Ramble me-rambling.

Bismillah..

Fuhh spring sem kali ni memang letih. Alhamdulillah project report dah selamat dihantar lebih kurang sebulan lepas. Exactly 2 minggu lepas deadline report, spring sem examination bermula untuk final year student Chemical Engineering. Kali ni aku ada 4 modul untuk exam; Low Carbon Science and Technology, Energy from Biomass and Waste, Nuclear Reactor Engineering dan Fire & Explosion. Dengar nama modul dah tau awal-awal kali ni mesti banyak subject kualitatif jadi banyak fakta yang kene ingat dan hafal mana tak letih. Lagi-lagi aku ada 2 minggu yang betul-betul solid lepas submit project repor untuk aku mula revision.

Satu paper dah selamat dijawab iaitu Energy from Biomass and Waste. Nota dia bro, fuhh macam baca journal. Paper yang dah lepas tu nak kata mantap tak jugak, nak kata teruk tak jugak. Kira okay la paper tu. Pengajaran yang aku dapat dari paper tu ialah pentingnya kita ambil peduli dengan isu semasa melalui pembacaan alternatif i.e. newspaper, columns. Banyak info yang aku guna untuk jawab satu soalan yang aku pun tak terfikir dia nak tanya, so aku tak baca la nota tu. Alhamdulillah info-info tu banyak yang berkaitan. Well at least dapat sikit markah pun jadi la daripada dapat kosong.

Cerita sekarang ni bro, nak grad dengan 1st class honours agak susah untuk aku. Ini semua punca daripada lalai waktu 3rd year. Nak grad dengan 1st class aku kena skor 4th year ni at least 73%. Sem lepas aku dapat average skor 68%. Well mathematically it is do-able tapi disebabkan aku start agak lambat untuk sem ni, impian tu agak mustahil. Nasihat aku kepada incoming final year students, lebihkan modul waktu autumn sem so that in the spring sem, you can allocate most of your time for research project and you will have less problems to study and prepare for spring sem exam.

Kawan-kawan aku yang study di US ramai dah mula pulang untuk kebaikan (balik for good bak kata sarimi). Ramai yang graduate dengan macam-macam award di university masing-masing. Ada yang siap jadi flag-bearer untuk department. Fuhh kemain kencang depa ni. Bila dengar berita mereka, barulah aku sedar yang aku ni sebenarnya jauh ketinggalan daripada yang lain. Betullah apa orang cakap, always look at people which are more successful than you. Apapun tahniah la kawan-kawan sekalian. Aku tumpang bangga dengan kejayaan masing-masing.

Walau macam mana pun, aku takkan give up dalam usaha aku utk grad dengan 1st class honours ni. Pesanan ayah aku semat dalam fikiran baik-baik; orang yang putus asa ni maknanya dia putus asa dengan janji Allah, usaha dan tawakkal kan ada.  Jadi, untuk 3 exams terakhir ni, insha-Allah aku akan cuba yang terbaik. Macam orang Sarawak cakap, ‘agi idup, agi ngelaban!!’. Next two papers ni iAllah aku yakin boleh buat tapi untuk paper last nanti, Nuclear Reactor Engineering tak tau lah apa akan jadi. Dah abis baca semua nota pun masih blur2 lagi. Mau jadi ‘agi idup, agi ngelabah’ aku nanti. Takpelah, usaha selagi boleh bro.

Aku harapakan kawan-kawan yang baca entry ni dapat doakan kejayaan aku dan kawan-kawan lain. Kadang-kadang kita berjaya boleh jadi disebabkan doa orang lain 🙂

“Dan memberinya rezeki dari arah yang tiada disangka-sangkanya. Dan barang siapa bertawakal kepada Allah, nescaya Allah akan mencukupkan (keperluannya). Sesungguhnya Allah melaksanakan urusan yang (dikehendaki-Nya). Sesungguhnya Allah mengadakan ketentuan bagi setiap sesuatu.” (Surah Ath Thalaq ayat 3)

p/s: saja menulis untuk hilangkan sedikit tension 🙂

Election

Yesterday it was a polling day for the UK. Of course, not the general election but local council election and voting referendum. Having missed out on last year general election, alhamdulillah this year I managed to cast my vote. Special thanks to latip for the reminder.

