I'd like to share umi's words, actually from a poster, but I don't really know who the author is and the title of the poster. But then again, it's the words I'd like to share.

Words from Umi
----------------

When things seem difficult and life uphill,
Don't look too far ahead, keep plodding on

Inch by inch, the road will shorten
Till the rough patches be past and gone;

and you'll look back suprised and delighted to find,
that you have left so many miles behind.

Very soon the tedious climb will stop
and you'll stand triumphant at the top.

-anonymous kot?-

The Gun in the Arsenal to attack our misunderstanding in the value of this life and the hereafter would be :

Tafakur @ Reflection

The bullets of tafakur :

• disattachment in this life
• eagerness for the hereafter

I asked a question about insecurities in self to Bro Fadhi, our usrah naqib. What are we suppose to do when in an undecided state? Constantly, of little things in life.

"What to do? What to do? This or that? There's so many things to do. Argh!"

Sounds familiar?

I just realized that I wasn't the only one having that problem. Bro Fadhi did too, when he was in college(which he majored in maths btw). Well, what he said was maybe it's because of the age, so don't worry too much. When you grow older, and by experience you'll know what to do. Yup, he didn't seem to give an answer, only : not to worry. You'll grow up and you'll solve it yourself.

He told us about when he was in college, he was undecided if he wanted to major in maths. He was so undecided but he seemed to have graduated (excellently, i presume) in maths. So he said that he must have done something right after all. He was undecided in marriage, but he decided on something that was right and alhamdulillah has a 19 year old marriage with his wife and was gifted with children. The thing is if your undecided in petty things ( for me would be: either to study at the library or at my room? argh..undecided!); which I seem to have the problem, just do one thing or the other. InsyaAllah, it will turn out right.

Undecided in major things? Istikharah would be the answer. =)

Saying about istikharah, I just wanted to express my happiness(by words) of having my own toolbox! What's the connection eyh? funny.

I had this undecisiveness in my major last year. Mech eng or EE? Well, I did solat istikharah and one morning, I woke up and said to Azni : Nak major EE! Enough said. Well, I was sure with my true hearts calling when I opened the toolbox at the lab today(well, yesterday act). Ahh..my very own. I know this seems weird, but the solder, screwdriver, wire cutter etc were like ..ahh...*smiling*. I named my black toolbox : Squall. A character in FF8 and one of my heroes too. The gamer in me can't be rubbed off. It's still there I guess. Retired gamer? Never! Well, maybe not yet. But just taking a break. =)

-squall the toolbox-

" If you're too humble, you're a coward
If you have too much pride, you're arrogant.
So, be in the middle. "

(peringatan utk diri~)

Wallahu'alam.

Memory lane~

Ya, saya rindu kampung halaman.

gambar2 diambil pada Jun 2006~

A question was posed to Bro Abdul Rahman during the question and answer session (Daawah Technique lecture) :

What if we don't have enough knowledge? How can we do daawah?

correct me if i'm wrong. Answer, if you do have the knowledge, if you don't, say I don't know but I'll get back to you. Then you search for it. No one knows everything.

The lecture can be watched online here, credit to anas for recording and nazirah for informing =)

Khas utk Sue~

Maaf lambat sangat update. Rasanya dah terlalu banyak memberi alasan, jadi no comment~

Oh ya, ni catatan ringkas sahaja. Maaf tak huraikan dgn sedalam2nya. =)

topic : Love of Allah
speaker : Maryam Kamal
moderator : Azreena ahmad Syukri
tarikh : Jan 10, 2006
masa : 8.10pm
venue : Lewis

• Iman :
  

1. heart - percaya dgn hati
2. what you say - ucap dua kalimah syahadah
3. what you do - ditunjukkan dgn perbuatan (cth: beribadat kpd Allah, solat 5 waktu)

• Love :

1. care
2. sacrifice - willing to sacrifice for Allah (time, money, etc)
3. remember - always remember Allah - zikrullah

• muhasabah - it empowers you to do something (ikhlas keranaNya)
• don't need any other force as a motivation- only Allah
• Kemanisan Iman - Love Allah and Rasul more that anything else.
• reason to live - worship Allah, sacrifice anything for His sake.
• Way to get close to Allah :

1. solat
2. ihsan - the feeling; worship and serve Allah, eventhough you don't see Him, He sees you. Which is the highest level of iman.
   

topic : Understanding Islam
speaker : Raihan Mohd Azhan
moderator : Azreena ahmad Syukri
tarikh : Jan 10, 2006
masa : setelah Maryam selesai =)
venue : Lewis

• Thankful to be a muslim
• Izzah - proud, dignity, self-esteem
• alMaidah ayat 3 :

"...Pada hari ini, telah Aku sempurnakan agamamu untukmu, dan telah Aku cukupkan nikmatKu bagimu, dan telah Aku redai Islam sebagai agamamu.."

