an act of prevention

What kind of teaching approach do you prefer?

Dictatorship?
Autocratic?

I remember those 'cikgu yang yang sangat garang'. I remember how punishments made me more cautious with my actions.

Punishment is an act of prevention. If you don't want to be punished, don't do it. Simple.

"If you miss the full-stops or the capital letters, I'll rip the page off." herk. Is the teacher being mean? (Situation in one of my school visit in Plymouth.)

I remember my Science teacher (let's call him Mr. A) in SKSS1, when I was in Year 6. There were a number us who didn't finish drawing 12 pictures of 'Hukum Tuas'. Mr. A asked the first student, "Berapa gambar kamu tak siap?" and the boy answered, "one". BEDEBUK! Mr. A gave the boy a full-swing slap on the back. The sound of the contact was enough to tell you how powerful the slap was. Mr. A went to the next person. "Berapa?", and the girl answered, "three". BUK! BUK! DBUK! Three times on her back. One for each picture. I stared at my science book. I only managed to draw three. Nine pictures were missing.... (T_T)

I remember my Physics teacher in SMKSS. He ripped my report about one of the experiments. 4 papers; 7 full pages. He returned the pieces to me with a smile. But, I took his challenge, and did a better report. I remember, half of the class were late for his class; arrived a few seconds after he went into the lab. He didn't let us in; locking the door from inside. But we know, it's a very important topic, and we needed to get the notes. Mr. T's notes. So, we peeked through the windows, and copied down the charts from the blackboards (there were 4blackboards!) and his verbal notes. After 30 minutes, he let us in. Phew...

....

Why am I telling you this? Oh ye, 'an act of prevention'. If you don't want to be punished, don't do it. Simple.

If you don't want to be locked outside the classroom, don't come late to class, etc.

....

Allah had already warned us in the Qur'an about his punishments to those who disobey Him. But, did we fear what Allah has prepared for those who disobey His commands? We know Allah never break His promise nor lie. Allah has mentioned that his punishments are beyond human's imagination. Muslim recorded that Abu Ishaq narrated from An-Nu`man bin Bashir that the Messenger of Allah said:

"Verily, the lightest punishment received by the people of the Hellfire will be a man who will have two sandals whose straps will be made of fire that will cause his brain to boil just as a cauldron boils. Yet he will not think that anyone is receiving a torment more severe than him, even though he will be receiving the lightest punishment of them."

But, little did we realize that Allah's punishments is but an act of prevention. If you don't want to taste the hellfire, submit to Allah with full submission. When Allah mentioned Jannah in the Qur'an, how many of us wanted to be in the beautiful paradise? Allah had described the paradise as beautiful as the human mind could imagine (though the Jannah is also beyond human's wildest imagination...). But, how many of us are willing to sacrifice the dunnia for the eternal happiness in Akhirah? Think. Allah's love for His creations is greater than the love of any teacher to the student, or any mother to the child.

sayonara jahiliyyah

I went to a Spring Camp last month, with a few of my friends.

There was a segment called 'Sayonara Jahiliyyah', and the content was delivered by one of the ikhwah (brother). I bet most of us know what 'sayonara' means. But, what is Jahiliyyah? It means anything that is not Islamic. So, in short, the title of segment invited us all to say goodbye to all the things that is not Islamic.

He said, jahiliyyah is like a chewing gum. It makes you stumble along your journey. That's what chewing gum does when it sticks to the shoe sole.

I know most of us had at least an experience with the annoying chewing gum. There would always be the 'chirt~chirt~' sound and there would be a few seconds of interruption when you walk. When you finally fed up with it and wanna clean your shoes, you have to SCRAP it off. Otherwise, you'll be frustrated and might even want to stop from going to your destination.

*********************

I spent nearly two weeks for muhasabah diri. I spent more time reading the Qur'an, more time on the praying mat... but at the same time, I stopped reading comics and stopped watching the dramas and movies.

Somehow, the next few days, I went back to my old routine (spending hours watching the movies/dramas and catching up with the mangas). And I realize, I wasn't paying attention during my salah; I kept on rushing to finish the rakaat, so that I could continue watching all those dramas/movies. I even skipped reading the Qur'an for the sake of the mangas. Ungrateful servant, am I, Ya Allah?

Slowly, I tried to fight the urge of rushing my salah or my Qur'an recitation. It annoys you a little, and pains you a whole lot. Because your heart is normally being fulfilled with those kind of things, and any change made would hurt a little bit. IT'S LIKE SCRAPPING THE WHOLE CHEWING GUM OFF FROM YOUR SHOE SOLE. Use any kind of method (bleach, knife, berus sabut?, etc); you'll experience bruises and cuts all over; BUT, at the end, insyaAllah, your SOUL will be as good as new. You'll become a better muslim.



Whatever things that keep you away from your ibadah, is the chewing gum. It just a matter of keeping it in or scrapping it off your soul.

hijab is my choice. titik.

"Dear young lady, tell me, tell me why do you cover your head?" an old patient asked me on one morning. "Tell me, now, why do you wear your scarf?"

I was thinking to explain the rationale of wearing the headscarf, but since she's an older person, I thought she'd understand if I say, "Because I love my God."

I didn't expect her to look at me in disbelief and said, "No! No! No..." with teary eyes.

