Jika

Persiapan #letsfollowammar

Ibrah yang paling penting yang aku rasa telah aku pelajari dari peristiwa pemergian Ammar ialah bagaimana kuatnya persiapan si ayah dan ibu untuk mewakafkan anaknya untuk ummah.

Konsepnya sentiasa ada di dalam benak fikiran dan hala tuju ku, cuma sebelum ini masih belum jelas sebetul-betulnya.

Mempersiapkan diri untuk ummah. Mempersiapkan ahli keluarga untuk ummah. Ini yang aku belajar dari peristiwa pemergian Ammar.

Insya Allah.

Al-Amin Merlimau di hati

Cuti semester lepas, saya dijemput oleh guru saya dulu, Cikgu Syima untuk membuat kelas intensif di Al-Amin Merlimau untuk persediaan murid-murid menghadapi peperiksaan. Saya menawarkan diri untuk mengajar subjek yang berkaitan pengiraan sahaja. Cikgu mencadangkan Fizik, Kimia dan Matematik Tambahan. Saya terima dengan hati terbuka. Setidaknya menjadi persediaan kerana Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik juga meminta saya dan beberapa rakan lain menjadi mentor untuk junior kami dalam subjek Circuit. Cikgu Syima rapat dengan ibu saya, jadi cikgu Syima maklum saya sentiasa meluangkan masa cuti saya untuk bekerja.

Selesai saya berprogram, saya terus bersiap untuk ke Al-Amin Merlimau bersama dengan adik saya, Muaz yang bersekolah di sana. Kami sampai di dalam pukul 12 malam. Pagi Isnin, cikgu Syima berjumpa dengan saya dan menunjukkan jadualnya yang telah disusun. 'Packed juga ni cikgu. Saya tak apa, tapi kesian kat budak-budak' ujar saya. Saya maklum, kejayaan itu akan dicapai dengan kesungguhan dan perancangan kerja yang kemas. Cuma, saya masih belum yakin ketika itu mereka mempunyai keinginan tersebut.

Kelas saya bermula dari 3.30 petang sehingga Asar. Selepas Isya' sehingga pukul 11 malam. Kelas diasingkan mengikut tahap dan juga lelaki dan perempuan. Lelaki di sini pemalu haha. Untuk setiap sesi solat, ditugaskan muazzin dan imam. Ada Qunut Nazilah setiap hari. Ya, Qunut Nazilah. Peringatan untuk kita yang hidup di tempat aman agar tidak lupa,' Untukmu Al Aqsa dan Umat Islam, jiwa dan darahku untuk kamu semua'. Saat Qunut ialah saat yang sentimental dan emosi untuk diri saya. Dan mereka membacakannya setiap hari. Saya mencintai mereka, kerana mereka mencintai bumi al Aqsa dan perjuangan rakyat Syria. Subuh mereka pun lelaki jarang yang terlepas Subuh berjemaah di sini. Kekuatan lelaki, pada saya, pada komitmennya dia menjaga solatnya di masjid. Andai dijaga solat dan Qurannya, insyaAllah, given enough time, cintanya akan terjaga, fizikalnya, mentalnya, dan spiritualnya.

Hari pertama sangat intense. Soalan penuh hingga kelas meleret. Banin dan banat, sama saja. Mereka meminta pula kelas tambahan. Saya tambah lagi dua slot pada masa lapang saya bagi memenuhi permintaan mereka. Amanah yang cikgu Syima tugaskan ialah supaya saya menampung kefahaman mereka dalam subjek tersebut, jadi saya isi masa saya dengan mereka semaksima mungkin.

Selepas Subuh, saya pergi berlari. Suasana di sana cantik. Tepi pantai. Selesai berlari, saya balik untuk bersiap-siap. Study dan sediakan nota ringkas untuk pengajaran di kelas. Selepas Zohor, saya bersiap dan pergi ke kelas. Sehingga malam saya di sana. Kalau Sabtu dan Ahad, saya di sana dari pagi hingga ke malam. Saya akan keluar semasa Maghrib untuk mencari kuliah-kuliah di masjid berdekatan. Dan cuba untuk pulang sebelum pukul 9 malam. Dan lebih kurang dua minggu rutin saya seperti itu. Saya menjadi rapat dengan mereka.