• Why we do think Islam is a rahmat?

Because there is nothing like Islam on earth; kemanisan puasa, hanya org Islam yang menghayati nikmat puasa; taste the beauty of prayer.

Contoh tak bangga jadi muslim :

1. arrogant
2. lemah

How to achieve Izzah :

• trust in Allah- love Allah
• trust in the deen; jalan yg lurus
• betulkan final destiny : akhirat
• look from the sirah how to achieve Izzah; trust Allah : Kamu adalah sebaik-baik umat

iman yang tak lengkap : we do amar maaruf, tapi nahi munkar yang ditinggalkan. Senang untuk menyuruh kebaikan, tapi untuk menegah kemungkaran, sangat susah.

• malaikat berdoa untuk mereka2 yang menghadiri halaqah
• "Islam datang sebagai pedagang, pulang sebagai dagang"
• Effects of Izzah :

1. influenced people secara tak langsung
2. being moderate in everything : sederhana dan seimbang dunia akhirat
   
3. zuhud - jangan ter'attach' dengan dunia.

Kenapa Islam barakah daripada Allah:

1. Allah itu satu
2. Dengan Islam, all humans are equal
3. Allah created us from male and female
4. Islam teach us the need to gain knowledge; tingkatkan iman
5. Islam is the religion that is open to everyone. Jews: hanya yg lahir sbg Jew boleh jadi Jew.
6. Paradise is for every muslim; cara dapatkannya dengan iman dan ibadah : faith and righteous act. No one can pay for our sins
7. Islam teaches about balancing dunia and akhirat
8. be nice to neighbours, family and friends.
9. Islam teaches tiada perantara untuk berhubung dgn Allah
10. Islam respects human nature: only in Islam ada divorce

"You are a corner of the corners of Islam, don't let it be attacked from your corner"

Don't Ever Be Afraid to Be Yourself

In a world of comparisons and conformity,
make your own statement.
Honor your own truth.
Have the courage to be yourself;
risk speaking your own thoughts
and claiming your emotions.
Share your vulnerabilities, fears, doubts and insecurities;
let others experience the real you.
Have the courage to be yourself,
and realize that you are
a wonderful person.

-Dianne Holcomb-

A poem umi gave on my 16th birthday. Teringat.

Extrinsic Loss of Freedom or Intrinsic Loss of Freedom?
The Panoptic Effect.

Aquarium cylinder ikan2 rainforest di Opry Mills (maaf, gambar tiada kaitan dgn entri,saje nak letak)

Went to the Rec centre today. Wanted to go there for quite some time actually, but there wasn't anyone who were willing to come along. Yep, busy with reading and finshing homework I guess. Anyway, I experimented on the panoptic effect then.

Btw, I learned about panoptic effect and these loss of freedom in an ethics class that I took last semester. Well, all the freshman took it. Extrinsic loss of freedom can be describe as the behaviour of a person when someone is looking at what they are doing. Intrinsic loss of freedom, on the other hand is the feeling of someone looking at what they're doing eventhough no one is actually looking at them. The panoptic effect is a system that most prison systems seek to achieve whereby the inmate feels that he is in a "state of conscious and permanent visibilty that assures the automatic funtioning of power". Quoted from the book Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace by Richard Spinello. In other words, it's a system that makes the prisoner feel or have the thinking that someone( the guard) is looking at them, so they will behave and not do rash actions in prison. As Caleb (we just call our professor by he's first name btw, Dr Caleb is a no-no) says, the behaviour is a natural human behaviour. People tend to act differently when other people are watching.

As I was waiting for a friend to play pingpong( which ended up we didn't play at all, because the friend played basketball instead) I observed a pair of Asians, Chinese maybe, playing pingpong, I thought I could learn from watching. Some new tricks atleast. They were playing okay at first, but when I started to watch, well, obviously watching, meaning that they could see that I was watching them playing, they didn't play that well. Maybe because I disturbed their concentration? Perhaps. But if they were professional players, that shouldn't be a problem right? Because in a tournament everyone is watching. Okay, coming back to what I wanted to say. They didn't play that good compared to when I was watching from afar. Btw, they said something in mandarin that I couldn't understand when I was watching them play. The next pair that I observed was two americans, playing racketball. I was standing outside of the glass room. (obviously indeed) The same thing happened, they played quite well before seeing me watching and turned a bit awkward when they realised. I just watched, well, my other intention was to try learning to play too actually. Seriously, I do. After a while, their racket kept falling down, and the gamed turned out to be awful, sorry to say. Was my presence so powerful? Nahh.. just kidding. Well, I sensed some uneasiness in the room and they kept glancing back ,so I left the stand, becuase of my interpretation of their body language. =). Btw, I'm a good body language reader. Perhaps. Just felt the need to go away.

