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..