiring us with new ideas too…maybe I will share all that I have gathered – the notes that I have made while attending all these lectures – in other entries…For this entry – I just want to share this happy feeling...

This morning, I was feeling really swell… when I heard these words come tumbling out of Mdm Ainon’s lips:

“Ladies and gentlemen..who have never been tired writing and giving us your book manuscripts…your efforts have made it possible for us to venture into this Watershed Project – the translation of Al Quran for new reverts – and also for ‘dummies’(in the context of the yellow series of Books for Dummies).

We have made studies on how to make the Quran more simplified in its translation in order that a person who obtained just a grade ‘C’ for his/her Bahasa Melayu would also be able to understand the meanings of the verses…For that too, we have embarked on translations of the Quran in multi languages, in the hope that these translated versions will assist as tools for our brothers and sisters who are involved in dakwah work and to speed up their efforts.

We have produced the Surah Yasin in Iban language. The Quran in the same language is in the process of editing . The Khmer version is under print at Kampuchea. Others in line are in Kadazan, Tagalog and a string of others. These translated versions will be given away for free.

To print these, we need special ‘Bible paper’ – very thin but tough enough to be flicked back and forth. If not, the editions will be too thick and that will defeat the purpose of it being easily carried here and there, everywhere. This type of paper is very expensive. And that is where your efforts have helped us. The profits from the sales of your books as writers all these while – a portion of it has gone into this. We have really helped each other.

I am very passionate about this project and I am working really hard to make it all become possible. Pray that Allah give me strength and good health to continue and complete them all in these efforts. I want this to be my part of my good deeds (sadaqah jariah) when I die…"

Imagine how happy I was to hear all of these…All the hours spent in writing the books – have paid off in a way – I have contributed a little, if not much (as my books are not bestsellers although quite a number have been reprinted, their numbers are not very many…) However, I still feel very good inside.

You as readers are also contributing . For, in buying and reading the books by us PTS writers, you also have made yourselves shareholders in this very noble effort. Let us pray to Allah Almighty that all these good deeds of ours…are accepted by Him The Almighty….Amin…

For Malay readers, to learn more about these projects, please feel free to click the following:

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Eid…town…countryside…

“Abah! I think that would be your present for me, right? You must! Promise, ok?” said little Nuha Insyirah, her eyes wild with excitement.

My son-in-law’s eyebrows suddenly cocked up to one side.

By then, the little girl was running all around the fields and around the house belonging to an aunt (her grandfather – my husband’s side). Her t-shirt was all soaked and her forehead trickled with sweat. The little chicks she was chasing went helter skelter and were desperate on their feet, their mother clucking and following right behind them.

“Insyirah! Be careful, the mother hen could give you a nasty peck if she gets very annoyed!” said I, trying to hold still her little brother Ameer Ihsan who was flapping gleefully everytime the rooster cried, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

“But I want to hold the little chick in my hand!” cried Insyirah, “they are so cute,” and off she was again.

“How would you like yourself to be away from ibu and abah?” said her dad, trying to cajole his little girl.

“I would not like that!” she said, thoughtfully.

“Likewise, the little chicks. So leave them be, okay?” said her father. His little girl now tired, held on to his hands. But her eyes were still eagerly watching the yellow and fluffy chicks pecking and sifting the sands behind the bushes with their mum.

I remembered the first time we brought our son-in-law to this remote part of Kedah. A place called Kampung Bukit, near Napoh to be exact.

“What is that?” my son-in-law asked, quickly moving to the paddock nearest to the roadside. He could not help from running his fingers along the golden stalks.

“Why? That is the padi plant, of course! You mean you have not seen one?” I asked in return.

“No! I have not!” he said, a look of wonder in his eyes.

A teacher in a well established environment in the city once told me that she had asked the little children under her tutelage to draw a picture of a chicken. And what she got was a drawing of the fried chicken drumstick!

Our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was put in the care of Halimatus Saadiah at the countryside as was the norm and custom during those times. This was so that the child may learn the fine language of the outback and grow up in the unspoiled and clear environment, where the air is fresh and clean.

However, the same cannot be said about the present state of affairs in most of our own countryside. On my parent’s side, the kampung is infested with drug addicts and situation for old folks staying all alone is certainly not safe.

How about your experience in your own kampung? Do you encounter the same situation? It would be interesting to share…

Our Eid this year was really a meaningful one. Ameer Ihsan (I year 2 months) has just ‘found his feet’ and put them to real use. Our yearly photo session was hectic too! Which explains why most of the pictures had to be just candid…

To all readers, it is still not too late to wish you all “Eid Mubarak…let us seek forgiveness and start anew”.

May Allah bestow upon us the strength and commitment to fast the 6 days in the remaining days of Shawal and to be able to see Ramadhan and Shawal of next year, Insha Allah…Amin…

Discount and rebate at POPULAR bookstores nationwide..

My latest book has been shortlisted in the POPULAR bookstore's choice and a 20% discount and rebate is given at all its branches nationwide.

This offer is valid beginning 6th August until 7th October 2010. Please click here for the link. Readers are welcomed to get the book at your nearest POPULAR bookstore branch.

Some more information about the book....

