The message is conveyed in so many different ways by so many different people

Kadang-kadang kita tahu sesetengah ' wisdom' atau perkara yang berkemampuan mencegah diri daripada terjebak dengan perkara-perkara negatif seperti kesedihan, kelalaian, ketidaksyukuran, kecenderungan mengeluh dan sebagainya, tetapi semua itu tidak membawa kesan kepada jiwa.. Ia tahu yang sekadar tahu. Tahu di minda, tetapi di jiwa tidak.
Pelik, untuk faham semua ini memerlukan orang-orang lain (tidak kira siapa jua mereka) memberitahu kita dengan cara dan perkataan mereka sendiri. Baru berkesan untuk jiwa. (sayalah, anda saya tak pasti)..

Salam Maal Hijrah!

The Lost Symbol

I am always excited about Dan Brown and at school, my colleague and I like to use some of his ideas for our English treasure hunt! It's crazy and mind-boggling to the students who are not familiar with Dan Brown or anything which has got to do with breaking code and symbol but it has impacts on them and it can be seen on their excited faces after breaking the code that we made for the game! Ok. So, let's begin the review.

I was so full of enthusiasm upon knowing that Dan Brown will write about Freemasonry on his fifth novel, The Lost Symbol (plus it features Robert Langdon! I admire him so much). I've read some comments and reviews which are of the opinion that this latest novel is not as exciting as his previous ones, you know the ones which feature Robert Langdon in it namely The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, but still it is the best novel that I've read this year and it is indeed unputdownable! I spent a day and half reading the whole novel for it is so exciting and the fact that it gives details about Masons intrigued me more.

The story is set in Washington DC, not as ancient as Rome and Paris (where the previous two novels are set) but it provides enough architecture which lies hidden meaning and symbols for a novel to be so 'Dan Brown'. The story starts when a prominent Mason, Peter Solomon is kidnapped, causing the involvement of the CIA (for it is a matter of national security) and as usual, this famous Harvard Professor aka Symbologist Robert Langdon, is forced by the antagonist, Mal'akh to be in the game in order for him to save Solomon, who is also his best buddy. So Robert Langdon using his expertise in Symbology follow the track/path which uncover the secret of Freemasonry. Meanwhile, Peter Solomon also has a sister named Katherine Solomon, a scientist in the field of Noetic Science. Just like TDVC and A&D, Langdon will have a female companion who is brilliant and gorgoues along his journey seeking the truth and as you might have guessed it, Katherine Solomon is the girl.

What makes Dan Brown special is his ability to infuse fiction with facts. So, for the first time in my life I learnt about what Noetic Science is. It is a field which studies about human intuition and its relation with matter. It is believed that our intuition can change the material world. For example, in this novel, it is said that the 911 tragedy, which has caused grief and sadness worldwide affects the. Why it takes a large population of people to cause such change? It is because of the fact that human intuition has mass. So more mass, more affect that our intuition has towards matter. I was also taken aback by an experiment conducted by Katherine in the novel which is done to prove that human soul has mass. The experiement weighs someone who is dying. It shows the weight of the person when he is alive, is different seconds after he said goodbye to the world. A shocking discovery but I am of the thinking that this will provide a solid ground to prove the existence of something that our naked eyes cannot see e.g. the hereafter, GOD.
This also reminds me of Rene Descartes' I think, therefore I am.'

Back to Freemasonry as revealed by Brown, you might be thinking that Brown's perspective on them will as skeptical as most of us are, but it is not. He actually shows the positive side of the secret society (excluding the rituals) but I guess it will not be enough for me to change my perception on Mason. Actually it is a call for invitation to discover the truth about this society. I will find out more about them insya-Allah. FYI, most of the State's former presidents are Masons except for Robert Nixon & JFK (I am not sure about Obama, anyone knows? please tell me). In this novel you will learn more about the philosophy behind this organisation and perhaps you may find it conflicting with your belief e.g. APOTHEOSIS. I am of the view that we have no power to be elevated to the rank of God for God is not what we think He is, but we are just given power which outrank us among all creatures in this world. We are given the brain which enables us to fly, to invent technology which makes our lives easier but what makes us different than the creator is our capability is limited. And it is worth to note that Mason is not a religion. It is an organisation which comprises of people from many different faiths e.g Islam, Christians, Judaism etc.

