Books In August

Holy Quran
(Photo: My personal al-Quran)

I love to read books, but special for this Ramadan, I wanna spend my time to read this Holy Book more than any other books. Alhamdulillah that I think I can achieve my target to Katam al-Quran for this Ramadan, InsyaAllah. I asked my students to do that, so, I have to do the same thing, or should do better more than them. And as Allah said: Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). [2:185], So, there are no acceptable reason to say that you have no time to read Quran, especially in the month of Ramadan..

Oh yah.. The Holy Quran is not to be read only in August or Ramadan, but tor the whole time of our life~!

Life is an Open Secret: Ramadan Special

Zabrina A. Bakar

Actually I read this book for the second time especially for the month of Ramadan. I really want to always remind myself that I am have to take care of my actions during this month and Istiqamah in the next coming months. This small book also gave me idea to tell some stories during my lecture in my classes. Fortunately, the author also was experienced working at IIC as well.

This book carries 25 motivational and inspirational stories specifically tailored for the month of Ramadan when Muslims worldwide are required to observe the act of fasting from dawn until sunset for a period of one month. This special month brings along with it many benefits and blessings that are sometimes forgotten. Thus, the stories in this book serve as a reminder as to what Ramadan is truly about. All stories are written in a simple, chatty, humorous and witty way that promises to touch your heart, tease your mind, soothe your soul and make you reflect along the way. Please click HERE to read this book online..

Kabul Beauty School: An American Women Goes Behind the Veil

Deborah Rodriguiz

I bought this book long time ago, but just had opportunity to finish it in the beginning of August even it took more than 2 months to finish my reading of this book. Anyway, I myself appreciate all the efforts done by the writer as a main role in this book which is based on a true story. She tried hard to protect the woman's rights in Kabul, Afghanistan in her own ways. The beauty school was only a trademark, but she did more than that. It was all about friendship and freedom, as well as sincerity which can never be explained.. The story of Afghanistan always catch my eyes since I read two books written by Khalid Hosseini.

Yathrib Qabla al-Islam, Dr. Muhammad Sayyid al-Wakil
and
Tarikh Shamil li al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, Dr. Abd al-Basit Badr

This two books are two main references when I'm writing the topic of Yathrib in my thesis. Yathrib is the old name of Madinah al-Munawwarah. The history of this city was not well mentioned in websites or English article. So, I have to refer to the Arabic History Kitab to know more information about this city. The story about Yathrib can be categorized to some important aspects, which are in term of belief system, political system, economic system, social system including its diverse population. I'm not finish yet in reading these two books, I put my best efforts to translate the Arabic explanation to English understanding in my Chapter 3 of thesis. Hopefully this chapter will be end in the middle of September which supposedly to be ended in August, but I failed to do that.. :(

Aquilla Asia (Issue July/Aug 2010)

This is not a book, but an international magazine focusing on the Muslimah Issues around Asia. I introduce this magazine here due to a reason that my short writing and picture was published for the issue of July/August 2010 under the topic of "Ramadan Around the World". Yes, it was just a small writing in a corner of two pages, but I was really happy, because I can make it as a motivation to write more and more in another magazine, article, or journal. The purpose of writing is not to show off, but I wanna share the knowledge and experience to other. Prophet SAW said: Balighu 'anni walau aayah...

**I hope I can manage my time efficiently for today as the last day of August and Holiday for the Independence Day of Malaysia..

Small Reunion

30 August 2010, 20 Ramadan 1431H

A small reunion was held in order to strengthen our Ukhuwwah and maintain the close relationship among four of us, as well as to rewind back our past unforgettable memories during undergraduate at IIUM. Honestly, we were happy. It was too difficult to gather back four of us since we already proceed our own different ways after graduate.


Alhamdulillah, Mun, Timah and I went to break fasting at a Restaurant area Taman Melati, sadly, Fizah still on her way from Kajang to Gombak. She had her simple iftar in LRT, pity you my dear friend.. After Maghrib prayer, we fetched Fizah and accompanied her to take her dinner. Then, we went to IIUM Mosque to have congregational Isyak prayer and Terawih prayer.

