004-2c Al-Kahfi Verse 10 - 11 Asked for Right Guidance

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of verse 10.
The youth hid in the cave and said

"Our Lord shower upon us mercy from You, and accomplish our affair with the right guidance."

Tafsir Jalalain.
Remember that when the youth were finding a hiding place in the cave, they were worried of their faith being influenced by the unbelieving people around them.

So they prayed, "Our Lord shower upon us mercy from You, and accomplish and make good our affair with the right guidance"

Tafsir Muhammad Asad.
When those youth took refuge in the cave, they prayed,

"O our Sustainer, bestow on us Your grace, and endow us, whatever our outward condition, with consciousness of what is right."

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Literal Translation of verse 11.
Then We covered their ears in the cave for a number of years.

Tafsir Jalalain.
Then We covered their ears by putting them to sleepfor a number of years in the cave.

Tafsir Muhammad Asad.
And thereupon We veiled their ears in the cave for many a year.
God caused them to remain cut-off, physically or metaphorically, from then sounds and the bustle of the outside world. The classical commentators take the above phrase to mean that God "veiled their ears with sleep".

Tafsir Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Covered their ears means a veil sealing their ears, so that they hear nothing. As they were in the cave, they saw nothing . They were completely cut off from the outer world, as if they had died. Their knowledge and ideas stopped at the point they entered the cave.

UEFA 012 – Santis

UEFA 012 – Santis

Santis is 2502 meter above sea level. It was a breath-taking view from upthere though it was misty and traces of melting snow can be seen down thevalley. The gustily wind was cold, although it was a sunny afternoon.

After some light snacks and soft drink, we made our way down to Nesslau-Neu St Johann. We had our lunch there, in a decent restaurant.

After making my order, I rushed to the toilet, to remove the long-john I had under my clothing. I had it on, because I was expecting a very cold temperature up on the Santis. Under my jackets, I had 2 layers of T-shirts and a shirt. I also had 2 socks on. Now, I had to remove some of them, because I began to sweat.

I made a stupid impulsive blunder during that lunch. I ordered for a salad dish. It tasted too sour and I put it aside, but ordered another dish which was equally not pleasing to my taste buds. I took only half portion of that second dish.

Both Anke and Manfred had their wallets on the table. Neda, Jomaah and I,of different culture, kept our wallets safely in our pockets.

I called the charming young waitress for the bill and announced to her that I wanted to pay for all. Anke and Manfred turn down my offer, saying that it was a crazy decision, but I insisted, saying that I need to contribute something for the trip.

Apparently, I did not know that, my 2 Jordanian friends had committed to pay Anke SFr 20 each for the trip. I only knew it when I saw them paying Anke the money, at the end of the trip.
I handed to the waitress a SFr100 note. She returned me Sfr30.It was a very, very expensive meal for me.

I learned much later that, putting wallet and purse on the table is a sign of going on Dutch. Which means he/she is paying only her own meal.They are realistic in that sense, because, the meals in Switzerland are expensive, as I experienced.

After lunch we drove to Wattwil. Then into a tunnel to Kaltbrunn, Uznach and stopped for a while at Rapperswil.

328 words

==============will be continued============
~drafted on 07.12.2006

~edited on 28.03.2007

~at Woodlands avenue 5

~20:34 hrs

My Garden Office

My office is an old office building which was built during the post World War II period. It had undergone many upgrading and renovations. This year it will have a new major facelift to fit the challenges that will come, this coming prosperous Year 2008.

Despite the frequent heavy rains and noise pollution, the face lift was a smooth process and you will soon see it be converted into a garden of tranquility, as shown in the first photo.

Return of the Mujahideen

On Satuday morning, 12 Jan 2008, the last batch of the Hajj Pilgrims from Singapore return home. Two Saudia Airlines flights landed at noon carrying approximately 600 pilgrims.

