And then there was two!

The cats of my house have now entered a new phase. Prior to this, at any time, my house would harbor at least 5 to 6 of these feline creatures, if not more. Most recent, to be more exact, right before we balik kampong for raya, there was Mocot, (Mayo's ( the early martriach) second generation descendant), MB, Gum and 3 frightful kittens. Thanks to Mocot's overprotective behaviour i.e. hiding her newly borns in secret hideaway till they get so mortified when faced with strangers, these scadycats would scurry off like mad when they hear our footsteps.

So before raya, there were 6 of them. When we came back after our raya break, only Mocot and Kitam ( one of Mocot's male offspring who left home as he can't cope with the pressure from the intimidating male cats next door) greeted us.

Initially we were baffled as to why there were no show from the rest of the clan and thought they probably migrated for better pastures which was very unlikely. And we would hear frequent cat fights but shrugged it off as something normal.

One day, as Mocot and Kitam were munching on their biscuits, we saw one of the kittens came approaching, most probably for the biscuits and it looked rather thin. My guess is that it hasn't had proper meals for days. The minute it saw the two big cats, it slowed it's pace and appeared rather apprehensive. The next thing, we saw Kitam with all his might chased it away. Not just that, he even put up a fight with it making such a clamour.

Now we know why the other cats have not been around lately and if we ever did see them, it would be outside the house compound, in the neighbor's or sheltering under parked cars outside.

So Kitam has made a permanent come back and decide that he is going to rule the place alone with Mocot. Funny though, Mocot seems to condone this unscrupulous act of his. After all, these are her offsprings that he is chasing off. His close relatives too, for that matter! Worse still he is making Mocot, his new mate! For goodness sake, she is his mother!

One morning, as Sofi was about to hang clothes, the once unfriendly kittens came making relentless mewing sound, asking for food. At the same time, they appeared absolutely terrified and ready to jump out of their skin. They gobbled up the biscuits ferociously and would constantly look behind them, as if Kitam was about to pounce on them any moment. It was a truly pityful sight, watching their jittery souls braving the situation, torn between hunger and total fright!

However, their pleasure was cut short as they saw Kitam and Mocot came marching in. Sofi described the scenario succinctly: Kitam and Mocot came walking stoutly, shoulders up high with sharp leering eyes ala Mafia gangsters roaming the streets. The minute the kittens saw them, they ran for their lives, leaving behind their unfinished meal!

In the afternoon, both Kitam and Mocot would lay sprawled on the porch, as if guarding their territory, looking out for any lurking kittens.
So, statistically, we are now left with only 2 cats, as long as Kitam continues with his determined territorial behavior and Mocot does not get pregnant again for the umpteenth time!

IN THE MEMORY OF PROF DR KHALIJAH SALLEH

BALASUNGKAWA - Profesor Dr Khalijah Salleh, Serikandi Muslimah Mithali Kontemporari

Pada jam 10 pagi Sabtu 17 September 2011 bersamaan 19 Syawal 1432, gugurlah serikandi yang amat dikasihi,

Profesor Dr Khalijah Salleh, bekas pensyarah Jabatan Fizik, UKM dan paling utama mantan Ketua Helwa ABIM, kalau

tidak silap Ketua Helwa yang pertama, yang juga di antara pengasas ABIMHELWA.

Pemergian Allahyarhamah K Jah (nama gelaran beliau di kalangan Helwa ABIM) memang diratapi oleh seluruh warga ABIM, baik wanita mahupun lelaki. Sepanjang hari-hari terakhir beliau yang dirawat di HUKM, pelawat tidak putus-putus mengunjungi beliau. Ketabahan beliau menghadapi saat terakhir itu sukar dilupakan. K Jah seperti biasa amat bersemangat dan mentally alert. Dia kenal dan tahu siapa pelawatnya dan dalam keadaan yang sakit, masih ingin berbicara dengan senyuman manisnya yang menjadi trademarknya. Melihat beliau ketika itu sukar untuk percaya beliau sedang menanti saat-saat terakhir.

