Home sweet home... nearly there...

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

Finally, I finished packing last night with a suitcase borrowed from Aunty Zohra, got it really last minute. Alhamdulillah. I'm ready to go home now, though a bit worry cause the luggage might be more than 20kg. More than half of it is gifts and souvenirs! So, I will be going to London first today right after the class at the mosque. Meet some Rihla sisters at King's Cross and then will be staying at Dina's tonight so that I can get to Heathrow Airport tomorrow morning. The flight will take about 14 hours (God help me!) and then I have to take a domestic flight about another 1 and a half hour to get to my home town, Kuching. So, my journey home starts today. By the time I get to my home town, it will be the 24th! So, I'm literally travelling for about 2 days to get home, believe it or not!

I'll be in Kuching until 28th, then fly to Johor Bahru. Will be staying there until 2nd Sept. I have lots of things to do in Johor Bahru and UTM. And will be celebrating the Malaysia 50th Independent Day there too! Look at the logo below. Malaysia is young but alhamdulillah, whatever we have achieved is something that I have no complain about. We are not at the top of the world but we are unique in this world due to the surprising political stability & social harmony within a multi-ethnicity and multi-faith society. Only God knows how we maintain it. I pray that this will last forever so that the country will prosper parallel with the Islamic teaching.

From Johor Bahru, I'll move on to Kuala Lumpur and will be staying in Petaling Jaya because the main reason that I go home at this time of the year is to attend a conference at PJ Hilton (talking about the conference, I've not completed my presentation slide show yet, heck!). Right after the conference, I'll come back to UK on the 6th Sept. So, that's my 2-week holiday(?) in Malaysia after 2 years been in UK! Seriously, this is my first time going home after I've started my PhD here in Cambridge (It's too expensive to go home, not just the flight, but also to buy gifts and souvenirs!). I don't know what is my feeling at the moment: maybe nervous since many things have changed during my absence there (both my family & friends); maybe exciting since it has been a long time but I'm not really anticipating this return; maybe awkward since I've been not seeing or living with my family for so many years (since I've started my undergraduate study in UTM, back in 1999 though occasionally I go home for a few weeks for holidays but always a short one). I feel like I have a mission this time, I feel like I need to urge my family to accept what I've believed in since 5 years ago. I want them to come to the truth and pray that ALLAH will guide them to the truth. Please make du'a for them.

Finally, please also make du'a for me so that I will have a safe & easy journey home and come back to UK. May ALLAH make all my worships easy throughout the whole journey. I might not be updating this blog until I'm back. Unless I find a reasonably fast internet(!) and plenty of time, I may blog from Malaysia, but if not, till the next time.

Wassalam.

Sobra Palace Museum

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

Our last visit in Taif is the Sobra Palace Museum. About 13 km from the place where we were staying. Sobra Palace Museum used to be a palace for a caliph (can't remember which time). Sobra is the name of a place in Egypt. As I said that Taif is a very cool place compare to other location in Saudi, it is a very strategic place for holidays. The caliph at that time decided to build a palace in Taif for the sake of leisure and named it Sobra after the name of a place in Egypt where he also spent his leisure time there. Now the palace is transformed into a museum which illustrated the history of the Arab Peninsular from before Islam until the caliphates. The exhibition includes art & cultures of the Arab during the time of the caliph (clothes, calligraphy, weapons, poetry, pots, etc.), technology (damp, house, fortress, etc.), history, early Quran writing (on stones, leaves, skins, etc.), market area, the caliph's office and so many more. It took us more than 2 hours to tour around the whole museum but there are still a few spots that we didn't get to visit. Below are a few pictures of the exhibition.

The Palace (5 storeys)

Market place that sells medicine

Barber shop

Exhibition (picture of a battle)

Exhibition (map of ancient Arab Peninsular)

Exhibition (Clothes)

Exhibition (calligraphy set)

Exhibition (Quran writing on a stone)

Wassalam.

p/s: packing(!)

Oxbridge Essays

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I don't know if you ever heard of this service before. It's called Oxbridge Essay. It is a company that provides you with all the writings that you need from applying the university until writing up your essay & thesis for examination. The service includes providing cover letter, personal statement, proposal, essay, dissertation, thesis, etc. at different grades & ratings that you want, and of course at an expensive price. I came across this service due to an email send my one of the officer from this company. She said:

Dear Fatin,
My name is ..., writing from the recruitment department at Oxbridge Essays. We have a shortage of students with PhDs in education and we wonder whether you would like to write for us? Below is a short introduction to the company and our services; if you would like to sign-up, please just follow the link at the bottom of the page and we'll email you the relevant information.

