rejuvenation

Feeling a bit refreshed after sitting for the semester exam.

Post-exam celebration?...Hmm, some people celebrated it by making cakes [you know who you are ;)], some goes to watch movies and me... would rather spend it with my laptop :D

Not saying that I spend many hours surfing the net, but reformatting is the word here. Reformatting my whole laptop as a sign of me leaving the horrible past experience and getting ready to face the bright future. Look bright into the future and become optimistic that in the future, good things will happen.

Couple of hours spending for updating various softwares...refreshing my memory and sharpening my skills in learning this computer skills.

Here are some pictures of my whole semester works. I even came up with my own PBL mechanisms on fear of failing PBL paper. But in the end, after all of our efforts...we need to put all our trust in Allah. Because Allah alone determines all things under His sovereign.

my thick lecture notes for this semester - oblique view

full folder thickness ;)

superior view

my extensive PBL mechanisms

contemplating over the exam period

Alhamdulillah, the semester exam is finally over. After more than a month of leaving this blog to become enshrouded with emptiness and passiveness, here come my post. My revenge on blogging ;)

Prior to the exam, great cooperations suddenly established among our batch with everyone competing in contributing some revision notes for everyone else. From extensive pharmacology notes, MCQ answers and discussion, HP summary up to prac notes. Hopefully, this kind of cooperation will remain existed till all of us graduated from University of Melbourne.

Anyway, back to the exam. The exam lasted about more than a week which included 5 papers. On average, on scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest exam ever, I would rate this semester exam to be 7. It ranged from extremely hard to moderately hard and none were easy.

Finishing from one paper to another paper, there always be the same story that encapsulated my friends. Depression, sadness and hopelessness. Without spoken anything about it, all the emotions were clearly reflected on every face of my friends. Frustation were clearly have materialised and embodied most of our mind and behaviour. Not surprisingly, most of my friends were exalted with joy and happiness after four days of continuous examination amid there was still one more paper to go.

I, myself faced the same situation. There were periods during answering those papers that I stared blankly on those answer sheet not knowing what to write or even what to shoot with. There were times when I only saw pink cells under the microscope but not knowing what it was. Indeed I have studied quite a lot, yet it seems the questions managed to defy me. It is no longer about how much you know. It is how much you remember and how much your knowledge can be applied to clinical scenario that will determine your marks eventually.

Indeed, this semester examination clearly took its toll on all of us. No longer we could smiled of joyness after finishing one paper. No longer we could said good luck because it seems that luck have petering out on most of us. Hopeless we were.

Reflecting on those period again, I have found out something that need to be learned and remembered again and again in the future. When I was depressed, I kept returning to my blog to read the Quranic verse that I wrote on the previous post.

"If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; and if He forsakes you, who is there after Him that can help you? And in Allah (alone) let believers put their trust. " (al-Imran: 160)

So true is the verse. No matter how much you diligently worked or strived, in the end, Allah alone can determined on what we will receive. Only the help from Allah alone that can help us in facing great difficulties. Indeed, the believers should always put their trust and hope onto Allah alone and not to be despaired nor distressed by any event that have happened in their life.

Facing difficulties in answering exams, I faced and prayed to Allah dearly hoping to seek the best out of this semester exams. Truly, my faith is almost shakened by this catastrophy but alhamdulillah, after deep in contemplation....I gained pleasure out of this difficulties. When one faced with great adversity, one should always prayed on the Almighty Allah. We will never know how strong is our iman without experiencing hardship and great difficulties.Truly, life is a constant test for the believers.

Then, I read another Hadith about test and difficulties.

Sa`d reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“The most in their suffering among the people are the prophets, then the best, then the (next) best. One is afflicted in accordance with his faith. If his faith is firm, his affliction is hard, and if his faith is weak, his affliction is light. Indeed, one would be so much subjected to adversity until he walks among the people without any sins.” (Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi)

Isn't it ironic that the closer you to Allah, the greater you are being tested. A bitter fact to swallow. Not really. The gift of strongly believing in Allah is so great and valuable that only people who deserved it can enter it.The gift is the heaven and the opportunity to meet the Almighty Creator. Yet, all of those people that will enter the heaven will be on the mercy of Allah alone and not on their good deeds that they had performed previously on the temporal world.