Although it is just a local council election, many consider this election as a yardstick to measure how well the coalition government in the UK had performed. I still remember that last year when the Tories and LibDem announced their coalition, many casted their doubt on whether this coalition government will survive as both parties have different policy and agenda. The LibDems manifesto are more close to the Labour manifesto so it is not a complicated thing to understand why people doubted this coalition government. Even Piers Morgan boldly said that he predicts that the coalition will lasts only till December 2010.

Well the coalition is still standing but of course, the tuition fees issue somehow affected the LibDems camp. They promised not to increase the tuition fees but it is not the same promise by the Conservatives. And once the tuition fees were increased, Nick Clegg is the one who suffered the most. I received a pamphlet from the ‘No to AV’ campaign in which they fully exploited the ‘broken promises by Clegg’ premise to gather public support. And the results of the local council election struck a real blow to the LibDems. They lost many seats that they previously held and even Nick’s constituency, Sheffield had gone to the Labour. Clearly, the public expressed their dissatisfaction towards the LibDems in this election.

Having seeing this, I started to think that it is very difficult to have a coalition government in which both parties have different policies and stands. People voted you for your promises and manifestos and once you broke the promises that you have made, it is very hard to earn the trust from the public. This scenario could be a good guidance for the political scenario in Malaysia. Both Barisan and Pakatan, if they win the election they will form the coalition government and from my observation, I could see some differences in the opinions and stands from both camp. MCA have different views about UMNO invitation for PAS, Pakatan had an argument about the Sarawak shadow cabinet, these two issues are proofs of the problems within both coalition pact.

And to make it more interesting, the political scenario in Malaysia will always be involved with religions and races. Barisan may have a proven track record of their ability to convince their coalition friends in running the country although there were corruptions, misconducts within their ranks. But for Pakatan, they have to start to think on how they would run the country if they were to be given mandate from the people. The reason why I mention this is because let us refer to wine issue in Selangor in which there were different views regarding the sell of the liqour. And at the moment I think, there is no a clear indication on which party is the main player in the PR coalition. But of course, through discussions these issue could be resolved.

Again, personally I think that a coalition government is somehow vulnerable. What do you think?

Berita buat AGM.

Bismillah..

Esok berlangsunglah AGM SMSA 2011. Alhamdulillah tahun ni, banyak pelajar-pelajar baru yang tampil ke hadapan mencalonkan diri mereka untuk beberapa jawatan. Untuk Presiden sahaja, sudah 5 orang mencalonkan diri. Boleh kata build up to the meeting was colourful, eventful and manifesto-ful.

Selepas meneliti manifesto-manifesto yang disediakan calon, kebanyakannya ada visi yang tinggi untuk SMSA. Alhamdulillah ini perkara yang baik. Sangat baik. Mungkin ada beberapa perkongsian yang aku boleh sediakan untuk yang bertanding.

Sometimes, manifestos are meant to be broken. Apa yang aku cuba nak sampaikan ialah kadang-kadang amat susah untuk menunaikan semua manifesto. Kita tidak boleh menidakkan faktor-faktor luar yang boleh merencatkan janji-janji dalam manifesto kita. Even waktu aku dalam komiti SMSA tahun 2009/2010 pun, ada manifesto yang kami gagal tunaikan selaku komiti. Jadi nasihat aku, kepada bakal-bakal komiti SMSA, jangan rasa lemah semangat kalau-kalau anda tak mampu nak tunaikan janji-janji anda. Apa yang penting ialah anda berusaha keras sebaik mungkin untuk menunaikan manifesto anda.

Jadi pemimpin memang susah. Setiap perilaku anda, pergerakan anda pasti orang akan lihat dan perhati. Kalau baik perilaku anda, alhamdulillah orang akan senang dengan anda. Tapi kalau tersilap langkah, andalah orang pertama yang akan orang tuding jari mereka. Tapi kadang-kadang kalau orang tuding jari mereka ke arah anda, ambillah perkara itu sebagai pengajaran dan cara untuk memperbaiki diri anda. Mungkin ada yang suka-suka cari point dengan anda, mungkin ada yang tidak. Ingat, orang yang berada di luar kadang-kadang lebih nampak apa yang anda tidak nampak.