Lastly, the novel also mentions about the Lost Word which is actually refers to the Holy Scriptures (the Holy Koran, the Holy Bible, the Masonic bible, the Torah, Veda, etc). These holy scriptures are the lost wisdom which can create miracles as history has shown. It reminds me of the ulul-albab (the thinking group who understands God's wisdom) mentioned in the Quran. Only such people can come up with scientific discoveries by studying the Holy Books.

So, I think the book is worth-reading just like all of Dan Brown's novels. It will enlighten you more about something going on in this world that we do not know. We don't want to be ignorant, don't we?

"To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books."- The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Kerja waktu cuti

I envy those who can speak more than 2 languages. Most Malaysian who are not Malay are trilingual. Jeles. To me being a bilingual is not enough. I should know at least three languages. So, I hope I will have enough time and courage to sharpen my arabic. I have a Pak Arab teaching arabic at my school and many other teachers who can speak Arabic very well. So I hope they will be of a great help.

Why need to be a multilingual.

Research has shown that those who know many languages are more intelligent as they have many different perspectives resulting frm learning the different languages. Not only that, a multilingual is more creative and has more advantages when it comes to job opportunity.
And of course people will respect you more when you are proficient in many languages.

So, I think I'm going to start the lesson through learning Arabic from the Holy Koran translation. Bye!

Prison Break

I must, by all means free myself from this prison as described by this man who came up with theories without any experiment. Well, imagination is more important than knowledge, rite?

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein

Sekali-sekala bicara soal cinta

Sekali-sekala bicara soal cinta. Kegemaranku menatap profile Paolo Coehlo di facebook gara-gara qoutenya yang begitu bernas sekali. Bukan suatu yang menghairankan kerana beliau antara Peng'tweet' paling popular di dunia kala ini. Tiada niat untuk bercerita lebih lanjut tentang siapa beliau, semua sudah kenal ku kira cuma mahu berkongsi ini

"In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person."

Agak sahih juga kenyataan itu. Pokoknya kita kadangkala tidak dapat membezakan antara kedua-duanya. Jadi, tepuk dada tanya iman. Yang benar itu datangnya dari Yang Benar juga.

Semalam lepas aku tertengok filem klasik P.Ramlee, Ibu Mertuaku yang terbit tahun 1962. Tidak dapat menahan godaan yang terbit dari kebosanan selepas berjam-jam menelaah sebijik buka, aku tengok juga sampai habis. Terlalu tragis dan sedih sampai mengalir air mata tangisku terutamanya saat Tan Sri P Ramlee mendendangkan 'Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti'. Seriau pun ada tapi aku cukup pasti lagu, lirik dan nyanyian itu memang tulus datang dari hati yang menanggung penderitaan (google kisah hidup P Ramlee kalau rasa ingin tahu anda tinggi!)..
Terlalu menikam perasaan lagu tersebut sampai aku rasa tidak patut kita menyalahkan mereka yang menangisi kehilangan...

Hendak ku nangis Tiada berair mata Hendak ku senyum Tiada siapa nak teman Kalaulah nasib Sudah tersurat Begini hebat Apa nak buat . Di mana kan ku cari ganti Serupa denganmu Tak sanggup ku berpisah Dan berhati patah Hidup gelisah . Alangkah pedih rasa hati Selama kau pergi Tinggalku sendirian Tiada berteman Dalam kesepian . Dunia terang menjadi gelita Cahaya indah tiada berguna Keluhan hatiku Menambah derita Tetap kau jua Tak kunjung jelma . Dimana kan ku cari ganti Mungkinkah di syurga Untuk kawan berduka Menangis bersama Selama-lama

Sekian

The most difficult profession

Just face it! Teaching profession can at times make you feel so not good about yourself. All my life I dream of being a great person.. Someone great benefits a great amount of people whose presence is of an utmost importance but the truth is I feel so not good about myself when I see my students display insignificant improvement in terms of their academic and attitude..

