Ikhwan Ng's Blog, page 11

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 2: Bazaar Ramadan

Bazaar Ramadan in Malaysia
(Credit: The Malaysian Times)
When I was a kid and saw Bazaar Ramadan (Pasar Ramadan). "Hooray!!! The annual Pasar Malam FIESTA (Night Market) is held up again for weeks!! "

Later on 8pm I rode bicycle to there... "Where’s everyone?”

The whole Bazaar Ramadan was cleaned up at 8pm, only left a few hawkers selling foods. That’s my first memory about Bazaar Ramadan, only Malay hawkers and mostly Malay’s cuisine. Unlike Pasar Malam (Night Market), the bazaar is selling all sorts of goods like foods, clothes, fruits etc. I was a top fan of VCD and fried chicken back in 90’s time. Normally those hawkers selling goods until 10.30pm, so it’s kind of unusual for me whenever I failed to buy something at Bazaar Ramadan around 8pm.


I also tried Nasi Tomato but it’s doesn’t really taste like “Tomato”, I was sweating a lot to enjoy the spicy chicken rice. Also Murtabak and Roti John was my best alternatives.


BAZAAR RAMADAN

Food is not the only item on which the devout Muslims spend their money when they go to the Ramadan bazaars and other outlets.

This festive season, like in the previous years, food bazaars will be selling various types of foods, including dishes that are only served during Ramadan. Menus will cover food from various regions—northern, southern, east coast, and the Middle East.

When one visits these bazaars, one is sure to return home loaded with packets of food and a number of beverages such as sugarcane and coconut water.

Sadly, people end up buying so much food that not all of it is consumed; some will be refrigerated and the rest will be discarded.

A report published last month claimed that Malaysians discard 15,000 tonnes of food everyday! In Kuala Lumpur alone, leftover food thrown away everyday amounts to about 3,000 tonnes, while in Georgetown, it amounts to 355 tonnes.

Meanwhile, it is not only waste that Muslim consumers have to think about during Ramadan but also the implications of overeating. In fact, many people are diagnosed with diabetes and other diseases, and such bouts of over-indulgence may be detrimental to their health.

http://www.themalaysiantimes.com.my/when-indulgence-overtakes-abstinence-during-ramadan/



Today I am capable to eat any spicy foods, whether it’s Nasi Briyani, Nasi Lemak, Sambal Petai… Bring it on!

Actually it’s also part of my struggle to be a Muslim, when there’s no choice at all but only spicy halal foods available… I have to accept the fact that I’m among 3% Chinese Muslim in Malaysia that seeks for halal foods.

::Ramadan Reflections::Day 1: Shepherd

Every prophet was a shepherd
All praises to Allah SWT, I’m going to perform the sixth year fasting in this year’s Ramadan. I have decided to make a “Ramadan Reflections” writing project that present 30 articles in 30 days of Ramadan month, for the first time ever. Besides celebrate the 6th years of embraced Islam, I would like to relearn the meaning of Taqwa spiritually and physically.

I have the toughest moments since last year November until now, it’s seriously affect my life and also this blog’s writings. Perhaps my readers may realized that I write the most least articles this year, unproductive and dull. What’s troubled me the most is whenever I put too much hopes upon others, they turn out to be upset me the most. Therefore I have realized that I lost my Taqwa gradually since last year, hoping the best from others.
Until I’m getting closer to Ramadan day by day, I started to remember the profound meaning of Ramadan as a Muslim. As stated in Islamicity.com :

Purpose of Fasting

In chapter 2 verse 183 the Quran says, "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who were before you, in order that you may learn taqwa (piety)".
 
Taqwa is a very important spiritual and ethical term of the Quran. It is the sum total of all Islamic spirituality and ethics. It is a quality in a believer's life that keeps him or her aware of God all the time. A person who has taqwa loves to do good and avoid evil for the sake of God. Taqwa is piety, righteousness and consciousness of God. Taqwa requires patience and perseverance. Fasting teaches patience, and with patience one can rise to the high position of taqwa.

Back to the fundamental understanding of Islam.
Later on I flipped through my handwritings notebook, I have so many ideas to write articles but it keep postponed. “Just wait till this problem solved”, I told myself every time. Procrastinations. Giving excuses to myself that everything will be fine tomorrow. Those problems persisted till now, dragged me for months and may be forever..

May be there’s Hikmah (Wisdom) of Allah with those problems I’m facing right now. As every prophets have been shepherd to train their patience and piety.

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
We were with Allah's Apostle picking the fruits of the 'Arak trees, and Allah's Apostle said, "Pick the black fruit, for it is the best." The companions asked, "Were you a shepherd?" He replied, "There was no prophet who was not a shepherd."  
(Bukhari :: Book 4 :: Volume 55 :: Hadith 618)

Prophet Muhammad worked as a shepherd at the age of 8 because he wanted to help his uncle Abu Talib since he wasn’t rich and had a big family with many children. As a young boy, Prophet Muhammad earned his living as a shepherd, a role he was later to speak about with fondness. Prophet Muhammad would take the sheep and cattle of his relatives and those of the people of Makkah to the surrounding deserts to graze. He gave his uncle the wages he received in return.

Indeed, during this period, He acquired many superior human characteristics such as generosity, good temper, magnanimity, good behaviour towards neighbours, tolerance, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and avoidance of vices. Prophet Muhammad grew up to become a fine young man. He became known for his excellent manners, and because of the honesty in his conduct and dealings he was referred to as Al-Sadiq (The Truthful One) and Al-Ameen (The Trustworthy One).

If you want to know more the lessons from this matter, I would like to recommend this article :
Every Prophet was a Shepherd!


In this Ramadan month, I would like to wipe away my negative emotions and dullness. Thus I have decided to complete 30 articles in this holy month, finish my unwritten articles and moving on with my life. May Allah ease my journey and give me guidance, Ameen.


p.s.: You may suggest what kind of articles you are interested to read..

