February - its Origin and Significance to us

I am updating this chapter of My Story at the First Class Lounge Doha International Airport Qatar. Departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 02:30 am in the morning, alhamdullillah, out flight QR512 landed safely at the Doha airport about 05:20 am (local time) in the morning - just a right time for us to perform the Fajar prayer our obligation to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'la as guided by His great Messenger Prophet Muhammad swt (Peace be upon him). The lounge concept and design is quite similar to what we have at KLIA except for the size which is slightly smaller. However, it has few extra facilities like Jacuzzi, Sauna, SPA and 5 2-star bedrooms for a long hour transit passengers. It serves varieties of foods and bevearages in their pleasant dining hall. To cut the story short, the 9 hours transit was just like home and entertaining.

As promised earlier, in this update, I would like to share you my knowledge about the origin of the month called February - the shortest month, pronounced as fe-booae-ry.

February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 in the old Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. They were added by Numa Pompilius about 700 BC. February remained the last month of the calendar year until the time of the decemvirs (c. 450 BC), when it became the second month. At certain intervals February was truncated to 23 or 24 days and a 27-day intercalary month, Intercalaris, was inserted immediately after February to realign the year with the seasons. Under the reforms that instituted the Julian calendar, Intercalaris was abolished, leap years occurred regularly every fourth year (after a few years of confusion), and in leap years February gained a 29th day. Thereafter, it remained the second month of the calendar year, meaning the order that months are displayed (January, February, March, …, December) within a year-at-a-glance calendar. Even during the Middle Ages, when the numbered Anno Domini year began on March 25 or December 25, February continued to be the second month whenever all twelve months were displayed in order. The Gregorian calendar reforms made slight changes to the system for determining which years were leap years and thus contained a 29-day February.

And, today, 28.2.2009, is the birthday of my great sister-in-law, Kak Hjjh Rahmah, aka Mok Mah by her niece and nephews. Wish you a prosporous and happiest birthday and may Allah swt always give you His Blessings.

D90 - Satisfies our Craze

Our latest gadget – NIKON D90, to satisfy our craze on photography and art in general. It is not mine but rather we bought it for future ‘Afi’s tool – his art work and aspiration to become an architect.
In Dubai, the cost for the basic unit is USD 2471 or QR 6289 whereas in Malaysia the tag price is RM 4588. However, after went through at least 5 shops at Sungai Wang Plaza, Suria KLCC and Low Yatt Plaza, I managed to cut a good deal with Fotokem Low Yatt Plaza with a total cost of RM 4370 with 5 freebies – a Steinseizer Tripod, a Steinseizer bag, 8GB Toshiba memory card, HOYA filter and a camera cleaner set. Besides the basic unit, I equipped the D90 with NIKON SB-600 Speed light as a ‘slave’, which I bought separately from Amara Beta Sdn Bhd, 3rd floor Low Yatt Plaza for RM 830. To ease one life instead of hauling the whole unit, and tempted with the 25% discount offered by the Foto Shangrila, I grabbed a stylish sling Lowepro camera case for RM 460. The total damage for the whole items was RM 5660 with an expected Return within 3 years time!

What is D90, and its features ?

The D90 is a digital single-lens reflex camera model announced by Nikon on August 27, 2008. It is a "prosumer" model (cross between professional and consumer) meant as a replacement for the Nikon D80. Some of the improvements the D90 offers over the D80 include 12.3 megapixel resolution and live view capability. The D90 is also notable for being the first DSLR to offer video recording, with the ability to record HD 720p videos, with mono sound, at 24 frames per second (for up to 5 minutes or 20 minutes for smaller videos). In summary, below is the basic features and capabilities:

