A night with Murabbi

 Assalamua'laikum, this week is rather productive. I was trully blessed by Allah SWT to be given a chance to listen to a murabbi from Ikhwanul Muslimin, Prof. Dr Hesham Mohamed Sakr. His speech shows his rich knowledge in da'wah and I'm glad that Allah has ease my way to Monash Uni, JB that night. Alhamdulillah..Alhamdulillah, All praises are to Him. The title of the talk ' Peranan gerakan Islam dalam perubahan..somthing-something' (oh yes, I forgot the title) however he only touched on that thing that happens in Egypt, Yaman,Libya and so on for less than one minutes.

He told us the title just serves as a bait (not exactly the words I'm writing). but that how it is. This talk was about getting to the basic of UNDERSTANDING ISLAM. What is ISLAM? ask yourself.

So our role amidst the revolution happenings in the world, including the one we have in Malaysia (see: BERSIH) , is to make people understand Islam . not mixing Islam with other religion. understand Islam as the way of LIFE. not only in the house, not only in the mosque, not only on the sejadah, not only in politics, but SYUMUL (complete, sufficient,efficient).

Prof hesham is a very straight foward person, he doesn't hide any fact that could have been a sensitive issue to politician or the Malaysian people, and even ISMA's leaders. I can't elobrate more than this - I'm not sure if I could summaries all that I got that night into simple words...

so I chow first!

Wsalam

Reflection in Action

It's 2 am in the morning, and I'm having my writing in 5th gear. Why procrastinate when u can do it now?

Yesterday I had a discussion with fellow lecturers about my PHD topic, and this came out

REFLECTION-IN-ACTION (RIA)

Reflection-in-action is defined by Schon as the ability of professionals to 'think what they are doing it'(source)

Architecture students (and architects, or designers) always do RIA when designing. When they draw a plan, they will think, "Oh I must have stairs here", "the window should be here so you can see the view","it will be difficult to walk if I put the wall here" and so on ( I guess this is why architecture students couldn't finish their drawing for every class). They practice this every time they're designing which is why they have to learn about culture, history other than structure and graphic. It's because architect always (and should have) put themselves in others' shoes.

 RIA is not only practiced by designers, but also parents, teachers, and the most important, a skill that EVERY MUSLIM SHOULD HAVE. 

that's why we have something like these in our culture:

"Ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus"

"Paku dulang, paku serpih, mengata org..."

" Cikgu kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari'

aaa...oopps, although all of the above have negative notions; i couldn't think about positive one right now, this show that our culture don't have much RIA. haha, bzzzt! (let's learn from mistakes).

We should think about our actions - every single bit of them.

"21:47 We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account."

”Kami akan memasang timbangan yang tepat pada hari kiamat, maka tiadalah dirugikan seseorang barang sedikit pun. Dan jika (amalan itu) hanya seberat biji sawi pun pasti Kami mendatangkan (pahala) nya. Dan cukuplah Kami sebagai Pembuat perhitungan.” (Anbiya, 47)

RIA would be translated as hisab (calculating) and driven by Iman and taqwa.

Meaning of Taqwa

The root meaning of Taqwa is to avoid what one dislikes. It was reported that `Umar bin Al-Khattab asked Ubayy bin Ka`b about Taqwa. Ubayy said, "Have you ever walked on a path that has thorns on it'' `Umar said, "Yes.'' Ubayy said, "What did you do then'' He said, "I rolled up my sleeves and struggled.'' Ubayy said, "That is Taqwa.' 


Academician just started to research on Reflection-in-Action, but we are doing it to keep our eeman in checked. So put RIA in our daily life. Ask yourself what will you get from your action in this world and the hereafter. "If I do this maksiat, it will be shameless of me to ask Allah for something" "If I help my mother, not only she will be glad, Allah will reward me as well" " If i practice fasting in Shaaban, it will be 'kacang' to puasa in Ramadhan, dapat pahala lagi" Oh yeah guys, Ramadhan is around the corner. See you next time

Permenant Head Damage ?

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim

Alhamdulillah, nearing the end of my contract of my first job - I wonder why didn't I do practical training during my student years; oh, my parents forced asked me to be the stand-in maid during my 3 months summer breaks. But what's done is done. Let Bygone be bygone. (Bygone is also a mosquito spray brand). No use of regretting how you spent your time in the  past. Just work for a better today and tomorrow.

So getting to the present. While working as a research officer in KALAM,  I've got in touch with many knowledgeable individuals in architecture realm. I'm having different thought on history of architecture now (why just now?!). After I spent 5 years of architectural studies, I decided that being an architect is not my thing. being an architect means you won't be your own boss for the next 10 years after graduating. I'm not that patient to wait for the time I'm my own boss. i also realize that I'm a 'teacher' person rather than a 'professional' person. I can teach people to get better, but I'm always incapable to get the best out of myself (or it's just due to my procrastination and laziness self).

So people, I'm going to further my study to PHD. In hoping to become a lecturer, with the idea of re-positioning from KRIM to PEMBINA in 5 years time insyaAllah (although I might be sent to WANITA section at that time, haha) So PRAY FOR ME, DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. 

The topic? I've got lots of topic in mind that I feel I wanna do. Can I do 3 PHDs? - of course not at the same time. I haven't done any serious reading for so long and the color of my Master result was not really flying :P . So it won't be a smooth ride. So again PRAY FOR ME, DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. 

Okay, this is a reminder for me actually; topics in discussion:

1. How to implement architectural heritage/traditional architecture to contemporary design? [tag: design, design formula]

2. Teaching History in Architectural Course/Studio? [tag:education, history]

3. How to implement the values of traditional village into modern housing estates? [tag: design, urban,planning, housing]

Ya Allah, please guide me to the straight path. 

So, if you have any comment/idea about which topic should I do, it is most welcome.

random update

Assalamua'laikum,

punye la lama balik msia, sekarang baru nak update... uh, myb org da tak bertandang pon ke blog ni, sbb tak ade ape2 update...

sekarang (selasa, 2hb feb, jam 3.30) xde perasaan apa2, da 4 hari hujan berturut2, tangki air yg biasanya hijau da jadi jernih sbb 4 hari punya air takungan (ape bende la nk tulis bende ni kan?) 

telepon ummi mlm td (bukan ibu kandung) katenye selamat lg. Kota Tinggi da tak tinggi dah...tu yg risau. Pakcik makcik yg dok kat Amping Barat harap2 selamat lah, tp diorg dok atas bukit, so okay la kot. cume myb terputus hubungan jalan darat. nak beli helikopter sy xmampu lagi... 

after  500KEMM sabtu lepas, diri ini menjadi lebih rajin. mungkin sbb nak jadi MELAYU yg hebat, bukan me-layu yg org selalu suakan...ya, takkan melayu hilang di dunia, takkan Islam hilang di hati ...insyaAllah.

so nak share lah video ni..dengarkan dan renung2kan

I know I have to move on, coz if I'm not, I'm the one who'll get left behind...