Hentenship

Bismillah...

Wargh 2 jam ++ duduk depan laptop dengan suhu -3 deg C di luar, mencari-cari peluang internship.
Bukan senang nak cari internship kat USA ni, yang dibuka untuk pelajar bervisakan F1.

Nak intern kat luar NY, tapi susah pulak $$$
Nak cari yang dalam NY, bosan la pulak

Aihh camni la manusia. Banyak complain.

"We all got our stories, but please tell me

What there is to complain about?"

(Good Life - OneRepublic)

Kak Baha masuk blog

Bismillah,

Alahai kelas akan bermula esok hari! Ah patutnya aku gembira, bukan? Bukankah dengan meniti jalan untuk menuntut ilmu itu, maka Allah akan permudahkan jalan meniti ke syurga pula?

Sape tak maleh...snow snow macam now, elok duduk rumah je putihkan kulit. Sambil-sambil kaki diregangkan di atas heater brand Honeywell, pekena secawan kopi panas bersama cracker masin, dan Nook di tangan kanan sambil membaca buku kegemaran, beserta music pilihan tersumbat di telinga kiri dan kanan, ahhh nikmat!

Okay motifnya hari ini mahu kongsi nikmatnya berjauhan dari Malaysia.

Bila jauh, mulala terasa rindu. Rindu yang sebetul-betulnya rindu.
Bila jauh, barula terasa syukur. Syukur yang betul pure.

Terlalu lama di zon selesa membuatkan kita menjadi lalai dengan apa yang kita miliki. Pernahkah kita merasa nikmatnya udara, sehinggalah kita tenggelam lemas di lautan? Tak caye ce tanya ikan sebaik sahaja ia ditangkap. Dia terasa nikmat tak duduk dalam air tu lama-lama?

Disebabkan aku ini mempunyai masalah tak boleh duduk diam (ini adalah penyakit yang amat merbahaya seandainya tiada cubaan untuk mengawal, serious!), maka petang tadi aku pun pergilah menziarahi satu keluarga pelarian Rohingya. Keluarga tu dah sekian lama 'transit' di Malaysia. Jadinya, Kak Baha, isteri kepada this unknown pak cik, merangkap wakil family itu, bolehla speaking Malay.

Aku kenal Kak Baha melalui program volunteering yang pernah dianjurkan oleh tempat aku intern waktu summer 2013, WNYMuslims.

Semangat Malaysia di USA

Sembang kencang dengan Kak Baha tadi. Topik kami berkisar mengenai betapa sejuknya winter, bil-bil semua melambung tinggi, kos hidup yang cukup-cukup sahaja, dan...betapa rindunya kami kepada Malaysia.

Sewaktu jeda 2-3 saat, 

sempat aku berfikir, betapa beruntungnya aku. Paling tak pun aku akan pulang ke Malaysia setahun dari sekarang, tapi Kak Baha? She and her family were moved to the US, as  a part of their refugee program, and they don't really have a choice. Dah dihantar ke sini means you have to stay here man. Forever.

Kalau aku di tempat Kak Baha, mungkin pertama kali dengar akan dihantar ke Amerika Syarikat tu bolehla kena sawan eksaited. Tapi bila dah sampai sini, bila dah tahu keadaan hidup macam mana and what to expect next, rasa macam betul je pepatah melayu, baik berhujan batu di negeri sendiri.

Sewaktu ada jeda lagi,

sempat aku terfikir,

eh, kalau betul akan tinggal di tanah Amerika ni forever, macam mana kubur aku eh?

Hmm. Dan aku biarkan persoalan itu larut bersama air oren yang dibancuh khas untuk aku.

Keluhan seorang pelajar tahun ketiga

Bismillah,

Keindahan yang semu,

Semua hanya palsu...

(Cinta yang Sempurna - 6ixth Sense ft. Noe Letto)

Ah logiklah pada umur-umur sebegini, 20-an, untuk memikirkan masalah teman sehidup semati. Bukanlah satu masalah pun, tapi boleh jadi masalah kalau salah cara mengendalikannya.

Kepada bachelor bachelorette luar sana yang masih single dan available, saat-saat kehidupan sekarang merupakan saat kritikal untuk mencari pasangan hidup. Ehhh kenala kritikal! Yela, kalau tak cepat nanti insan yang ditenang disambar orang. Kalau takde insan yang ditenang-tenang, mungkin risiko menjadi bujang terlajak makin meningggi setiap saat, minit, dan hari.

