You Only Need To Cry

Yesterday was the engagement day for me Along. It was supposed to start at 2:30pm at his fiance's house in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur about half an hour's drive from me home. But when me reached at the mosque where our engagement party was supposed to regroup, it started to rain very heavily and we have to wait for the downpour to stop before proceeding to our destination.

While waiting for the weather to ease itself, me had the opportunity to "explore" the mosque's toilet and was pleasantly surprised to notice the conditions of the toilets as one of the cleanest and well kept mosque's toilet that me have ever seen! This is a far cry from me other mosque's toilet experience sometime back in Kuala Pilah.

Although it was quite an old mosque, it looked like it has been well kept and meticulously maintained. Me noticed also the place is a hive of activities with a sort of kiosk being set up within the mosque compound to cater for the economic needs of the Qaryah (community within the mosque's jurisdiction) - indicating to a great efforts being put up to realize the true function of mosques.

This may have to do with the mosque being located in what used to be one of the elite areas of Kuala Lumpur. Me even noticed, the current mosque's AJK (Committee Member) is headed by a certain Tan Sri Datuk...

Coincidentally, during a conversation with one of me Along fiance's uncles, after the engagement ceremony ended, me happened to mention about a few of me cousins also staying in the same locality but unfortunately me couldn't recall where exactly as the last time me went to their place was to attend their mother's funeral, even then, me still remember, it was all done at the "mosque with the cleanest toilets".

Upon hearing that, the uncle spontaneously made this rather very interesting remark about the all-encompassing role played by his mosque in TTDI, in which me feel mosques everywhere should all try to earnestly emulate, when he candidly said, "Over here, you don't have to do anything at all as all have been taken care of by the mosque, if any of you got into any difficulty or emergency situation such as death in the family or accidents or anything, 'you only need to cry' as the rest is being taken care of by the benevolence of our mosque!"

It Is Not How Long We Live That Matters

These past few days me had been deeply troubled by the news of an untimely demised of two individuals - although not directly related but they were very close family members of me office colleagues. One was a mother in-law and the other was an elder sister cum motivational consultant who died within a few days of each other due to tragic circumstances - an accident and an illness. Both the deceased were two individuals having different backgrounds but shared the common fate of a tragic and untimely death...

And this morning, over the radio, me was sort of relieved and consoled by an Ustaz who were giving his usual morning motivation talk that aptly gave a fresher perspective on what me been troubled with for these past few days. In short he said, it is not how long we live but what matter most is what have we done with our lives and the impact it give to those around us in the time given by God for us all to live on this earth...

May the souls of those departed rest in peace and in the good care and blessings of Allah swt...

A Brief Stopover in Bahrain

On me way to Dammam last week, me had a brief stopover in Bahrain after taking a seven hour Gulf Air flight from KLIA. It was about a four hour wait for me next Saudi Arabian connecting flight which took about thirty minutes to reach Dammam, an oil town just across the border inside Saudi Arabia.

However, the thing that me wanted to share was not about me "Dammam Experience" (which will be shared later under a different topic, insyaAllah), but a chance meeting during the transit with a Malaysian student on his way to Cairo, also taking the same flight from KLIA.

What made it interesting, the chance meeting was caused by the curious student who had recognized me colleague, Mr Iqbal, as the "Mat Salai" (a popular burger chain) burger man that he had just met at UMP (University Malaysia Pahang) during a student's carnival about a week or so before the chance meeting in Bahrain.

After getting the confirmation from me colleague that it was really him - the "Mat Salai" burger man that the student met, me got to talking about what me was doing in Bahrain while waiting for our flights.



Coincidentally, the student was on his way back to continue his second year medical study at the same University where "me Adek" is studying too! That got me excited as me never thought of meeting "her colleague" this far out - as it turned out, this is a normal route many Malaysian students are taking for a cheaper flight to Cairo via Bahrain or Dubai.

As to why me was there too, me told him about me mission going to meet a potential business partner in Dammam to be followed by a short visit to the holy cities of Mecca and Al-Medina Munawarrah for Umrah and Ziarah - InsyaAllah. And me is bringing along the "Mat Salai" burger man who also happens to be me Technical & Sales Manager!

As me explained to him, it was not difficult for me colleague to be both a Manager and a "Mat Salai" burger man if we love doing what we are doing. It is not because of his salary as a Manager is too low (maybe so!!...), but more importantly because of his entrepreneur spirit, no matter what we do, as long as it is "halal" and the money is good.

Me pointed out that one of the major reasons why our brethren back home are "less economically endowed" than the other sections of the community was because of the missing entrepreneur spirit in us, many of us would rather be employed than working on our own or doing anything that we considered as "less dignified" - such as selling the "Mat Salai" burger!

The other thing, which is more severe and more delicate to address is to get rid of the "Tuan" mentality. Mostly, we would shy away from those "sources of incomes" or careers that could severely undermine our status as the "Tuan" of the land - even though as "Tuan", we are nowadays often less well off than our "Subjects".

In short, me did mention to him that the change must start with us NOW if we do not want our future generations to be among those "unfortunate souls" living in their own country, where they have everything but nothing.

Yes! We need to start now and set our future course of actions along the line of doing business no matter what our vocations are - we must have that entrepreneur spirit back in our midst even if we work as a Doctor or an Engineer - more so, we must have that "Muslim" touch just to make it right.

As for meself, me told him that it has taken me nearly ten years to get where me is now - and going overseas is just the beginning of more exciting things to come..but if me didn't start ten years ago, maybe me would also be like many of our brethren back home - saddled with an economic profile that could not get us anywhere....

And on that note, me parted ways with the student and me wish him all the best in his study and hope one day he will be a great "entrepreneur" doctor himself..Ameen.

Dammam, Saudi Arabia

It is not everyday that you get to meet the Kings of Saudi Arabia, in this instance, me actually "met" with three of them in a hotel lobby in Dammam during me short visit to Saudi Arabia for a business meeting.

Me actually been to this country for quiet a number of times since me first visit back in 1991 to perform me first Umrah. However, this trip is rather different as this is the first time me been to this country, at the invitation of a potential business partner to look into possible business cooperation between our companies.

After hearing so many stories about the failures of our local companies doing business here, me now had the opportunity to assess the situation first hand. Overall, it has been a very fruitful journey and the experiences gained would undoubtedly help when come the time to make good decisions...

This is a short entry made while waiting for the train to take us back to Dammam after a whole day meeting in Riyadh. Not many will realize that this is the only train line in this country connecting Dammam and Riyadh - back and forth, a slow four hours journey to nowhere...

Sayonara Me Adek

The time has come that me have to let you go - temporarily though, for the sake of your future. No words could describe how me wish you could always be around so me could "see" you everyday. But me know that is not possible as you are no longer that "little baby" me will always fondly called "Adek".

The time has come for you to grow up as you cannot always be me little baby. The time has come for you to equip yourself with the "tools" necessary to live through this life - no matter where that tools could be found.


Bye! Bye! me Adek, it is OK, me can now accept your temporary sojourn in the far away land of the prophets and the pharaohs. It is now your duty to learn as much as possible about your chosen vocation and most importantly enrich yourself from the "sights and sounds" of the land to learn about life itself.

Your new surroundings will hopefully provide the stimulus to embark on exciting adventures where not many of your contemporaries got the chance to experience.

Consider yourself as lucky and the "Chosen One" - a torch bearer, who will not only be enlightening yourself but will also be enlightening others that you now left behind...

May your dreams be fulfilled and may your time is spent wisely and brought you closer to your Creator...Ameen.