Faiz & Dini - Double Celebrations!!!

Today, 29 July 2010 Faiz celebrated his 13th birthday. Unfortunately, it falls on Thursday, a school day. So, we couldn't celebrate the day with him. Instead, we have requested the school to help organise a small kenduri kesyukuran since today the students are fasting.

Ustazah Nani was kind enough to help ordered 2,000 sticks of satay and ice cream cups for the students for their buka puasa in addition to their usual meal served at the school. They normally have special meal every thursday since everyone in the school are encouraged to fast. We have also arranged for chocolate cakes to be delivered to IQKL before they had their dinner around 6.30pm. Thank you Ustazah for your help coordinating this for us.

At around 10.30pm, we visited him after his class. We brought along a cake and chicken chop specially made by his Uncle @ OneStepKL for him to celebrate with his dorm mates. For his birthday gift, he has requested a table tennis/ping pong table! He acquired the interest in playing ping pong this year at IQKL. Now, we have to think of a place to store the table as he will only use it once a week!

To our dearest Mohamed Faiz Muqri, your journey is still very far but we are so grateful to Allah swt that you have chosen this path. This path is winding and full of obstacles along its way. You have to be strong, patient and always presevere as you walk along this path. Always be guided by Al-Quran and Sunnah in whatever you do. We pray that you will reach the end of your journey to be what you have inspired to become, a professional huffaz (Profaz).

On another note, today is also a significant day for Dini since she will receive a prize for her PMR result at MTS after the PIBG meeting. Unfortunately, we couldn't be there for her this time round although we wanted so much to witness the ceremony. Please accept our apology Kakak. Eventhough we are not there with you physically but we are always there for you in spirit. We are always proud of your achievement.

Dini & Faiz ~ What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate you. Let Rasulullah saw be your idol.

Inception & Bowling???

We don’t always get the opportunity to be together where everyone is at home other than during school or public holidays. Last weekend, I felt complete because both Kakak and Abang were at home for the weekend. Dini always have a four days break every month and Faiz can have his 2 nights weekend break once a month. It’s very rare that their breaks coincide...this time it did! Alhamdulillah.

Dini flew back with fireflyz on Thursday with rashes all over her body. She had measles!!! Tok Wan and Adik fetched Faiz from IQKL on Friday and Tok Wan did not recognize him at Masjid Al-Ghuffran during Solat Jumaat since he was wearing “serban”!

So, what did we do over the weekend? On friday night, we wanted to watch movie but the tickets for Inception were selling fast. So we went to visit Tok Lang instead at Kampung Melayu PJ and had dinner with Umi and family. On the way back, we stopped by at A&W Drive-in and had our favourite root beer drinks and onion rings for supper. Tak habis2 makan...

On Saturday, both Ibu and Abah went for their kursus haji while the kids had the chance to have extra sleep! After solat zohor, we left for Pavillion to watch Inception. We had our lunch at Ibu’s favourite lunch spot, Thai Express and while waiting for the movie at 3.30pm, Dini managed to grab a Liverpool t-shirt! As usual, Adik fell asleep during the movie, couldn’t make sense of the story line for the first half hour! The movie was good but it was a bit complicated. Even after it ended, we were still wondering whether he came out to reality or still in his fifth level dream!

After solat maghrib, we went to Wangsawalk for a round of Bowling. It was our first bowling attempt and we invited Pak Lang and Mak Lang to join us, the more the merrier! We played two frames and Ibu won the first frame with 114 points and Abah took over the fame and won the second frame with 96 points! Our first attempt at bowling was not that bad after all with a few strikes from Ibu, Abah and Kakak! We ended the night with dinner at One Step.

The next day, Ibu cooked American breakfast, the kids' favourite Baked Mushroom and later went to JJ to get the kids' stuff. Had lunch at home and after asar, we sent Faiz back to IQKL. We drove straight to Carrefour Wangsa Maju from Taman Tun to buy Dini's baju raya. This year she just got herself the readymade ones, cheaper, nice with so many to choose from. Before returning home, we had dinner at San Francisco Steak & Pizza. Dini flew back to MTS the next day and we are back to square one.

Thaqif and the World Cup

WC has just ended with the first ever victory for Spain, Thaqif's favourite team...simply because his favourite football player, Fernando Torres plays for the Liverpool team and he's a die hard fan of Liverpool FC (& Kelantan - The Red Warriors FC).

Before the WC started, he has been following the local, English and the European Leagues and seems to know the teams, the players, the managers, the schedule of matches, the scores and sometimes the cards issued during a game!!. He will join his friends for a round of football after sekolah agama almost everyday. His position has always been the goalie, for obvious reason! He just loved football although he is not in the best shape to excel in the sport right now... pretty amazing for a 9 year old boy.....and that is what interest can do.

Most of the time, he loves to wear his Liverpool jersey, of course not the original one (Pengkalan Kubur version). But when Ibu told him that Stanchart is going to sponsor the Liverpool's jersey for the new season, he was excited and kept asking Ibu to order! Eventually, Abah, Faiz, Thaqif and Pak Lang were the fortunate ones to get the new jerseys before it was officially launched on 1 July 2010. When he returned home from school one day in May, he saw a parcel from LFC and immediately called Ibu to ask if he could open it. Yes!!! He finally got his latest Liverpool long sleeve jersey complete with the premier league patch and his name and number 9 printed on the back. Faiz chose number 8 while Abah and Pak Lang selected number 27 and 9 respectively. On several occasions, Faiz was stopped by Liverpool fans asking him where he bought the jersey...(people are always interested in new stuff!).