Well, what I wanted to relate is that humans tend to act differently when they think that they are being watched. Panoptic effect? Yup, I totally agree. I tend to do the same thing too, sometimes, and depends on who is watching too. I remembered about ehsan, which was talked about in one of the usrah recently. The highest level of ehsan is when one does ibadah as if he sees Allah, although he doesn't see Him and undoubtly believe that Allah is constantly watching over.

“ It (Ihsan) is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state then you must remember that He is seeing you.” (Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim).

If we always remind ourselves that Allah is always watching over, I think we may do better things in life, constantly having an intrinsic loss of freedom (which is a good thing) and be reminded that Allah watches our every move, so we won't do things that Allah won't like. And yeah, this is a reminder to myself. I've stopped playing Carbon btw. I've returned the ps2 to it's rightful owner who currently has a xbox360 and a nintendo wii at home.

So, even in ethics, we learned about extrinsic and intrinsic loss of freedom which is also mentioned in the Quran and hadith. May we gain benefit from this reminder. InsyaAllah.

Wallahu'alam.

Professor Hanusa.

Haven't seen Zed yet, so can't put up the notes yet. =)

I said Goodbye and thank you to my professor yesterday. It was a sad moment. I took chemistry class last year and just wanted to see how he was doing. Lab hasn't started yet. So, I had some free time. He was joyful and happy as usual. We talked about our break and my finals. Anyway, saying goodbye was the hardest part, after finishing discussing my paper that is. Before, everytime I see him, after finished discussing my questions he would talk about other stuff. Nothing related to Chemistry that is. He showed my his stones. Yes, he's a stone collector. Or should I call it rocks? Anyway, last year when we talked about how solid's solubility doesn't change when liquid and gasses does, he showed me his rocks as an example, there was also these magnifying-rocks too.

Before I departed from his office I thanked him for teaching me and having me as his student. The point is I was kinda sad when he said ," Guess I won't teach you anymore." And he said thank you back. I wasn't really sure why he would though. Professor Hanusa is like a friend-professor-father ( I guess?) Well, I liked the way he said, well "youve tried your best" and how he cheers me up. Cool eyh? a professor-father. =) And another one not to forget, Doc V. hehe. Haven't seen him for quite some time.

Silaturrahim between teachers and student is a beautiful thing. Professor Hanusa accepts me for who I am, and I was proud for being who I am. A muslim. Guess I do have a Izzah in me after all. Anyhow, we respect each other and that's what I treasure the most.

Thank you Professor Hanusa!

Izzah ?

Ok, baca surah al-Alaq. Usrah dimulakan. Bro Fadhi didn't come to Morgan today. He had an emergency meeting, as Kak Ena said. So, we gathered at Kak Ena and Kak Raihan's house. We arrived quite late, mind you, Branscomb Quad is quite far and we had to wait for Diba, Zed and Syu from Kissam.

After everyone finished recititing surah al-Alaq, Maryam did her presentation which was called : Love towards Allah. I took some notes, unfortunately I left mine in Zed's bag. I wouldn't want to just type it down without referring to my notes. Anyway, Kak Raihan did her presentation too after Maryam finished hers. More like she wanted to continue it next week. Well, next Wednesday I guess.

Kak Raihan talked about Izzah today. Izzah which also means pride, dignity and self-esteem. She questioned us all : Why do you think Islam is a barakah for us from Allah? What makes you proud to be Muslim? I'd like to share what I wrote down, but again, my notes are with Zed. The second questioned hit me hard. Am I proud to be a Muslim? Of course, I do. But then again, why would I sometimes feel uncomfortable when people stares? It's easy to say that you're proud to be a muslim, but do you feel it? Do you feel deep down in your heart that you do. Do you mean what you say? Do you act as if you're proud to be one? She made us tell what would we do to acquire Izzah. Some said through knowledge, and..geez, I do have a short term memory loss problem. I'm really sorry I can't finish. So why would I post the entry then? Well, so I won't forget. Because I tend too. And it's for me to read back and remind myself.

