Sunday, September 23, 2007
:)
11 Ramadhan 1428H

Slightly more than 1 third of Ramadhan al-Kariim has left us since the last time I went online. How’s everyone? May the Blessings of ALLAH be showered upon us always :)

So how’s Ramadhan in Singapore? Ramadhan in Syam is…. Erm, actually I myself am not really sure how to describe it. One thing for sure, it’s a whole new experience for my friends and me. Firstly, we always have a hard time deciding which jami’ to go to since there are a lot to choose from. 2ndly, unpredictable things might just pop up. Like this one jami’ I went to last week. First 2 days, its tarawih is one page per rakaat. The 3rd day, the imam shortened it, and instead, we had 11 rakaat of witr at the end, in which the imam read 1.5 pages per rakaat. Interesting, yes? ;)

Meanwhile, we received a lot of invitations for iftars at various places. There’s even a shop which distribute free food for iftars, in large amounts, for us students. Indeed, the Arabs are very generous people. The food were yummy! hamdan lillah :) True as our beloved prophet ‘alaihis solaatu wassalam has said, which means: for those who fast are 2 happiness, happiness during iftar, and happiness when meeting the Al-Mighty ALLAH. ameen!

One thing I noticed, during Ramadhan, the shops are selling more and more halawiyat, various types of them! Very the tempting beb~ ni tgh mujahadah tahan diri dari makan halawiyat byk2 psl kan tak bagus mkn benda manis2 byk2… huu~ when I say manis, I mean really MANIS. (but according to seorang budak bernama Khadijah, yang MANIS tu lah yg sodap. Dia mmg tebiat siket. tekak ntah dah jadi tekak apo pun tak tau. =S )

From halawiyat yang mengancam (hehe), I will now share abt my experience sitting for the entrance exams. The oral exam at Takhassus Fattah was much easier than the one at Abu Nour, hamdan lillah. The syeikh who tested me pun nampak baik nah. Mesti best kalau belajar dgn dia. There, I made friend with an Arab sister who was sitting beside me and crying before the entrance exam. Somehow I managed to console her, and the next time we met after the exam, she was all smiles and hugging me and saying profuse du’a and kind words to me. Sayang dia~ she stayed at the village which is ard 5 hours journey to Fattah. And she was sad should she not make it to the Unversity and disappoint her dad… fret not my dear Sharifah Jehan, Allah and Rasulullah are with us :)

the results will be out on 1st October. Somehow I’ve the feeling that I will get into Fattah, biidznillah. But am not sure whether or not I want to, considering a few factors, despite the many advantages that Fattah offers.

Meanwhile, I just sat for the written exam at Abu Nour yesterday. 2 set of papers, 40 mins each. Tested us on various topics, most of which alhamdulillah I managed to answer. Harap2 betollah ye… hee~ some are challenging, and it so happened that one of the surahs tested was al-Mutaffifin, which I have not memorised. Hehe… tu je dah buang 8 marks. Redha jelah~ kalau tak dpt, can still try to appeal. BUT similarly, am still not confirm whether to choose Kuliyyah Da’wah al-Islamiyyah at Abu Nour. Am still istikharah-ing, and whatever that results from it, is what HE Knows is best for me. O Allah, please Guide this humble servant of You…

In the mood of Ramadhan, the month in which good deeds are rewarded manifold, I would like to share with my readers a solat sunnah. For those who are already aware of this, let’s just take this as a refreshing revision k? :)


Solah Tasbih.

It’s 4 rakaat; give salaam after 2 rakaat.
After the takbiratul ihram, we read the tasbih: “Subhanallah wal hamdulillah wa lailaha illal lah wallahu akbar” 15 times, then read al-Fatihah and any surah.
Then read the tasbih 10 times before ruku’,
10 times of tasbih during ruku’,
10 times of tasbih when standing up after ruku’,
10 times of tasbih during the 1st sujud,
10 times of tasbih when sitting between the 2 sujuuds,
n 10 times of tasbih during the 2nd sujuud.