I just wish that those doctors and engineers friends of mine could see the reason why they shouldn't say that being a teacher is easy. It is indeed the most difficult profession. I'd rather choose writing a book than teaching these kids if I want to have an easy and less complicated life.

Scholars are supposed to make the world better

A debate on how irrelevant the ranking of the universities in terms of their contribution to the world, especially those living in the third world countries brings me to the attention of the truth that education should not be regarded with such a high esteem if it does not affect the condition of the people at large. 95% of the top universities listed are from the countries whom their citizens enjoy more than what they need. This is unfair when other human-beings on the planet are still struggling to even have basic necessities in life like water and food.

How possibly could something like this happened? Knowledge, by nature are supposed to make life's easier. It is supposed to improve lives of not only people at certain countries but also the world as a whole. Knowledge is supposed to empower people. It's true but saddening to know that it is just merely a tool to dominate other people. It might only be used as a medium of oppression. It is exploited as a mean to gain control over those who have nothing. It is only to enrich other already rich people. A case of the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer.

What is the purpose of having so many scholars in many different fields when we still have kids in Africa suffering from malnutrition and the Palestinians whom Barack Obama once regarded (while he wasn't the President) as the most suffering people on Earth, still fighting for their right to have their land back.

Above all, maybe there is something that we can learn. Knowledge is powerful and this stresses the fact that it is of pivotal importance for our nation to be equipped with as many knowledge as possible to flourish. And we can be a kind nation by utilising what we have (knowledge) to create a world where everything is just. It might sound impossible but indeed it is if these powerful tools are possessed by those who are sincere and do everything for the right reasons.


[i think with regards to this matter, people will blame politics first because it might be the root of the problem]

Platonic Love

How I miss the chance the write regularly just like I used to do..
My life has been fantastic but I do miss the old times, the times where I had all the time in the world to write and to read as much as I can.. Those years were the time that I think I tried the very best I can to develop my mind.. to improve the way I see things and to change my perspectives about a lot of things..
Now, I don't really have enough time to dwell on books, on writing but still I have a reason to smile because of the time spent nourishing relationships with my beloved students.. and I realise this is the moment where I am more in touch with the real world..the opportunity to make a difference in the students' lives.. it's a blessing to see them change from day to day.. and to change them definitely needs you to think and ponder a lot. Hence, this is the process for you to develop yourself. Maybe the environment is not the same anymore as you don't have much access to lots of things but believe me, writing 'people' is much harder and difficult thing to do but it is at the same time exciting. And being emotionally engaged with the students keeps me going...

Nilai saya sebagai seorang manusia terhakis apabila saya melupakan Tuhan.

On Everyone

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Bron

WE CAN’T ALWAYS BUILD THE FUTURE FOR OUR YOUTH BUT WE CAN BUILD THE YOUTH FOR THE FUTURE

Other speech that I wrote for a speech comp

WE CAN’T ALWAYS BUILD THE FUTURE FOR OUR YOUTH BUT WE CAN BUILD THE YOUTH FOR THE FUTURE

Youth is always referred as a group of people who is rebellious, problematic and immature. When we mentioned unhealthy activities such as mat rempit, drug addicts and many more, teenagers will always be the first group to be associated with those crimes. Is this right? Why is it teenagers always to be the group to be perceived with such pessimism? I know you have the answer. But I believe we also have a group of adolescent who are free from such activity and they are the teenagers who will bring sunshine to the nation in the future.
This tendency to relate youth with these negative perceptions stem from the fact that many people are quite worried about the future. A wise man once said, if you want to see how a nation will look like in the future, you must look at its young people. It’s true that we can prepare amazing and fantastic things for the future of our youth but it means nothing at all if we neglect the youth in terms of their manners, beliefs and attitude. Building the future means you need to build the youth as well because it takes years or decades to build something but to destroy it only requires seconds. Therefore, this valuable asset called youth must be taken care of in order to guarantee a better future.

