Nak percaya ke?

Yesterday, while I was watching TV at mom's house, my 15 year old niece asked me.
'Kak Dijah balik bulan doblas, ya Mak Yong?'
"Isy, tak tau pulak.'
"Kan ke feveret artis Korea dia nak datang Malaysia.'

'Ooooo, jangan percaya! Kak dijah main-main je tu. Mamat tu muda sangat la, Tikah! Tak padan. Lagi pun mesti artis tu ramai peminat. Nanti merana badan kena share dengan semua fans dia.'

This is the effect of 'meroyan' in facebook. I wonder how many of her facebook friends believe that she is really in love with Jay Park. Hehehe.

Creative

Every morning, during the assembly before the lessons begin, Muallim Razman teaches the students the prayers that we read while performing solat. How does he manage to get the pupils' attention? We pray at least 5 times daily so we might think the pupils would be bored to death with the program.
As the senior assistant in school, I am busy with administrative work so I seldom join the morning assembly. Time and again I hear the pupils enjoying themselves SINGING the du'a with the translation! Once I heard the pupils recited Al-Fatihah with its meaning and at other times it was the du'a during ruku' and sujud. Everyone sang at the top of their voices. It was indeed a beautiful sound.
Yesterday he came with a new proposal. He has planned a new program for the new session. I hope everybody will support him and pray that it will succeed.

Jom Berubah!

Salam.

Lately this has been the hottest topic in our beloved country.

Malaysia is facing a severe Human Capital Flight with large-scale emigration of intellectuals seeking greener pastures in more advanced society like in Singapore who is estimated to have 45 % of the best brains from Malaysia and 25 % to other Asian countries with the balance of 30 % to Europe and the USA out of the total estimated one million Malaysian working overseas.

I am not racial because I am also a 'pendatang'. My late great-great-grandfather and his family came to Perak from Sumatra to make a living here. My grandmother was still a baby then. They worked hard, clearing land in remote areas. Alhamdulillah, with sheer hard work and blessings from Allah, they lived a comfortable life.

My late father-in-law came to Malaysia from India to seek a better future. He worked hard and his Japanese employer would call on him when they needed his services.

I am not surprised if the non-bumi students worked extra hard and are outstanding in every examinations that they take . The formula is simple : The harder you work, the more successful you will be.

I am more concerned with the Malays, the previleged group, who are not aware how previleged they are. At school, I try to instill the students' worthiness and talk about their responsibilities so that they became dedicated future leaders.

I try to instill the importance of time-management, good behaviour, tolerant with one another, working hard, respect to the elders and be the best in whatever they do. We can do it, but we are just too lazy to bother. We become slaves to 'kedai kopi talk' and our never-ending need to 'hiburan'! Wherever you go, the sight of people gossiping is always there.

Back to the news excerpts. If I were the government, I would just let them migrate in peace. In replacement, I want you, you, you and you to work really hard and be the best in your field of study, pray hard as if there is no tomorrow and be grateful with whatever Allah has given to you.
Yes, Malaysia needs the best brains with IMAN.

Adik Sayang

Last weekend, my mother ,azhar and me took a journey to Kuala Pilah. Our main aim was to visit my sister, Roslili, who is going to perform Hajj in November. Her house is in Taman Bukit Rambai. En suami drove us to Melaka from Pilah on Saturday morning. We stayed overnight at my sister's house.

My brother-in-law (En Azman) is the youngest is his family. Two weeks after their Hajj, they are going to move to Durban, South Africa. The feast was supposed to be a small get-together, but each of his sisters brought along a lot of food and everybody seem to enjoy the food that it ended quite late in the evening. I took the opportunity to get to know them better. We got along fine, and in the end they shared delicious Negeri Sembilan recipes that I could try at home.

At last I met Bibik Sri. We hugged when we saw each other. It has been two years since we last met. She also sent her regards to Cik Tutor. I am glad that she looks happy and fine.

'Suami bibik sudah buat rumah baru, hasil kerjaan bibik,' she said when we were left alone.