-Nikon's 12.3 megapixel Nikon DX format CMOS sensor.
-Movie mode (720p,with mono 22kHz sound).
-Active D-Lighting (4 levels and Auto).
-3-inch TFT LCD with 920,000-dot resolution (VGA) and 170-degree ultra-wide viewing angle.
-Live View shooting mode (activated with a dedicated button).
-Continuous Drive up to 4.5 frames per second.
-3D Color Matrix Metering II with Scene Recognition System.
-Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus sensor module with 11 AF points.
-Face detection autofocus in live view mode.
-ISO sensitivity 200 to 3200 (100-6400 with boost).
-Nikon F-mount lenses
-Built-in Sensor cleaning system (vibrating low-pass filter).
-HDMI HD video output
-Support for GP-1 GPS unit.
-File formats: JPEG, NEF (Nikon's RAW, 12-bit compressed), AVI (Motion JPEG).
-EN-EL3e Lithium-ion Battery, Battery Life (shots per charge) approx. : 850 shots (CIPA).
-Weight: Approx. 0.620 kg (without battery), 0.703 kg (with battery)

Riding the Perfect Storm

Session 8 of the PETRONAS Management Forum 2008/09 obligated me to travel back to my beloved Malaysia – the truly Asia. Amid the chilly ambience and rainy weather of the 12th day of February, I went to the el-Nazouha airport, which is 15 minutes away with my lovely wife, Nana. Upon arrival at the airport area, the Meet & Assist staff, named Bassem – a pleasant and decent guy speak good English welcomed to assist my checking-in process. With his smile on his face, he ushered me to the check-in counter of Qatar First Class section. At the counter, whilst Bassem resumed his task, I patiently observed some self-centered people tried jumping the queue and there was small commotion between the Qatar airways supervisor, I presumed, with one nicely dressed young Egyptian. Making it worst, what provoked my patience was the officer himself who allowed the passengers behave in an uncivilized way. However, credit must be given to the Supervisor though, who managed the situations in a very professional manner. It took us about 25 minutes crossing the first hurdle! Alhamdullillah, we crossed the second hurdle – the immigration counter with no hustle in a smooth civilized queue.

I went straight to the water closet (WC) to do my ablution. There was no proper prayer area, I mean AREA, not ROOM, allocated for the Muslim to carry out their obligation inside the airport where 95% of employees and passengers/users are Muslim? Just could not believe it myself. If we can have a beautiful garden around the airport which I think cost them hundreds thousands LE, why can we have a small but proper prayer room say at least for 30 people?
Despite the lack of proper prayer area, we performed our Maghrib -‘Isya prayer at the corner of the departure hall. One could imagine how tough it was to achieve the standard of concentration or khusyu’ amid the un-conducive ambience of the hall!
After about one hour waiting, the gate opened, I joined the queue, and then the Security passed me in but the Qatar airway Supervisor politely stopped me. He asked me to wait for another bus, for the first class passengers. Again, I patiently watched the economy class passengers boarded the good-looking bus and wondering why they cannot just let me in, after all, it was only me alone, I thought. Finally, they ushered us, 2 other Egyptians to another bus, which is actually in bad-shape as compared to the one I mentioned earlier for the economy class passengers. I could understand their intent though, and would not be really bothered with the segregation either, but the point that I want to make is how people should use their common sense appropriately.
Greeted by the multi-racial Qatar Airlines’ crews, we finally boarded the Qatar Airline Airbus 320 safely.

Subhanallazi Sakharalana Haza Wamakunallahu Muqrinin Wainna illa Rabbina lamunqalibun.

Nawah @ Alexandria

Last few days, Alexandria experienced gloomy and murky weather – raining with heavy wind, and definitely chill. Despite the nawah, in local dialect, the locals, tourist and us, ventured the weekend at Fort of Qaitbey, the western wing of Alexandria. The Fort or the Citadel of Qaitbey is a 15th century defensive fortress built upon the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria - Pharos, was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was established in 1477 AD by Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay.

