The Reader

Interview of Professor Sayyed Naguib al-Attas by Syaikh Hamza Yusuf.

Let me share with you this video clip of the Interview of Professor Sayyed Naguib al-Attas by Syaikh Hamza Yusuf.

The Prof talked about hikma,adab and 'adl.

The books that I read and recommended for your reference are:

1.Prolegomena to The Metaphysics of Islam by Prof Sayyed Naguib al-Attas

2.Purification of The Heart by Syaikh Hamza Yusuf.

Overflow bookshelf

A few days ago,I took a few hours to re-arrange my books on my bookshelf.As I bought new books, their locations changed on the various tiers in my bookshelf.My books are placed according to my own 'caste' system.My old bookshelf as shown has five tiers-the top for philosophy,followed by general management and project management.Below the two sets of drawers, I have two tiers for fiction-good and hardcover and the lowest will be for normal fiction-soft covers.

My new bookshelf(not shown) is mainly for religious books-the top tier is for the Quran and the tafseer.The middle is for the books written by great muslim thinkers and teachers and bottom is for the ordinary religious books.

On the right, the photo shown at least 20 books on my staircase.This really irritated my wife.She has been nagging me to put the books at their proper place.I concur,my dear but I am still thinking whether to give away some of  these "overflowed" books or to get a new bookshelf.

Below is a mini-bookshelf just for my moleskine notebooks but it is located within the above shown bookshelf.It is black box for black notebooks.

Le Tour de Langkawi(LTdL)

I have been reading the sport report on LTdL for the last few days and I am looking forward to watch the final lap this Sunday(17th feb;2008) in KL.I am very happy for Anuar Manan,a Malaysian participant in LTdL who has won the second place yesterday in the 3rd lap yesterday.

During last year event,my son took this video of the race next to KLCC.This time around,I plan to take the photos and video of the event.
You are welcome to peek at the photos I took last year here.

Below is the news in Utusan Malaysia in Malay language:-

Anuar cipta kejutan LTdL -- Pelumba tempatan pertama menang perlumbaan sejak 13 tahun

Oleh HISYAMUDDIN AYUB

PELUMBA pasukan LeTua Anuar Manan mendapat tempat kedua dan menyarung jersi hijau dalam peringkat ketiga Le Tour Langkawi 2008 laluan dari Sitiawan ke penamat akhir di Banting Selangor, semalam. – Gambar MOHD. NAIM AZIZ.

BANTING – Pelumba benua tempatan, Anuar Manan berjaya mencipta kejutan dan sejarah lumba basikal negara apabila menjadi anak Malaysia pertama dinobatkan sebagai Raja Pecut serta menaiki podium sebagai pemenang kedua peringkat ke-3 perlumbaan berbasikal jelajah Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) semalam.

Peringkat ke-3 yang bermula dari Sitiawan, Perak ke Banting, Selangor itu merupakan perlumbaan paling jauh pada perlumbaan LTdL kali ini dengan jarak 209.4 kilometer.

Kemenangan Anuar yang mewakili LeTua menamatkan badi kemarau kejuaraan LTdL bagi pelumba tempatan selama 13 tahun, iaitu sejak penganjuran kejohanan itu bermula.

Selain kejayaan itu, Anuar turut diangkat sebagai naib juara keseluruhan peringkat ke-3 di belakang Jae Won Lee daripada Pasukan Berbasikal Seoul dengan catatan masa selama 4 jam, 37 minit dan 48 saat.

Anuar hanya ketinggalan 0.05 saat di belakang Won Lee dan berjaya mengalahkan 145 pelumba daripada 25 pasukan keseluruhan yang bertanding.

Pelumba Perancis, Matthieu Sprick yang mewakili pasukan Bouygues Telecom terus memegang jersi kuning yang dimenanginya sebelum ini sebagai juara keseluruhan.

Take a look in the mirror

This is a reminder to me first and to all my friends and readers who have weighty problem.It is taken from Lifehacker.The part-take a look of myself in the mirror while standing naked hit me hard on the nose or rightly on the stomach!Honestly,I did not like at all what I saw.

A few days ago,my wife and me went to a shop and bought us a weighing machine.On the first day,it registered our real weight.We accepted that but subsequently,it added 1kg per day!Now, my weight had gone up 5kg in 5 days!I am just waiting for the shop to re-open to exchange for the good working machine.

By the way,if your mirror shows that you are fat,either get a new mirror which make you look thin or go and do some exercise.The choice is yours!Below is a photo taken when I was doing my Sunday brisk walking .