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How I Met Your Daughter

Last month Brother Zhang Farish had visited Thailand and sent me this photo via whatsapp. Something that caught my attention was the name that carved on tomb stone, 黄業海 (Husband) and Ramin Binti Randah (Wife). Every chinese tomb stone tells the family name, ethnic and background of deceased, the deceased chinese male has the same surname as mine, 黄(Yellow), from Hai Nan Island and passed away at 1985 years. While his wife is intentionally left blank on the date of deceased, most probaly she is still alive.

“Where did you take the photo?” I asked Zhang Farish in whatsapp.
“Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of the buddhist temple I visit in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.”


Back in 2005 years, I studied computer course in one of the government institute in Malaysia. Whereby majority of the students are Malay, only 3 Chinese and 5 Indian students among hundreds of students. I still remember there was a discussion when my friends “Fun”, also two malay students Anne and Normah and I assigned into assignment group, we were sitting at the cafeteria and working on a presentation regarding the future of IT.

“Hey, I heard that you have a malay girlfriend… right?” Anne asked me
“Well… not really girlfriend, but just my best friend I guess.”

“Actually, I have a chinese fiance that live at Penang right now. His name is Jason, but he told me that he prefer to be called as Jabri recently. He is keen on study Islam and I think that you should chat with him one day, inshaAllah.”
“But I don’t get it, you said that he prefer to be called as Jabri? His family has no problem with his name?”

“Alhamdulillah (All praises to Allah SWT), his family have no problem at all with his decision of picking the Muslim name and embraced Islam. He is a very kind person that show lots of interest in learning Islam, what I love him the most is he never smoking and attend any night club. It would be such a miracle for me to meet with a guy like that in my life.”
“Oh come on… Don’t listen to her, you will be going to chop off your ‘little brother’ after embraced Islam. Also no more Bak Kut Teh for you.” Fun interrupted our conversation.

I remained silent and thinking about what Anne told me.

I had a hard time to think about interracial marriage and the decendants, especially convert into a religion that I had no idea about except terrorism and chaos. I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Islam at the age of 20, especially the 911 tragedy scare most of the Non Muslim away from knowing the brief information about Islam. ‘I won’t accept any religions in my life, unless God convince me into it.’

Eat That Frog! Literally...
“Hey Ng, have you ever tried Frog Soup before? It’s very tasty and good for your skin too! By the way… I would like to ask Anne, do Muslim permissible to eat frogs?” I felt uncomfortable when Fun started to talk about ridiculous matters again.
“Of course not! Muslim are forbidden to eat any amphibious creature and pork!” Anne and Normah shouted out loud.

“You really should try to eat some frogs cuisine one day, it's really tasty.” I freaked out as Fun whispering to me in Chinese language.My memory flashed back the butcher who selling frogs at market, slit a bit at frog's throat, then peel off its skin like taking off your hand gloves. It's believed to be traditional medicine in Chinese community.

I know Emma since 2004 years. We were study Form 6 together in Secondary School together. For some unknown reason, I fell in love with her and she seems to be different from typical Malay girls. Sometimes I love to talk about philosophy articles I read before with Emma, also questioning the origin of human beings and free wills. But when our conversation went into Islam topic, I would become uncomfortable and trying not to think about it. There was too many negative news I read from newspaper and media, nothing interested in the religions of Islam. Like snatching corpse, change name, can’t follow certain rituals, etc…

“What do you think about this name, ‘IKHWAN’?”
“一罐？ =.= " It sounds like ‘One tin’ in chinese.”

“Yup, Ikhwan... That name is so nice and I love it very much. Who knows one day you will be embraced Islam, you may just take that as your Muslim Name.”
“Oh come on… I told you that I don’t like to talk about Islam.”

I spent one year only to finish my IT course in institute, most of the time I was observing my Muslim friends perform their Sholat in mosque or hostel rooms. Every morning I woke up by the sounds of knocking doors, “It’s Fajr prayer times, everyone wake up and go to the mosque!” Most of the students went to perform their prayer, while I was looking at my roomate who continue to sleep in his bed. Alright, 95% muslim students perform their prayer on time except this dude.

Fun and I always wandering outside of the mosque around 7pm. We as “Non Muslim” had too much free time during Maghrib and Isyak prayer time. Bunch of Muslim students were walking into mosque and listen to lectures from Ustaz. I just can’t hear anything from outside of the mosque anyway.

“They dressed like a white ghost, look at their long white clothes.. Woooooo….” Fun was teasing at the female students again, while I just stood still and looking at them. Male students were wearing colorful clothes that cover their thigh, wearing a Kopiah and long pants. Female students were wearing Telekung, white praying-veil that used by them. I understand that Muslim prays 5 times a day but none of them tell me to whom they pray?

Few years after graduated from the Institute, I decided to embrace Islam. Believe it or not, I didn’t know much about Islam from Muslim students except Anne and Normah that I mentioned before. It seems like no one really cares if I am interested to know what Islam about. Most of the time I self study Islam based on my curiosity and effort. While Emma is the one who be with me all the time, gives me support and tells me to make a right choice in my life. I do know a lots of friends who have an interracial relationship, but most of them separated due to the pressure of convert into Islam. I could understand that.


Loving someone interracially and convert into Islam is two different matters.
Both of them are very challenging and most probaly may get disowned from family.

Eventually, I get married with Emma at 2008 years. The only Muslim girl who being so patient with me for ages. Bearing my hot tempers, strange character, silent and stubborn. Therefore I got the name “Ikhwan” from her, as the remembrance of our sweet moments. I asked her why she didn’t tell me earlier that Islam is the straight path?

“I told you many times but you never listen!”



Thank God that she is such a talkative girl that never stops talking, finally I have heard what she said.
And I will listen to her for the rest of my life.