Teringat kepada skrip Joni, dari filem Indonesia "Janji Joni", kalau tak silap bunyinya macam ini:

"Aku sudah berumur 22 tahun, dan masih tidak punya pacar"

LO. Aku sendiri pun tak pernah nak mempersoalkan persoalan terbabit. Terlintas di fikiran memang ada, tapi takdela sampai disuarakan oleh suara hati, apatah lagi dibebelkan. Huhu.

Arghh pening bukan? Dah nak grad, tapi aweks takde lagi. Kalau ada si pengarang jantung pun, macam mana nak approach? Jikalau anda lebih Islamic, persoalan siapakah yang harus menjadi orang tengah turut menyumbang kebingungan dalam diri.

Ah kawan, jangan risau. Doa jela kan? Doa je supaya Allah tolong berikan kepada kita si putera/puteri idaman hati yang betul-betul ikut piawaian yang telah kita tentukan. Atau...

Ahhh...doa sahajalah yang specific, kalau sudah ada pilihan hati.



"Ya Allah, jodohkanlah aku dengan Maimunah anak Lebai Karim itu, Amin!!!"

OH YEAHH Maimunah anak Lebai Karim! - Photo Credit

Ha kan senang.

Takut...takut jauh dari dirimu

Dan kau tinggalkan aku sendiri

(Tanpa - 6ixth Sense) 

Hmmm...actually kawan, tak jugak. Mari kita fikir sejenak, apakah sebab menikah itu hanya kerana untuk memuaskan nafsu kita? Iya, nafsu untuk memandang si anak dara penyejuk mata, nafsu untuk bersama si tampan yang kaya raya, etc. Kalau ya, aihhh cepat tukar niat!

Eh tapi Rasulullah kan dah bagi tips untuk pilih pasangan? Cantik dan kaya kan termasuk dalam list?

Betulllll tak disangkal. Namun ciri yang terakhir adalah agama, right? Selalunya perkara yang terakhir disebut adalah perkara paling penting. Cuba lihat karangan Bahasa Melayu anda, bukankah point untuk perenggan terakhir merupakan point bertaraf emas untuk mendapatkan markah tambahan daripada pemeriksa? Dan kalau anda pendebat terkenal di sekolah tatkala dahulu, bukankah point terakhir anda merupakan libasan pedang untuk pihak pembangkang yang tak reti-reti nak mengaku mereka memang ditakdirkan untuk kalah?
Pointnya di sini, agama seseorang itu penting. Tapi yang paling penting, agama kita sendiri.

Teringat satu part daripada novel karya Hlovate, "Versus",

"Pasangan kita itu akan berubah kalau kita juga berubah" (obviously aku tak ingat kata-kata yang sebenar)

Adalah lebih baik bagi kita menjaga diri kita sendiri, yakni memperdalamkan pengetahuan agama, meningkatkan nilai diri dengan menuntut ilmu, memperbanyakkan aktiviti sukarela dan sebagainya. Sebab in shaa allah, kalau kita dah jadi orang baik, in shaa allah Allah akan menjodohkan kita dengan orang baik juga.

Jangan pula kalian berfikir, kalau kalian berubah, maka si pengarang jantung itu juga akan berubah. Manalah tau, kut-kut si pengarang jantung itu bukanlah jodoh anda. Mungkin ada yang lebih baik daripada dia? Ah, berubah, bukan sebab orang, tapi sebab Allah. Sebab nak selamatkan diri sendiri daripada azab-Nya, dan meraih nikmat-Nya di dunia sana kelak.


Motif taip post macam ni? Sebab aku nak grad dah in shaa allah. Lalu sesi hati ke hati dengan seorang rakan sebentar tadi membuatkan aku terfikir, tujuan hidup ini lebih dari sekadar menjalani hidup seperti "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta", atau "Eiffel...I'm in Love".

Katanya, "Kalau kau nak tahu itu jodoh kau, everything will go smooth with that person. Tau-tau kau dah kahwin"

Yang dicinta 'kan pergi,

Yang didamba 'kan hilang...

(Maha Melihat - Opick ft. Amanda)

Oh ya, terima kasih kawan. Nasihat yang bagus bagi memulakan semester kedua tahun ketigaku. ;)

p/s: Maimunah anak Lebai Karim bukanlah watak yang wujud, at least dalam hidup penulis.