'Alhamdulillah, kerja baik-baik bik.' I know I don't have to tell her that because she was the best indonesian maid I've ever met. When she stayed with my mother, she worked from dawn till late at night. She even handwashed all our baju kurungs! Sometimes I wondered where she got all the energy from!
Now she stayed in Air Keroh, Melaka to look after my sister's mother in law who is paralysed. Everybody loves her in Melaka, alhamdulillah.

Wanita Istimewa

Last Sunday, I attended a talk by Ustazah Zainab with the above title. I usually heard complaints from cik tutor,on how her housemate, an Australian, sympathised the muslim women around the world. Almost all non-muslims think that women in Islam are second class and the media takes the opportunity to downgrade Islam further.

Next time, if they raise the issue again, then here are some facts and figure for you to defend Islam.

1. Allah creates man and he also creates women. It is unthinkable if Allah as the most compassionate would create women as a lesser being.

2. Allah in his power has made Sayyidatina Khadijah as the first believer, Siti Hajar wife of prophet Ibrahim as the first occupant of Mecca and Sumayya as the first syaheed in Islam.

3. In surah Qashas, Allah told the story of two women who helped save the life of Moses( Nabi Musa a.s.), Asiah and Moses's mother. Please read the tafseer of Ibn Kathir for this surah.

4. As for the single ladies, the example that they can look up to is, Maryam daughter of Imran. How she lived the life of chastity, away from worldly gain. She was unmarried and served to worship Allah for the rest of her life. (Ustazah cerita, ketika Maryam dalam kandungan, ibunya bernazar bahawa anak yang bakal dilahirkan, akan diserahkan untuk beribadah sepenuhnya kepada Allah. Bila lahir bayi perempuan(Maryam) , ibunya terpaksa menunaikan nazarnya. Maryam adalah perempuan yang sangat mulia dan sentiasa beribadah. Bila dia mengandungkan nabi Isa tanpa ayah, maka timbullah fitnah dan tohmahan dari masyarakat sekeliling .)

Advice for Men

"They ask your legal instruction concerning women, say: Allah instructs you about them..." [Qur'an 4:127]

The Prophet said:

"The best among you is the one who is the best towards his wife"

5. From the quranic verse and hadith above, Allah would elevate the position of men if they treat their wife kindly. That means, the muslim men are encouraged to be gentlemen to their wives!

I think most muslim men are good. Maybe they are just too shy to open the doors, to help their wives and to show their love openly in public.

Happy Birthday...

Happy nineteenth birthday kerol. I started teaching in Sek Rendah Al-Hidayah when Kerol was 45 days old. In the beginning, I brought him to school because it was difficult to find a good day-care at that time. A few months later, a good friend of mine agreed to take care of him while I was away at work.

At school I wasn't popular because the students said I was 'garang'. Well, I have to. If I talk softly to them and just let them do whatever that pleases them, then they hardly do any work! I gave them loud and clear instructions, my e-mail address and even my phone number so that they could contact me if they have any problems. Alhamdulillah, every year it works. Last year more than 75% scored A's with 97% passes in Mathematics. I just hope this year the students did better insyaAllah.

You win some and you lose some. Most of the time I got carried away at home and use the same method to discipline my children. So, they became not the soft-spoken type. That's why cik Tutor joined USM debating team because we were always talking at the top of our voices . After all these years, I decided it was time to change.

Cik Tutor is alone in Armidale so she calls everyday, usually around 7 pm.A few weeks back, I decided to answer the phone in my sweetest, sexiest voice. Actually, it was not fun because I was trying to be other people. But I persevere because only Allah knows, how good the intention is .

One day, the phone rang and I answered it with my 'tak cukup makan suara'.
'Hey, gedik kat saper tu?' said the voice on the other side. It was my husband's.

'Sori, sori. I thought it was Khadijah,' and we laughed our hearts out.

I wasn't put off. I still answered the phone with the sweetest voice I could mutter.