Dan terakhirnya, binalah kekuatan di kalangan ahli komiti. Kalau ahli komiti pun ada yang bermasam muka sesama ahli, tidak bertegur sapa, ini bukan budaya kerja yang sihat. Ada masalah, bincang secara berdepan. The temptation to blame others are always there. Kalau anda silap, akuilah kesilapan dan perbaiki kesilapan. Kesatuan yang kuat dalam komiti insha-Allah kalau diterjemahkan ke dalam budaya kerja, hasilnya mesti baik.

Akhir kata dari seorang pelajar final year, Good Luck untuk semua calon yang bertanding. Yang akan terpilih hasil undi ahli, tahniah diucapkan dan selamat bertugas. Untuk yang tidak dipilih ahli, jangan kecewa kerana percayalah, banyak lagi ruang untuk anda serlahkan bakat anda sebagai pemimpin. Again, Good Luck! 🙂

Tanah tumpah darahku.

Bismillah..

Setiap hari kalau singgah di laman web malaysiakini atau malaysianinsider, macam-macam berita politik Malaysia keluar. Ada yang baik, ada yang tidak baik. Tapi jujurnya, makin lama politik tanah air seakan-akan hilang punca sampai kadang-kadang ada yang berfikir bahawa semua drama politikus ini tiada kesudahannya.

Personally, aku melihat situasi politik tanah air sekarang lebih kepada mengejar kuasa dan undi. Apa-apa sahaja isu yang boleh dipolitikkan, confirm akan jadi tajuk utama muka depan surat khabar, tajuk utama berita jam 8 malam. Dan yang lebih memenatkan ialah bila isu yang jadi tajuk utama ialah isu yang berkaitan dengan soal kaum di Malaysia. Tak kiralah melayu, cina, india dan lain-lain. Mat Indonesia dan mat Bangladesh lain kisahnya.

Tak dapat dinafikan memang susah untuk mentadbir negara yang bangsanya majmuk, malah agama yang ada di Malaysia juga majmuk. Malaysia lain ciri-cirinya dengan UK. Kenapa? Kerana di Malaysia islam merupakan agama rasmi dan tidak dapat dinafikan sedikit sebanyak amalan islam telah diasimilasikan ke dalam cara hidup penganutnya. Di UK, agama rasminya Kristian (King@Queen adalah ketua agama) tapi rata-rata rakyatnya bukanlah pengamal kristian yang baik. Dalam erti kata lain, Kristian pada nama sahaja (ada pulak istilah ni?). Dalam dokumentari BBC baru-baru ini mengenai masa depan agama kristian di UK, dapat disimpulkan bahawa keadaan agama kristian mungkin lebih teruk dari islam. Maka bila isu hak orang islam dibangkitkan, reaksinya berbeza jika isu hak Kristian dibangkitkan di UK. (maaf jika pandangan ini salah)

Kedua, rakyat British kebanyakannya mampu bersaing hebat dengan bangsa-bangsa imigran dari negara lain. Meskipun ada di kalangan orang-orang hebat di UK yang bukan dari bangsa British tetapi secara general, mereka hebat di dalam pegangan ekonomi negara mereka (contoh: tauke Marks & Spencer, Lord Alan Sugar). Malah dari segi pendidikan, pelajar British boleh dikatakan agak prominent dalam prestasi mereka.

Saya tidak pasti apa pandangan anda tetapi pendapat saya situasi dua negara ini cukup berbeza. Di Malaysia, orang-orang terkaya bukanlah dari kalangan kaum bumiputera. Tan Sri Albert Kwok, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan dan lain-lain unggul dalam bidang mereka. Malah dari segi pendidikan, saya berpendapat kaum bumiputera amat susah untuk bersaing dengan kaum lain. Sebab itu, Sekolah Berasrama Penuh diwujudkan (bak kata guru saya).

