Title is self explanatory. Well, basically, this is my journey. Everybody has their own journey and why did I use The Journey as my title? Simply to remind myself about this journey is the journey of a mere humble person, searching for the meaning of life, searching the way of obtaining His Rahmah (Mercy) and blessings. The ultimate aim of this journey is to Jannatul Firdaus.
Why this song? Well simply as mentioned in my previous post that sometimes I tend to like lyrics and musics which tend to touch my feelings. Then people might ask, why not nasheed? The answer is I haven't came across a nasheed that I like which talks about The Journey. Furthermore, I came across this song when I was young, younger than 13 if not mistaken. For sure it brings a lot of memories to me. I like the lyrics, and it fits the music. Messages from the song: be strong and stronger, learn from past experiences and when ever feeling down, always look back on how you manage to face those difficulties in life.
So, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful, (Drum rolling....) I launch the Theme Song of The Journey, a blog of Ibn MuSa.
Time waits for no one, sure as the tide pulls the ocean Sure as, the path that's been chosen, cannot be changed In my life's destination, I searched for the explaination For some kind of reason, for my sorrow and pain But in my isolation I learned to listen To be thankful for the love that I'd been given
[Chorus] This is my journey, journey through life With every twist and turn I've laughed and cried As the road unwinds This is my journey, and I've learned to fight To make me strong enough, to lift me up, to bring my dreams alive
In my desperation I swore that never again Would I hear all the laughter of my friends and my family A million tears that I'd cried then began to dry In the silence of the night time I had came to realize A sweet inspiration filled my horizon Gave me the heart to go on and never would give in
[Chorus] This is my journey, journey through life With every twist and turn I've laughed and cried As the road unwinds This is my journey, and I've learned to fight To make me strong enough, to lift me up, to bring my dreams alive
I'm going to love each moment, of every day and night I'll look back to the past with the sweetest smile For now I realise, I've been given the key to life I've been kissed by the angel by my side
[Chorus] This is my journey, journey through life With every twist and turn I've laughed and cried As the road unwinds This is my journey, and I've learned to fight To make me strong enough, to lift me up, to bring my dreams alive To bring my dreams alive To bring my dreams alive
This morning, I woke up after hearing my housemate singing the "Guru Malaysia" song. I was thinking, is he out of his mind or what? Then after "starting the day" by reading some blogs, news and articles, then I found the answer to his "weird" action.
Today is the 16th May! How can I forgot that! In Malaysia, 16th May is a special day dedicated to all the teachers; The Teachers Day. Therefore, I want to wish to all my teachers since the day I was born till today and till my final breath.
Mama, bapak, all my siblings, my friends, my kindergarten mates, my school mates, my subject teachers, my housemates, my murabbi, my naqib, my ustazs and ustazahs, my housemates, my Tuan Guru....basically everybody.
Why everybody? Well, basically whether we realised or not, we are teachers to one and another. Whether we cherish the teachings or not is another thing. But we are all teachers. Teaching by examples, by advise, by correcting what is wrong, by teaching new stuff and by many other ways you can think of.
But out of all, of course Rasulullah is the best teacher, best example EVER. Let as all make salawat to him.
Mama and bapak, you are not forgotten. Don't worry ;)
Have you ever heard any Muslim performing a stand comedy show? Well, before this I have not. But thanks to the technology (Youtube, of course!), I have now. It is called Allah Made Me Funny. LOL!
Anyway, I enjoyed watching them. As long as you understand what they talk about, you will as well. So, happy watching.
Alright, enough youtube-ing for now. Back to revision
One thing about beeing a student here in Nottingham (and UK in general) is that we have the power to own a car. Why is that so? Well, basically the purchasing power here is strong, and people have the money to buy one. The minimum wage here is currently GBP5.73 per hour and I do believe that it will increase in a few years time. Here in the UK, even the mere cleaners can go travelling around EU if not around the world. I believe all this can happen because of purchasing power and reasonable minimum wages. (And of course, the cheap airlines available but I think this is the minor part)
I myself own a car. It is a Honda Accord 2.0, K reg (i.e. registered in 1992/93), with imported specs (Japanese specs). Katrina is her name, thanks to Norshie for giving her such a nice name. To make things even better, I got the car for free! Thanks to Ust Kasyfullah Abdul Kadir for letting us have such a great car. I can't imagine the number of reward (pahala) enters your account since day 1 you gave it to us till today. May Allah bless you always for being very generous, polite and a good friend and "family" to me. That is the sweetness of ukhuwwah. You can not describe in words but you can feel it.
