s r i l a n a n g

A Visit for the Sake of Allah

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 05:26:00 +0000

"Once there lived an old man who worked as a security guard for a village. This was the kind of village that had big wall surrounding it, and people guarding the entrance to only allow the villagers to enter especially during night.

The old man job was to patrol the surrounding area from dusk to dawn. Covering every single place/spot of the village bringing with him and oil lamp and a stick. He walked slowly with his stick beating the ground while saying out loud "stay awake, don't fall to sleep." He would do that until morning"

Many people would most probably think/perceive that the old man action was noble that he did it for the purpose of keeping thief scared and thus making sure the safety of the villagers. But it maybe the actual purpose was to KEEP HIMSELF AWAKE.

By assuming this, maybe some of us will no longer look up at the old man. He is just for us, same as the other security guards who did his job, get paid and not more than that.

Last weekend I had a visitor from Chicago in which I have not met before. All I know is their are all Muslims. Justification of their visit was simple. They came to visit me to see how am I doing. Like what the Sahaba/Companions of the Prophet (bpuh) did. They used to travel far to different places to meet other Muslims. To ask them how are they doing. And one of the things they ask were, how their IMAN was doing? What was the state of their IMAN when they woke up in the morning?

We may wonder why they travel so far while it was known that the rewards of doing Salah/Solat at Masjid alHaram is 100,000 times more. Why didn't they just stay in Mecca and do Ibadah?

Why people in Chicago came down to West Lafayette to visit someone who they didn't know?

The reason was to remind. Human continuously need reminder. We forget a lot times.

Allah said in surah Al Asr;

"(1) By Al-'Asr (the time), (2) Verily! Man is in loss, (3) Except those who Believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds which Allâh has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which Allah has forbidden), and recommend one another to patience."

Those who took effort, leaving behind their wife, children and jobs or studies to remind people are indeed doing a righteous deeds. They may not be the person who is perfect in their deeds, but they indeed play an important role in the society.

Like the old man in the village who shouted and beat his stick to the ground until dawn, he keeps the village safe and peace although his intention maybe be just to keep himself awake.

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 11:36:00 +0000

" Difficult things in life are only relative, for everything is difficult for the ordinary person, while there is no great difficulty for the remarkable person."

"Whoever enters a 100m race will fell tired the moment he completes it, whereas anyone that enters a 400m race, will not feel fatigue after passing the 100m or 200 m mark."

Soul gives resolution and will power in proportion to your goal.

Hence, identify your goal, and let it be high and difficult to achieve.

[quoted from La Tahzan]

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars ~

Going out of the deep rabbit hole ~

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:33:00 +0000

I don't have good CGPA,

I don't have a good view of what am I studying,

I don't know about a lot of thing,

My knowledge of current issues are very limited,

I don't have clear stand,

I am not good in talking,

I am not good in keeping one's heart,

I don't feel my friends enjoy being with me,

I am not a religious person,

Many times I do bad things,

I don't know what I am good in anymore,

Feel like I am not good in anything, and have nothing to benefits those who are around me,

I know that I am scared,

Scared of not being able to help/benefits those I think in needed of help,

Scared of not being able to help my family, my people, those who are poor, oppressed,

Scared of not being able to help my people, religion...

I worried to much that I don't think of the solution,

Wise friend of mine once told me,

"If you always think of the problem, you will see the a lot more problems coming. Think of the solution"

Today, I am going to start by doing the very best in whatever I am doing. The list goes on and on starting with:

Being responsible for all the things that had been ordered by my Creator, and avoid all the things He prohibited.
Being a good son to my parents, good brother to my beloved sibling
Being an excellent person in the field that I am studying in.
Being a good friend to those who know me.

Wallahu Al'Mustaan

Catatan March 26, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:19:00 +0000

Semoga hari ini lebih baik daripada semalam, dan semoga hari esok lebih baik daripada hari ini

Cukuplah bagi kami Allah

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:25:00 +0000

Ketika jiwa resah bersama segala kesulitan dunia - kesalahan yang telah dibuat, kekurangan yang belum diperbaiki, hal yang belum selesai, janji yang belum tertunai, cita-cita yang belum kesampaian;

Ajaibnya Al-Quran apabila ayat ini menjadi salah satu ayat di dalam bacaan seharianku:

"Mereka juga ialah yang diberitahu oleh orang-orang (pembawa berita) kepada mereka: Bahawa kaum (kafir musyrik) telah mengumpulkan tentera untuk memerangi kamu, oleh itu hendaklah kamu gerun kepadanya. Maka berita itu makin menambahkan iman mereka lalu berkata: Cukuplah bagi kami Allah, Dialah sebaik-baik tempat diserahkan segala urusan."