Saya mengenali K Jah kali pertama di Kolej Tunku Kurshiah Seremban. Beliau datang ke Kolej untuk memberi ceramah motivasi atas undangan Murid Tua (inilah istilah lama untuk alumni). Beliau diperkenalkan sebagai wanita Melayu pertama meraih ijazah sarjana muda bidang fizik. Memang K Jah seorang yang boleh menaikkan semangat pendengarnya. Sejak itu jiwa saya turut berkobar-kobar mahu meneladaninya. Menjadi perintis Melayu dalam apa jua bidang yang mungkin semata-mata ingin membuktikan orang Melayu juga mampu. Dan akhirnya saya ke Amerika Syarikat untuk mendalami bidang matematik yang ketika itu memang kurang diceburi oleh anak Melayu malahan dicemuh bahawa bangsa Melayu lemah matematik dan sains. Begitulah kesan K Jah pada diri saya ketika itu yang masih di bangku sekolah menengah.

Saya pernah bertemu K Jah di University of California Davis ketika beliau meneruskan pengajiannya di peringkat tertinggi.

Dan ditakdirkan Allah, kami bertemu lagi dalam jemaah yang kita kasihi iaitu ABIM - saya masih bertatih mengikut jejak langkahnya. Alhamdulillah, kami terus bersama dan jurang adik dan kakak semakin tipis - sama-sama selaku ahli profesional Muslim yang ingin memajukan umat Islam menerusi da'wah dan juga bidang keilmuan.

K Jah seorang pejuang profesional yang amat passionate dalam apa sahaja yang beliau lakukan. Beliau amat passionate dengan ABIM, ilmu dan pendidikan. Beliau tidak akan menolak sebarang undangan Helwa mahu pun Biro Pendidikan ABIM dalam aspek pengongsian ilmu khususnya cinta pertamanya - sains Islam. Di akhir fasa perjuangannya, Allahyarhamah amat prihatin tentang keperluan memasyarakatkan sains di kalangan orang Melayu dan pentingnya hubungan sains dan aqidah. Sains sebagai ayat-ayat Allah swt. Walaupun sudah didiagnos dengan kanser, selagi beliau boleh berdiri, bercakap dan kuat, beliau masih meneruskan perjuangannya - hatta ke Indonesia - berbicara tentang sains Islam sebagai memenuhi undangan IIIT Indonesia. Beliau masih menghadiri majlis Helwa di awal tahun 2011 walaupun kekuatannya sudah mula merosot.

Usaha K Jah bukan sahaja untuk ABIM malahan semua organisasi Islam seperti Yadim dan IKIM. Kegigihannya dalam bidang sains terbukti bila K Jah dilantik sebagai felo oleh Akademi Sains Malaysia. Beliau tidak lupa mengundang saya pada hari bersejarah perlantikannya itu yang beliau gunakan untuk membentangkan mesej cinta pertamanya.

K Jah memang seorang serikandi dan wanita mithali. Selain daripada kerjayanya, da'wah dan aktiviti sosialnya, K Jah juga merupakan isteri dan ibu yang berjaya. Pada malam jumaat yang lepas iaitu jam 3.19 pagi, kita dikejutkan oleh sms daripada K Jah. Pesannya ringkas sekali:

Tk dear all. Help baca Yassin now. I may be leaving now. Salam maaf zahir n batin.

Benar-benar sms - ringkas dan padat. K Jah seolah-olah sudah tahu bila beliau akan pergi. Ini mengingatkan kita cara Imam al-Ghazzali sudah maklum beliau akan meninggalkan dunia yang fana ini dan memakai kain kafannya.

Masha'Allah. Kata-kata K Jah memang benar - beliau berangkat meninggalkan kita terutama ahli keluarganya yang dikasihi pada hari Sabtu. Sejak menziarahi K Jah di HUKM saya bacakan surah Yassin beberapa kali diiringi doa: Ya Allah, jika takdirnya sembuh, sembuhkkanlah K Jah dan jika takdirnya pergi menghadapiMu, mudahkanlah pemergiannya.