Untuk menyelesaikan masalah yang tidak sudah-sudah di Malaysia ini, mungkin kaum bumiputera perlu hebat seperti mana hebatnya kaum bumiputera British dalam soal pendidikan dan ekonomi. Dan untuk perkara ini menjadi realiti, tindakan pro-aktif dari kaum bumiputera adalah suatu yang compulsary. Realitinya, kita berada dalam keadaan paranoia dan defensif dek kerana risaukan kehilangan hak-hak bumiputera sehingga kita terlupa untuk mersiap siagakan diri kita. Mungkin keselesaan membuatkan kita lalai dan lupa akan perjuangan bangsa dan agama. Mungkin keselesaan buat kita lupa akan agenda hidup kita sebagai seorang muslim. Hentikanlah budaya rasuah, budaya malas dan budaya negatif-negatif lain. Sedarlah bahawa keselesaan yang berpanjangan tidak akan bawa anda kemana-mana.

Sementara untuk kaum bukan bumiputera, yakinlah selagimana anda di bawah pimpinan orang islam, hak anda sebagai rakyat negara Malaysia tidak sekali-kali akan terjejas. Islam adalah agama yang sejahtera, tidak menganjurkan penindasan ke atas bangsa lain. Bukalah kitab sejarah, tentera islam sentiasa diberikan arahan supaya tidak meruntuhkan bangunan, merosakkan tanaman, tidak membunuh kaum wanita, kanak-kanak dan orang di dalam rumah ibadat. Massacre tidak pernah berlaku di bawah ketenteraan islam, sebaliknya anda tidak akan jumpa ciri-ciri yang sama dalam sejarah Rom meluaskan empayar mereka.

Dalam sains kita pernah belajar mengenai komensalisme iaitu perhubungan dua hala yang menguntungkan dua pihak. Jika komensalisme ini dapat diwujudkan dalam sistem masyarakat Malaysia dan dihayati dengan baik, insha-Allah isu ini dapat diselesaikan dengan cara yang baik dan matang. Wawasan 2020 semakin hampir, namun situasi politik Malaysia masih di takuk lama dan sekiranya ia berterusan, mungkin kejayaan wawasan 2020 hadir dengan jiwa yang kosong.

p/s: ini pandangan peribadi dan bacaan keadaan semasa tanah air dari fikiran saya. bersatu atas perkara disepakati, berlapang dada atas perkara yang diperselisih. I am open to discussion 🙂

iMovie

Alhamdulillah.. pertama kali cuba-cuba buat video

Video ni, boleh kata video tanda persahabatan.

Took my oath today and now, have to walk the talk.

Adieu.

Sent off a friend today at the train station. He is the 5th of all friends that I have sent off within space of 5 months.

Next, 5 months from now iAllah.

The forgotten occupation

Bismillah..

Remember the year of 2003? The year in which US and Britain joined forces invaded Iraq for the sake of Iraqis liberation. You know it was a lie. A pure lie. It has been a chaos in Iraq since then, with bombs everywhere and it happens almost everyday.

Last Monday, I was able to attend a talk by Dr Dahlia Wasfi with her presentation titled: Crisis in Iraq: The forgotten occupation. She is a good speaker with good sense of humour. She holds an American citizenship, and was born to a Muslim father and a Jew mother. I am not sure of her religion however. Here are some interesting points about Iraq after 2003 invasion,

1. The weapon mass destruction (WMD) was a lie. She mentioned about 10 Downing St memo, which is a minute meeting between Tony Blair (Britain’s prime minister in 2003) and his security advisers. The meeting agreed that the invasion in Iraq is inevitable for the people liberations by claiming the existence of the WMDs.
2. The invasion of Iraq however, was never about people liberations. It was always about the oil and profits. The people, whom are responsible for the invasion are connected to the oil industry in the US. George W Bush and his family is known for their family business with oil, Condoleezza Rice (current US diplomat) has an affiliation with Chevron and Dick Cheney (Bush’s vice president) has an affiliation with Halliburton. Chevron and Halliburton are oil companies.
3. Meanwhile, neo-conservative zionist also had their parts in the Iraq’s invasion. I forgot what their full name are, but Perle, Wurnsen and Faith in 1996 reported to the US that Iraq have WMDs in their possession and the U.S should invaded Iraq to solve this problem. And in 2006, these 3 Israelis are the lobbyist in the U.S and they even devise the U.S policy for international relation.
4. Everything in the Iraq is allowed to be touched by the U.S and Britain armies except the oil plant and facilities. Even the national museum’s items had been looted.
5. In 1960, during the political turmoil in Iraq, in which the country could possibly ruled by the communist, the American trained a young man to carry out their ambitions in Iraq in which to stop the communist from ruling Iraq. The young man is known as Saddam Hussein. This revelation is truly shocking.
6. The Americans created a strife between the sect. Before the invasion we never heard of the issues between the sunnis and the shiites but today, the issue even had been dragged into political conflicts.