DR Seenivasagam Garden, Ipoh

There was a couple taking wedding photos

Life goes up and down.
There’s a lot of challenges happening in my life, whenever I feel like suffocating.. I would go to recreation park to relax myself. I have been doing it before embraced Islam, looking for some inspiration to move on with my life.

I’m sorry that haven’t update my blog for quite long time. Please pray for me that I will get rid of every troublesome matters that messing with me right now, then I will be present more articles in the future inshaAllah.

Chindian Muslim Kiosk

I have an email conversation with Jasmeen Tay Abdullah regarding her “Chindian Muslim Kiosk” since last year. Jasmeen Tay and her husband have started back their business in mid of January 2014. Here is an excerpt from our conversation.

From : chindianmuslim@gmail.com
Sat, Oct 12, 2013 at 4:16 PM

Thanks for the autograph on your books :)

One book is for our son and daughter and the other one book is to be used at our gerai's mini library. We are planning to start a small reading corner at our gerai ChindianMuslim Kiosk whereby anybody or any race whom are keen or having doubts about Islam can sit at our stall and read all kinds of Islamic knowledge book while enjoying a meal at our stall. (instead of having UXXv, Mxnggx, Mxstxkx and etc as a reading materials).

InsyaAllah, hopefully we can use this way to touch more hearts to revert to Islam as a way of life.

We are selling Halal DimSum, Mini Pau(cooked or frozen), Mee Bandung Muar and Kopi 434 Muar at our mini stall. We hope that through or mini gerai and mini library, our little efforts can be a way of dakwah to more people.


Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 12:27 PM

Sorry for a bit late reply because kind of busy at sunday. I feel very interested with your way of managing business, which may spread the dakwah to more people. If you not mind, I would like to write a blog article about your gerai's mini library. Let it be inspiration to others and how to combine business with dakwah.


From : chindianmuslim@gmail.com
Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 4:54 PM

Salam Bro,

It's a great honor that you are keen to feature about us in your blog with our business concepts of combining dakwah thru the mini library. We had this ideas long time ago and now we are in the process of making it happen. We have some earlier Islamic book collections and also bought some more books + some free collections of short book and pamphlets from Abim and Perkim plus Islamic magazines too.

We are also thankful if you can later post us some Chinese write-ups or books in Islamic knowledge as we are lack of Chinese materials in our collections. Omar will try to get some materials in Tamil language too.

We just managed to rent a small space for our gerai and we plan to start officially by 7th Nov 2013.

Please give us a call when you and your family are down in K.L for holidays or visits. Maybe we can all explore more ideas to reach out to more people to like and love Islam.


From : lifemualaf@gmail.com
Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 11:09 PM

Salam Sis,

Personally I think that's interesting to set a mini library, because I saw sis Nur Aliya Yeoh FB posted the similar way of dakwah by someone. He open restaurant and let people reading some islam book. I believe it can be positive way to promote Islam. InsyaAllah I will pos to you few chinese islam books, do you want chinese al Quran?

Yup I will contact you for sure if we come to KL. Can't wait to see your mini library launching photos :)



From : chindianmuslim@gmail.com
Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:48 PM

Salam Bro. Ikhwan,
Thanks for your kind and sincere support to us. We have just started back our business in mid of January 2014.

Our business hours are quite odd whereby we are open from Monday - Friday by 4pm - 10pm cause we will start after finishing our work at respective work place. As for Saturday and Sunday, we are open for breakfast from 7am - 12pm only. Both of us really need to work very hard now and earn more for our family as the cost of living are so high nowadays :(

Please find attached are some pictures of Chindian Muslim Kiosk; our Mini-mini Library. Most of the books are our own collections, some bought from book stores, some are gift from friends, some books and Chinese translated Quran gave to us by a good Muslim like you ;) We have also majalah JOM which most of our books are light books related to beauty of Islam. We hope that this will let customers, friends and family members especially non-Muslim whom has interest in Islam but wish to know more about the beauty of Islam without much pressure. They can just sit and relax, eat, drink, read-up or even borrow the books without much feeling the pressure, as hidayah is always on Allah's hand. Your book seems to be chosen most of the time. Luckily, I have a few of Bro. Ikhwan Ng's books with us whereby most of them will read-up or glance thru while waiting for their food or drinks.

Last week, we have a Chinese lady whom came and try out our Home Cooked Chicken Porridge and Halal Dim Sum at our stall. She was shocked when I greeted her in Cantonese and we have a chat. She asked if I have married a Malay man and I said no as my husband is an Indian man but reverted to Islam like me too. After a few chats, she started to share that she has a son whom is going out closely with a Malay girl and she is worried that her son will not want to be with her family anymore. We tried to advise her not to worry too much as Islam do not teach children to disowned their parents and family. Our family are all still closely knitted whether it's Indian or Chinese even though there might be some challenges in the beginning.

As a mother and parents ourselves, we do get hurt when our children are kind of 'getting far' from us. We shared about issues regarding not necessary to change his son's name to new name, eating various halal meals and etc. Frankly, she mentioned that if possible she hopes that her son will marry another Chinese girl but if it is fated, then she do not even mind if his son revert to be a Muslim as long as he is happy and well taken care of by his wife. What she is feeling now is insecurity feeling of loosing his son :( We really hope to be able to meet up with his son soon so that we can share advises with him on how he should tackle and take care of his parents heart and feelings too. May Allah helps to ease all matters for all of us and our Chindian Muslim Kiosk business too, Ameen. 

Brother Ikhwan, please bring along Shiema and your daughter to our stall when you are down in Kuala Lumpur the next time. We like to belanja you all makan-makan :) Please sms or call 017-8888251 should you need directions.

