Faiz ~ The King of Rubik's Cube

You know Rubiks cube, right? It's either 2x2 or 3x3 or 4x4 or 5x5.... and the normal one is the 3x3 cube....I didn't know that earlier!! Have you tried solving the cube? I did!!...took me quite long to solve just ONLY 1 side...that's as far as I could go. Never bother to try better than that.

Faiz (12) has that special ability to solve the Rubiks cube...I don't know how he aqcuired the knowledge and skill, but somehow he has the capability to do it....not only solving Rubiks cube but equally good in solving Maths, handling IT stuff, solving jigsaw puzzles and fixing those toys where you have to install / fix yourself.
The best in the world probably can solve all 6 sides in less than 10 seconds...seen that on youtube...don't know how true that is, and don't really know about Malaysia's record. Faiz current average time is at 40 - 60 seconds, pretty amazing to me. He has been competing among his friends in his school...and he probably holds the no 1 ranking now.



I knew he sourced for a lot of info on the net on solving Rubiks cube and he plays with it all the time. His younger brother has not shown the same ability but he's pretty good in singing though!!! He likes Micheal Jackson's songs. Will write about him in another posting.

Faiz ihas completed his Al-Quran last year and is pretty well versed with the tajwid too. He wanted to join Dini at MTS. We are hopeful that he will be given the chance to follow his sister's footstep. Faiz also obtained his black belt in Karate last year. It was a proud moment for him after intensive trainings with his master. He just loves outdoor activities, especially camping and last year we help his class, 5 Geliga to organise a camping trip at Ricardo Camp, Port Dickson. They had great time with water activities, flying fox etc.

He will be sitting for his UPSR and PSRA this year..so far he has shown the desire and discipline to suceed...our only hope is for him to strike both exams well and move on to the next level. Hope he could produce the same skills and capabilities of handling the Rubiks cube in both his exams this year.

He was a very naughty boy when he was small but he has grown to be a wonderful young man.

All the best to Faiz Muqri....

Amazing pictures...

I received an e-mail forwarded by a friend in June 2009, about 2 weeks before we left for umrah. The e-mail entitled “Gambar Malaikat” and the story accompanied the pictures goes like this:-

“Gambar nie diceritakan sendiri pada aku oleh jurugambar yang amik gambar nie. Dia diupah oleh Tabung Haji dan terlibat dalam merakamkan gambar jemaah haji yang memenunaikan rukun islam pada disember 2008 (tahun lepas). Masa gambar diambil, tiada sebarang perubahan cuaca atau kerosakan pada kamera. Gambar di ambil di Mudzalifah semasa jemaah berhenti untuk berehat seketika dan beribadat.

Bila dilihat semula gambar nie, jurukamera baru perasan terdapat "bubble" di dalam gambar berikut. Jika diperhatikan seolah2 terdapat tulisan kalimah Allah swt.. Persoalan didalam gambar ini dirujuk pada ustaz di sana . Ustaz menceritakan kebarangkalian pada waktu itu malaikat turun dari langit. Tetapi untuk tidak menujukkan wajah sebenar malaikat, ia hanya menunjukkan namanya sahaja.

So, kesimpulannya. ... setiap satu "bubble" itu mewakili satu nama malaikat. Bayangkan lah betapa besarnya kuasa Allah swt...... Panjang2 kan lah email nie.....Mungkin ada yang ingin sampaikan pada semua umat Nabi Muhammad saw pada ketika ini... Wallahualam. ..”



After I read the e-mail, I forwarded it to my brother. It ends there until we went for Umrah in mid June 2009. When we were in Madinah and after solat Isyak, on our way back to the hotel, my brother captured some photos outside Masjid Nabawi. When we reached the hotel and were looking at the photos taken, my brother noticed the similarity with the pictures captured by the photographer in Mudzalifah. Of course, his camera is just a normal digital camera but we could see the same white bubbles on the air in both the pictures. Amazing isn’t it? Kebenarannya hanya Allah SWT yang mengetahui...