These are the point that I could remember very well. I did jot down some important points in my phone notepad but suddenly the notes went missing. Something in which never happened before. Hope the informations are beneficial for you.

Barakallahu lakum!

Bismillah..

Alhamdulillah, tanggal 12.02.2011 selamatlah abang saudara saya, Mohammad Zaim melangsungkan perkahwinannya. Saya selalu memanggilnya dengan nama abang boy (nama panggilan oleh semua ahli keluarga). Dari kecil, saya memang rapat dengan abg boy dan samalah juga untuk sepupu-sepupu yang lain. Setiap hujung tahun, saya akan ke Kuantan untuk menghabiskan cuti. Kebiasaannya, seminggu saya akan tinggal di Kuantan. Setiap kali ke Kuantan memang seronok.

Sewaktu kami masih kecil, rumah abang boy paling menarik sebab dia ada komputer yang lengkap dengan games. Umur sekolah rendah, sememangnya computer games bagaikan satu tarikan. Kami bermain bermacam-macam games seperti Street Fighters, FIFA dan lain-lain. Saya akui sewaktu kecil abg boy memang orang yang saya ingin contohi. Hebat dalam pelajaran, baik budi pekerti dan seorang anak yang baik. Boleh kata dia adalah anak buah favourite untuk semua ahli keluarga. Abg boy diterima masuk ke Kolej Yayasan Saad Melaka, sebuah sekolah yang agak hebat statusnya. Saya pernah berpeluang melawatnya 2 kali dan selalu menyimpan hasrat untuk masuk ke sekolah itu. Fasiliti yang mantap memang cepat mempengaruhi mana-mana fikiran pelajar sekolah.

Setiap kali berjumpa waktu cuti, abg boy akan selalu bercerita mengenai sekolahnya dan selalu menasihati saya supaya cuba untuk masuk ke sekolahnya. Keluar keputusan SPM, alhamdulillah dia mendapat 9A1 daripada 10 matapelajaran. Tetapi dalam proses menunggu result SPM, satu ujian getir Allah campakkan ke dalam hidupnya. Satu berita yang menyentak hati semua ahli keluarga. Dia menghidap penyakit gloucoma. Saya ingat lagi 3 hari sebelum dia berjumpa dengan doktor, kami sedang berjalan-jalan di Kuala Lumpur dan dia ada memberitahu saya dia kerap terlanggar dengan orang yang lalu-lalang kerana penglihatannya sekana-akan mengecil. Tetapi apalah yang saya tahu ketika itu.

Berita itu boleh dikatakan mengubah hidupnya. Dahulu abg boy sangat aktif orangnya. Tetapi selepas itu pergerakannay amat terbatas. Dia perlu bersama dengan seorang yang lain jika ingin bergerak ke mana-mana. sewaktu surat tawaran dari KYUEM tiba untuk peringkat A Level, dia hampir-hampir tidak mahu pergi kerana risau akan dirinya. Satu perkara yang saya sangat kagum ialah, dia berjaya mendapatkan scholarship daripada Bank Negara Malaysia, yang mana anda perlu melalui 3 peringkat tenuduga dan merupakan satu scholarship yang amat eksklusif.

Abg boy tetap pergi mendaftar di KYUEM untuk 2 tahun pengajian A Level. Namun, perancangan Allah adalah lebih baik. Abg boy tidak berjaya ke luar negara dan menyambung pengajiannya di University of Nottingham, Semenyih. Saya pernah berborak dengan pak ngah dan dia sendiri berkata mungkin Allah meletakkan abg boy dalam keadaan yang lebih baik kerana sekiranya dia ke luar negara, mungkin satu cabaran yang susah kerana penyakitnya.

