Ikhwan Ng's Blog, page 10

Beli/Wakaf Buku DL2KS Dengan Harga Borong

Buku sulung saya telah diterbitkan oleh Penerbit Must Read tahun lepas. Anda boleh membeli buku ini melalui MPHonline : http://www.mphonline.com/books/nsearchdetails.aspx?&pcode=9789670392646

Saya juga mengalu-alukan sekiranya anda ingin membeli buku ini dengan harga BORONG (Free Shipping). Syaratnya ialah membeli buku minimum 25 naskah, maka anda boleh jualkannya dengan harga pasaran RM16.90 ataupun hadiahkan kepada NGO/Masjid/Surau yang berdekatan.

Mohon sms/whatsapp saya untuk maklumat lanjut.. Ikhwan Ng : 012-3979998

Premium Yunnan Green Tea

See the differences between teabag and loose leaf greentea yourself.
Left: crunched leafs and coloring. Right: Original loose leaf with no artificial coloring.

Why should we choose loose leaf Yunnan Green Tea?
Loose leaf tea have higher quality and no artificial coloring compared to tea bags.

For more information about Yunnan Green Tea from China, kindly sms/whatsapp me: 012-3979998 or email : lifemualaf@gmail.com (Delivery within Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah/Sarawak)


Green tea doesn’t just sing to the soul, either— its health benefits are noteworthy as well. Due in part to minimal processing during production, greenteas offer the most antioxidant polyphenols of all teas. Catechin epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), abundantly found in the green tea leaf, is considered to be the catalyst for the tea’s antioxidant and anticancer effects. As we know, antioxidants naturally stabilize the pro-oxidative free radicals in our systems before they attack our bodies’ cells.  When we are excessively exposed to pollutants, alcohol, and medications, for example,  antioxidants found in nutrients like Vitamin E and C can help to balance our oxidative metabolism.

Thus, with a cup full of antioxidants, green tea drinkers reduce their risk for a wide range of diseases and reap the benefits of a balanced system. Aside from from helping to prevent cancers, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, hypertension, and depression (to name a few), green tea is also linked to clearer, smoother skin and weight loss. Not too shabby for hot water and some tea leaves!

A few tips for consumption:

- When possible, use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags for higher quality.
- Let your tea leaves steep for three to five minutes before straining them out.
- If you’re pouring tea for guests too, try “cycle pouring”– the first cup poured is weaker than the last, so rotating pours to each cup will equally distribute the tea strength.
- Drink your green tea without sugar or milk. The raw robust taste may take some getting used to, but it is acquired (and delicious)!
- Citrus juices complement green tea’s antioxidants and make them easier for your body to absorb. A slice of lemon is a great additive.
As with anything, moderation is key. Green tea is naturally and deceptively caffeinated; for those who are sensitive to caffeine, one cup should be enough.

Happy sipping.

source : http://zibbleinc.com/superfood-saturday-green-tea/

Food For Thought

My favorite Lian Thong Hainan Restaurant at Taiping,
my wife prepared herself Yunnan Greentea Drinks. 
"You have become a Malay." My mom is always telling me the same thing.
"What.. Why? Tell me what make you say like that."

"After you embraced that religion, what you eat is just KFC, Mamak stalls, Malay and Siam Restaurant. Why don't you go to Chinese restaurant anymore?"

So I brought my parent to New Hollywood restaurant at Canning Garden, Ipoh one day. There's a lot of Chinese stalls are selling Chinese Foods like Char Kuey Teow, 油炸鬼, wantan mee, chee cheong fun... Most importantly that's no forbidden meat inside. My mom just tells me that this food is not "Chinese" enough.


"Don't ask too much! Just eat what we Chinese used to be, are you going to become a Malay avoid pork??" My father said to me, the ridiculous idea about "why pork is so dirty that we still eat it" was following me in slightest way, sometimes I was thinking about it, sometimes not. It feels like that I have a feeling of looking for an answer, what is truly forbidden and what is lawful.

New Hollywood Restaurant, Canning Garden, Ipoh Perak.
Don't be surprised that it's halal foods served by Chinese Non-Muslim.
Alright, let's talk about beer.
What if Government decides to prohibit Non-Muslim from drinking and selling beer? If this law is enforced on Non-Muslim, most probably there would be chaos and protest about Human Right of consume beer. Also there would be certain political party leader yell out for justice and freedom. In Islam, Muslims are practicing the prohibition of beer consumption over thousand years without failure.

Let's study the story of prohibition focused on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in United States since 1840s. Unfortunately it didn't last for many years and was repealed in 1933

This 1902 illustration from the Hawaiian Gazette shows the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union's campaign against beer brewers. The "water cure" was a torture in the news because of its use in the Philippines.