I'll update this one later and add my notes in it. =)

Before we went back, Kak Ena told us about the story of Kak Tahirah, she was an inspiration for Kak Ena, and I know why. Maryam said this : 70 lelaki soleh tidak boleh menandingi seorang wanita solehah. As an 18 year old, you tend to look for figures as guidelines, (guidelines is not a proper word, i think) Anyway, yes, Kak Tahirah is a figure to be followed. Was she ameerah helwa 2005? ( I forgot again!)

Seems like I don't know many things and I have to learn much.

But learning is fun. By the way, first day of classes went okay, I guess. And I'm already sleeping late although I have a class tomorrow. I really do have to practise Rasulullah's Sleeping habits. =)

Old Folk Saying

"old folk saying : for want of a nail, a horse shoe was lost, for want of a horse shoe, a steed was lost, for want of a steed, a msg cannot be delivered, bcoz of an undelivered msg, a war was lost."

Quoted from : Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift

Mirror mirror On the Wall

I came across a very interesting site written by NurAneesa, nicknamed Ness. Her Dad's words stopped me cold.

This is copy-pasted word by word. I wouldn't like to summarize the whole text because Kak Aneesa wrote it beautifully.

"

"Sudah cukup iman di dada? Sudah cukup amalan di buku? Rasa diri lebih mulia seperti para nabi? Sudah bersedia untuk mengadap Mungkar dan Nangkir? Kalau rasa ada kurang, jangan tah kan mengata kan orang. Perbaiki diri sendiri."

Even with the hijjab on, he remind me constantly:

"Do not think those who are not covered are beneath you. Do not think you are better then others. Do not think that you are already 'perfect'. Sometimes those who are not covered are more sincere in their ibadah then you are."

Insya-Allah. I strive to remind myself everyday that there is still much improvement that needs to be done. There are still areas where I lack and I need to amend them.

I am not perfect, neither are you, nor the above mentioned blogger.

But the way the writer wrote such piece, I felt offended. Not because I felt the pangs of her insults, not quite. The tone of the post was demeaning and degrading.

Tegur menegur (advising) is encourage of course if you think that you have adequate knowledge in such area. There is no harm in doing so. None indeed. But do it within boundaries. Do not cross the line. Do not go into the point of demeaning and degrading others.

Who are you to say that you are better then others? Who are you to say that you are qualify to judge others? Who are you to say you are more righteous then others.

Sins and rewards bestowed by God upon oneself is between you and Him.

Allah sees what you do not see.

Allah knows what you do not know.

He is Almighty. "

Do visit Ness's site to know the whole story.

When Wolves Become Shepherds
The Devils Da'wah Techniques for the Fall of Mankind
by Muhammad Alshareef

Another great lecture by Muhammad Alshareef, When Wolves Become Shepherds. To people who are interested, click on this link to buy the cd online. Here are some notes from the lecture:

Who is syaitan?
First name : Despair
Last name : The Cursed One
Goal in life : to annihilate and condemn every son and daughter of Adam and Hawa and will never stop until they are in hell fire.
Age : Older than humanity's father
syaitan's weapon : music

• Syaitan has pledged to misguide every single person except for people who are ikhlas.
• Remember Little Red Riding Hood? How the wolf ate the grandma and disguised itself as her and finally ate Little Red Riding Hood? Little Red asked "My, my Grandmother, how big eyes you have? " The 'Grandma' replied " to see you better, dear" and she asked again, "My, my grandma, how big teeth you have?" . "To eat you dear", said the 'Grandma'. Well, that was the end of Little Red Riding Hood. Little Red saw the signs but was not sure of the wolve. The same goes for Syaitan. We see the signs but we're not sure of syaitan, but actually it is him.

7 steps of annihilation of Human Kind:

1. Syirik and Kufur towards Allah
   
2. Bid'ah - trick a person by saying that it brings one near to Allah but actually doesn't.
3. Major sins - murder, zina, back biting, riba'
4. Minor sins- beware of sins that people belittle
5. Busying people in al-Mubahat - wasting your time away doing petty things(ie watching football games & games maybe?)
6. Focusing on less important things - taking someone from fadhil to mafdur
7. Syaitan raises hell and army to destroy- being tested as you've never been tested before. (ie Umar alKhattab)

Techniques @ Footsteps of Syaitan

1. Will make you think that things are harmless (Bid'ah)
2. Take all the people of knowledge away from you
3. Switches things to kufur and syirik
4. Outstanding debts (ie credit card debts)
5. Mind games - innocent questions which will bring to who created Allah? If so, say nauzubillah and it'll dissist insyaAllah
6. Makes haram things look good
7. Changing the creation of Allah - plucking eyebrows @ shaping them (will be cursed by Allah)
8. Change the meaning of Quran
9. People who are wasteful
10. From the day you were born: Syaitan pinches you so azan in ear for newborn babies for protection.
    