A Sharing from Biochem

So in order to make my biochem critical-study more interesting, I would relate it to our typical life situation (not really a typical life for Muslims, as we do not drink alcoholic drinks) :

For science students out there, we were taught, at least in high school, about anaerobic fermentation of glucose (a type of simple sugar) that will produce alcohol (ethanol) in fungi (yeast). for this to be possible, 2 enzymes, pyruvate decarboxylase and ethanol dehydrogenase, are needed. These 2-step reactions will produce an intermediate known as acetaldehyde, a toxic compound.

pyruvate --> via pyruvate decarboxylase --> acetaldehyde --> via alcohol dehydrogenase --> ethanol

now, let's relate this to the Mercy of Allah,

He has created humans to have alcohol dehydrogenase so that whosoever consumes alcohol, can still metabolize it to acetaldehyde (just reverse the equation above). But it is still a toxic.

And humans, fortunately, do not posses pyruvate decarboxylase because if so, then humans will produce energy (pyruvate is the energy product during the absence of oxygen. It is the energy-production process in the cytoplasm, which you don't really need oxygen to run the process), in the absence of oxygen, along with a toxic compound, acetaldehyde.

Yes, truly the production of energy is not only necessary, but also needed. It's a happy ending - you have more energy, you can do more things. But that happy ending comes with a price - your own life.

As if you are consuming the elixir of life to gain more strength, but the strength is eating you alive from within.
Do you get it?

In the Islamic law, it is haram to consume alcoholic drinks or anything that can lead to a state of drunk. It is said that a Muslim who drinks drunk-inducing alcoholic drinks (or of anything related), his or her prayers shall not be accepted for 40 days. Now my friend, I heard from a renown Ustad back in Malaysia who said during the Day of Judgment, even if the person carries the deeds of 70 prophets, he still has a shaky confident of entering Heaven after hearing the sound of Hell. And who are we, to miss a single prayer, let alone 200 obligatory prayers in the course of 40 days? Wallahu'alam, my friend, I'm in no place to discuss more of this as I cannot run away from my sins either. But sharing is caring right? Let's care for each other. :) May Allah forgives all of our sins, ameen.

The point here is, despite His order for people to refrain from drinking alcoholic drinks, He still provide us with a way out, a way out from living a misery hell of our body collecting poisons due to our bad desires for drinking.

I may have wronged here, for I'm just a student trying to get something other that expressing the knowledge on MCQ bubble sheets. So share your knowledge with me :)

Allah ar-Rahman is so Merciful, so Compassionate. Allah says in the Qur'an that you don't have to go far to know Him, just look within yourself. ;D


haram: something or an action that is highly sinful and is truly, really, really seriously, unacceptable according to the Islamic law.

Ustad: an Islamic male teacher

so am I entering adulthood?

Tenggelam.

Once, you did something wrong and you just know that it was wrong, from the Eye of God, out of your dignity and devotion.

But because you are living in the sea of temptations, along with other people who are also the victims of the current situation, the faulty mistake that you've done somehow has been diminished. And you're troubled, perplexed, ...ain't you suppose to be mad at?ain't you worth any yelling or punishment?

true, this life is not all about fear. it's also about hope.

thus, was the escapism that I've received is a part of hope?

but hope is supposed to be given, not earned.

Do You, oh my Lord, are giving me Hope?

If true, then your Compassion is beyond the level that I used to put. Your Compassion is beyond infinite.


oh Lord I would like to thank You for allowing me to commit sins. Hence I shall return to You always, but Lord, what if I don't have the chance to repent and You call me right after the sin is committed?

oh Lord, the one and only Allah, strengthen my faith and please shower my heart with the sincerity of the Muqarrabin, sincerity to obey You, sincerity to worship You.

Asing

Kau panggil aku untuk berjuang,

aneh.

Kau tinggalkan aku pula di belakang.

Perasmian

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillah. There is one hadith that goes...

"A person will be with who he loves..." (I forgot who narrated this...)

Welp, in my case, I may not with the person I love now (parents, family, friends, etc. no outsider(s?) ;p), but alhamdulillah I am at one of the places that I love the most - Buffalo.

For anyone who has read my entries of "al-kisahs" before (if there any), remember that I typed...kinda sounds like this "what awaits me in Buffalo that I had to suffer (?) many things to come here?" aaa lebih kurang camtula. pergh paraphrase diri sendiri ahaks. lemau.