Here are some pointers from Lifehack:

• Make yourself an irresistible offer. The idea of giving yourself a reward for losing weight is nothing new. However, most people choose lame rewards like a nice dinner, or a night on the town. If you want to crank up your motivation to get in shape, don’t offer yourself something that only lasts for a few hours. Promise yourself an entire weekend of frivolity, a shopping spree, or maybe even a new “toy” like a flat-screen TV, or a new dining room set. Make your reward something that you are actually willing to work for.
• Turn it into a social experience. Misery loves company, as they say, so why not get rid of your own misery with a partner who is in the same boat? You have a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, or a family member who also needs to lose weight, so grab a partner and make a solemn pact to force each other to stick to it. If you’re single, use this as an excuse to find a mate. Don’t “hide” your extra pounds when filling out an online dating profile. Put it out there for all to see that you want to drop 20 or 30 pounds. It’s guaranteed that other people are in your same situation.
• Take a good look in the mirror. When all else fails, get naked and stand in front of a full-length mirror. Take a good look from the front, turn to the side, and even turn around and look back over your shoulder at your backside. If you need to lose even 10 pounds, the mirror will be more than happy to show them to you. At least once or twice a week stand naked in front of the mirror until you start to like how your body looks from every angle.

Tazkirah sebelum solat Jumaat

Minggu lepas saya berkesempatan mengikuti satu tazkirah sebelum solat Jumaat di masjid.Disini saya perturun maksud ayat-ayat yang di baca dan oleh Tuan Guru untuk renungan dan peringatan bersama:-

[46:15] Dan Kami wajibkan manusia berbuat baik kepada kedua ibu bapanya; ibunya telah mengandungnya dengan menanggung susah payah dan telah melahirkannya dengan menanggung susah payah. Sedang tempoh mengandungnya berserta dengan tempoh menceraikan susunya ialah dalam masa tiga puluh bulan. Setelah dia besar sampai ke peringkat dewasa yang sempurna kekuatannya dan sampai ke peringkat umur empat puluh tahun, berdoalah dia dengan berkata: Wahai Tuhanku, ilhamkanlah daku supaya tetap bersyukur akan nikmatmu yang engkau kurniakan kepadaku dan kepada ibu bapaku dan supaya aku tetap mengerjakan amal soleh yang Engkau redai; dan jadikanlah sifat-sifat kebaikan meresap masuk ke dalam jiwa zuriat keturunanku. Sesungguhnya aku bertaubat kepadamu dan sesungguhnya aku dari orang-orang Islam (yang tunduk patuh kepadamu).

[46:16] Mereka (yang bersifat dengan sifat-sifat yang terpuji seperti itu) ialah orang-orang yang Kami terima dari mereka amalnya yang baik yang mereka telah kerjakan dan Kami ampunkan kesalahan-kesalahannya; (mereka akan dimasukkan) dalam kumpulan ahli Syurga, sebagai memenuhi janji yang benar, yang telah dijanjikan kepada mereka.

Dan beliau juga ada berpesan supaya kita sentiasa merendah diri.Sifat ini akan membantu kita untuk menambah ilmu kita yang amat-amat sedikit.Sama-samalah kita meneruskan usaha menambah ilmu supaya kita makin hampir setiap hari kepada Allah swt:

[2:32] Malaikat itu menjawab: Maha suci Engkau (Ya Allah)! Kami tidak mempunyai pengetahuan selain dari apa yang Engkau ajarkan kepada kami; sesungguhnya Engkau jualah Yang Maha Mengetahui, lagi Maha Bijaksana.

I was blinded...

On the reaching the t-junction joining the main road to Bulatan Kg Pandan,I stopped to let all the vehicles from my right to pass through and waited for the traffic light located about 50metres my right to  turn red.Then I can safely join the main road with ease.When I saw all the cars stopped,I released my brake to move forward.Suddenly, a motor-cycle just flew right in front of me! I could not see at all that he was coming..

I applied my brake immediately,looked again on my right and moved forward. This is my second lesson that no matter what is the colour of the traffic light, some Malaysian motor-cyclists donot bother to stop.I did not see the d#*&% motor-cycle coming because the sun was too bright and it created some blind spots on my right.

Lessons learnt:

1. Beware of motor-cyclists all the time.

2. Bright light produces glare that blinds us or creates some blind spots that we cannot see.Bright light can take many modes of existence like our greed,ignorance,desire,hatred etc that could seduce or induce us to make the wrong decisions;hence the wrong actions that we may regret later.

Gong XI FA CAI

Bangsar ViIIage
Originally uploaded by Adibi

To all Chinese readers and visitors to my blog,may I wish you and your family a HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.To fellow Malaysians travelling on the roads,drive carefully and be safe.