Uwais al-Qarni

Seorang sahabat saya telah dianugerahkan Allah seorang cucu yang diberi nama Uwais bin Miqdad. Uwais sempena kisah yang dicatat oleh serban hijau ......

Sebenarnya Nabi dah tahu yang Aisyah itu akan masuk syurga ertinya dosanya telah diampunkan oleh Allah tetapi kenapa Nabi masih menyuruh Aisyah untuk memohon kepada Allah agar diampunkan dosa?. Sedangkan Aisyah memang layak untuk tidak dimasukkan ke dalam neraka, hanya layak ke syurga. Soal dosa dan pahala dia dah tak kisah sangat tapi nabi masih menyuruhnya berdoa supaya Allah ampunkan dosa.

Saya nak kaitkan dengan satu kisah iaitu bila Allah bagi tahu kepada nabi Muhammad s.a.w. iaitu ada insan yang akan lahir dikalangan Tabiin (Tabiin maknanya satu kumpulan insan yang tidak sempat berjumpa dengan nabi tetapi hanya sempat berjumpa dengan sahabat nabi sahaja. Kalau orang yang sempat berjumpa dengan nabi, itu dipanggil Sahabat. Kalau orang yang lahir kedunia ini setelah nabi wafat tetapi sempat berjumpa dengan Sahabat ia dipanggil Tabiin).

Nabi berpesan kepada Umar dan Ali, 'Akan lahir dikalangan Tabiin seorang insan yang doa dia sangat makbul nama dia Uwais al-Qarni dan dia akan lahir dizaman kamu'.

Kita telah mengenali siapa dia Sayyidina Umar dan Sayyidina Ali iaitu orang-orang yang telah disenaraikan sebagai al-Mubasyirun bil Jannah, iaitu mereka dah dijamin masuk syurga.

Nabi seterusnya berkata kepada Umar dan Ali, 'Dizaman kamu nanti akan lahir seorang insan yang doa dia sangat makbul. Kamu berdua pergilah cari dia. Dia akan datang dari arah Yaman, dia dibesarkan di Yaman. Dia akan muncul dizaman kamu, carilah dia. Kalau berjumpa dengan dia minta tolong dia berdoa untuk kamu berdua.'

Sama juga macam kisah Siti Aisyah tadi, Umar dan Ali bertanya kepada nabi soalan yang sama iaitu ,'Apakah yang patut saya minta daripada Uwais al-Qarni, Ya Rasulullah? Nabi menjawab ,'Kamu minta kepadanya supaya dia berdoa kepada Allah agar Allah ampunkan dosa-dosa kalian'.

Banyak peristiwa sahabat yang berjumpa dengan nabi, minta sesuatu yang baik kepada mereka, nabi menjawab 'Pohonlah al-Maghfirah daripada Allah swt.' Jadi topik al-Maghfirah (keampunan) ini menjadi topik yang begitu dicari yang begitu relevan, hatta kepada orang yang telah disenaraikan sebagai ahli syurga. Kalau logiknya ahli syurga macam dah tak perlu kepada ampun dosa kerana mereka dah dijamin masuk syurga, tetapi tidak, nabi masih tekankan supaya minta Allah ampunkan dosa.

Siti Aisyah telah bertemu dengan malam Qadar, dia telah berdoa sepanjang malam sampai ke subuh dengan doa yang nabi ajarkan iaitu 'Allah humma innaka 'afuu 'un karimun tuhib bul 'af wa fa' fu 'anni' (maknanya Ya Allah, Kamulah Tuhan yang sangat suka mengampun, ampunkanlah dosa-dosa saya).

Memang benarlah firasat seorang nabi, Uwais al-Qarni telah muncul di zaman Sayyidina Umar dan Sayyidina Ali. Memang mereka tunggu dan cari kabilah-kabilah yang datang dari Yaman ke Madinah, akhirnya bertemu mereka dengan Uwais al-Qarni.

