The above findings are taken from BBC News clippings here.
I guess somehow rather I'm kinda not surprised to see Canada on that list. Having been educated in one myself, I guess the education system there is quite unique any mind-stimulating enough for any students.
While there I was exposed to various fields of interest - music instruments, woodwork, cooking, and french. Other than that, there were the usual academic subjects. Of all the subjects that were taught there though - I miss playing my baritone the most.
It wasn't the most subtle of instrument. Being quite big and brute, with loud bass-like sound emanating from it's metal horn - one can only wonder how in the world can one actually miss playing the damn contrapment. But miss it I do.
I remember that in each week, I would have to bring the baritone back home after school and practice it for about a half an hour everyday. And I did brought it home, and I did practice playing it - however bad it sounded to mom.
I remember having to wipe my saliva off of the mouthpiece every now and then. Yucks..yep thats how I felt at first. It takes awhile to get use to it, but eventually I did.
The best part of playing a baritone is when you're actually playing it with other instruments alongside you - like an orchestra of sorts. The combination of a baritone's boom and the strike of a piano alongside the high pitch sound a clarinet is really quite fun to hear to - if played accordingly and harmoniously. It was really fun I have to say. I really miss being a part of it, being a part of the orchestra.
That's Canada to you.
I heard that in Finland, you could find so many professors there that should you divide the number of professors to the square feet area of Finland - you could get approximately one professor per school in Finland. That's the level of education that they have.
What do we have? Owh we have plenty I'd bet. We have have so many professors around here that we can simply change the education system here right after every election. Leave it to the majority. Follow the majority. It's fun isn't it to side with majority. You can never be wrong when you side with the majority. How can you be? You are after all, with the majority. It's popular, it's the "in" thing. What a load of bullocks.
In any case, forgive my rambling on the sad excuse of what I would call our political and everyday scenery here in Malaysia.
Let's have a brief chat about education.
Then again let's not. Guess I'm not in the mood anymore. :)
Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet with one of my tabligh friend at Sri Petaling. It has been quite some time since I've talked let alone meet with him up-front (i think the last I saw him was during my wedding reception).
He has since then went on to do his industrial training at some TNB vendor company, doing installation if I'm not mistaken.
Right now, he is waiting for his Visa application to be processed. He'll be going out for some 4 months to do dakwah and personally I wish him all the best and a safe journey to and fro.
We discussed about stuff ranging from the importance of doing dakwah, what his tentative will be once he get there, and the feasibility of doing it whilst being married (like yours truly).
It is sad nowadays that whenever you mention the word 'tabligh' or open up a topic on the matter - the images that would appear in most women's mind are men going out together someplace while leaving their family behind not taken care of. Personally I have heard the story as well from one of my friends who's cousin was used to paying the price of being a tabligh-man's wife. No monthly allowance, no help in raising the kids, and no job too at that. She was quite left all alone while her husband was in his merry way to go on his mission. Great idea, bad implementation was what I had in mind.
The truth is, not all of the the guys who went into tabligh is like that argues my friend (my tabligh friend which I'm meeting). Undoubtedly, some of them are - but only a minority (whether it's a minority or majority is kinda hard to prove I guess at that moment). He personally knows that there are also some guys who haven't neglected their responsibility in their roles as husband and father.
So I guess all in all, it all comes to being able to striking a balance with your life. In my opinion, if you want to go on a 4 months mission or something of the like, make sure you've left something behind for your dear family to hold on too. Know that your kids and wife and mom and dad are being well taken care of. To do otherwise would be in my opinion quite selfish and unresponsible.
As for myself, well we'll just have to wait and see. My wife can be a bit over-protective if you know what I mean. wink wink. :)
Just saw Sleepless in Seattle at ASTRO.
You got to love the ending. They're soo damn cute!!
Dalam keghairahan meniti alam pekerjaan ni, tidak dapat tidak kadangkala kita ditemukan dengan rakan-rakan di kolej, kampus, housemate, dan lain-lain yang membawa peluang sebegini. Lagi-lagi setelah berkeluarga, the importance of money in one's life takes on a whole new meaning altogether. Especially me I suppose - since I have the tendency to prepare for things that still years to come (financially speaking).