I love the moment that we can laugh happily and share our stories. I like when Timah said, "Ya Allah....rindunya kat UIA. Rindu nak tengok muka lelaki2 soleh di UIA." haha... And four of us always flashed back our innocent memories past years... I miss that... Timah again well said: "Jom jadikan ini aktiviti tahunan untuk berkumpul setiap Ramadan..". Speechless! But I do happy....


It was the blessing of Ramadan that we can gather back like this. It was the nikmah from Allah that we had this simple unforgettable small reunion. It was the sweetness of Ukhuwwah that maintain our friendship until nowadays. Ya Allah please bind our friendship for the sake of YOU..

Thank You Munirah..
Thank You Fatimah..
Thank You Hafizah..
and not forget Thank You Kak Syam..

Thank You ALLAH!

Sincerely,
Saadah Khair
Batu 8 Gombak (Mun's house)

A Blessed Birthday!

24th August.

New age. The increasing of this new age should be accompanied by the increasing of Iman, Knowledge and Deeds. Alhamdulillah ya Allah for giving me the opportunity to continue this life and let me breath peacefully in this world. Thank you Allah!

Thank you mom for having a great and difficult time to give a birth to a daughter like me, and patiently educated me since that date until now..

Thank you dad for delivering azan right away after I born, and really thankful to you for everything that you taught me the beauty and the difficulty of life..

Thank you to all my siblings for having a great time together since my childhood, and still understand and accept my real character at home..

Thank you generally to all friends, and especially close friends for accepting a friend like me, and stay keep in touch even though I am not a real good friend but try to be good to everyone..

Really appreciate all the wishes, the du'a, the hopes, and the thoughts from all of you during my special day, either directly or indirectly. I received over 100 wishes at my FB yesterday, and many telephone calls from family and friends. It was a great honour to remember my birthday. I just feel wanna to cry yesterday, but I bear it and just express the feeling of happiness to everyone.. May Allah bless all of them and shower them with a great love and blessing~!

Special thanks to a friend who accompany my at the night of my birthday, even though just through a medium of technology, but I really appreciate that.. May Allah always bless you and give happiness throughout your life..


The blessed birthday of this year really make me happy due to some reasons. Firstly, it was in the month of Ramadan, and I do hope that I can do better than last Ramadan, hopefully this is not my last Ramadan. Secondly, it was celebrated in a very simple celebration, and I love to be a simple person. Thirdly, I realize that my presence and existence among my friends is good enough, and I really hope that all of my friends now will still be my friends in the future. Once friend is friend forever..

Actually, I have a lots of dream for this birhday, but I will not mention it here. But I do hope that all my dreams can be achieved by my hard efforts and the rest will be decided by Allah..

**Happy Birthday to myself~! Be Happy~!

"Imtihan" in Ramadan

First Imtihan: Health Condition

I wish that I will not face any health problem in this Ramadan, but who knows that Allah want to give a test as His mercy and love. I got flu and cough. I am not easily infected by virus, but once I got it, it will not easily getting well. In addition to that, I hate to take any medicine, and that is my problem. By the way, I try to control myself for not only use all the time in Ramadan to rest, but feel grateful that the sickness is His Mercy for me, Allah knows all the Hikmah behind this. May Allah grant me a good health for me to perform Ibadah in this Holy Ramadan..

Second Imtihan: Student's Manner

It had been more than a month I'm working at IIC. Of course I learned a lot of things. There are also difficulties and easiness. But the problem is how to deal with all the students. Due to my less experience, I have to mentally prepare the unexpected things to be happened in my classes. And I really need Sabr (Patience) comes together with Ikhlas (Sincerity) during my lecture and convey the important message for each subjects to my students. May Allah help me to use Maw'izah (lesson) and Hikmah (wisdom) with all my students..

