adie kosong tiga

2009-08-29T08:37:00.000+08:00

Blogspot still not working with me. Come visit me at facebook for continuation of Jogja, Izutsu, the cave and European adventures etc...

2009-07-25T12:20:00.002+08:00

Someone said isn't this a new post..

My answer is'
"yeah new post but I cannot add pictures, video clips, and cannot edit the words into colours and sizes. If can will someone help me to check if it can be done in your post.

The normal text box to insert text and upload picture is missing. All that is shown is the Preview section. Above the prview, which is compose section......... it is blank ....

blogspot......!!!! Waht happen to your blogspot compose section its blank....!!!

Blogger: adie kosong tiga - Create Post

2009-07-22T23:22:00.000+08:00

Blogger: adie kosong tiga - Create Post
I dont know what nonsense now has happen that make it unable for me to upload new post

2009-07-22T23:16:00.001+08:00

Hello Blogspot...!!!
Help...!!! help...!!!
How come I can't see the normal New Post to edit colour, and size of text. I also cannot find the icon to insert photos etc...

2009-07-19T08:28:00.000+08:00

Jogja 06 Car hit by train

2009-07-19T07:51:00.016+08:00

From the silver craft we headed for check-into Hotel Saphir.

Along the way we had to cross a railway crossing.

Our coach had to stop one car away from the barrier, as the train is already coming its way.

But, we saw on the other side of the road, a car was trapped in between the railway line and the barrier.

"O MY GOD.....!!!!", I exclaimed in my heart.

KA...BOOM...!!!! here comes the train.

Our Jogja guide turned around and said that, it is a common sight in Indonesia. Somehow, in most cases the driver got enough time to manouver the vehicle sideway so that it is not hit by the train.

After the railway crossing my eyes were wildly looking at the local scene, such as sign boards and advertisement panels. This one here was in English and apparently sponsored by the "Stop Smoking"government orgainisation.

It has a big footnote message in Bahasa Indonesia, which means,

"Smoking can caused cancer, Heart Attack, Impotency and bad effects on pregnancy and foetus."

One turn before we arrived at Hotel Saphir, we passed by another university but I only managed to catch the glimpse of its admin building.

It was quite a journey to the hotel, which is located along a busy street.

It was an elegant 4-star hotel. A shopping complex is annexed to it, and has the same name "Saphir Shopping Mall", as the owner is the same.

After a refreshing bath my wife & I pop into the Shopping Mall to look for three-pin adapter to charge my Rikoh camera battery.

Adapter is one of the necessities if we travel with electronic gadgets that need charging, e.g. handphones and laptops.

In this trip i had forgotten to think about that, and so now urgently looking for one, but couldn't find it. I asked around and was told that it is available in the supermarket at Basement 1, but, we were already late for pick up to dinner.

We rushed back to the hotel lobby where almost everyone was already assembled.

As usual there were still someone not ready yet.

Anyway, that delayed gave more time for our Qodariyah Travel owner to chit chat more things with the owner of the hotel, who had took his time to meet us. Possibly, I think his family stayed in this hotel too.

I have forgotten which restaurant we had the dinner and I had also missed out to take photo of the restaurant, but not the food.

After dinner we went to the Karita. Along the way I saw this Kopi sign board. It made me remembered my Noitre Expresso Swiss coffee that I left behind in my office.

Karita is a building housing clothings for Muslim ladies and men.

Of course ladies garments overpowered the men clothings, because ladies are more fashionable than men, even though at 50s & 60s.

Here in this picture you can see that they have almost everything a person need.

But don't ask me more because I don't know what is Mahar Parsel.

Here is Fitriah my travel friend browsing the Quran.

After spending half of our pocket, we went back toHotel Saphir and called it a day.

Jogja 05 Silver

2009-07-18T08:09:00.018+08:00

From the batik industry we proceeded to the silver industry.

We visited the one called HS Silver
It was a low single-storey building.
It was hot & sunny because the sky was blue.
If the sky is white, then it will be cooler, as it means the sky is covered with clouds.
But bright hot sunny weather is good for photography.

HS is hort for Harto Suhardjo.

Ok here you see another Dutch spelling.

In Dutch "DJO" is pronounced as "J" in English.Hence, in pronunciation of this shop is

"Harto Suharjo".

That is why, I was saying in Jogja 01 that, it is not that easy for any Singaporean Malay tounderstand Indonesian Malay. We have not considered the colloquail slangs yet.

The resident guide of HS started with an introduction of the raw material used in their industry.

I got the chance to see raw pure silver, brass and many other items used in silverware processing.

I also got to see this pure boraks.

No...no...no....this is not "borak" which in English means "a lie", but it is a kind of powder used for polishing silverware.

They had for display some traditional accessories,which were better known as costume jewelleries.

In those days these jewelleries were worn outside their clothings. Even in the old photographs of our ancestors of the Singaporean Nonya and Peranakan families, we observed that they wore their accessories over their dress. So men had no chance to see parts of the women body.

But nows-a-days, as many womens exposed their body, the accessories are worn over the raw flesh and can be seen by the naughty eyes of men.

I also caught the close up of the traditional silverware used in ancient Indonesian life.

I must say they are marvellous and majestic.

The Holy Quran mentions repeatedly that the dwellers of Paradise, will get to drink numerous kind of drinks serve in silver cups.

My friend, Akram, who was a surveyor, in the Changi Airport MRT Line, and switched professionas a promoter of AP300 US health products, once explained to me that, silver can help to prevent us from many disease.

He showed me a couple of products that had silver contents. I asked him shockingly,

"Akram...you mean we can consume silver...!!!???

"Yeah...but with prescription. Don't go and swallow your silver jewelleries or siver plate. That can be fatal...!!!" he said and continued explaining that...it was exactly the reason why our ancestors had silverware as their household utensils.

Their cups and saucers, pots and woks, basins and jugs were all made of silver.

I gathered later that it was precisely the reason why the Holy Quran mentions silver in its verses which were the revelation from The GOD Al-Mighty.

GOD is encouraging us to take benefit from silver,thru HIS hints in the revelations.

It is for us to manupulate raw silver and convert it as utensils or for consumption.

One of the benefit of silver is a cure for gastric.So guys drop at the nearest Pharmacy and ask the pharmacists if they have such a prescription for gastric..

Do you guys know that silver in Chemistry is given its chemical code as "Ag", the way oxygen was given it's code as "O2" and Calcium as "Ca". I learnt them in school in 1969.

O how wonderful were those secondary schooldays.

By the way, I was from Naval Base Secondary School.

Wat.......!!!! you never heard of such school????

Guys....it was at Chong Pang Road just outside
the gate of The British Naval Base barracks
along Canberra Road.

Now it is in Yishun Housing Estate.

Coincidentally, we from the Class of 1969,
will get together this coming 31 July 2009 at
Swiss'otel Stamford to reminische the past.

Back to Jogja.

While we were browsing, my wife & I bumped
into our relatives. She came with her family,
but joined a different travel agent. Her
group of about 10 person, just arrived from
a 16-hour trip by coach from Jakarta.

After parting with them I had the urge to
visit the loo.

After parting with them I had the urge to
visit the loo.

I confessed that they had clean and fresh
fragrant toilets.

From the loo I walked out to the nearby road.

There was a madrasah just across the road.

Madrasah is an Islamic school. This one was
managed by the non-government organisation
called Muhammadiyah and it offer an upper
secondary level of education.

Long before the coming of the colonials,
Indonesia had many such schools. It showed that
Indonesians and all the Malays within
its Archipelago called Nusantara, were educated
people and were never illiterate as fausely
recorded by the colonials in their history books.

Of course, they followed the Arabic and Islamic
curriculum, which were the source of the
western education. This subject is too long
to continue it here.

So back to Jogja. Yes I saw that many madrasahs and
universities in Jogja are managed by Muhammadiyah.

There are many other secular government universities
in Jogja, as it is well-knowned for its progressive
education programs designed by the Sultan of Jogja.

Mr Sidek Sanif, our ex-Senior Minister used to study
in University Gajah Mada in Jogja in the early 60s.
I saw it when we were going for lunch.

Jogja 04 Batik

2009-07-15T00:21:00.011+08:00

Jogja 04 Batik

After lunch visited the Plentong batik home industry at Jalan Tirtoopuran.

It was really close to traditional printing technology, as most of the work process was manual.
The worker were also very relaxed, not like me in my office.

Although I am not doing a production engineering kind of work, yet I was always put to do things in a rush.

Perhaps everyone in my office wantsto be seen as efficient worker and they do thing in fast forward mode.

As a result, so many people give me so many things to do at the same time.

But here, in Jogja, the people are more relaxed and peaceful.
The way they talk are also full of pause and musical chords.

I dun mean they sing when they talk, but, they do not talk so fast like us.

The batik designers, sat in a group of 2.

There was a a wok of liquid candle and a wok of liquid colouring agent.
It was only a mini wok.

They dip thei batik pen in the candle and draw free hand on the cloth.

Then they dip another pen into the colouring agent and spread the colouron the cloth.

I saw 2 plastic packet of items thatlooked to me like some snacks.
I asked the lady,

"Are these 2 items also used for designing batik?"

She laughed and replied in E minor,

"No...no...these 2 items are for meto eat when I am tired."

I was actually teasing them.

At another corner i saw a very familiar print of batik. Its the icon for "Wayang Kulit".
Wayang Kulit is a kind of puppet show in traditional Javanese life.

This one looks familiar because this icon is used by M Nasir, a Malaysian song composer,as his logo for his production company,Luncai Emas Sdn Bhd.

I strolled around and saw this batik mould, which looks so attractive.

The guide said that, different batik printsare used for different traditional occasion.And different print are used by different people.

There are batik for wedding ceremonies.The bride used a slightly different prints from the groom.

