A Better Muslim

Assalamu'alaikum...

            Since I enrolled in IIUM, Alhamdulillah. I am a new man now. My parent was so happy seeing me in this kind of state. You know stuff like, reading the Holly Book like that.I was happy that they were happy because of me. It's the best thing ever to make your parents smile and knowing the fact that they were smiling cause of you.

            What my friends mostly misunderstood was that I change when I was enrolled in IIUM. That is absolutely not true. Well, the fact was that, I changed to a better person before I enrolled in IIUM. After I finished my Diploma, I had a training course for about 1 and a half month. That's when I changed. Getting in IIUM improve me to be a better person, a better Muslim. That's all.

            What made me change? It's quiet complicated to tell what is the reason exactly. I would say that it's just a matter of time for me to change. Not to mention Allah kindness to give me the hidayah. During the training course, I had to stay in the hostel with no TV and not to mention the slow Internet. It was boring. 

            There is a mosque near my hostel, so everytime it is azan, I can hear the call of prayer. Since I don't have anything to do in my room, I pray. It then became a habit. And the most amazing part was that, I never felt as calm as I was while I am praying. That feeling just can't be describe by words. 


Just like that I change. Alhamdulillah.
Next story will be about me wearing hijab. I guess it'll be fun to reveal my story of changes bit by bit, hihi  ^_^  

-Shah Sahaja-

Bon Appetite!

Assalamu'alaikum..

Looks like nothing but it delicious actually.

Hihi. Today was my first time cooking carbonara macaroni by myself in my room in UIA using rice cooker. Yes, you read it right. Using rice cooker only, hihi. *proud of myself

Here the recipe for those who want to try it by yourself. *bajet chef, haha

INGREDIENTS :
1 packet of macaroni. *you can replace it with spaghetti also.
1 tin of carbonara sauce. *any brand is accepted. I like Prego most. You can also replace it with original tomato sauce.
Seafood you like. *for my dish, I bough it at the pick and mix station in Giant. So it'll have more taste rather than only hot dog.

COOKING :
Boil half of the macaroni around 10-15 minutes. *my measurement was half packet=1tin of sauce.
Toss it and put it aside.
Put the sauce into the pot. And some water. If you use the whole tin, add 1 tin of water in the sauce. If you half half of tin, add only half tin of water into the sauce.
Stir for a while. 
After the sauce has blend perfectly with the water, add all the seafood. You can also put in some chicken or meat. Just customize it to your taste.
Wait until the sauce boil.
Walaaahh~~! Dinner ready.
Simply fast, easy and delicious! Bon appetite guys!  :)

-Shah Sahaja-

English.. Why So Shy?

Assalamu'alaikum...

           Our topic today will be English. *That's why I chose to write this in English. Since lower school to high school, up to until we enrol in university, most people think that English is difficult. Wonder why is that..

           When I am in my Diploma, few of my friends asked me to teach them English. Honestly, I was a bit shocked to receive that offer. I mean like, I am no one. We have English teacher in our class, so why asked me? Their answers was that, they were shy and afraid of the teacher. By afraid I mean afraid to ask questions.

Then they asked me, 'How come you are so good in English?'

            My answer would be 'My dad. He teaches us English from we were little. During weekend, he used to bring us sibling to the library. He will pick English book for us. Then he will left us at the library, come during lunch hour and bring us out to eat. Then he will ask what book did we read. What are the things that we don't understand. Not only that, he will make sure that each of us will borrow a book. It must be English but we can also choose few Malay books. We have our own little dictionary where we wrote words that we don;t understand. Then we'll search for the meaning in the dictionary and write it down in the dictionary. Every single day, my dad would check for the book. His condition was that, at minimum 10 words must be in the dictionary per day.'

That's how I can be good in English. It was all because of my old man. :)

            Yes, speaking English would be hard. Not to mention writing. If you are not good in writing, just make sure that at least, you can speak. Listen to English songs, watch English movie day and night. Practice by talking with your friends. If not, your siblings would be okay. Because friends sometimes, can be a jerk where they make fun of you when you talk English. Believe me, I know that feeling.

