18 February 2009

UEFA 036 - Rotterdam

UEFA 036 - Rotterdam

My wife and I walked away from the area after observing the undesirable scenes and ended up in an open space where there were hundreds of pigeons.


An Indian man approached us and offered some grains for feeding the pigeons, of course, for a certain amount of money. Without hesitation we accepted the offer.

As soon as I threw some grains, the pigeon came crowding around me and some came sitting on my head and shoulders. Although clouded by pidgeons, I could see the name Madame Tussaud on one of the building nearby. I thought it was a shopping mall, but, was told later that it was a very famous wax museum. That incident open my eyes to the saying that;


“Ignorant made a person unconcerned, and knowledge made a person curious.”


While my wife and I was busy attending to and entertained by the pigeons, we saw a group of Middle-Eastern family taking video shots. The Indian man quietly told us that they were the family of a Turkish movie actress.


As the evening drew near, we went to the Centraal Station to book train tickets for London. This trip to London must come as a surprise to you, because, it means we had to cross the English Channel, which was known to be very notorious and unfriendly.
How can we cross safely across such an unfriendly sea by train?
Let us ride the train slowly together.

We rushed back to the hotel, checked out and came back to the Centraal Station to catch the late evening train. At this station were also the terminal for public buses, coaches and trams. Water taxis terminal was also nearby and within a short walking distance. Therefore the name Centraal really fit the infra-structure of that place.

The train crawled along Harlem and Den Haag, 2 Dutch cities at the shore of the English Channel. Of course the rail was not by the shoreline. We did not get to see the sea at all. Then it crept into Rotterdam, the famous port of Holland. It stopped here for quite a while, perhaps to load up goods and taking more passengers.

From Rotterdam the train sped up to Antwerpen, a port and border town in Belgium.
Along the way we saw gigantic warehouses and containers storage. The towns and cities of Holland and Belgium were known for their unique and modern building architectures. I was there to witness the truth of their claims. Unfortunately, it was not easy and feasible to capture them in the camera from the train.

From Antwerpen the train moved into Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. The Belgian spelled it as Bruxelles, which is a mixture of French and Dutch slang. It was in Brussels where many important historical events took place, especially for peace treaty meetings and for Nobel award presentations.

Like Switzerland, Belgium was also known to be neutral in many wars and political conflicts. I felt at peace when the train ploughed slowly inside Belgium.


From Brussels it crawled westwards to Gent and a small town Roosendaal. Doesn’t the double ‘a’ remind you of Centraal in Dutch?



I did not miss the opportunity to go down to the station floor and caught a picture of Roosendaal and I. Finally we arrived at the last station Oostende.

544 words
Drafted on 07.04.2007
Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1011hrs
At Woodlands Avenue 5




17 February 2009

010-4e The Cave 18:35 - Will my garden perish?


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




The meaning of Verse 35


He then entered his garden in a sinful manner saying,


"I do not think that my garden will ever perish forever"


====================================================
Imam Jalalain commented that :-


He brought his friend to see his garden. His friend was a pious man, while he was an unbeliever.



Harun Yahya wrote in his book "Signs of The End Times in Surat Al-Kahfi" that this man is ungrateful and clearly displayed his disrespect for ALLAH by asserting that no disaster would ever touch his garden.


In short he claimed to be equal to GOD, because, only GOD knows best wether disaster will fall on a person or on a thing or it will not, as mention in the following verses from The Quran;


"That is so you will know ALLAH knows what is in the heavens and in the Earth. And ALLAH has knowledge of all things"
[Chapter 3 Al-Ma'idah : 7]



"The keys of the Unseen are in HIS posession. No one knows them but HIM. HE knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf fall without HIS knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the ground, and nothing moist or dry, which is not in a Clear Book." [Chapter Al-An'am : 59]

06 February 2009

Syifaa' accompanying the Emperor to Malacca

On 25 January 2009, Syifaa' accompany the Emperor and the Empress on His & Her Excellency Trip to Malacca.


Like Tun Fatimah of the legendary heroin of Malacca she dived into the water of Malacca, somewhere near the Straits of Malacca.

Seeing some of the subjects were having problem in another pool, she came to the rescue.


She was a indeed a very confident rescuer.



But...oopppsss she slipped..>>>>>




But back to her feet with a charming smile, but tired.





The Message of The Quran by Muhammad Asad

***FOREWORD to The Message of THE QURAN by Muhammad Asad 1980***


It cannot be explained by the too-facile argument, so readily accepted by many modern Muslims, that the Qur'an has been "deliberately misrepresented" by its Western translators.



For, although it cannot be denied that among the existing translations in almost all of the major European languages there is many a one that has been inspired by malicious prejudice and -especially in earlier times -by misguided "missionary" zeal.



There is hardly any doubt that some of the more recent translations are the work of earnest scholars who, without being actuated by any conscious bias, have honestly endeavoured to render the meaning of the Arabic original into this or that European language.