Of course there are batik designs for royal occasion, and, there are batik designs for royal family only, and a diffrent design for palace officials and designs for common folks too.

Phew....so hard to digest such complexities.

Back at the end were the bath for washing the printed batik.

And then, wa.lla....as we were strolling out,I met my bride....hmm

No no no not a lady...but blue batik,my favorite color.

A georaphical map was hung on the wall. It showed that Jogja or the official name, Jogjakarta, is at the southern most part of Jawa Tengah (Central Java).

The city centre of Jogja is in the middle of the Jogjakarta Province.

What did you say,

"I spelled Jogjakarta wongly...?"

No guys, I did not spelled it wongly, but,it's because Indonesia was once under theDutch.

The Dutch colonial government translated the old Bahasa Indonesia, which were written in Arabic character into Dutch Romanised alphabets.

In Dutch alphabet, "J" is pronounced as "Y"

Therefore, in short, Jogjakarta should be pronounced as "Yogyakarta".

But, the younger generation after their Independence,learnt that "J" should be pronounced as English pronounced it in the word "jungle'.

Hence, the splelling stays as Jogjakarta,but the pronunciation changed from Dutch toEnglish.

I visited Microsoft Office's office

2009-07-14T23:34:00.002+08:00

Microsoft Office's office

The address as I had it from the Microsoft On-Line is

One Marina Boulevard, #22-01 Singapore.

I thought it was somewhere near the Marina South MRT Station.
So I rode my bike via Raffles Quay, as there is a new link to
Marina South from there.

But, as I made my way into Raffles Quay at the junction of Finlayson Green,
I saw a tall building called One Marina Boulevard.

I paused at the entrance to the car park. I saw the security gurads
waving his hands, not because he recognized me, but he was
signalling that motorcyles is not allowed into the car park.

I turned right at the next junction and noticed that the road name is
Marina Boulevard. I parked my bike on the pavement
as there is no other option.

On my way up I saw thae building name is NTUC Income.

I went to the security counter, gave my NRIC to a charming lady
and registered as a visitor. She gave me a "Visitor" sticker.

I was puzzled and asked the security officer how to get thru the barrier,
as I was not given a bar-coded card. The security officer said something
and i thought I had to remove the sticker from my chest and tap it
onto the panel.

He tap my shoulder very friendly and said to me slow and clear,
"Enter your NRIC No. on the panel."

I did and the barrier opened.

I went straight up to Level 22 and proceed to the reception counter.

Another 2 charming ladies welcome me and asked how they can help me.

I said straight, " I want to buy the Microsoft Home Version 2007."

One of the lady answered, "O we don't sell that item here."

She looked like a Malay girl, but you never know she can be a Filipino.
So I continued to speak in English.

"I purposely came here to see Microsoft Office's office.
I thought you are somewhere near the beach there."
I tried to swerve my way around.

"Sir you can buy it from any computer shop." she continued.

"But the address is shown in the on-line technical support", I replied.

"That's strange." said the other lady who is a little older than the first one.

While they were browsing the on-line printouts I showed them,
I saw the picture of the
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007
on the wall.
I also heard that they were talking in Malay. So both of them are Malay.

The elder lady addressed me, "Sir, I am sorry all the officers are not available."

"It's OK then. I will go and buy it from the computer shop.
Do you of any shop nearby?"

She pick up the phone and talked to someone,
"Derrick, there is a ........" she paused thinking what is the right word to describe me.
".......a person here. He wants to buy Microsoft Office Home Version 2007."
She paused again and then looked at me and said, "Funan Centre."

I thanked them for helping me out and as I was moving out the younger lady said,
"Encik boleh beli di mana-mana kedai komputer pun."

I smiled my way out figuring that she must be thinking,
"What is this old Malay man going to do with Microsoft Office 2007."

On my way down the lift I looked at myself in the mirrored wall of the lift and sigh...
"Hmm yeah I do looked old to come to One Marina Boulevard to buy Microsoft Office 2007".

I realised later that in the printout it was mebntioned that it is the corporate address.

I managed to get one at Harvey Norman in Funan Centre. It costs me S$248.00

On reaching home I quickly installed the 25-digit product code
and God willing you will be able to see the continuation of my Jogja trip soon.

I hate myself

2009-07-04T07:02:00.004+08:00

Hating Myself

Sorry guys...I am unable to upload more photos in my blog as my Microsoft Home & Student Trial Version has expired and I have not renewed it.

I am very upset...for the past 3 days, Thursday 2nd July, Wednesday 3rd july & Independence Day 4th July 2009.

Upset because, I hate myself for not renewing it earlier than before it expired.

I hate myself because, my carelessness make me now so frustrated that I cannot continue my Jogja Travelog.

You guys must have seen it by now that I have a passion for writing.

Now I have to be thankful to The GOD Al-Mighty, for I still can read.

I still can write with pencil and keyboard.

What I cannot do now is to write using Microsoft Office, cannot upload Jogja photos and cannot edit the big size Jogja photos into a smaller files.

And i dun feel like writing when I cannot upload the photos.

Guys, I was pushed around when making the on-line purchase for the Microsoft Home & Student Full Version.

First i received an on-line message during the purchase, that "there is problem with payment" from my VISA debit card. I hate myself because I did not put more money in my OCBC VISA Debit Card before renewing it. I do not have a credit card because I had bad debts when I had one.

Then i wrote to their Customer Support about the problem.

I had an email reply asking me to call the Microsoft Singapore Office.

I call yesterday morning, 3rd July 2009, and was told to submit my enquiry on-line.

Meanwhile at home I received another email from Microsoft Service Support to email to another email address in Microsoft so that my enquiry can be attended to.

Feeling pissed off. I wrote a nasty emails and feedback this morning complaining to them,

"Why push me around? I only need the Full Version please help me to get one. What's the problem...!!! Don't be shy...!!! If you cannot get money from my VISA Debit Card, just tell me straight into my face, so that I can go to Microsoft office in Singapore and buy one from your shelves."

I know it sounds a bit harsh, but, I am really fed-up to be pushed around.

Jogja 03 Lunch at Pesta Perak

2009-06-28T22:13:00.008+08:00

When all the travelers are ready we boarded the air-con tour bus.
The tour guide from Borobodur Discovery Tour,
introduced himself as Pak Tri.

Of course that is his simple name. His avtual name was much longer.
I remembered something like Trisno Buwono.

Pak Tri is a cheerful young man of about 35 of age.
It was a Saturday and he said it is normal to have quite a jam
in the Jogja town centre on that day.
It was also a begining of their school holidays.

After quite a lengthy historical background of Jogja
he finally said that we were heading for lunch.

Wow !!! how the enzyme in my stomach suddenly pop out
from the it's dry wall.

Why not...I had no meal in the plane,
and in the morning at Terminal One Staff canteen,
I had not the apetite for heavy breakfast.

Our lunch was at this prestigoius Pesta Perak Restaurant.
Translated into English it's means Silver Jubilee Restaurant.
No wonder Pak Tri said that this restaurant is normally
patronize for couples who had been married for 25 years.

Of course it was not restricted for such couples only.
I would believe that the prestigious name reflect the kind of service
and the ambience it offer to the diners.

Indeed, it was prestigious and the food they served were elegant and delicious.
Among the speciality popular local dish is the young jackfruit
cooked in sweet soya sauce.

Of course an adventurous traveler like me will try it out,
and I would say that not quite to my taste as it was a little too sweet
to pair up wih rice. Anyway there sambal belachan to
compliment it.

Another diner pointed to me the bull skin curry.
I tried that too and couldn't admire it as I felt
like eating a sponge.

Of course there were many other specialities
which will take too much time to describe.

The ambience was very soothing although the weather outside
was very hot. Perfect for loving couples.

Traditional items like wayang kulit and musical instruments
bring the bamboo wall to life.

Just opposite of the restaurant was a church.
I had forgotten to identify what church it was.
Anyway Pak Tri said that the majority of the population
in Jogja are Muslims.

After lunch we headed for the next destination.
Along the way I saw the magnificent sign boards
showing road and town names and directions.

There were many grafities on building walls.
Ironically they all look very nicely done,
as though they were purposely allowed to be
grafitied by the authority.

Standing proud at the entrance of their towns and villages,
are kind of arches, which are very common also in Malaysia.

Perhaps they are remnants of the historical cultures
of the Malay Archipelago which is strongly adhered to
by the Malays in South-East Asia as "Nusantara".

Nusantara is a kind of the Malay Brotherhood.
Such that all the Malays in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore
and as far as Philipines and Thailand will also adopt
ourselves as brothers.

When we meet in the street, we will easily smile
and greet each other.

Once, during my tour of duty, I greeted a Malay man,
we shooked hands, and then we parted.

My Singaporean Chinese lady working colleague asked me,

"Was that man your friend or relative?"

"No.." I answered.

Then she asked,

"How come you all shook hands like friends?"

I had to brief her a little bit of our religious culture
that encourages us to greet each other and shake
hands whenever we meet.

Folks we stopped here for a while
and continue again in Jogja 04
with the help of God Al-Mighty.

Jogja 02 - Very Warm Welcome

2009-06-27T11:56:00.010+08:00

As soon as we were cleared from the Immigration & Custom, the travel agent from Jogja welcome us with this specially made banner. they are from The Borobodur Discovery Tour Co.
Then I saw the public area of the Jogja airport.

When I turned around to look for the other co-travelers, I saw another friendly welcoming poster. O how they were very friendly. Much friendlier than us.

While waiting for the others to be cleared, i went to look for toilets....the loo to release my bladder.

I almost couldn't find it as it was written in a polite bahasa Indonesia as "Kamar Kecil" which means in English "Small Room". It means toilet.

In the man toilet, I had saw this label on its door "Closet Jongkok". I would say that it's more Javanese language than Bahasa Indonesia.

Anyway, it means the squatting toilet and not the sitting pan. I wonder what sitting pan would be in Javanese.