Third Imtihan: Jihad an-Nafs

Rasulullah said that all syaitan will be chained for the whole days of Ramadan, but the biggest problem is our own Nafs, especially in performing Ibadah whether Ibadah Wajib, Sunat, or Mubah. I'm sure that everyone of us want to improve the Ibadah Level during this Ramadan, and I'm sure also that some of us succeed and some failed to do that, or succeed in the beginning and failed in the middle of Ramadan. Jihad an-Nafs is the biggest Jihad for a Muslim. May Allah make our faith stronger and never give up to perform our best in this Ramadan..

*Read this entry: Ramadan jangan sampai retak.. a nice one!

Fourth Imtihan: Tadarus and Tadabbur al-Quran

For this semester, I was given a responsibility to teach 5 subjects and 3 of them related to the al-Quran (even though I'm specialize in Hadith), and that was a real challenge for me. So, for each class, I asked them to try khatam al-Quran even once for this special Ramadan, and for those who able to do that, I will give a bonus mark. At the same time, I don't want they just read without understand the content of the Quran, and that is my responsibility to give a good explanation for each subject in order to make them realize the importance of Tadabbur al-Quran, not only Tadarus and Qira'ah al-Quran. Actually, this is also a motivation to myself. May Allah light all of us with the blessing of al-Quran...


**Imtihan mentioned in this entry refers to the Test of Allah, not an examination paper..

A silent friend

Actually, I have another thing to share in this blog for this week, but something was happened, and I think that I wanna change the topic. Today, it was enough a week that my grandfather passed away. May Allah bless him. Allahummahfirlahuwarhamhu... AL-Fatihah..

But that is not the issue for this entry. In the same context, one of my silent friend passed away this morning. I don't care if you wanna say that I am childish and silly, but I do sad because of the losing this silent friend. Although he is not my best friend, but I do appreciate him for accompanying me along these years especially during my postgraduate study.

Thank You friend for the silence that make my heart ponder of you. I'm grateful that you can't speak but still stay by my side..

Thank You friend for the loyalty that you show when I stayed up late at night..

Thank You friend for the happiness that you cannot express when I make a useful benefit of you..

Thank You friend for the sharing that reduce my thirsty, and maintain my health indirectly..

Thank You friend for the courageous and the spirit that sometimes motivated me..

Thank You.. even though you are just only a black, big, and ugly mug.. The colour of black was specifically chosen for you due to some reasons. I really love black mug. I don't know why, but it will give me satisfaction while drinking any water.. Especially coffee..

And I apologize too because not able to stay by your side until the end. You went away without my presence and someone told me late and not informed me early.. I'm sorry friend.. I'm regret for not able to see you for the last time...

I know myself better than others. Sometimes I like to stay alone, that's why I'm really appreciate everything around me and accompany me all the time, even it is a little thing for you but it might be big and important thing for me. Yes you can call me weird and odd, but these kind of silent friends should be appreciated similar to appreciate human being as your friend, and sometimes they are much more better and understandable than a real breath human friend.. but pity, they can't speak...

And even now, I'm really sad because all his pictures was not found in my new lappy, there are a lot of memories with him saved in the my lappy at home...waaa... I miss my black mug.. Then, I cannot share his picture here... :(

**Waiting for new black mug, anyone wanna give me that? I'm really appreciate it.. ^_^

Ragam Ramadan

Ragam Satu

"Puasa itu apa?" Soalan ini ditujukan oleh seorang wanita berusia 40 tahun ke atas kepada seorang anak kecil berusia 5 tahun. Anak kecil itu diam seribu bahasa. Koma. Perkataan puasa itu memang mudah disebut tapi bukan mudah untuk didefinisikan oleh anak kecil.

"Hasni puasa?"
"Puasa..."
"Hasni makan apa tadi?"
"Makan nasi lah..."
"Kalau Hasni makan, tandanya Hasni tak puasa.."
"oouh..."
"Puasa tu, tak boleh makan.. tak boleh minum.."
"Tak boleh makan? Tak boleh minum?"
"Iya, siapa yang makan dan minum, dia tak puasa namanya"
"oouh.. Puasa tu tak boleh makan.. Tak boleh minum"

Tiba-tiba ada suara sumbang di belakang, "Puasa boleh kentut tak..??" Pecah perut kami dibuatnya..