Final day of Ust Kasy in the UK
I share my car with some other friends. Eventhough the car was very cheap (in fact, free!), the cost in getting a car insurance here is overwhelmingly expensive especially for people younger than 25 years old. Maybe the UK government think that young drivers like us can not drive properly perhaps? Although the car is owned by a few people, most of the time I am the one taking care of it, make sure it is companied by someone, mending here and there to ensure she is in good condition.
However, I am afraid I have to let her go. To Ust Kasy, I am so sorry that the chain of pahala flow is getting to its end (Maybe). It all started with...
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine drove my car away to a program somewhere not far from Manchester. Should I say, "our" car. He was not really use to driving car with manual gear box which Katrina has. So, you can imagine how people who can not drive manual car drive it. I guess the only thing in mind (same with most other drivers) was ensuring the engine stays on. In order to do that, usually they will press the accelerate pedal more than the amount required. You know how it sounds like.
Katrina, a gift from Ust Kasy
To make the story short, that weekend I was away and received a text message saying something like, "I am so sorry, Katrina got into an accident, she was injured." I was speechless. Normal reaction for someone in drama series is jaw dropped widely, letting go of what ever thing in hand (normally, a a glass of water). Well, I am not an actor so that did not happened. I replied asking what happened, anybody injured?
When I came home, again I was speechless. I just could not believe my eyes. My dear Katrina is badly injured. Sigh...
To Katrina, I would like to say that you have done well Katrina. We've travelled here and there together, had good time together. When your engine refuse to run I understand that you were tired and needed some extra rest. Same like normal human, when sleep is required not matter how hard you try to wake him up, he just won't. I will always cherish our moments together, sweet and short.
I guess time to let you go has come. Sad to say, gommennasai and sayonara...
It is now time of the year where you can see people sleeping in libraries, libraries are open 24/7, not a lot of vacant desks available to study because a lot of them people have already "booked" by just putting their jacket, books and stuff unattended. When that time comes, you will be in a big trouble if you do not be part of them, studying like mad.
A Free Library in Selly Oak.
And at time like this, you fill your brain as you have never done before. The more you study, the more you realised you do not know and the more you get panic. That is a nature of last minute studying. Sigh...
What ever it is, this is the time when the brain works very hard to absorb, process and release facts and knowledge later during examinations. Out of all times, this is the time when my brain suddenly explode with ideas to write about all things including the nonsense ones. That is a good thing, right? However to ensure I do not write crappy thing should be the main concern before writing anything. Like what Arab sayings, "You can only give what you have." In other words, if you don't have anything in mind and feels like writing something just to follow the flow, that is the starting point of crapping around talking nonsense.
Anyway, I should continue my revision right now. Writing at crucial time like this can lead to distraction to me and others.
Allow me to end this post with a video. When you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong, and you'll finally see the truth, that a hero lies in you. A nice song from Mariah Carey. Sometimes when we face problems and feeling down, we feel hopeless like there is no chance of regaining our strength back. We forgot how fortunate we are by just being ourselves at our current state.
Tension with revision? Think about those who really want to step their foot into tertiary educational level but have to forget about it because of poverty and do not know how to search for sponsorships. Think about students in Palestine who are denied from educations because the Israeli attack on their schools and universities. Premises are damaged and non function and hence forces their closure. Feeling down? Think about those people who were born blind and deaf. How dark and gloomy do they feel everyday?
A friend of mine shared a link about 40 hadith. The website portrays the hadiths in a simple way with some cartoons. I see it as a good and easy way in order to convey the message without making it boring. A good way to entertain as well as teach your children. A good reading source for your children and replacing books from Ladybird and Marvel comics.
I am a musician by hobby and love music very much. I can listen to almost all types of music exist, whether I like or not is another issue. I listen to classsicals, instrumentals, traditionals, to the modern nu-metal, heavy metal, alternative, rock and not forgetting nasheed. As long as the music somewhat makes me feel relax, or the lyrics meant lot or I just like the band or singer.