Oxbridge Essays employs 1000+ Oxford University and Cambridge University educated writers to produce model academic research such as essays,dissertations, personal statements, CVs and so on for a predominantly international clientele. We now have a number of short-term and long-term writing positions available. Writers can make as much as £600 for one 2000 word essay and £50,000+ a year working frequently. As a PhD student writer, you have no obligations whatsoever to undertake work for us, and may work just during vacations if you prefer or take on the occasional piece during term. Alternatively, we offer PhD researchers short-term and long-term contracts for quotas of work should you prefer. Additionally, Oxbridge Essays offers a range of scholarships and sponsorships for Oxbridge PhD students worth up to £10,000 per student. Moreover, we offer gap-year, travel and research grants of up to £5,000 per student. Moreover, our SAFI scheme (Sign-a-Friend-Initiative) rewards you for recommending Oxbridge friends and colleagues to the company, with fees of up to£150 per PhD student recommended and £200 per academic lecturer.
If you have any interest in the above, please visit the writers' section of our website at the following link: http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/more_info.asp?current_id=183.
If you would like to apply, please complete the short application-form at http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/apply.asp.

Felt a bit dodgy, really. But went on to apply. Got a package of the terms and conditions. After went through it, don't really think I can do it, too much penalties and I know I always make mistakes in my writing (just look at my blog). But I was wondering how other people can just go to such a service to ask for a personal statement of other applicant and change it to him- or herself to get into university. How can you copy other people essays/dissertation/thesis for your own examination. Even if it's just a reference, but looking at the price calculator, it's just too much to pay for a reference. If you are a student in the university, you can just get the reference essays & dissertation from the library. Anyway, it says that the service is legal and is acknowledged by the universities. Hope this doesn't promote plagiarism.

Wassalam.

p/s: Tonight is the al-Isra' wa al-Mi'raj. Though nothing specific in the sunnah that we are asked to do. It's a blessed night with lots of great wisdoms to learn from this journey & historical event of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw). May we be given the chance & honour to go to the 7th Heaven to meet ALLAH (swt). Amin.

Ibn Abbas

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

Ibn Abbas or known as Abdullah ibn Abbas, the son of Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib who is the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad (saw). So, Ibn Abbas is the cousin of the Prophet (saw). He was born 3 years before the Hijrah, which was during the time of Muslims were being boycotted and camped in the outskirt of Makkah. During this boycott, Muslims were not allowed to make any business or have marriage with the people of Makkah. Hence, there was no food and no income for the Muslims for 3 whole years. Ibn Abbas was born during this hardest time of early Islam. In the Arab culture, when a baby is born, before the the baby starts to suckle, the parent will ask a respected elderly in the community to put a sweet in the mouth of the baby to suck a little bit of sweetness. It is usually a date or honey. This ceremony is called tahnik. So, when Ibn Abbas was born, his mother asked the Prophet (saw) to do the tahnik for him. But they were too poor that they can't even find something sweet to put into his mouth to suck. Eventually, the Prophet (saw) used his saliva, his blessed saliva for the tahnik. Since then, both of them were very closed to each other. How lucky Ibn Abbas is for accepting the blessed saliva of the Prophet (saw)!

Since then, he was always with the Prophet (saw). Played & learned with him. The Prophet (saw) made du'a for him and asked ALLAH to teach him the knowledge of the Qur'an. Due to this du'a that Ibn Abbas became a very knowledgeable person and the first mufasir (exegesis) of Qur'an. Even some of the greatest companions like Umar (ra) always seeked the meanings of the Qur'an from him. He lived through the time of Khulafa Ar-Rashidun until after the caliphate of Abdul Malik. He passed away in Taif when he was 70 years old. We went to visit him during the Rihla Trip.

Masjid Ibn Abbas in Taif

The inside

Below is a story related to Ibn Abbas from Sahih Muslim:

Umar used to make me (Ibn Abbas) sit with the elderly men who had fought in the Battle of Badr. Some of them felt it (did not like that) and said to Umar: "Why do you bring in this boy to sit with us, while we have sons like him?"

Umar replied "Because of what you know of his position" (i.e. his religious knowledge).