"Member aku buat bende ni brape bulan je da pakai Evo.."
"Cube ko cerita kat aku dalam hidup ni ape yang ko nak?"
Antara dialog-dialog paling cliche dan melucukan when you think back during those days.
I went back to zaharuddin.net to look for articles regarding these MLM stuff (MLM stands for multi-level marketing for those who didn't know already). It was quite sometime since I went there, last time I did went in; I end-up converting my conventional savings account into an Islamic account and took out all of my ASB savings and just recently put some of them in unit trust (syariah compliant of course).
Go here for futher reading on the matter: http://www.zaharuddin.net/content/view/567/#comment83202
The following is taken from the same link, but I guess I'd like myself to be reminded from time to time about it - hence why it is pasted in my blog
Ingatan saya sekali lagi buat semua secara umum
Nabi SAW mengingatkan kita bahawa :
إن لكل أمة فتنة , وفتنة أمتي المال
Ertinya : "Sesungguhnya bagi setiap umat itu cabaran dan ujian, dan ujian bagi umatku adalah harta" ( Riwayat At-Tirmizi, no 2337 ; Ibn Hibban , Al-Hakim : Sohih menurut Al-Hakim dan disepakati Az-Zahabi. Hasan Menurut Tirmidzi)
Al-Qaradawi mengatakan, godaan harta bukan pada mengumpul dan mendapatkannya melalui cara yang halal dan menjaga kewajiban agama, tetapi adalah dalam ke'gila'aan mendapatkannya, mencarinya dan menyimpannya walaupun dari jalan yang haram. Selain itu, ia juga tidak endah untuk membelanjakannya walaupun dengan cara yang haram asalkan berbaloi menurut aqalnya, tiada pertimbangan halal dalam hatinya.
Sebagaimana yang digambarkan oleh Allah, salah satu tanda kehilangan keberkatan dalam perolehan harta adalah :-
أَن كَانَ ذَا مَالٍ وَبَنِينَ , إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
Ertinya : Kerana dia mempunyai (banyak) harta dan anak, lalu apabila dibacakan kepadanya ayat-ayat Kami, ia berkata: ""(Ini adalah) dongeng-dongengan orang-orang dahulu kala.( Al-Qalam : 14-15 )
Inilah sikap kebanyakan hartawan dan jutawan Muslim (yang bukan Muslim sudah tentu bukan fokus kita) di seluruh dunia. Apabila mereka berada di puncak kekayaan, ramai di antara mereka tidak memandang penting kepada unsur keberkatan, halal dan peraturan dan hukum yang telah ditetapkan oleh Allah, kerap kali mereka anggap perbincangan seperti ini adalah kuno dan ketinggalan zaman.
Allah menegaskan :-
الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا
Ertinya : Harta dan anak-anak adalah perhiasan kehidupan dunia tetapi amalan-amalan yang kekal lagi saleh adalah lebih baik pahalanya di sisi Tuhanmu serta lebih baik untuk menjadi harapan" ( Al-Kahfi : 46 )
Menurut Syeikh Ibn Asyur ayat dari surah Kahfi di atas mengingatkan kita betapa perlunya kita menyedari amal soleh dan keberkatan adalah lebih perlu diutamakan dari harta banyak tanpa halal. Jadi dalam konteks ini, walaupun anda mendapat untung yang banyak ia belum pasti lagi menggembirakan anda di barzakh kerana ia mungkin sesuatu yang haram.
Jika pertimbangan keduniaan menguasai diri, ia adalah suatu tanda dan bukti umat Islam sudah semakin hilang sensitiviti terhadap kebenaran alam barzakh dan akhirat. Sesuatu yang haram dan syubhat amat zalim kepada Allah SWT walaupun amat menarik di sisi mata dan hati manusia.