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan 1430H

Selamat mengerjakan ibadah puasa di bulan ramadhan yang mulia, semoga sama2 kita mendapat iktibar, keinsafan, kemenangan, perolehan rezeki yang diredhai, kesihatan yang baik dan berterusan, amalan yang diterima, umur yang dipanjangi, dielak kemusibahan, bahagia serta bersyukur sentiasa dan mati dalam keimanan serta diampuni segala dosa. Amin Yarabbal A'lamin....

Salam Ramadhan Al-Mubarak dari kami.

The ESQ Way 165 ~ Feel the Experience

It all started when hubby attended ESQ training organized by his employer in March this year. It was a three day programme from 8am up to 7pm Friday to Sunday. Sound hectic right? It was difficult to set that 3 days for training!! Every night when he came back from the training, he would tell me all about it, the trainers, the course content and most importantly the impact it had on him. He kept telling me that I should attend and that all our family members should also attend. Out of curiosity, he took all of us for the preview soon after he completed his training and there I realized that I should without delay attend the training.

So what is ESQ? It’s a short form for Emotional and Spiritual Quotients. It’s a combination of EQ and SQ. Of course we are all aware of IQ, I mean the Intelligent Quotient and not my hubby! ESQ leadership training was introduced and developed by Pak Ari Ginanjar, an Indonesian Muslim who started this from his searching for the purpose of life. The ESQ way stands for 1 Ihsan, 6 Rukun Iman and 5 Rukun Islam, the basic fundamentals of Islam. It’s about having all the three quotients (IQ, EQ and SQ) in order to build good character and lead a meaningful life now and in the Hereafter.

Based on his extensive and continuous research, Pak Ari has developed the ESQ model in 2000. The 3-day training took us through a process to zero the mind (Zero Mind Process – ZMP) and to apply Rukun Iman and Rukun Islam in our daily lives. Of course this training was developed from the Islamic perspective supported with Al-Quran and Sunnah but it was transformed into seven core values in life – honest, responsible, discipline, teamwork, fair, visioner and care. This way, the training is universal and can be attended by the non-muslims and not restricted to only muslims. You can find out all about ESQ from the links in this blog. The ESQ training started 10 years ago and so far has attracted more than 750,000 alumnus all around the world. I doubt there exist a training that could match the ESQ training.

In summary, the training comprises:-

1 Value – How to feel God consciousness through three modules - Inner Journey, Outer Journey and Zero Mind Process. 6 Principles on how to internalise the core values -Star Principle, Angel Principle, Leadership Principle, Learning Principle, Vision Principle and Well-Organised Principle. This is followed by 5 Actions on how to sustain the principles and core values with Mission Statement, Character Building, Self-Controlling, Strategic Collaboration and Total Action...looks land sounds like modern day management and leadership training.

So what did I get from the ESQ Training which I attended from 1 to 3 May 2009? To be honest, I actually discovered so much and I was so grateful to Allah swt for giving me the opportunity to attend the training. The training itself made me realized who I really am in this whole wide world. It helps me get closer to Allah swt and Prophet Muhammad pbuh and understands Asmaul Husna (99 sifat Allah swt).

We have asked our uncle, aunty, our brothers and our kids to attend. In fact, we wish to share this experience with the rest of our family members. My hubby's company even sponsors family members to attend for free as part of their CSR. Large Malaysian companies (GLCs) have made this training compulsory to all its employees..that shows something.

I also made lots of friends there, Nura, Aisyah and Aunty Fatimah to name a few. Nura, a muallaf told me that she was so grateful to be granted “hidayah” from Allah swt to embrace Islam and the training helps her appreciate Islam better. For me, it’s the new approach of understanding Islam.

