Al-Fatihah...

"Tiap-tiap yang bernyawa akan merasai mati, dan bahawasanya pada hari Kiamat sahajalah akan disempurnakan balasan kamu. Ketika itu sesiapa yang dijauhkan dari neraka dan dimasukkan ke Syurga maka sesungguhnya ia telah berjaya. Dan (ingatlah bahawa) kehidupan di dunia ini (meliputi segala kemewahannya dan pangkat kebesarannya) tidak lain hanyalah kesenangan bagi orang yang terpedaya": Ali-'Imran 185

Just I was about to step out of the office for a quick tea early Friday morning, I was informed by the big boss donwstairs on the passing of Danial's mom Puan Norliza Abdullah. I was speechless and dumbfounded on hearing this news but quickly gathered my thought to express my sorrow. While sipping the tea, my mobile rang and my immediate boss informed me about the same news but this time he asked me whether I would visit Danial as he would like to join in. Without any hesitation I said yes and at about 9.30 AM both of us inlcuding Beroz, were already at Danial's mom's home in PJ.


When we arrived, there were not so many people except for several people from the local mosque. In fact, we were the first from the office to arrive. People from nearby the mosque were already there helping out in the 'urusan jenazah'. We also lent our hands in carrying in a specially made fibre-tub brought by the people from the mosque into the house to be used in the 'urusan mandi jenazah'. We were told by the local ustaz that Allahyarhamah will be buried at Bukit Kiara after the Jumaat prayer instead of the nearby muslim cemetary as it has already ran out of space.


Slowly, the number of visitors paying thier last respect to Danial's mom increase by the hour. The local women from the mosque conducted tahlil and Surah Yassin recitals through out the early morning and our ladies friends from the office also joined in during the activity. The ladies tahlil was later followed by the men tahlil and yassin recital led by HIsham. At around 11.15AM right after the men tahlil ceremony was over, my boss signaled to me that it's time for us to leave as by that time, there were already so many people paying thier last respect to Danial's mom.



As a person who has also experience such event in life, I deeply understand how Danial is feeling at the moment and being one of my friends whom I respect the most, I can only say that I really share his sadness. However as a muslim, we can only say that living and dying is a part of the cycle of life of which Allah has the full and final say. To the death, what is important is not the dying itself but rather what kind of living that is waiting. To the livings, death should be treated as a temporary separation because we may be able to meet again in the hereafter. Only, let's hope and try very hard that the meeting place will be in Jannah rather than in Hell.


From the bottom of my heart, takziah to Danial and family and let us say Al-Fatihah to Allahyarhamah Norliza Binte Abdullah....may Allah bless her soul and give her the best living in Alam Barzah...

Study of the Al-Quran at Work...

Accept the challenges, so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory

Always tell yourself … Tomorrow is a brand new day.

Adopting a right attitude can convert a negative into a positive one.

Every Thursday, one of the meeting rooms in our office turns into a classroom for the Al-Quran Lafaz Harfiyah and Basic Arabic Language class. This class is conducted by Uztaz Dahnir, originally from Indonesia and now residing in Malaysia. I have very high regards to Ustaz Dahnir as he is a very simple man, and understandably very religous. Besides,he has a very good command of the Arabic Language thanks to his early education in country like Yemen as he once told us.



I have been following Ustaz Dhanir class way back in 2004 when our office was still in PJ before we were asked to move to Bangsar. I still remember during those days, the attendance to his class was quite good as all of us were housed in the same floor of the building. Even our big boss and her husband used to attend his class. Sadly after our office moved to Bangsar and we were housed in different floors, the attendance has in fact dwindled but nonetheless we still have several people who are still 'loyal' and regularly attend the class. However, I have to admit that I am not a perfect student either as far as attending his excellence class due to my workload and sometimes due to other seemingly endless worldy things. Nonetheless, as much as possible, I am trying very hard to attend his class as one of my good friend put it, like attending ' taman-taman syurga'.



For general information, Al-Quran study through the Harfiyah method is one of the best way to learn how to translate the Holy Quran word by word. The beauty and the miracle of Al-Quran is that many of the words are highly repetitive and easily remembered. Furthermore, Allah's choice of using the Arabic language for the Al-Quran was not done without purpose as the language itself is very well structured, complete and easily learnt, albeit we have to put some effort into learning it.



My own experience of learning the Harfiyah technique is that it is best to have a copy of the Al-Quran with Lafaz Harfiyah that promotes this learning method. Although in our class Ustaz will give extract of the ayat(s) we are learning that week in the Harfiyah format, I also purchased separately 10 Volume of the Al-Quran with Lafaz Harfiyah to facilitate the learning process. Of course the key to successful learning is also about istiqamah or consistency. As much as possible, try reading the Quran every day even with 1 or 2 ayats. In my case, I normally do my reading after the Subuh Prayer just before getting ready to go to work.



I also heard from somewhere that if we read the Quran consistently, insha'allah, we can become healthier and 'awet muda'. I do not know how true this is nor can I find any hadis to support it but to me the real purpose of reading the Quran is to understand it's real meaning and to apply it in our daily lives. From time to time, it is also good for us to substantiate our understanding in the Quran Translation by attending ceramah or listening to tapes/CDs especially in the car while being trapped in the traffic jam. I also have several tafseer lectures downloaded into my IPOD besides all those songs and movies. My favorites Quran Tafseer lecture series are from Ustaz Kariman, also an Indonesian who regularly conducts his lectures in private homes in the Klang Valley area. Normally I bought Ustaz Kariman CDs from a friend in the office who is a regular student to Ustaz Kariman lectures.



I am a man of many wishes and one of my wishes is to be fluent in the Arabic Language. Learning the Harfiyah method has actually helped me a lot in understanding many words in the Quran, alhamdullilah. Understanding arabic language will definitely help in understanding the Quranic language even better and hopefully one day I will have the oppurtunity to learn this language in a more serious and committed manner, insha'allah.