[Al-'Imran ayat 173]

Turut diulas Dr Maza di dalam kuliahnya "Mencari Sakinah"

Of Malaysia, Meritocracy and Malay

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:07:00 +0000

When I was fifteen, I participated in an inter-school tennis tournament in my hometown, Banting, a serene small town located in the middle of west Malaysia. It was indeed a very exciting moment for me as it was my very first tournament I had ever participated in. I practiced a lot and put myself under a strenuous training regime since I didn’t have the slightest idea of what to anticipate from the tournament. Even so, as Banting is a small town, I did manage to feel confident and felt that I could at least win a medal. As it turned out, everything was doing fine for me. I was winning the first round without a serious challenge from my opponent. My confidence ran high until the second round, where it got lower as I was placed to play against a Chinese boy from a neighboring school. Everything else was fine to me except the fact that my opponent this time around was Chinese. For some reasons that I have yet to discover, I was feeling inferior knowing that I was about to play against a Chinese boy, a boy descended from a race so familiar yet so foreign to me. The feeling of being inferior to my opponent weakened me and all the efforts and time I spent in training for the tournament seemed to be a waste. Unsurprisingly, I did tons of unforced errors. My serves were getting me to lose so many points. I was so upset at myself after the tournament that it took me nearly a week to recover.

All my life, I have been raised in a community comprised of people from the same race as I am, Malay. The neighborhood that I had lived in as well as the school that I had attended from my early age, were almost completely populated by the Malay people. If ever there were Chinese or Indian people in the community, the numbers were significantly smaller. That is how the people from different races live in Malaysia. From my own experiences of living in many states in Malaysia, the three main races, Malay, Chinese, and Indian, were generally separated from where they live, where they go to school, and where they go to work. I rarely have friends who are not Malay or who have a non-Malay background. What I know about the non-Malay is what I have heard from my Malay friends. The way I viewed them is the typical way of how the Malay generally viewed them.

Among the first things I learned about the non-Malay, especially the Chinese was that they were superior in many aspects, as compared to the Malay. The term “tauke” which literally means a boss or master is commonly used by the Malays to address their Chinese counterparts and it illustrates what I meant by superior. My experiences, of living in many towns and cities in Malaysia have taught me that non-Malays are more dominant economically. From all the towns and cities that I went to, I saw very little shops or businesses run by the Malays. The owners of business entities were mostly non-Malays. Honestly, I had once viewed the Malay themselves as lazy and uncompetitive, hence poor and inferior as compared to the Chinese. However as I grew older, I learned from families and friends that there were significant numbers of Malays who have been trying to run businesses but were unable to compete with the non-Malays. It was hard for them to compete because they were unable to provide services or to sell products at a competitive price as the non-Malays businessmen were offering. As I was told, one of the reasons was that the non-Malays were the ones who were the suppliers and they were assumed to be favorable to the non-Malays in doing business. This fact and some others that I was told, worried me so much of the Malays' future in the country. At some point in life when I started to do more serious reading in fields related to Malaysian economics and politics, I learned that many of the CEOs of the top private companies in Malaysia are non-Malays. These facts make me as a Malay realize how much the Malays are in dire need of help to improve themselves. And for me personally, the help can not only come from themselves but also from the authority in the government.

As I grew older, I had the opportunity to interact with more non-Malay and befriended them. Fortunately, most of them that I met were very friendly and tolerant. I once had a Chinese roommate. He was a nice guy indeed. Our friendship was basically the same with the one I had with other Malay friends. However, that did not stop me from being worried about the Malays' standing and future in the country. In the high school that I attended, even though the majority of the students were Malay, the non-Malays were academically dominant. They were generally the ones who got the highest grades and the ones who were elected as leaders due to the obvious reasons. My father once told me that the Malays are still depending on some special privileges (affirmative action) given to them since the time of independence. The privileges were the consequences of the social contracts between the indigenous peoples (the Malays was one of them) and the immigrants (the Chinese and Indians) during the time our country achieved independence from the British. The Chinese and Indians were given citizenship of Malaysia while the Malays were promised that their rights as the indigenous people would be protected in the form of special rights given to them. Now the special rights which include the government help in alleviating poverty among them are greatly debated by non-Malays and even some of the well-off Malays. I could see the Chinese and the Indians are basically fighting to institute the system of meritocracy among all Malaysians. For the past two general elections, I saw the vote swing to the non-Malays supporting leaders who supported meritocracy. With the Malays left behind economically, I personally believe that losing influences in leadership of the country would leave the Malays with basically nothing and the implementation of meritocracy without proper planned measures would definitely be harmful to the Malay welfare in general.