Repeat the same steps during each rakaat, so that at the end of the 4 rakaats, one would have read 300 tasbihs altogether.
Personally, I find this solah very unique and a good medium to train us to be patient insyaAllah :)
we are encouraged to perform this special solah once a day, or once a week, or once a month, or once a year, or if we really can’t afford to spend that amount of time to glorify our Creator (which, come to think of it, is Mepek, when at the same time we can manage to fill our time with various worldly stuffs), then at least perform it once in our entire lifetime. :)

Before I end, I would to share what a da’iah shared in a wonderful TY programme I watched yesterday, encouraging us to increase our supplementary ‘ibadah so as to gain nearness to HIM, biidznillah. A story about a Muslimah who once cried because she missed performing Witr. When asked why, it was because of the hadith that Allah is witr (an odd number, that is, One), and HE Likes witr. She was very sad for missing the solah which is Liked by Allah. Sampai gitu sekali sayangnye dia pada ALLAH… sedangkan kita, jgn ckp Witr, solat fardhu pun kadang2 lambat2kan. Ish!
And then about a Muslim who was praying 2 rakaat of sunnah, and when he was done, his friend discovered he had been bitten/ beaten by something 7 times at his back (pardon the ambiguity. The speaker was speaking in Arabic at an amazing speed, I missed out a few words, and am still yet to be able to understand Arabic programmes word-to-word. Soon insyaAllah :)). When asked why he did not break his solah, since it was just a supplementary solah, what was his reply?

“I was in the middle of a surah, reciting ALLAH’s words. How can I then break my solah when I was doing so?”

something for us to ponder upon insyaAllah.
with that, Khadijah minta diri dulu~
Let’s Live ISLAM to the MAX! ^-^


 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 9/23/2007 04:43:00 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Ramadhan.... is coming!
it's me. again. hee~

semua sihat? :)

was intending to upload a lovely Ramadhan poster, but there was some error with blogger. oh well, takpelah. here's the link. lawa kan? :)

btw, for those who have been asking for my Syria phone number, i'm not planning to buy one at the moment. instead here's my address:

Khadijah Mohamed Hussain
ASyria Damascus
PO box 32128

mcm bedek pun ada kan? but really, that's the address, very, erm, concise? hee...

Ramadhan is just around the corner! am sooo looking forward to experience this wonderful month in Syam. but at the same time will surely miss the times spent in Ramadhan with my family, esp during iftar. nnt ktorang duk ramai2 kat bawah, in oe BIG circle, n "chop" the foods. hehe... skrg Khadijah da takde, kan da tkde org yg habes mkn lambat n kene basuh pinggan mangkuk ;p

I wish everyone a very blessed Ramadhan, n may this Ramadhan sees us transforming into better Muslims n Muslimahs. ameen! :)

oh yes, to my lovely sisters celebrating their birthdays in August n September, sorry for not able to wish u all promptly.

August: Kak Latifah, Kak Sherin, Kak Munirah, Shikin Mahmood

September: sis Fiza, Saliha, Kak Maimunah, Khairunisaa', Sri Nurayu, June, Aisyah Syukur.

May Allah bless all of you with a wonderful life now and in the akhiirah. ameen! :)
 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 9/08/2007 03:45:00 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, September 01, 2007
nah!
As requested, here are some pictures i managed to capture, courtesy of my 2MP cameraphone :)

this is the graduation ceremony of the Kuliyyah Da'wah Al-Islamiyyah at Abu Nour. my friends and me so happened to be there that morning to attend a convention earlier on. notice the green graduation gowns? comel~

some of the syeikhs in the front line were among those that awarded the certificates to the graduates. siap bacakan lagi the taqdir! (the cumulative grade, whether mumtaz, jayyid jiddan, jayyid or maqbul)

The Syrian people are extremely patriotic and loyal to their president. posters of Mr. Bashhar Al-Assad are practically everywhere! this one in particular caught my attention. the second line means: He (the President of Syria) and his people will never ever bow except to ALLAH Ta'ala. suker sgt2!! mcm ginilah baru best n bersemangat! :D

this is the Suuq Hamidi, the one that sells many beutiful abayas n cloths, remember? ;) always packed with locals n tourists. i once bought a raspberry juice here. punyelah sodaaaap~


at the end of the suuq, there's an opening to the famous Jami' 'Umayyah. i love this angle. cantik kan? :)

this is the right side of the Jami' 'Umayyah. this building was once divided into two: a mosque, and a church. the Muslims won the battle and thus the whole building eventually becomes a mosque. it's really huge and wonderful!



ok. ni kes dah tak kuasa nak susun gambar satu2. sorry eh mcm "semak sikit". heh. topmost, is the interior of the amazing Jami' 'Umayyah.