Of course there are numerous feedbacks on the training, the goods and the bads, as long as it doesn’t breach any “syariat” and hukum Islam, that is fine with me. You can read feedback from Ustaz Zaharuddin, who attended the training with me in his website http://www.zaharuddin.net/ and comment from Mufti Perak who attended recently. Kalau pun ada negatif komen about ESQ, kita sendiri boleh menilai dan mengambil mana yang baik buat pedoman hidup kita.

One bonus thing about this training is that you need to pay only once and upon becoming an alumni, you can attend and recharge anytime you wish. I personally felt that the sessions are worth more than the fees you pay to attend the training. I for once am totally impressed with the trainers. They are well qualified, humble with excellent deliveries. Most of them are Indonesian and they deliver in both Indonesian language and English. They support their delivery with several gigantic screens, high impact multimedia and high powered sound system to make it more effective.

This is really 21st century stuff, applying Islam as the way of life.....developed in the East based on Islamic models and will be relevant to the whole world, it will be something the West will have to learn from the East....it has that kind of potential.

You've got to feel the experience….

Group photo of ESQ Angkatan 31

Aisyah, Nura, Me and Aunty Fatimah

With Muqarrabin, Pak Raman and Pak Rudi

Family Ties ~ Mengeratkan Silaturrahim & Menjalinkan Ukhwah

Do you keep close contacts with your brothers / sisters or relatives? Do you think its necessary to do that? Or do you think you can live 'alone' in this world?

We certainly think that keeping close contacts with brothers / sisters and relatives is VERY2 important....and it is necessary that we do just that...Michael Jackson sings 'You're Not Alone'....and Liverpool fan sings 'You'll Never Walk Alone'...nobody wants to live alone! Living alone is just not 'human nature'. Furthermore, mengeratkan silaturrahim dan menjalin ukhwah di antara kita adalah amat dituntut oleh Islam.

However, intentions without action will not bring us anywhere, will not change anything....so there must be serious actions,serious efforts, serious commitments and honesty to achieve the noble objectives of keeping us together...there will be many challenges but also non material rewards.

One of the things that we do was to join the website Geni.com and found it to be a perfect tool to gather our relatives, create family trees, create a better understanding of our relationships, knows who is who, share events and happenings, photos, videos etc...it also promotes a healthy use of the ICT....the free ones has limited features but good enough for a start.

In the past (and we still do), we took the trouble of organizing or helping to organize family gatherings...the Gombakclans had their family gatherings annually...Pangkor in 2008, Kertih in 2007, Putrajaya in 2006, Bora Ombak in 2005, Gombak in 2004, Klang in 2003...it got better, bigger, further and costlier!!

Before leaving for Pangkor ~ 19 Dec 2008

At Pangkor Village Resort ~ 19-21 Dec 2008

At Kelab Desa Rantau Petronas, Kertih ~ 8-10 Feb 2008

At Putrajaya Club ~ 2006

The Basir Khans, however had a much slower start, had their first gathering in 2008(Syawal 1429H) in Kuala Pilah...good start although there were many challenges and obstacles.

At Nenek's House, Kg Gemuruh, Kuala Pilah ~ 26 Oct 2008

At Kompleks Rakan Muda, K. Pilah ~ 25 Oct 2008

Sometimes, in order to make things happen, we just need to take the lead, be the initiator, build the spirit and take that step.

We will continue to do what we do...as long as it is good for the family, good for the relationship... as long as we enjoy doing it, as long as we have the ability to do it and as long as Allah swt gives us the opportunity to contribute.

Not for money, not for status and certainly not for popularity..purely for the value of the relationship...hanya kerana Allah Taala.

Baginda s.a.w. bersabda: "Tidak ada perbuatan hasanah yang lebih cepat pahalanya daripada menghubungi keluarga dan tiada dosa yang layak disegerakan pembalasannya di dunia disamping siksanya kelak di akhirat seperti putus hubungan kekeluargaan dan berlaku zalim aniaya."