When i came out from the toilet, i saw another friendly welcome. this time from the famous Indonesian Pop Band "Ungu".

Enough for now guys.

++++Look out for Jogja 03 Insya ALLAH++++

UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam

2009-06-27T09:10:00.006+08:00

UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam

As before, the Immigration procedure was a breeze without stamping our passports. Before we could even identify between the immigration officials from the Custom officials, we were already moving fast on the road towards North. There were not many traffic along the highway.

Somewhere in highway to Amsterdam in Belgium the Euroline bus stopped for midnight supper. There were McDonalds, Burger King, a mini market, cafes and pubs.

As the dawn was breaking, we arrived at Rotterdam. I saw once again the familiar buildings as I had seen in 1994. This time I saw more unique buildings as the Euroline bus took us right into the heart of the Rotterdam city centre for some passengers to alight.

After a short wait, some new passengers boarded the bus and off it went towards Amsterdam.

We reached Amstel Bus Terminal in Amsterdam at about 8 am.

We made some enquiries and were shown to a nearby family hotel which I didn’t even got to know the name. It was a short entertaining walk, although, we had to pull quite heavy luggage.

Although the family hotel had only shared common toilets but it was a good bargain, as we were only on transit to other destinations.

After negotiating the price and other arrangements, a tragedy happened.

When we were asked to pay a deposit, my wife turned pale, as she found that she did not have her handbag with her. She realized traumatically that she had left it in the Euroline bus. All our money and travelers cheques were in her handbag.

We were blank with silent for a while, before, we could think of what to do next.

The land lady was kind. She offered some advice. She suggested that we pay the deposit with whatever cash we had in hand and she willingly served us breakfast.

In the meantime, she helped us to call the Traveller Cheque’s office to cancel our traveler cheques, so that, whoever found them cannot turn them for cash.

Then she suggested also that we go back to the Euroline Bus Terminal and asked for access to the bus to find the lost handbag.

We were assured by the officer in the Traveler cheques office that we will get back our money, the next day. My wife was slightly relieved and can smile a little bit.

With that we enjoyed our continental breakfast. The landlady had a young daughter named Megan. She was cute and was about 7 years old. We talked to her and she could understand and speak English. She and her dog, named Shadow was looking at us from far while we dig into the bread and jam.

Megan always smile while Shadow was looking at us with sharp eyes, like a guard. I think Shadow was an Alsatian, or perhaps a Shepherd dog. Although, he looked fierce in the beginning with his growl, but after some pat from Megan, he looked a bit friendly.

018-1 The Cave 18:51 -

2009-06-27T07:45:00.005+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi

The meaning of Verse 51

I did not bring them to witness the creation of Heaven and Earth and not even their own creation. I would not take those who are astray as assistants.

Commentary by Imam Jalalain:-

God did not appoint the Iblis and his offsprings to witness the creation of Heaven, Earth and themselves.

God did not bring anyone to witness the creation of anyone else, and HE did not take the satans as assistants in performing HIS creation, then why are you obeying them?

Commentary by Harun Yahya:-

Believers should only befriend the believers, the obedient and those who have good character.

Being with such people will protect us from going astray, and encourage us to do the good.

Satan appears to people as friends. Quran always commands believers to choose other believers as friends and helpers.

My Observations & Opinions :-

It is not that Muslims should not befriends Non-Muslims. This verse meant to say that Muslims must have at least one close Muslim friend to become some sort of a guide to him. When we are alone we are prone to do sinful things, but, if you have a Muslim friend with us, then that sinful thought comes under control.

===== will be continued with the help of GOD ====

Jogja 01 - Welcome to Jogja

2009-06-25T23:10:00.015+08:00

Hi
Here we are again. You guys must be familiar with this scenery. It is one of the unique scenery of Singapore Changi International Airport. Unique, because there are shops even near the boarding gates at the aero bridge. That means you can shop until you drop and finish off all your Singapore Dollars before you leave the island.

We were gathered here at 9:15 am for a departure flight at 11:10am.

My wife and I left our Toyota Altis at home and took the Singapore Bus Service No 858, from Woodlands Regional Centre to Changi Airport via Yishun Housing Estate. It was a smooth ride.

We were on a 5-day Majestic Jogjakarta + Solo Tour
Prescribed by Qodariyah Travel & Tours Pte Ltd, 5A Jalan Pinang, Singapore.
Tel : +65-62941562
Email : qodariyahtravel@yahoo.com

Another familiar unique scene is the aero bridge which is clearly visible from the pier of the Changi Airport boarding gates.

Our flight was Air Asia QZ 7139. There were long queue at the check-in counter. Perhaps because it was school holiday season. Also there were 3 destination on that morning. One to Jogja, another to Kuala Lumpur and I have forgotten the third one.

In the plane you would have a little cultural shock, because, The Malay Language that we have learnt so far is now tested. It is now in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language) and not Malay Language. Any Singaporean or Malaysian malay may find some difficulties to understand Bahasa Indonesia.

As we were reaching Jogja, we could see the mountains and the rivers from the air. I think this one must have been the volcanic Mount Merapi which exploded in 2006, and next to it must have been Solo River, very famous for its floods in the 1950s, so much so that there was a very famous Indonesian song written about this river. The song is entitled "Bengawan Solo".

Everyone knows how to sing it in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. There is even a huge chain of bakery & confectionery outlets here in Singapore shopping sentres by the name of "Bengawan Solo".

As we were landing I managed to capture this pictures of Jogja main road, but, I was shocked even further when we landed on the airport, because the name of the airport is a;lmost similar to mine. It is called Adisutjipto Airport. Isn't it almost the same as adiekosongtiga...??? Perhaps it is the name of my undiscovered twin...???

I was told that this airport was only recently open for international flight. Hence, there is no aerobridge yet.

I like this kind of airport, because, there is a lot of things to see, while there is nothing to see via the aero bridge. Nows a days, you hardly have the chance to walk on the airport ground. You would propbably go from one aero bridge to another, and then direct to the hotels.

Therefore, this airport looks very friendly especially with this huge sign board to welcome you.

Guys......look out for Jogja 02....in the next posting.....soon....Insya ALLAH.

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle

2009-06-18T21:35:00.006+08:00

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle
Sorry guys still no photo yet until we reached Amsterdam.

In Victoria, we went straight to the Euroline counter and booked 4 tickets to Amsterdam. We had a long wait. So we went wandering from one end of Victoria to another, taking pictures and buying souvenirs and tit bits for the long journey ahead. We also had lunch before departure.

In this trip I managed to borrow a video camera from my Manager. I took quite many shots. In fact, there were very few photographs, as most events were recorded in the video.

The Euroline bus took us through the London city before it reached Dover. The bus had to wait for a while, before, it made it onto the deck of the ferry that will take us to Amsterdam. The bus was full. About 40 people were on board and we were of different races and nationalities. We did not know each other, as Euroline, was not a travel coach, but more like any express bus service from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.

We realized the advantage of taking Euroline bus than the train, is that, we did not have to carry our luggage up the ferry. The luggage remained in the luggage compartment of the bus, while it drove up the ramp to the deck of the ferry with all the passengers on board.

From the car park of the ferry we walked up to the lounge and finally to the passenger seating bay on the upper decks.

Once again, it was a very huge ferry like the Superstar Virgo that used to take Singaporeans from the Cruise Centre at Harbour Front to Penang or Phuket via the Malacca Straits.

My 2 daughters went by themselves exploring the facilities of the luxury cruise, while my wife and I was fast asleep from tiredness of the previous long journey, via plane, train and bus.

So you see the astounding experiences our daughters had for the first time in their life.

We started off from home with a taxi from Tampines to Changi Airport.

Then, we flew in a jumbo jet from Changi Airport in Singapore to Heathrow Airport in London.

Immediately, after landing we took the tube or MRT from Heathrow down to Victoria. After that, we took a comfortable coach from Victoria to Dover. Then now, on a luxury cruise from Dover in England to Carlisle in France, across the English Channel.

All these happened in quick sequence, one after another with only short wait in between.

We arrived at Carlisle at about 8pm. Before the ferry docked at the bay, we followed the crowd down to the lower deck to board the Euroline bus once again.

The ferry crossing of the English Channel from Dover to Carlisle was about 4 hours. We were expected to have our dinner on the ferry at our own cost, but we had it earlier in Victoria Bus Terminal.

It was quite a long wait, before the bus finally made it to the road level in Carlisle. All these while, our heavy luggage were safely in the luggage compartments of the Euroline bus.

Drafted on 18-04-2007 at 2200pm
Edited on 12-07-2008 at 0956 hrs

Who is Izutsu ?

2009-06-18T06:48:00.005+08:00

Wat is this book all about?
Who is this Japanese guy? Is he a Muslim or wat...?

I have just embark reading Chapter one after the Introduction and Preface. The start is quite boring with further introduction on language, grammer and reasons for writing the book.

I endure.........I endure.......I endure.........

Didn't people say that " no pain no gain ".

UEFA 39b - Free n Easy

2009-06-18T06:26:00.004+08:00

For my new relatives, friends and visitors, UEFA means Unexpected European Far-Flung Adventure. This one was in March 1996. At this moment still no photos. Perhaps next posting, when we enter Amsterdam.

I wanted to put some photos related to this travelog, but, kwank, kwank, kwang...they were not scanned yet.

In the last travelog, in UEFA 39a, I was writing that from the Heathrow Airport we took the tube to Gloucester to meet my niece, Rin, who was studying there is London. She stayed in Gloucester. It was a very short meeting, as we were in a hurry to catch the Euroline bus to Amsterdam.

Although it was a short meeting but I was happy that we could made contact although, she was from Malaysia, and we were from Singapore, but we met in Gloucester, England. Ain’t that some kind of an achievement.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps my daughters who followed us in that trip were a little upset, as we had to made so much trouble, just to meet their cousin whom they were not close with.