Amid the chilly windy weather, few buses of Chinese tourists watching the wild Mediterranean wave smacking the retaining wall of the Qaitbey castle and Behery beach line. However, the walls standing proud cuffing back the current to the Mediterranean basin. Retaliating back persistently and driven by the nawah, the wave slapped back the wall again tirelessly. These phenomena had taught me great lessons – teamwork, persistent, perseverance, and most of all, their obedience to the command of the almighty Creator Allah Rabbul Jalil.
Lured by the amazing design and size of the Fort, out of curiousity we decided to have an inside view of the historical castle. We paid 10 LE at the front entrance, which we initially thought the main entrance of the entire castle. Felt cheated and not worth paying, it was just a five minutes walk-around a room with artificial sea animals! Well, that is Egypt.

Saturation

February has only 28 days on the normal year. Amid the nawah in the local dialect, literally means monsoon in Malaysian or heavy & windy weather in laymen English, I had nothing much to share in this chapter of my story I called saturation. The world news either CNN or BBC or Sky News or Aljazeera had one thing in common, the Israel-Gaza issues and propagating their base home stories, wrecked havoc my migraine and ruined my appetite. Akin the ELNG challenge and its political game, had made me more stressful and shrunk my mental stamina. I have tried to complete the book “whatever else ever happened to Egyptians” this month though, but the saturation dampens the mood and the enthusiasm.
Fortunately, the team of Yayasan Yusuf fraternity that I have, my greatest asset that I own managed cheering and boosting me up. The strength and characters that each one of them possessed entertained me with colors and music of life.

The first two weeks was a little bit busy though, turned on by the unchartered training plan and staff movement, and had to drag my leg and soul to Cairo often.
On the 5th of this nostalgic month, I had a dinner with Adnan, the CEO of ELNG, at the Nile restaurant, el Hayu el Saba’ or district Seven in English. It had been quite a long time I stop patronizing the restaurant, the Nile restaurant that fully own by few Thailand students pursuing their religious study at el Azhar, had undergone a remarkable face-lift of the main dining hall. We asked for the typical Thailand and Malaysian cuisine – the nasi goreng kerabu or fried rice with herbs, mixed vegetable, tom yam and Nasi Goreng Pattaya or Pattaya (Pattaya is one of a very popular tourist towns in Thailand) fried rice. The hospitality, the service, the food, and the price were highly commendable. It cost us LE 35.00.
Well, that is not the gist of my story though, what I like to share here is the topic of our conversation that we had during the dinner. It was about education, specifically the essential of mastering the Arabic. We had been taught that the language one speaks in the life thereafter is Arabic; the holy Quran revealed by the Almighty Allah is in Arabic and the common language of the Muslim brothers and sisters all around the globe is Arabic. However, in Malaysia, since hundreds of years ago, the approach the so-called Arabic was through learning the basic of reading the basic Muqaddam vis-à-vis the mushaf of holy Al-Quran. We were not saying it is wrong, but the approach and the methodology are not right. I personally think that, people must be educated on the comprehension of the language, not on how to read without actually understanding the meaning of what he read. We were taught on how to read, write, and comprehend English, since the pre-school level, which had made English as our second language if not mother tongue to few of us – the so-called high-end fraternity. The product of this approach has helped many Malaysians – the Bumiputra and Non-Bumiputra alike, achieved high standard of living, had demonstrated significantly in many aspects, and recognized by the global community.

Now, sad to mention that some Malaysian al-Azhar students are not able to master the Arabic language, which is their medium of study?
Reading or reciting the holy mushaf Al-Quranul Kareem is indeed important, but comprehending what we read is much more important than the reading itself. Nonetheless, comprehending without practicing is futile. Hence, for that reason, the approach need to focus more to understand the fundamentals of Arabic language be it ‘ameya or local dialect or the fusahah or the standard.
The tête-à-tête during the nonchalant dinner became more interesting when we moved on to another important topic , the education system of the Al-Azhar University vis-à-vis the attitude of many Malaysian Al Azhar students’. Well, I am not going to elaborate further the subject that might have boiled up my disposition.