Hari terakhir hari paling tacing haha. Warden mereka memanggil saya untuk memberi ucapan perpisahan. Harapan dan nasihat. Malam itu saya berucap dan memberi nasihat yang saya kira dapat membantu mereka. Saya perlu pulang malam itu kerana saya menjadi pengarah untuk Kursus Pengawas di Al-Amin Gombak pagi Sabtu. Namun, sebelum pulang saya selesaikan tugas terakhir. Ada tiga orang pelajar yang mendapat markah 2%, 14% dan 22% untuk Matematik Tambahan mereka meminta saya memberi intensif untuk basic add Math, Functions. Saya meluangkan masa bersama mereka sehingga pukul 12.30 malam. Malam itu, ramai rakan-rakan mereka datang menemani kami dan membawa makanan.

Memang sedih untuk meninggalkan tempat itu. Ketika saya ingin pulang, ramai bangun untuk menghantar saya. Mereka salam dan memeluk saya, beri makanan sebagai bekalan perjalanan (macam lah jauh 3 jam setengah je pun) haha. Saya melihat mereka. Saya bertanyakan cita-cita mereka sewaktu awal perkenalan. Saya minta mereka doakan cita-cita saya tercapai. Saya pulang dengan semangat yang kuat, to make this world a better place.

Allahumma Solli 'ala Muhammad.

Insya Allah, cuti seterusnya ingin kembali menyumbang di sana.

Thanks, Pakcik!

On Sunday, I usually don't do any heavy lifting. It is because my leg day is on Friday, so my legs will sore for the next two days. And to do any running or compound exercise is strictly limited. Therefore the only possible choice left is to go swimming.

FYI, leg day is the day where you work out your leg at the gym or anywhere. Leg day may comprise of heavy squat, Romanian dead lift, lounges, leg press, and leg extension. Usually, if you do right and you push yourself, you will be almost unable to walk the day after. Pain everywhere throughout your leg. It is one of the hardest days, and for that reason many people skip leg day.

Today, I went to swim early. After Subuh I made my breakfast, finished up all my chores, and prepared my swimming accessories. Sharp on 9, I went to the pool. Usually, on Sunday, I will swim in the morning and evening. Two sessions. Because swimming is a form of recovery exercise, I need to hit all my muscles before I am ready to work them out the next week.

However, today is my unusual day. After I did my warmup, I went straight into the pool. There was a pakcik beside me. He was overweight, perhaps obese. I guess he just made up his mind to live healthily because I could see the determination on his face. I was just like him 6 months ago. Exactly. He was just beside me. I did not talk or anything, I just smiled to him and started my swim. My routine is I will swim at least one kilometer easy swim before I decided to do sprint swim or practice my backstroke and butterfly.

When I started my breast stroke, I noticed he was beside me doing freestyle. In my mind, I thought "Takpelah, nanti pakcik ni letih lepas dua tiga lap berhenti lah tu..". His swimming actually interrupted my swim a little bit. He was zigzagging between my lane and his lane. I was not sure why, in my mind perhaps because his eyes were not very good although he was wearing a pair of goggles. Or because he could not really balance. So, I just let him be.

To my surprise, after 500(5 laps) meters, he did not stop. He did not pause. I was alternating my breast stroke and freestyle, therefore he would always catch me up because breast stroke is slower than freestyle. We kept catching up to each other. We both did not stop along the way. Up until one kilometer the pakcik was still swimming gracefully. And he was still zigzagging! I needed to do my sight every few strokes and then.

At last, that pakcik stopped at my 1.5 kilometers mark. I did not know how much that pakcik covered. I finished the non-stop swim to 2 kilometers. After the swim, I went to meet the pakcik.

"Kuat pakcik, tak sangka lama betul pakcik tahan.." I said, and laughed. I was really astonished.

"Anak pun kuat juga, pakcik nak cuba lawan, tapi tak boleh..." he replied.

And after that, my guess was right. He was having his health resolution in action. He wanted to live healthily. And I've got great advice about taking care of my body from the pakcik. 'Badan ini amanah Allah!'.

Thank you pakcik! His smile was a remedy for my sore eyes (you know what people wear at public pool).

And Alhamdulillah, new record. 2 kilometers non-stop! :D Alhamdulillah.