"Puteri Di Alam Fantasi" (translated as ‘Princess in Wonderland’) is a book intended to sow seeds of appreciation and to inculcate amongst our youngsters, the love and care for this earth we live in. Hence, the need to be involved with efforts in sustaining it. Also the importance of caring for another fellow human being as well as others. All for the sake of our Creater i.e. God, none as Exalted as He is.

For those Malay Language readers who have finished reading this book, I would appreciate very much if you could make some comments and evaluation of the book at the publisher's portal (PTS) here... As a writer, it feels great to be able to gather feedbacks from readers (be it good or bad).

Although this book is for children, adults too may contemplate and ponder over the message that the book was intended to deliver...the idea and concepts were based on “Alice in Wonderland” with trimmings and touches of good values, to nurture goodness in the minds of our young readers…

God says in the Quran:

وَ مَا أَرْسلْنَك إِلا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَلَمِينَ‏
“We sent thee not, but as a mercy for all creatures..” (Al-Anbiya’/21: 107)

Wasn’t the coming of Islam and also our Rasul (peace be upon him) none other than as Rahmatan Lil-‘Alamin?

God knows best…

Plastic bags? No...

“You want this?” said the Malay lady, the owner of the Herbal Rice (Nasi Kerabu) stall, her fingers deftly weaving in and out of the delicacies laid out on the table. Her customer flashed an eager smile, her head nodding away, looking pleased.

“This?” said the owner of the stall again, this time her fingers were holding the spoon to something which looks like budu (fermented anchovy sauce).

“Oh no! No, thank you!” she broke out into a laugh.

The nasi kerabu seller went on to stack the tiffin carrier and was about to put it into a plastic bag when the owner said, “Please, no thank you! No plastic bag, please!”

And off she went, full of energy. I watched her happily walking away, her blonde head bobbing amongst the crowd. Everybody else around were smiling. I looked down at the bundles of plastic bags filled with the things we bought, wrapped around the fingers of my other half. And mine too! We exchanged meaningful looks. Guilty to the core…

We were feasting our eyes, buying dinner, at the Saturday night market in Kuah, Langkawi – only, it was still daylight then. The sun slowly moving towards the horizon.

The next morning, we met the blonde again, at the elevator. We exchanged smiles. Little did we know that we were staying in the same condominium block, overlooking the sea, just off the yatch training centre. The place belongs to my brother. A very popular piece of property with numerous expatriate owners.

I salute the spirit of some of these expatriates – their conviction on greening, no plastic bags and all. Hiring bikes, or walking to town. More sensitive towards issues concerning sustaining the earth. Of which we Muslims should be at the forefront. We - who are supposed to be Allah’s vicegerent on this earth…

So touched I was, that when I returned to my working home at Parit Buntar, I tried to emulate the same spirit. And so, the next time I was buying my grocery, I brought my carrier bag along. At the checkout counter, the girl was filling in my things in plastic bags, oblivious to the carrier bag which I held out to her. So, smiling and full of spirits, I said, “No plastic bags, please! In this bag here, thank you!”

What did I get? Pouting lips, frowns and glaring stares, also from the adjacent check-out counter… So much for trying to go green, eh?

BeeeeZeeeee.....

It has been an eventful looooong month. More than a month actually…

The OCEANS 2010 conference in Sydney, ‘holiday’ in Shanghai. ‘Holiday’ means accompanying my husband who was on a business trip. New intake of students and ‘new’ subject to teach this session and in this new semester. Speaking of ‘new’ means handling a subject which I thought that I would not be teaching anymore. The last time I laid my eyes on the subject was about 6 years ago and so I was frantically trying to find my notes (maybe in my old laptop which has since been ‘condemned’).

As a consequence, I have been living on a day to day basis – lectures tomorrow and preparations? Today and till late at nights….

But in between, there was little Ameer Ihsan’s one year birthday. Yes! Already a year since the little darling – new addition to the family, was born. Our first little jewel i.e. his sister - Nuha Insyirah, is already 5 now...

Amongst other things which I was extremely happy about was the success of my good ole student in undergoing her Masters (M.Sc.) viva session just recently. Very tough, but she pulled through with gusto... Some corrections and she will be on her way..convocation in March next year, God Willing (Congrats L!)

I owe a lot to her – for without her assistance in collecting all the data, I would not have progressed in my own Doctorate studies years ago…As soon as I hired her, she had to spend at least 2 months each time at HUSM, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. Never been there, problems in understanding the language – adjusting to the food – sometimes unpalatable to her taste but she put up with all these willingly, faithfully, diligently..…anyway, those were the days.

The recent convocation (early August 2010) brought me back to this little gift, presented by 4 students who have graduated on the occasion. I was their supervisor for their final year projects (here, we call it FYP). Reading their messages inscribed in the accompanying card, makes me happy inside. A sense of satisfaction and you feel good about a job done well with full sincerity….

Very beeeezeeee indeed...

Talking about being busy. I saw this line written on one of the walls of the hangar at Kepala Batas, Alor Setar, while on our way back to Jitra – my husband’s kampung, so many, many years ago..

“It is ok to be busy but please do not be busy bodies….”

My children were bent with laughter in the rear seat of the car when they read it. I totally agree with the phrase. Do you?

PS. To all friends and readers – May the blessings of Allah be with you throughout Ramadhan and forever…Amin…