first draft

At first, I'm stuck on what to write for. Writing in an academic style certainly is not my favourite. To make my life easier, I just reviewed certain relevant journals just looking for certain phrases and sentences and later rephrase that into mine B). For the second draft, I might change those paragraph again. At the moment, I could not write a lot yet since I have not finished my data collection but at least I have already made the first step. The first step is always the hardest.

busy

I have been quite busy lately. My supervisor asked to me to give her the first draft. That's certainly took a lot of time to do. At the time of writing, the first draft was only about 2 pages.

On another note, to those people who will be sitting for their exam, I wish you good luck :).

a tiring day.

I spend almost one whole day celebrating Raya today. The Eid prayer at Malaysia Hall began at around 9 am. The temperature is a bit cold in the beginning but gradually becoming hot later in the day. Then, my housemates and I visited 2 places in the city and later in the late evening went to Monash. At Monash, we visited several rooms and by the time I reached the last room to visit, my stomach has reached its limit. I could not even finish drinking one whole cup of orange juice. Too much eating and drinking, I suppose :).

The khutbah given this year is enlightening. He started with the definition and purpose of Eid'ul Fitr. This day is supposed to be given to the winners who are able to defeat their own desire. At this point, he asked us to contemplate whether we are among this group of winners...

Next, he discussed the role of this ummah as the best nation among mankind and stated that at the current state, the ummah have not able to portray that kind of image to the whole world. There are simply too many negatives associated with Islam and the attitude among Muslims hardly improved the situation. Then, he concisely mentioned the role that we can play to help our ummah. He also asked us to forget the differences of opinions and thought and become one united front.

At this point, it is clear that if there are not that many 'winners' on the Day of Eid, how are we able to become the best nation among mankind. It is all back to the definition of Eid itself.

penghujung Ramadan

a bit early

The monthly allowance for the next 3 months comes a bit early. Almost one week earlier than the usual date. Is it because there is public holiday at Malaysia?

anyway, on another note...truly happy to receive the monthly allowance :)

memento

Someone gave this link to me via ym. It is the Petronas advertisement of Eid. It reminds me a lot of my paternal grandmother who has passed away....

Click here to view

human nature

VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; and whenever good fortune comes to him, he selfishly withholds it [from others].

Not so, however, those who consciously turn towards God in prayer. [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them],

for such as ask [for help] and such as are deprived [of what is good in life]; and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement – for, behold, of their Sustainer's chastisement none may ever feel [wholly] secure;

and who are mindful of their chastity, [not giving way to their desires] with any but their spouses - that is, those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock]: for then, behold, they are free of all blame,

whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; and who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges:and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured!

[al-Maarij : 19-35]

statistics

Google Analytics tell me that most of the blog visitors used broadband and few used dial-up. Perhaps in the future, I need to reduce the amount of images and graphics in the blog for the dial-up users.

In term of browser, most visitors used Firefox but there is still large proportion who used IE6.

One aspect of Google Analytics is that you can see cross-segment performance. For example, I would like to see which browser is frequently used according to countries. In Malaysia, more than 50% of the visitors used IE6.

In comparison to Australian visitors, most of them used Firefox. This is certainly interesting for me to ponder. What causes this discrepancy?

The last picture shows the summary of this blog :)

speed

Tested at www.testmy.net

Your connection is: 381 Kbps or 0.4 Mbps
You Downloaded at: 47 kB/s
You are running: 7 times faster than 56K and can Download 1 megabyte in 21.79 second(s)
Test Time:: 2006/10/12 - 10:14pm
Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.0.7) Gecko/20060909 Firefox/1.5.0.7
Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 17.51 % of your hosts average (com.au)
This was tested from a 579 kB file and took 12.468 seconds to complete

folder

The picture shows the patients record for my research. I arranged all the patients infon according to their surname alphabetically. Despite the folder thickness, I'm far from reaching my objective. I have to work harder :)

record

No calamity can ever befall the earth, and nei­ther your own selves, unless it be [laid down] in Our decree before We bring it into being: verily, all this is easy for God.

[Know this,] so that you may not despair over whatever [good] has escaped you nor exult [unduly] over whatever [good] has come to you: for, God does not love any of those who, out of self-conceit, act in a boastful manner

those who are niggardly [with God’s bounty] and bid others to be niggardly! And he who turns his back [on this truth ought to know that], verily, God alone is self-sufficient, the One to whom all praise is due!

[Al-Hadid: 22-24]

iftar

We managed to organise one big iftar on last Sunday. We invited almost 70 peoples and the house is almost crowded to the max on Sunday night. Here are some of the pictures. Warning! Some pictures may stimulate your hunger response :)

nasi ayam + bubur lambuk

kek coklat dan tembikai

menggoreng ayam sehingga garing

delicious chicken ;)

He knows best as to who is conscious of Him.

وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاؤُوا بِمَا عَمِلُوا وَيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا بِالْحُسْنَى

53:31 Indeed, unto God belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth: and so He will reward those who do evil in accordance with what they did, and will reward those who do good with ultimate good.

الَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ إِلَّا اللَّمَمَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَاسِعُ الْمَغْفِرَةِ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَى

53:32 As for those who avoid the [truly] grave sins and shameful deeds - even though they may sometimes stumble behold, thy Sustainer is abounding in forgiveness. He is fully aware of you when He brings you into being out of dust, and when you are still hidden in your mothers' wombs: do not, then, consider yourselves pure - [for] He knows best as to who is conscious of Him.

[Najm :31-32]

three

While reading PB and Intan post about PMR, they remind me of my own siblings. Two of my brothers and one of my younger sister is sitting for three main exams this year. UPSR, PMR and SPM.

It is normal in my family to have two people to face two main exams in one year. Due to the family planning :) the gap between each siblings was 2 years. So, every two year, two of my siblings will be sitting for SPM and another for PMR ;).

This year is a bit unique. The 2 years gap was only applied from the first (that will be me :)) to the fifth. Between the fifth and the sixth, there are 3 years gaps which explain why three of my siblings will be sitting for three different exams.


p/s: Just for your information, I have 8 siblings including me.

differences

Celebrating Ramadhan and Eid here is a bit different from home. To start with, there is no television slot where they announce when the Ramadhan will begins. Thus, we have to rely via other means to find out the actual date. Either YM or go to the nearby mosque for confirmation. Usually there is not much different from the calendar :)

There are occasionally conflicts between few Islamic organisations deciding the date though. Last year for example, there are arguments when is Eid. Therefore, few people celebrate one day later than the rest. This scenario is normally happens when there is no central authority in a county.

The third obvious difference is the presence of Ramadhan markets. Back at my home country, every evening in the month of Ramadhan, there are always market being established where many people sell various delicious yummy foods and drinks for iftar. Here, none whatsoever. For iftar, we usually cook on our own and most of the time, the dinner is nothing special.

Nevertheless, we try to celebrate as much the coming of Ramadhan since the months of Ramadhan is a blessing for all Muslims. I still remember when the Eid clashes with the exam period. How busy we are at that period. To study and to celebrate in the same time. A memory that I treasured till today :).

All in all, it does not matter where you are in the month of Ramadhan. Whether you are in a country that celebrate Ramadhan extravagantly or in nation that the mood of celebration is hardly noticeable. The important matter is to ask our own iman whether this month of Ramadhan has bring any positive differences in our own action and thinking.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "Whoever fasted the month of Ramadan out of sincere Faith (i.e. belief) and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his past sins will be forgiven, and whoever stood for the prayers in the night of Qadr out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven ."

[Sahih Bukhari 32: hadith no 1893]

How sincere we are with our fasting this year?