Eased turn over - Analogue Electronics

Last semester, I've taken a hard subject. It was Analogue Electronics and the subject somehow did not seem to have the same pattern as the other electrical and engineering subject I've taken before. Perhaps the view was only from me.

One of my principles in studying is to never put the blame on your teacher if something does not happen the way you want. My senior said that barakah was something worthy to hold and grasp dearly. Barakah comes in respecting teachers and respecting the knowledge. The intention of why you are studying will make you different from others.

Before, whenever my friends ended up in classes taught by problematic lecturers, I have always told them to do their part. I did not deny their complaints. For the sake of efficiency, I told them to be the manipulated variable. Their exam results would be the responded variable and lecturers would be the constant. Therefore, the end results would be depending on how they act upon. However, life was not that easy and simple. Even in mathematics, we know in certain functions, no matter how we tweak the inputs, if the important constants are still there, the output would be in the same range. Whether it is negative or smaller than 1, even infinity. And therefore, I have seen some of my friends failed and repeated subjects. Still, in my opinion, they did not try hard enough.

Interestingly, last semester was the semester in which I went through the exact same thing as my friends went through. The difficulty level added when the required books were not there in the library, and all I have to depend solely on was the lecturer's notes. Being the class rep for the subject (a job that I was very not fond of), I was responsible to inform my classmates if any class was canceled or any other thing. At the early of the semester, the seven hours a week classes were cut by our lecturer to only four hour classes a week. She canceled it without any explained reasons. Even with the four hours balance, the class was often canceled without no replacement class. Initially, my classmates cherished it. Later, due to the difficulty of the subject and the unbelievable velocity the lecturer's cover the syllabus to meet the duty roster, we began to realize that this would go bad.

The situation went worse during midterm tests and quizzes, our lecturer told the exact subtopic and questions that would be asked in the tests. In my point of view, she did that to compensate for the time she'd cut for our. And she even did that during our final exam. In the end, she asked me to tell my classmates if they want nice marks, they ought to write nice feedback about her in our online feedback report. I did not know whether she was kidding or not, but at that time I was already furious.

For those who can catch up easily were simple, but for those who could not, I saw they had a hell of a time to understand the subject. That made me a bit angry and frustrated. Approaching final exam, my carry mark was 22 over 40. I did not take note when she told us 'soalan bocor' as I thought it was inappropriate. Plus, I was egoistic. Test was meant to challenge. There was no point of doing test when you know what you were gonna face. I want my mark to indicate my level of understanding. Not how much I know the soalan bocor.

My carry mark was not a blow for me although it was the lowest so far. It was expected. Still, I could see my friends' frustration and disappointment. My understanding for the subject at that point was fuzzy and unclear. Therefore I could not help my friends. Even I needed help at that time. During the study week period, the urge to blame my lecturer and not doing nothing was insurmountable. I tried my best to stand up to my words and not doing the thing I refrain others to do. I always told myself, if some things gonna change, I need to start the change. Not others. At that point, I've spent some sleepless nights just to understand the subject, still the firm understanding was way too far. I've just got to push harder.

Alhamdulillah. Allah really helped me through. Two of my adik usrahs, I was proud to say their names, Hamizan Arif and Asma'an Affandi were the ones who helped me through. Being taught by different lecturer than mine, they helped me understand the subject essentially from A to Z. They spent three days before the paper to teach me and others. From morning to night. The only break was to pray, eat, nap and sleep. But, they really pushed all of us to understand the subject. I did not know how could I repay them because what they did for us was very helpful. Those three days were among the most intense and packed days in my life.

I was determined to obtain an A for this subject. For my personal record. So far, there was no B in my subject grades. That day, the paper was tough, but it was eased. I can answer the questions although I didn't manage to finish them all due to insufficient time. Still, I was blessed that day. I did what was needed to be done. I was the class rep, I was the one who held the responsibility to report what had happened the whole semester. Instead of blaming and backbiting, it was more efficient and significant to write a proper online report so that future students would not need to go through what we have gone through. She will understand why I wrote the feedback that way, Insya Allah. Still, a lecturer will always have my respect. She had taught me. She earned my respect. The things we had gone through this semester, perhaps she too were going through rough moments that we did not know. We just need to be more empathy and understanding.

