Happy Birthday Angah!

As if it was yesterday me held you in me arms - a small crying baby. But now you are already grown up at 25! As if your 25 years on this earth had come and gone in a splitting moment. Looking ahead, me hope your next 25 years and beyond would be filled with countless blessings and bounties and not slip through you like "gone with wind" without us noticing...insyaAllah.

Me still remember at that time when you were born, in rapid succession within a year after your "playmate" Along, the "simmering heat" from the greatest event in the last century, the Islamic Revolution of Iran, was still fresh in everyone's minds. Hence your name was inspired from that momentous event in honor of one of me revolutionary heroes named Muhammad Ali Rajaie, who became the 2nd elected President of the post revolutionary period. But in me haste to register, the name "Ali" slipped me mind thus making your name Muhammad Rajaie. "Rajaie" is in itself a unique and beautiful name meaning in Malay "harapan ku". Hoping that one day you will grow up and be a good man and help contribute to the society and ever willing to fight for the things that you truly believe in.

Me noticed your first 25 years had itself been eventful in your own way. By the time you are 25, you have achieved what many others can only dream of - a degree and a good job, a car, a cosy apartment and even a beautiful wife!

Me take pride and be grateful to Allah for the bounties bestowed on you and me share your achievements and happiness if that is what will make you happy. Me wont be able to provide you with all the worldly possessions except giving you a good education that you have now. Me still remember, me Pa, your grand dad, did not leave anything except the education bestowed on his children and this, me hope will be the tradition of our family for the future generations to come...from now on you are on your own path to seek further blessings from God and to serve Him and the society better...

Me hope for you , me Angah, is for you to mold your future as what you wish to be. Follow your heart in what you want to achieve in the next 25 years and beyond...One thing that me can say is, just do what you "know and want" to do and do it yesterday!...as long as it is within the domain of your capability and creativity and our Muslim believe and for the betterment of our family members and our society...

Go and strike on your own me Angah, if that is what you wish to do and all me Doas will go to you for this world and the hereafter...ameen.

Happy Birthday Angah...this is your day!!

Happy Eid al-fitr 1st Syawal 1430H

Today me sure everyone is feeling great and excited to celebrate eid al-fitr. 1st Syawal signifies the end of Ramadan and time to be merry for the young and old. Me would like to take this opportunity to wish me guests who frequented this blog a happy eid and may Allah bless us all. May we all be forgiven by Him and be guided in His righteous path always. May the school of Ramadan that we have just attended taught us to be better Muslims in the days to come. May we be under the radar of Allah always..ameen.

Sayonara Ya Ramadan Kareem

It seems yesterday was the 1st day of Ramadan but no, Ramadan Kareem is nearly over. It is about to leave us with no promise that we might be meeting Ramadan again next year. A month is about to pass like a breeze as me still remember welcoming Ramadan with full of zest for this to be me best Ramadan ever...

Praise be to Allah who has granted me the opportunity to be in this blessed month of Ramadan - for me to do fasting and to do whatever good that me desires, to see to it that me get to practice what has been enjoined in the Quran and al-Hadith - the opportunity to uplift me discipline as a Muslim - to the best of me ability.

Praise be to Allah who has presented me with the prospect of absolving me countless sins through cleansing of me soul in this blessed month of Ramadan - either through nightly prayers or supplications or by reaching out to the poor and the orphans or simply reading verses from the holy Quran.

Praise be to Allah who has bestowed upon us this blessed month of Ramadan which is really a month full of forgiveness and mercy - if we care to seek His forgiveness and mercy...

Now you are about to go, ya Ramadan Al-Mubarak, leaving me still not really ready to let you go. Me wish you could stay longer to accompany me daily fasting and nightly prayers, how me wish everyday would be a Ramadan day...

Sayonara Ya Ramadan Kareem, you are ordained to be with us only once a year and hope the next time around we will meet again.......God willing, ameen.

Nicole Queen - Why Islam?

Recently me came across this video clip which me think is worth sharing. In me previous posting on "Why Girls?" me mentioned the phenomenon in the West where women were more likely to be attracted and embraced Islam than men - most felt more "empowered" and "liberated" after their conversion. Maybe through this video Nicole can provide some insight into this phenomenon which has transformed her from that famous "Party Girl" to a new found freedom of becoming a Muslimah in her own accord.....