Warm regards,Chindian Muslim Kiosk Family
Mohd. Omar Nathan, Jasmeen Tay, Muhd. Aiman and Ameera Hidayah ;)



Mini Library
Mini Library
Reverted Muslims as special guest...   :)
Po Po’s Home Cooked Chicken Porridge


Chindian Muslim Kiosk FamilyMohd. Omar Nathan, Jasmeen Tay, Muhd. Aiman & Ameera Hidayah

How Islamic Is Your Name?

Previously I have written few articles about should Reverted Muslim change their name or not? As stated:

The Myth of "Bin Abdullah" (2011) and Getting Officially Muslim (2013)

This time I would like to share a true story from Reverted Muslim, Sophea Ng who retains her name while registered as ‘Islam’ on Identity Card. Please bear in mind that Islam is a universal religion, it would be unfair to turn someone into ‘Cultural Muslim’ according to Nusantara’s cultural.

Please enjoy this heartwarming and honest story:

Original link :
Assalammualaykum to my dearest readers =)

Ok today.. my blog is regarding my name.

last month I went to collect my identity card from JPN. Alhamdulillah , it was done after such a long process.

Then..suddenly I recall an incident that happened when I was attending a talk regarding Shalat. This talk was registered by my boss from my working place ( All Praise to Allah, my boss sayang me so much and she reserved this ceramah agama seat for me )

So I was searching my name on the attendance sheet…… and I found this :
Sophea Ng bt Abdullah

Hmm…. Since when my father become Abdullah?

Then I took my pen and draw a line on the name, and I wrote my name beside it --- Ng Pooi Kheng.

And then there was a pretty lady ( the person incharged of the attendance ) looked at me with a very unusual eye sight and asked :

“ ni ke nama betul? (Is this your correct name?)”
“ya Cik , ni nama saya.(Yes Miss, that's my name.)” I answered.

“eh.. betul ke ? (eh.. are you sure?)” she asked again.
“ ya Cik.(yes Miss.)” I answered again , with a big wide smile *wink* ,

xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hmmm….. lots people still dunno that it is not compulsory to change the name after someone embrace Islam.

I was once asked by someone :

XX :“ tahniah dah masuk Islam.. nama baru ? (Congratulation that you embraced Islam.. What's your new name?)”
ME : “oh… saya takde nama baru.(oh... I don't have a new name)”

XX : “yang orang lain dok panggil Sophea tu? (Then why everyone else call u Sophea?)”
ME : “ooh tu nama panggilan. Dalam IC tak tukar. (ooh that's just my nickname.My name retained in Identity Card.)”

XX : “ekk apasal pulak? Kena lah tambah bt Abdullah kat belakang.(ekk why? You must put binti Abdullah as your last name.)”
ME : “yea boleh kalau nak tambah BT ABDULLAH.. tapi kalau x tambah pun takpe. Tak wajib.(yes that's permissible to add BT ABDULLAH.. if not add that still fine. Not compulsory.)”

XX : “ ehhh kenalah tambah. Ng Pooi Kheng tu nama orang cina. Dah masuk Islam kena tukar nama , baru lar orang lain tau dah tukar agama.(ehhh you must add that BT ABDULLAH. Ng Pooi Kheing is a chinese name. You must be change your name after embraced Islam, only then we may know that you changed your religion.)”

ME : “ Saya tukar agama , tapi saya tak tukar bangsa.(I have changed my religion, but I haven't change my race.)”

Don’t worry , I answered it in a very nice way and smile of course… *ngeeee*

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ng is my surname -- 黄 (huang2)
Pooi Kheng is my name -- 佩琼 (pei4 qiong2)
My name roughly means --- fine , nice, good things and happiness.

For me…it might not be an Islamic name. but my name was given by my parents. It is just like the first gift they gave me when I was born. I appreciate my name so much.

And again.. embraced Islam doesn’t mean I turn myself into a Malay or Arabian. Not to be racist, but I am sure all of us are proud of our own blood. Same goes to me. I was a Chinese, and the only thing changed is… I am now a Chinese Muslim ( Allah is the Greatest)

Islam is a peaceful religion, that teach and guide us towards the right pathway.
The beauty of Islam should be seen through our attitude , personality , our life , our heart and our soul…. Not through our name.

But anyway…. You can still call me anyway u like.. depends on how close we are =P

Ng , Angie , Sophea , Sophy , ah kheng , pooi kheng, kheng kheng….et c. hehehe
if we are close enough , no matter how u called me , I will sure recognize you =)



that’s all I want to share.

Chinese is my root ; Islam is my way of life.

forgive me if my sentences offended anyone. Allah knows the Best.

Lots of love
Wa'laykumussalam
Regards,
Sophea Ng, 佩琼。

Bill Nye VS Ken Ham: Should Scientists Bother To Debate Creationism?

Creation Museum head Ken Ham, right, speaks during a debate on evolution with TV's 'Science Guy' Bill Nye, at the museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Photograph: AP
I would like to share a debate between noted science communicator Bill Nye, and the president of Kentucky’s Creation Museum, Ken Ham.Their debates might be irrelevant to Islam, perhaps full of controversial and misleading for certain Muslim. The reason I share this video is because I'm not born to be faithfully Muslim, I was seeking answer from every reachable media and books about God. It would not be surprising that I am tolerable with this controversial debate because God shows us the eternal answer for mankind, regardless of what religion background and race, we still have the will of seeking our Creator.

Please enjoy this fresh debate video that happened last few days. As attached the original news from The Guardian. 

Bill Nye v Ken Ham: Should Scientists Bother To Debate Creationism?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/feb/05/bill-nye-vs-ken-ham-creationism-science-debate

Last night, we were treated to a two-and-a-half hour debate between noted science communicator Bill Nye, and the president of Kentucky’s Creation Museum, Ken Ham. Ham is a Young Earth Creationist, which means he believes that the Earth was created around 6,000 years ago, following a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative from the bible. On the other hand, Nye is a scientist, who draws upon multiple lines of converging evidence, from a wealth of sources, which shows that the Earth was formed around 4.5bn years ago, and that all life descended from a universal common ancestor around 3.5bn years ago. Here’s the debate in full:


Bill Nye debates Ken Ham, February 4th 2014.

