In the lights of recent events: Nurin Jazlin

Buat pertama kali kita, rakyat malaysia, dikejutkan dengan kisah pembunuhan seksual terancang seorang kanak-kanak yang tidak bersalah. Please read this article by Ustaz Hasrizal to get my perspective on this case. You will understand the real depth of terror and dread of Nurin's aftermath. Be reminded, JUDGEMENT DAY is TRUE. And no one can run away from it. Sedarlah umat manusia. A reminder for myself. =(

**Quoted from a comment in the article cited above:

Alhamdulillah, marilah kita mengambil hikmah, iktibar dan pengajaran dari musibah yang berlaku baru-baru ini. Semoga kita mendapat yang terbaik darinya. Amin.

Apakan peranan kita sebagai seorang ibu? Patutkah kita menyalahkan diri kita sendiri? Kajilah sikap diri kita terhadap anak-anak.

Apakan kasih saying yang kita berikan untuk anak-anak itu ikhlas kerana Allah?
Atau kita mengharapkan balasan yang berupa kebendaan bila mereka dewasa nanti!
Apakan kita memberikan pendidikan yang seimbang kepada anak-anak?
Atau kita mementingkan pendidikan akedemik dari pendidikan rohani!
Apakah kita mendidik anak-anak untuk mengenal Allah?
Atau kita medidik mereka untuk lupakanNya degan kesibukan dunia!
Apakah kita bertanggung jawab mendidik anak-anak kerana Allah akan menanya kita di akhirat kelak?
Atau kita serahkan kepada pembantu, guru-guru dan yang lain!
Apakah kita memberi perhatian apabila mereka berbicara kepada kita?
Atau kita tidak mengindahkan mereka dengan kata-kata pergi tanya ayah sebab ibu sibuk ni!
Apakan kita menanamkan keimanan dalam hati anak-anak?
Atau kita menanam kemungkaran sehingga mereka menolak fitrah!
Apakan kita meluangkan waktu untuk bermain-main dengan anak-anak?
Atau kita menyuruh mereka pergi bermain dengan video game yang bertemakan keganasan!
Apakah kita meyedarkan anak-anak dengan dasar-dasar akhlak yang mulia?
Atau kita serahkan kepada TV untuk menerap dasar-dasar yang tidak bermoral!
Apakah kita mengamalkan berdoa untuk anak-anak?
Atau kita lalai atau kurang berdoa untuk mereka!
Apakah kita memberi motivasi atau dorongan yang positif kepada anak-anak?
Atau kita menakutkan mereka dengan kekerasan dan paksaan!
Apakah kita menegur anak-anak dengan penuh kasih saying?
Atau dengan mengeluarkan kata-kata kasar dan makian!
Apakan kita membersihkan hati anak-anak kita daripada sifat yang keji?
Atau kita kotorinya dengan sifat-sifat yang keji!
Apakah kita menunjukkan penampilan diri yang bersesuaian dangan syarak kepada anak-anak?
Atau kita berpakaian seksi dihadapan mereka!
Apakah kita menanam rasa cinta dan takut kepada Allah dan cinta akhirat dalam hati anak-anak?
Atau kita tanam dengan sifat remeh cintakan dunia yang tidak mempunyai nilai apa-apa!

Kajilah diri sendiri dan buatlah perubahan sikap kerana anak-anak akan mencerminkan pribadi kita nanti…

**End of quoatation.

Buat ibu-ibu dan bakal ibu-ibu di luar sana, let us observe, listen and learn. Our children might and may have been Nurin..

Ya Allah, build in me my faith, my convictions towards the truth and my confidence in You. Help me to be a good Muslim so that I can become a good mother one day. And may my children be given the chance to feel the sweetness of Iman and the serenity of Islam. Amin.


Yours truly,

A Muslim, a daughter, a sister, a student, a future wife, a future daughter-in-law, a future MOTHER.

It's a brand new day! =)

Be good ourselves, be good to others and help others be good!

That's my number one motto from today onwards. Hati tengah berbunga-bunga sekarang. Bukan sebab pakwe call, saya takde pakwe ye. Bukan juga sebab tak perlu puase, saya puase ye hari ni. Hehhe. But because I made someone smile today. No make that two.

Person A was a makcik in ward 7B. Nak cerita panjang-panjang pun takut orang yang baca (if ada lagi lah orang yang baca blog saya ni, hehhe) nanti pening pulak kan. So to make it short, let's just say she was previously reported to have a case of major depression. Of course this time she was admitted due to an acute exacerbated asthma attack but after clerking her, I found out that the underlying cause or we might as well call it the trigger factor for her current attack was due to an extremely high stress level.