"I love my God. This is how I show my love to Him." I tried to make her understand that hijab is simply my choice; no one forced me since the beginning.

"NO," she held my hands tighter, and pulled me closer to her. "No, no. Let me see your skin (her eyes wondered around, but my attire only allowed my face and my hands to be seen). OH! You don't even show a bloody skin! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm very emotional when it comes to this matter."

('matter' apa? Women's rights la)

"You know, my friends and I had fought for the rights for a long time."

.........

That reminded me about the sisters in France and Turkey, who were fighting to protect their rights in wearing the hijab. They have been denied access in working and education sectors, just because they're trying to protect their dignity; Just because they didn't want insignificant others to see their 'aurat'.

..........

"Why is it the women who have to cover up themselves, but not men? Why don't your God ask the men to cover themselves up too?" the old lady was still unwilling to accept my reason. "Don't you want to feel the breeze in your hair? The warm sunshine?"

"Actually, men do have to cover themselves up. From their knees to their bellybutton," I just blurted those words out.

"Lucy (bukan nama sebenar), the young lady needs to go. She has other things to do," another patient interrupted. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I still need to serve two more patiens in the next ward.

"Thank you for your concern. But I'm fine like this," and I left the room with a smile, just to make sure that Lucy will not be saddened by what I've said so far to her. But what's more important, I just want her to know, I'm not being oppressed by wearing the hijab.

Lucy was very concern about others and very determined too. She's a fighter, I should say, as she would try her best to fight for things she believes in. A passionate one. All those questions that she asked were the signs telling me how much she cares about me :)

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That was an incident a few weeks ago. This week, I encountered another old lady during my school visit, who gave me quite an interesting comments about hijab.

"I can feel that the muslims women who cevered themselves up received more respect than the non-muslims. Even in the bus, in the markets; People respect them. Other people don't look at the muslime women with bad intentions. Their dresses help them to be judged through their personality. The muslim women have good behavior, I should say. They use good words when they speak and they have manners towards other people..."

She was telling me all these, without knowing that I'm a muslim. She wasn't sure actually, until she asked me ,"What is your religion?"

And then, the conversation invited us two to compare the teachings in Islam and Christianity about the oneness of God, prophet Isa a.s., and Maryam, mother of Isa. I told her that there's a surah (chapter) in the Qur'an that is dedicated to Jesus's mother, Mary a.k.a Surah Maryam.

"I'm looking forward to buy the Qur'an with the english translation." she smiled. Oh! How I wish I could give her the Holy Qur'an at that very moment. Before we parted, she said, "Pray for me. Who knows, maybe someday I'll become a muslim." Ya Allah! My heart even skipped a beat upon hearing those words. I was silently praying "Allah, amin, amin, amin" (Allah, grant the wish, grant the wish, grant the wish!).

I hope to see the lady again, next week.

I hope to see Lucy again too, InsyaAllah.

(why hijab topic again? don't you get sick writing this up? huhuhu i just think this is worth to be shared with you; that's all)

religion and daily life

I went to St Paul Primary School for my second school experience here. Just to let you know, it's a catholic school.

What fascinates me most was the scene where the children recited their prayers in chorus, lead by the class teacher. Before and after lunch, they recited : "Thank you Lord for giving me the food...etc". They even recited their prayers before and after lessons. WOW. I do 'heart' this kind of atmosphere :)

I remember those kind of routine existed during my school years, but I never appreciated it before. I remember reciting the du'a in chorus during my kindergarten years; I remember there was always a friend of mine who was on duty to lead the du'a before and after school during primary years. And finally, when it came to secondary school, everyone should be gathering in the assembly area before the school started; and yes, there'd be a guy standing on the podium to recite the du'a which we (I, personally) didn't even care to listen carefully. oh what a retard (me)~~

Oh, the school celebrated St George's day on the last 23rd April. Some of the children from my Year 2 class were chosen to deliver their thank you notes. One of them said, "Thank you Lord for giving me the chance to learn and giving me Mrs Morris. Thank you Lord."

Mrs Morris is the TA in my class, a very responsible and caring aged lady. She helped me a lot during my visits there. Her kindness do make an impact to the children's school experience I dare say; a positive one. :)

But, these are Year 2 students.

I wonder what will happen to these young learners when they grow up. Will what they have practiced during school become part of their later life? Will they practice their religion in the way their teachers have taught them?

But one thing for sure; you can't separate your religion from your life. It should be your way of life. God is not only watching you when you're in the religious gatherings; He watches you ALL THE TIME.

April posto

I haven't posted anything here for a very long time; couldn't find the right thing to be posted anyway. I've saved some drafts, and hopefully will be able to find the finishing touch for all the soon-to-be-posted entries. Sorry everyone~~

There were quite a few things that I would want to publish here, but as I typed the words down, I could see that I was being unreasonable. Some drafts were written just to relinquish my anger, some to share my jovial mood; but all of them were written in a hurry. And I could say, they were all rubbish; not worth it to spend your precious minutes reading them.

I was thinking about deleting all the posts before; but a dear friend of mine told me that this is a life journal. Starting from my very first entry, I should be able to trace back any glimpse of maturity in my writing (ahaha aci kerat jari).

So, InsyaAllah, I'll try to write a good piece each time I want to post something. Titik.