2nd is the is a banner on which..... is a secondary school named after Sayyidah Khadijah!! suker~
followed by another picture of the interior of Jami' 'Umayyah situated near maqam of the head of Nabi Yahya 'alaihis salaam
next is a picture of part of Damascus captured when i was riding the lorry. sempat~
lastly, there's the left side of Jami' 'Umayyah. it's obvious how i like the Jami', isn't it? :)



this is a typical fruit n veggie shop at the market very near my place. this shop in particular caught my attention. see how neat and clever they arrange the fruits? colourful habes~

and last but not least, here's a picture i captured long time ago in Singapore. rindunye kat dorang~ comel nah kan? the one on left is Nur Syaakirah, and on her lap is her small sis, Nurul Huda. rindu nah main2, kacau dorang n buat dorang nangis. huu~

 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 9/01/2007 02:50:00 PM | Permalink | 1 comments
Life Lessons
19 Sya’ban 1428H

There always seem to be so much things to share when I’m offline. But now that I’m in front of the monitor, I hardly know where to start. Hmm.. perhaps I should start about the place I now called Home.

Also known as Bait Akhawat (“Sisters’ House”), my home is situated slightly uphill, near a long stretch of market and about 10 – 15 mins walk to the Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro University (more commonly known as “Abu Nour”). Most other Singaporean students (to date, there are almost 70 of us here in Dimasyq) also reside in this area. One interesting thing I’ve discovered here is that most of the houses seem dirty and derelict from the outside. Ada yang macam kene bom daa… but the interior are actually very neat and nicely decorated :D The residents of Bait Akhawat are 10 sisters (including myself. all are S'poreans except for one sis who is from Russia. we also get regular visits by 2 sisters from Holland), distributed into 5 rooms. There’ a mini, steep staircase at the end of the passageway that leads to a cosy hall above, where we normally have our meals, iron our clothes or watch the TV.

Hamdan lillah, they are all nice sisters :)
True as they said, when you’ve spent your days with someone then you’ll discover his/her true characters. It’s also true, like how some seniors have advised us beforehand, that we should learn to tolerate others’ not-so-pleasant behaviours. This truly demands a whole lot of patience. At the same time, you also have to realize that you yourself have to be disciplined, well mannered, and avoid involving in conflicts with your housemates. Also, we have to be self-reliable. A good example was when I had to prepare the dishes for last Thursday all by myself, despite not feeling well on that very day. Hamdanlillah, in the end, I still managed to cook the rice and prepare the 2 dishes (my favourite telur goreng masak kicap – suker! And lauk bening yang letak suun+kentang+tahu kering tu… nikmatnye dapat makan sup~).

thanks to Mardhiyah who helped me to shop for groceries as I was not feeling fit enough to walk up and down the hill to the suuq. And also for helping me to lit up the stove (ni yang jenis kene bukak gas, then nyalakan mancis. Org takut bab nak ano mancis tu. There was once when I tried to light up a candle in the room, then when the match eventually lit up, I quickly let it go…
And down it fell on the mattress!! Nasib baik sempat padam sebelum terjadi apa2… huu~ merepek kan? Tsk.)
One thing for sure, living in Syria makes my friends and me appreciate Singapore more. For instance, in Singapore, we hardly experience blackout, let alone shortness of water right? Here, every single day, the government will purposely cut off the electricity supply for a few hours, usually during the day, and also cut off the water supply for even longer hours as Syria has a very limited water supply. That explains the dozens of bottled water we place near the fridge and the water in the 10 or so pails in the washroom (nasib baik bilik air dia besar). Sediakanlah air sebelum air habes ;)

The next reason we appreciate S’pore is none other than bcause…


there’s Mom! ALL of us anonymously miss our mothers soo much.

Mak, orang rindu masakan Mak. Sangat2. lauk ketam yg mak masak hari tu masih terasa2 lagi dalam mulut. Semua lauk yang mak masak menjadi. teringat lagi Mak pernah tegur org pasal masak letak minyak (dan garam) sikit sgt. (“patutlah lauk tak sedap, letak minyak sikit sangat”) hehe. Masa org masak hari tu, org pun letak lah minyak n garam lebih sikit. Betullah cakap mak, lauk jadi sedap! Hee…

orang rindu ayah jugak. ayah selalu suka belikan makanan pastu kitorang makan ramai2 kat rumah...