When the WC was approaching, Thaqif got excited and was really gearing into it....bought books, magazines, watched documentaries, asked the dad, the uncles & grandfathers and dreamt of football.....he developed his knowledge on football along the way. He chosed Spain, like his Pak Lang, dad chosed England, Ibu chose Germany, uncle AP was for the US....Paul the Octopus was not yet in the picture then! Thaqif collected stickers of players pictures for his sticker book, persuaded Ibu to buy him the WC ball, Jabulani, collected Mc Donald's WC glasses and finally when Spain got through to the final, the Spain jersey!

Spain started badly on 16.6.2010 when they lost to Switzerland, he was pretty down but still hoping hard. Then it was a 2-0 win over Honduras on 21.6.2010...and the spirit went up again. After 2 games, Chile was looking good and Spain had to compete with the Swiss while Honduras had very slim chance. On 25.6.2010, Spain had to win over Chile and the Swiss had to do the same over Honduras. Spain won 2-0 while the Swiss drew 1 - 1 with Honduras and both teams went home early while Spain topped the table in Group H and moved on to the round of 16 against Portugal on 29.6.2010....superb game which Spain won 1 - 0 courtesy of David Villa.

Moved on to the quarterfinal against Paraguay on 3.7.2010, another superb game which Spain won 1-0 courtesy of David Villa. The semifinal against the Germans on 7.7.2010 was a classic game... a total demolition of the Germans sophistication by the Spanish armada and David Villa, the Germans was simply missing Mueller....or believing too much in Paul!

Last Saturday, we let him watched the match between Germany and Uruguay with his cousins, Naif and Atif at Bangi....and they had a wonderful time sharing the vuvuzela infested WC moments with his equally football crazy cousins & Pak Su at 2:30 am. He didn't get to see the WC final live as Monday was a school day....but he was satisfied enough to know that Spain won the FIFA World Cup for the first time in history. A team that he supported, a team that he believed in....must have been an awesome experience for a 9 year old guy.

Anyway, did the Spanish come to Melaka? The Portugese and the Dutch certainly did....

Tilawah @ IIUM

Every Tuesday night since October 2008, my time has been occupied attending the tilawah class at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). It all started when I realized that my children can recite Al-Quran so much better than me and know tajwid at their finger tips. Furthermore, at that time, Dini already at MTS and has completed hafazan of several juzuk and Faiz and Thaqif have khatam Al-Quran.

I started searching in the internet for tilawah classes for adult and I found one Sekolah Al Quran which is located behind the Sheraton Imperial Hotel but the timing was not suitable for me. So, I decided to join IIUM which offered Tilawah Course For The Public (KUTAQ) under the Institute for Language Advancement (IfLA), Tilawah Division. They offered the courses in stages depending on your fluency in reciting Quran but you need to be interviewed by the panel before they determine a level suitable for you.

The level starts from Asas 1, Asas 2, Kemahiran, Tajwid 1, Tajwid 2, Tajwid 3, Tilawah & Tafsir, Taranum and Qiraat A’syarah. I started from the beginning Asas 1 for one semester followed by Asas 2 and Kemahiran. One semester consist of 18 weeks with 36 hours lessons and the fees is RM360. At the end of the semester, you have to sit for an exam where you will be tested on your recitation. You need to score above 80% in order to proceed to the next stage.

When I started Asas 1 in 2008, Ustaz Nik Saiful Azizi taught me and he continued to teach me when I moved to Asas 2. He is a Kelantanese and was a former student of MTAQ and he happened to know my father-in-law. When I proceeded to Kemahiran, I have to change ustaz as Ustaz Nik had to take study leave to do his Phd. This round, I was taught by Ustaz Idriss.

Ustaz Idriss is from Morocco. He taught us mahraj in Kemahiran class last semester and his classes were conducted in English and little bit of Arabic! Obviously, he doesn’t know how to speak Bahasa! Well, not many have the opportunity to learn Quran/Tajwid in English and we are the privilege ones. He continued to teach me now at Tajwid 1. There will be two more classes before the big exam on 24 July 2010! And this time it is a combination of oral and written exams!! There are seven of us in the class, four ladies and three men with majority of us being senior citizens.

Last Tuesday, one of our coursemate, Kak Halimah was kind enough to treat us. She cooked delicious food, nasi beryani, grill lamb, beef stew, salad and carrot cake. Thank you Kak Halimah for your generosity and the lovely food.

To Ustaz Idriss and Ustaz Nik Saiful Azizi, thank you very much for your patient in teaching me the words of Allah. May Allah bestow his blessings on you and your family. Jazaka Allahu Khairan. To my course mates, good luck in the exam and hope to see you at the next level.

Sabda Rasullullah (SAW) "The best of you are the ones who learn the Qur’an and teach it to others” [Al-Bukhari]

To those interest to know more about the courses offered, please click on http://www.iiu.edu.my/celpad/kutaq/.