The Reader

Story books

Story books
Originally uploaded by Adibi.

After my morning walk and breakfast today,I dropped by at a bookshop and spent about RM100 for these lovely books.The books are entitled I Am a Pencil and My Name is Red.To balance my budget,I will refrain from eating outside for two weeks.

I plan to read the two books in August.By the way,what are you reading?

Reading is cool;-)

On notebook..

Some writers are very passionate about their notebooks:

"I never travel without my notebook. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."
~ Oscar Wilde


"Sitting on a wine barrel, facing the sea, in the far south, I make notes in an authentic moleskine, a museum piece which Bruce gave me especially for this trip..."
~ Luis Sepulveda
 

"At the Closerie des Lilas I sat in a corner with the afternoon light coming in over my shoulder and wrote in my notebook. The waiter brought me a café crème."
  ~Ernest Hemingway

I am not a writer, but I also love to write some notes in my notebook:

"At the Discovercafe along Jalan Kampung Pandan,I sat in one corner enjoying my kopi kaw with roti bakar and wrote in moleskine notebook".
~Mohd Adib Noh

Excerpt from my notebook:

Yesterday,I was caught in the demonstration and the heavy rain while on the way to see my friend who lives in UK but on a holiday here.The family stays at Mandarin Hotel next to KLCC.My wife told me not to go KLCC because she heard that a demostration will take place after solat Jumaat. I told her not to worry;I knew my way around. I planned to go via Jalan Kia Peng and my son will drop me at the entrance of KL Convention Centre.

When I arrived near KL Convention Centre, I saw thousands of demonstrators were crossing the roads.Then my son dropped me near the entrance but I was told by the police men that I could not use the entry for security reasons-the foreign ministers were having their meeting.Then it suddenly rained cats and dogs. I had to take refuge for 45 minutes under the 'pondok jaga'. During the period, I saw demonstrators expressing their anger at Israel and USA.

When the rain subsided, I took the RapidKL bus to KLCC via Jalan Tun Razak. But the bus did not go to KLCC but it was going to Maluri.I was lucky the bus route took me to a bus stop in front of PNB along Jalan Tun Razak. There, I saw a few thousands people demonstrating in front of US embassy. From there I had to walk in the rain to Ampang Point Putra station and took the train to KLCC. I was one and the half hours late but I managed to see my friend and we had kerepuk lekur at Aseana Cafe.

This is the longest journey to KLCC from my house and my modes of transport included car,bus,walking in the rain and the train.I returned home  with a taxi and missed a meeting with my fellow GC of PMIMY.

On arrival at home,my wife asked how was my day.I told her that I had a very interesting day.It was fun walking in the rain....

Belajarlah agama...

"Belajarlah agama..".(Learn the religion). These are some of the parting words of the late Princess Tengku Puteri Kamariah who passed away recently from the wounds inflicted by her own son who was 'high' on drug.A similar incident happened in Kelantan a few months ago.

Her wise words touched deep into my heart,because not many of us really understand the meaning of the word 'belajarlah agama..'. Translated literally we can say 'belajarlah agama..' is "go and and learn religion".Misusage of drugs is haram for all muslims/muslimahs. How could then we are now having  thousands of muslims children /youngsters are drug addicts and more than 75 % of the drug rehabilitation centres detainees are muslims/muslimahs?

Next Question:

What effects do our Islamic education in schools have on our children? Most of the teachers completed the syllabus and the children passed their exam???

In discussing about muslim education in general, my guru Dr Hashim Minhat said that  we only succeeded in the transfer of the information of knowledge, but we failed in its tarbiyah and 'penghayatan ilmu agama'.IMHO, the teachers and the parents are jointly and severally responsible and accountable.

When it come learning our religion,we as adults also need to allocate some of our time to learn our religion.Even after I graduated from university and have been working for the last 30 years, my knowledge on Islam  is very little and I am still learning...and not to mention the amalan part.

By the way,what lessons can you learn from this incident? And what are you going to do about it?

Circles of prayers

For muslims/muslimahs,this is the only place on the planet earth that they can pray in cirlces because The Kaabah is right in front of their eyes. For those who have been there,it is always our dreams to perform our solat close to Baitullah,right in the centre of Masjidil Haram.

I took this photo during my recent trip and post it here as 'penawar rindu' to those  who have been there and always look forward to be there again and again...

