Presentation about God

Gone were the days I used to get really nervous if the GM or the Sales Manager needed to walk into my room or if they needed to call me very late at night since they hardly need to do that. Coz I'd walk into their rooms and update them everything they need to know about work. Informal stuff are usually shared during breakfast or social hours after work. I always had the impression that I might have done something wrong or did not do something good enough for them if they need to visit me like that.

Our new Sales Manager has been with us for only the past 6 months. I don't know about the rest but I am so excited because we've been without one for more than a year on 'auto-pilot' mode, when emergency situations strikes, it sometimes does get pretty ugly.

Now, surely there must be something new to learn from him.

To my surprise, not only have I learnt more tricks-of-the-trade with regards to distribution business, I learnt many other things everyone would dream of getting from their elder brother.

A pair of birds drop by my office window once in awhile. From the way they gaze at each other and chirp towards the world, you'd know that they're such a happy couple, utterly contageous gestures. I imagined that maybe the angels might've sent them to come by to cheer up a few or maybe hundreds of people that way.

The boss opened my door after a few months working here and said: See, that's my bird, the one with one white strip under his right wing.

I said: No! It's mine!

The boss said: Which one? There's two of them.

I said: Both! I knew them first!

The boss: I feed them you know, that's why they come so often. U feed them or not?

I said frowningly: Noooo.

The boss: They're miiiine!

TODAY.
The boss: Have you checked your email?

I frantically clicked 'get messages', we're on two co-marketing projects in December and I was paranoid again if there's something I might have forgotten to do.

I received an email from him which I now want to share with all of you. Just click 'View Presentation'. It's non multimedia rich so it'll take you only two minutes to view the whole thing.

**

Of course, I'll always add my take on top of other's take. The last piece of slide that says 'I'm always here'. Do we understand now why He tells us not to do certain things which makes us get hi, hallucinate, furious overboard and the likes?

Because during that moment will our thoughts about Him disappear, we then may physically or mentally hurt someone, get vulnerable like being raped, steal to obtain more intoxicants, overspend and forget the poor and so on. Now do we still think it is too much for Him to ask us not to forget Him even for a single second anymore by staying away from intoxicants? Because He is always there for all of us, unconditionally.

But... only when we embrace the nature around us will we be able to define ourselves through the way He shares His love... just through observing every second of His actions and by just appreciating our own existence.

He is really aaaalways there, do we always notice?

*I'm only human too.

The Literate Messenger

I received this comment just yesterday in my October 2004 entry titled "The Illiterate Messenger". This is the kind of answer I've been waiting for, someone who sees a mistake and help to correct it with great effort and very constructively, therefore I'm compelled to publish it here. I need to correct those who thought what I wrote was right. I have visited the sites provided and what a wonderful discovery...truly so much intellecual insights, you try it.

On what is said about women and men being the same, I have always agreed on the specializations that we have. It's the reason men and women would need and complement each other.

Thank you so much Yusof Estes, Salam.

At 11:36 AM, Anonymous said...

Where is the evidence that Shaikh Tareq Swaydan said any of this?

I have met him a couple of times while traveling around to give lectures and I know him personally. I have never heard him mention these things.

Whoever did mention them needs to be corrected in a number of issues, inshallah.

First of all, Allah does NOT say that men and women are equal. Read the Quran itself (for a FREE Quran download: http://www.islamtomorrow.com/downloads/noblequran.exe )

Look up surah An-Nisaa' verse 34: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Then read in surah Al-Baqarah, verse 282 about witnesses to a contract: ... And get two witnesses out of your own men. And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her.

The concept of men being the same as women is ridiculous and should be dealt with only from the true Muslims point of view. Men are not equal to women and women are not equal to men. Both are different and both have seperate and important roles to play in life. The idea equality only applies to the treatment with justice for both and the status in front of Allah for those who come to the correct belief and then satisfy their roles in life as Allah has prescribed for them.