Dengan pandangan mata luar, tidak mungkin dia orang yang nabi maksudkan. Kerana orang itu pada pandangan insan-insan biasa atau orang-orang yang datang bersama dengannya bersama kabilah menganggapkan dia seorang yang akal tidak sempurna , sesuatu yang macam tidak betul pada pandangan orang. Tetapi dia ada sesuatu..

Asal usul Uwais al-Qarni

Dia asalnya berpenyakit sopak, badannya putih, putih penyakit yang tidak digemari. Walaupun dia sopak tetapi dia seorang yang soleh, terlalu mengambil berat tentang ibunya yang uzur dan lumpuh. Dia telah begitu tekun untuk mendapatkan keredhaan ibunya. Bapa dia meninggal dunia ketika dia masih kecil lagi. Dia sopak sejak dilahirkan dan ibunya menjaga dia sampai dia dewasa.

Satu hari ibunya memberitahu kepada Uwais bahawa dia ingin sangat untuk pergi mengerjakan haji. Dia menyuruh Uwais supaya mengikhtiarkan dan mengusahakan agar dia dapat dibawa ke Mekah untuk menunaikan haji.

Sebagai seorang yang miskin, Uwais tidak berdaya untuk mencari perbelanjaan untuk ibunya kerana pada zaman itu kebanyakan orang untuk pergi haji dari Yaman ke Mekah mereka menyediakan beberapa ekor unta yang dipasang diatasnya 'Haudat'. Haudat ini seperti rumah kecil yang diletakkan di atas unta untuk melindungi panas matahari dan hujan, selesa dan perbelanjaannya mahal. Uwais tidak mampu untuk menyediakan yang demikian, unta pun dia tidak ada, nak sewa pun tidak mampu.

Ibu Uwais semakin uzur maka ibunya mendesak dan berkata kepada anaknya ,'Anakku mungkin ibu dah tak lama lagi akan bersama dengan kamu, ikhtiarkanlah agar ibu dapat mengerjakan haji'.

Uwais mendapat suatu ilham, dia terfikir apa nak dibuat. Dia membeli seekor anak lembu yang baru lahir dan dah habis menyusu. Dia membuat sebuah rumah kecil (pondok) di atas sebuah 'Tilal', iaitu sebuah tanah tinggi (Dia buat rumah untuk lembu itu di atas bukit).

Apa yang dia lakukan, pada petang hari dia dukung anak lembu untuk naik ke atas 'Tilal'. Pagi esoknya dia dukung lembu itu turun dari 'Tilal' untuk diberi makan. Itulah yang dilakukannya setiap hari. Ada ketikanya dia mendukung lembu itu mengelilingi bukit tempat dia beri lembu itu makan.

Perbuatan yang dilakukannya ini menyebabkan orang kata dia ini gila. Memang pelik, buatkan rumah untuk lembu diatas bukit, kemudian setiap hari usung lembu, petang bawa naik, pagi bawa turun bukit.

Tetapi sebenarnya niatnya baik. Kalau lembu kita buat begitu pagi sekali petang sekali daripada lembu yang beratnya 20kg, selepas enam bulan lembu itu sudah menjadi 100kg. Otot-otot (muscle) tangan dan badan Uwais menjadi kuat hinggakan dengan mudah mengangkat lembu seberat 100kg turun dan naik bukit.

Selepas lapan bulan dia buat demikian telah sampai musim haji, rupa-rupanya perbuatannya itu adalah satu persediaan untuk dia membawa ibunya mengerjakan haji. Dia telah memangku ibunya dari Yaman sampai ke Mekkah dengan kedua tangannya. Dibelakangnya dia meletakkan barang-barang keperluan seperti air, roti dan sebagainya. Lembu yang beratnya 100kg boleh didukung dan dipangku, inikan pula ibunya yang berat sekitar 50kg. Dia membawa (mendukung dan memangku) ibunya dengan kedua tangannya dari Yaman ke Mekah, mengerjakan Tawaf, Saie dan di Padang Arafah dengan senang sahaja. Dan dia juga memangku ibunya dengan kedua tangannya pulang semula ke Yaman dari Mekah.