Ragam Dua

Di Pasar Kg Melayu, Johor Bahru.

Gadis: Bang, ada jual cekor?
Penjual: Ada, kat belakang Tongkat Ali.
Gadis: Hah? *sambil menggaru kepala*
Penjual itu masih sibuk menimbang sayur pelanggan yang lain.
Gadis: Maaf bang, saya tak kenal cekor.
Penjual: Cuba tengok dalam bakul belakang tu.
Gadis itu menuju ke arah yang ditunjukkan itu sambil mengenal pasti ada bakul halia dan kunyit, dan terlihat sesuatu yang kurang dikenal pasti. "Abang, ini ya..?"
Penjual: iya... *sambil tersenyum geli hati melihat gelagat gadis tersebut*
Harga juga diberi murah kerana kasihan melihat wajah pelanggan yang terpinga-pinga.

Ini lah bahana jika ke pasar setahun sekali...

Ragam Tiga

ABC di Kg Melayu memang tiada tandingannya. Air Batu Campur. Tapi ABC khas di bulan Ramadan hanya untuk kaum wanita dan mereka yang dikrukhsahkan keadaannya. ABC bukanlah abjad biasa, tapi mengandungi maksud luar biasa. "Allah Bagi Cuti". Bunyinya nampak mudah, tapi tak semudah yang disangkakan. Bunyinya nampak enak, tapi bukanlah untuk disengajakan tapi sudah ditetapkan.

Ramadan ini tiada istilah cuti. Jika cuti berpuasa, tidak semestinya boleh makan sesuka hati. Jika cuti solat, tidak bermaksud boleh meninggalkan ibadah yang lain. Belajar itu ibadah. Senyum itu Ibadah. Membaca itu Ibadah. Dan semua yang dilakukan kerana Allah itu adalah Ibadah. Mari berlumba-lumba beribadah di bulan Ramadan dan istiqamah di bulan yang berikutnya. InsyaAllah..

Ragam Empat

Pahala. Yuk kejar pahala. Tapi bukan bermakna boleh sesuka hati memilih pahala yang paling sesuai dalam mengerjakan Ibadah. Teraweh malam pertama Ramadan begini, dan malam kedua begitu pula. "Kalau begitu, saya mahu Teraweh pada malam sekian sahaja lah, kerana pahalanya begitu dan begitu."

Teraweh itu Ibadah Sunnah. Dua puluh atau lapan hanyalah pilihan, bukan kewajiban. Pahala bukan kita yang tentukan, tapi Allah berhak letak apa sahaja yang Dia rasakan sesuai. Besar kemungkinan juga tiada pahala langsung diberikan setelah berdiri lama, ruku' dan sujud, sambil membawa perut kekenyangan yang tiada tandingannya, tapi hanya keletihan semata-mata..

Yuk amalkan Ihsan dalam mengejar pahala. Beibadahlah seakan-akan kamu melihat DIA, jika kamu tidak melihat DIA, tapi pastilah bahawa DIA melihat kamu...

Ragam Lima

Al-Quran adalah bahan bacaan yang tidak pernah menjemukan. Alunan suara merdu Imam juga mencairkan hati makmum dan menenangkan hati insan bergelar Mukmin. Tapi usah terlalu fokus dengan lagu dan alunannya, isinya lebih penting. Tajwid bacaan juga perlu dititikberatkan.

"Saya mahu solat di Masjid itu, kerana Imamnya adalah si Polan.."
"Solat di Masjid di sana lebih baik, kerana Imamnya seorang Hafiz keluaran luar negara"
"Solat di Masjid di situ lah... kerana Imamnya baca pendek-pendek"
"Masjid di sana tu lebih bagus, kerana suara Imamnya merduuuuu sangat.."