I realize that this feeling of worrisome in me may for certain people, sound racist. Although naturally I am Malay, it is not at all my intention to have something bad to happen to the non-Malays. It is just my humble hope that the Malays will not one day be a pariah race in their own country. I understand the fact that they are still left behind, even after being given the special privileges should serves as an indicator that something serious needs to be done to further uplift their welfare. Somehow sooner or later, the system of meritocracy in which everyone has equals opportunity need to be instituted in order to make Malays themselves become competitive. But then the question remains as to what degree meritocracy should be implemented in Malaysia as to balance out the need to give pressure to the Malays to improve themselves and at the same time the need to protect the Malay from becoming a pariah race in their own land

[English 106-i]

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:53:00 +0000

There are always things to be written.

My dad used to tell me that when I was a little kid, I used to write. He told me that I had my own unique stories of writing where for some reasons, nobody could tell the language that I was using or even the meaning of those words I was writing. I knew I was writing a lot because of the fact that my father kept telling me and everyone else about that. Whenever I asked him what were among the things that I have written, he would say many. So many things in life need to be written.

When he was young, my father was an adventurous man. He often brought his family to travel and explore. We went to all of the states in my country, visiting historical places, nature as well as big cities which gave me tons of ideas and reasons to write. For one reason, I knew that I was in need of those writing for I enjoyed telling my friends about my experiences without missing the details. However at my early age in school, writing had always been the things I had been instructed to do. The fact that the education system really drills students to get good scores, made me feel uncomfortable. I did have so many things to write and I really did enjoy writing but certainly not involuntarily. The many ideas that I had seem to have been wasted due to the pressure I received on being instructed to learn the many rules of writing, as well as the fact that I hate being asked to write within a limited amount of time for assignments and exams.

I started to write a journal when I was twelve. That was when I realized that there were so many things to write and to learn from. One of the most significant entries in my journal was during the time my mother had to further her study in the university. She used to be away for a couple of weeks in the university. It was a sad experience seeing my little brother cries for my mom. I cried too sometimes. As time passes by, I am still able to read through my past experiences and feelings. It helps me a lot during the time of difficulties. Most of the time, reading through my past journal helps me see a part of me that I didn’t see when I was writing. And so I kept writing for the sake of improving myself. And because I often wrote about how I felt in my native Malay language, my skills of writing in this language became more expressive and narrative.

As I reached upper secondary school, my father who is a teacher influenced me a lot in my writing development. During that time, I realized that this world is somehow complicated and complex. He had become my primary source of ideas and thought. His reading materials had partly become mine. I remember when I was fifteen; I read his books on the 1997 Asian currency crisis. It was a great book in a way that it makes me realized the very serious difficulty our country was in during the crisis and the fact that we are all beginners, really, in the sense that we are only beginning to realize how much we need to know about the rest of the world to make sense of what is happening in our own little piece of it. It was through this book and some other great books that I felt the needs of writing to express ideas and thoughts. I always felt that there are so many things to be written, so that it can be analyzed, studied and probably implemented for the better of our future life. From that moment, both my writing in my native language as well as in my secondary language started to get serious in a way that they focused more on serious and important things, arguing about viewpoints from various perspectives.

Writing as a whole, is something that I enjoyed and feel obligated to. My life experiences have taught me that there are so many things to be written for the sake of improving myself and people surrounding me. It was through writing that I felt the need of reading more in order to gain more knowledge while at the same time sharing it with other people.

Quran & Computer

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:40:00 +0000

It has been told that once a man who believe in Quran (to be the book of through) once has been asked by another man to proved if Quran is really the book of through and if Quran is truthfully complete.

The second man asked, if that is the case, is there any relations between Quran and the computers?

The man answered this question by quoting from the Quran itself:

" And we pried into the secrets of heaven; but we found it filled with stern guards and flaming fires. We used indeed, to sit there in (hidden) stations, to steal a hearing; but any who listen now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush".