Setelah pulang semula ke rumah dia di Yaman, Ibu dia berkata kepada dia ,' Uwais, apa yang kamu berdoa sepanjang kamu berada di Mekah?'. Uwais menjawab ,'Saya berdoa minta supaya Allah mengampunkan semua dosa-dosa ibu'. Ibunya bertanya lagi ,'Bagaiman pula dengan dosa kamu'. Uwais menjawab ,'Dengan terampun dosa ibu, ibu akan masuk syurga, cukuplah ibu redha dengan saya maka saya juga masuk syurga'.

Ibunya berkata lagi ,'Ibu nak supaya engkau berdoa agar Allah hilangkan sakit putih (sopak) kamu ini'. Uwais kata ,'Saya keberatan untuk berdoa kerana ini Allah yang jadikan. Kalau tidak redha dengan kejadian Allah, macam saya tidak bersyukur dengan Allah ta'ala'. Ibunya menambah ,'Kalau nak masuk syurga, kena taat kepada perintah ibu, Ibu perintahkan engkau berdoa'.

Akhirnya Uwais tidak ada pilihan melainkan mengangkat tangan dan berdoa. Uwais berdoa seperti yang ibu dia minta supaya Allah sembuhkan putih yang luar biasa (sopak) yang dihidapinya itu. Tetapi kerana dia takut masih ada dosa pada dirinya dia berdoa ,'Tolonglah Ya Allah kerana ibu aku suruh aku berdoa hilangkan yang putih pada badanku ini melainkan tinggalkan sedikit'.

Allah swt. sembuhkan serta merta, hilang putih sopak diseluruh badannya kecuali tinggal satu tompok sebesar duit syiling ditengkuknya. (Kalau bagi nabi, baginda ada Khatam Nubuwah iaitu tanda kenabian, tanda pada nabi bersinar) Tanda tompok putih pada Uwais sebab dia minta agar jangan dibuang kesemuanya, kerana ini (sopak) adalah anugerah, maka nabi sebut kepada Umar dan Ali akan tanda ini. Tandanya kamu nampak dibelakang dia ada satu bulatan putih, bulatan sopak. Kalau berjumpa dengan tanda itu dialah Uwais al-Qarni.

Selepas tidak lama Uwais berdoa yang demikian, ibunya telah meninggal dunia. Dia telah menunaikan kesemua permintaan ibunya. Selepas itu dia telah menjadi orang yang paling tinggi martabatnya disisi Allah. Doa dia cukup makbul hatta penyakit sopak pun boleh sembuh. Mengikut al-Quran, Nabi Isa Alaihisalam yang pernah berdoa untuk kesembuhan penyakit sopak dizamannya.

Berbalik kita kepada point asal, Sayidina Umar dan Sayidina Ali dapat berjumpa dengan Uwais ini minta satu sahaja iaitu minta supaya doakan supaya Allah swt. mengampun semua dosa-dosa mereka.

Ketika Uwais al-Qarni berjumpa Umar dan Ali, dia berkata ,'Aku datang ini dari Yaman ke Madinah kerana aku nak tunaikan wasiat nabi kepada kamu iaitu supaya kamu berdua berjumpa dengan aku. Aku datang ini nak tunaikan wasiat itulah'. Maka Uwais pun telah mendoakan untuk mereka berdua.

Sympathy

There was a commotion in Year 1 Isa this morning. A student refused to answer Bahasa Inggeris paper. Reason? He said he doesn't understand a single word. When the teacher coaxed him to write, he went into a tantrum. In order to restore peace in the classroom, he was sent to the staff room.

I saw him arguing with a senior teacher. I sat next to him and he asked me,
' Muallimah kenal ayah saya tak.'
'Kenal. Dulu ayah Hanan ajar anak Muallimah kat St Michael.'
Then he complained.
'Saya tak tahu Bahasa Inggeris. Apa yang dia tulis kat atas ni. Saya tak faham.'

I looked through his papers. All the objective questions were answered. Actually he refused to write the words and the phrases. There were only 3 pages to be completed.

