A good story from Frederick (a new revert from Finland)

Salam/Good day

There are hundreds of people converting to Islam everyday, making Islam the fastest growing religion in the Western world. How could this happened? Haven't you ever wonder why?

A new revert, Frederick@Fadi from Finland shares his story in youtube:

Thanks Frederick@Fadi, your story inspires me a lot. Alhamdulellah, I'm a Muslim. I hope to improve my practice of Islam, InshaAllah.

Children's fantasy..

6hildhoodWhen I was a child I always dream of becoming a superhero. I want to save the world. Fight evil and bring justice. Fairy tales look so real to me. I believe there is some kind of door connecting to the other side of the world. What a fantasy! Perhaps, Narnia is the closest manifestation of my child's fantasy.

When I was 12

Kaspersky Antivirus - it's time to be a legal user

Antivirus

Who wants to buy an antivirus if it is expensive and valid for only a year? Free antivirus software maybe the only option for those on a limited budget. But we still don't know how well these free antivirus protect our computers. What scares me is that new viruses might be the financial interest of some commercial antivirus vendors. So which antivirus should we trust? Perhaps, none!

There are many free antivirus software available online such as AVG Free Edition, Avast 4 Home Edition, AntiVir Personal Edition Classic and many more. I had tried AVG Free at my office. No so good (compared to Symantec). The other two Avast and AntiVir, I have no idea about their performance. Just put it this way - you may ask your neighbour to look after your house when you are not around, they might care. But they will care more if you pay them. Simple mathematics. It's still our choice. We need to define what we actually want from an antivirus software. To me, I prefer the purchased over the free one.

I used to be an illegal user of commercial antivirus software when I was a student. Used cracks for obtaining the license code. As a Muslim, where honesty is important, I pity myself for that. For that reason, I bought Kaspersky Antivirus (Version 7.0) and be part of the legal antivirus community.

Why I chose Kaspersky?

Kaspersky Lab has set up a regional office in Malaysia:
Since Kaspersky Lab opened its regional office in Petaling Jaya, Selangor in April 2008, Kaspersky Antivirus can be purchased directly from many computer shops in Malaysia (many users including me hesitate to purchase online). Through Kaspersky (Malaysia), Kaspersky will recruit more partners to target business segment such as retail, mobile phone, internet services and a few more, for supporting its South East Asian market.

Secondly, since the year 2006, Kaspersky still on top of the ranking.
Thirdly, the price in Malaysia is reasonable.

The retail price of Kaspersky Antivirus 7.0 (1 year license for 1 PC) in Malaysia is RM69 (USD21) and I bought it for RM60 (USD18). This is much cheaper compared to the retail price in US, UK, Australia or India, where its price is tagged at USD59 (RM192), GBP16 (RM104), AUD55 (RM173) and Rp1678 (RM127) respectively. While in China, Kaspersky offers KAV 7.0 free of charge to Chinese users (free license key for 1 year) as a social campaign to relieve people affected by snow disaster.

The most important for a Muslim - BE A LEGAL USER.

Another important message:
To Kaspersky Lab and other antivirus vendors, price reduction is greatly welcome if you want to see more people joining legal antivirus community.

Nakbah Palestin in Kulim

Nakbah
I would have not known about this program if they didn't put the poster on our notice board. This program, NAKBAH PALESTIN (Nakba Palestine) was organized by the State of Kedah (currently ruled by The Pan-Islamic Party of Malaysia a.k.a. Pas) and Islamic NGOs Malaysia on 20 June 2008 (Friday night) started from 9.15 PM at Kulim Mini Stadium. Among the invited speakers were:

[1] Dr Hadfizi Mohd Nor (Assoc. Prof.) / Head of Board, Palestinian Centre of Excellence, Malaysia
[2] Muhammad Sabu / Pas Vice President
[3] Naji Zuher / Palestinian Representative
[4] Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamid / President of The Core Ability of Malay (Teras Keupayaan Melayu a.k.a. TERAS)

NAKBA, perhaps best translated as CATASTROPHE in English, is referring to the remembering of the 1948 Palestinian Exodus involving brutal aggression of Israel against Palestinian people, expulsion from their lands, massacres and ethnic cleansing which continues to this day.

All mosques in Kedah were instructed to deliver khutbah (sermon) commemorating 60 years of Palestinian dispossession, thanks to the state government. The khutbah text (in Malay) can be obtained from this link: Khutbah Jumaat - Memperingati 60 tahun Penindasan

What is our role as a Muslim? As a Malaysian, the most practical thing we can do is to contribute a little sum of money from our pocket, in which many of us do on either periodically or non-periodically basis. This shall be continuous, inshaAllah.

In 2006, Government of Malaysia announced to aid Palestine USD16 million (www.kln.gov.my), while Pas collected more than RM3 million from the people.

On May 16, 2008 in Kelantan under the program "Save Palestine", Pas collected more than RM1 million in just one night. The contribution mainly came from:

Perbadanan Kemajuan Iktisad Negeri Kelantan (PKINK) / RM300,000
Kompleks Perkayuan Kelantan (KPK) / RM200,000
Syarikat Ladang Sungai Terah / RM150,000
Bina Raya Sdn. Bhd. / RM100,000
Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) / RM67,000
Majlis Perbandaran Kota Bharu (MPKB) / RM30,000
Jabatan Hal Ehwal Agama Islam Kelantan (Kelantan Islamic Department) / RM10,000
Persatuan Pengilang Papan / RM10,000

and the rest came from the ordinary people. Million thanks to you people.

