summer break

assalamualaikum warahmatullah... hello...

hopefully everyone is ok, with their Imaan well-restored by Allah... its the first day of summer break for us year 4 medics (ex-year 4s???) in manchester... i just woke up, and its 0855 BST at the moment... will go out later to draw money to pay Hisham's rent, he just transferred the £110 online into my bank account yesterday evening... he's in scarborough now staying at his sister's house and will only be back next week... our landlord is coming this afternoon, so its only Imran, Zuri & myself at home... Ebak has already left last month, and i'll be leaving insha allah next month... so there will be 2 rooms available for people to move in to stay for the next academic year... (ermmm, 1 room is already available...)

will shoot-off to Puyu's at 11am for the wallabies v all blacks game, live on sky sports 2... should be back in time to entertain Mr Saleem, the landlord... Puyu's place is only 3 minutes walk away! (5 mins malaysian pace, of course...)

yesterday was my 1st time giving a friday sermon at the infirmary (MRI)... Anuar called me at about 8.30am, asked me to replace him because he's doing nights yesterday, and so couldn't be in hospital... he offered help in finding suitable khutbahs, but i've already got one, or two actually... luckily i've done it once (giving khutbah) in hope hospital last year, and nearly did it one more time in oldham earlier this year, so the formalities wasn't that distant away from my head...

alhamdulillah, everything went well, from the first salaam before the azan, up until the salaam after the prayer proper... the only problem occured when i was leaving, one of the brother asked me (or rather scolded me) why did i allow a shi'a doctor to pray jum'ah with the others?... well, i might not be well-versed in this sunni-shi'a relationship, esp. here in the West, but this shi'a doctor (can't remember his name) was a frequent user of the prayer room... and there was never a problem before as far as i can remember... luckily i didn't have to answer this guy back because i was ushered away by this other doctor (Dr. Ahmed, consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal Eye Hospital), who was actually in charge of the Friday prayer setting-up week in and week out... even Dr. Ahmed was accused as a member of "al-Ikhwan" by that angry guy... i knew instantly he was referring to the Muslim Brotherhood who some people say is much more lenient towards shi'a (in terms of Islamic universality), if compared to the wahhabis... well, i might be totally wrong, but insha allah i'll be going to look into this matter further...

and alhamdulillah, before i forget, all Praises to Allah... He let me through the project option presentation on thursday quite efficiently... had lunch in Pizza Co. Manchester (as usual, spicy wings & chips...) straight away with Fahmi... and then went to his place later that afternoon for a "makan2 session"... Sze Ern, another year 4 student @ Fahmi's housemate is going back to malaysia on saturday, plus few more malaysian medics who'll be doing their electives in block 1... the main menu was "Hainanese chicken rice" and the chilli sauce was superb!!! stayed at Fahmi's for the night trying to finish reading "The Last Templar" (by Raymond Khoury), while Fahmi and Sze Ern were laughing freely watching Stephen Chow's "From Beijing With Love" which i brought with me via my huge external hard disk (well, it's actually an internal hard drive covered with an external enclosure, both bought separately on eBay...)

i'm stopping now... will try to update sooner rather than later, but solely depending on my summer mood... just can't wait to go back home to KL this december... all the best to all of us, and May Allah continues the Showering of His Mercy and Guidance on everyone... let us make du'a for our brothers and sisters in need all over the world... and do "lighten our hands" to help them out with sincere and generous donations... till then, take care all!!! wassalamualaikum warahmatullah...