Hidup abg boy penuh ujian tetapi saban tahun, saya dapat melihat kematangannya yang bertambah. Dia tidak pernah menyalahkan dirinya kenapa bernasib malang, malah dia cuba untuk hidup seperti orang biasa dan kini sudah pun berkerjaya di Public Bank. Apa yang dapat saya pelajari dari kisah abg boy ini ialah erti hidup seorang hamba. Dia tidak pernah meyerah kalah dengan nasib dirinya dan yakin bahawa di hujung sana, insha-Allah akan ada jalan kejayaan. Malah ujian inilah yang telah menjadikannya seorang anak yang baik. Sentiasa berlapang dada walaupun hatinya disakiti dan sering memaafkan orang yang pernah menyakiti hatinya.

Satu sahaja pesanan pak ngah yang insha-Allah saya akan cuba pegang, jangan sekali-kali memperkecilkan abg boy kerana kurang upayanya. Jika ada apa-apa perkembangan perlulah berkongsi berita dengannya kerana kami sudah rapat sejak kecil. Perlu sentiasa bertanya khabar dan berhubung dengannya. Ada sedikit air mata di kelopak mata pak ngah ketika berpesan demikian. Setiap kali cuti saya akan bergerak ke Kuantan untuk menghabiskan sedikit masa cuti dengannay. Tapi selepas ini mungkin sudah tidak boleh bermain PS3 dengan abg boy seperti biasa. Yalah, orang dah beristeri =)

Maka apabila mendapat berita ini, saya ingin memanjatkan syukur kepada Allah kerana memudahkan urusannya berumah tangga. Saya berasa kecewa kerana tidak dapat menyertai majlis akad nikahnya. Mungkin hari ini, sayalah orang yang paling gembira di Sheffield.

Buat abg boy,

Barakallahu lakuma kepada abg boy dan kak atiyyah. Semoga ikatan kasih ini akan berkekalan hingga ke syurga =)

I, salute you, my dear brother.

Entry pemanas blog.

Bismillah..

Rasanya, blog ini sudah terbiar agak begitu lama. Saya ada terfikir untuk membiarkannya sahaja berkubur tapi masih lagi tergerak hati untuk melakukan sesuatu kepada blog ini.

A lot had happened recently, some of it are good news and some of it are bad news. Whatever it is, Alhamdulillah, praise to Allah for giving me the strength and drive to moving forward, for the roughly 6 final months in the UK.

I do not know what to write in this entry because, I do not know what to write. But recently, I have been thinking a lot about life after university, on which path shall I go for. The priority for me now, is to secure a job in the oil and gas field. Some say they pay you a handsome amount of money but honestly, I do not think money will motivate me because give me anything that I love to do, then I shall do it with the highest motivation.

I have a chat with a postgraduate student while doing my lab works for the final year project and he told me I should be thinking of further my study to PhD level in the UK. It is a lot easier in the UK, given that I will get my MEng in the UK, insha-Allah. However, I do not think I have the drive to further my study to PhD level. I think, it would be much much better that I pursue my PhD (if and only if, I want to) after having some years of experiences under my belt. Experiences always win you titles, right Arsene? Besides that, I think it is getting harder and harder to study chemical engineering. My grades have been ups and downs and sometimes, I feel like I just want it to end as soon as possible. If you ask me what you should not do as a student, I will tell you to never get easily too satisfied with your performance in the exams because you have 4 years of university life, not 2. Am I losing a little bit of drive and motivation? Yes, and it happens after I got my 2nd year results.

Well, thinking about life after university is not solely about works and PhD. At this point in life, you will start to think how I am going to live my life after this? Typical human would live their life normally by having 9 hours at the office, going home and then spend some times with family. Then during the weekend, maybe you will have a sightseeing in the city with your family, having lunch together.  I mean, is that all there is for us to live?

Allah mentioned in holy Quran in chapter 51, verse 56;

“Tidaklah Aku menciptakan Jin dan Manusia kecuali untuk menyembah kepada-Ku”.

In this verse, the context that Allah told us is the obligation for us to fullfil our responsibility towards Allah by obeying what he instructed us to do, and leave entirely what he told us to. I believe, each and everyone of us dreamed of jannah as our final destination in the world hereafter. Some of us might think, with being an obedient slave, insha-Allah we will enter the jannah as promised by Allah.