Next, using the FREE Quran download mentioned about, click on the magnifying glass (word search of Quran) and type in the word 'man'. You will find it says the number of occurances is not 24 - but rather 771, and the plural form 'men' comes up 1013 times.

Now check the word 'woman', you find only 22 (still not 24) and the plural 'women' appears 83 times.

Now check out 'life' - 203!

Now 'death' - 100!

'People'? - 524

'Messengers?' - 180

'Angels' - 154

'Satan' 100 and 'devil' - 34

Magi c 60 . Fitnah (dissuasion, misleading) 60

Magic (60)? - Nope

Fitnah (dissuasion = 0) misleading - only 1 (Surah Fatihah)

The only Quran quote from the Quran was the dua of Yunus (Jonah in the whale) surah Al-Anbiya, verse 87.

We have something on our website that is very important for all Muslims about these kinds of lies and misrepresentations about Islam, Allah, the Quran and the prophet, peace be upon him. Please take time to enjoy it at:

http://www.islamtomorrow.com/lies

Let us know of any corrections to what we have. Thank you so much. We look forward to sharing with everyone, inshallah.

Thank you, jazakalah khair was salam alaykum,

Yusuf Estes
National Muslim Chaplain
Washington, DC - USA

FREE QURAN to download:
www.IslamTomorrow.com/downloads/noblequran.exe

The Illiterate Messenger

Explore the various ways different people explain the meaning of this picture:

To an innocent 8 year old, This is plain and simple 'Rokok'

To smokers, this is pleasure, escapade, freedom, individuality, symbol of comraderie, simplicity, valid, status symbol...

To anti smokers this is destruction, cancer, arrogance, wasteful, loveless, selfish, idiocy, derogatory, immoral....

My point is, even for literate people in this age who's vocabularies are somewhat refined throughout zealous reading and listening, we can hardly begin to utter nor write what we feel in our hearts or what we have in our thoughts in words which perfectly express what's inside. Even when we express them through actions, they are hardly understood.
On the contrary, being literate (which also added with emotional influences) makes us capable of explaining things which reflects things we see only from our angle with certain degree of biasness.

The written and verbal expressions about the cigarette box above illustrates what I mean with the word 'angle'.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w is illiterate throughout his life. Yet the divine Al-Quran was brought to us through him; the perfect encyclopaedia, because it is not just about the past and His present but also about the future and sciences.

This is both for my collections and sharing. The divine Al-Quran that has never been altered by a single word.

Tariq Al Swaidan discovered some verses in the Holy Qur'an that mention one thing is equal to another, i.e. men are equal to women. Although this makes sense grammatically, the astonishing fact is that the number of times the word man appears in the Qur'an is 24 and the number of times the word woman appears is also 24, therefore not only is this phrase correct in the grammatical sense but also true mathematically, i.e. 24 = 24.

Upon further analysis of various verses, he discovered that this is consistent throughout the whole Qur'an, where it says one thing is like another. See below for astonishing result of the words mentioned number of times in Arabic Qur'an:

Dunia (one name for life) 115. Aakhirat (one name for the life after this world) 115
Malaika (Angels) 88 . Shayteen (Satan) 88
Life 145 .... Death 145
Benefit 50 Corrupt 50 People 50 Messengers 50
Eblees (king of devils) 11 . Seek refuge from Eblees 11
Museebah (calamity) 75 . Thanks 75
Spending (Sadaqah) 73 . Satisfaction 73
People who are mislead 17 . Dead people 17
Muslimeen 41 . Jihad 41
Gold 8 Easy life 8
Magic 60 . Fitnah (dissuasion, misleading) 60
Zakat (Taxes Muslims pay to the poor) 32 . Barakah (Increasing or blessings of wealth) 32
Mind 49 . Noor 49
Tongue 25 . Sermon 25
Desite 8 . Fear 8
Speaking publicly 18 . Publicising 18
Hardship 114 .... Patience 114
Muhammed 4 . Sharee'ah (Muhammed's teachings) 4
Man 24. Woman 24

And amazingly enough have a look how many times the following words appear:
Salat 5, Month 12, = Days 365,
Sea 32, Land 13 Sea + land = 32+13= 45
Sea = 32/45*100=71.11111111%
Land = 13/45*100 = 28.88888889%
Sea + land =100.00%

Modern science has only recently proven that the water covers 71.111% of the earth, while the land covers 28.889%. Is this a coincidence? Question is that Who taught Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) all this? Reply automatically comes in mind that ALMIGHTY ALLAH taught him this.