Prohibition focused on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages; however, exceptions were made for medicinal and religious uses. Alcohol consumption was never illegal under federal law. Nationwide prohibition did not begin in the United States until 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect, and was repealed in 1933, with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment. Concern over excessive alcohol consumption began during the American colonial era, when fines were imposed for drunken behavior and for selling liquor without a license.[23] In the eighteenth century, when drinking was a part of everyday American life, Protestant religious groups, especially the Methodists, and health reformers, including Benjamin Rush and others, urged Americans to curb their drinking habits for moral and health reasons. By the 1840s the temperance movement was actively encouraging individuals to reduce alcohol consumption. Many took a pledge of total abstinence (teetotalism) from drinking distilled liquor as well as beer and wine. Prohibition remained a major reform movement from the 1840s until the 1920s, when nationwide prohibition went into effect, and was supported by evangelical Protestant churches, especially the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, and Congregationalists. Kansas and Maine were early adopters of statewide prohibition. Following passage of the Maine law, Delaware, Ohio, Illinois, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, among others, soon passed statewide prohibition legislation; however, a number of these laws were overturned.[23]

The repeal movement was initiated and financed by the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, who worked to elect Congressmen who agreed to support repeal. The group's wealthy supporters included John D. Rockefeller, Jr., S. S. Kresge, and the Du Pont family, among others, who had abandoned the dry cause.[23] Pauline Sabin, a wealthy Republican who founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR), argued that Prohibition should be repealed because it made the United States a nation of hypocrites and undermined its respect for the rule of law. This hypocrisy and the fact that women had initially led the prohibition movement convinced Sabin to establish the WNPR. Their efforts eventually led to the repeal of prohibition.[28][29]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition#United_States

After 1933 till today, no one questioning about the Prohibition of beer anymore. It's a forgotten history by most of us.

Therefore since the day I had convinced by Allah the al-Mighty Creator about Islam is true message and He explained what is lawful and forbidden for mankind, I quit eating pork and consume beer immediately before registered as a Muslim.

Allah has prescribed certain obligations for you, so do not neglect them; He has defined certain limits, so do not transgress them; He has prohibited certain things, so do not do them; and He has kept silent concerning other things out of mercy for you and not because of forgetfulness, so do not ask questions concerning them.

(Reported by aI-Darqutni and classified as hasan (good) by al-Nawawi.)

My new interest is looking for Halal Chinese foods, where the forbidden meat is switched to lawful meat while not losing the great taste itself. My favorite place would be Hainan Restaurant that serving halal foods since early of 20th century in Malaysia. What intrigued me the most is this news "Halal dim sum a hit in Kelana Jaya" as published in The Star Newspaper.


Among the types of dim sum sold by Yeap are shark’s fin, spicy roll, seaweed and black pepper. She sells about four large trays of dim sum and various types of pau.

Aisyah Yeap, 54, a Muslim convert, said she always kept an eye out for halal food.

She said there were many suppliers who sold halal dim sum but it did not taste authentic.

“Good Chinese dim sum is commonly made of lean pork meat. Since I became a Muslim, it was hard for me to find dim sum certified by Jakim.

“I finally managed to source for the halal version, which tastes very close to the ‘original’,” said Yeap.

Yeap does not make them herself but gets the dim sum from a supplier who has halal certification.

“This dim sum is made of lean chicken or seafood such as prawns,” she said.

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Community/2014/07/23/Halal-dim-sum-a-hit-in-Kelana-Jaya-Customers-keep-coming-back-for-more-of-Aisyah-Yeaps-steamed-Ch/

Last week I heard my Muslim colleagues talking about Hainan Restaurant.

"I heard of there is a Hainan Restaurant beside the Sungai Perak, Kuala Kangsar. They are serving the best Pau and noodles right there."
"They are Chinese chief cooks. We shouldn't go to eat at there."

"But there are a lot of Malay customers enjoy their meal too."
"It's better avoid such Chinese restaurant, we never know what's inside the meal."

What an irritating conversations ever but I pretend heard nothing from them both. It's not wrong to eat Chinese food if it's served in halal way. Don't be overreacted with the word of "Chinese" or whatsoever if Allah never judge his servants by race and tribe.

And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.

Surat Al-Kahf (The Cave) 18:29

前线视窗 之 华裔穆斯林 Galeri Nasional Mandarin

As shown in TV2 during Eid al-Fitr, also my very first time to talk about Islam in Mandarin language. Please share and give comments..