In addition, there exist a number of modern translations by Muslims who, by virtue of their being Muslims, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be supposed to have "misrepresented" what, to them, was a sacred revelation.



Still, none of these translations -whether done by Muslims or by non-Muslims -has so far brought the Qur'an nearer to the hearts or minds of people raised in a different religious and psychological climate and revealed something, however little, of its real depth and wisdom.



To some extent this may be due to the conscious and unconscious prejudice against Islam which has pervaded Western cultural notions ever since the time of the Crusades -an intangible heritage of thought and feeling which has left its mark on the attitude towards all things Islamic on the part not only of the Western "man in the street" but also, in a more subtle manner, on the part of scholars bent on objective research.



But even this psychological factor does not sufficiently explain the complete lack of appreciation of the Qur'an in the Western world, and this in spite of its undeniable and ever-increasing interest in all that concerns the world of Islam.


++++will be continued with the will of GOD Al-MIGHTY++++

UEFA 035 – Free Adam

UEFA 035 – Free Adam

We walked along together with the busy morning crowd and arrived at shops selling Dutch colorful clogs.

It reminded me of my late father. Way back in 1960s my father made wooden clogs for each of his children with different sizes. He made them himself. I saw how the clog developed from a raw piece of wood into a footwear. He was a good carpenter. He also made book cabinets and book holders normally used for reading the Quran, which in Malay is called ‘rehal’.


Then we came along row of ‘fast food’ shops and restaurants. One of them is named ‘Free Adam’ coffee shop. FEBO is one where fast hot food are dispense at an insertion of coins.


At another row of wider back-lanes are shopping centers and shopping malls carrying branded clothings, shoes and accessories. We stopped for a long time inside one of their supermarkets and were amazed with all kinds of strange products and product names. One of them was a peanut butter with the brand name ‘Pindakaas’. It looked tantalizing that we bought a bottle to bring it home for memories.
We liked the Pindakaas very much and missed it when it was finished.
We also bought many kinds of unique chocolates and sweets for our children. For relatives we bought cookies, biscuits and uniquely flavored tea bags.
Just outside the supermarket were flower shops. We stopped here again for quite a long time admiring the beautiful flowers of Holland. We were especially, hypnotized by the various colors of fresh tulips. My wife bought some glass and plastic tulips for our home and souvenirs.

It was by now almost lunch time. We asked around and catch a tram back to Centraal. We had decided earlier that morning to have lunch at the Turkish restaurant where we bought our pita kebab last evening.
During lunch, each of us had a Shish Kebab. It came in 2 very long skewers which extended beyond the circumference of the large dining plates. Each piece of lamb skewed in the skewer was about a size of a 50 cents coin and the thickness was about the thickness of the bristles of a toothbrush. It was really filling.
That Turkish restaurant was located at Oudebrugsteeg, which was the name of a road. God forbid, that the restaurant was flanked by indecent adult shops both on the left and right of it, such that, a naughty glance was unavoidable. They sold all kinds of items to arouse our sexual desires and temptation to buy their ‘dirty’ products. Please don’t quote me, but I would call that business ‘dirty money’. The dirt here is pornographic.
Some pictures and techniques displayed in the windows were actually depicting women as sex slaves.
I thought the West are very concerned about women liberation and equality?
How come their society allowed such a free display of enslaving women to satisfy the sexual desires of men?
Where is the liberty of the women?
When will the women be treated decently equal to men?
What happen to the morality and dignity of women?

Women liberation organizations must make strong effort to help the women of the world to be given the freedom and equality to live decently and be free from becoming sex objects. The Girl Power must protect women from becoming nude and half-naked models on advertisement boards, magazines, televisions and internet.
For example, what does naked women had to do in car, computer and condominium advertisements?
Instead, the advertisers should portray elegant ladies in jackets and official-cut pants to potary an image of professionals and carrier women.
Being present in Europe and seeing their lifestyles with my own eyes, I do not have anymore high hope for western philosophy of modernism, education and way of life. Although my religious adherence had worn out, I still cannot accept such extreme lifestyles.
No wonder in one of the wall painting graffiti in Basel I saw the word ‘sex objek’. I assumed the graffiti was displaying the painter’s disagreement with the western social system that does not protect people from becoming the sex victims.
Once again, I saw the liberal philosophy of life, defeating man’s natural instinct to be a good human and servant of the Al-Mighty God.
Given the ultimate freedom, man will do things to their own destruction.
No wonder, many prophets were sent to this Earth.
I came to know that there were about 124,000 genuine prophets sent to this world from the time of Prophet Adam to Prophet Muhammad. Man need to be guided to lead decent lifestyles and be obedient to the Sustainer and be always mindful and thankful to the Creator of man, heaven and Earth.
643 words
Drafted on 07.04.2007
Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1022hrs
At Woodlands Avenue 5