Frymysquid, this is your take and my take. When's our ever pending meet?

Stop Nurturing this National Flower

It’s plague-some on normal days. It’s the flower which fully bloom on the fields and the audience seats after every sports events, by the roadsides after every pasar malam, in the rivers near squatters area, even in the drawers in our own kitchen, it's everywhere!

In our country, the highest harvest for it is during fasting month. We’ll find red, pink, blue, grey 'flowers' easily. We buy two currypuffs, they go into one small plastic bag, then we order four pulut udang, they go into another small plastic bag. When we buy dishes with gravy, we’ll go back and throw the plastic bag away because it's wet and smelly therefore not suitable to be kept for future use.

Best of all, we can’t reuse the tiny plastic bags which accompany the kuehs, so although they are dry and can be stored, but then, there’s already a hundred of them in the Toyogo 3 tiers drawer. It’s been a week of shopping for food at bazaar jodoh juadah, the drawer in the kitchen is full. So we always resort to throwing the tiny dry plastics away. Not over yet, we need to spend money in order to throw all these plastics; 50 pieces of garbage bags for RM5.00.

The nature is firstly consumed by this negligence, secondly our own beloved descendants will suffer in ways I don't want to imagine. Can we please start these:

When we have a specific item to buy and we know we will head straight home right after, prepare a suitable kind of storage from home to carry the item in.

Okay, first week of fasting, we are still impulsive shoppers, we can’t think straight once we see good looking guys, ok I lied, there's none, when we see pretty chics.

Cum second week, we’ll know that we want just ayam perchik which goes with the nasi tomato at home. So bring proper containers. We know we are sick of air sirap and wanna buy air tebu and just kueh (we know we'll get that tiny plastics again), bring proper containers!

What on earth is the difference of carrying two pieces of DVD in the plastic bag when it takes also just one hand to hold both all the way into the car? We won't seem less sophisticated!. This kind of purchase is usually specific, you’ll get in your shorts and slippers, buy DVD and go home. Just like buying ciggy. Skip the plastic bag, or it’ll end up filling up your paper basket, what a clean garbage. This is one flower which is hardest to biodegrade, it takes a thousand years.

I loathe seeing grocery items being separated into many different plastics when it only takes me 3 minutes to carry them from the car to my kitchen. So, just chuck them all as long as the plastic bag won't break!
The things which need different kinda handling are just eggs, tofu, bread oh well, they’re not so many right?

God loves us so much, we are born in the age when the greenery is still around us and at the same time we're able to indulge in modern living. Yet we take it for granted. Yet too, there are people who still consider taking up roadside sweeping and garbage collecting. Thank goodness.

Let’s just please practise unconditional love, yes, it sounds so mushy. Unconditional love is about caring, be thoughtful, then make it a habit, for nature and people around us regardless of whether we get anything in return or not.

Debate on Religion just what we Need

That's the title of my uncle's letter to MalaysiaKini to rebuttal the article written by Dr Ismail Ibrahim (on Agama Bukan Mainan di Media). The latter remarked that the Internet online newspaper abuses freedom of the press by opening a religious debate on various sensitive inter-religious issues and publishing cynical remarks. Dr Ismail also concluded that this media was playing with fire and setting off a possible time bomb!

When I read Dr Ismail's article, everything sounded fine as I do experience uneasiness and embarassment listening to loud slandering and condemning towards our country's PM on Islam Hadhari's failures in our own blogosphere-partly because I thought they are going across the wrong market readers and that this blogger should just channel those out by becoming a columnist for Harakah and such instead.