Khatam Al-Quran ~ Thaqif & Ewein

Majlis Khatam Al-Quran for Thaqif and Ewein was held on 27 June 2009 (...which is also IQ's birthday). Thanks to Ewein's parents who were kind enough to invite Thaqif to join the event. I still remember few years back when I asked Ewein to join my kids mengaji at home. Ewein stays close to our house. Since then, both of them mengaji under the supervision of several ustazs, Ustaz Nuri, Ustaz Am and Ustaz Fazrin. Their ustazs are all Al-Hafiz who pursued their studies in UIAM and they are all from Kelantan. They have been teaching Faiz, Thaqif and Ewein diligently how to read Al-Quran the right way with the correct tajwid. Seeing them mengaji made me felt so inadequate that I decided to start belajar tilawah from Asas 1 at UIAM. So far I have completed Asas 1 and Asas 2 and am glad to be able to proceed to the next level, Kemahiran next semester. Infact, Dini was attracted to learn tahfiz when she learn Al-Quran from Ustaz Nuri. She is now studying at Maahad Tahfiz Sains, Tanah Merah and Ustaz Nuri is one of her teachers.

We only returned from Umrah for 2 days when majlis khatam was held. So, we did not help much with the preparation. I was sick with fever that I could only watch my aunties and cousin prepared for the event, but I managed to get each of them a lovely jubah from Mecca for them to wear. Everything went well with the marbahan group and their recitation was good. Thanks to all the Ustazs who have coached them so well. Our sincere thanks to Amelia and her family for organising Majlis Khatam Al-Quran for Thaqif. They still continue mengaji with a new ustaz, Ustaz Fatihi, a UIAM student who is also a hafiz from Kelantan. I hope they will not stop learning Al-Quran and use Al-Quran as their sole guidance in life.

Thaqif

Thaqif and Ewein

Thaqif and Nyang

Rubeeyah Talapa-Alen @ Nenek

Rubeeyah or fondly known as "Nenek" has been our maid for 12 years. We were introduced to her by an indonesian maid who worked with our neighbour when Faiz was born. That was in 1997. We were so relief when we found her because we don't have to go through the hassle of going through an agent to get a maid. We did everything ourselves and along the way, learnt the process of getting a work permit for a maid. It's so much cheaper and less headache.

Nenek is brave, terrific, an excellent cook and a great gardener. She did everything for us, taking care of the house and garden, looking after our kids and cook real good food for us. You just name it, thai food, kelantanese food, masak kampung etc. She has great passion for cooking except for western cuisines and baking. But that is more than enough for us. Whenever Dini is back, she will cook her favourite dishes, ikan patin masak tempoyak, ikan keli masak cili and ikan terubuk bakar. We will miss her cooking during this coming ramadan, daging bakar, ikan bakar, puteri mandi, lompat tikam and biji nangka, just to name a few. We have beautiful garden and compliments all go to her. She has green fingers and love plants. We have no worry leaving the house whenever we go out or balik kampung. Infact, we trust her with our kids when we both go on our holiday. We left our kids with her for 2 weeks when we went to umrah recently. Everything was in order on our return.

We visited her home in Yala Narathiwat some years back and stayed there for a couple of days. We truly had a great time and were touched with the hospitality extended to us. Her father, step mother and family members treated us so well that we told them we would visit them again. Last year, we brought her along to visit Egypt and performed umrah. It's just a token of our appreciation for all the good deeds that she has done to us.

She finally said goodbye to us last sunday. Thank you nenek for all the things that you have done for us for the last 12 years and forgive us for our shortcomings. Semoga Allah swt sajalah yang dapat membalas segala budi baik nenek. Jasamu sentiasa kami kenang.

At a beach in Songkla

At kampung Nenek in Yala, Narathiwat

IQ and Nenek's father (in kain pelikat)

Nenek inaugral flight to Cairo

At the Spinx

At Pyramid, Giza Plateau

Mum, me, Dini, Aunty and Nenek at Masjid Nabawi

Ladang Unta, Hudaibiyah

Nenek and Adik

BBQ at home