Ulam

  Ulam 
  Originally uploaded by Adibi.

Since a fortnight a go, I took the doctor's advice to eat less   oily and santan-based food for the sake of my health.One of the things my dear wife did is to have more 'ulam'  dishes on the table.One of my favourite is sayur pucuk paku as shown on the far left in the photo.Second is the ulam raja and the pegaga. I also love petai, but the smell is another story...

By the way,let's welcome the month of Rejab today.To those who fast today,may Allah's rahmah shower upon you and your family,insyaAllah.

Text to graphics

  Graphical literal interpretation of ayat 35 Surah An-Nur 
  Originally uploaded by Adibi.

Lengthy description of a thing or a location or concept or a parable can be easily understood if we could transform what we understand from the text to a graphic representation.Here is one example as shown in the photo. For the tafseer of the ayat 35 of Surah An-Nur, I refer to Ibn Katheer.

I donot know how the mind really works, but I remember/understand  better from grahical illustration than from descriptive text.When it comes to locate a place, nothing beats the old map!

Taking notes..

  Mindmap of PIP 
  Originally uploaded by Adibi.

Last Saturday,I gave a short introduction to a subject on People in Project  Management at IKRAM. At the end of the talk,we have a class work on roles and responsibility of project manager.When I went around,one particpant was referring to his notes made using Tony Buzan's Mind Mapping.

From a study,85% of those who DONOT take notes while listening to a lecture or talk, will forget in a matter of days.I observe that a lot of people who attended kuliyyah agama are not taking notes. At our surau,only less than ten percent of the attendees bring books and pens. They are are just listeners and not learners.

So,do take notes if we really want to learn something.

I am pleased to remind you(muslims/muslimahs) and me that the 1st Rejab falls on 26th July,2006.Please take note of it. As an exercise to inculcate the culture of taking notes,please go and get a notebook/diary/PDA and a pen. Then write down the date and create a TODO list of what you are going to do to get closer to Allah swt /earn the pleasure of Allah swt during this blessed month of Rejab.

Underpass congestion

Underpass congestion
Originally uploaded by Adibi.

During peak period, every road is full of vehicles. The elevated highways and tunnels are no help at all. The best is to stay put wherever you are and wait for the traffic to subside.

My normal travel time to KLCC from my house is about 15minutes.But when it rains,the time taken is almost one hour. I learnt that rain is a damping factor in traffic flows because people will reduce their vehicular speed and some streches of roads also get flooded.

The photo shows the tunnel from KLCC as it emerges in front of US embaasy.By the way,the walls of the tunnels were well decorated.

I love yellow water-melon

  I love yellow water-melon 
  Originally uploaded by Adibi.

I love to eat water-melon,especially the yellow one.May it is the colour.

My kampung is beris area - a sandy strip of land a few kilometres from the beach.The geomorphology is suitable to grow water-melon. Until today, my mother still eat rice with water melon as ulam cum dessert - all in one. I tried and I like it.

During my naughty days as young boys in the kampung, we got the thrills in eating someone's water melon in the fields when the owners were not around;-) I hope they will forgive us because we were not 'baligh' yet.

Forbidden fruits always taste better...

As responsible adults,we should shun away from "all forbidden fruits" no matter how tasty they are. Have a good weekend and eat more fruits.

Missing in Amalan

Last week our Ustaz Haji Halim mentioned about an Arabic saying:

Qur'an was revealed in Makkah, recited very well by the Egyptians,was written in Turkey and intellectually discussed in India.

A friend seated next to me whispered:Where is Qur'anic teachings being practised by the ummah?I whispered back: You ask the Ustaz.

Let me qoute these ayats from Surah al-Baqarah:-

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

[1] Alif Lam Mim. [2] This is the book; in it is guidance, sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah; [3] Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them; [4] And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter. [5] They are on (true guidance), from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper.

Just ask ourselves,do we refer to the Qur'an as our Guide in living our everyday lives? Do our deeds so far demonstrated that we really believe in the Qur'an as mentioned in the ayats above? It is not easy to live by The Book, but all of us must try harder....

Rejab-the month of Allah is a few days away. Let's welcome by fasting a few days beginning 26th July,2006

Here is an  audio link to an Introduction to Ulum Qur'an.