Allah mengingatkan kita lagi bahawa :
انظُرْ كَيْفَ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ وَلَلآخِرَةُ أَكْبَرُ دَرَجَاتٍ وَأَكْبَرُ تَفْضِيلاً
Ertinya : "Perhatikanlah bagaimana Kami lebihkan sebahagian dari mereka atas sebahagian (yang lain dalam perolehan harta). Dan pasti kehidupan akhirat lebih tinggi tingkatnya dan lebih besar keutamaannya." ( Al-Isra : 21 )
Tonight I finally get the chance to join in (came in rather late actually) on the tazkirah session held in my neighbourhood surau. It has been awhile since I planned to do so, and tonight I finally was able to. According to Abg Omar (the street rep so to speak), the tazkirah is quite an everyday thing here, where they would invite some ustaz from the outside to come and give a talk after maghrib - on all days except for Tuesdays.
Now on Tuesdays, the slot is kinda reserved for the tabligh fellas, and they'd come from all-over the place. I've even met some who came from Sri Lanka the other day. They sure get a lot of air miles on their card. :)
Today's tazkirah was about (from what I can make up based on my brief period there) the importance of being present in a "majlis agama/ilmu" (and vice versa the importance of NOT being present of "majlis yang fasik") and being nice/close to religious people. This "being close to religious people" really hits me at heart since I do firmly believe in that. I never think of myself as a religious person (or as religious that I should be). Hence, I always make it a point to always find or try to mingle around people with strong understanding of Islam (maybe hoping that it would rub-off on me somehow). I strongly believe that who you befriend would reflect what type of person you are. Alhamdulillah, I've met with quite a few (alim friends) along the way to this date.
Enough of that, here are some other points mentioned in the tazkirah:-
- The ustaz said, "Ada 3 jenis orang yang dapat memberi syafaat pada hari akhirat kelak. 1 - Para Nabi dan Rasul, 2- Orang yang mati syahid; dan 3-orang yang alim". Now I know about the first one, but not quite sure about the latter (maybe should check it out with some of my 'alim' friends). Speaking of which
- The ustaz told us a story about how he views the guitar being not haram as a musical instrument, but it also depends on "when" it is being played. Let say for example if you play it during the 'azan' - it is then considered haram since it's not appropriate to do so. Even drumming on a 'baldi' at that moment would make the 'baldi' a haram thing. Then he continued by telling us a story about at what moment the guitar was usually played during the ol' days of the Arabs - it's usually played during a nude dance kinda jig. Now "that" is something you don't get to hear everyday. Those Arabs sure know how to have fun don't they...
Maybe I'll bring a pen and paper next time around.
From the depth of the Arabian desert - comes forward the 99!!
It's interesting to see that Muslims now also have their very own "halal" superheroes (albeit some of the gals aren't wearing any veils).
I guess the name "99" comes from the 99 names of God - I've browsed through some of the characters in their website http://www.the99.org
Check this
The Guardian reports today that Teshkeel Media's halal superheroes The 99 will be appearing in a crossover mini-series (to hit shops within a year) with the classic American heroes of DC Comics, including Superman and Wonder Woman. The 99 is the first superhero comic published in the Arab world, and its heroes and storylines fall within Islamic parameters (magic isn't allowed, for example). It has a heavyweight art team -- comic book stalwarts Fabian Nicieza, Stuart Moore, June Brigman, Dan Panosian, and John McCrea, who have all worked at DC Comics and Marvel -- and you can see some of their art in this gallery or at Teshkeel's site, where you can buy issues (in English) as downloadable PDFs. Current headline: "The Justice League of America to Stand Cape to Shoulder with The 99." Kapow!
And 99 creator Dr. Naif al-Mutawa appears on BBC Radio 4's It's My Story tonight at 2000 BST, talking to DJ Bobby Friction about why the opening of The 99's first theme park, and his quest to become known as 'the Walt Disney of the Arabic world'.
An Islamic theme-park huh. "Sounds" neat, but not sure about how that goes with the ultra-conservatives though.
Waiting and watching..