            I used to speak English with my family members. If any of us pronounce things incorrectly, we will correct it. That's all. No need to be shy or shame of. At least, you are trying to improve yourself rather than people who did nothing right?

            When people from other countries such as America, Korea, Japan speak Malay word, we were amazed and  shocked. But then when we can speak a little bit of English, why should we feel shame? Okay for example, I have international friends here in UIA. One day, we are discussing things and it was a bit late. Suddenly she said, 'Jom makan!'.  I was like 'Hey, you can speak Malay?' *with amazed face. She said 'Sikit-sikit'. Haha.

          See the difference? Be proud when you speak English even when the grammar is wrong. What important is that you need to boost up your confidence first to speak in English. It's an improvement! Be proud of yourself! After that,it will all be okay. Insya Allah 

Speak English or you will not be heard! :)  

Prophet sallallaahu alaihi Wasallam said:

طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم

"Demanding knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim."

(Authentic hadith, narrated from some friends including:   Anas bin Malik, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umar, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri radhiallahu anhum. See: Sahih al-jami: 3913)

-Shah Sahaja- 

Had A Disaster and Thankful For It

Assalamu'alaikum...

Just be thankful for being alive today :)

This story happened to me quite a long time ago. Around 2 weeks had past if I'm not mistaken.

             I was locked out of my room for about 8 hours. I went out to take a bath, forgot to take my key with me and when I'm back, the door was already locked. I was frustrated and stress. I went to my friend room, wait for about 2 hours and pray that she will be back. 

            Around 6 pm, I went back to my room, Just wanna check if she has come back or not. But then, the door was still locked. I knocked and keep knocking, but there was no answer. Then I started to cry. I was broken hearted, frustrating and tired. I haven't had enough sleep for the past few days and when I left my room to take a bath, this is what happen. I was so mad. Blaming everything and everyone around me. 10 mins later, I began to thought that there is nothing I can do by crying.

            I went to my friend's room, borrow her clothes *baju kelawar. We talked about stuff, life and study. Then, I went to my other friend's room. It's been ages since I last saw her. We chit chat for quiet a long time.

            She lend me her tudung and a proper shirt to be wear to the mahallah cafe. Then she lend me some money to buy foods since I didn't ate anything from the moment I woke up until 9.15pm. After I finished eating, I went to the TV room, watching movie called Shanghai Knight starred by Jackie Chan.

            Then I realised, if I have not forget to key my key to the bathroom with me, I will not be able to meet my friends, I would not be able to sit in front of the TV and laugh of the movie, and I would not feel how cold the night breeze is. I guess The Lord want to show me, that is, other than my small size of room and my tiny laptop and the Internet, there is other things in the world that can make me happy.

            Whenever a bad thing happen to us, we will be disappointed, angry and stuff. But then, take time to relax. Because after all, everything happen for a reason. You just have to find the good reason. Stay positive! :)

-Shah Sahaja-

Happy Mother Day

Assalamu'alaikum...

Selamat Hari Ibu pada semua ibu di dunia  :)

Asal usul Mother Day menurut Wikipedia adalah :

            "One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March. The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In some countries Mother’s Day began not as a celebration for individual mothers but rather for christians.”

            Maksudnya di sini ialah.. bahawa hari ibu juga merupakan salah satu di antara perayaan yang disambut oleh orang kafir iaitu masyarakat yang beragama kristian. Greek kuno memanggilnya sebagai hari cybele iaitu ibu kepada dewa-dewa mereka. Dan Roman kuno pula meraikan hari matronalia sebagai tanda memperingati dewa juno iaitu mak kepada juventas, vulcan dan mars.