Let’s get one thing absolutely clear to begin with: creationism is not science. It does not stand up to close scrutiny in the face of overwhelming evidence for evolution. It should not be taught as a scientific theory in science classes. It is a religious belief. It therefore seems bizarre that last night’s debate took place at all. Some, including professor of evolution and ecology Jerry Coyne, have criticised Nye for agreeing to it, echoing earlier arguments from people like Richard Dawkins, who suggests that it lends creationism an air of credibility. Others have commended him for attempting to raise awareness of why proper scientific education is so important. And while I agree that this awareness is essential, public debates are not the way to go about it. On the whole, I’m with Dawkins and Coyne.

If you watch the video, when Ham makes his opening remarks, he points to the fact that there are many scientists out there who are also creationists. One such example he provides is Stuart Burgess, professor of engineering design at the University of Bristol in the UK. Burgess is also on the council of reference for Truth in Science, a UK-based creationist group whose goal is to promote the teaching of Intelligent Design in school science lessons across the country. And herein we see the problem. Truth in Science is affiliated with the Discovery Institute, a US think tank whose goal is to present evolution as a "theory in crisis", and ultimately push intelligent design as the dominant theory in scientific teaching and research. They are quite open about this fact – in 1998 they wrote the infamous Wedge Document, detailing their goals to change scientific and political thinking in the US to reflect a very conservative evangelical Christian belief system. And for this strategy to work, creationists don’t need to win debates with scientists, they simply need to have them in the first place.

By standing on a stage alongside Nye, Ham appears to have a legitimate and equally opposing viewpoint to him, suggesting that evolution is somehow controversial and poorly evidenced. This could not be further from the truth. Understanding evolutionary theory does not require an act of faith, it only requires an objective assessment of the available evidence. And the available evidence consistently points to life evolving by means of natural selection.

Despite this fact, we continue to see the same, tired old debates crop up in the public eye, providing impetus for the insidious creep of creationist thinking into scientific education. Just this last Monday, Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, a creationist zoo on the outskirts of Bristol, won an award from the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC). Despite including exhibits explaining why “apes are not related to man”, CLOtC awarded the zoo a Quality Badge, which apparently helps to ensure that young people are accessing good quality educational experiences. Professor Alice Roberts and the British Humanist Association have – rightly – complained to the government over this, as it gives further legitimacy to evidence-free pseudoscience.

As has been noted before, the best way to end the creep of creationism is to equip ourselves with facts and evidence. Oft-cited arguments against evolution, such as the supposed irreducible complexity of the eye, have time and again been knocked down, and there are websites that systematically index and provide counter-evidence for many creationist claims. You don’t need to look very far to find all the information you need, and it’s important to do so. Scientific literacy is crucial for society to function effectively, which means that we can’t afford to be messing around with the way that it’s taught in the classroom or wasting our time with fruitless public debates.

Seeking For The Eternal Sunshine

Books.
I could see tons of books falling down like snowflakes from sky. I felt so excited and waiting for those books to fall on ground gently. Then I picked it up and thinking: “Precious knowledge is only coming from sky, none of us may write such a knowledgeable book except what comes from sky."

Indeed, I told my friends that I believe that books are falling from sky while I was 5 years old. They were laughing at my silly idea and I didn’t know why. I was dreaming the same scene almost every day, the same books, same blue sky, and I was waiting patiently for their arrival. As time goes by, I managed to realize that none of the books are falling from sky dramatically. Those books are written by different authors and being published at market, whether it’s imaginary fairytale or nonfiction, never dropped from the high sky.
“Why you choose to be a Muslim?” One of my friends asked.

That’s an interesting question of my choice. Living as a free will human, I do have my choice to live my life without restriction. I may consume beer and enjoy my life whenever wherever I want just like any ordinary Chinese young man. But I choose to be such a “Religious” Muslim? Isn’t it hard to bear that I can’t consume pork and live freely who I want to be? I am not raised up from a cultural Muslim family, also have no idea what Islam really about before I turned into 20 years old. It would be seems like that I have no reason to live my life as a Muslim, at least not culturally influenced or forced by anyone in whatever you name it situation.

This kind of question is sort of like: “Why you choose to be a Muslim faithfully while the other Muslim not even cares about it?” No offence though, I’m trying hard to describe a two-way movement in our community. Can’t be denied that there are more and more non Muslim revert to Islam recently, also some of the Muslim is getting away from Islam silently. Few of the silent Muslim might ask me that question sometimes, “Why YOU choose to be Islam while I’m not even interested with that anymore? Are you so eager to get married with someone by converting yourself into Islam?”

Yeah, Non Muslim can’t marry any Muslim unless they embraced Islam in Malaysia. That’s explained a lot while we notice some of the revert Muslim don’t practice Islam at all. At the same time, we can’t let this strange phenomena to deny the existence of sincere people who seeking the grace of Allah. Everyone has their right to choose what kind of life they wanted, but most of us are fear of the darkness, sickness, death, poorness and tragedy. We don’t know what might happen next in our life, we look into the mirror and asking ourselves “Why am I here? What is my role exactly on this earth?” We were crying while we lost our loved one.

Eventually our inner feeling lead us to a simple question: Where is God?


Left : I studied at this Chinese School before
Right : Registered my Islam identity at Perak Islamic Department
At the moment I reached the Perak Islamic Deparment, I was looking at the Chinese School on my left that I studied for 11 years. I still remember there were only 6 Malay students in our school, we was learning in Chinese dialect and completely locked out from knowing anything regarding Islam. When our class entered Moral subject, those Malay students from different classes might gathered in another classroom to learn Islam subject from Ustazah. Sometime I was looking at the Cupola (Kubah) structure right on top of the Islamic Department building and wondering what’s that supposed to mean. I had been studying beside Islamic Department for 11 years and I had no idea what Islam briefly about except political movement and hatred. We were trained to close our ears to stay firm with our own family’s religion and cultural, none of the Islamic rule should come and tear us apart. Perhaps I should call it as Islamophobia in ordinary Chinese school.