Post by Ikhwan Ng.
Post by Ikhwan Ng.
Post by Ikhwan Ng.
Post by Ikhwan Ng.
Post by Ikhwan Ng.

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 25: Short Film - A Journey To Remember

Pustaka Badrul Production - A Journey To Remember
25 Ramadhan 1435H

Sinopsis : Mazlan dikenali di universitinya sebagai seorang yang kedekut dan tidak suka membantu orang lain. Justeru menyebabkan beliau tidak mempunyai ramai rakan. Suatu hari, beliau tela didatangi oleh seseorang yang bernama Fakhrul yang mengaku dirinya berasal dari dimensi lain, dan ingin membawa Mazlan mengembara ke dimensinya. Adakah Mazlan akan menerima jemputan pengembaraan Fakhrul. Bagaimanakah pengembaraan itu sebenarnya? Sama-sama saksikan dalam 'A Journey To Remember'.

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 17: 马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列 - Malaysia Chinese Muslim In A Nutshell

Mimbar, Chinese Muslim Mosque, Ipoh.
敏拜尔,敏拜楼(指清真寺殿内的宣教台,形如楼梯)

This is articles about Malaysia Chinese Muslim published by Nan Yang Newspaper （南洋商报） at 2010 year. A bittersweet and complicated of our Reverted Muslim story. Although there is slightly incorrect statement about Islam and Muslim, the rest about social and prejudice against Reverted Muslim is defined precisely.

Still, it's very interesting for Chinese readers to have a glance about who is Chinese Muslim in Malaysia.

以下的文章是由南洋商报于 2010 年所刊登相关马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列。 基于华裔穆斯林一直处于灰色地带，鲜少人真正了解华裔归信穆斯林的真正状况与外界的压力。然而这并不代表身为穆斯林的华裔就得一直低着头过活，我们仍然拥有自身的使命去让外界理解何以我们选择了伊斯兰，甚至可以向外界讲解有关“回教”一词并不恰当于形容 Islam 这一个阿拉伯文字。

“回教”顾名思义就是回回族的宗教，而 Islam 的真正涵义有两个：顺从和平安。伊斯兰本身提倡‘顺从真主’。所以 Muslim 这一个阿拉伯字的涵义就是“顺从真主的仆人”，也反驳了“回教徒”这局限了其定义为：回回种族的宗教教徒。况且马来西亚何来的中国少数民族？大部分的穆斯林都是马来同胞和印度同胞。皆因伊斯兰本身就是世界性的宗教，从没有区分肤色与富贫之别。

由于有关华裔穆斯林的中文文献相当有限，谨此分享源自南洋商报的一些文章。若要深一步探讨和了解华裔穆斯林敬请留言或者电邮： lifemualaf@gmail.com

祈愿真主赐予您平安


马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列1:大马华裔穆斯林 情何以堪？

马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列2:马华穆斯林历史 郑和引航

马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列3: 信奉穆斯林等同放弃 本身文化与身分？

马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列4:政治？节庆？异族？异教？ 身分归类的疑惑

马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列5: 改教风波 如何平息？

马来西亚华裔穆斯林系列6（完）:厘清宗教灰色地带 回归自由

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 12: The true Gaza back-story that the Israelis aren’t telling this week

This is what you won't read from local Newspaper, everybody is busy about Fifa World Cup and who is going to be the Winner? Argentina? German??

This is a saddening Ramadan month, please pray for our Muslim brothers sisters at Gaza right now. If you ever wonder what's going on between Israel and Gaza, this is an informative article:

Original Link :
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-true-gaza-backstory-that-the-israelis-arent-telling-this-week-9596120.html

The true Gaza back-story that the Israelis aren’t telling this week  
Robert Fisk
Wednesday 9 July 2014

A future Palestine state will have no borders and be an enclave within Israel, surrounded on all sides by Israeli-held territory

A Palestinian woman runs carrying a girl following what police said was an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza city

OK, so by this afternoon, the exchange rate of death in two days was 40-0 in favour of Israel. But now for the Gaza story you won’t be hearing from anyone else in the next few hours.

It’s about land. The Israelis of Sederot are coming under rocket fire from the Palestinians of Gaza and now the Palestinians are getting their comeuppance. Sure. But wait, how come all those Palestinians – all 1.5 million – are crammed into Gaza in the first place? Well, their families once lived, didn’t they, in what is now called Israel? And got chucked out – or fled for their lives – when the Israeli state was created.