            Asal perayaan Hari Ibu merupakan perayaan yang meraikan Tuhan Ibu atau Ibu Dewi yang dipercayai merupakan tuhan kepada beberapa bangsa-bangsa kuno terdahulu seperti, bangsa Rom Kuno dan Yunani purba. Dewasa ini, perayaan sekali setahun ini, telah berevolusi menjadi suatu perayaan yang meraikan ibu-ibu yang melahirkan kita kedunia. Terdapat banyak tokoh pencetus kepada “Hari Ibu Moden” seperti  Julia Ward Howe yang merupakan negarawati Amerika yang terkemuka yang juga merupakan sosialis dan komposer kepada beberapa syair-syair serta bahan penulisan di Amerika. Beliau menjadikan 8 Mac sebagai Hari Ibu bagi menghargai kaum Ibu yang memainkan peranan penting dalam meningkatkan prestasi dunia.

            Okay, sekarang kita tahu bagaimana Hari Ibu bermula walaupun kesahihan cerita ini belum tentu. Hari Ibu mula diraikan pada setiap tahun di pelbagai orang oleh setiap lapisan umur. Termasuk kita yang beragama Islam. Namun, ada isu yang muncul, bolehkan kita orang Islam menyambut Hari Ibu? Hal ini kerana timbul keraguan yang berdasarkan dari sejarah Hari Ibu sendiri.

Bertanya saya pada sahabat saya. Katanya, ada 2 pendapat major dalam hal ini iaitu 

• pendapat yang mengharamkan sambutan Hari Ibu
• pendapat yang membolehkan sambutan Hari Ibu

Sebelum mengulasa lebih lanjut, ingin saya kongsikan maksud kepada beberapa term yang mungkin kita kurang jelas.

Ibn Manzur Rahimahullah :

بدع الشيءَ يَبدَعُه بَدعا، وابتدعهُ: أنشأه وبدأه.

Telah membuat sesuatu bid‘ah, sedang membuatnya dan bad‘an (masdar/ kata terbitan) bererti mengadakan dan memulakan. (Rujuk: Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-‘Arab, jld. 8, m.s. 6.) 

Definisi mengikut pendapat Imam Shafie'

“Bid‘ah itu dua jenis (al-bid‘atu bid`atân)”.

“Bid‘ah yang dipuji (bid‘ah mahmûdah) dan bid‘ah yang dikeji (bid‘ah mazmûmah).Apa yang selari dengan Sunnah itu dipuji (mahmûdah) dan apa yang bertentangan itu dikeji (mazmûmah).

Maknanya mudah, bid'ah ini adalah satu perkara yang direka. Ia kelihatan baik dan berada di jalan Allah, walhal ia tidak. Contoh nya : pengkhususan membaca surah Yasin di malam Jumaat.

Setelah berbincang lanjut dengan sahabat saya dan setelah membuat kajian mengenai fatwa beberapa ulama' lain, ini yang dapat saya kongsikan :

• Dr Muhammad Bakar Ismail, Professor Tafsir dan Ilmu-ilmu al-Quran di Universiti Al-Azhar al-Syarif memberikan pandangan seperti berikut:
  
  
  “Hari ini dimana ibu dimuliakan dan dinamakan dengan Hari Ibu adalah daripada bid’ah-bid’ah dalam perkara adat dan bukan ibadat. Bid’ah dalam adat adalah tidak disuruh oleh Islam dan tidak juga dilarang kecuali ia menghubungkan dengan agama daripada dekat atau jauh. Jika adat ini lahir daripada pengiktirafan kepada kecantikan dan menyeru kepada berlaku baik dan ihsan kepada orang yang berhak mendapat kebaikan dan ihsan seperti ibu, bapa, datuk dan nenek, maka Islam memberkati dan memperakui adat sebegini. Manakala jika adat ini lahir daripada perkara yang sebaliknya, dan melakukannya juga melibatkan perkara-perkara yang buruk dan dilarang oleh Islam seperti pemborosan, pembaziran, kelalaian dan berbangga-bangga, maka Islam melarang daripadanya.”