Compared to religion, I would say that I prefer science and philosophy while I was studying at secondary school. Every time after I woke up from the morning, the first question I would ask myself is: “Why am I here?” The emptiness was haunting my heart and gives me unsecure feeling. Therefore I would try to search for the meaning of life in a way more realistic method. I believe there must be eternal answer for every doubt in our life, it mustn’t be self assumption by anyone and none of us may deny the TRUTH. When the TRUTH is revealed, everyone must be impressed and awaken their heart to the purpose of life. Science is a great observation of creature and universe, while philosophy leads me to think out the box regarding life.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. In more casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy

I know that I’m Chinese, I shouldn’t involve myself too much into Malay’s community especially Islam is registered as Malaysia’s federal religion. This kind of federal law should be keeping me out of “Malaysia’s Islam”, but I believe Almighty Creator never differ His servants with skin color and race. Thus what I am looking for is the purpose of life, not how to live like someone else who is irrelevant to that. I don’t learn Islam from people, because I fully understand that none of us may portray the role of saints. (Especially prophet Muhammad saw is the seal or the last of the prophets) The reason I choose to be Muslim is due to the TRUTH from Islam itself regardless of any negative example from certain Muslim, like Taliban, terrorism, Syiah etc.

The significant difference between reverted Muslim and “Outgoing” Muslim is, reverted Muslim tend to explain the impressive Truth from Islam while “Outgoing” Muslim more to condemn the negative side of certain Muslim community. As stated by the author of “We Are A Muslim, Please”, Zaiba Malik:



Full article :
http://englischlehrer.de/media/malik.php


Assimilation versus multiculturalism. This had become a major debate in Bradford and around the country. Then five years later the debate resurfaced — this time its reach was global and its tone much more extreme. On Valentine’s Day, 1989, Iran’s spiritual leader announced a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses. He declared that it was the duty of all Muslims around the world to execute this enemy of Islam.

The fatwa came just weeks after hundreds of Muslims had gathered in Bradford’s city centre to set light to the controversial novel and demand that it be banned. Now the book-burners advocated violence. “Rushdie is a mad dog! He must die! Rushdie, you are dead!” they shouted in support of the call to kill. What had previously been a fairly academic discussion around freedom of speech and expression developed into hard questions about the compatibility of being Muslim and British: after all, British people believe in democracy, civilisation, the rule of law; and Muslims, well they believe in suppression, the rule of religion and death.

It wasn’t just my father’s generation who marched in support of the Rushdie fatwa; there were also many youngsters in those crowds who openly stated that “until this devil is dead, we won’t leave him”. These were second generation British-born Muslims, like me, who were creating their own identity, one that was distinct from that of their first-generation parents, whom they often chastised for being far more interested in idle gossip than the words of the prophet Muhammad.

My peers joined organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, the controversial radical Islamic party which has since been banned in some countries, although not in Britain. The goal of this movement is to establish an independent state, the caliphate, which will be governed by Islamic law.

These youngsters were well educated, articulate and confident. They had seen anti-racist movements, left-leaning liberal policies, multiculturalism and integrationism come and go; none of these secular approaches had worked.

“We’re still treated and regarded as second-rate citizens. Look, we’re not even protected under British law when our faith is attacked. Time for a change. Time for our own laws,” they would rant.

They argued that the most important rules they had to obey were those laid down in the Koran. They started to follow a more literal, more fundamental interpretation of the holy book, one that hadn’t been diluted by the man-made traditions and customs of their parents.

These people had their own language with words such as jihad, khilafah, kuffir, intifada; they had their own concepts — they talked about oppression, martyrdom, Palestine and Afghanistan. They were sure of who they were and what they wanted. They had no hesitation in providing an answer to the vital choice that Rushdie himself put forward in 1989: “The battle lines are being drawn up ... Secular versus religious, the light versus the dark. Better you choose which side you are on.” Now it was Them against Us.

In the summer of 1989 I couldn’t help but ask myself why are these Islamic demonstrators in Bradford making us stand out even more than we already do? Aren’t things difficult enough for us without the world classifying us as fundamentalists and fanatics?

“I’m not a barbarian!” I wanted to shout. “Look, I’m reading a book by Alan Bennett. How more British do you want me to be?”

But I didn’t. Instead I just kept quiet. I silenced myself and I placed a gag over my religion. And I left Bradford.

I didn’t go that far. Just 70 miles or so down the M1 to Nottingham University to study law and politics. But for me it really was like entering another world. It’s no wonder that Umejee wept uncontrollably the day that she and Dad dropped me off at my hall of residence. She knew what was coming; that the copy of the Koran that she had packed in my suitcase would be placed in a drawer that was to remain closed over the coming years. I didn’t need it where I was going — into the secular world where there are no rules, no strictures.

For me, going to university wasn’t so much a learning curve as a sheer cliff drop. I came across students who were atheists, who injected drugs, who were borderline alcoholics, cross-dressers, rent boys and manic depressives.

If I was to survive in this godlessness, then I had to accept that this was how things were in the real world — people didn’t say things such as Inshallah, God willing, as they did on an almost hourly basis in Bradford. In the real world, people never mentioned God and I was pretty certain they didn’t think about Him. Many of them didn’t even believe in Him.

So I kept quiet and left my Koran in its drawer. It stayed there even once I’d left university to become a journalist. It was easier that way. I could still hear my father reading the Koran to me, but whereas before Dad’s voice had been clearly audible, now it was muffled. It was as though somebody had stuffed cotton wool into my ears. There were the odd times when this constant muted noise felt a bit uncomfortable, a bit unbalancing, but on the whole I learnt to ignore it. And by doing so I could get on with my life pretty much as I had done in the past as a neither-here-nor-there person, a person born with British citizenship, Pakistani values and a Muslim soul.

