Bank Holiday Weekend

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah and hi...

hope everyone's in the best of health and faith... i'm in old trafford at the moment, just returned earlier today from oldham, to attend the 'sambutan kemerdekaan anjuran msd' in Whitworth Hall, the university of manchester... quite amazed when i found out that my name is on the program book as a committee member, even though i've requested (since last week) not to be in due to the fact that i couldn't confirm my attendance only until this morning...

i was asked to recite a poem by bro Salman from cheetham hill, who was in charge of the "performance" sub-committee (i was actually supposed to work under him if i'm available as a committee member)... all because i had offered to do so last week... i was still in a state of indecision at about 10am today, whether to attend the event or not... but then i made up my mind to go anyway... it took me just 10 minutes actually to write the poem, and about 2-3 minutes to recite it... i came down with my batik shirt, which was tailor-made last summer but was never worn until today (if i'm not mistaken...) and my blazer...

the event started with a photography session, in front of the university main bulding along oxford road... there were about 80-90 of us attending, with relatively equal numbers of undergrads, postgrads, and working malaysians... another shock of the day was when i was called up to recite the du'a... it was suppose to be azlan sosial's job but he already texted me to cover for him if he couldn't arrive on time, which apparently was the case... however, i've only just finished reading the sms for about 1-2 seconds before the emcee announced my name!!!

anyway, i'm now safe at home (or my ex-home actually)... will spend the night here before heading back to oldham tomorrow afternoon...

actually, i was down in manchester on friday evening, and slept at zaid's house in rusholme... there was a rugby match in stockport, between sale sharks (the english champs) and edinburgh gunners who played in the celtic league... i already bought the tickets about 2-3 weeks ago, which was quite cheap, about £9 (student price)... the game was bloody good, serious!! the sharks won, obviously, but not without a fight and the final score was 30-14... i've been a sharks fan since the past year or two, and i can still recall their first 15 who played on friday... 1. Lionel Faure 2. Sebastian Bruno 3. Lee Evans 4. Chris Jones 5. Ignacio Lobbe 6. Jason White 7. Magnus Lund 8. Sebastian Chabal 9. Richard Wigglesworth 10. Charlie Hodgson 11. Oriol Ripol 12. Chris Bell 13. Chris Mayor 14. Mark Cueto 15. Jason Robinson... and they do have some big names on the bench eg. Andrew Sheridan (prop), Sililo Martens (scrum-half), Ben Foden (scrum-half), Steve Hanley (winger), Mike Taylor (centre), etc..

edinburgh also boasted quite a number of good players like Dave Hewett (former All Blacks prop), Scott Murray (2nd row), Alistair Hogg (no. 8), Hugo Southwell (full-back), Chris Paterson (winger), Simon Webster (winger), Mike Blair (scrum-half)... all the six of them are scottish internationals... i went back to oldham straight away on saturday morning and spent most of the day in the doctor's mess watching rugby (and bits of football and news) on sky...

the rooms in oldham don't have internet connections so we have to go the library to read our e-mails... i've got a special pass (a magnetic key) to enter the library during the out-of-hours period... that's a good thing, but the bad thing is that the hospital's IT team is really very strict in terms of allowed internet sites... they do allow 240 minutes daily for each PC to be used to browse restricted websites but usually by the time i went to the library at night the 240 minutes have all been used up... restricted websites which i normally browse are like friendster, eBay, hsbc online banking, any sports-related (even BBC sport!!!) websites and Blogger (!!!)... however i can always access the utusan's sports page, which are never restricted, maybe because it's in malay!!!

in oldham, i live on the 2nd floor of the accommodation building, which is called the Lucy Pugh building... there are 7 bedrooms on the same floor and they are quite spacious as well... about 1.5 times larger than my ex-room in old trafford!!! 7 people sharing 4 toilets, 3 bathrooms and a kitchen... you can't ask for anything better, can you? and even then, there are only 2 of us at the time being... myself and james, my coursemate who's doing his surgical rotation at the moment... there were a muslim couple from south africa living here on the same floor when i moved in last saturday... the wife is an A&E doctor who's doing her locum, while the husband
is a university student... however they went back to cape town on thursday, because the wife's brother just died the day before after battling against stoamch cancer... they were initially planning to go back on wednesday this week when the 'arwah' was still alive, but apparently Allah has planned otherwise... "Verily, to Allah we belong, and to Him we will return..." (Quran; Al-Baqarah 2:156)