Amongst the pilgrims were my friends who travelled via Qodariya Travel & Tours and my 7 cousins who went via Travelways Travel & Tours. You may be wondering why seven. It was not because of lucky number or what. They were my 3 cousins and their wives and one of their sister.

One of my cousins, Jalil, recap that they had to wait in the bus for 15 hours for a trip that normally took only half an hour. It was due to the jam from Arafah to Mina. He admired one of Qodariya staff who went extra miles to help ease their 15 hour journey, by asking permissions from the other drivers to let them swerved into the right lanes. These drivers only speak Arabic. They don't understand English. If you are lucky you may get an Indonesian drivers who speak Malay.

There are 9 major roads from Arafah to Mina. If you take the wrong road, then you will end up at the wrong side of the place of accomodations, which were numbered according to countries.

They had no oppurtunity to stop at Mudzalifah for a night stay, because the bus had to keep on moving to catch up with the snailing bus queue to Mina. If they stop, then they would be further delayed.

What ever the difficulties were, Jalil said that it was a miraculous pilgrimage, because despite the 3 million crowd, they managed to complete their Hajj rites on time. Food and drinks were surplus. Toilets and other personal hygiene needs were also provided.

"Of course, with such a mammoth crowd you cannot expect perfection", Jalil said.

Now the return of the Mujahideen cause some inconveniences at the Terminal One Airport. The families of the pilgrims flocked the arrival hall. There were too many of them. So too many that the crowd, spilled off to the taxi stand, causing inconveniences to other passengers and taxi drivers. It was also a scene of dangerous hazard to road safety.

Why do I called them Mujahideen? It is because, Prophet Muhammad said that Hajj is Jihad, especially for women.

Thus, I wish to emphasise that Jihad is not necessairily Holy War --- NO. Jihad means a struggle to endure difficulties to attain success, especially in practising religious way of life.

It is difficult to practise religious way of life in today's world which is full of fun, games, sports, jokes and entertainments. So difficult that it is a jihad to be religious these days. Those who endure the difficulties in religious life are called Mujahideen, which means those who perform jihad.

Tour of Duty 002 at Coronation.

Hi, this is another of my tour of duty at Coronation Road on Friday, 11 Jan 2008. It was at around 4pm. I was earlier attending Friday prayer at Al-Falah Mosque where the sermon was delivered in English by a young Imam. The sermon was about the history of the Islamic Calendar. But I shall not discuss that now.

It was after the prayer at around 3pm that I began to ride with my Phantom chopper motorcycle to place of duty at Coronation Road. It was raining cats and dogs when I took off, but was hot and stuffy as I was approaching Coronation Road. I was sweating inside out.

Although there were some redevelopment going on around there, the scenery was still serene and the road was much peaceful than my tour of duty in the last posting at Angullia Park. It reminded me of the beautiful roads of London, Paris and Switzerland.

I found many survey marks and recorded the unpleasant sight by the road side table and the drain. The grass looked unkempt and the open drain can be hazardous to young children and cyclists.

Tour of Duty

A halt at Jalan Tupai

Previous mansion is now flattened to ground zero, to give way for new distinctive residence.

Survey boundary marks on the footpath.

Narrow road at Angullia Park, where 3 property developments are now actively in progress.

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Today, Tuesday, 8 Jan 2008 on my tour of duty I came to a halt, as a crane was unloading a huge load of bricks into the building premise. It was at Tupai Road. You may not have heard of such a road in Singapore. Tupai is a Malay word which means 'squirrel'. Therefore, in English it is Squirrel Road. Isn't it a simple name for a road where there are many expensive bungalows and condominium.

Anyway, I managed to pass through when the crane turned its body around after the loading was completed.

Then I turned into Angullia Park, where there is a condominium site that I had to check on the road and drain condition, with the help of survey marks which correspond to the survey details shown in the Certified Plan of that area. These markings are important to determine the boundary of a certain property. from there we are able to deduce, who owns a particular piece of land and who are maintaining it.

The particular development I was looking for has been flattened to gound zero, as the en-bloc application had been approved.