How to protect yourself from syaitan ?

• Zikir of Allah swt
• Lower your gaze if see haram things
• Iqamah in solat
• Changing of phisiological state; say nauzubillah and spit 3 times on left side
• If angry when standing, sit down, then lie down or make wuduk

2 last things to protect yourself with :

1. istighfar
2. Say Nauzubillah; if recite al Quran, asked Allah for protection

Conclusion

• Darunnadwah
• hadis analogy : wolf & sheep; there will be a time when the wolve will become the sheperd
• how syaitan wages war
• tv as the marketplace of syaitan
• 7 syaitan's level of misguiding humanities
• the voice of iblis = music
• being consistent with solat
• last but not least ISTIGHFAR - say more frequently in life.

Hope that all of us can benefit from this and be a better person and win the war that is being wage by syaitan. InsyaAllah.

Wallahu'alam.

In the Middle Of The Night Part II
by Mohammad Alshareef

Did you know that our sins actually effects our sleeping pattern? Maybe that's why I can't do Qiam in the middle of the night. Anyway, 6 hours of sleep is actually enough for us. Here are some notes for the rest of the Cd, track 10 till the end.

Enliving Sunnah Rasulullah saw:

1. right after isyak, do not talk but go to sleep right away
2. do Qiamulail to improve urself- between Apple and Donuts which one will you choose? Many people would actually choose the donut(sleeping through the night), but Qiam is the apple, it gives health, nourish the spirit and makes one understand the Quran better.
3. fluctuate the time of isyak prayer - meaning Rasulullah in his time doesn't perform isyak at the same time everyday but performs it when all the sahabah's gathered.
4. sleeping an hour before fajr
5. staying awake after fajr till the sun rises
6. take wuduk before going to sleep because it cools down the body and induces sleep.

Makruh Regarding Sleeping

1. Sleeping in the morning
2. sleeping on the stomach
3. sleeping after asar- we'll be robbed of intelligence; become feeble-minded
4. spending excessive time on the road; because it disturbs the sleeping, eating and drinking habit of oneselve.

Conclusion

• Isyak is the last thing to do in the day
• sleep no later that half the night. no later than 1230am
• If we plan to wake up for Qiam, delay witr; if not, solat witr before we go to sleep
• make wuduk before going to sleep
• when go to bed, recite ayatul Kursi, and the 3 Qul's
• Tasbih (Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahuakbar) and think and mean every word that you're saying. Sleep on the right side
• Make sure the last thing before you go to sleep is the doa because if you die, the last thing that you said was the doa to Allah
• when waking up: doa, take wuduk, solat 2 rakaat, and don't sleep back
• during the day, to get energy for waking up in the middle of the night; sleep the Qailulah( which is between Zuhur and Asar) for half an hour.

Wallahu'alam.

Final Fantasy XII - my review
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Curve: About 2 hours
Tech Info

Really don't know why I can't sleep at this time. Anyway, finally a review regarding Final Fantasy XII. More like my critics on this game I guess. I've been a die-hard-fan of Final Fantasy and played almost every single one of them starting from FF1 except for FFXI which is an online game. Anyway, I have to say that this wasn't a good game. For me that is. Well, maybe because I simply gave up playing it after being defeated by Judge A and B in Leviathan(did I spell that one correct?) too many times. The game is quite hard if compared to the games that Square-Enix produced before. The story line should be interesting, well, it is. For FFXII, the world of the game is called Ivalice, it's the same world which has been used in FF Tactics and FF Tactics Advance PSone and GBA. More or less like the Starwars world where there are lizard people, moogles(popular in FF only) and chocobos.

The battle system for FFXII is challenging and the gambits style is quite hard to master, even for me, as an experienced rpg gamers(hehe..). A party can have up to 4 characters, three actives and the other as a guest(which means that we cannot control the character). Some of the monsters are a bit hard to defeat if Vaan is by himself but if the gambit is properly set, it should be easy to defeat. Having a healer with white, green and time magic skills in a team helps a lot especially having cure, protect, slow. Unlike other FF games, in FFXII these magics helps a lot.