The reason I don’t judge Islam by Muslim is because none of us are perfect human being. We may make mistake and misjudge against people and even religion. When I notice there’s any mistake made by our Muslim brother and sister, I don’t put the blame on Islam or God. I would ask forgiveness and guidance from Allah to save us from prejudice and wrongdoers. None of the books on earth may represent the perfect image of Islam except the Holy Qur’an that revealed through Prophet Muhammad SAW. Follow the guidance from Allah SWT instead of any personal perception from any human being. This situation can be explained with one example from “The 7th Habits Of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey :


Management is a bottom-line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things? Leadership deals with the top line: What are the things I want to accomplish? In the words of both Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

You can quickly grasp the important difference between the two if you envision a group of producers cutting their way through the jungle with machetes. They're the producers, the problem solvers. They're cutting through the undergrowth, clearing it out.

The managers are behind them, sharpening their machetes, writing policy and procedure manuals, holding muscle development programs, bringing in improved technologies, and setting up working schedules and compensation programs for machete wielders.

The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, "Wrong jungle!"
But how do the busy, efficient producers and managers often respond? "Shut up! We're making progress."

As individuals, groups, and businesses, we're often so busy cutting through the undergrowth we don't even realize we're in the wrong jungle. And the rapidly changing environment in which we live makes effective leadership more critical than it has ever been -- in every aspect of independent and interdependent life.

We are more in need of a vision or designation and a compass (a set of principles or directions) and less in need of a road map. We often don't know what the terrain ahead will be like or what we will need to go through it; much will depend on our judgment at the time. But an inner compass will always give us direction.



This management skill may apply on our Muslim community. While Islam gives us clear direction to the right path, can we put the blame on a group of Muslim who are going on a ‘wrong path’ efficiently? If we study Islam more precisely, we may notice there is a lot of important Guidance given to the right direction in syariah rather than what style of clothes should we wear. I’m seeking for the eternal sunshine that enlighten human being and never changes a word from it, only Allah the Almighty Creator understand what is the blessed direction for us. Please don’t let astray Muslim to distract humble servants from getting closer to Allah, please show Your Mercy to whom you might want to give Guidance.

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.

(Surat An-Nūr (The Light) - 24:35)

I guess my dream come true. 

Half Glass of Water

“What is the most effective way of Dakwah (Making an invitation towards Islam)?” One of my friends asked. “As we know that most non Muslim has no idea what Islam really about. Islam is the eternal light of our life, our soul and salvation to afterlife.”

“Dakwah is not an easy task. Before we invite non Muslim to have a brief knowledge about Islam, what is our role to emphasize Islam is the right path? Non Muslim friends tend to judge our behavior and speech as a Muslim, it might reflects our personality and the image of Islam itself. How do we going to convince people that Islam is the right path of human being while we are on the opposite way?”


There’s an empty glass on the table, I fill in the water till half glass level. At this very level of water, Optimism consider the glass is “half full” while Pessimism consider it as “half empty”. Every one of us has different point of view on the same glass of water, this method also used as a general litmus test to simply determine an individual's worldview.

Now I’m holding an empty glass, it has nothing inside. Assume this is a servant’s heart who knows nothing about Islam, no Iman (faith), also no hatred against Islam. It’s an empty glass which is ready to be filled with water anytime. However, only one drop water filled in the glass in uncertain timing. The water may drops more than ten times in sixty seconds or just one drop every hour. This “drop” of water represents the positive knowledge and influence about Islam. It can be anything that comes to us in positive way, like an article that praise the Mighty of Allah, a book from library, al-Qur’an verse on internet, or may be just a few advices from Muslim friend, a smile from your Muslim colleague. It counts as “A drop of water”, as the influence is very low but still absorbed into someone’s heart.

The empty glass filled with drops of water day by day, until it reached half glass of water few years later. All praises to Allah. Most of the reverted Muslim isn’t embrace Islam in 24 hours, but over years of observation and learning what Islam explains about Al-Mighty Creator and afterlife. A lifelong learning progress along with our heart, also known as our “fitrah”. As stated in al-Qur’an Surat Ar-Rūm (The Romans) 30:30

So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.

Everyone born with fitrah within our heart, the will of seeking our Creator and deny His equivalent. Most people do not know the fitrah is knocking on their heart, begging them to witness the truth of life. Still it doesn’t stop certain people who seeking the meaning of life from major religions, finding the eternal truth that never wiped away by time and place. Seeking knowledge is a long journey because our world is fulfilled with tons of information from every angle. Sometimes we feel frustrated to examine the truth and false regarding any specific issue. Therefore those good things of Islam absorbed in a smooth way regardless of false information and hoax widespread at the whole world. Either let it be political reason or missionary influence, Islam never been an easy issue for Non Muslim community ever.




Few years passed by, one of the servant named Jessy has a half glass of water, you may interpret it as Jessy has a heart with 50% confident and knowledge about Islam. She isn’t reciting Shahadah yet and remains Non Muslim. She feels so comfortable whenever her Muslim friends praise Allah by saying Alhamdulillah and Masha’Allah when good things happen. This is such a beautiful way to express Muslim’s appreciation to life. One day Jessy tells her Muslim friend that she just got an offer from a well known company. “Alhamdulillah, I am really not expected this might happen on me.”

“Stop saying ‘Alhamdulillah’, you are not a Muslim! How dare you say that to disrespect my religion??”