Unexpectedly, I am the type who is willing to endure the impossibilities and the undesirables, just for the sake of traveling and meeting family. It has been my personality, to visit families’ members, even if they be as far and difficult a place as Timbuktu. As you have seen in my previous trips, I always had someone to visit.

I had been visiting my first sister, Kak Ani, as far back as since 1967, when she was married and moved out to her own house. I would stay a night with her, doing nothing more important and without any other intentions than just a casual visit. When I was about 18, I took her first child, Eddy, out for a short trip from her house in KD Malaya, which was along Admiralty Road West to Johor Bahru. Rin is her fourth child.

When Kak Ani moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1971, My brother and I visited her family at Jalan Pahang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and stayed there for 2 nights.

In 1984 when I had a work assignment in KL, I dropped by at her house in Damansara and stayed with her for 2 nights, instead of staying in the hotel. My Malaysian colleague would come to pick me up in the morning from her house, to our Diethelm Instrumentation’s office, in Ampang, which was far from Damansara.

Whenever, I drove up for holiday tours in Malaysia, I would drop for a night at her house. Next day we proceed again to Penang, Terengganu, Kelantan and other destinations within Malaysia.

During her son’s engagement, sometime in 1996, we took that opportunity to travel up with her family to the bride’s house in Penang. After the engagement’s ceremony we proceeded to Perlis, up to the border of Thailand at Padang Besar. Then we went into Gua Kelam, Perlis’s famous luminous cave. We also went to the Kuala Perlis, where there were ferry services to Langkawi.

As for this Gloucester detour, it was just one of my passion to travel free-n-easy, on my own without travel guide. I like to stop anywhere I like, then proceed again to next destinations like a wanderer. Well that’s me.

Gloucester was a busy town. The wind was cold, as it was only about 9 am. After handing her some homemade delicacies from Singapore, we bid farewell to my niece, Rin and her room mate, and proceeded with the tube to Victoria.

A day with Mom

2009-06-14T10:04:00.013+08:00

Two families gathered at Block 5 Toa Payoh

One is carried by Toyota Altis

The other one was carried by Hyundai Avante

First stop was Steven Drive formerly knowned as Steven Road

No no no they were not from drainage Dept inspecting the drain.

The lady in red was not their Inspectors. She is Syifaa' my grand daughter. The smiley is a prince. No no no not Prince of Egypt...not that TV one.

Rather they gathered there to rewind their memory of their nostalgic kampong house.

My wife and her sister were born there. So they bring their mother back to the place wehere they were born and where their mother brought them up. They had many memories to tell us. Although, we were kind of blurr like sotong, we somehow still manage to swallow as we do know of that place at Steven Drive. Its in Singapore by the way.

After a long chit chat at Steven drive we moved on to Ba' Alwi Mosque for the midday prayer, Solat Zuhor. It is one of the old mosque that had been around perhaps for hundreds of years.

Again this lady in red is not the official of the mosque.

Mom looked happy to have the oppurtunity to re-visit the past. This mosque is one of the most popular mosque in Singapore and it is near their kampong house.

After prayer we drove off on a leisure car tour for Mom. I bring them along the old roads via Sixth Avenue, Jalan Haji Alias, Coronation Road, Bin Tong Road, Holland Road and North Buona Vista Road.

We stopped for lunch at Chicken Rice Shop in Vivo City. It was crowded 'giler'. Giler is a punk word for mad. Meaning crowded like mad. Difficult to get empty parking lot. It was Saturday, and its a Family Day every Saturday, it seems, at Vivo City.

From Vivo City we drove up to the Mount Faber, AYE, ECP, KPE and out at Sengkang.

In Sengkang we stopped for afternoon prayer, Solat Asar, at Al-Mawaddah Mosque. This new mosque was opened in May 2009. It has a reputation of a Evironmentally Friendly Mosque, for water and energy savings.

From the mosque we drop in at a brother's house in Sengkang.

In Sengkang Mom get to visit one of her younger grand daughter.

From there we drove to Woodlands.

We prayed the evening prayer, Solat Maghrib , in Woodlands and then call it a day.

O Mama

2009-06-14T09:41:00.005+08:00

When I remember you my tears well in my eyes.
When I remember you I will remember Terpedo, KD Malaya, Naval Base, Khalsa Crescent, RNTD.

When I look at my children I will remember you when I was your child.

How precious were those moments. You have made me what I am now, a happy grandfather.

O GOD Al-Mighty The Most Kind. Please forgive me and both my parents. Please be kind to them the way they had been kind to me. Shower upon them YOUR blessings. Make their graves like the gardens of Paradise. Let their graves shine and be as wide till the eyes cannot see.

O ALLAH, I realize that one day I will die and I will also be placed into the grave. Hence,please forgive all my sins big and small, and make my graves like the garden of Paradise too.

The Old Admiral

2009-06-06T12:25:00.006+08:00

Remember the young man who dreamt to be an Admiral in The Navy.

Well.........now is a wise old man.

No no no he did not join the Zen in Japan.......but he is wise because as he aged to pick up reading seriously.....so that after his retirement he can start to write.

You are invited to view his private library........at least thru this translucent page of the blog...

Of all books he likes Religion and Philosophy.

You know.....he is close to become a philosopher if not for advice from his family...who persuaded him to stand on reality and contribute to save humanity from the wall of his 5-room flat in Woodlands.

Now is embarking into reading religion from the eyes of a Japanese co-philosopher.

What is this book all about......welll.....got to flip the pages some other time....as it is now time to perform the midday prayer the Solat Zuhr...see you again guys....

017-3 The Cave 18 : 50 - The Satanic Inclination

2009-06-06T11:59:00.003+08:00

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

The meaning of Verse 50

Remember when WE commanded to the Angels,

"Prostrate before Adam!".

All of them prostrated except Iblis. He belongs to the species of the genie.
He disobeyed the Commandments of his Lord.

"Is it appropiate that you take him and his ancestors and descendants as a leader other than ME. While he is your enemy?"

Iblis is the worst subsitute for GOD takenby the wrongdoers.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

The prostration is a bow in respect to Adam, not by putting the eyebrow.

[I do not understand what Imam Jalalaian meant by "not by putting the eyebrow"]

There are some opinions that Iblis is also an angel.

Others opinion said that he is the chief of the genie. He has got ancestors while the angels has no ancestors.

By refusing to bow to Adam, Iblis had ptotested and do not want to obey GOD.

The theme in this verse was for Prophet Adam and his descendants. At two instances the pronoun refers to Iblis, whom you follow.

It is wrong to follow the Iblis and his decendants as an alternative to ALLAH

[my understanding]

This verse shows man's inclinations to follows our desires, whims and fancies, instead of following the way of life as spelt out by GOD through the teachings of the prophets.

This verse is also meant for all human as we are all the descendants of Prophet Adam, because he was the first man created by GOD]

*************

Commentary by Harun Yahya :-

This verse points out the importance of obedience.

Iblis did not prostrate before Adam and disobeyed ALLAH.

In any society, law and order are established by the obedience, respect and trust that the people give to the state.

Religious morality prevents people from acts of violence and terror, because ALLAH forbids people to cause corruption. Those who live by this morality, will naturally do their best to refrain from evil.

They will follow the teaching of moral in the Quran and acquire contentment and inner peace, tolerance and a measured and non-provocative attitude and seek to create harmony.

If the Quran's morals and social modelsare accepted in society, peace and harmony will rule.

Those who live according to Quran's morality, as introduced by Islam, are helpful and tolerant.

There will be no arguments, disputes, terrorism and hostilities between the people and the police and governments.

==will be continued by the will of GOD==

Naval Base Secondary School was the Champions

2009-05-31T10:03:00.002+08:00

Some time in 1968, Naval Base Secondary School became the Distirct Champion for Football and Hockey. Hence the celebration and the grand School Concert.

That's all Folks.....that I can find from my memory boxes. the rest got lost when I got married and moved to Ang Mo Kio with my own family.

Naval Base Secondary School

2009-05-31T08:31:00.005+08:00

This young man once dreamt to become an Admiral in The Navy.

That's because he lived at Khalsa Cresecent which was just opposite of the Royal Malaysian Navy Barracks. He always went into the barracks and even watch them parade in the Parade Ground every week. He mixed quite closely with the navy guys. One of his peer friend did join the Malaysian Navy.

Despite that dream he did not study well in West Hill Primary School but manage to stumble into Naval Base Secondary School just next door. He had many astounding friends there. There was once NBSS produced a national top student in Singapore.

So his dream flow on and on...

In secondary school he participated actively in sport, football and the school concert and even show his strength without the help of Tongkat Ali.

His teacher inspired him to be a teacher, but he did not do well in 'O' level. So he became technician and had chances to travel to Europe for training. As his sight is fading he was guided to serve the public as an engineering officer in road matters.

Back to School

2009-05-30T07:20:00.008+08:00

This young man above wanted to be an Admiral in The Navy.

So after graduation from West Hill Primary School, he went for further studies to Naval base Secondary School.

While in Naval base Secondary School he displayed his talent wiothout the need of any supplement and without the support of Tongkat Ali.

During the era of The Beatkes, he splashes his imitations of The Beatles on stage and in front of the class as early as in Primary 5.

His teacher inspired him to be a teacher. Alas he did not score a good point in his O and hence end up being a Technician, Engineering Assistant and finally an Engineering Officer.

However, GOD made him traveled far and wide during his career as Technician and made him serve the public as he began to show sign of ageing.

Well that is the methamorposis of Life

016-2 The Cave 18:47 to 49 - Naked & Not Circumcised

2009-05-30T06:53:00.007+08:00

016-2 The Cave 18:47 to 49 - Naked & Not Circumcised
Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

[47]
On the day WE make the mountains move and you will
see the Earth flat and bare. And WE gather them all.