Usahlah solat kerana Imam atau Masjid, tapi solatlah kerana itu adalah medium untuk bertemu Tuhan!

**Ramadan untukku akan benar-benar bermula sebentar saja lagi.. :)

Allahummaghfirlahu

Innalillahiwainnailaihiraji'uun

Ustaz Ahmad Sonhadji Mohamad

[18 Aug 1922/24 Zulhijah 1340 - 12 Aug 2010/2 Ramadan 1431]

May Allah bless him and put him in the right place of Jannah
Allahummaghfirlahu warhamhu wa'afihi wa'fu'anhu

Credit photo to Zulkifli Khair
Video can be viewed HERE

'ATOK' in Memory

Info Photo: It was on the night of 1st Syawal last year, at Toa Payoh, Singapore. We 'bermaaf-maafan' and I asked him to pray for my success. The smiley face of my atok will be never forgotten. May Allah bless him~!

**Who knows that tomorrow is our last day, and this is our last Ramadan~! Allah knows..

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan

Let this picture speaks more than words..

Lets make this Ramadhan as a great opportunity to 'dating' with Allah more than anyone else..

Lets do better to get HIS blessing and love..

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan..

**I have to face the sad beginning of Ramadhan, and hopefully to get the happy ending of Ramadhan.. InsyaAllah

Unforgettable Weekend

Alhamdulillah..

Unwillingly I'm already back to campus, after had an unforgettable weekend which consists of dark and bright memory. Let me start with dark memory first..

Dark Memory [will be never forgotten]

My bus to JB supposedly was at 8.30pm, but the driver tried to fill all the seats with full passengers, and we moved around 9.15pm. I was patiently waiting even I did not patient enough to wait from the morning to go back to my home. Because, I did not going back since June, and I'm really miss my home...

In the bus, I took the first row of the single seat because it is more comfortable to sleep alone rather to sleep beside unknown people. So, I planned to sleep all the time in the journey to JB. Around 12am, the bus stopped for a while at Yong Peng and gave the opportunity to passengers to use restroom, and we continued our sleep again after that. Suddenly, I woke up, and saw that the bus driver can't control the 'stereng' of the bus. So, the bus moved here and there, everyone was shocked and screamed, but still cannot be controlled. The bus finally stopped and crashed the side of the road, and rolled back in the position of 90 degree. I'm so scared.... I'm really scared at that time because I cannot moved my body since my leg stucked in the land slide.. The only thing that crossed my mind is the DEATH, and I can only said 'Allah' during that time..


The bus driver helped to pull my leg. Everyone tried to save their own life and material things, then we helped each other. I'm still scared. There was no exit door during that time, but Alhamdulillah some people from outside came and helped all of us. Police also came after that. My handphone was running out of battery. I just can sms my sister and told her about the accident. My family was really worried about me.. Another bus helped us to go to our next destination. I arrived at Home around 4am in the morning..

Anyway, Alhamdulillah that Allah saved my life, and I did understood the value of life.. Na'uzubillah If I pass away at that time, the I will do not have the opportunity of Ramadhan for this year.. T__T


Bright Memory [will be everlasting]

HOME. It always make everybody happy. Isn't it? I did not have a big house. My small house is a big home in my heart. My father said that "Home is enough to be filled by everyone, not too small, not too big. Be moderate." Yes, that's it. Be moderate. Moderation is the best lesson that taught by my dad.

Alhamdulillah I'm finally home after that bad incident. It was really make me relieved. I spent the whole Saturday at home with my dad, because my mom and my sister went to ziarah my grandfather at Singapore. I'm not feeling well as well as my dad because he got virus infection at his eyes, and I love dating with my dad..hehe..because we will share a lot of stories and discuss many things. But Sunday is the day that I should go back to the campus. We had a simple gathering in the afternoon to celebrate 'kesyukuran' for my sister and just had 'makan-makan' with family before Ramadhan. I'm happy.. no more scared feeling... :)

Whatever it is, small, full, messy, dirty, or anything else, Home still is the best.. Thanks Emak and Ayah for let me know the real meaning of HOME.. Now, I'm in the campus again... :(

And whatever it is, Allah is the one who planned everything. There should be hikmah and wisdom behind every matter in our life. Alhamdulillah ya Allah..