For everything; equipping weapons, armours, learning new abilities, skills and magic one must buy a license from stores that sell them. It is a bit hard to find stores that sells the license that we need for our character to learn the skill when they have enough LP( which is obtained after defeating monsters and bosses). There is a lot of thinking to do for which character should have what weapons, what abilities and what skills. One must know that as example, for a healer, he or she or it should have enough MP to cast magics on party members, the player can't randomly pick a character to a be a healer. And the weapon for a healer should be a rod because it will increase the magic status of the healer and the effect of the magic done would be greater.

Another drawback of the game is the speech of the characters, it's quite boring to hear they're dialogues, too formal for me I guess. Anyhow, the short fmv clips are great, well that's what FF are known for, their awesome movie clips. The theme song for FFXII? Well, I don't really know. I haven't gamed it yet. None of my gamers friends have gamed FFXII yet, even after 50 hours of playing. They've already given up and changed to playing another game such as Halo.

As for me, I've changed to NFS : Carbon. Honestly, it is a great game. Love it. Btw, it's my first ever original game that I bought, try converting $USD 43 into Malaysian Ringgit; it'll be like RM 160++. I'd never buy an original PS2 game at Malaysia. =). Currently conquering the eastern part of Carbon City. I have two wingmans now, a scout and a blocker, well, I've just started playing after Muktamar, so can't say much about the story line. Addicted is not a right word to use actually. I'll say I like the game.

But then again, if I look at my actions as a whole; which I learned from a friend, better not waste your time playing games that won't give benefit at all. Nfs Carbon is okay (in my point of view), cause you'll learn to drive virtually); but just remind yourself each time you play that other people are not given this oppurtunity, to have these free time, to play games. Remember our role, we have to help each other out. Think of our brothers and sisters in Palestine, what's their condition. So boycott product yg menyebabkan diorg lebih terseksa! ahh..teremosional di sini. (abaikan..)

-ryuneko-

Happy New Year 2007
The New 7 Wonders Of the World
cast your vote now~


I came across a website on casting the new 7 wonders of the world when I was searching for places to visit during my studying years here at the States. New year's plan, a new one is made every year and I can't say for sure that I've accomplished all my goals last year. Anyway, visit this link and cast your vote today!

The 7 wonders of the Ancient World are :

1. The Great Pyramid of Giza
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
6. The Colossus of Rhodes
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Well, there are also these informal 7 wonders of the world too, which can be categorized into Modern Wonders, Tourist Travel Wonders, Natural Wonders and Underwater Wonders.

the 7 Modern Wonders which the American Society Of Civil Engineers compiled were:

1. Channel Tunnel, Europe
2. CN Tower, Canada
3. Empire State Building, New york
4. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
5. Itaipu Dam, South America
6. Delta Works, Netherlands
7. Panama Canal, Central America

the 7 Tourist Travel Wonders compiled by Hillman Wonders:

• Great Pyramids of Giza
• Great Wall of China
• Taj Mahal
• Serengeti Migration
• Galapagos
• Grand Canyon
• Machu Picchu

The 7 Natural Wonders compiled by CNN:

• Grand Canyon
• Great Barrier Reef
• Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• Mount Everest
• Polar Aurora
• Parícutin volcano
• Victoria Falls

the 7 Underwater Wonders:

• Palau
• Belize Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef
• Deep-Sea Vents
• Galapagos Islands
• Lake Baikal
• Northern Red Sea

Hari Keempat Muktamar '06

Spiritual & Intellectual Intelligence
oleh Tengku Shaharom

"IQ doesn't determine success"

keypoints:
Implication of Spiritual, Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence

• sincerety in dakwah
• giving everything for Islam
• performing good deeds
• willingness to sacrifice for Islam
• fighting for the cause of Islam

Social Intelligence

• maintaining good relationships with others
• trust in leadership & following da'ie
• obedience to Allah and our leader

Oleh kerana ada beberapa pembetulan daripada Luqman, silalah refer kepada comments untuk sesi daripada Ustaz Lokman. Terima kasih pada Anas atas gambar-gambar menarik yg diambil. =). Maaf tak inform awal2. aiseyh~.

Yaumun Nisa '06
Membangun Citra Muslimah Membentuk Peribadi Ummah



Para akhawat mengadakan Yaumun Nisa (yang hanya disertai oleh para wanita) pada hari ketiga Muktamar. Berdebar juga pada pagi itu kerana dilantik menjadi moderator bagi satu session Yaumun Nisa'. Alhamdulillah dengan sokongan dan tips-tips daripada Ameeraah Muktamar, Fariza, Kak Raihan, Speaker session, Kak Yanti, Adibah, Syuhada dan sisters yang lain semuanya berjalan dengan lancar.