The glass of water is shaken. Water spilled out a bit that makes it less than half cup, more likely a leftover glass of water. Jessy feels attracted to the beauty of Islam after years of learning, dismayingly decreased in less than one minute. “You are not qualified to say such word because you aren’t Muslim!” Jessy may feel their inner voice screams out, along with irritating looks upon her. Alright then, Jessy isn’t a “Full Glass of Water” that qualified to mention the beauty of Islam. Although she was Empty Glass few years ago, knows nothing but only hatred against Islam due to the Media irresponsible influence and rumour.

Most of the half glass water spilled out by Judgemental Muslim.
That’s pathetic because instead of giving support and encouragement, Judgemental Muslim prefers to be Pessimism and criticize every weakness on Jessy. They overlooked how a Non Muslim feeling attracted to Islam might but keeps on criticising how wrong Jessy outfit is, how disregard when she dare to talk about Islam, how disrespect while she mentions the name of“Allah”.

Human’s heart is so fragile that it might have fracture due to negative comment from someone’s speech. Therefore we must be speak a good word or just remain silent. Never underestimate the influence of negative comment as stated in hadith :

Abû Hurayrah relates that Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak a good word or remain silent. And whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to his neighbor. And whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to his guest.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim ]

A full glass of water was originally empty. Since the day of birth, everyone strives so hard to learn the meaning of life. While Non Muslim takes a longer journey to realize the truth. This effort also depends on their will to get closer with Creator step by step. As hadith stated below:

"Allah says, 'I am as my servant expects Me to be, and I am with him when he remembers me. If he thinks of Me, I think of him. If he mentions Me in company, I mention him in an even better company. When he comes closer to Me by a handspan, I come closer to him an arm's length. If he draws closer to Me by an arm's length, I draw closer by a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him. If my servant comes to Me walking, I go to him running." (Al-Bukhari)

One doesn’t learn who is Creator unless they took the first step to reach out, let it be thinking, mentioning, going closer or walking to Islam. It must be started with self initiative. Those who have broken glass is left behind, only the tough glass still getting fulfilled till the last drop of water. Dealing with Judgemental Muslim isn’t pleasant at all, no matter how beautiful is a glass from its outlook and shape, still meaningless if it’s empty inside.

Speaking of Judgemental Muslim, I would like to share news about Felixia Yeap that becomes hot topic recently. English, Malay and Chinese Newspaper publish her drastic changes from a former playboy bunny into Hijab lady. Let’s take it as a real life example of the “half full half empty” fairytale, you would know that the largest barrier of Dakwah comes from Muslim ourselves.


I wear the hijab with good intentions, says former Playboy bunny

Full Article : http://my.news.yahoo.com/wear-hijab-good-intentions-says-former-playboy-bunny-003023203.html
 
Felixia Yeap's Blog : http://felixiayeap.blogspot.com/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/felixia.yeap.fanpage


Published in one of the Malaysia's Newspaper First Malaysian Playboy bunny and model Felixia Yeap’s decision to don the hijab (Muslim headgear) despite being a non-Muslim has shocked many, with some fans berating her and labelling it as a "publicity stunt".
The 27-year-old Ipoh beauty, who has been modelling since she was 19, however, remained unperturbed by all the scepticism and criticism that she had been receiving since she started donning the hijab a few months ago.

Yeap, who is still receiving invitations to appear at Playboy events and functions all over the world despite ending her career as a bunny in 2010, defended her action.

“I had always wanted to wear the hijab but I only got the chance to try it this year when I went for a casting call in a Celcom television commercial for the Hari Raya celebration.

"It was a blue hijab and I fell in love with it. Then, I had another chance to wear the hijab again when I was hired as a model for a Muslim boutique in a fashion show during the Hari Raya season,” she said.

On the negative perception towards her for donning the hijab, Yeap said she did not blame the fans for being "confused" with her action.
“I won't blame them. People who don't know me, do not read what I write, will get confused.

"My past photoshoots and modelling gigs which I have on my Facebook and blog, those are my achievements.

"I want people to know, if I can stop being sexy, cover myself up, be a better person, a respected woman, why can't they understand the story and moral behind it? Let it be a story to inspire people,” said Yeap.

She said she feels better when she covers herself up.
“People are not looking at you because of the size of your breasts or your body shape, instead, people look at you because of your intelligence and your character.

"I don't deny that I had cried after several modelling jobs recently. I love to cover myself up, so when I have to give in to the demands of my work which required me to be sexy, I felt exploited,” she said.

Yeap stressed that she only had good intentions in donning the hijab and being in a multiracial country, she is aware of the religious sensitivity surrounding the issue.

“I am not doing this to be disrespectful. I am doing this with a lot of sincerity and good intentions.

"I admit that I am a free-thinker. What I have to say is, if someone is trying to learn something and you keep pushing them away, they are going to run away. They will ask why are they being forced away from something that they are trying to learn,” said Yeap.

She also said that if a religion could show her the beauty of life and living, people should try to understand her action.

“People are attracted to beautiful things. So do I. And if a religion could show me the beauty of life, why should I resist just because a few confused racists and extremists try to twist things around?

"Are they righteous enough, or consider themselves greater, to judge another human being? Well... unless they are God. But based on how they curse, insult and behave... I don't think so,” she said, adding that she felt sorry for these people.

She said despite all the criticisms, she is happy to be able to inspire people and remind them of their religions.

Asked if she would be wearing the hijab permanently, Yeap said she is slowly learning to be a better person.

“I want to be a better person, a better woman. The year 2014 will be the beginning of something beautiful,” said  Yeap.

Yeap had been featured in the local and foreign FHM magazines before she was hired as a Playboy bunny.

Before that, she had participated in a television reality show called "I Wanna Be a Model" and was among the finalists in season three of the show.
She was also the first runner-up for Miss Chinese World Malaysia 2006 and the finalist for Dewi Remaja Malaysia.




What’s the appropriate ending of this strangest article ever? (My first attempt to blend in a little bit philosophy into article)

Fragile glass hearts are around you, please handle with care!