And – a drawing in of breath is now perhaps required – the people who lived in Sederot in early 1948 were not Israelis, but Palestinian Arabs. Their village was called Huj. Nor were they enemies of Israel. Two years earlier, these same Arabs had actually hidden Jewish Haganah fighters from the British Army. But when the Israeli army turned up at Huj on 31 May 1948, they expelled all the Arab villagers – to the Gaza Strip! Refugees, they became. David Ben Gurion (Israel’s first Prime Minister) called it an “unjust and unjustified action”. Too bad. The Palestinians of Huj were never allowed back.

And today, well over 6,000 descendants of the Palestinians from Huj – now Sederot – live in the squalor of Gaza, among the “terrorists” Israel is claiming to destroy and who are shooting at what was Huj. Interesting story.

And same again for Israel’s right to self-defence. We heard it again today. What if the people of London were being rocketed like the people of Israel? Wouldn’t they strike back? Well yes, but we Brits don’t have more than a million former inhabitants of the UK cooped up in refugee camps over a few square miles around Hastings.

The last time this specious argument was used was in 2008, when Israel invaded Gaza and killed at least 1,100 Palestinians (exchange rate: 1,100 to 13). What if Dublin was under rocket attack, the Israeli ambassador asked then? But the UK town of Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland was under rocket attack from the Irish Republic in the 1970s – yet the RAF didn’t bomb Dublin in retaliation, killing Irish women and children. In Canada in 2008, Israel’s supporters were making the same fraudulent point. What if the people of Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal were being rocket-attacked from the suburbs of their own cities? How would they feel? But the Canadians haven’t pushed the original inhabitants of Canadian territory into refugee camps.

The ADL posted the graphic on the left to their Twitter account, and it's been retweeted 37 times. In response, @selfagency created the graphic on the right, which has now been retweeted 1,022 times.

Every time propaganda is countered with facts, people of conscience are making their voices heard. Please share if you agree with the graphic on the right! (View full screen to see larger text.)

And now let’s cross to the West Bank. First of all, Benjamin Netanyahu said he couldn’t talk to Palestinian “President” Mahmoud Abbas because he didn’t also represent Hamas. Then when Abbas formed a unity government, Netanyahu said he couldn’t talk to Abbas because he had unified himself with the “terrorist” Hamas. Now he says he can only talk to him if he breaks with Hamas – even though he won’t then represent Hamas.

Meanwhile, that great leftist Israeli philosopher Uri Avnery – 90 years old and still, thankfully, going strong – has picked up on his country’s latest obsession: the danger that Isis will storm west from its Iraqi/Syrian “caliphate” and arrive on the east bank of the Jordan river.


“And Netanyahu said,” according to Avnery, “if they are not stopped by the permanent Israeli garrison there (on the Jordan river), they will appear at the gates of Tel Aviv.” The truth, of course, is that the Israeli air force would have crushed Isis the moment it dared to cross the Jordanian border from Iraq or Syria.

The importance of this, however, is that if Israel keeps its army on the Jordan (to protect Israel from Isis), a future “Palestine” state will have no borders and will be an enclave within Israel, surrounded on all sides by Israeli-held territory.

“Much like the South African Bantustans,” says Avnery. In other words, no “viable” state of Palestine will ever exist. After all, aren’t Isis just the same as Hamas? Of course not.

Smoke rises after an attack of Israeli aircraft in the South of Gaza City
But that’s not what we heard from Mark Regev, Netanyahu’s spokesman. No, what he told Al Jazeera was that Hamas was “an extremist terrorist organisation not very different from Isis in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Boko Haram…” Tosh. Hezbollah is a Shia militia now fighting to the death inside Syria against the Sunni Muslims of Isis. And Boko Haram – thousands of kilometres from Israel – is not a threat to Tel Aviv.

But you get the point. The Palestinians of Gaza – and please forget, forever, the 6,000 Palestinians whose families come from the land of Sederot – are allied to the tens of thousands of Islamists threatening Maliki of Baghdad, Assad of Damascus or President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja. Even more to the point, if Isis is heading towards the edge of the West Bank, why is the Israeli government still building colonies there – illegally, and on Arab land – for Israeli civilians?

This is not just about the foul murder of three Israelis in the occupied West Bank or the foul murder of a Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem. Nor about the arrest of many Hamas militants and politicians in the West Bank. Nor about rockets. As usual, it’s about land. 


p.s. What's about land? Read this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Land

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 5: Hibernation

Well... I promised myself to write 30 articles for 30 days before this.
Seems like I have failed to do it. I feel sorry for the weak outcome.

There's too much commitment to deal with in reality. At least I'll be back to my blogging life after everything settled down. May everyone have a faith fulfilled Ramadan Month.

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 4: The Hunger Games

Everytime I walk into Pasar Ramadhan and it's 6pm.
Today I'm not feeling well...
So I would just write a simple article today.