One day Umar called me and made me sit in the gathering of those people, and I think that he called me just to show them (my religious knowledge). 'Umar then asked them in my presence: 'What do you say about the interpretation of the statement of ALLAH'. (In the Qur'an, chapter 110 (The Help) Surah an-Nasr)

Some of them said: "We are ordered to praise ALLAH and ask for His forgiveness, when ALLAH's help and the conquest comes to us". Some others kept quiet and did not say anything. On that Umar asked me: "Do you say the same, O Ibn Abbas?" I replied: "No". He said: "What do you say then?" I replied: "That is the sign of the death of The Messenger (saw) which ALLAH informed him of. ALLAH said:

(O Muhammad) when comes the help of ALLAH (to you against your enemies) and the conquest (which is the sign of your death) - you should celebrate the praises of your Lord and ask for His forgiveness, and He is the One who accepts the repentance and forgives". On that Umar said: "I do not know anything about it other than what you have said".

Wassalam.

Home, home, silly girl!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I have been planning to go back home to Malaysia (yay! finally after 2 years) since before Rihla and have already bought the tickets. It's going to be on 23rd August 2007 and come back to UK on 6th September 2007. But then, my engaged friend, she gave me a wedding photographer proposal for her wedding on 25th August 2007. She is willing to pay any fee to change my flight ticket and also provides me with accommodation & transportation to her wedding. Money is not my biggest concern, but other matters.

See, she is one of my important friends in UK that I won't want to disappoint her. If any of these sisters asked me a favour, it is really hard for me to refuse them. This is one of her biggest events of her life time, which good friend would want to miss it? Plus, I will be able to see many sisters there as well as her cute family too (they are really cute, including her grandma). I've checked that there is a ticket to Malaysia available on 26th August 2007 and am ready to change if she wishes (I've even spoken to my travel agency). I made a few istikharah, but my heart is still is too reluctant to stay. I don't know why. There are so many reasons for me to attend the wedding and I'm not really homesick plus I know that my family won't mind me delay going home for 3 days. But still, I can't make up my mind to stay.

I can't even give any valid reason for not to stay. I can only give a few excuses like - I don't think I'm worth for you to pay for as I'm not a professional wedding photographer (not even a professional photographer!) and I don't want to ruin your special day; there must be someone who can do better job than me; it will be very troublesome for you to look for accommodation for me (even to put me in your house when all your relatives come) and find me transportation to get there and to Heathrow; etc.

Alhamdulillah, today ALLAH made the decision for me (due to the istikharah, I hope). She rang me and told me that her sister-in-law will be able to take the job. She will still invite me to her wedding but it's up to me to decide either to go or not. I felt such a relief (for no reason). And basically she also has the same feeling as me because she also has problem to tell me that 'I don't need you anymore'. Poor girl! It all happened the way that ALLAH wants it to be.

Today, I was talking to Zeeniya and for some reasons, we ended up talking about my hesitation of attending the wedding. Zeeniya rang her straight after the conversation right before Dhuhr (which of course out of my knowledge and I didn't even want her to know what I've told Zeeniya). She then rang me and said:"Silly girl! Why didn't you tell me? I also don't know how to tell you. I was meant to ring you earlier today but wanted to wait until you finish your madrassah. We were in the same situation, you silly girl!". Basically, the madrassah finishes after Dhuhr everyday except Friday (which is today) and she didn't know that I don't have class today. If not has been for this reason, I would not have the chance to talk to Zeeniya first and then Zeeniya phoned her and told her about my hesitation. SubhanALLAH, how great ALLAH's plan is!

"The happiness of the son of Adam depends on his being content with what Allah has decreed for him, and the misery of the son of Adam results from his failure to pray istikharah, and the misery of the son of Adam results from in his discontent with what Allah has decreed for him."

~ Hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi

So, yup, my plan of going home to Malaysia will stay the same, inshaALLAH. I pray that her wedding will go well.

Wassalam.

Rihla - Jeddah to Taif

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

As I said from the previous post that the journey from Jeddah to Taif is a difficult one, like the Prophet Muhammad (saw) made his journey to Taif to preach Islam. After the boycott and the departures of Abu Talib & Khadijah (ra), the Prophet (saw) named that year as the Year of Sadness. He (saw) was so sad that the Makkans were not listening to him. He decided to preach outside Makkah. So, he and Zayd (ra), his freed slave, went to Taif to preach Islam. They were there for 10 days talking to many tribes and noble people of Taif about Islam, but none of them accepted Islam, some even insulted the Prophet (saw). In one incident, the Prophet (saw) met and spoke to three youths from the nobles of Thakif. The Prophet (saw) invited them to the truth and to believe and worship ALLAH alone. They just mocked the Prophet (saw) and refused to listen to him (saw). One denied that he could be a prophet because of the disruptions in the Makkan community. The second questioned him saying could ALLAH not find anyone else to be a prophet. The third refused to listen to him at all because either the Prophet (saw) was too important to speak to or was a liar. Some of them get together with a group of boys chased the Prophet (saw) and Zayd (ra) away with stones. They were both injured. The Prophet Muhammad's (saw) blood ran down his legs and clogged up his sandals.