It just made me wonder on how great is then the Prophet Muhammad SAW and his companions facing all those difficulties in their entire life. Truly, they are the best of people. They hardly gave up upon facing from one adversity to another. Instead, they remain steadfast in their strive of propagating the word of Allah.

Or do ye think that ye shall enter the Garden (of bliss) without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? they encountered suffering and adversity, and were so shaken in spirit that even the Messenger and those of faith who were with him cried: "When (will come) the help of Allah?" Ah! Verily, the help of Allah is (always) near!" (al-Baqarah: 214)

It made me wonder how strong the opposition they faced such that Allah revealed this verse. Yet they are fighting and striving in the cause of Allah for their entire life. Are we?

Read and comprehend this hadith.

“Indeed amazing are the affairs of a believer! They are all for his benefit. If he is granted ease of living he is thankful; and this is best for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he perseveres; and this is best or him.” (Muslim)

Have we become such Muslims?

Wallahuallam.

Good Bye REB. Although this time the experience was horrible, see u again on November.

examination is looming

Here are my examination time table:

6 June (MON) : Cardiorespiratory & locomotor systems, Paper II - 2 hours (25%)
7 June (TUE) : OSCE - 9 Minutes (20%)
8 June (WED) : HP 3 (Written) - 2 hours (50%)
9 June (THU) : Cardiorespiratory & locomotor systems, Paper I - 3 hours (35%)
14 June (TUE) : Practical exams - 1 hour (15%)

If you look carefully, I have four straight days of examination starting from 6th June. And that is less than a month from today.

The first four days of the exam is rather scary. Just look at the big percentage of each paper worth of. To think that I am well prepared for this, well, think again. I'm not that prepared for this coming exam. Day by day, I'm fatally buried under anatomical jargons.

With the examination so near to my heart now, I guess I had to stop temporarily this blog. Will be blogging after the exam is over.

Symptoms of examination is already infecting me.

Typical symptoms of examinitis.
- Palpitation
- expertus insomnia
- expertus pyrexia
- chronic anxiety
- paroxysmal panic attack especially when the time is too near
- paroxysmal dyspnea especially when realising that there were too many things that have not been comprehended and memorised yet,

glossary;
...itis - inflammation
expertus - examination
pyrexia - fever
palpitation - rapid heart beat
paroxysmal - acute, sudden
dyspnea - breathless
chronic - occuring over a long period

reference: anamuslimah

When one is facing with affliction and difficulty, one should always turn to the One Almighty, Allah Subhanu Wa Taala.

"If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; and if He forsakes you, who is there after Him that can help you? And in Allah (alone) let believers put their trust. " (al-Imran: 160)

- wallahuallam -

the meaning of 'al-Ma'oun'

In this post, I would like to bring up the translation of al-Ma'oun, Surah 107 in the Holy Quran. This surah is commonly read but many people take the meaning of this surah for granted. Understand the direct meaning of this surah without looking into the bigger picture.

"Have you seen him who denies Our religion? It is he who harshly repels the orphan and does not urge others to feed the needy. Woe to those who pray but are heedless of their prayers; who put on a show of piety but refuse to give even the smallest help to others."

In the first verse, Allah directed our intention to one prominent question, who is the people who are against Islam? Who are those who so brave that they disbelieve the existence of the Almighty Allah? The first verse creates suspense for the readers. We would like to know whether we are in those group of people who are cursed by Allah.

"It is he who harshly repels the orphan and does not urge others to feed the needy. "

The next two verses proclaim the characteristics of those who denies islam. The one who harshly repel the orphan and does not help the poor who are in needs. Let us have a thought. Why is it so harsh the punishment given by Allah to those who do not help the orphan and the poor one? Why not Allah said the disbeliever are the one who are fighting against the deen, islam? Does the sin of not helping the orphan and needy is so big that Allah cursed them? How about another group of people who commit bigger sins, such as adultery and robbery? Is this justified?

If someone take the literal meaning of this verse, he/she may think that he/she is protected from the curse of Allah is he/she does help the orphan and the needy ones. Thus, we might see many Muslims helping the orphan and the needy one but is this the objective of this surah? Why does Allah does not include the one who commit big sins into those who are called as the one who denies islam?

Let us look into the next part of this surah. The last three verses,

"Woe to those who pray but are heedless of their prayers; who put on a show of piety but refuse to give even the smallest help to others."