Bought my favorite today, Murtabak...
I don't buy any drinks from Bazaar Ramadan, because I'll have terrible stomachache for unknown reason. My Muslim friends seems fine with it. Some of the foods is a little bit overpriced, really test our rationality while buying foods.



Sometimes I was called to attend courses at Hotel. This is what Buffet Ramadan looks like. Most Hotel selling buffet package from RM 30++ each person. I do feel bad if there's any leftover after all.



This photo sent by bro Zhang Farish, he is staying at Malaysian student's hostel for Iftar.
I wonder how it feels to eat on a big plate (Talam).


That's all for today.. InshaAllah tomorrow I'll continue writing articles.

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 3: Iftar And Tarawih In Madian Mosque, Beijing, China

Zhang Farish (Mr. Red Hat) is travelling at Beijing, China right now. He can't even access into Facebook, Blogspot and Wordpress. The only communications we have is just Whatsapp. Alhamdulillah, I received lots of information from him again. Although we only met each other only one time this year, we are actively chatting over internet communications.

I would like to share his journey at 北京市马甸清真寺 (Madian Mosque) at first Iftar day based on our Whatsapp conversations :

Assalamualaikum bro
I was wondering, does ur blog have features like small player that can be inserted into any part of the blogpost?

Coz I've done recording n taking pictures at same time, maybe u can include the voice recording below the uploaded photo

For example, a pic of imam proclaiming azan manually, and there's a small player underneath so that reader can get a feel of the event as if he's there
(Unfortunately, I can't find any suitable hosting-file to put embedded mp3 player. So I just put the mp3 link from Dropbox instead, you may click on the link to download the audio file.)
Reporting from Madian Mosque, First Iftar day :



Table reserved for Imams:



Mosque committee giving Taskirah:

Audio : https://www.dropbox.com/s/izkpb4zkvomlyze/9.mp3






The jemaah sitting while waiting for time to break fast.
They didn't wait for Maghrib Azan first but just follow the time. When the committee announced the break fast time, everyone immediately enjoy the light meals prepared on each table.



Light meals consist of watermelons, grapes, melons, n apples, while the other plate has round breads, sugar-coated dates, etc.. As for beverage, hot chinese tea was served. Mineral water can be bought at nearby convenient shop however.



Then, it was time for Maghrib Solat and one of the imam stood at the prayer hall compound to proclaim the azan, while the rest of the imams n jemaah members stood outside first. Once the azan is done, everyone enters the hall. The men will enter the main hall while ladies enter the women's hall which is just next to the main hall. (Picture not in hp but in camera. Will provide it later)

Audio : https://www.dropbox.com/s/ms4ym7yf90rze3q/5.mp3



Once done Solat, everyone went out for Iftar. The meals are specially cooked by mosque chefs in mosque kitchen.

However, there's a system applied here. As the mosque wants to ensure everyone gets their fair share of meals n avoid wastage, everyone must applied for a special card.

This special card contains thirty days list, with person's name n hp number. For each meal received, it'll be signed by the chef. By this way, nobody can take it twice.


Registration for card is free
(Feels like catuan air? )
Next, queue up to get happy meals:












The happy meal : White rice, dough bread, mutton soup, vegetable, 西红柿炒鸡蛋



After meal, the tables are stacked away n everyone helped each other to clear them away. Some helped to clean the floor by sprinkling water n sweep, some helped wash dishes, some help dispose rubbish.





The entrance of mosque:

Before Isyak Solat n Terawih, a Quran recitation session is held. The imam made the first move, then continued by selected jemaah member.

Next, before start Solat, the imam besar gave some advices on terawih solat:



And start Isyak Solat


Audio : https://www.dropbox.com/s/crpdtv1qib0u4ys/8.mp3
After that, start Terawih. Total 20 rakaat, with each stops at 2 rakaat each. Witr only three. Altogether, it ends at 10.30pm

(Due to long recording, it can't be transfer here but I'll give u in cd when i return ya)


Audio : https://www.dropbox.com/s/azo30u9158lm2df/7.mp3
One part of the whole Terawih Solat 
Btw, if want, please download n save these recordings now ya, coz I'll need more space to do more recordings until i return to KL. Otherwise i can also put everything in CD after i return




Sekian laporan drpd bro anda, Zhang Farish.
(I forgot to ask him what is the hidden meaning of this profile picture)


That's part of the "Journey To The East" from our brother Zhang Farish, please stay tuned for more of his travelogue.


p.s. You might be interested in this webpage, Top 10 Mosque in Beijing... http://www.tour-beijing.com/blog/beijing-travel/beijing-top-10/