As I was finishing and about to leave the site I saw a man walking towards me. I smiled at him and he responded with a smile too. He was walking from Tupai Road towards Orchard Boulevard, where Wheelock Place and Borders bookshop stands. After walking a few steps, he turned and asked me if I was doing the road inspection there. I gave him a quick 'yes' to avoid further questioning.

But, instead, he came nearer to me and posed me a remark which sound almost like a whisper.

"I think they are overdoing this place with too many housing developments."

Again I replied him quickly,
"Ya! you're right. 3 developments in a row at the same time and the road is narrow."

He continued saying,"Why are the Authority not controlling the developments. There will in no time be surplus of housing, and then the property price will go down."

I changed the subject,"Sir you're staying around here?"

He was so happy to reply,"Yes a few steps away, and everytime when I passed this congested road with huge trucks and construction equipments I feel unsafe."

I must say that I agreed with him. For the half hour I was there, there were many of that big vehicles passing by, making a reverse entry into the construction sites and it comes with noisy piercing sound too. I must admit I shared his predicaments.

"May be these developments are to catered for the 6 million population forecast", I tried to show that I am abreast with the local political issues. In reality, I only heard about that 6 million issue, but I missed the factual news about it.

"But that is ridiculous!" his voice began to get excited or perhaps disturbed. "I think we are overdoing things. You see, I was in the US 2 years ago, and I saw with my own eyes how the casino business is dying in Las Vegas."

"Really..?" I was trying to jack him up.

"Yes...! The casino operators there were going to Macau. And Macau was fast and expert in the trade. I think we are 2 years too late with the IR and casino projects. It will be another white elephant."

"You think so..." again I make myself inferior to lift him higher.

He continued, "I think MM understood my message and I see that he is doing something about it. He is a very brilliant man despite his age."

"You wrote him a note?" I lifted him higher.

"Yes...I constantly send him feedbacks.I hope you also convey my feedback about this road to your senior officer." he replied with his eyes gleaming bright.

I think He was about 60. He was polite and soft spoken, despite many comments and some complaints. I think he is a somebody who owns a landed property in that vicinity. To me, he looked like a retired richman. He was occupying his free time walking to Orchard Road. Probably spend some hours in The Borders. We had a few more subjects such as a crowded Orchard Road. Taxi price hike. COE rate going down.

Finally, he bid goodbye to continue his walk to Orchard Boulevard.

++++++++++

Back in the office, instead of giving his feedback to my senior officers, I was posed with many complaints about our office telephones.

The contractors and movers had just completed our office renovation and reshuffling of seatings locations. As such many telephone lines need to be relocated. My coffice colleagues are strange people. They do not know how to make use of the telephone forwarding facilities and were always bothering me about the relocation of their telephone numbers.

Actually, my senior officer had not confirm with me what to do about the telephones. But, frusted of their continued complaints, I took the initiative and carry the burden by start making preparations to fill-up the "Relocation Form" and submit the draft via email to my senior officer. Although, it is not my actual reponsibility, I 'just do it' as advised by Nike, as I had been instructed to do it the last time.

My senior officer discussed with me my draft request and said that he need to discuss with our Deputy Director, before submitting the Relocation Form for her approval as it will cost some S$200.00. Our Big Boss is a lady.

A Trip to Malacca came to and end

From Parit Jawa we drove on for another one hour and arrived at Sultan Ismail Mosque in the heart of Batu Pahat Coastal town. This is one of the many huge and attractive mosques in Malaysia. I estimated that it can cater for 20,000 worshippers at one time.

This is one of the unique mosque as it has a dialysis centre. The car park is very spacious. Is is situated at the junction to Air Hitam and Muar.

After Qasr and Jamak Zuhr and Asr prayer, we stopped at carrefour batu Pahat for some sundries, milk powder and diapers for our beloved grand daughter Syifaa' Zakiroh. It was very crowded as the gigantic store was preparing high stocks for coming Chinese New year festivals which falls on 7 & 8 February 2008.