And WE will not leave a single one of them.

[48]
And they will be paraded before your Lord in rows.
Definitely, you have come to US just as WE have
created you at the first time.

Yes indeed! though you have said that WE will not
fix a time to meet you.

[49]

Then the report book of life will be presented

to all mankind. And you will see that those who

have done many sinful things will be very

frightened of what are written in their report

book.

And after seeing the contents of their books,

the sinful people will exclaim,

"O we will be in trouble.

What kind of book is this

that never omit our smallest sins

and the biggest one,

but rather it records all incidents."

They will find that whatever they have done

during their lifetime, are all recorded in this

report book.

Your LORD will not discriminate anyone.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

On that day WE will make the mountains disappear from the face of the Earth and they become like flying dust. Then there will be nothing left on Earth, that is, no mountains, no plants and no rivers.

WE will gather all human beings, wether believers or unbelievers, and no one is left behind.

That each particular row represent a certain nation. Every individual come to meet ALLAH alone, without shoes, naked and not circumcised.

++++++

My understanding from Harun Yahya commentary in his book

"The signs of The End Times in Surat Al-Kahf" :-

This universe has its fixed time, known as "The Hour". Only ALLAH knows when the Hour will occur.

"Truly ALLAH has knowledge of the Hour, sends down abundant rain and knows what is in the womb. No one knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no one knows where he will die. ALLAH is All-Knowing and All-Aware.

[Surah Luqman Verse 34]

Surah Al-Kahfi relates some of the people's presumptions about when the Hour will come.

But...most people believe that life on Earth will continue forever and that the Hour will not come.

They think that death is nothingness and it is the end of the history of a person.

They mock that Judgement Day is a myth.

With this verse, GOD is saying that, although the Hour is the end of this world, but, it is not the final end of the history of human beings.

The Hour is the beginning of the Eternal Life in the Hereafter, that is, the Kingdom of God.

After the Hour, man will be brought to the Judgement Day, where we will be paraded before GOD.

GOD created us from nothing. When our parents got married and our fathers' sperm were discharged into our mothers' wombs, it was our beginning.

Then GOD turns the sperm into blood clot, and then it became spongy meat, and then slowly the bones came into shape and we became a baby in our mothers womb.

We are thankful to GOD that we were born and survive until today. Some babies were lost in miscarriages, whilesome other babies died when they were very very young.

Therefore, this verse is telling us that when we die and/or after The Hour, which ever come first, we will return to GOD, in the manner before we were born.

Most learned scholars said that, we will exist in the Hereafter in the form of our original souls.

Until today nobody knows what is the shape of the souls, although some writers wrote that they are in the form of birds.

Anyway, my friends, do not be afraid of the Judgement Day, because GOD says in the Quran,

"My servants, you will feel no fear today, you will know no sorrow"

[Chapter Az-Zukhruf Verse 68].

All we have to do, now, and urgently now, is to make sure we are the good servants of GOD.

Thanks for reading my share of thoughts.

======= will be continued with the help of GOD ====

The Skeleton Truth

2009-05-22T23:01:00.038+08:00

The Skeleton Truth of religion lies in the Human History.

Allow me to proof this Truth beginning with this card game.

In December 2006, I took a tour to Bangkok, the ancient city of religion.

There I saw many religious relics of the history of man & GOD.

I saw how man were seriously searching for GOD.

It was not an easy task. It was far more difficult than trying to open this rusty and corroded fire hydrant outlet.

We stayed in First Hotel, well renowned for its Muslims adventurers.

The very next morning we went to Chat Tu Chat and shop till we drop.

Many prominent buildings and structures and figures were beyond our comprehension.

We fell asleep and had a beautiful princely dream

In our dream we were drench to our undies.

Our younger comrades took the go kart challenges to learn how to manouver this precious life.

Raw vege and sambal added up more fun in our adventure.

Along the way we took a break to communicate.

The communications were done in a consensus.

We were treated with delicious 'Pulut Mangga'. mango in glutinous rice at Ma Bung Krong

Communication must go on 24 hours a day at any place, even in the busy Suvarnabumi Airport.

Or by the river Even if we are busy as the bees, this communication must still keep on going till death visit us.

These bees were intoxicated with coconut smoke.

Beside spiritual communication, we also require to refill our physical strength.

At all time we must keep the balance of both the spiritual and physical capacities.

I have proven how the old folks were misled to believe that this figure was their god.

GOD is not as ugly as him. See how beautiful is HIS Creation in nature. That is how beautiful HE is.

The dragon and the knight were simply myth of man.

With my discovery, I said good-bye to the misled truth and return to the Real Truth of Reality.

N A T U R E is the best sign to the N A T U R A L T R U T H

013-1e The Cave 18:46 Better Source of Hope

2009-05-22T22:47:00.004+08:00

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

The meaning of Verse 46

Wealth and children are the decorations of life in this world.
But consistent good deeds and right actions,
are far better in the eyes of your Lord
and a far better source of hope.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

Examples of good deeds are remembering GOD by reciting

"Subhallah wal hamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illallah wallahu akbar
wa laa haula wa laa quwwata illaa billaahi"

which means,

"Glory to ALLAH and all praises to ALLAH
and there is no god other than ALLAH
and ALLAH is the GREATEST
and there is no capability
and there is no strength
other than with (the help of) ALLAH"

***

Harun Yahya eloborates that lasting right actions are defined as good and beneficial deeds that comply with the Quran's morality and are pleasant to ALLAH

These consistent actions are signs of patience, devotion and seriousness in religion.

The intentions of these right actions must purely be for the sake of gaining the pleasure of ALLAH.

If there are other intentions along with them,then they are not the right actions.

The same is true for charity. It must only be for the sake of GOD and not to impress people or for recognition [or for rebate in Income Tax].

These actions must be consistent, and not just on the spur of a moment. For example, charity, in the form of zakat (taxes on wealth) must be contributed annually.

All these right actions are for the benefits of each individual and does not at all affect the Power and Greatness of GOD.

Even if there is no one performing them, GOD will not lost his respect and power.
And if everyone perform these right actions, GOD will not become greater than before.

GOD is always GREAT at all times.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My Observations

GOD is the RICHEST.

HIS RICHNESS will never be reduced, when HE rewards all HIS creatures,
and will never be increased, even if all HIS creatures submit to HIM.

Our sincerity to ALLAH will benefit other creations. If we are not sincere doing things for the sake of GOD Al-Mighty, then, our actions will cause damages to other creations.
That is why sincerity for the sake of gaining GOD's pleasure is important in religion.

-------------- -------------------- ----------------

Nietzsche talked about GOD

2009-05-16T22:23:00.009+08:00

Now the bookworm is looking into the book of a Philosopher who is confused and not able to look at religion from a wider scope other the religion that is around him.

I always thought a philosopher has a wide spectrum of knowledge but this one proved my thought is wrong. Read on to find out why......

Let us deal directly to the core of his thoughts - Part Three : The Religious Nature

His incapabability to understand GOD's word in the Scriptures and Holy Book he blamed on GOD. Anyway, he was talking and complaining about only one Holy Book.

You and I know there are 4 major Holy Scriptures, viz.

The Old Testament for Moses,

The Psalm for David,

The New Testament for Jesus and

The Quran for Muhammad.

There are small booklets revealed to Abraham.

They are all men of GOD, i.e. The Messengers of GOD, The Prophets.

In a nutshell, this philosopher thought he was the most knowleageable person on Earth.

Despite declaring himself as a philosopher, he failed to understand the philosophy of sacrifice that GOD wanted.

That is to sacrifice our ego. To tell the world that we are nothing and GOD is EVERYTHING.

All of us and the things on this Earth are created by THE GOD.

Once again allow me to elaborate that in Arabic THE GOD is pronounced as ALLAH, where;

AL means THE

ILLAHU means GOD

When these 2 words are put together, in Arabic grammar, it is pronounced as ALLAH, with the sounds of "I" and "U" unheard.

This is the most wronglful and stupid thing to do; that is to sacrifice GOD.

GOD don't need us.

Wether we worship HIM or not has no impact on HIM.

GOD don't need this world and its contents.

If all creatures on this Earth do not worship or do not listen to HIM, also has no effect on HIM.

He created all of us on this Earth and wanted us to worship HIM is for our own benefits.

We should sacrifice ourselves for GOD. And sacrifice does not always means to kill the living bodies.

This sacrifice is abstract, that is, to kill our pride, our stubborness, our ego, our stupidity and all that we say what we are.

The Truth is that we are all nothing and worthless.

Nothing else matters except THE GOD.

If you have GOD in your heart, you have everything and you don't need anything else.

Let us all strive to bring THE GOD in our hearts and our lives.

012-1e The Cave 18:43-45 = Life is like rain

2009-05-16T21:53:00.005+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi (The Cave)

The meaning of Verse 43

And he did not have anyone that can help him other than The GOD, at the time when his garden was destroyed. And he will never be able to defend himself or protect his garden.

The meaning of Verse 44

There in the Hereafter the only help is from The GOD, The Truth. HE is the best in giving rewards and benefits.

The meaning of Verse 45

Give them methapor or example of the life of this world. It is like rain water that WE send down from the sky, which was absorbed by the plants and they grow vigorously.

But over time, the plants become dry and turn into hay or straw, and they become worthless and are blown by the wind all over the place.

And GOD has absolute power over everything.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

This verse is telling us that this world is like flourishing plants, which over time will become dry and turn into worthless hay.

Is This life a Shakespeare's Play ???

2009-05-07T01:12:00.005+08:00

Do you know who Russell is?

Have you heard about him?

No no no I do not mean Kurt Russell the Actor, but Bertrand Russell the 20th Century Philosopher cum Mathematician.

Probably he was a student of Einstein or the other way round.

To Pacify Our Stressful Life

2009-05-07T00:53:00.001+08:00

Have you try to find this book, Muhammad by Karen Armstrong, in the bookstore?