My dear friends,
To open up your eyes, I want to share with you the statistic of young people of the world today. It is quite a surprise to know that 80% of the Middle East population comprises of the youth. The increasing number of Arabic youth somehow does not tally with the number of youth in Western countries. In Europe, majority of its people are above 40 years old. This is somehow quite a worrying scenario for people in the West because they need more young people for their future. A political scientist, Sam Huntington, said the world is about to witness the clash of civilization between the West Civilization and Islamic Civilization. This phenomenon has also got to do with the fact that the number of youth in the Islamic nations is increasing. These are the youths who will shape the future of the nation and the world. And logically, when our nations have more youths now than the other nation, it is not possible that we can be one of the powerful nations in the world!
However, do numbers matter? To a certain extent, yes, it is. But we can’t deny that quality can win over quantity. This stresses the importance of building the youth. Abu Bakar As-Siddiq once asked on what was his dream said, ‘ I want to have more youths to be moulded.’ Why he asked for more youths instead of asking for more experienced old people? If we ponder about this we will realize that this great companion’s longing for young people was because of the fact he thought for a long term benefit. Youth needs to be educated because they are the ones who will influence the future. Besides, young people are strong and energetic and we should not let youth to waste their energy for something unbeneficial but instead youth needs to be encouraged to learn as many as they can. Being young means we have greater capacity to absorb and learn things. You must remember that in youth we learn and in age we understand! As all of you here are youth you must prepare yourself by learning in order to survive the future!

My dear friends,
You are the greatest asset that the nation has! Are you aware of this fact? The urge to develop the youth of the future is so great that the government has set up the “Program Latihan Khidmat Negara.’ Millions is spent every year for this programme and this shows how valuable you are to the country! However, developing a youth like you will result to nothing at all if you don’t have the will to change. I know many youth has this belief that being young means being free. Be free doing what? To be free to do anything that pleases you even though it means your own self-destruction! I’m not sure until how long today’s youth needs to hold to such hedonistic beliefs but I believe in what Nietzsche said that “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently”. It seems that many youth has the same thinking that being young means you don’t have to think about serious things. My friends, the youth of the nations, think differently by believing that you should not substitute your intelligence with unworthy experience. You must use your young age with the intention to develop your mind for the future, not merely to satisfy your own desire for the sake of entertaining yourself. Youth must learn as much as they can before it is too late.

Ladies and gentleman,
The world is getting more complicated each day. So, we can’t really imagine how the future will turn out to be. This makes it rather impossible to predict the future and that is why we can’t really prepare the future for the youth but we can prepare the youth to face the future. We are living in the world where anything can happen without prior notice. Therefore, I would like to encourage everyone especially teenagers to use time wisely in preparing themselves for the future which is full of challenges and impossibility. This is how you can help yourself, your country and your religion. The late John F.Kennedy once said this famous quote in his speech, ‘Don’t ask what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.

We can build our youth for the future

Writing on developing youth for a speech competition, can't help but think how 'lucky' i am.. One of the greatest companions once said it takes 10 youth to change to world as long as they are given proper education.. and here i am living with 500+ youths.. perhaps i can actually rock the galaxy.. but it seems i haven't done much.

We can't change our life

No matter what you have to endure or experience in your life, you have to accept the fact that,

Life can't be changed but you can change your attitude towards life.

A Nation that Reads is a Successful Nation

It's been a long time I haven't posted anything on this blog. Reason? Simple, I don't have time just like all of my rakan seperjuangan. It's all about work and work now. So, I will post the speech that I wrote for my student for a speech competition.