The part of my unc's letter that pulled the right chord in me is this:

This discussion on religion reflects the gap among Malaysians on each other’s religious and cultural heritage. It documents the failure of our educational system as well as institutions such as the Institute Kefahaman Islam Malaysia (Malaysian Institute for Islamic Understanding) which was once headed by Ismail himself.
On this score, we must admit that we have a lot more to learn and understand about each other in order to become better Malaysians.

And this mind blowing sentence which is extracted from Holy Al-Quran:

God created variations among us in order that we appreciate each other’s differences.

For those who still remember the late Johan Ismail of Joe-Blogs, I have an excerpt from his entry titled "It's only a movie for Bruce sakes!" (if you remember the huha about a Minister wanting to ban the movie, Bruce AlMighty) I would like to cross-reference with, and here's what he said:

"I just have this to say to the Minister, God in all His wisdom and greatness does not need a civil servant to protect His reputation. If anyone were to take this movie seriously then they belong in a psychiatric institution. If you are offended by the premise of the movie, DON'T SEE THE FILM. If you don't approve of the contest run by the radio station, SWITCH CHANNELS. Simple kan? No fuss, no bans required!"

Tsk! Tsk! It's so true, in reality, on any matters at all,
there are no sensitive issues, there are only sensitive people (proverb also by Johan Ismail)
I now see things in a different light, this IS a great place to document our thoughts and to look for others' thoughts, which helps us to reflect on ourselves. Although I wish subjects regarding spreading the religion should only be written beautifully. But, if limitations are imposed, particularly on religious matters, I guess we'll never get to see all these 'colours' and see things from many angles.

Conclusion for me: If I'm embarassed by any articles that're shouting negative vibrations for attention, ain't gonna read them. Heyh, I'm quite collected!! Ain't going near any psychiatric institution!

Here's mine since rules are largely imposed on printed matters:
Man created the cyberspace in order that we learn to appreciate each other’s differences.

It gives me piece of mind now that I know how to learn to appreciate them :)

They Suck your Energy Dry?

Dear bloggers, I hope the content of this article changes your life forever after you know how to differentiate the negative and positive energies.. This is a part of the Art of Self (intuitive) Healing, some people are born with a natural ability to do this, some has to learn it. Use this approach in your relationships; be it for the family institution, for interactions with office colleagues, for married/yet to marry couples, for spreading religious beliefs, anything!

Relationships are always an energy exchange. To stay feeling our best, we must ask ourselves: Who gives us energy? Who saps it?

It's important to be surrounded by supportive, heart-centered people who make us feel safe and secure. It's equally important to pinpoint the energy vampires, who, whether they intend to or not, leech our energy.

Positive energy in others can be rejuvenative. For instance, you're nervous about a job interview, but the minute you meet your prospective boss you relax. He's so calm and welcoming, you calm down too. Or perhaps you have a good friend around whom you always feel loved. These are energy-givers, those we must gravitate towards.In contrast, energy vampires exude negative energy that drains.

Vampires range from the intentionally malicious ones to those who are oblivious to their effect. Some are overbearing and obnoxious; others are friendly and charming. For example, you're at a party talking to a perfectly nice person, but suddenly you're nauseous or weak. Or how about the co-worker who drones on about how she broke up with her boyfriend for the tenth time? Eventually, she feels better, but you're spent. The bottom line is that on a subtle energy level these people suck you dry.

Tips for Dealing With Energy Vampires

1.Take an inventory of people in your life who give energy, and peoplewho drain. Specifically identify the energy vampires, and begin to evaluate ones you'd like to limit contact with or eliminate. Plan at least one complete afternoon with people who give off positive energy and avoid drainers. Notice how this beneficially affects their physical and emotional well-being.