Not yet?

Can't find it?

I found it at Jurong Point 2. A medium size bookstore infront of NTUC 24hrs Fairprice Hypermart.

Well let's continue , a little bit more to fish your interest to buy it and keep it for future reading.

I would like to invite you to start reading this kind of philosophical and religious book, as it can help us to pacify our stressful life.

UEFA 39 - Unexpected European Far-flung Adventure

2009-05-07T00:36:00.006+08:00

UEFA = Unexpected European Far-flung Adventure

Sorry no pictures for the early part of this trip. As we were moving too fast rushing to go to Amsterdam.

The next Unexpected European Far-flung Adventure was in 1996 (UEFA1996).

Frankly speaking, the unexpected far-flung adventure which happened in March 1996 was engineered by my dear wife. She made all the preparations and the money-saving strategies.

It was a flight to-and-fro Sin-Lon-Sin via Royal Brunei, which I remembered was about S$800.00 per person. We did not join any travel group or holiday package. We went on some kind of a bag-pack plan.

As usual I was the route planner and transportation. From previous experience, I found that the Euroline bus service would be a good alternative to trains. I read about it extensively, and was confident about its reliability.

Euroline is available at Victoria Bus Terminal in London.

From the Heathrow Airport we took the tube to Gloucester to meet my niece, Riny, who was studying there is London. She stayed in Gloucester. It was a very short meeting, as we were in a hurry to catch the Euroline bus to Amsterdam.

Although it was a short meeting but I was happy that we could made contact although, she was from Malaysia, and we were from Singapore, but we met in Gloucester, England. Ain’t that some kind of an achievement.

From the eyes of a Bookworm

2009-04-13T12:30:00.006+08:00

If you are so bored then its time to read something serious. This one is a contribution from a bookworm. A bookworm's view is heavier than the bird's eye view, becos, worm has no eyes.

Birds are so light that they can fly, while Worms are so heavy that they sink in the earth. That's why his view is always heavy metal type.

This particular bookworm like Russell very much, becaos of the mathematical interest. All mathematicians are like brothers.

When this bookworm is so hungry he goes feebling other books for some different taste. The one shown below is quite Nietzsche (pronounce as 'nice')

Karen Armstrong writes

2009-04-13T12:19:00.007+08:00

This is a book that everyone of us on Earth should read, so that we understand the meaning of this life on Earth.

Karen Armstrong wrote in her Introduction of this book...

I hope to continue from here at a leter date.

UEFA 038 - Cliff Richards & The Shadows

2009-04-05T23:48:00.018+08:00

UEFA 038 - Cliff Richards & The Shadows

Unexpected European Fabulous Adventure

The train brought us from Ramsgate to the

Victoria Train Station. We checked at the Bed & Breakfast counters and chose to stay at Kingshill Hotel in Paddington.

I remembered it was 40 Pound Stirling a night. The counter girl showed the map, and the way there by the subway train, which the English called ‘tube’.

It was an easy ride, although the map looked a little complicated, with so many colourful lines.

The hotel was a nice stay. We took a short nap and woke up around 11am. We ploughed the streets of Paddington and found an Indian restaurant selling briyani rice. It was 8 Pound Stirling per plate. It was an expensive ‘royal lunch'. We tried a plate, and found that it was a royal serving enough for 2 of us.

I had been studying the London map for places of our interest to be visited. In the list were Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Regent Mosque and the Tower Bridge.

I recommended my wife a bus ride, as we can see more of London on the surface. We bought a ticket that qualified us to take as many rides as we want within a day, which, I think was 30 Pound Stirling.

Taking the conventional red double-decker bus ride reminded me of the movie 'Summer Holiday' starring Cliff Richards & The Shadows.

Following the map and physical road names sign, I mistakenly brought my wife to walk across London Bridge, instead of the historically ancient Tower Bridge.

I must confide with you that I had always thought that the London Bridge that fell down in the children nursery rhyme was the same bridge as Tower Bridge. It was only in 1994 I discovered that London Bridge is a different bridge from Tower Bridge, because, while crossing the London Bridge, we could see the Tower Bridge nearby.

From London Bridge we walked to The Tower of London. We did not go inside the tower, but was walking outside and admiring its view. One of guards of the Tower of London, an Englishman, greeted us with;

“Selamat Datang”.

We were shocked and perhaps our faces showed it, that he went to explain that he had been working in Malaysia in the British Army for many years in the 60s. He demonstrated more Malay by asking,

“Apa khabar? Sudah makan? "
I had a photo taken with him.

Due to time constraint we sufficed by viewing the Buckingham Palace, Royal Albert Hall, St Paul Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square from the bus. I regretted that I could not find the way to Regent Mosque. Westminter Abbey was out of my mind, so we missed it.

Breakfast at Kingshill Hotel was an interesting adventure. The bread was marvelously crispy. I liked the butter and strawberry jam.

After breakfast we took the tube to Heathrow Airport. We took the green line tube to South Kensington and then changed to the blue line tube to Heathrow. It was easy, but, changing station with luggage was a tough challenge. It was a long walk, up and down several staircases, before we could get to the right platform towards Heathrow Airport.

We fly via KLM from London to Amsterdam. On reaching the shore of Holland, I managed to peep through the window, to see the rough and fierce legendary waves of The English Channel eroding the sandy beaches of Belgium and Holland.

At Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, we had a long wait for the night flight back home to Singapore.

THE END

555 words Drafted on 07.04.2007 Edited on 04.05.2007 at 2153hrs At Woodlands Avenue 5

Squeezing & clasping of hands

2009-04-05T23:29:00.002+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of The Quran
Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi (The Cave) Verse 42

The meaning of verse 42

And then it really happened that his fruitful garden was ruined, as mentioned in verse 40.

He looked at his two gardens, squeezing and clasping his hands in distress and regrets,

over what he had spent on his two gardens that are now destroyed.

He regretfully said,

"O wouldn't it be better that I had not attributed any partner to my Lord."

Recommendation for Wedding Feast

2009-04-05T22:48:00.004+08:00

Extracted from the book Sunan Abu Dawud containing compilations of the saying of prophet Muhammad, the prophet of our time.

The Lifestyle of Prophet Muhammad

2009-03-29T12:32:00.002+08:00

We frequently hear the call to emulate the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad, but,

many of us wouldn't know what are the examples to emulate.

I am trying my best in this blog to present some of the Lifestyles of Prophet Muhammad,

the prophet of our time.

I have taken them from the famous collection of the tradition of the prophet compiled by Imam Abu Dawud entitled 'Sunan Abu Dawud'.

The Making of an Auditorium

2009-03-07T17:39:00.009+08:00

It was a carpark until about 2006.
Sometime in 2006, during the interim period, the car park was reformed into a green open space. It was a beautiful green site, with birds, squirrel and other small animals playing in the greenfield.

Then hoarding were seen creeping into the green site. Slowly, the foundation were laid and walls and roofs appeared.

There were times when heavy duty cranes were employed to bring heavy building materials into the site. Cranes were also used to pour concrete onto the foundation floor.

The work delayed during the rainy seasons.

After the rain work resumed. And finally the satisfying result.

The Auditorium now stand proud and elegant.

We are helpless drop of sperm

2009-03-07T16:20:00.006+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of The Quran
Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi (The Cave) Verse 36 to 39.

The meaning of Verse 36

"And I don't think that The Last Hour will come. Even if it come and I meet GOD on Judgement Day, surely GOD will reward me with something better than my present garden"

====================================================
My observation :-
He was arrogant. Showing himself to his friend who was not as successful as him. He was also making fun of his friend's religious belief of Judgment Day.

The meaning of Verse 37

His pious friend replied,
"Are you going against GOD WHO has created you from clay. And then from a drop of sperm. Then HE shaped you in a perfect manner and made you a man?"

====================================================
My observation :-

His friend was hinting him that GOD has created Adam from clay and then the offspring of Adam from drop of sperm, trying to make him realize that this worldly life is nothing compared to GOD'd kingdom. This life is like a drop of sperm. Therefore, as human we cannot be arrogant by saying things such as "no disaster will fall on my garden".

Harun Yahya mentioned in his book, "Signs ofthe End of Times in Surat Al-Kahfi", that the pious man was trying to help his arrogant friend to realize the greatness of GOD, by mentioning GOD's sign in Nature and origin of man which is a helpless drop of sperm.

Harun Yahya continues that we often meet these self-contradicting people. They talk profoundly about GOD but they do not lead a life that pleases GOD and did not follow the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad.

Despite that they consider themselves rigtheous and destined for Paradise. They are actually deceiving themselves.

The meaning of Verse 38

"As for me, HE is THE GOD, My LORD. I will not consider anyone equal to my Lord."

====================================================
My observation :-

His pious friend wanted to make him realize that GOD is the only source of success. That is why you find that the theme of the narration here suddenly switch from beautiful garden to GOD.

The arrogant man was so boastful of his garden and successful life that his friend had to interrupt him by mentioning GOD so that he will not forget GOD totally.

The meaning of Verse 39

Why didn't you say, when you enter your garden, that

"All these are from GOD. There is no power except the power of GOD"

Although you may see that I had less wealth, less children than you, but may be, GOD will give me something better than what you have.

GOD can cause calamity to fall on your garden, and it will become barren and dust.
Or GOD can make the water to sink deep into the ground that you will never get water supply again for your garden.

====================================================
Imam Jalalain commented with a hadis, that :-

"Who ever had been given the good things in life, or a beautiful wife or plenty of wealth, and then he said

'All these are from GOD. There is no power except the power of GOD'

then he will never see any unfavourable things happen to whatever he owns."