Ceramah Utama : "Membangun Citra Muslimah, Membentuk Peribadi Ummah"
oleh Ust Syamsi Ali dan Ibu Sita

Ibu sita memberi ceramah dengan mencontohi sifat-sifat haiwan iaitu burung helang dan burung belibis aka Angsa(kot?). Ceramah yang disampaikan di dalam bahasa Indonesia, sukar untuk saya fahami dengan mendalam. Walau bagaimanpun, keypoints untuk ceramah ini :

burung helang mempunyai 2 pilihan setelah mencapai usia 70 tahun. Samada :

1. Dying
2. Undergoing a painful transformation for 5 months

Hampir 90% daripada Burung helang memilih untuk melalui transformasi dan 'hidup kembali'. Secara tersiratnya, we have to let go of our old traditions and habits and let ourselves fly again. Umur yang panjang ada hikmahnya.

Burung Belibis aka Angsa

• Terbang dalam formasi V. Sekiranya terpisah daripada formasi, ia akan masuk semula.
• Apabila selalu dalam kumpulan, perlukan sedikit energy kerana sekiranya salah satu daripada angsa sakit, dua angsa dari formasi akan mengapitnya dan terbang kembali.
• Apabila leader letih, ia akan berundur dan salah satu angsa yang lain akan lead.

Menuju Muslimah berkepimpinan Keperibadian:

1. bermula daripada hati
   
2. mempunyai habits yang elok
3. keperibadian anak melalui keteladanan, nasihat dan pengawasan.

Asas Keperibadian Muslimah:

1. Akhlak
2. Utuh, mutakamilah
3. Serasi, seimbang dan tawazun

Parallel Session I : Bengkel II : Dakwah Di Balik Arus Kehidupan Kampus
oleh Aryanti Zarlina Suhut aka Kak Yanti



Persiapan:

1. rohani- balance dunia akhirat, niat perlu betul
2. mental- mindset kena betul, teguh melalui hardships
3. material- jangan gunakan duit scholar untuk beli benda yang tidak sepatutnya( termasuk PS3--terasanya saya~)

Untuk menjadi da'ie perlu ada target,

1. diri sendiri - tunjuk contoh yang baik; perlu ada credibility
2. rakan-rakan - hidup dalam komuniti, perlu ada kesan pada orang lain

Tips:

• Jangan putus asa- gradually mereka akan ikut
• Jangan benci seseorang kerana nya tetapi pada perlakuan yang dilakukan.
• Kawan penting - make sure selalu dalam jemaah

Pentingnya:

• hubungan baik dengan Allah
• hubungan baik dengan makhluk lain- haiwan & tumbuhan
• perlu pandai membahagi masa
• perlu active bukan passive- lakukan sesuatu kerana kepentingan masyarakat bukan diri sendiri

Parallel Session II: Bengkel II- Persiapan Mental & Rohani; Membina Madrasah Sakinah
oleh Nor Hanizan Abd Aziz aka Kak Nor

Persiapan mental:

• orang boleh berubah
• sedar sudah masuk alam baru(alam perkahwinan)
  
• ada tanggungjawab terhadap keluarga sebagai seorang isteri dan ibu

Tujuan:

• Pengekalan & penerusan umat manusia
• perlindungan akhlak dan tatasusila
• meluaskan kaum kerabat

Aktiviti yang dijalankan seterusnya adalah games dan persembahan. Game Jeopardy dan Kontest Busana Muslimah telah diadakan. Saya kurang pasti tajuk persembahan yang telah dipentasi oleh sisters IMSA, dan sisters MISG pula telah memeriahkan suasana dengan mengadakan pantomine yang bertajuk 'Harta Dunia dan Kasih Insan'.

Muktamar '06 - St Louis, Missouri


Kali pertama dengar berkenaan Muktamar daripada Kak Raihan, on the way balik from Solat terawikh pada bulan Ramadan yang lepas. Teringat kembali zaman kanak-kanak dahulu, ketika Umi masih menghabiskan PhD nya di University of Bradford, UK. Di UK juga ada aktiviti sebegitu yang disertai oleh pelajar-pelajar dan keluarga-keluarga Melayu di sana. Oleh sebab ingin merasai kembali kenangan-kenangan dahulu di samping mengikut jejak Umi ketika menuntut ilmu di perantauan, saya menyertai Muktamar 2006.

Muktamar Senawi pada tahun ini diadakan di Sheraton Hotel at Westport, St Louis MO dengan tema Tarbiya: Building a Sakeenah Family and an Istiqamah Muslim Generation. Ia berlangsung dari 22 hingga 26 December 2006.