Other miscellaneous news, i've already finished watching all 39 episodes of Blue Blink (Aoi Blink in Japanese)... i truly enjoyed the series very much, having revisited my childhood days (wink.. wink..)... and the opening theme song is quite nice too... i have the japanese lyrics but not the english translation though (sigh...) ... both the opening and ending themes is in YouTube, just type Aoi Blink in the search box...

the respiratory team will hold its specialty meeting this friday (1st september) and i was instructed to present a case... it's about a patient in the ward with a1-antitrypsin deficiency... can't disclose too much details though, need to protect the patient's privacy here...

so i think that should be all for now... will try my best to update regularly... and also my Iman as well, must be updated every now and then... ramadhan is approaching fast... may Allah gives us all strength and guidance to constantly uphold His Name and Orders, and to distance ourselves from everything that He prohibits us from doing... till then, all the best and take care everyone!!! wassalamualaikum warahmatullah...

Reminder: A telephone and its connection line

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah and hello...

Most of us have used a telephone before, be it a mobile phone, a payphone, or a normal telephone that we all have in our houses. All we merely need to make a successful phone call is a working telephone and a clear telephone line, plus other accessories e.g. phone credits, coins, and the number we want to dial to.

What is a telephone without a phone line, even if it is working perfectly? Let say we call a friend, asking for a favour. With a working telephone and a clear signal, at least our phone-call will be answered, as long as the friend is able to hear his/her phone ringing. And insha Allah the favour we seek from him/her will be returned.

Try use an unconnected phone, and speak to an 'imaginary' friend using the same words as you might have used if the call does go through. There is no way your cry for help will be heeded, because no one actually heard them!

People will do all they can to make sure the connection line is clear. Mobile phone users will go somewhere where the signal is strong, i.e "full-bar". Those at home will get a new telephone cable for their telephones, and some will go to such extent that they reported to the authorities e.g. Telekom Malaysia, so that the old underground, or overground, telephone cables can be replaced.

The same analogy can be applied to our daily prayers. Our act of praying is like a telephone, and our Iman is similar to the connection line. And in the so-called "heavenly terms", the receiver of the call is none other than Allah the Almighty.

An act of prayer without firm faith inside us will render it useless. Obviously, Allah will Hear our prayer, for He is the All-Hearer. But being the Rabb and the Ilah, He has the Absolute Right whether or not to accept our prayers and supplications.

So my friends, how can we make sure the "connection line" is clear? To purify our faith is a tough act, but it is not impossible. All we need is some effort and a very good guide. The guide is none other than the Quran, and the Sunnah of our Prophet.

Follow what they instructed us to do, and avoid what they tell us to keep away from. Befriend those with good intentions in life herein and in the hereafter. Gradually reduce our affinity towards time-wasting acts. Be sincere, and remember Allah in whatever we do.

Put aside our over-reliance towards world-ly matters, in fact it is Only to Allah that we should rely everything upon. The world and its contents are just "tools" for us to achieve our ultimate aim, which is for Allah to be Well-Pleased with us. As the saying goes, "the world in our hands, not in our hearts".

One of the best thing to do is to have no one else set as our example, other than the Prophet himself (peace be upon him), his Companions (male and female), and those who follow his way through what is shown to us in the Quran and Sunnah.

Throw away the images of singers, actors, actresses, sportsmen, statesmen, warriors, businessmen, reality TV icons, pop idols, etc. from our heart. For the best of warriors, statesmen, businessmen, fathers, husbands, teachers, friends and persons is none other than our own Prophet, may peace be upon him.

Understand fully the events of Isra' and Mi'raj, when the act of Prayer was made compulsory to us Muslims. How the Might of Allah encompasses everything, the sacrifices that the Prophet made on the journey, the endings for the adulterers and those involved with usury, and not to forget all the insults and slanders from the foolhardy Unbelievers when they heard of the one-night journey.

That's all from me, jazakallah khair to the person who told me about the telephone analogy. May it be a reminder especially for the one who writes. I seek help and guidance from none other than Allah the Almighty, for all mankind.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah

Md Ariff Md Yusof
living my last few days in Old Trafford...