My family and I will be taking a quiet holiday(hopefully) in KL when all our kids are back home and I hope to take some time reading some books...

Strawberry Jam Tart

  Jam Tart 
  Originally uploaded by Adibi

My wife loves to keep nice looking cookies in her nice looking cookies jars.But I am more interested to enjoy eating the cookies as shown in the photo on the right.

Today,I was 'forced' to be a food photographer on The Order and Appointment by  Her Majesty The Queen of my house.I reluctantly obeyed her command and was  well rewarded by the her grace to allow me to have two pieces of strawberry jam tarts.By the way,these lovely and tasty cookies  were brought down from Cameron Highland by friend Hasni.

Book: Norwegian Wood

My first encounter with Japanese author was when I read the novel The Remains of The Day.And I love it,especially the language used by the butler!

Some time ago, a friend recommended me to read  a book by Haruki Murakami but only today I have the courage to buy the novel Norwegian Wood.According to Shirley at The Times Bookshop, this novel made Murakami famous and he had to leave Japan because of that!

Talking about books(which I really enjoy very much),I just finished reading a book entitled Islam at The Crossroads written by Muhammad Asad( revised 1982).By the way, this is not a new book;it was first published in 1934.It was meant  for the muslim youths of those days and I think the issue brought forth had not been properly addressed/resolved by the  muslim grandfathers of today.

FT Day

Today is a public holiday for us the residents of Kuala Lumpur,aka as KL.I shall take leave from my usual tazkirah like every Friday and I will write a little bit  of my life- 25 years of living in KL.

I was transfered to KL in January,1983 to JKR HQ from my previous posting as JKR District Engineer of JKR Kota Setar/Padang Terap,Kedah.I was allocated a big bungalow no: 54,Jalan U Thant,next to Jalan Pegawai (the nearest landmark now is GE Mall shopping complex and The Raintree Club).During that time,it took me only 15 minutes to go to my office. There was not much traffic then.For the information of the younger generation, Kg Pandan Roundabout was just a basic roundabout then-no traffic light.When I travelled to my office  JKR HQ located at Jalan Mahameru(next to Bank Negara), I did not have to go through any traffic lights and yet I only took 15 minutes to my office. Sometimes I did go home for lunch.In fact, in those days,I often went home during lunch time to assist my wife who had to look after two young boys(now they are working executives).

Over the last quarter of a century,KL has undergone tremendous changes-some for the better and some for the worse! My personal 'icon' as a physical change indicator is Bulatan Kg Pandan.(BKP). BKP has undergone many changes over the years.From just a simple roundabout,then later with a few traffic lights  installed. Later ( I can't remember the date), we have an elevated highway from Jalan Sg Besi to KL city centre(early 90's?).A few months ago,we had billion ringgit SMART Tunnel and lately KL Putrajaya Expressway was connected to it.And in the next few months or sooner,another elevated highway will connect the road from Pandan Jaya to the city centre (next to Berjaya Times Square).BKP has not reached the stage to be called a Spaghetti Junction yet ,but how about Persimpangan Mee Rebus;-) It is interesting for me,at least, to use this BKP as a yardstick to measure how the change has taken place during the last 25 years of my life living in the City of Lights,my KL!

My first shopping experience of a great shopping complex then was Ampang Park!(please don't laugh).It is nearest to my house and there were not many shopping complexes then  as they are today. Nowadays,all of us are spoilt for choice! The only problems of not going to the big shopping complexes are time,money and traffic jams;-)

My first job was a structural design engineer at Education Work Branch in JKR HQ- way back in July,1976![we still use tee-square to draw/computer speed was then 3.KB/sec) One thing I remember until today is that I always took a BMW to work-chauffeured driven. How nice it was!I could go any where with a payment of just 40sen or 60sen(can't remember-too long ago).By the way ,BMW was not a luxury car that I can't afford.It was a Bas Mini Wilayah.A new engineer was paid then RM750 per month but my lunch cost me only RM1.50 and I remember buying my first brand new car Gallant Sigma 1600 cc for RM13,500!Those were the good old days..

I think my posting today is getting too long...How could I compress 25 years in a day's posting? May be I talk about it later and called this as part 1(FT Day).To KL residents,may I wish you a Happy Hari Wilayah.

Notes on the photo:

1.It is a snapshot from my notebook about the x-section of the SMART Tunnel and the the Box girder elevated highway.

2.The second photo shows how KLCC looks like when I got stuck in a traffic jam at Bulatan Kg Pandan Roundabout.