UEFA 037 – Oostende to Ramsgate

2009-03-07T15:44:00.006+08:00

UEFA 037 – Oostende to Ramsgate

As soon as the train stopped at Oostende Train Station, all passengers walked briskly towards the immigration building. The scene was like sheep been released from the barn or nicer to say, was like the passengers alighting from the buses and ran towards the immigration counters at Woodlands checkpoint. My wife and I walked smoothly through the immigration and custom.

We produced our tickets at the checkpoint and walked up the walkway which leads us onto the deck of the ferry. It was quite a long walk; especially with luggage, it can be quite unbearable.

Our first mystery was solved, that is, the train did not go on to the ferry, but, only the passengers. Perhaps, the train will pick up the passengers from Oostende to Rotterdam or back to Amsterdam.

We are now looking at the English Channel from the Oostende Ferry Terminal.

I imagined myself in the place of Moses, when he was looking at the Red Sea and figured out how he could cross the sea, to escape from the tyranny of the army of Pharaoh. In my case, I was not running from any treat but rather looking forward to explore unexpected adventures.

The ferry was actually a huge ship, like the Superstar Virgo at The Singapore Cruise Centre at Harbour Front. It was a 10-storey luxury cruise. There were many facilities inside the ferry such as restaurant, cinema, disco, video games, billiard pool, spa, massage, swimming pool and casino. Of course there were other facilities which I did not know about.

My wife and I stumbled our way up to the deck, and found out it was already dark. The night sea breeze was too cold, so we went back inside the ferry and settled down at the many common benches provided, while we stared into the TV.

Now our second mystery was solved as we found that the ferry trip across the legendary fierce English Channel was a pleasant one. We had earlier thought it was the same kind of ferry we used to take across Malacca Straits from Butterworth to Penang, or perhaps the ferry was like the one that ferry passengers from Singapore to Batam islands. Our fears were now at bay.

I didn’t remember what happened after that, but, all I remembered was the sound of the horn. I stood up and saw the people who were sitting with us were all gone. I knew immediately, that we had arrived. I woke my dear wife, and we grabbed our luggage and walk back down stair towards the exit. The passengers were already queuing to alight.

We arrived at Ramsgate, a coastal town in England in the wee hour of the next morning. The ferry trip was about 5 hour.

Once again we walked through the immigration and custom very smoothly and as we get out of the ferry point, the feeder buses were ready to fetch us to the train station. We carried our luggage up the bus.

Then at the train station we had to carry our luggage along the long platform before going up the train.

You would have realized by now that I had abandoned the plan of crossing the English Channel via the new undersea railway system from Carlisle to Dover. The main reason was that I did not manage to find out more about it. All I heard from my sister it was expensive.

It was also not feasible, as we were in Amsterdam, and going via Oostende in Belgium is more sensible.

574 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1057hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

UEFA 036 - Rotterdam

2009-02-18T00:06:00.006+08:00

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

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

2009-02-17T23:49:00.004+08:00

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]

Syifaa' accompanying the Emperor to Malacca

2009-02-06T21:48:00.011+08:00

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

2009-02-06T21:21:00.002+08:00

***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

2009-02-06T20:41:00.006+08:00

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

UEFA 034 - Adam

2009-01-31T00:04:00.000+08:00

UEFA 034 - Adam

Along the way, I had been wondering if there was a town named Adam in Holland. The name was seen in many signboards and road signs.

O how proud I’d been, to have my name displayed everywhere in Holland.

Already in Singapore I had a road after my name, that is Adam Road. Along with it there is also Adam Road Hospital, Adam Park, Adam Food Centre and I hope the Circle-Line MRT station there will be named Adam MRT Station.

Soon I found out that Adam in Holland’s road sign was an abbreviation for Amsterdam and Adam was also a name of a big telephone company, but, I do not know if that was Dutch.

We alighted at the Centraal Station. Hi guys…take it easy. It was not typo error or my negligence. That is the way the Dutch spell the word Central, with a double ‘a’.

Ooops I suddenly realized that I did not write much about the different currencies of the countries I had visited thus far. Let’s do it now.

In Switzerland the currency was Swiss Francs (Sfr) = 100 centimes.

In Austria, the currency was called Schilling = 100 groschen.

The French currency was French Franc (Ffr) = 100 centimes.

The German had Deutsche Mark = 100 pfennig.

The Dutch currency was Guilder = 100 cents.

England’s currency was Pound Sterling = 100 pence.

Belgium’s currency was Belgian Franc = 100 centimes.

We did not have to change to Belgian Franc, as we only ride through Belgium via train, and we did not go down anywhere, and did not buy anything in Belgium.

At the Amsterdam Centraal Station, we immediately went to the Money Changer to get Dutch Guilders. Money Changer was also known as Gambio and many of them are operated by Thomas Cook.

Then we walked along the streets and found a budget hotel named

El-Alkmaar Hotel. Being cheap, we had to climb up to the 4th storey, but it had its own toilet, which was my wife’s pre-requisite for any hotel we need to stay. She dislike hotel with shared common toilet.

Just a few steps from the hotel was the Sarang Mas Indonesian Restaurant. Suddenly we felt like home, and sat there for a cup of tea. We glanced at the menu and decided not to have dinner there as it was X.

We walked further across the river and saw the famous Dutch water taxis (passenger boats) and we also noticed the preservation and conservation of the old houses along the streets and river bank. I supposed we were in the city centre of old Amsterdam.

We had a simple kebab and pita for dinner, like the one we had in Osnabruck and retired for the night.

Pita is a kind of Greek bread. It was soft, round and easy to eat. It was half-sliced and stuffed with sliced kebab, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and topped with tartar or mayonnaise sauce or any other sauce available.

Next morning we walked to an old castle in the city. Then we saw a collection of cheese. There were so many of them with different look and different prices. We walked along a back-lane and found ourselves in a Chinatown. There were some Chinese and Chinese food and goods. There were also curry powder, fresh chili padi, ikan bilis, tom yam paste, dried fish and even belachan.

At lunch we decided to go back to the same Turkish restaurant and had a luxurious shish and doner kebabs with skewers

After lunch we continued walking and came across a canal. As we walked along the canal we noticed a strange shape of steel bollards. On the other side of the canal, we saw row of glass panel shop houses. Inside these glass panels were women clad in half-exposed dress.

We understood later that they were prostitutes trying to seduce customers with their erotic window displays. In this area we saw many advertisement boards of Erotic night clubs and the peepshow clubs. Although we did not go in,it was so obvious from the signboards.

552 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 1002hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

My wealth is more than yours

2009-01-30T23:36:00.000+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of The Quran,

Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi Verses 32 to 34

The meaning of Verse 32
And give them a parable of two men. WE made for one of them two gardens of vineyards and surrounded them withdate palms and in between the two gardens WE have made a field of grain.

====================================================
Imam Jalalain commented that:-
1) The one with 2 gardens is an unbeliever of

The Truth.
2) The field of grain provide him regular staple food.

The meaning of Verse 33
The two gardens produced fruits

and were not discrimated even a little bit.

And WE made rivers flow in between the two gardens.

The meaning of Verse 34
And he had plenty of fruits. So he said to his friend when they were talking together;

"My wealth is more than yours

and

my followers are stronger."

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

Insya ALLAH we will continue with the next verses

UEFA 033 - Osnabruck

2009-01-20T21:06:00.000+08:00

UEFA 033 - Osnabruck

While we had our breakfast in one of the snack shop,

I flipped through the map of Germany, which I bought in Heerbrugg, and planned our way up to Amsterdam in Holland.

I had 2 plans.

Plan A is to visit Mike at Blumenstrasse in Drensteinfurt, which is just some distance from Dortmund. Mike was my daughter’s pen pal and she was a cute girl of about 12 years old. They had been writing to each other for quite sometime.

I had also written to Mike, while I was in Heerbrugg, of our intention to visit her, and she seemed to be accommodating in her reply.

Plan B is to go straight up to Amsterdam, if the visit to Mike’s place was not possible.

After considering the odds and evens, we decided on Plan B. It was a train trip north to Osnabruck, where we had to change to a westward train to Amsterdam. I checked the train timing and found that we had some time to wander about in Osnabruck.

Similar to my trip to Europe in 1986, our passports were not stamped by the immigration officers in Switzerland, France and Germany.

Therefore, as a proof of our visit to Osnabruck, I deliberately, took picture of a bus that had Osnabruck displayed on its electronic panel.

After that we stopped for lunch in a Turkish restaurant. My wife enjoyed the kebab wrapped in round Turkish bread called 'pita' and light English Earl Grey tea.

We went to the train station early, to make sure we do not miss the train.

As the time was drawing near, we get very worried, because, all announcements were made in German.

It made us unsure if the train to Amsterdam is coming or we had missed it. We were also unsure, if were waiting at the right platform.

All praises to Al-Mighty God, who hears everything, including a whisper in the hearts. An European man, a fellow commuter, approached us and made enquiry of our destination. He immediately consoled us that the train is coming in a minute, after knowing that we were going to Amsterdam.

It was a DB train. DB is an abbreviation for Deutschbahn meaning German-train.

We had to stop in Hengelo to change to a Dutch train which will take us straight into Amsterdam. The Dutch train was bright yellow with a little bulge on the top of both end of the body.

Hengelo is at the border of Germany and Holland.

We arrived at Hengelo at 5:30pm. Once again our passports were not stamped by the Dutch Immigration.

Germany in German is called Deutschland.

In French is Allemagne and in Spanish

and Italian is known as Germania.

From Hengelo the train moved on to Amsterdam via the towns Almelo and Apeldoorn. I had the thought of going via the town Groningen, where our football hero, Fandi Ahmad, used to stay when he was playing for Ajax Football Club, but it was 120km north of Apeldoorn.

431 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0915hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

009-7 The Cave 18:31 Gold Bracelets, silk & brocade

2009-01-20T20:44:00.000+08:00

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

The meaning of Verse 31

For them are the Paradise of Aden, with rivers flowing underneath them.