Further, in another posting on "911 - What Lesson? Part I" - me also noted that "Inquisitiveness has always been the best part of the intellectual West - a quality that will eventually helped them to decipher meanings "in between the lines", which will ultimately led them to the truth and be their savior", this can clearly be seen in this video where Nicole explains how she got to know Islam...through being observant and using her very inquisitive mind to probe deeper into Islam...and not to be easily satisfied if her "Whys?" questions were not being sensibly answered...

God willing, more will be following in her footsteps....may Allah bless you Nicole...now you can "party" the night away with zikr and remembrance of Allah.......




Nicole Queen on her first Ramadan's experience...

At Last You Made It!

Today is me very special day, which me would like to immortalize in this entry. For today is the very day that me been waiting for all these years - the day when me Along completed his study as a Doctor. Indeed this is your big day, Along, you really deserve it, after 6 long years of innumerable trials and tribulations, including being seriously sick and experiencing a magnitude 7.0 earthquakes, at last you made it to this day - your last day doing practical as a medical student! Now only the graduation ceremony is what separating you from being called Dr Along!

Me don't wish to brag about you or your achievements, only that me want to recall back those moments about 26 years ago when you were just a tiny little baby born to this world. Me still remember, a few days after you were born, how me lifted you high, firstly, looking at your tiny self and still not believing that me had become a father! Secondly, you being the first born, me naturally had high hope for you. Just like "Kunta Kinte" when he was lifted by his proud dad, me also raised you high towards the horizon while silently saying to meself, "O God, in me hands is me first born, me thus dedicate this baby to serving You and his community".

Now that you are about to enter the next phase of your life as a Doctor and a member of the community, me wish that you will always remember those moments when me had made covenant with God on you. So that you will always be the faithful servant of God while putting your finest efforts to serve your people and the community at large the way you know best.

Maybe this "news" of a covenant with God would shock or scare the living daylight out of you but me wish you will be responsible enough to be patient and to be steadfast in your commitment to do good to others. In doing so, me sure you will be rightly guided and in a way fulfilling me promise to dedicate you in the service of God as well...

Happy Ramadan al-Mubarak Dr. Along, may Allah always guide you and your younger brothers and sister, to His righteous path and bless your efforts to do good to others......Amen.

Complement to those not familiar with the film Roots - Kunta Kinte back in 1977, where he was lifted high by his father towards the end of this clip:

Lailatul Qadr - The Mother of All Nights

Me can't help not putting me thoughts about this one special night, the "mother of all nights" or the "gems of all nights" or simply the blessed Lailatul Qadr which can only be experienced by those lucky ones during Ramadan. Every year when come Ramadan, it would be like playing the "Russian Roulette" for most of us modern Muslims - who hope to cut short our path to God's blessings and salvation by scoring big and hitting the jackpot by simply targeting to do our utmost solemn form of Ibadah only during this one particular night which God has said to be full of barakah and equivalent to a thousand months' nights of doing supplications.



It has become sort of ritual and a natural thing to do especially when entering the last phase of the Ramadan month for everyone to speculate when that blessed night going to happen. All the signs as can be gleaned from the Hadiths or local folklore were used to justify the arrival of the night or to determine that the night had indeed come and gone - so we wont be caught "off guard", yet again, and has to wait for another Ramadan to experience the night - if we live that long.

It is always good to be highly calculative and creative in doing our Ibadah. To anticipate and to be prepared for the night is another good sign of sincere discerning Muslims who really know their maths!! - so as not to miss the breathtaking experience of the Lailatul Qadr. Doing things step by step is all it takes to be ready for the special night. Thus the instinctive thing to do should be to start preparing for the night right from day one of Ramadan and to be consistent or istiqamah in our Ibadah come rain or shine,night after night of each of the Ramadan nights.

If we are always sincerely looking for the night, me sure God will let us have the night not only to ourselves but also to our beloved family members. Gone will be the ritual of guessing when the actual night would be. No more playing the guessing game, no more missing the boat and no more looking for clues that the night had indeed come and gone. So if we happen to meet the next Ramadan, then it will be a bonus to experience the next round of Lailatul Qadr!

This is indubitably a golden opportunity and a very real incentive for us to do good and be rewarded multi-folds while doing so in only a fraction of time. It is really a special gift from God for the Ummah of Muhammad, for us mortals, as we don't live that long on this earth....

Dua during Lailatul Qadr (Part 1) - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.