**Syaaban will end soon. Ramadhan is coming~!

Books Sharing

TODAY is 1st August 2010. Waaah! How time flies too fast...hmm

Yesterday as the last day in July, I went to Bookexcess because I have to spend time at least once at Book store and buy even a book in a month. Too busy with works and study is not the reason that i cannot spend my time with my books. So, a sharing for my reading in July as in below (even though I planned to read at least 5 books in a month, I'm just able to read three books only)

Di Bawah Langit
OPICK & Taufiqurrahman al-Azizy

The title of this book actually is also a title of a song by OPICK. I love OPICK's voice and the message in his songs. I knew this book through FB and his promotion during his first concert in Malaysia which was held at IIUM last year. Thanks to Rini, my Indonesia friend who bought me this book from Acheh.

The story is about the relationship between Maysarah, Jailani and Gelung, whereby they were not siblings by blood, but was taken by Kiyai as his own children. They live happily with another children. The conflict happened when Kiyai want to marry his daughter, Sarah with Jailani, but actually Sarah and Gelung loved each other. Days after that, Kiyai passed away and Jailani had to take over the place as the leader. Unfortunately, Gelung was too depressed due to his unreachable love and people assumed that he was crazy after that time.

Then, there were a lot of tragedies happened after that, such as the lack of rezeki from fishing, the thief case, the shirik belief from villagers and so on. Jailani tried so hard to maintain peace and harmony in his village but the villagers believed in Gelung more than him. Jailani also realized that his marriage with Sarah will not end happily coz he knew that her love only for Gelung. In short, Jailani was infected by serious disease and dead. Finally, Gelung and Sarah could live together with the aid of a umber of children who are living with them..

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and The Development of Madinah
Dr. Spahec Omer

This book was borrowed from IIUM Library long time ago. I read it little by little and it really useful in my thesis writing. The author is a IIUM Lecturer from KAED and described the development of Madinah from two views; history and urban development. Besides it was easily understood by the reader, his book was entertained by some real pictures related to the city of the Prophet.

I will refer mostly to his book in the topics as followed:

• The Institution of Mosque and its main function in Madinah
• The Peaceful coexistence with the environment in Madinah
  
• The Economic Dynamism among Madinan society
• Madinah as an Islamic City
  

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Paulo Coehlo

I bought this book yesterday at Bookexcess. Honestly speaking, I admire the writing of Paulo Coelho. I had read The Alchemist, The Zahir, and Flowing the River, and will read another three books (The Winner Stands alone, Brida & the Witch of Portobello) which was bought 2 months ago, but time always envy myself..

This book is not thick, that's why I can finish it early even though there are a lot of books are waiting to be read. It is the story of Pilar and her childhood friend who loved her so much, but was a religious activist. In spite of convey the message of God to others, he was able to change the confusion of Pilar into faith and belief in God and Mary. Then, love is the foundation that change everything..

Although this book mentioned a lot of Christian Teachings, but I read this book in the angle of Islamic Teaching. Paulo's message on forgiveness is well written in this book. We knows that if you forgive others, you will be forgiven. BUT the most important thing is ALLAH is the Most Forgiving..

I wanna quote something from this book, Paulo wrote: "The wise are wise only because they love, and the foolish are foolish only because they think they can understand love. Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows." I wanna add something as well: Love is not blind, but always make people blind. Love is not stupid, but causes the stupidity among people. Love is not hurt, but might hurt someone else... Think about it~~

- End of Reviews -

Actually I begin to read two books (My Favourite Wife & The Kabul Beauty School) since two months ago, but still unable to finish it. I don't know why, but it try to finish them first before i start read new books again.. Pity them because I was unfair...

**Chapter Three is in progress. I have to focus more in thesis writing rather than blog writing.. :)