From there we headed straight for the North-South Higway heading south for Johore Bahru. However, shortly after entering the highway, it was raining very heavily. We stopped again at Machap and fell fast asleep at the car park while waiting for the rain to stop.

At 5:30 pm we started off again for second link at Tuas. After crossing the second link bridge, we stopped for maghrib paraye at Masjid Al-Khair in Choa Chu kang, Singapore.

On the way home we drop by visiting a cousin relative, whose mother passed away on saturday, while we were in Malacca.

Finally we were settled at home at around 9pm.

A Trip to Malacca continues

PARIT JAWA fishing port. Look at the traditional Malay boats that are parked and tied to the stilts.

Ah hah..we manage to continue the Trip to Malacca....

Well from Perigi Hang Tuah, I persuade my wife to take the old road back to Benut, before return to Singapore. By following this route, we are not going by the usual route via the North-South Highway, but via minor main road along the coast line of Straits of Malacca.

Along the way, we passed like a breezr thru the famous Umbai and Serkam seafood and Ikan bakar food centres. Then we came near Rambai where my wife saw a goreng pisang stall across the other side of the road. I made an impulse U-turn instead of stopping by the roadside.

The goreng pisang were very crispy and delicious, but it is not easy to make a U-turn from the other side, because of the bridge repair work. I decided to take a risk of plying the deserted narrow village road by turning left.

We drove for quite a while and my wife was quite worried if there no thru road back to the main road. From my previous experience of village roads, I am confident there is a breakthru. I ept cool. After about 15 minutes we found the next left turn and then next left turn back to the main road for sanother 15 minutes. Finally we were back on track heading south of the Malaysian peninsula towards Johore Bahru.

Then I felt hungry and was looking forward to stop by any eating stall, but, they were not opened yet. I gave up and began to speed up and discovered that I have missed the coastal road and was diverted into a new 2 lanes semi-highway from Muar to Batu Pahat.

I pressed stone at my stomach and sped up hoping to meet the next town where there eating stalls again. The higway was quite a long one but the condition was uneven, that I could not go more than 80, otherwise it will be too bumpy for my dear wife, who was sleepy all the way.

Finally at about 12:45 we reached Parit Jawa. As you can see in the photos above, it is a coastal town at the river mouth merging into Malacca Straits. At a wide bend, I saw the sign board "Asam Pedas" with a right arrow. I made another impulsive turn into the right and found the Asam Pedas paradise.

My watery mouth sensed that Mak Ngah Asam Pedas must be good, and I pulled my wife to the seat. We immediately call for Asam Pedas with 2 kind of fish. One cutlet of stingray and 1 cutlet of Ikan Mayo (cat fish), some cabbage, and of course sambal belachan.

I enjoyed it though it was not to my wife's taste. I slurped the 2 dishes of asam pedas gravy. I ended the lunch with "Ali Jaga", local Malaysian coffee with milk and herbs which was known to be more effective than Viagra. The root herb is called "Tongkat Ali". I must recommend my male friends to try "Ali Jaga" coffee with milk, I felt that it do give some strong effects.

I hope to continue this trip to Batu Pahat....

A Trip to Malacca

View of Jalan Munshi Abdullah, from the hotel window towards direction of Perigi Hang Tuah after and before the heavy rain. Next is the view of the Perigi Hang Tuah. Perigi means well. Bottom is the Emperor Hotel

Morning of 5 Jan 2008, My wife & I drive across the Causeway to Malacca. We took our sweet time with stop over at Pasar Tani to buy some groceries and take-away breakfast in-the car. Then we stop at Kempas Toll gate to top-up our Touch-n-Go Toll Card. We also stop at Machap, about 100km for lunch.

We arrive at Mahad Tahfiz (Quran Memorizing School) Batu Berendam in Malacca at about 2:30pm with a stop at at near-by mosque for our noon prayer. We did Qasr-Jamak of 2 zuhr and 2 Asr prayer. It was so arkward to see a young lady to clean the mosque.