•  Dr ‘Abdul Fattah Asyur, seorang lagi ulama’ al-Azhar memberikan pendapat seperti berikut:
  
  
  Bahawa merayakan beberapa hari yang padanya dimuliakan manusia atau menghidupkan ingatan-ingatan yang baik, maka tidak seorang pun mengatakan bahawa program ini adalah perayaan agama atau sebahagian daripada perayaan-perayaan Muslimin. Tetapi ia adalah peluang untuk menunjukkan syiar perasaan yang baik terhadap orang-orang yang berbudi kepada kita dan diantaranya ialah apa yang dikenali sebagai Hari Ibu. Sesungguhnya bagi ibu kedudukan yang khusus dalam Islam dan juga dalam setiap agama lain. Maka ibu wajib dimuliakan dan dirayakan.

• Abu Khaleel Muhammad, sahabat saya sendiri,  memberi contoh yang sangat mudah untuk saya fahami.                               Dalam sambutan Hari Ibu, tidak ada pengkhususan seperti Hari Raya. Contohnya, Hari Raya ada mandi sunat, solat hari raya, tapi dalam sambutan Hari Ibu tiada. Sambutan Hari Ibu selalunya sekadar makan malam dan memberi hadiah. Maka, ia masih lagi megikut syari'at agama Islam. Dan ia dibolehkan. Namun harus di ingati, Islam menganjurkan kita menyayangi kedua ibu bapa kita setiap hari, bukan hanya spesifik pada Hari Ibu sahaja.

Terpulang pada diri masing-masing bagaimana untuk menerima pendapat saya. Yang penting, kita sayang ibu bapa kita sentiasa. Semoga bermanfaat pada yang membaca.  :)

#sumber : http://nuzulpermatailmu.blogspot.com/2012/05/hukum-hari-ibu.html

               http://itspeng.blogspot.com/2010/01/jauhi-bidah.html

        http://jalansufi.com/jalan-sufi-Islam-Sufi-jalansufi.com/definisi-bidah-mengikut-ahlul-sunnah-wal-jamaah

-Shah Sahaja-

Marriage Talk

Assalamu'alaikum..

Wow~!

          It's been a long time ey? Haha. I was extremely busy with all the assigments, projects and reports. Then, it was the election day where we have a 3 days holiday so I went back home to clear my mind. Now that I'm clear, it's time to write again, hihi.

          Few weeks ago, my friends and I were having a discussion on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) projects. We were trying to finish our report that day. While doing the reports, we were chatting about stuff. And all of a sudden, a friend of mine bring up the topic of MARRIGE.

          My friend, let's just name her Miss A and I were listing all of the criteria that we want in a man to be our husband. And we both were saying the same one thing 'I just want a regular person, not too pious, not too bad. Just mediocre would be sufficient for me'.

          Now. The other friend of mine, Miss B asked us 'Why you want only a regular person? Why don't you hope and asked for someone better?'

Miss A and I again say the same thing 'Because we are only a regular person. We are the mediocre one'.

         Miss B said 'We should ask for the best. It is human nature to have and to get the very best of something. Yes, we were afraid that if we get someone who are much better than us, it would be difficult for us to handle. But still, why don't we try to change ourselves first? We should asked for someone who can guide us to the path of Allah. And we should be prepare for it. We as a women, our effort in finding a good man for our husband is not only to ask for our parents to choose the best for us, but we should also improve ourselves. We should make ourselves worth the person we asked for. For example, let's say that you want someone that always pray Fajar in the mosque, so you yourselves should start doing that. It's that simple.'

          I have no idea what Miss A was thinking what I was stunned by what Miss B said. I mean, I never thought of it that way before. She really was sent to me by Allah, for me to broaden my mind. And I am definitely, totally glad to have her as my friend.  :)

And Miss B end up our topic of marriage by telling us a beautiful story of a couple.

          'There was a friend of mine, who was very fond of a man. She loves and adore that man so much. They never talk, and perhaps the man never know the girl. But the girl was not giving up. She like him so much that she always pray in her Salah that he will be her husband. She pray for that in every prayer she did, in the 5 times prayer, Tahajud prayer and lots. Allah is indeed the one who can turn over the heart of His servants. And currently, she is now pregnant. And the father of the child is the man that she pray for in her prayer'.

          I guess it is true after all. Before you love someone, the one you should love first is Allah S.W.T. Cause after all, He is the one who create us  :)

-Shah Sahaja-