Personally, I mingle lot with people who like halaqahs, like Islamic study circles, like talks and like surfing Islamic websites and reading Islamic books. (Don't get me wrong, I do mix around with others as well) There were few times when nasheed musics were tuned, I asked around who sings the song. Normally the reply will be "How come you don't know? This song is....sang by.... " and my typical reply will be "I don't like nasheed except Raihan." And the conversation will carry on "Why? You should listen to nasheed, it reminds us about God.....Bla Bla Bla..."
Alright, I have my own reasons not liking nasheed, eventhough I am capable listening to it. First of all, maybe I was not exposed to Nasheed much. Not much of my friends who like nasheed shares their songs with me. Back then when I was a teenager, amoungst my friend who love nasheed are usually surau people, kinda exclusive to themselves, like a wall present between you and me. I like Raihan because firstly they emerged around 1997 and that time they were so top till they manage to sell at least 500 000 copies of their album. The closest rival on the number of album sold was KRU with Krumania.
Puji-Pujian, first album by Raihan which stole my heart.
I am a die hard fan of KRU, logically I should hate Raihan for being as their largest competitor to KRU in album selling back then. However, they manage to proof me they worth a fan like me. They are good, their songs are unique, their tune and tempo fits the lyrics, when a song should be in a happy mood they manage to make it happy and vice versa. The concept of the song fits the lyrics and music. That is what I call unique, that is what I like most about Raihan.
Not like songs when we suppose to promote the angelic behaviour (Sifat Mahmudah) amongst us but make the song sounds so scary and the lyrics somewhat tell us that it is impossible to obtain it. This is so wrong. Songs that promotes people to do good things should be happy, cheerful, full of smiling faces, and easy to listen. Conversely, songs that talks about bad deeds, about hell, about punishments, about satanic behaviour (Sifat Mazmumah) should be scary, full of fire, darkness, suffers in the videos and so on. Nasheed should not glorify women and jiwang so much. There was a period when almost all of the Malaysian Nasheed group sings at least a song about women and jiwang. I was like, what happened to nasheed?
Secondly, what is wrong with not listening to nasheed? As far as I'm concern, there are alot of songs which promotes cherishing life, about preserving nature, about peace and so on. All these are persistent with the messages that Islam brings upon us. Even these messages might even brought forward by heavy metal bands, surprisingly.
One famous example is:
"So close no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart, forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters" (Nothing Else Matters by Metallica).
Isn't that song contains the soul of someone who should have a belief that God is so close no matter how far we want to runaway from Him? We should always be proud to be a Muslim, to carry the title Islam in us despite of what the media portray how bad Islam is. Forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters.
Another example from Metallica is:
"All the wants you waste All the things you've chased And it all crushes down And you break your crown And you point your finger but there's no one around Just want one thing just to play the king but the castle crumbled and you've left with just a name Where's your crown? King Nothing."
Isn't the song teaches us to be moderate and not greedy in living in this materialistic world of us now day? It talks about how people are so greedy that when they want something, they want it now and they don't care how. Doesn't it talks about how fragile and temporary these materials are and will not last long? Are we going to wait until the hereafter to realise it?
Metallica, the best band ever!
I haven't touched about songs by Michael Jackson, XPDC, Ramli Sarip, Sweet Charity, Wings, ... (And the list goes on and on and on...) Therefore, must I like nasheed songs when other songs convey the message across clearly? So, must a person who claims himself as a dai'e, who likes about Islam likes nasheed? And I haven't touched about hypocrites, acting in front as a good person but behind us he is the complete opposite. I haven't talked about those who used to be in nasheed bands and left to try their luck in reality shows to be an instant star.
Don't get me wrong. I can listen to nasheeds. I support nasheeds which make the task of memorising verses from Quran as well as Hadith easier. I support nasheeds which the lyrics and musics touch my heart. If people recommend me a song, I will surely listen to and might love it as well. My point is do not limit the choices of songs to listen to. You will miss half of the fun!
Lastly, I am comfortable listening to these kind of songs. Life is ours, we lead it our way and nothing else matters.
Finally, I've decided to open a Blogger account after thinking long. I've blogged around from Friendster to Multiply and now here.
Why?
Friendster was my first try and realised that the features were somewhat limited. I like using the one in Multiply. Everthing is straight to the point, and everything is there. I can share my songs, reviews, videos, and others in one simple site. I am thinking of importing my posts here into my multiply one because to be honest, I really like using multiply.
However, not everybody have multiply account therefore the coverage of audience and readers of what I wrote is limited. Therefore, maybe making a move is a good choice. Who knows?