_____________________________________________________________________

Assalamualaikum and a very good morning to the chairperson, judges, teachers and students. Today, I will present on an interesting topic ‘The Nation that reads is a successful nation.’ When we mention nation we will straight away relate to us being a Malaysian nation. In fact, we have more than 80 nations in the world and it couldn’t be agreed more that Muslim also makes up one nation. Well, it is undeniable that reading can lead to a successful nation. Looking at the perspective of Islam, we can’t help but remember the fact that the first revelation granted to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is ‘Iqra’ which means ‘Read’. This in itself helps to explain why reading has such an amazing power to the change of the nation because it’s the Almighty God who asks us to read! God doesn’t merely encourage us to read but He also orders us to read! Therefore, there must be some reason why one can be successful by reading.

So how reading can lead to a successful nation? Let us together examine this more in depth. So we have to look at history for history is the greatest teacher and those who don’t learn from history are prone to repeat the same mistakes. I’d like to draw your attention to the golden age of Islamic Civilization. It’s the time of the glory of Islam. Hey, remember we, the Muslims, were once the conqueror of the world. We dominated two thirds of the world! What a great achievement we had! What a successful nation we were! Yes I have to agree with the fact that we had such a great military and not to forget great leaders whose piousness was beyond imagination which in fact leading to the success. But, we must also remember we also have scholars who contributed to the glory of Islam. We are proud to have Ibnu Sina, Ibnu Khaldun, Ibnu Haitam and lots and lots more who were experts in the field of medicine, philosophy, music, mathematics and many more. These scholars learnt not only by thinking but they also spent a great deal of time reading and studying books by scholars of other civilizations such as Greek and Rome. They also learnt a lot by reading and studying the Holy Quran, which is the greatest source of knowledge. Reading makes them know a lot of knowledge and as the saying goes, ‘Knowledge is power!’ With the knowledge, they use it to develop the Muslim Nation which is the Ummah. They apply the knowledge to invent technologies which makes everyday lives easier. When life gets easier people can save an amount of time doing things for the development of self and of course the nation. So, definitely a great civilization is the product of a nation who reads.

But that was the past and at present time, we can also see a development like this happening to the nations in the Western countries. According to a survey comparing the amount of books read every year by university students in Malaysia and Australia, it is shocking to know that Malaysian students only read 3 books per year (excluding academic books they have to study for their course at uni). I repeat only 3 books per year! This is different for students in Australia! They read at least 100 books every year! At least 100 books!!! Can you imagine why they are developing so fast! It is because of the fact that they read more than us! So, this is enough to prove why a successful nation is a reading nation. And I’d also like to quote the late Dato’ who said that those who read are those who lead. Therefore, if we want to be the leader of the world and successful as a great nation we must read! No way for us to deny this fact!

Again, how reading can produce a successful nation? We must remember that to read is to know and to learn. And to learn is to change. When we read we are actually changing and developing our mind to see the world in another perspective. This means that when we read we are in the process of understanding the world better. Understanding the world helps a lot especially for a nation to compete with the other nation or unless we’ll be forever left behind. We’re left behind because we’re ignorant and we can’t see the real picture of the scenario. Being ignorant means you’ll have the tendency to be trapped in an unwanted situation. This is what happening to the nations whose people is ignorant. Why? This is because they don’t know about a lot of things. And in order to know you must read!

So, to end my speech, I would like to urge everyone here to read because to be a successful nation we have to read. We’ll be history when we’re ignorant! So let’s fight this disease of ignorance by reading! It’s your choice to either make history or become history! Thank you!

I'm in love!

Soe Hok Gie, seorang pemikir Indonesia yang meninggal muda di atas sebuah gunung di Indonesia pernah berkata (dalam Catatan Seorang Demostran):

“Kami jelaskan apa sebenarnya tujuan kami. Kami katakan bahwa kami adalah manusia-manusia yang tidak percaya pada slogan. Patriotisme tidak mungkin tumbuh dari hipokrisi dan slogan-slogan. Seseorang hanya dapat mencintai sesuatu secara sehat kalau ia mengenal objeknya. Dan mencintai tanah air Indonesia dapat ditumbuhkan dengan mengenal Indonesia bersama rakyatnya dari dekat. Pertumbuhan jiwa yang sehat dari pemuda harus berarti pula pertumbuhan fisik yang sehat. Karena itulah kami naik gunung.”