Carpet Fever

I am not that craze with the carpet things. However, the Oriental Weavers, one of the popular carpet manufacturer and distributors in Egypt has lured me with their opening winter sales. The recently opened new branch near Carefourr, Alexandria, I think is the biggest of its kinds amazed and astonished us, Nana and I with their collections, which forced us to declare checkmate, and finally grasped three types of modern concept, which robbed us EGP 776 from our pocket. It is comparatively cheap though, after more than eight years the last time we bought carpets.

Alex Chef at work

In Our Opinion: Valentine's Day - A Coincidence

I had a marathon meeting in our Maadi, Cairo office that forced me to stay a night at my favorite hotel JW Marriot, Mirage City, Cairo. Nana, Muhammad Aiman and Afiqah joined me later. We were upgraded to Junior Suites in conjunction with the Valentine's Day. A Valentine's Day - a coincidence! I was confused and wondered, in the country where 96% of its population is Muslim and based on the recent poll that I read in the Egyptian Gazette, Egyptian is the most religious country in the world, Valentine Day is celebrated on a grand-scale after Eid Fitr and Eid-Adha?In our opinion, we should not blindly usher and celebrate things without understanding its fundamentals. This might dilute our faith and weakening our principles.

Afi's Art Collection : The Barrier

The Barrier – was his ‘killer’ piece. This winning piece depicts the real barrier of human being is their own mental – mindset and attitude – his internal part of them. Purely acrylic, the Barrier is Afi’s own self ‘portrait’ – his own illustration of perseverance and determination – to overcome the obstacles.
This was one of Afi’s first art works – the Surelism. I called it the Aftermath – resulted from the careful blending of computer and painting skills using varieities of materials: Old newspaper, Arclic paint, Canvas, Glue, and Computer.

Dyg Nabilla & Gangs' Visit

Alhamdullilllah, once again, blessed by the almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’la, we received a group of medical students from Mansourah, staying with us in our small humble apartment for two nights. In Islam, any Muslim travelers have the rights to ask from their Muslim brothers or sisters any assistance within three days during their stay in the country or state their visit.

The five petite and polite girls, 1st year medical students – Dyg Nabilla, Nissa, Aqidah, Aishah, and Shafiqah arrived at 17:30 by train from Mansourah.
As usual, Nana voluntarily programmed the itinerary and brought them around Alexandria – the Montazah; Mandharah – Romansa Restaurant; the Bibliotica; Carefour, etc. during their three days stay. Albeit very demanding daily chores and the recovering of her rejuvenated face, she cooked them the scrumptious typical Malaysian cuisine, which they missed since six months ago.They were amazed and overwhelmed by what Alexandria had and gratified by Nana’s hospitality. See you again ladies and all the best for the coming examinations.