At The Mahad Tahfiz we handed, to the principal, the charity for his Quran Memorizing School which was trusted to us by a friend. This school is dedicated for girls only, ranging from the age of 8 to 22 years old.

After completing the 4-year quran memorizing program , the girls will continue to with Islamic Studies for another 4 years. Some of the girls had completed both term there and one of them is in South Africa and another in England pursuin further studies in Islamic Education.

We chit chat with he principal and his wife and meet up with one of the girls whom we adopted and sponsor her studies there. The principal is our distant cousins.

Then we proceeded to Perigi Hang Tuah, to buy roasted belachan for friends and relatives back home, but felt tired along the way. We checked into Hotel Emperor as shown in above photos. Shortly after check-in, heavy rain started to poured all over Malacca Town, and our trip to Perigi Han Tuah was disrupted. We took the oppurtunity for a short quality nap. We had satay for dinner at the food court across the road.

Next morning, 6 Jan, we proceeded to Perigi Hang Tuah at Duyong District of Malacca. It was about 10km from the hotel.

Hang Tuah was a lagendary Malay hero during the time of Malacca Sultanate around the period of 1500. He made Malacca popular during the time of the Majapahit, Pasai and Acheh Dynasty within the Malay Archipelago. He also fought against the invasion of the Portugese into Malacca. He was said to be an expert in Malay Spiritual Martial Arts and was equivalent to, if not superior than, the Shaolin Monks.

Along with him lived the legendary Hang Li Po and some other Chinese famous figures of Malacca. The Chinese was said to have come to Malacca during the time of the Voyage of Admiral Cheng Ho from China to Malacca. And during the British administration of Malaya, more Chinese migrated into Malacca and other states of Malaysia.

Belachan is a very famous preserved shrimp paste originated from Malacca. It is used as flavoring for Malay and Nyonya cuisines.

With the will of GOD, I will try to continue this episode another day.

Tanjong Berlayar Park Extension

Thess are pictures of the extension of the Tanjong Berlayar Park, which was situated at the end of Labrador Villa Road and Port Road.

So far, I had been posting histories. With the advent of the New Year 2008 and still the coming soon of 1 Muharram 1429 of the Islamic Calendar, which fall on 10 Jan 2008, I am looking forward to post current affairs.

No...no...no...not political or economic affairs.....but rather everyday affairs in my life. You may say its my Life Journal.

On 1 Jan 2008, my wife & I revisited, one of our favorite park in the vicinity of Pasir Panjang and Alexandra Road junction.

Although we were dissapointed with the Nasi Padang and the banana fritters (goreng pisang) that we packed from the Labrador Food Centre, we were amazed at the new discovery of the new extension of the Tg berlayar Park.

There is now an amphibious vehicle landing and launching facilities. Something like the one provided for the Duck Tours amphibious vehicle.

There are also brand new clean and very cosy toilet. Cosy it has an open-air concept. Not that people get to see you doing business, but rather, there are free flow of fresh air as there are ample open space, as it is not trendy with many public toilets. No more fans needed to flush stuffy air and to draw in fresh air....saving electiricty huh...

There were many fishermen and fisherwomen on that bright morning. Many children were brought along by their parents too. Many families also came for recreation. I saw some Europeans families too. Majority were Malay families.

I saw that a Minister had just visited the venue earlier on that new year morning at 7:30 am.

We were there at at about 10:30am to 11:30am and no wonder we found there were many vehicles and we did not get to park our car nearby but at a far distant gravel car park.

There were also many chartered buses to ferry the attendants to the nearby public transport place. I think there was a Community Club family day earlier on with the Minister.

Now you can probably walk all the way to Bukit Chermin Golf Club at the KEPPEL BAY.

From here the view of Sentosa is also very clear and seems to be very near, like you can swim across, if not for the ferry services to Batam.

