Ramadhan 1432..

Alhamdulillah.. I'm still here for another Ramadhan...


Being away from my comfortable-Islamic-zone, I've been a little bit observant. Back in UIA, you can feel that Ramadhan is the month of blessings with all the Islamic activities being so customary. You can see posters about Islamic talks, you have tadarus Al-Quran every night, you have a lot of Iftars.. Iftar kelas, Iftar course, Iftar ARC, Iftar this, Iftar that... And you can almost always listen to voices reciting quranic verses whereever you are. That's International Islamic University....


Now I'm no longer there and I'm in Sabah, in which Muslims are so often indistinguishable from the Non Muslims. S and I agreed that we didn't feel that Ramadhan was approaching. Nothing indicate that Syaaban was coming to its end because nobody was excited about Ramadhan. It was only S and I who kept reminding each other "Weyh, da nak pose weyh~"



But then again, now Ramadhan is here, I can see the gist of it despite of not being in the Islamic environment that I used to be in. Well, for one, every Muslim are trying their best to fulfill this pillar of Islam. And those whom I know are not the type who pray regularly are now walking their way to the mosque for terawih prayers!!! Well, pessimists might say "Ala~ Time Ramadhan je tuh," but to me, that's still a good thing. Better than nothing that is. At least they have the effort to get near to Allah during Ramadhan. Who knows, maybe they'll stick to doing the five daily prayers after Ramadhan. More women are wearing hijab during this holy month too. Well, that's a good thing eventhough it's temporary. At least the guys are protected from seeing things... You know, things~~ hehe

Gambar yang mesti mau berunsur gunung ganang dan batu :p

Well, another thing about this Ramadhan is that my neice and nephew are being trained by my mom to fast full day. My neice can't really handle the hunger but my mom, being strict as she always does, have insisted that she should wait until the adzan before she could touch any food. And my neice cried as she wait for the adzan. Kesian betol... But then after a few days, my neice got use to the fasting :)


My mom never pushed me, though. I had a very bad gastric when I was 8 that I was warded for a few hours for monitoring (and it wasn't Ramadhan that time). So she wasn't very strict about my fasting. I only fast when I reached my puberty. Even now, I rarely miss my meal but surprisingly I could always withstand fasting :)


Hurm, there was something amusing going on here in our house too. Well, Idham is also being trained to fast half-day. I wasn't fasting for the first few days since it was the time of the month so he saw me eating in the kitchen in the afternoon. On his way to school the next day he asked Umi,

"Umi, kak jiji tu Islam ka? kenapa dia nda puasa?"

When I was told about this, of course la I terus ketawa terbahak bahak.. I found it so funny. But then I'm quite impressed that he recognized fasting is one of the pillar of Islam, the basic act that portrays you being a Muslim :)

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A Thousand Splendid Suns

So.. After Recipe for Life which was somewhat a leisure reading that stimulate the secretion of gastric juice (chewah! ayat pharmacist), I opted to read something overwhelming that'll bring me to tears.. So.. Yeah.. I picked A Thousand Splendid Suns.


This is another brilliant work of Khaled Hosseini's. An absolute page turner and it took me only 3 days to finish it up (I'm actually a slow reader..).. The setting is still the same, the war-inflicted Afghanistan and in this book he addresses the oppression of women..

I really love how he blend history into this fiction. The story started off with when Afghanistan was under Communist in which women were treated almost equally (from what I understood) and were allowed to be educated; that's up to University level.

But then things change.. There were so many exchange of powers, so many killings and finally he brought readers to the Taliban era in which they practiced strict Islamic rulings
(extremely strict that is)

Most of the plots are actually stories from the household of the main characters. There are two main characters in this book, Mariam and Laila, and their stories are being told in alternate chapters. In this story, we can see how sons are favoured over daughters and how a woman's needs are often ignored.

There's a love story too.. I love the love story part because I think it's like a buffer that eases the agony throughout the whole story. It's a friendship turned into love, then separation, then reunion...