Not only cooking-wise, but also our mothers’ tender love, care and concern.

Mak jangan risau, org masih amalkan petua2 n nasihat2 mak dulu. Org tak mandi waktu malam, orang tak makan sebelum mandi, etc etc. oh! And org makan. Kat sini makanan dia sedap2. ada MACAM2 coklet mak! Org dah ada satu kotak coklat kat dalam bilik. Sedaaaaap nah satu coklet ni mak. Sekarang ni pulak org tgh kemaruk makan halwa. Pun ada MACAM2 manisan kat sini! Ada satu ni, dia macam puff gitu, dalam dia ada macam bende ni rasa mcm mix of kentang + ubi. Very creamy. Lepas tu disaluti gula cair gitu. Orang makan pun lagi sikit nak cair Mak pasal halwa tu mmg sedaaaaaap nah sgt. Subhanallah!

Ok ok, mak jgn risau, selain makanan2 ringan ni, org pun ada mkn makanan2 yg “betul” (mcm roti, nasi). Btw, kebab kat sini dorang panggil “Shawarma”. Bolehlah tahan. Ada tempat sedap, ada tempat kureng siket.

Moving on to my studies, I’m now left with the written entrance exam on this coming 22nd Sept. the oral exam was on last Monday, right after the registration. Of course, we were shocked as we were informed that the test will be on a separate day… but oh well~ As the President of D’MASYQ (Dewan Mahasiswa Singapura Damsyik, Syria) once said, the rules and regulations in an Arab country can change every 4 hours. So just expect the unexpected, no matter how unexpected the thing turned out to be. Heh.

Nevertheless, I’ve tried my best to answer all questions, including some challenging ones like the one on Ta’assub Madzhab. Nahu semua habis berterabur~ takpe Khadijah, If ALLAH Wills me to be a student at Abu Nour, I will, biidznillah. The registration and entrance exam for Takhassus Fattah will take place this Sunday, 2nd Sept. cepat kan? *Gulp!*

As part of our preparation, my friends and me (8 of us ) attend an Arabic lesson 4x per week (there are 24 lessons in total). The Anisah (here, we address the female teachers as “Anisah”) is superb! –language-wise, knowledge-wise (Lughah, Nahu, Geography, Hadith, Qur’an, Sirah, etc.), n she also seems to be very experienced. Lembut pulak tu. Senang tersenyum :) I wish each lesson could be extended to more than 1.5 hours. Also, my friends n me attend the dars at the various jami's. From there, we get the opportunity to listen to the contents of the delivery by reknown shuyuukh (the Syeikhs) and to familiarize ourselves with fast Arabic conversations (cara dorang susun kata2 indah sangat! N mesti ada je diseltkan du’a2…). In addition, we are also able to interact with the other jama’ah, most of whom are Arabs, thus training ourselves to speak n understand Arabic as well, esp the Syrian colloquial Arabic.

E.g. “leish” is “limadza”, which means “why?”, “addish” is “kam”, which means “how much?”, “shu” is “madza”, which means “what?”, “wein” is “aina”, which means “where?”, and “shuub” is “haar”, which means “hot”. Interesting, isn’t it? Many terms are simplified. Here, “yes” is “eihhh” (bahasa dorang lembut n meleret2 siket) , and instead of saying “la” to mean “no”, one can simply raise both eyebrows to deliver the message. CoOL habes~

I think that’s more than enough for now. To those who have been remembering me in ur du’a, jazaakumullahu kulla khairin.

To myself, ingat Khadijah, kene banyak bersabar… byk berfikir sebelum bertindak dan mengeluarkan kata2… dan asuh diri dan hatimu agar lebih tabah dan cekal agar tidak mudah terguris, tersinggung, geram atau marah. Kene jadi kuat. Jangan mudah sangat menyerah kalah dengan air mata…

To my beloved family and dear friends, although it’s hard for me to keep in touch with you all, ALLAH Alone Knows how much I treasure each and everyone of you. Dearly, deep down this Heart of mine. May ALLAH select us to be among those to reside in His Jannah. Ameen!

:)



 
posted by .:Mujahidah Khadijah:. at 9/01/2007 02:34:00 PM | Permalink | 1 comments