004-1c The Cave 18:9 The 7 sleepers of Ephesus

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Translation of Verse 9.
Do you counted that the People of the Cave and the Inscription were wonders among Our signs?

Tafsir Jalalain
Or you consider that the Dwellers of the Cave at a certain hill and the Stone Inscription as one of the wonders of Our signs.

According to Jalalain, the names of the Dwellers of the Cave and their genealogy were inscribed on the Stone Inscription. Once the Prophet were asked about them.

Gramatically, this verse means that, do you think that the People of the Cave are more wondrous than the other signs of God? Verily, no, they are not more wondrous.

Tafsir Muhammad Asad
And since the life of this world is but a test, do you really think that the parable of the Men of the Cave and of their devotion to the scriptures could be deemed more wondrous than any other of our messages?

Popular belief is that those youths were true Christians, who did not want to submit to the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius of the Third Century, and to the people around them who had began to worship other gods.

Another version is that they were young and pious Jews of the Essen Brotherhood who were committed and dedicated to the writings, studying and preservation of the Holy Scriptures, in a secluded place near the Dead Sea. Jesus was believed to belong to this group. After the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, they became known as the Qumran community.

Tafsir Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
There are 4 lessons to be learned from the wonderful story of the Companions of the Cave.

1) the relativity of time.

2) the unreality of persecutor and persecuted.

3) the truth of final resurrection.

4) the potency of faith and prayer.

Such wonder are not more wondrous, as it happens everyday on God's earth.

The unbelieving Quraish people of Makkah were in the habit of questioning Prophet Muhammad in order to discredit him. The Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus is one of their question.

Prophet Muhammad told them the main story and pointed out the different variations and disputes among the people regarding the seven sleepers, and emphasized that the story is a parable with spiritual lessons of the highest value.

+++++++++++

Moral Lessons

The truth of Religion and God is not judge by magical powers and incidents but by the plain simple message of being sincere and to GOD. As in the case of Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea, these seven sleepers are simply one of the sign of the greatness of GOD to make things happen out of the scientific reasoning.

You cannot reason how come the Moses and his followers could cross the Red Sea without a boat or a ship! Thus you cannot reason, how come these 7 syouths can sleep in a cave for 309 years??

Therefore the truth is what the prophets had taught us. Anf for us, The Quran is the sign of the greatness of GOD revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

You only need to read and study the Holy Quran to see The Truth.

I have read many other religious books including The Bible and they are not better than the Holy Quran.

003-2c The Cave 18 : 7 - 8 - The Best Specimen

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of Verse 7.
Verily We have made whatever is on earth as its ornaments,to test them, whom among them are of the best conduct.

Tafsir Jalaian.
Verily We have made whatever on earth, such as animals,vegetation, trees, rivers etc. as its decorations,so that We test mankind and observes whom among them has the best conduct in this world, that is, who amongthem are less attach to the worldly matters.


Tafsir Muhammad Asad.
Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a meansby which We put men to a test, showing which of them arebest in conduct.
God lets men reveal their real characters in their respective attitudes, moral or immoral, towards the material goods and benefits which the world offer them. In further analysis, this passage implies that the real motive underlying men's refusal to believe in God'sspiritual message, is almost always their excessive blind attachment to the good of this world, combinedwith false pride in what they regard as their own achievements.

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Literal Translation of Verse 8.
And verily, We will surely make whatever on it to be flattened and barren.

Tafsir Jalaian.
And verily, We will surely make whatever on it to beflattened to the ground level, dry, barren and infertile.


Tafsir Muhammad Asad.
And, verily, in time We shall reduce all that is on itto barren dust

==============to be continued================
Moral
We should not be too much attached to these temporary worldly activities and all its fanciful attractions, but, instead we should pay more attention and spend most of our time on the activities that will bring us permanent success and happiness in the hereafter, that is paradise, which is promised by GOD.
Otherwise, we will end up roasted in the burning Fire of Hell.