2.Protect Your Energy: Set Clear Boundaries. It’s crucial to limit the time you spend discussing a vampire’s gripes.When approaching her, remember: the difference between being a bitch and setting boundaries is attitude. Instead of saying, “You’re selfish and self-obsessed, I can’t take you anymore,” which a part of you likely feels, take a breath and shift to your heart.

3.Meditate. Sitting in meditation is a life-line to your center, to the earth. it will ground you when you’ve been struck by a vampire. By calming the mind, you can re-align with your essence. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Then gently extend your awareness downward to strata, bedrock, minerals, and soil. From the base of your spine begin to feel a continuity with the earth's core. Picture having a long tail that roots in that center. Allow the earth's energy to infuse your body and stabilize you. If you meditate for five minutes or an hour this is sacred time.

4. When you’re with vampires you can’t get away from visualizing a protective shield of while light surrounding every inch of you. This lets positive energy in, but keeps negative energy out—particularly efficient for vampires at family dinners or social events where you’re trapped.

by Judith Orloff MD

Judith Orloff M.D is now part of the Myss Expert Forum located in the resource section on the home page of myss.com and can be reached through her website www.drjudithorloff.comJudith Orloff, M.D is a board certified psychiatrist and practicing intuitive, author of the bestsellers Second Sightand Intuitive Healing and the upcoming book Positive Energy. She is assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and an international workshop leader.

One is Born yet One has Gone.

19th July, 2004. Congratulations Shaliza and Feizril on your newborn, Naydine Falisha. Congratulations too uncle for finally getting the 'datukship'.

Tengok! Lagi sorang penat penat berenang seberang Selat kali ni dah tak dapat Datuk dah. The title of this article was supposed to be 'Sign cheques for wedding, new tactics to get Datukship", but then the thunder belongs to those two lah.Didn't bring my digicam so I can post the pix here. Just when it striked me that I should go visit you and then I get to visit everyone one shot!Seeing how the baby slept so soundly although the sound coming outta the grandma's mouth was comparable to the radio-non stop... ok lah, she must've practised well while eavesdropping in the stomach.

But I wonder if she's already used to Shakira, her mom and her grandma altogether yapping talking. She's as fair as the mother, tapi nasib baik kepala dia martian macam bapak dia (yeah my kepala like Klingon), so betul laa, kan!
20th July, 2004.

***********************************************************************************

Al Fatihah to my late Uncle Rashid, the person who got me closest to nature when I used to spend time with his family during my primary school holidays.He showed us what it's like to spend time in the kebun, getting chased by the geese, feeding hens, plucking rambutans, stepping onto 5x1 inch length green worm (alien!), eating cendawan sisir in scrambled eggs, porcupine meat, pigeon soup, deer meat, learn how to slaughter poultries, how to run a laundry shop... at the end of his day he is still be so warm and friendly. Anyone who sees him will notice his smiling eyes and he'll have so much stories to share. His hospitality is undescribable. My first beach holiday (at PD) was his and aunty Na's effort, it seemed like the longest journey then. He brought me to Seremban once and I get to witness the grandest wedding in my life. Grandest because it was really full of honest, help and laughter and adat. Uncle Rashid had slaughtered a lamb as a gift, he put the head right behind my seat and I had the longest headache smelling it all the way to Seremban. The smell of mutton always reminds me of that trip and wedding. The only wedding I know that serves Ikan Sembilang gulai tempoyak and it tasted superb! The bride and groom were carried around the kampung on seats mounted on bamboo sticks. I was too busy staring at a mount of sand with lots of bees around it. His diabetes caused him to lose one of his leg, his eye sights were badly affected too.But he still greeted me and anyone else with his smiling eyes and mouth while keeping his face just 3 inches from the tv monitor. It was him who kept us entertained after 10 yrs we've not met and my intentions was to accompany him for awhile coz I was too lazy to take the effort the years before.Being with God is a better place, walk in the orchard, have all the animals you always wanted to rear and not worry about thieves anymore, see things in colour again and entertain ppl around you with your stories. Thank you uncle, it's been a priviledge knowing you, hope to see you again in our next life.