Here in Kulim, I saw most Malaysians poured a few of their Ringgit in the donation bags. I'm more proud when I saw non-wealthy people do the same without bordering the petrol price hike. Alhamdulellah, may Allah bless you people. Other than donation, what we can do is doa (prayer). We pray for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, may Allah protect them from Israel brutal aggression, free their land and let them stay united. NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

I will not forgive you ISRAEL-BRITAIN-AMERICA for the conspiracy and destruction you did to my brothers in sisters in Palestine. As a Malaysian that care for Palestine, I know the truth and I will not stop telling the truth!

"MY HEART AND SOUL WITH PALESTINE"

I was so glad that my Palestinian brother Bashir agreed to join me to the program, so I picked him up at USM Engineering Campus and took him for tour to Kulim Hi-Tech and Kulim Town. The next day, he cooked magluba (Gaza style). It was delicious and I never thought that he is such a good cook.

When Meshary makes me cry...

Meshary
Today I received a link from Jafour (my youtube friend) that directs me to his uploaded video. So far, everything from Jafour are Islamic. I started to know Jafour when I made search on Islamic nasheeds a few years back. Alhamdulellah, he seems to have a lot of collections on this one.

During the time I watched his youtube video, my eyes eyed on a related video featuring a blind boy with his mother. It was a nasheed from Sheikh Meshary Rashid Al-Afaasy. Meshary is my favourite, of course. I'm a big fan of him since I know him in 2003. Meshary doesn't associate music in all of his nasheeds, that's what I like. The last nasheed I downloaded was "Ana al-Abd (أنا العبد )". One of the best in this millennium.

This nasheed entitles "Oh Mother, what is the shape of the sky? (يا امي ما شكل السماء)". MashaAllah it's so beautiful. Really touch my heart. I didn't realize tears fall from my eyes. I love blind people, I really do especially when they obey Allah more than those who were born normal.

DO WATCH please...

This is the translation of the nasheed:

Oh Mother, what is the shape of the sky?
What is light?
What is moon?
with its beauty you talk
and I see no trace of it
Is this world full of continuous darkness?
Oh mother
give me your hand
may my loneliness goes away
when I walk I fear tripping
in light or darkness?
I don't walk well
where the road was short or long
I fear of facing danger when I walk
and I tell no difference between hole and smooth roads
my lees is my sight
Is there sight in objects?

young ones run.. play and have fun all at ease...
and I'm blind.. disabled... staying home...
Allah is Kind to me and eases my pain...

(Translation provided by Parvin Hasan... thanks bro)

If we want to count the blessing from Allah, we will never be able to. So we should express our thank to Allah, our mighty God for everything.

Now I'm looking for Madrasah for the Blind in Malaysia. I know there is in South Africa and Yemen. Anybody who has any idea about any Islamic School for the Blind in Malaysia, please let me know....

Farewell to Ms Syajaratunnur...

Farewell
It has been almost two weeks since she left us and I believe she is missed by many of us at Advanced Material Research Centre (AMREC), SIRIM Berhad. Miss Syajaratunnur Yaakub, more popular as Shaja at AMREC, tendered her resignation on the fourth week of May, last month. She joined Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) last week as a lecturer in engineering related field in Lumut Campus, Perak. I heard she got a good offer from UniKL. This is a rizq from Allah. Alhamdulellah. We were so happy for her.

Farewell Night

It was my housemate, Khairuldin who planned for the farewell dinner, which was to be attended by selected people. Assisted by our program treasurer, Shuhada, so we collected money among seven of us (the amount we keep it secret.. hehe). Well then, there we have it, at Teluk Tempoyak, Bayan Lepas, Penang Island on 25 May 2008. The selection of food by Khairuldin were excellent. Ikan masak tiga rasa (three-taste fish), ikan masak pedas (hot-chili fish), sotong goreng tepung (fried squid), kerang bakar (grilled cockles), kailan ikan masin (salted fish kailan vege) and a few more. So delicious, really enjoyed it. Although the farewell may not be grand for Shaja, we did honour her for the night.

To Khairuldin, Shuhada, Azmir, Azuan, Shams and Fatiha, thanks for making the farewell night a memorable one.

To Shaja I wish you all the best....

Congratulations Mahmoud Haddad !

Mahmoud
I should have written this earlier. After months of waiting, my dearest friend, Mahmoud finally had his viva on 24 April 2008. Unfortunately I was not able to attend his viva voce because I was working. As expected, Mahmoud survived. Congratulations Mahmoud for your success in defending your PhD thesis! Mabroook! I'm so happy for you. Alhamdulellah.

Note: Mahmoud will go back to Palestine this week, get married and stay there for a couple of months. After that he will come back to Malaysia as a faculty member of USM.

Btw, thanks Mahmoud for driving my Perodua Kancil from my brother's house at Sungai Petani, Kedah to USM Penang. If not because of your upcoming viva, I know you could have driven my Kancil back to Taiping. You will do it for me instead of Tariq. Again, I thank you so much. May Allah bless you...