'Bagus! Banyak dah siap.'

I guided him with the exercises and with a little help he managed to finish it in time.

The next paper was pendidikan seni. He didn't bring along his colour pencils so Puan Khalimah lent him a box. I asked him to behave well and send him back to class.

Sometimes when he misbehaved, we wondered whether he was missing his late mother.

1 Malaysia?

Same title as Cik Tutor's but the contents are from my own perspectives.

Cik Tutor remembered correctly. En Suami was posted to St Michael Institution when Cik Tutor was 4 years old. We stayed with our parents in Tambun until En Doktor began schooling. Then we moved to Rapat Setia.

En suami taught biology to Form 6 students in St Michael. Most of them became doctors. I still remember the Chinese students, about dozens of them, came for Hari Raya to my parent's house and we served them food. Their favourite was ayam masak merah. We didn't serve rendang because Buddhists cannot take beef. What I saw was, an atmosphere of cheerfulness and respect between them. When en suami was transferred to Kolej Matrikulasi Perak in Gopeng, his ex-students who graduated from medical school took an effort to meet him just to express their gratitude. One student actually named en Saad as his favourite teacher and the college sent en suami a certificate! En suami was on cloud nine.

En doktor studied in St Michael for 2 years. When the SPM drew nearer, his indian classmates came over to my house to study biology with en suami. They still get in touch with one another.

The teachers that I remembered most when I was in lower secondary school were Mrs Radha, Mr Yeoh and Mrs Yeoh. They were very dedicated, hardworking and had great expectations on their students.

Yes, those were the days. I wish that Malaysia will be forever peaceful and all the races can live in harmony.

Catatan hati .....

Yesterday I tried my best to retire early. At 10 pm I was already in bed, reading a book written by an Indonesian writer titled 'Catatan Hati Seorang Istri'. It was laden with heartbreaking true stories and it made me think how fragile life is. In the end, I made a conclusion that everyone should have only one true love, Allah and his Messenger, Rasulullah peace be upon him.

The writer wrote:

Harapan saya Catatan Hati seorang Istri, bisa membawa pembaca pada kesiapan lebih baik, ketika kita mendapat ujian serupa. Bukankah ujian itu Allah pergilirkan pada tiap-tiap hamba?

Cinta yang lepas dari genggaman?

Mengingat hidup selalu memiliki warna berbeda, saya mengajak kepada semua perempuan untuk mulai menulis. Catat tidak hanya kenangan indah, tetapi juga semua pikiran, beban perasaan, kesedihan, ketakutan, apa saja sebelum terlambat untuk menuliskannya.

Sungguh batin saya seperti dikoyak melihat semua tragedi melibatkan perempuan. Kerananya saya ingin kita sama-sama berjanji. Berjanji untuk menjadi teman bicara. Berjanji untuk menjadikan tulisan itu cermin dan renungan, sebab mungkin itu akan membawa kita pada jalan keluar, yang sebelumnya terasa amat buntu.


Kini waktunya berdoa dan meminta kepadaNya lebih sering. Sebab semakin hari, saya menyadari kebutuhan dan ketergantungan kepada Allah sedemikian besarnya. Semoga Allah memberi kekuatan bagi semua hambaNya, khususnya para perempuan.

Amin

Asma Nadia

New schedule.

It seems that Azhar and I are back with our old routine. With one new adjustment. Last week we replaced the strymix line with wireless and guess what happen. Azhar is very hardworking nowadays, 'studying' in the comfort of his room with the laptop by his side! To all my other sons and daughter who are concerned with Azhar's welfare, don't worry too much. I will check on him every now and then. I will make sure that he does all the exercises in the workbooks that en suami bought for him.

This week I have started on a new routine. I hope I can improve myself as time goes by. Pray that Allah will guide me to be a much better and healthier person.

4.45 am - Wake up
5.50 am - Subuh prayer
7.15 am - Off to school
5.00 pm - Cook dinner and other household chores.
7.00 pm - Dinner
7.15 pm - maghrib prayer
8.45 pm - Isya' prayer
9.30 pm - Sleep

Monday evenings - Off to parent's house in Tambun for breaking fast with them.