Normal circuit

Electronic circuit

And my result came through later. I got B for the subject. Alhamdulillah.

Next time, I need to really observe my lecturer for the first week.

Above are basic images of circuit.

Our Lab Techinicians

I am blessed to study here. Really. Especially with my lecturers and lab technicians.

As an engineering student, I go through a lot of hands-on and practical session. And lab is one of them. This year, we don't stick with one lab technician only, our group will go through many lab technicians for different experiments. So we got to meet a lot of interesting characters.

What I am about to post may be a bit harsh, but there's where the perk lies. Reader discretion is advised.

1. Motor - DC and AC motor experiment was interesting. But the lab technician was even more interesting. He was unique with his own analogy. One time, when we obtained all the result, we quickly turn the motor off, not following the ordered manual. Then he came angrily and said, "Kamu kalau nak pergi tandas, kamu buka seluar dulu baru seluar dalam, atau kamu buka seluar dalam terus tanpa buka seluar. Hah?". Instantly, we laughed, violently. All boys in my group, so the excitement was understandable. And he laughed too. I did not know why he laughed. Perhaps due to his creativity for the analogy. What he meant was we should turn off the motor by its sequence, not aiming straight for the power source.

2. Transformer - I was always motivated by 'going back early'. When the lab technician said, "Okay, siap procedure, present result dan calculation, boleh balik awal. Minggu depan lab report mesti siap". The moment my group heard that, we became so pumped up nothing could stand our way. Still, experiment involving transformer was pretty dangerous. When we were done connecting all the wiring and setting up the components, we called our lab technician to switch on the voltage source. The source must be opened with a key because if the circuit was wrong and the source is switched on, we would die instantly in the explosion. So, we called him to check our connection and switch on the VS. When he came, however, at that instant we saw an open connection/open wire. He immediately said "Ok, volunteer sorang. Cuba pegang open connection ni, kita tengok dia mati ke tak. Mari, volunteer sorang. Nak sangat biar open connection, datang sekarang pegang!" he said fiercely. It was a sincere mistake. We became speechless. And then we dismantled it all and started all over again. Still, we managed to finish first. :D

3. Ammeter and voltmeter - we once used a huge ammeter and voltmeter one time. The screen was big. We connected everything, and we called our lab tech to open the VS. He eventually came, looked at our set up for a while, and said "Kamu, kalau makan makan. Makanan tu akan keluar balik tak bila di tandas nanti?". We answered "Mestilah sir. Takkan nak simpan lama-lama". "Cakap pandai! Cuba kamu tengok connection kamu, ada makanan yang kamu simpan dalam perut tu tak nak teran-teran!" he replied sarcastically. Later we realized that the IN connection of one of the ammeters still had no OUT yet. And again we were saved.

We had many more intense moments with our lab techs. Still, what amazed me was, they never forget to recite du'a before and after the lab session. Never! Not even once! They were not golongan yang berkopiah and look religious. Still, I saw they really valued the prayer and adab. Because of that, even with their dramatic over reaction to things, we 'salam and cium' their hands.

Even one of my female lab tech had 'R4BIA' symbol as her wassap DP. Amazing.

May Allah bless all my lab technicians, lecturers, and teachers. I love them.

Moments of Raya

Ramadhan
This Ramadhan has been a wonderful month for me. A blessed and filled one indeed. Not too busy with works for Ikram Siswa and studies. Every night was a free night for me. Few nights helping Aqsa Syarif Penang to raise funds at mosque and evenings with Hidayah Centre for their Majlis Iftar Perdana. Alhamdulillah, Ikram Seberang Jaya even sponsored ikhwah UiTMPP a thousand ringgit worth 'meja' for that night's charity dinner. Occasionally, we also will have iftar at the nearby surau and help pakciks wash the dishes.

This Ramadhan was also a unique experience. It was in this Ramadhan I got the initiative to buy foods for beggars for them to break fast. It was very meaningful to me personally. If people questions about the money and the syndicate those beggars work for, I guess giving them foods would be helpful. I just couldn't stand the look in their eyes. If people ask me what would Ramadhan mean to me, humanly speaking, is so that I could understand what poor people feels. Not only to endure hunger the whole day, but to reflect what if we ourselves have nothing to eat after Maghrib. We often choose to neglect it because we know we will be having a wonderful and often wasted meal during iftar.