Penceramah undangan yang hadir adalah:

1. Ustaz Syamsi Ali-New York
2. Prof Muhammad Abu Bakar-Athens,OH
3. Dr Tengku Shaharom-Malaysia
4. Ustaz Dr Yunahar Ilyas-Indonesia
5. Bro Omar Atia-Chicago, IL
6. Ustazah Sitaresmi S. Soekanto-Indonesia
7. Ustaz Lokman-Malaysia

Oleh kerana ini merupakan kali pertama saya menyertai Muktamar, saya tidak berapa mengenali akhawat-akhawat yang lain kecuali beberapa yang hadir ke Tamrin di Vanderbilt Univeristy. Peluang digunakan dengan menjalinkan silaturrahim dengan sisters yang lain.

Topic: Islam in the Malay Wolrd: Muslim, Asian Values and Sociocultural Development
oleh Prof Muhammad Abu Bakar

key points:

• bagaimana proses asianisasi yang telah, sedang dan akan berlaku menuntut semua umat islam agar lebih peka terhadap perkembangan dunia dan isu serantau
• cabaran yang dihadapi masyarakat dunia menyebabkan sebahagian dari kita kehilangan identiti diri kerana tidak mempunyai pegangan agama yang kukuh
• kerisauan Professor : umat islam tidak cukup kuat mempertahan kedaulatan agama sendiri; kita menjadi golongan yang dikategori oleh Allah sebagai tidak mampu mengamalkan Islam itu sendiri; umat ini diganti oleh umat baru yang jauh lebih kuat mempertahan Islam
  
• penyelesaian : tidak boleh membiarkan isu perbatasan politik & ekonomi meghalang perpaduan dan kerjasama antara satu sama lain dalam melahirkan umat islam yang hebat dan mantap; berfikiran strategik agar menyelesaikan masalah dunia dan ummah tanpa meminggirkan Islam itu sendiri

Topic : Pembinaan diri: A method or Solution?
oleh Ustaz Syamsi Ali

key points:

• Islam professionalism : knowledge & commitment
• Intelligence : Spiritual & Intellectual
• keluarga Sakeenah : pasangan masing-masing perlu ada commitment
  

Pada masa itu juga ada MISG General Meeting, oleh sebab itu terpaksa meninggalkan topic yang sedang dibincangkan. Maaf kerana keypoints sangat pendek.

Topic : Tarbiyah In and Post Rasulullah Era
by Bro Omar Atia

keypoints :

• as a sahabah, they have extreme motivations which brings the best out of them. They only have one goal : The love of Allah, and Jannah
• to get tarbiyyah :
  

1. examine yourself either you will it or want it?
2. shedding of unmoral things
3. subliding your anger
4. lowering your gaze
5. treat people nicely despite what they do to us

Talk show : Daawah in US, Balancing Involvement in Our Local Community and our Indonesian/Malaysian Community
speakers: Ust Syamsi Ali, Yunahar Alias, Prof Muhammad Abu Bakar, Ustazah Sitaresmi aka Ibu Sita

Basic of Dakwah by Prof Muhammad Abu Bakar:

• depends on the person
• comes in any form as long as it shows Islam
• manifest Islam in the best way
• becomes a civilisation force
• conveys the real face of Islam

Principles of Daawah by Ust Syamsi Ali

• sincerety
• knowledge-learning from Quran & Sunnah
• daawah according to the level of theor minds
• do something basis on knowledge that one has
• akhlak- show the akhlak of a true muslim

Dakwah by Yunahar Alias

• gembira- jangan lihat pada hasil dakwah yang telah dilakukan tetapi perbuatan kita berdakwah yang akan diberi ganjaran oleh Allah
• pendekatan- usah fikirkan dakwah itu sulit tetapi ianya mudah
• niat
• bilhikmah- kena dengan tempat, sederhana, berdasarkan Quran & Sunnah

Da'wah by Ibu Sita

• Usah lihat pada hasil tetapi pada usaha yang telah dilakukan ( angin dijadikan contoh- tiada rasa tetapi kesannya ada)
• usah takut untuk berdakwah
• tegas terhadap orang kafir, lembut terhadap orang muslim

Maaf sekiranya notes yang diambil terlalu ringkas. Setelah tamat semua aktiviti pada hari kedua, sempat juga mengambil gambar di luar hotel walaupun sangat sejuk. (fyi pada hari pertama Muktamar, rombongan Vanderbilt masih dalam perjalanan ke St Louis, MO)