Perubahan fasa kehidupan ke alam pekerjaan, iaitu menjadi seorang pendidik (di sebuah sekolah agama) telah membenarkan kenyataan ini dalam diri saya. Saya semakin cinta tanahair saya! Mungkin terlalu awal untuk membuat penilaian, tetapi setakat ini saya sangat gembira berada di posisi sekarang ini. Lebih gembira dari detik-detik saya berada di luar negara sewaktu bergelar pelajar dahulu. Saya rasa ini sedikit pelik buat diri saya.

Rasa cinta ini tumbuh seiring dengan masa. Saya, sepertimana yang orang tahu, ditakdirkan untuk mengajar di negeri asal saya sendiri. Alhamdulillah untuk nikmat ini. Bebanan tugas memang banyak dan boleh dikatakan saya bekerja 24 jam sehari dan seluruh saat adalah di sekolah. Macam tiada 'life; tetapi kebanyakan kami di sini menyukainya. Pelajar-pelajar, saya ibaratkan seperti objek tanahair ini. Setiap hari kami semakin mengenali objek-objek ini dan mencintai mereka bagai anak sendiri. Objek-objek ini memiliki perwatakan sendiri dan apabila mengenali mereka, secara tidak langsung kita berjaya mengelakkan skeptism yang kadangkala melanda diri lantaran kejahilan kita dalam mengambil inisiatif mendalami ciptaan Tuhan yang pelbagai ragam ini.

Selain itu, objek lain yang menyemarakkan rasa cinta ini pastinya keindahan semulajadi tanah tempat tinggal. Saya berpeluang mengikuti kem perkhemahan, menjelajah hutan, merentasi lautan dan banyak lagi aktiviti-aktiviti di luar sekolah hampir setiap minggu dan saya takjub dan kagum kerana alam semulajadi tanah ini sangat indah. Kenapa saya tidak pernah menyedarinya dan menghargainya selama ini?

Sukar untuk digambarkan, tetapi semakin hari saya semakin mencintai setiap objek ini. Cinta yang tumbuh sedikit demi sedikit yang dahulu hanya sekadar propaganda.. tetapi mula bersemarak secara realiti.. I'm in love with my profession! I'm in love with everything that I have to deal in life at the moment! I'm in love! :) Now I know how it feels like living to love.
To qoute my fave poet, "If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work - Kahlil Gibran"

We are stars without names

A Star Without a Name by Rumi

When a baby is taken from the wet nurse,
it easily forgets her
and starts eating solid food.

Seeds feed awhile on ground,
then lift up into the sun.

So you should taste the filtered light
and work your way toward wisdom
with no personal covering.

That's how you came here, like a star
without a name. Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights.

A Lover From Palestine

A Lover From Palestine by Mahmoud Darwish

Her eyes are Palestinian
Her name is Palestinian
Her dress and sorrow Palestinian
Her kerchief, her feet and body Palestinian
Her words and silence Palestinian
Her voice Palestinian
Her birth and her death Palestinian

All about working as a teacher

So far I enjoy my working life even though there are senior teachers yang buli.. well, i take it as jokes and try my best not to be so stressed up over it..
But here is one problem..

I’ve never wanted to be an ordinary teacher but somehow I must to. I was shocked to see that all the activities planned by the English team this year is basically very exam-oriented (I shouldn't supposedly...). Since I was part of the team, I wanted to complain but I’ve got the answer before I could actually ask, “There’s nothing we can do, these people, they want all things related to exam.

This is common in every school, I know. It happens even in boarding school. And we keep mentioning about this in our ESL assignments. I’m too idealistic and I even argued about this with my mom. But somehow I wish I can make a difference.

How eh?