On Tuesdays, I have the luxury of having an afternoon nap since I come home at 2 o'clock. On other days, it is at 5 o'clock.

Wednesdays - Pasar malam and usrah with friends.

Thursdays - Spring clean

Fridays - Laundry

Weekends - Family outings and shopping groceries.

I hope I can do it and persevere, insyaAllah.

Make du'a

Salam.
Recently, while on our way back to Ipoh from Kuala Pilah, we listened to the radio interview. Everybody went gaga over this young Islamic singer from Sweden. Yes, it was an interview session with Maher Zain. Surprisingly, en suami was quite a fan too, so I can listen to the one hour long interview with no interruption! Alhamdullillah.

One thing that I like about him is, after each question and answer session, he would ask the listeners to make du'a. He would end his sentence with, please make du'a. That was exactly what he said. Usually, we pray when we face calamities, hardship or sickness. It is true that in hardships, we have no refuge except Allah alone. But as our Creator , Allah will not let us down and neglect the people who call on Him, however trivial the matter is because He is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim.

The best and easiest prescription for happiness and to calm the nerves is thanking Allah, the All-Merciful. When we thank Allah, we appreciate the blessings that He has bestowed upon us.
Look at how Allah has blessed us with hearing, sight, reason, religious commitment, provision and a good life. We have so much to thank Allah.

'Check your past and your present, for life is a sequence of experiences from which one should emerge victorious'

KLIA

Di KLIA sekarang.

This morning I met cikgu Z, who happened to be en suami's colleague ten years ago. His wife passed away 3 weeks ago leaving behind 5 small children. He looked tired.

I told him to call us if he needs any help.

' Just pamper my children with lots of love. That's what they need at the moment'
'I knew the sign since first of Ramadan. She told me to let Hidayah take care of the children if she passed away.'

It was indeed a great trust and honour when cikgu Z mentioned his wife's last wishes. I feel a great responsibility and I hope the Hidayah teachers and I can fulfill their wish.

Two months ago we met cikgu Z and his late wife to discuss about the problem his seven year old son faced in class. There was a great improvement in his son's behaviour after the meeting. I was glad we took the initiative to contact them when the problem arose. Alhamdulillah, the problem was settled.

May Allah bless his family.

Short update

Aman is going back to Alex this Friday. Hope he'll study hard and be a good, dedicated doctor when he finishes his studies. Good doctors are difficult to come by. So he must focus on his studies and get as much knowledge as he can from the lecturers that teach him.

Once again we'll take the trip to KLIA by bus from Ipoh. En suami will join us in KLIA to send Aman off on Friday morning and drive to Kuala Pilah afterwards. InsyaAllah, on Friday evening , we'll go home to Ipoh.

School is busy with UPKK exams and final year exams. The enrolment for next year is already full and there is a few in the waiting list.

That's all for today.

Rendang Tok

One of the common food served during Hari Raya is lemang and rendang. For Perakians, we usually cook rendang pedas or rendang tok. A few days ago, I tried cooking rendang tok. Got the recipe from Puan Ros. My mum said that the elders usually slice the ingredients thinly but I followed Ros's method. I use the blender to grind the ingredients.

Here is the recipe for Rendang Tok.

I kg beef - cut into 4 cm pieces
1 kg shallots *
5 garlics*
5 cm ginger*
4 cm galangal (lengkuas)*
gula nira
5 lemon grass*
40 dried chillies*
2 kg coconut milk (I used only 1 kg)
kerisik
cinnamon, cardamon, star anise
2 asam keping
salt

Method :

1. Blend the ingredients marked *
2. Put all the ingredients (except the beef) inside the wok. Cook for 30 minutes .
3. Put the beef and turn down the heat. Simmer until the rendang thickens. Keep stirring.


Not yet done. When it is ready, it will turn dark brown.

Selamat mencuba semua!