When they had travelled a short distance, they rested against one of the walls of a vineyard. as the Prophet (saw) rested, a couple of Makkans who owned the vineyard recognised him (saw) and took pity on their state. They sent their servant 'Addas with some grapes for the two visitors. The Prophet (saw) thanked Addas and ate the grapes beginning with the name of Allah (Bismillah). Addas was surprised with these words and began to talk to the Prophet (saw). 'Addas was a Christian slave and when the Prophet (saw) asked him where he was from, he replied Nineveh. The prophet (saw) said the noble Yunus was from there. 'Addas was very surprised and asked the Prophet (saw) “How do you know about Yunus?” The Prophet (saw) replied, “He was my brother and I too am a prophet.”. 'Addas was very surprised and kissed the Prophet (saw) on the hands and forehead before returning to his duties. The two brothers had witnessed this and they asked 'Addas about his behaviour. 'Addas said that that man leaning against the wall is none other than a prophet. The two brothers shouted at 'Addas and told him that he should not leave his religion and follow Muhammad (saw). The Makkans were against the Prophet and did not want anyone to follow him.

'Addas Mosque

The inside where we prayed 2 rakaah, alhamdulillah

The mosque is hidden in the moutain in Taif

Have to walk through a narrow and long alley to get there

The grape garden next to the mosque

Can this be the breed of the grape the the Prophet (saw) had?

After a short prayer the prophet (saw) made a dua to ALLAH. In the dua, he praised ALLAH and said to ALLAH that may he forgive him for his short coming and in his inability to deliver the message. He said that although he had been injured and hurt by the Makkans he was happy as long as he had not displeased ALLAH. Later, Angel Jibrail (as) came to the Prophet (saw) with the Angel in charge of mountains. Angel Jibrail (as) told the Prophet (saw) that if he so wished he would command the Angel of mountains to bury the city between two mountains. Although the Prophet (saw) had suffered a great deal in the hands of these people, he replied that maybe their offspring would accept Islam and would proclaim the religion of truth. Due to the kind nature of the Prophet (saw), the city was saved from destruction.

And indeed, ALLAH answered the Prophet's (saw) prayer. HE made the people of Taif good Muslims even until today. People in Taif are extremely friendly. The weather there is nice and not as warm as in Makkah or Madinah. Cool breeze and nice weather the whole time we stayed there. Even Shaykh Hamzah Yusuf loves Taif's weather a lot that he said he would sleep in the villa with the windows open.

We were stopped at the check point to Taif for about 4 hours. And when we finally had to return back to Jeddah, our bus broke down and we had to wait for another 2 hours for another bus to pick us up. Felt like the whole day was wasted. We got tired and disappointed. But then, came the good news from the Emirate that we are allowed to go for umrah the next day to compensate the incident. Yay! Felt like how the Prophet (saw) realised that the Jinns were listening to his words and his (saw) efforts were not wasted. This happened on his (saw) journey back to Makkah, the Prophet (saw) and Zayd (ra) rested for a while in a place called Nakhlah and the Prophet (saw) recited the Qu'ran. As he (saw) recited the verses of the Qu'ran, he did not realise that even in the darkness of the desert, there was an audience listening to and admiring these verses. Later on, a few verses of the Qu'ran were revealed which told the Prophet (saw) that a group of Jinns had come and had marvelled at these beautiful words. The Jinns had gone and spoke to their companions about these verses. This audience of Jinns then sat, filling the valley, listening to the beautiful recital.

"Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of Jinns listened (to the Qur'an). They said, 'We have really heard a wonderful Recital! It gives guidance to the Right, and we have believed therein: we shall not join (in worship) any (gods) with our Lord."

~ The Holy Qur'an: Surah Al-Jinn (Chapter 72: The Jinn) verse 1-2

Stopped at the check point to Taif

The only rain ever saw in Saudi when we were on the way returning back to Jeddah

Felt like the Heaven is opened up for us after the blessed rain

The bus was broken down in Makkah

Until next time...

Wassalam.

My friend is engaged!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

One of the Cambridge sisters is engaged! Yay, sooooooo happy and proud of her. I pray that she will enter her marriage on 25th August 2007 in a very blessed way. Amin.

Wassalam.