One of many miracles that happened here is Islamic evening classes. These classes are organized by MSA (Muslim Student Association) of UB and there are like 5 classes in four days, except Fridays, during the weekdays. Alhamdulillah, I've joined all. Istiqamah?Err...

Wanting to experience twisted tongue (and also mind)? They offer Arab class on Mondays. Having the desire to explore God's Letters? They offer the Koran tafseer class on Tuesdays. Hoping to understand hadiths better? They offer Hadith class on Wednesday. Wishing to be more fluent when reciting Quranic verses and dreaming to know rarely spoken sides of seerah Nubuwah other than the ones often read or heard for 11 years of schooling in Malaysia? They offer Tajweed and Seerah classes on Thursdays.

Mannn, MSA is soooo awesome and I thank God cuz He made me know the existence of this awesome group and those awesome classes. Awesomeness. 

I'm not gonna babble about the world-known awesomeness of this awesome club (exaggerating), but I wanna share the knowledge that I got on every Thursday, yes, from all-favorite Seerah class.

I love that class. My teacher, or ustaz, who I do not even bother to know his name (shame on me), is a great man. He lectures us as if he is rapping. Too many information, too limited time. I had never anticipate any class that I had joined before other than this class.

So in order to prevent mental explosion (due to too many stuff from Seerah) and to avoid slight mental demensia when asked about Seerah, I'm going to, insyaallah, start posting about what I've learned from this class. I may not deliver the exact sentences that I heard in the class, but insyaallah the gist of what I am going to talk about is purely understood from my teacher, insyaallah.

Now, I am proudly lauching...jeng jeng jeng....potong riben sikit...

Oh My Thursday! (OMT!)

Tepuk tangan sikit

OMT! #01

Khadijah r.ha. is one of the 4 greatest women ever lived on Earth. I'm not really sure of the ranking but those 4 women are Khadijah r.ha. herself, Fatimah r.ha. her daughter, Asiah (wife to the Pharaoh who also raised Prophet Moses alaihissalam), and Mariam or Mary (mother or Prophet Isa/Jesus al-maseh, a very pious woman during her time).

When Prophet Muhammad pbuh received the first revelation from Gabriel at the Cave of Hira' at Jabal al-Nour (Light Hill), Makkah , he was totally freaked out (of course, you were alone in a cave, far away from crowd of people and suddenly you were hugged tightly from behind, you were unable to breath and you were told to read. Surely that freaks me out). So Prophet Muhammad pbuh ran home immediately...hiding himself away from the "thing" that hugged him.

Hugsss :3

As good as a wife can be, Khadijah r.ha comforted the Prophet pbuh. She did not ask what happen, as many of us would do whenever someone ran to us hysterically (mark that the Prophet pbuh would not be running like that though, he is a well-mannered man, I'm just putting words to make sense for you)

*** Notice that instead of running to his bff, Abu Bakr r.a., the Prophet pbuh ran to his wife. As my ustaz told us, hence, sharing secret (the event in the cave *was a big secret*) with wife is a sunnah. :) Boleh amal-amalkan dan selamat beramal.

Now Khadijah was not only a rich woman, she was a brainiac as well. Something that most people do not know in the Seerah is, when the Prophet pbuh ran home, Gabriel actually followed him. But of course nobody saw Gabriel. Why should he reveal his true form to sinful people across Makkah during that time? So in order to console the Prophet pbuh and re-affirm the event that Gabriel, the boss of all angels, actually visited her husband, Khadijah r.ha. took off her head cover (read: revealing her aurat). Then she asked the Prophet pbuh, "Is it here?"

and the Prophet pbuh said "No". Then Khadijah r.ha. put on her head cover again and asked the same question. The Prophet pbuh answered, "Yes". So Khadijah r.ha was affirmative that the "thing" that followed her husband was the arch angel Gabriel, and not of the Jinns. (During that time in Makkah, the uses of Jinn were widespread. It was dangerous if a Jinn follows you, it means they have "business" with you)

*** Angels are really shy creature. Hence upon opening our aurat, angels will be away from us. That's why it is strongly suggested by the Prophet pbuh to recite basmallah when we change our clothing (naked) so that no Jinn nor Satan would disturb us.

The point of the story is...Khadijah r.ha was among the 4 greatest women on Earth because she was brilliant. She didn't need any high-tech sensor to know the presence of the arch angel. She's just a pure brilliant.

Kayh, till next time :)