Of Learning & Teaching

Life-long learning had be expounded by our beloved Prophet long time ago in his hadith : "Seek knowledge, from the cradle to the grave".

I am a proponent of life-long learning coz learning or seeking knowledge is a never-ending quest in an endless sea of Allah's knowledge (ilm).

With regards to learning & teaching, an Arabic proverb always reminds me of how to interact with people of various walks of life and their views on learning & teaching :

1. "He who knows, and knows that he knows. He is a learned man. Learn from him."


2. "He who knows, and knows not that he knows. He is oblivious. Wake him up."


3. "He who knows not, and knows that he knows not. He is a simple man. Teach him."


4. "He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not. He is an idiot. Shun away from him"

You may guess which of these 4 types of people are also called "bodoh-sombong".

Second Child Syndrome?

Our second child was named 'Amirah' : depending on the way it is pronounced in Arabic, it could mean ‘leader’ or ‘princess’. Or better still, ‘a leading princess?’ or ‘a princess with leadership quality?’. Some people say that the ‘Second Child Syndrome’ is real, with the second-born child living in the shadow of her older sibling while competing with the younger ones for much needed attention.

Our second daughter was a special child : brave and confident; creative; rebellious at times; having a mind of her own; a ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ kind of stand. Yep, that’s her. When she was born, her mum (who is also a second child herself) was busy doing her Education Course at University of Malaya. The very next day after giving birth to our second child, the mum went to sit for her exam! That explained how this child grew up to become ‘the brave one’…. and rebellious. She was always trying to outgrow her older sister. When her older sister was having school first-day blues, she was the one who was more excited to go to school even though she was not at schooling age at that time! While her older sister was crying to solicit sympathy from the parents, the second child was up and raring to go and she was like : “Can I go to school, daddy? I want to go school. I like school!” Ha ha ha , talk about ‘taking opportunity to present your case’. Typical!

This second child doesn’t like to be criticized. No way man! She’s probably one of the exponents of this cliché : “I like to learn, but I don’t like to be taught”. (Ever heard of this before? Some developed universities are now beginning to relax on the 80% requirements for lecture/class attendance and give more freedom to students for self-study. Hmmm, interesting).

When she was in her primary and secondary school, she was kind of overshadowed by the older sister. Or maybe she was feeling that way. But when she moved into the university to do her diploma and degree, she became totally transformed into a high performer and scored first class in every single semester! Her leadership qualities also surfaced up and she really became that brave and confident child as she was some 20 years ago. Girl students respected and admired her, boy students were ‘afraid’ of her as a no-nonsense person. Now we are very proud of her achievement. Ever since she was a kid, she never like losing. I guess this is one of the traits which makes her strived and thrived.

Our second child had taught us many things about children and how we should be better parents. I believe all parents in this world try their best to be good loving parents to their children. Our second child taught us that each child has her own special personality and that each of our children requires unique kind of love and attention. She also taught me to look at positive perspective of things : just like looking at the photo above. If you visualize it to be dusk, then it will be dark soon. If you visualize it to be dawn, then there will be light and brightness.

Thank you my Second Child girl. May Allah bless you, your life in this world and the hereafter.

That's My Girl

Some 20 years ago, there was this little big girl who learned to read at a very young age. Of course her parents taught her about letters and numbers when she was one year old, bought her books that she practically made them her sleeping partners. She was a fast learner, and by the age of four, she was already reading the national newspaper! Of course she did not understand everything that was written in the paper (well who does?), but it didn't matter. She was intellectually a 'big' girl of her age, but when the time came for her to go to kindergarten, she became that 'little girl' with tantrums. She didn't like to go to school! Aiyyo! Her parents had a tough time convincing, coercing, persuading, 'bribing' etc. Sometimes it worked, sometime it didn't. She did go to the kindergarten finally and met new friends.

Her first primary school was in England when once again, the little girl tantrum resurfaced. First it was first day blues, then it became too many days blues! Once she locked herself in the bedroom, her parents' bedroom! Tough time again. But to be fair to her, the first school was not really an excellent school. Then we moved her to a better school, you know, 'English' area, so the school was also very 'English', a good school with excellent teachers. The little big girl was a little bit happier with the new school except for the initially challenging time with the 'tudung' issue. She was the only student wearing the tudung at that time! Other Muslim girls did not dare to wear it. So she came back home not smiling and was asking her parents about her predicament. Her father consoled her and told her that, people will respect you not for your appearance, or how you dress, but they will (eventually) respect you on how you behave, how you connect to people, and how you show them that you are capable of being excellent. The words of her father worked! She felt more confident with her tudung, enjoyed her school, came back smiling and she excelled in her studies and became the talk of the school. In fact other Muslim girls started to wear tudung following her 'sunnah'. One of her teachers told her parents that she was very advanced for her age and that if she was an English or a resident, she would go far. (That sounds a bit racist I reckoned!)

From thereon, she always excels in her academic area. Top student in class, top student in school, top student in the state, and top student in her IB. What else could I ask Allah but be blessed with this child. Now, as she enters into her pen-ultimate year in the medicine, she still occasionally give out remarks like : "I'm thinking of giving up medicine!", or "I think I'll become a lecturer, much easier' (hey, who said it is easier?), or 'malasnyeeeeeeeee' (translated : I'm soooo lazyyyyy!). I'm not too worried about this coz, it's just the 'little girl tantrum' which had been submerged in her sub-conscious and tries to wriggle its way out once in a while. And that's fine, no worry. Once her conscious mind says : "Hmmm, that wasn't so bad, was it?", or "Hmmm, I'm OK", then her 'little girl tantrum' (just like the moment when she didn't want to go to school some 20 years ago), will subside and return to its rightful place : deep inside the sub-conscious twillight zone!

InshaAllah, and I'm confident that she will overcome all challenges to succeed. I know that, coz she is my girl. She always be my little big girl! And she is Ummu Layth! May the help of Allah be with her always.

The journey to excellence never ends, be it in ibadah or muamalat; for this world and the hereafter. The quest for knowledge is a never ending journey, just like the bridge across the blue ocean of wisdom.

Public Confidence & Judiciary

I'm not a political analyst, nor a person who has any political inclination or ambition, but as a Malaysian citizen, one can't help pondering what's going on with our judiciary vis-a-vis the Lingam video-clip scandal. In a democratric system, the legislative, executive and judiciary should run in tandem and work for the benefit of the whole nation. As such, any thinking citizen should be interested to see what would be the outcome of this inquiry because it would take a huge task to restore public confidence, should it be non-favourable to the image of our judiciary.

Our Prophet once remarked (general meaning only) : "Of three kind of judges, two will be in hell but only one will enter paradise. A judge who passes judgement based on knowledge (truth) will enter paradise; an ignorant judge and a judge who knows the truth but passes judgement while hiding the truth, will go to hell". (Baba Layth may give you the full text of this hadith - he is quite well versed with so many hadis)

A judge is a very lonely profession; and one has to have integrity of the highest ethical standard. Not a profession for me, thank you.

The judiciary system is like a mirror (perhaps). It smiles at you only if you smile at it first. Confidence breeds confidence.