I guess, the most heartbreaking part was when women were deprived from recieving proper treatment for ailments. In the extremely strict law, the Taliban only allow female doctors to treat women. This is very ironic you see, because in their era, women were also not allowed to be educated so the number of female doctors were scarce. They were ordered to do procedures with their Burqa and that compromises the hygeine of a procedure..

The author described how hectic the women hospital was. So much clamour going on; people pleading to be treated first, wailing voices of pain, weeping family members, dusty air.. Gave me goosebumps as I imagined how it was..


After reading this, I'm so grateful to have been fated to be born in Malaysia, enjoying the peace and harmony. Grateful to have been granted a good mind and the opportunity to build up my potentials. There's so many things to be grateful of if we look at how actually people in the other parts of the world are being terrorized... Alhamdulillah~


Sometimes I wish I could help change the world.. Or give a helping hand...

\\(".) A helping hand.....

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It's a choice~

This is a lengthy post...

To think of it, Muslims are not outnumbered in Sabah. It's the practicing Muslims that we are lacking of in number. Very few indeed.

#1

Recently, I've been poured with a lot of questions about the practices in Islam, especially about covering aurah and the daily prayers. It all start off when I actually rejected some of my friend's ideas to make me comfortable during my climb. Well, they suggested me wearing the scarf tied to the back (the one that'll reveal your neck) or wear a legging (that tight-fitting pants). And then the daily prayers issue was raised because I said I would only want to marry a guy who observe his prayers.


I've tried to explain the commandments that I'm obliged to follow and how it is a big deal to me that my spouse should be someone who observe his prayers. Some understood but some continued to argue that I can actually uncover my aurah, it's a matter of choice and that those who pray is not necessarily a good person who can make me happy. I, of course, tried again to counter those arguments but they continued to disagree with what I was saying. Then, I just stopped and shrugged... It wasn't a sign of retreat. But actually that time I started to realize that there was no point of arguing because I noticed that those who accepted my explaination at the very beginning were actually those who also practice their religion steadfastly and the ones who are still debating with me are actually those who doesn't practice their religion, so I just think they wouldn't undestand the spiritual connection that you have with the Creator when you observe the commandments. So then, there's just no point of explaining....


To be honest, I was offended by some of their arguments but I tried to maintain my cool and stayed calm and listened. I thought it'll be unfair if I get all sensitive and start to draw myself away just because they don't understand my belief and practices. They can't be blamed, you see. They've a lot of Muslim friends and from what I can see is that they misunderstood because the Muslim friends they have are living the same way as they do and it so happen that this Muslim friend here live a different way.

#2

Well, I was considered quite secular in my Uni. Some people said to me "Ko bukan wanita solehah~" or when I said something Islamically knowledegable, the respond that I usually get was "Fuiyo! Sejak bile???" Offended?? Tipulah kalo saya tidak offended.


"I observe my prayers, regularly recite Al-Quran, cover my aurah and just because I'm active and love to have fun so I'm not solehah?????"


Haha those are the things that usually crossed my mind when people say those offensive things to me. But, I'd taught myself that human being doesn't define how solehah you are. I'd taught myself to remember that the connection between me and Allah is private, and what people think about my solehah-ness won't make any difference at all. And I'd convinced myself that if there's ever any person who said "Wah! Haziah you are very solehah.. I wanna be like you," pergh sure I riak punya la :p


So.. What I'm trying to say is actually, what I think is, up to this age, what we embrace as our religion, as our worldview, as our practice is actually already by choice. We're a Muslim because we want to be one, and not because we are born as Muslim anymore. Why are there two different scenarios in the above??

Well, I just want to show you that it's not only the Non Muslims that'll question our belief and our conscience. The demotivatng words of the brothers and sisters in Islam can also discourage one from the right path.


O ya, one more thing that I think I should put here is that, back in Berhala during our rock climbing trip, it was actually my non Muslim friends who cleared the spot for me to pray and it was them who brought a compass so that I'll know where's the direction of Mecca.


I've made my choice long ago just like every of you did.. I'm no longer in my regulated world.. I need strength, I need guidance, I need reminders...

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