YDP Ikram Penang, Ir Jamaluddin (kiri) dan Timbalan Ketua Menteri P.Pinang 1, Haji Rashid.

Got targeted i'adah (revision) of Al-Quran. This year I reduced the number of khatam, and went for something more meaningful to me - i'adah and tadabbur. The book Khawatir Qur'aniyyah I bought was so helpful. It introduced fresh ideas and perspectives in tadabburing the Quran. Iktikaf also had been a must on nights of Ramadhan. Although among my housemates, I was the least to go on an iktikaf. Still, the last nights of Ramadhan had been exceptionally great. I've got to spend the nights with wonderful figures - my naqib who always had his time free for us even though he was a doctor, Ustaz Syazali who was an outstanding ustaz especially for his Ulum Quran, and even Imam Muda Gaza Tariq came to our house!

Ramadhan in KL was also wonderful. The mosques were even merrier than last year. Alhamdulillah. Again, things wouldn't go really smooth when you are going iktikaf with a lot of siblings. You will have someone oversleeps for over an hour after Subuh at a well-hid corner of the mosque while the others are waiting in the car. You will have someone unintentionally drops important things at the mosque. Even small brothers who want air kotak and botol susu in the middle of the iktikaf. That's the wonder of a family.


Balik Kampung
Balik kampung was one of the most awaited annual events for me. The long journey (up to 8 hours) from KL to Kelantan was a tiring but wonderful drive. We will have quiz revolving the nasyid played on the playlist. For example Epik by Rabbani. So I will ask Ayaz and Saif what was the song about. Often, funny answers will come out from their mouths. And the whole family would burst to laugh. Sometimes, the mood changed. When I was driving with my mum besides me, and others went asleep, we would have a serious chat about my life.

Sometimes, my dad will ask the names of places we were passing through. All names (often ridiculous) would pop up. Well, it was just a happy moment.


Raya
As most guys at my age will face - question of life and death - 'Bila nak kahwin?'. It's a wave-off answer.

As an eldest son, I took the initiative to catch up on my siblings. I managed to have a one-on-one eating session. It was planned but I doubt they realized. I even had Ayaz to eat alone with me. He hated easy math. As he said lol. He said he could solve hard questions but stuck at easy questions. As funny as it sounded, a good brother should take serious of what his sibling said. It's the way you develop your sibling's self-respect.

Duit raya was not much. I decided to give duit raya too. Rasa dewasa sikit haha. Ziarah raya this year felt more significant. All in all, this year's raya went smoothly and happily. Even the latest gossips of my aunties, mom and grandma did not have any tearful impacts.

Have been visiting so many relatives. Even relatives I have never met before. Two of them were even my students at Al-Amin. We were also visiting our parents schools. My dad made a remark on how our children would be if in years to come we decide to bring our children to Al-Amin. I asked why he asked that. He said because we seemed so indifferent. I laughed. We seemed indifferent because we couldn't relate to their memories. How could I expect my children to have sentimental values as I would have when passing through Darul Quran? Or to be happy when I visit Tbun one day?

I don't really feel sad leaving Ramadhan. Although I am hoping to meet Ramadhan next year. I feel that if we are told to be happy during Raya, we should be. We usually feel sad leaving Ramadhan because we might feel there won't be any chance like Ramadhan. But we want the chance for the sake of Allah. Therefore, being happy during Eid is also an act of deed. Wallahu a'lam.

There's no picture yet. All still in the cameras.

The International 3 - Dota 2
Besides that, I have been updating Dota 2 biggest tournament, The International 3, 2013 from my kampung Kubang Kerian. This year's tournament was very exciting. If people who plays football will get excited when great teams gather and fight, so do gamers. The International 3 was one of the biggest e-sport events in the whole world. The spectators were over 500,00 around the world.

The interface of player

The top prize was over 1 million USD. And the matches were very blood-pumping. They have great pro players from all over the world. One team from Malaysia even managed to qualify. That was an outstanding feat. The tournament added a different spice in my raya this year.

The players in the sound-proof box playing against each other. One team vs another team. There are commentators commenting the match, just like football commentator.

Crowds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZQINOLkx5Q

Watch. You'll know how thrilling it was.

Salam.