THE BLESSED ARAFAH DAY

To all muslims, let's join in this global prayer event on Wukuf day on 16th Nov at about 6pm local time. It's also sunat to fast on that day.

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THE DISAPPEARING ADAB

My eldest is into her second year of housemanship, leaving behind a year of tumultuous life, if you could consider it being a ‘life’at all, that is. No, I won’t delve on the intricacies of its hardship as it is all so notoriously known. I am sharing with you the current sad state of many young muslim doctors, who have conveniently abandoned the adab of associating with colleagues of opposite sex during work or otherwise. Sadly, it seems they have adopted a lackadaisical attitude in this issue; slapping each other playfully, making indecent jokes etc. It’s as if, these rulings don’t apply once they enter the professional realm.

By western standards, once a girl gets a job, she would automatically become self-sustaining and live a separate life of almost total oblivion from her parents. In Islam, we know this should not be the way. We (hubby and I) have imposed a ruling on our daughter, to inform us of her whereabouts each time she plans on going out of the hospital vicinity and alhamdulillah , she is comfortable with and has been abiding by it till today. Also, permissions have to be asked if she plans to go out with friends. I know many would be aghast by this and many of her friends have voiced their disapprovals, “Come on, you’re already 25! You don’t need parental consent to go out!” To this, I told my daughter, “Tell them : As long as you are not married, your welfare is you father’s responsibility and you are answerable to him till he gives your hand for marriage”

Recently she related to me that a male colleague chummingly asked her to join them to the movies and when she answered that she has stopped going to the movies and even when she did, it would be with her brothers, he retorted back in an almost disgusted tone, “You are so boring!” To which my daughter replied nonchalantly, “Yes, I am. So what?”
My response was: It’s better to be ‘boring’ in this world and not in the Hereafter!

Once, she was out with a girl colleague and unknowingly to her, the friend had invited some male colleagues to join, much to my daughter’s chagrin! When they were deciding a place to eat, she narrowed down all suggestions as we always reminded her to eat in only registered Jakim halal eatery. For this, she was mortified and literally humiliated as they laughed and looked down on her choice of venues to eat. After the incident she has ticked the girl friend off and warned her not to repeat the blunder again!

To all my friends out there, whose children are about to step into the world of housemanship or any other profession for that matter, you can never be too excessive in reminding them of what awaits them out there. You may have provided them with the best of Islamic values but the day to day exposure to the rough and tumble of working life may weaken their ‘shield’, make them forget their real purpose in life and lead them astray. Nau’zubillah!

ALLAH SWT berfirman:

Dan jangan lah engkau menurut orang yang telah Kami lalaikan hatinya dari mengingati Kami, lalu ia mengikutkan hawa nafsunya.” (al-Kahf: 28)

ALLAH berfirman lagi:

Maka berpalinglah engkau dari orang yang tiada mempedulikan peringatan Kami, dan ia hanya menginginkan kehidupan dunia semata-mata”. (an-Najm: 29)

ALLAH berfirman lagi:

“Dan ikutilah jalan orang yang suka kembali (bertaubat) kepadaKu.” (luqman: 15)

Bila Hobi-Hobi Ku Di 'Hijack'

Mula-mula buku Ayat-ayat Cinta,
Bila membaca, aku terus terpikat,
Unik dan khusyuk jalan ceritanya,
Bila pegang, liat diletak,
Aku syorkan kepada suami ku,
Buku yang bagus perlu dikongsi,
Dengan orang yang dicintai,
Disangka buku cinta biasa,
Dia hanya pandang sebelah mata,
Berminggu jugak aku memujuk,
Namun dia tetap sangka ia pojok,
Satu hari, dia akur,
Dia baca, terus tersangkut,
Buku di usung ke mana-mana,
Lebih teruk dari aku,
Malah bait-bait cerita,
Yang sentuh hatinya,
Dijadikan bahan berdakwah,
Aya-ayat Cinta bagai kitab cinta baginya,
Aku dah lama lupa jalan cerita,
Namun tetap segar baginya.

Terbaru, aku cadang kita berbasikal,
Untuk riadhah dan kesihatan,
Lagi sekali, dia tidak tunjuk minat,
Buat 'dek', seolah tiada kesan,
Bila aku join FB GSM,
Hatinya mula berdehem,
Segala bentuk basikal dia siasati,
Kena pasti sebelum membeli,
Habis semua assessori dia amati,
Glove, lampu, seluar padded, topi,
Kini berbasikal tiada berhenti,
Mengalahkan aku yang hanya seminggu sekali,
On-road, off-road, semua dia sapu,
Dengan kadar dia mampu.

Itulah cerita bila hobi-hobi ku di'hijack',
Benar tetapi tetap pelik.

PESAGI REVISITED- A LEGACY TO HOLD ON TO

Tok Ki Salleh's house

We recently went to Pesagi, an old village in Chenor, Temerloh, where Tok Ki Salleh's dilapidated wooden house now rest in all quietness. A once grand traditional malay house which had witnessed countless family gatherings and activities, full of love and merriment, now stand sad amidst forlorn eeriness. Pesagi in essence is a river village where its houses line the high banks of Sungai Pahang. To access the river, one needs to negotiate the fairly steep slope down the bank to the sandy beach.

Sg Pahang

The house (side view)

Dear hubby has been lamenting about wanting to visit the village and the house, which he is so fond of, since many months ago, but I have literally been the reason for him to push the plan aside , each time. It is one of his 'bucket list' he said. My main qualm was because he wanted to take the alternative old, narrow 'kampong' road that is almost parallel to Sg Pahang instead of the new route. Once during an early monsoon period, we took that road in an impromptu effort, but had to turn back when part of the road was flooded, thus my fear.

This time, we had mistakenly took an early junction which we later found would not take us to Pesagi after all. Turning midway, we ended up taking the highway and exiting through Chenor and via the bridge across Sg Pahang to reach the other side of the river hence to Pesagi.

Inhaling the fresh cool air around, we partly went on foot and partly drove down memory lane of old Pesagi. Due to numerous ravaging monsoon floods that would submerge the whole village each time, most of the pioneers had left for better pasture across the river. The place is now very much deserted without much development and it is as if time had stood still, making it almost ghostly.

As I stood facing the poor abandoned house, I began rewinding back to the time where hubby was a small lad, having a ball of a time, roaming the village, scaling the small lane to the furthest end, frolicking in the cool water of Sg Pahang during the day and sleeping in the spacious hall of the wooden house, enveloped by the stillness of typical village night-life, amidst the constant sounds of crickets.

This old forgotten abode still retains its yellowish tint of paint which in better days must have been a bright fresh façade, making it one of the grandest building, around. According to hubby, it was the only house that had a TV set and on nights when there was malay movie on show, villagers would throng the house, creating a party-like atmosphere.

Sadly, now it stands alone, color all run down, empty and bare. Its compound, thick with undergrowth. From the careless opened windows, I managed to glimpse the dark empty inside and to think that this house once was filled with cheerful family activities!

We had scoured the village, trying not to leave any details. The cemetery where Tok Ki Salleh, his wife and various other kins, rest. The wide river, with sand banks appearing in shallow areas, was very inviting but alas we were not prepared for a river bathing spree. The school, perched on a hill. The jetty that harbors boats to ferry people across to Paya Pasir.

It felt good that we managed to return to a place that holds fond memories with those who have left us. Hopefully when our time comes, we can leave a better legacy for our children to hold on to.

Pic courtesy of Tariq Mahmood


pic courtesy of Zuber Hatia

The story