Al-Jinn [ 72 ; 8-9 ]

It has been told that once, men used to seek help and protection from Jinn, since Jinn knew many things about the secrets of heaven. Since then, Jinn were no longer allowed to know anymore about the secrets of heaven.

In this Ayat, it has been told that Jinn has tried to pried into the secrets of heaven by sitting in hidden stations, but they found out that anyone who do that, will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush.

The way the Jinn were prevented from hearing the secrets of heaven is like the way computers are protected from virus by using firewalls.

{Halaqah February 21, 2010}

Maybe

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:38:00 +0000

I was walking alone, slowly following where ever my foot were taking me. I felt like going nowhere. I had along walk that night. The weather was very cold and windy.

My heart felt as if there was a cut on it. That was the time that I felt like I need somebody to talk to when there was nobody. That was the time when I felt like I need somebody to hear my part of the story and to hear all of my excuses and reasons.

I have been working very hard for the last few weeks to make this week successful. I have been sleeping very late, doing homework all day long, and sometimes skipping meal time. Because of that, I felt like somebody have putted a negative sign on the results. I am not really sure what when wrong, but I did know that I have been working very hard more than I am used to and the result was like reflecting the other side of me.

Maybe, I wasn't working as hard as the others. Maybe, I was wasn't working as smart as the others. Maybe, I just need to feel sad, so that some other people can feel happiness. Or maybe, there is a blessing in disguise.

The feeling that I felt, make me think and reflect. Am I doing the wright thing. Am I doing it correctly. It thought me a lesson that I don't learnt in class. The lesson that I probably going to need to be successful not only on the future exams in academic, but also the real exam in the real life.

I am responsible for myself. When something when wrong, there are nobody to blame except for myself. I cannot expect people to listen to my excuses and reasons. I need to have plans, and I need to make sure the plans work. I can either do it by myself or with others, but certainly I cannot expect anything from no one.

The way I see it, the best thing to do right now is I should consider the feeling that I felt as a blessed. Who knows maybe the failure that I am facing right now, is the one who will bring me up someday, higher than what I have been expected. Maybe this is what I need to be successful later.

As the saying goes, in the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. I shouldn't loose hope and keep trying. Maybe, with that attitude, the word "maybe" will one day become a reality.

Malaysia Boleh!!!! :D

Why can't I quit?

noreply@blogger.com (srilanang) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:39:00 +0000

Difficulties, problems and challenges are part of our life. Each and everyone of us faces these elements in our daily life. The only different is probably on the degree of difficulties.

If I would say, getting straight As in SPM as a challenge, then students who got straight As in SPM were the one who took the challenge, succeed, and consequently managed to differentiate themselves from the other students who didn't got straight As.

Similarly if I would say, climbing the Mount Everest as a challenge, then Edmund Hillary, Muqharabbin and others were those who took the challenge, succeed, and eventually managed to put themselves on their own class.

To put it in words, difficulties, problems and challenges are meant to be given on us as test and a way to differentiate us from others. It is an opportunity to either improve ourselves, or simply to get us to the next stage of our life. That simply means, problems are not only meant to be seen as problems, but opportunities as well.

However in life there are ups and downs. There are problems, difficulties or challenges that some people may be able to deal with it while some may not. People differs from their strength and weaknesses. For some people it may be call failure. For me, failure itself is a challenges. It is a challenge for me to improve what I have done wrong, and at the same time keeping me away from giving up.

I have been encountering failure countlessly in my entire life. In fact I have one yesterday which honestly brought my day down. But I have my own way or believe that often helped me overcomed the feeling of wanting to give up which I want to share.

Alhamdulillah, I have been raised in a family that succesfully managed to instill responsibilities in me. Responsibilities not only for myself, but for others as well. I am indeed a part of my family, friends, community, nation, country and religion. And because of that, I am responsible for all of these people. In other words, my life is not about me alone. My ultimate goal is not only to get full credit in my quizzes or tests, nor to get good CGPA when I graduate or to get good job with huge salary. My ultimate goal is just way ahead of that. Why give up on small things while you have so many other things to consider?

I alway wanted to believe that life is like a battle. Whenever I got below average in my quiz, or simply got B in the subject that I took, that simply mean that I have lose in some part of my battle and not all. So why should I quit just while they many other fights ahead of me to win this battle?