COMMUNICATION IS AMAZING

Last winter, we (yes, 12 of us, as in the picture) went to Turkey. The one thing I thought was amazing is the communication. Frankly speaking, I think I spoke Malay more than English when I talked to the people there, and obviously I used Malay more with my 11 Malaysian friends that went with me. Not that they were able to understand Malay, but I guess unless you know their language, it will not make any difference to what language we use up there. Most of them do not speak English. Istanbul was ok, but Bursa? Although I like Bursa people more - they definitely are more friendly, in general.

It was amazing. I guess sign language became the most significant mean of communication while we were there. Writing and drawing too! There are few other things I learned for my own reflections, but in this entry, the focus is just on how amazing communication is.

Anyway, the funny bit was when we were communicating with the taxi drivers who were about to bring us to Uludag. There were eight of us talking in Malay and English and a group of friendly taxi drivers trying hard to understand what we were negotiating. At one point, Aina asked them something about the timing in Turkish language, as she happened to know that word (I can hardly remember the word now). And I can still remember all the taxi drivers came closer with hands indicating to their watches, answering enthusiastically to Aina's question - I supposed. Those delighted faces... it was as if they were saying "finally, there is someone who can speak Turkish". The hilarious part was when Aina made a blurry face (obviously she didn't understand a word they were saying), so she turned around looking at the rest of us, and we started laughing. Then the taxi drivers started laughing as well. They knew Aina didn't understand that - again, I supposed. LOL. That was hilarious. And it was just amazing how the communication worked, but it did!

The picture on your left was to tell that we needed two taxis and to confirm the charge was 120 lira for each taxi for a return journey. The other one was to tell them "we are not going to pay you until you bring us back here and we want to stay there for a while, taking pictures". Taking pictures - although we actually ended up skiing; or at least learning how hard trying to ski was =P. By the way, the taxi drivers actually understood what we were saying before we even drew these pictures. Amazing! (ouh, and these were not the real drawings - I must have thrown them away)

"O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware."

[Hujurat; 13]

KEEN REMINDER FOR MESELF

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyab from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“A strong person is not the person who throws his adversaries to the ground. A strong person is the person who contains himself when he is angry.”

{Book 47, Number 3:12 : Malik’s Muwatta}

But angry for the right reason is ok, right? Like getting angry when seeing Palestinian people being killed every day. I do agree though, that one should still contain him/herself appropriately... and that is really hard in practice. Seriously need to be really strong.

PALESTINE

May I begin this entry with a question to myself; if I am now in Malaysia, would I ever know or even care enough to discuss the current world issue - Zionist attack on Gaza?

Honestly I doubt that I will. The reason is partly due to my ignorance [read: individuals] of course, but the media is another.

I remember back in summer 2 years ago, when the war in Iraq was the current headline of the news - front page of one of the mainstream newspapers focused on Siti Nurhaliza's wedding instead. *sigh* And especially now, with all the political war and problems in Malaysia and small election in my hometown, I bet that it shed the news even more? Make it as small matter that is easily dismissed in our lives. well, at least, the government does allow the students to go on with demonstration (read: without FRU as the prev demos), so thats a good start.

Although I might not be one who is suitable and perfect to promote this,but may I remind and promote to all including myself, to go against ignorance. We muslims are one - their sufferings are ours too.

Hadith: Sesiapa yang berpagi-pagian tidak mengambil berat perihal orang Islam maka dia bukan dari golongan mereka. [taksure source]

And of course we can talk about it, we can watch from a distant, we can read the news, we can condemn the zionist and their illegal occupation, their illegal state... but there are always better options which might seem small efforts, but at least these ARE some efforts.

1. Doa of course
2. Online action - petitions etc
3. Media - eg reply to bias report
4. Dakwah - tell other people, let them too take actions, let the people out there know the truth.
5. funding action - they need money,they need financial support,they need medical treatment
6. Boycott - one might say this would do nothing, but if everybody plays action,it might. Allah looksat the effort and not the effect. Some groups of people here too seem to agree that it wont do any good,but they came up with resolution that we should focus on the top 10 israeli goods: Coca cola, MacDonalds, Nestle, Nokia, Starbucks, Disney,Johnson's johnson, L'Oreal, Selfridges.

It is a shame if at this crucial time, we cant help boycotting. I have seen even the christian society stood up in front of mark and spencer entry, giving flyers to the people around, promoting the boycott. Apparently, according to them, ALL the net profit gained on saturday by mark and spencer is distributed to Israel. So yes, it is a shame.

Pernah dengar ayat ni (taksure hadith ke famous saying): Islam itu terdiri dari banyak penjuru. Tugas setiap kita adalah untuk menjaga Islam itu supaya tidak diceroboh dari penjuru kita. (lebih kurang camni la maksud dia, or please anyone care enough to correct me).


Ya Allah tuhan yang menewaskan bala tentera ahzab, kalahkan mereka musuh-musuh Islam, menangkanlah kami umat-umat di jalanmu ke atas mereka ya Allah. Selamatkan dan tabahkanlah mereka di Gaza, di Palestin. Ameen.

LEARNING FROM THE KIDS [again]

Yesterday, Balai Malaysia (Malay community in Newcastle) had organised its first camp for the children - it was Kem Pemantapan Solat i.e. a four hour course to teach children how to pray and improve their prayers.

When those children were asked why do we have to pray, some of the answers were:

1. Because we are muslims
2. Because Allah asks us to pray
3. Because this is the way we thank Allah as he created us
4. Because we must do good things and want to enter heaven

[source: balai mailinglist]

And masyaAllah, one of them answered because we want to save GAZA people.

And I asked the students in my group to list up three things they like the most, because they can have them all in heaven if they do good things. At least one of these came up their list:

1. Allah
2. Rasulullah
3. Parents

Ya Allah, I am so proud of them. Mind you, they were all 6 and 7 years old (those in my groups), and the whole group of children was comprised of those from age of 4 - 12.

When I was asked to list up 3 things that make me happy in one of my p4p sessions, I listed down the 3Fs - family and friends, and food. Also money hehe (I was so broke). Shame on me.

Save people in Gaza, and Allah and rasulullah on top of the list. What more can I tell you. Learn from them. The little caliphs...