Just a quick history, she used to own her restaurant but last August 2006, she experienced a big business downfall and to top it up, she divorced her husband just a week after. Last week was the anniversary of her separation. She has four kids but the eldest, a 28 year old boy has been creating problems and now she is also estranged from her four kids. She lives alone with no one to talk to. She is a smoker. I advice her to stop. And guess what? She started crying her heart out telling me that she only has the cigarette as her best friend, "someone" she can talk to that won't hurt her or betray her like her husband did.

She trusts no one she said and she has been keeping her problems all to herself because she has no one. Jadi saya pun comfort lah dia. Saya kata, "But you have Allah kan?". She said she always prayed for Allah to give her strength and hidayah, she had never done any bad things to anyone, but still she gets all the bad things in life. She even tried to kill herself once. Astagfirullah. But Alhamdulillah she gained back her perspective in life after that. However, it was sad when I found out that she only resorted to becoming a workaholic so she won't have to think of her depression. Ni bukan menyelesaikan masalah ni, ni melarikan diri dari masalah! Huhu. Tapi tu saya cakap kat diri sendiri je lah. Hehhe.

But anyway, since I had something else important to do at that time, I exchanged phone numbers with her and asked her to call me anytime she needs someone to talk to. I'm not sure if my act is considered a threat or not to the professionalism and ethics of a doctor that is to not get emotional involve with a patient, but wuddeheck! She is after all a human being with a heart too.

So, petang tadi bila dah free pergi lah hospital balik, nak check on the patient. Hehhe. Dari jauh dia nampak muke saya, a big big smile automatically appeared on her face. And I swear, at that particular moment in time, nothing is worth better than that. =)

Person B was a makcik who works in the cafe of my college. Well, yang ni I didn't do anything much. Walking back from Hospital Serdang, I usually stop at the cafe to buy nasi putih and 2 types of lauk but I don't like the fried mixed veggies they sell so I always asked for fresh salads, timun and carrots all uncooked, from this makcik yang jaga bahagian jual nasi ayam. Sebelum ni bila minta just senyum and cakap terima kasih je lah. But today somehow, bulan yang mulia, alhamdulillah saya tergerak hati nak tanya dia namanya. Sambil dia sebut her name "Kak Mina", she smiled. How beautiful her smile was! Hehhe. Well, that was it basically. But when I was walking back to my room just now from the cafe, I skipped a merry cheery beat. Because I am happy.

Thank you Allah. For making my day. =)

“No one of you (truly) believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

(narrated by: Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Do you love your Creator? Love your fellow-beings first.

(Prophet Muhammad)

U-turn

"God does allow U-turns"

Caption ini terasa sangat2 menarik hati saya.
Mungkin nampak simple,
tapi sebenarnya besar dan mendalam sungguh
makna yang tersirat di sebaliknya.
Bahawa seteruk mana dosa kita,
setinggi gunung mana kesilapan yang selalu kita buat...
yang pasti...rahmat Tuhan itu lebih banyak dan tinggi lagi dari itu.
Sebab apa? Sebab dia Tuhan yang Maha Pengasih.. lagi Maha Penyayang..
The Most Beneficient. The Most Merciful.
The Most Forgiving.
Cuma kita saja terkadang lupa.

- quoted from Mai Shahira

I stumble and I stumble and I fall.
But I must always find the strength;
to pick myself up again and fight on.
And the truth shall prevail. [61:13-14]

Open up to the light; to what is right

As our boxes, our hearts and our trust in God open up; we are faced with new challenges. We meet those with different cultures, lives, dreams and views. We meet those who are reluctant to feel the earth, taste the rain and lean naturally to the sun, growing to the light of God’s mercy. As we share this road of life, shall we not share the gift of hope in the way it was shared by the Prophets of the past with their people?

A feeling too deep

There was a time when life was so simple. There was a time when I can only think of myself and never grieve over the sad plight of the world. There was a time when my mind was free from the torment of humanity's collapsing civilization. There was a time...

In the instance where the heart and mind meets the soul, I am scourged.

Happiness takes no meaning when everything that was once the centre of your life becomes pale in comparison to the Centre of being. The Beginning of the beginning. The End of the end. Yet despite the realization of truth, despite the snap of reality that was given by the power that be, running away from perfection seems a much more compelling choice than being stuck between what one desires and the burden of duty that one carries. Desire over duty?

Have you ever felt like drowning in a sea of storms and raging oceans? You gasp for a gulp of air to fill your suffocating lungs. For just a second too short you get a whiff, and then chunks of waves pushes you down, gravity adding to the strength of the haul rendering you breathless all over again. It goes on and on and on, until a time comes when you feel that everything, anything you do will only drown you deeper and deeper into the deep dark waters below. Will you give up? Can you give up? And IF you give up, what happens then?

But then again, life is never a metaphor.

May Allah provide us with strength to fight the plunges of waves of this life so that one day, we may be able to take a whiff of paradise. Amin.