Ta'lim - Part II

"All praise is due to Allah, so we praise Him, and seek His pardon and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guides aright there is none to lead him astray; and there is none to guide him aright whom Allah leads astray. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him. His is the sovereignty and to Him is due all praise. He grants life and causes death and is Powerful over everything. There is no God but Allah, the One; He fulfilled His promise and granted victory to His bondsman, and He alone routed the confederates (of the enemies of Islam).
O’ People! Listen to my words, for I do not know whether we shall ever meet again and perform Hajj after this year. O’ Ye people! Allah says, O’ people We created you from one male and one female and made you into tribes and nations, so as to be known to one another. Verily in the sight of Allah, the most honored amongst you is the one who is most God-fearing. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except in God-conciousness.
All humankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay. Behold; every claim of privilege whether that of blood or property, is under my heels except that of the custody of the Ka’bah and supplying of water to the pilgrims, O’ people of Quraish, don’t appear (on the Day of Judgment) with the burden of this world around your necks, whereas other people may appear (before the Lord) with the rewards of the hereafter. In that case I shall avail you naught against Allah.
Behold! All practice of the days of ignorance are now under my feet. The blood revenges of the days of ignorance are remitted. The first claim on blood I abolish is that of Ibn Rabiah bin Harith who was nursed in the tribe of Sa’ad and whom the Hudhayls killed. All interest and usurious dues accruing from the times of ignorance stand wiped out. And the first amount of interest that I remit is that which Abbas ibn Abd-al Muttalib had to receive. Verily it is remitted entirely.
O’ people! Verily yor blood, your property and your honour are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, as the sacred inviolability of this day of yours, this month of yours and this very town (of yours). Verily you will soon meet your Lord and you will be held answerable for your actions.
O’ people! Verily you have got certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you. It is your right upon them to honour their conjugal rights, and not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorised by Allah to separate them from your beds amd chastise them, but not severely, and if they refrain, then clothe and feed them properly.
Behold! It is not permissible for a woman to give anything from the wealth of her husband to anyone but with his consent.
Treat the women kindly, since they are your helpers and not in a position to manage their affairs themselves. Fear Allah concerning women, for verily you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful unto you by words of Allah.
O’ people! Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, has ordained to every one his due share (of inheritance). Hence there is no need (of special) testament for an heir (departing from the rules laid down by the Shari’ah).
The child belongs to the marriage-bed and the violator of wedlock shall be stoned. And Reckoning of their (deeds) rests with Allah.
He who attributes his ancestry to other than his father or claims his client ship to other than his master, the curse of Allah is upon him.
All debt must be repaid, all borrowed property must be returned, gifts should be reciprocated, and a surety must make good the loss to the assured.
Beware! No one committing a crime is responsible for it but himself. Neither the child is responsible for the crime of his father, nor the father is responsible for the crime of his child.
Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself gives willingly. So do not wrong yourselves.
O’ People! Every Muslim is the brother of every other Muslim, and all the Muslims form one brotherhood. And your slaves; see that you feed them with such food as you eat yourselves, and clothe them with the clothes that you yourselves wear.
Take heed not to go astray after me and strike one another’s necks. He who (amongst you) has any trust with him, he must return it to its owner.
O’ people! Listen and obey, though a mangled Abyssinian slave is appointed your Amir, provided he executes (the Ordinance of) the Book of Allah among you.
O’ people! No Prophet would be raised after me and no new Ummah (would be formed) after you.
Verily I have left amongst you the Book of Allah and the Sunnah (Traditions) of His Messenger, which if you hold fast you shall never go astray.
And beware of transgressing the limits set in the matters of religion, for it is transgression of (the proper bounds of) religion that brought destruction to many people before you.
Verily, the satan is disappointed at ever being worshipped in this land of yours, but he will be pleased by obedience in anything (short of worship that is) in matters you may be disposed to think insignificant, so beware of him in your matters of religion.
Behold! Worship your Lord; offer prayers five times a day; observe fast in the month of Ramadhaan; pay readily the Zakat (poor due) on your property; and perform pilgrimage to the House of God and obey your rulers and you will be admitted to the Paradise of your Lord.
Let him that is present, convey it unto him who is absent, for many people to whom the message is conveyed may be more mindful of it than the audience may.
And if you were asked about me, what would you say?"
They answered, "We bear witness that you have conveyed the trust (of religion) and discharged your ministry of Prophet hood and looked to our welfare."
Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (May peace be upon him) lifted his forefinger towards the sky and then pointing towards people said: "O’ Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.

That was the last sermon of the Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him) during the farewell pilgrimage at the sacred land of Arafah on the 9th Dzulhijjah 1o Hijri (10th March 632M). The sermon of the Holy Prophet is not only remarkable for its eloquence, but it contains a sublime message for the whole of the human race. It was a declaration of Human Rights and moral values, a charter of Women Rights. The world has not been able to lay down better principles of ethics and morality than those enunciated in it. Every word of it breathes a spirit of magnanimity and aims at establishing righteousness and fair dealing among men on a workable basis. It establishes brotherhood among Muslims irrespective of the divergence of their geographical, racial and color backgrounds and provides an outline of a social order, perfectly free from oppression and injustice. It was the declaration of Finality of Nabi Muhammad's Prophet hood, the religion was being perfected by this Final Message from The Creator to his creatures for all times to come.