Visit your friends, visit your relatives too.

Singaporean Way of Projecting Islam

Just like Buddhism, the flavour is different in India, Thailand, China etc.
Just like Christianity, there's Scientology, Catholic, New Testament etc.
Islam is not left out for having the three orientations, Sunni, Shi'i Islam and Kharijis.

And different races which embrace a common religion may project it differently too.

Whatever religion it may be, in places where the level of intelligence and civilisation are higher, the better the way the society project what they stand for, at least that's how it should be. Being religious alone by practising everything that're asked by God without understanding the rationale behind it is useless.

What a big difference being just religious and being both religious and spiritually intelligent are.

I beg not to be labelled 'holier-than-thou' for saying the above. I may be digressing from what I really want to explain from the beauty I saw in this article I'd like to share, heads up of Shaukat Ali. It is such a gem to just let it fade away.

Written by: Shaukat AliFeb

15, 05 1:53pm

According to a report in the Singapore Straits Times recently, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) has drawn up a tentative list of 10 desirable attributes for Singapore Muslims.According to the report, Muis put together this list '... after much brainstorming and dialogues' and will further discuss it with the Muslim community in Singapore this year.

According to Muis, a Singapore Muslim -

1. holds strongly to Islamic principles, but yet is adaptable to change when applying them in response to contemporary issues and challenges.

2. is morally and spiritually strengthened to face the challenges of modern society, especially the changing economy.

3. knows about Islamic history and civilisation, and is intellectually equipped to understand Islam and contemporary issues of the Islamic world.

4. believes that a good Muslim is also a good citizen.

5. is well adjusted to living in a secular state and multi-religious society, and contributes to Singapore and global humanity, including taking leadership roles.

6. is progressive, keeps up with the demands of modern society and practises Islam beyond rituals or form.

7. appreciates the richness of other civilisations, and is self-confident enough to interact with others and is prepared to learn from them.

8. is inclusive and practises pluralism where this does not go against Islamic principles.

9. wants to be a blessing to other communities by embracing universal values and principles, thus transcending minority status.

10. aims to be a model and inspiration to others.

It seems to me that all of the above would be relevant in the Malaysian context, especially when one looks at the angst generated by campaigns to instil Islamic values by dictate. What the Muslim community in Singapore is trying to do, as part of its "Singapore Muslim identity" project should be observed closely by the appropriate institutions in Malaysia.

It is worth noting, as the report said, that Muis, as part of the project, has been encouraging mosques to reach out to non-Muslims and improve their understanding of the religion; and to urge the 'madrasah' or religious school students to learn the humanities and sciences, and not just subjects on religion.Mosque leaders also receive training and attend courses to learn about national issues facing Singapore and social issues facing a globalised world.

It is ironic that the Muslim community in Singapore does not need a Jabatan Agama Islam enforcement counterpart or a group of the mat skodeng to monitor issues of morality in a resolutely secular, cosmopolitan city-state.That in itself should give us in Malaysia much food for thought.

New Age Noah's Ark

It's school holiday and I'm testing out my misleading teaching abilities with my brothers. I was hoping that they would bring their previous test papers which could help me to study their areas of weaknesses and strengths and then tackle the right angle (fuiyooo!!). They brought none. So I desperately searched through the papers for those 'Pendidikan' supplement hoping there'd be something useful to use as an instant test papers. Suddenly I got sunked!

English for Science & Technology is one interesting subject.. for me! I remember watching this group of UPM students who proposed using rice husks. How? Well, first of course they'd suspend the oil slick using the floatline before a tanker comes to shoot rice husks unto it. Collected rice husks together with oil that sticks to it will then be squeezed to regather the oil. Even when the proposal was moved theoretically, we can point out a lot of flaw in it.

Not until the idea below came about, a new hope to save the earth's creatures, just that this time, they just need to stay put. Thanks to Dr. Omar Chaalal.

Now I wonder if any of this vessel is already carrying out its purpose.