I remember of listening to a talk by a muslim scholar, he said that if we dreamed of entering the jannah by only being an obidient slave, perform the 5 daily prayers and fulfill the other 4 pillars of islam, then we might enter the jannah but not the one of the highest level, jannatul firdausi. I reckon everyone wants the best for him/herself i.e. we will choose mercedes AMG over perodua Myvi SE. Therefore, if we want to achieve the highest jannah, then we need to be more extraordinary, having that extra cutting edge that we could present to Allah during the judgement day. And what that extra cutting edge is, that is for you to discover.

I am now trying to re-define my purpose of life and at this stage, I think it is still not too late. Let us re-define our purpose of life as this place, is the land for us to plant our seeds for the hereafter world.

I think I have to stop here. Hopefully I can write something more beneficial after this.

Wallahu’alam.

The Silent Ummah.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim…

Last Thursday I attended a talk given by a former Guantanamo Bay prison detainee, brother Mouazzam Begg and maybe I can share something here. He is a Pakistani and was handed by Pakistan government under the regime of General Pervez Musharraf to the United States government. Maybe CIA or NSA I am not so sure. He was captured at his place, with his head covered and gun pointed next to his skull. He spent about 8 years in the Guantanamo Bay before being released.

Anyway, the title of the talk was “The Silent Ummah:Aafia Siddiqui”. Who is Dr Aafia Siidiqui? Here is some informations that I can share with you:

1. She is a Pakistani, mother of 2 childrens.
2. She disappeared with his childrens from Pakistan and was believed to be disappeared through Rawal Hindi. Some believed that she was handed by Pakistani Authority to the US authority. The United States however, denied the claim.
3. She was in the wanted list by FBI. The person who is believed to be the mastermind (after a massive amount of torturing) behind the 9/11 list her as his relatives. This could lead to her arrest.
4. Brother Mouazzam was prisoned at.. (I forgot the prison’s name) and every night he could hear a woman’s scream in the prison. The prisoners never knew of the screaming woman’s identity so they named her prisoner 650. Years later, Borther Mouazzam and 4 others escaped the prison and after some information, they believed prisoner 650 is Dr Aafia Siddiqui. The United States, in a desperation called a press release to deny the claim. This then lead to Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
5. She was then framed by the United States authority, by placing her at the front of a Afghanistan authority with bombs all around her body. The CIA (if I am not mistaken) arrested him and accused her of attacking the American soldier that lead to her incarceration. Brother Mouazzam said off all the people whom are arrested, no one ever manage to snap the weapon and attack the American soldier. Another blatant lie by the Americans.

This was the first time I heard of a story of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. There are many other cases like her that nobody knows, except the United States government. The Guantanamo Bay prison is specifically concentrated on one faith, Islam. He met friends from many places including Malaysia and all of them are Muslims. Obviously, this is a war against Muslim. They create a term called as ‘Jihadism’ and indoctrinated bad things with the term. And the results, they must arrest these ‘jihadists’ and place them at the prison, particularly in Guantanamo.

Why is this happening? Brother Mouazzam said this is happening because we are being silent. Why are we being silent? Because the fear of being watched by the CI’As, NSA’s and FBI’s clouded our judgment. However, we always forgot that indeed, we are being watched everyday by Allah. In Imam Nawawi’s matan arba’in, in the second hadith the prophet spoke about ‘Ihsan’. ‘Ihsan’ is defined as you perform the ibadah with the feeling that you are seeing Allah whilst it is not. This is the fear that we should attained in ourselves. An absolute fear that makes us the people with actions. (Quran check : al-Anfaal verse 72)

Although they are being held in prison for many years, they never lose hope on Allah as the believed this is a test for them. Instead, the use the prison as a place to become a better person. Most of the detainees managed to memorize the entire al-Quran during their detainment and they did that similarly like how al-Quran being revealed in the first time. Everything is changing once they entered the prison, no families etc but al-Quran is the only similar thing before and after they spend their time in prison and gives them solace.

We always hoping that someday, the Guantanamo prison will be closed but according to brother Mouazzam, the detainees never felt excited upon hearing Barack Obama’s promise to close down the prison. And I think they are exactly right. To date after becoming the president of United States, they are still no solid actions of the prison being closed and there are still 174 detainees inside the prison. How should I put it, maybe is is just another fairy tale or a presidential campaign stunt to convince the poeple to vote him?

p/s: for more information, go to this website, http://www.cageprisoners.com