These verses extended the characteristics of the one who denies islam. Allah mentioned in the Quran that the one who does not pray with khusyu' and careless, and the one who are arrogant by which they does not give help to other people, are the one who denies islam.

Let us think over these verses. The one who are heedless in the prayers and does not help people who are in needs. Are we in those category? Are our prayer is so great such that Allah accepted our prayer? How many years we have prayed such that we gained khusyu'? If we have prayed for the last 10 years, how many percent of those prayers truly reflect the way Prophet prays? Muhasabah always.

Let us reflect on the entire meaning of this surah. First, Allah questioned us, the weakling human, on the group of people who denies islam. Then, Allah gave His answer in the next couple of verses.

Whenever you read al-Quran, always contemplate deeply. Some verses, we can take the literal meaning and some have another interpretation.

Why does Allah mentioned two such kind of people that entirely different in behaviour? First, the group of people who does not conduct good behaviour towards other people and second the people who does not paid full attention in their prayer.

This surah is actually delivering the message of the true meaning of faith ie iman. Islam is not a way of life built on ostentation and superficiality. The apparent aspects of the different acts of worship are, according to Islam, meaningless unless they are motivated by sincerity and devotion to Allah. Worship sincerely motivated produces effects within the individual's heart which then cause him to act righteously and which are reflected in a social behaviour which elevates man's life on this earth.

Having true faith will make someone believe the greatness and the righteousness of islam and reflect the faith towards the physical acts. Islam is not a religion of spiritual neither full of physical acts. Islam is not a religion that can only be implemented at the place of worship neither islam only can be practised via charity deeds. Islam is both spiritual and physical and it is more than that. Islam is not to be equated to other religions on this temporal earth. Islam is not a religion that only suitable for certain events or place or times.

In essence, islam is the way of life!

Believing is not only a spiritual matter but it requires the implementation of those belief in life. Hence, Allah mention two groups of people who denies islam. First group, only implement the physical acts but deep inside in their heart, they are never sincere. The second group, only implement the spritual act ie prayer but again, they are never sincere.

Having said that, let us contemplate and reflect the surah onto ourself. Is our belief today at this very second truly reflects islam?

Remember, islam is the way of life. Islam is not a religion that suitable at the mosque nor does it only suits in moral act. Islam is more than that. See the bigger picture!

Have you seen him who denies Our religion? Are we in those group? How much do we believe in islam such that our everyday acts truly reflect and propagate the truth about islam?

Muhasabah always.

wallahuallam.

returning to the Creator

today...

One of my friend's father passed away. My heartiest condolence to her. May Allah bless her father's soul.

There were many times that I faced with death. Death of my friend's parent, my grandmother, my aunty and many more that stirred my emotion rather deeply. Life and death, two contrasting matter that all of living human will face.

today...

I learned something about measurement of mortality and morbidity in community. Introduced to me were years of life lost (YLL), Years lived with disability (YLD) and the sum of both measurements equate to disability adjusted life yearly (DALY). These measurements were important for health workers to decide the so-called burden of disease towards economy and the wider community. Once a human died because of disease, you could calculate his YLL and when someone becomes disabled due to disease, you could know his YLD.

Learning these terms made me wonder. If human can calculate the impact and the harm/lost due to a certain disease, can we calculate the impact of our faith towards our life? How many years that we have lived till this very second are fruitful towards worshipping Allah?

Too many years we have lived with 'disability'. Disability to appreciate the true meaning of becoming a pious Muslim. Certainly nowadays, there were many 'disabled muslim' around us. In fact, the term disability is not that appropriate. The term suggesting that the person is unable to do something because something prevents it. But is there anything that prevent us from becoming a true pious person that uphold islam?

Life seems to us as a long journey that never ends, yet when someone around us died, we are struck with gravest thought. What have we prepare for those inevitable moment? Is our preparation enough?

Forgetful are human. No matter how many times he encountered the funeral or heard someone passed away, how long he will remember it? Hours, days, weeks, months or years? Ponder upon ponder. When the temporal world deceive us with its charming beauty, the eternal Hereafter become our past forgotten memory.

Remember, reflect and muhasabah always. Every time you breathe, you are one breathe closer to death. Every day you wake up for Fajr prayer, you are blessed with another day to worship the Almighty God.

Again, my heartiest condolence to my friend. Be brave to face the life ahead of you....

wallahualam