Allah lebih menyayanginya dan mengetahui rahsia-rahsia kita. Kini saya cuma dapat menenangkan diri dan perasaan bahawa K Jah pergi dalam keadaan husnul khatimah dan kejayaan muflihun.

Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. Semuga Allah mengampunkan Allahyarhamah K Jah dan menghimpunkan ruhnya bersama golongan abrar.

K Jah sudah pergi namun kita mestilah teruskan usahanya dalam bidang keilmuan dan pendidikan untuk memantapkan sains Islam dan aqidah umat. Inilah sekurang-kurangnya kita dapat lakukan sebagai mengenang jasanya yang tidak ternilai.

wabillahi tawfiq walhidayat. Allahu 'alam.

Nukilan

Rosnani Hashim

Mantan Ketua Helwa ABIM

Profesor, Institut Pendidikan UIAM.

10.30 malam.

THE PASSING OF ABAH

Abah is what I called my late father in law. He was a person with a strong personality and his presence would never go unnoticed. Through out my married life I have grown to love this man who was well reputed to not show his love and concern in the open but more in his gestures and in a diary (we only found this out after his demise).

Conversations and discussions with him can be a tad difficult at times but this was mainly due to his British education backgrounds having attained his basic degree in London , post-degree in Bristol and dip-ed in Kirkby, which caused him to frequently come up with archaic colonial ideas. None the less, there are topics which I find easily agreeable, a topic which he would rave on, that is, how practical and reasonable the British education system is or was, back then.

Abah had lived a long fulfilling life, just like his mother and his was a colorful one I daresay. Having a grand-father who was a warrior to the former Sultan of Pahang and a father who was a leader figure in Tembeling, Jerantut, Abah had no problem in continuing their legacy. However, Abah had to endure a relative difficult childhood as his father had died young , leaving behind a young wife, whom, due to some misunderstanding with her in laws, had decided to return to Kuantan, where her parents was, with her small son. Thus began, our renowned family saga of how Abah and his mother had traveled up the Pahang river on a small sampan for days, an embittered widow and an orphan who was clueless of what awaited him in Kuantan.

I know I am not the best person to write a bout Abah. I am writing bits and pieces of what he had oft-repeatedly told me. As I write I can still reminisce his voice, his gesticulations and his favorite phrase to reiterate his point: “Awak faham dok?’ or “Do you understand?’ when his British tongue got hold of him. After his heart bypass, Abah had sort of developed a coarse high pitched voice which stayed with him till his last breath. “Suara abah boleh baik tak Roza?’ “insyaAllah Abah tapi lambat sikit la’, I replied. During his final days, he phoned me to inquire about his hospital follow-up but I had difficulty in discerning his words. I knew it was exasperating for him and for me, too.

Whatever Abah lacked in bringing up his children, he squared it up on his grandchildren. He was a doting grandfather to my children, having looked after them when we were busy studying and working. Of late, he was so besotted with Hasya, hubby’s niece who lives in Kuching, that her phone-calls and home-coming would brighten his days. He waited eagerly for Hasya’s return few days ago, spent the night with her and breathed his last the next morning during his routine dialysis treatment. And I wonder if he had begged Allah swt to let him see his favorite grand daughter before he goes?

The morning that he would leave us, I had gone to fetch him for his routine dialysis. Due to a recent spine fracture, he was bed-ridden and couldn’t walk. We had to carry him from the room to the car. As I was lifting his body from the bed, he had held on tight to me a moment longer than usual. Was he trying to gesture his goodbye to me? Allahu’alam. I would like to think so.

Abah, forgive me for all the wrongs I have done you. May Allah swt bless your soul with His Rahmah and protect you from the fitnah of afterlife. Ameen.

*Abah passed away on Thursday 25th November at 11.20am. Innalillahiwainnailaihirojiun

with Hasya

in Bristol?

with his cousin, Sarah my eldest and Amir my youngest bro in law

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.

SEE HERE FOR DETAILS---->

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)