Mari Beringat: The Cure for Everything

Imam Bukhari, who was one of the greatest compilers of ahadith, became blind at a young age. He had recourse to many famous and skilled doctors of his time but their treatments made no difference.
His mother was a pious worshipper and a righteous woman. She cried out for help in the court of Allah the Almighty, for her child and begged for the restoration of his eyesight. At last, "the river of mercy flowed over her," and Almighty Allah accepted her invocation.
One night, she visited Ibrahim alayhis-salam in a dream and was told, "Allah has restored the sight of your son because of your intense and beautiful invocations."
In the morning, as Imam Bukhari got up from his bed, glimmers of light reached out into his eyes. That is, his eyesight was fully restored.

Mari Beringat: Make use of solat and doa to solve any problem that even the best experts of this world cannot solve. Unfortunately, the Muslims are turning away from these deeds today when they need them the most. We pray for Allah to give us the true understading of Islam.

(Source: From the biography of Imam Bukhari (ra) located in the beginning of Sahih Al Bukhari 9 Volume English Translation. Additional details were provided by Shaykh al-Hadith Allama Ghulam Rasul Sa`idi.)

My baby is now 12!

She will always remain my baby... forever, although she hates it when I call her that. But does the Bapak care? Nooo. Of course not. So I will continue calling her my baby... ye haaa!
Anyway, my baby turned 12 last on Nov 8, 2008.
And she had not one but two birthday celebrations. In my household, that is considered lavish. We organised an early birthday do on Thursday as the girls followed me to Cyberview Lodge in Cyberjaya as I was attending a seminar. That evening we celebrated in the hotel room with a chocolate mud cake with blueberry (baked lovingly by her Mak, of course) and lots of satay kajang (courtesy of Opah Kampar). Bapak provided the Coca-Cola.... hehehehehe.
Then on the day itself at home, since Arissa loves Italian food so much, we decided to throw another small celebration - this time with simple butter cake, spaghetti bolognaise and delicious Domino pizza. Among kami-kami aje.. (actually another excuse to eat and eat some more).

Peace from Arissa.

With her cake at home

Arissa and her two sisters in Cyberview

Arissa cutting her cake with her sisters fooling around on her right while Opah Kampar (on her left) mendoakan kesejahteraan cucu. Amin.

Obama Mania

Barack Obama is finally elected the 44th President of the USA. The first person of colour to do so. Such a historic moment. For some odd reason, I was glued to the CNN (and BBC and Al-Jazeera too) all day long. It does bring back the March 8 memory in some ways. But I was mighty impressed with the CNN coverage - from the technology used right up to its oh so eloquent celebrity news anchors.
But in between hard hitting (and poignant moments) news coverage of the presidential election, there were some "light" news too. Interestingly, it is Obama mania the world over and why not when, especially the man himself possesses some form of connection to African and Asia.
But I do feel "kelakar" watching the non US citizens celebrating away, some were seen more excited than the American themselves. I guess, its human nature to feel good about the election of Mr Obama as the US president especially if you have some kind of connection (no matter how remote) to the man himself... but to celebrate melampau-lampau... that's silly and funny.

Here are some of the silly moments that I managed to watch:

1. The celebrations at Kogela, Kenya, Obama's ancestral home (the father hailed from there). Apparently, they are having a carnival to celebrate the momentous occasion for days, mengalahkan the Americans. And the Kenyan president declared a public holiday for Kenya the day after the win. Reaaalllly!!!
2. Kids at Fransiskus Asisi Catholic School, in Central Jakarta, Indonesia were seen screaming and dancing in the school courtyard after the results became official. Okay, Obama studied there in late 60s for three years but for the life of me, I could not not even begin to imagine why this young kids should be so over the moon. They are barely 12 years, in fact most look much much younger.
3.Apparently there's a small town in Japan called Obama. And of course one very creative musician wrote a song entitled "Obama loves Obama" and then he got a few residents from Obama to sing the song in his music video.

I rest my case.

My brother becomes a blogger ... and my wife creates another blog

a) My eldest brother, Mior Azli, has finally succumbed and now he, too, is a blogger. It's long time coming for him though as I always believed that he should have one (the blog, I mean) a long time ago. Although a trained engineer, he also dabbles in self awareness, team awareness and leadership awareness and development programmes. designed by himself, I must say these are very interesting programmes. And with the blog, now he can share his thoughts and takes on those issues which are very dear and close to his heart. To know more please visit Mior Azli.

b) My wife (mrsgoodthings) has came up with another blog. The existing blog is more like a lifestyle blog where she writes about stuff she likes, primarily cooking and baking. Now that she's venturing into Internet business of her own, she decides that she needs another blog - a more business-centric one. Hence, the new blog at AzianHasan.

Happy Blogging and Happy Reading!

Our Syawal Annual Visit

This has turned somewhat into an anual event for us. I'm talking about a Raya visit to Anom and Nasir's place in Gombak. For the past years, it seems we only visited them during Raya...(fortunately they do come over our place more often than that). And for the past years, it seems its the only time we bumped into my uncle Ayah Chik and Achik and family - either at Anom's place or their place yang tak jauh dari situ..Apa punya anak sedara ler nihhh.
And yesterday, we drove over to their place for our annual visit.... hehehhe beraya di saat-saat akhir. And what a feast awaiting us... the mee kari and rendang prepared by Anom were simply delicious. A+ la, Anom.
And both Nasir and Anom had quite a few tetamu over as well --- sedara mara, friends and neighbours... ala-aa open house. AyahChik came with his MIL, Mek, whom I have not seen for like bertahun-tahun. And there's Mima (Anom's aunt) and her family too.

Sorry gambar blur... but the tuan rumah having a laugh with Ayah Chik and Mek.

Ayah Chik and Achik watching their family makan ....

I am so going to be killed by Asma for posting this pix but I am the bapak......hahahaha
Asma duduk dengan santun di samping Mak and err mak mer...eh ...silap Mima.

After realising who Mima actually is... Alia and Asma larik duduk dalam bilik kahkah kah...

I'm having so much fun yesterday hik hik hik.... we left Anom's place around 5.30pm and sped to PJ towards MPH Warehouse Sale. Semangat... semangat...semangat.. Arrived there around 6.15pm and the girls went wild and brought back one basketful of books. Then we went to Ikea (lama tak pergi and Yan's kind of rindu the meatball and all) Had our dinner there and then jalan-jalan somemore.