In that paradise they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and will wear fine green silk and brocade.

They will be seated in a relaxed and leaning position on a raised platform.

Those are the best rewards and the most pleasant resting place.

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

1) They will live in the Paradise of Aden, which

Muhammad Asad later commented are gardens of perpetual

bliss, that is endless perfect joy

2) The grammar may indicate that the bracelets are

only some of the many other ornaments.

3) It is mentioned in The Quran

Chapter 55

Ar-Rahman

Verse 54 ;

"In the inner side are from brocade"

[which I supposed explained the reason why in this

verse 31 is mentioned both 'fine silk and brocade' in one sentence].

4) The raised platforms are like the platforms in traditional Malay weddings, where the brides and bridegrooms will be seated and treated like kings and queens. There will also be many kinds of decorations, clothings and curtains.

UEFA 032 - Boulangerie-Patisserie

2008-12-27T10:10:00.000+08:00

Next morning, we visited the castles of France.
First, we visited Le Château de Pierrefonds.

You must see how macho I looked in the outfit of the
Knight of the Roundtable.

The architecture of Pierrefonds is rounded like the fort in Arabian lands, or like the moors of the Normandy era. At one angle, it made me feel like Robin Hood.

Anyway, history had recorded the rule of the Arabs in Spain including the southern France for about 500 hundreds years.

It was natural that the architectures of the Arabs had some influence on the building of these castles in France.

This is now a post from one of the small windows of Pierrefond castle. The scenery of the river was so enchanting that I couldn't help it and want to record it in the camera.

The second castle we visited was Le Château de Shantilly. This castle had an Anglican architecture.

The French do spent their time visiting these castles over the weekends. Even youngsters were seen lingering in the castles.

The roofs were sharp triangles with high narrow minarets. There were domes in between which gave it a look of Roman Catholic Church.

On the way home for lunch, we stopped at a bakery in the vicinity of Quermoy-Viller.

The terminology used for bakery & confectionery shops in France is

Boulangerie-Patisserie.

We occupied the whole afternoon, packing and relaxing, as my wife and I will be leaving for Amsterdam that night. We sat chit-chatting with my sister in the living room. We reminisced over our times in Singapore, until we were late, and had to rush to the Creteil train station.

We arrived at the station just in time before it moved. We jumped up to the train cabin without bothering to buy the ticket first. As the train was already about to move, I did not bother to asked about the ticket counter. Surely we can buy it while on the train.

Until we arrived at Gare du Nord train station, no inspector came asking for tickets. I began to doubt if my sister had deliberately delayed us, so that we do not have time to buy the tickets, and enjoyed a free ride. It reminded me of the commuters who jumped over the barriers in the train station when I first arrived into Paris, few days ago.

Though, the night was freezing cold, we managed to make our way buying tickets to Dortmund in Western Germany, with a sleeping cabin. Each ticket cost Ffr421.00. Guys don’t be alarmed. At that time S$1.00 was about Ffr30.00. Therefore divided by 30, the ticket was about S$140.00.

The train moved northwards via Koln and Dusseldorf and reached Dortmund in the early morning. We wandered in the city of Dortmund looking for budget hotels for a night only.

We found a large compartment for temporary storage of our luggage, and wandered our way in Dortmund. We went asking for room but found that they were expensive.

As we wandered I saw the advantages of having trams in a city area. The pedestrians and drivers always gave way to the trams. The trams frequently horn its way through the crowded city.

532 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0905hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

009-6 The Cave 18:30 GOD determines everything

2008-12-27T09:44:00.000+08:00

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

The meaning of Verse 30

"Certainly, for those who believe The Truth

and do good deeds,

WE will not hold back their rewards."

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented in detailed grammatical arguments

to derive the inner meaning that GOD will certainly give rewards

to those who believe The Truth according to their good deeds.

Harun Yahya wrote that

ALLAH encompasses everything that humanity does.

ALLAH gives reward for those deeds that comply with the Quran's morality.

That is, we must do amal soleh according tothe guidance of the Quran.
Then ALLAH will reward us with Paradise (Jannah).

In other chapters of the Quran ALLAH says;

"Everything in the heavens and earth

belongs to ALLAH,

HE can repay those who do evil for what they did,

and repay those who do good with the very best"

[Surah An-Najm verse 31]

"Yes. the friends of ALLAH

will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.

Those who believe and guard against evil,

there is good news for them in this world

and the Hereafter.

There is no change the words of ALLAH.

That is the great victory"

[Surah Yunus verse 62-64]

===will be continued in nest email InsyaALLAH===

UEFA 031 – Arab Institute

2008-11-23T23:07:00.000+08:00

UEFA 031 – Arab Institute

Next morning, around 1100hrs, we followed my sister to fetch her children from school. Then she brought us to a huge shopping complex.

I had forgotten the name of the complex but only remember a name ‘castorama’, one of the big shop inside it.

From there, she dropped us at a place where we can catch a bus to the city of Paris. We alighted at The Institute of Arab World. I supposed it was a building of an Arab Organization. We went to the roof-top and had lunch in a restaurant.

The windows of that building had a uniquely designed shutter like the shutter-blades of a camera. I read a notice stating that the larger middle shutter blades will automatically adjust the size of its opening according to the amount of sunlight that fall on it.

From there we walked by the famous river Seine, and I felt the vibrant of its historical artistic fame, such names as Voltaire, Lewis, Monalisa, Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Satre and Victor Hugo.

The walk brought us to the famous Louvre Arts Museum. I was dying to go in and see with my own eyes the grandeur of its fame.

Unfortunately, we do not have that extra French Franc to afford the entrance fee for both of us. On the other hand, as a loving husband, I do not have the heart to leave my dear wife wandering alone at the shopping mall, while I admire Monalisa in the Louvre.

Even, if she agrees, I still would not have the heart to do so, because, I know me very well that, I would take a very long time to admire every stroke of Monalisa. Doesn’t that sound awkward to you?

Well that is what we call 'Arts'. One who appreciate Arts can be a strange person, and sometimes look like crazy.

I am one of those crazy people who appreciate Arts, especially, in short stories and novels. In painting, I scored a proud P5 in my 1969 GCE 'O' Level Arts.

By 1994, while searching for new direction in life, I had been reading alot of novels and short stories.

My favorite was malay novels by A Samad Said, who had won many Writer's Award. In his writings, he introduced me a lot awas malay novels by bout Paris Arts scene and its writers, such as Voltaire, Lewis and Jean Paul Satre.

I also admire Anton Chehkov, a prolific Russian short-story writer. Born in Rostov, Russia, he did not write in English, but I managed to admire him from the translations of his works.

Next afternoon, my sister, brought us to Eiffel Tower. The entrance fee was Ffr56.00 each. My wife and I went up, while my sister and Paula waited downstairs. My sister was afraid of heights.

The last time in 1986, we did not have the chance to go up, because, the queue was too long. It was a magnificent experience. Although it was already 8pm, the view of Paris from Eiffel Tower was very clear, as it was in the end of May.

From the top of Eiffel Tower.

You wouldn’t believe it if I say that the tower was moving, shaking and always tilting left and right, like the swerving of trees when blown by strong wind. Like you, I had always thought that,

“the Eiffel Tower is made of stainless steel. It must be firm and will not be moved even an inch by the wind.”

To my surprise, you and I are wrong.

There were gadgets installed, to measure the movements of the tower. I observed that the movements and the tilting of the tower is way more than an inch.

The most enthralling experience was to see the city of Paris from the sky. It was fascinating to see how the narrow lanes were winding like a maze and to see the amazing River Seine flowing lazily through the city, carrying on it hundreds of boats with thousands of tourists and century load of history.

605 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0855hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

009-5 The Cave 18:29 - Boiling water will scald the faces

2008-11-23T22:37:00.000+08:00

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

The meaning of Verse 29

Say, "The Truth is from your Lord. Who wants to believe, let them believe. And who wants to reject, let them reject."

We have prepare for those who reject The Truth, fire, which will surround them from all sides like a wall.

And when they beg for drinking water, they will be given drinking water hot like molten lead, or boiling oil, which will scald their faces.

How dreadful is the drink! How miserable is that resting place (Hell).

====================================================

Imam Jalalain commented that :-

1) the sentence,

"And who wants to reject, let them reject." is a warning from God. It is not an option.

2) the word 'resting place' in this verse has a negatif meaning. It is an opposite to Verse 31 later in this same Chapter 18, which means;

"And Paradise is the most pleasant resting place"

It must be understood in this way, as it is not appropiate to say that Hell is a 'resting place'.

=====to be continued if GOD's will========

UEFA 030 – Viva Parie

2008-11-02T16:28:00.000+08:00

UEFA 030 – Viva Parie

I arrived at Gare-de-East train station in Paris early next morning.

The morning crowd was rushing to work. Many commuters were jumping over the entrance and exit, indicating that many of them had free rides. I snatched some bread and a cup of coffee at a café to get some coins.

There were guide maps and instructions on how to go places with the public transport, but, all were in French. I could figure out somehow, that there was a bus service direct from the train station to Charles de Gaulle Airport. European has adopted sign languages for their directions and public instructions, that more pictures and logo and less words.

It seemed that the arrival hall of Charles de Gaulle Airport was a huge circular corridor. In the middle you can see escalator going up and down. I checked at the monitor and go straight to the Arrival Sortie, where my wife will be arriving. As soon as I reached there, my sister greeted me, as she was already waiting.

My sister moved to France in 1987. She had a boy named Frank and a girl named Paula.
Though a housewife, she was involved in some voluntary social works, such as, a committee member in the Association of Singaporean living in France. She wrote to me quite often after moving to France.

After a short wait, my wife arrived. She looked tired but managed to smile.

My sister drove us to her beautiful French cottage, located just at the outskirt of Paris. It was a village town named Quermoy-Viller, in the district of Creteil. Quermoy-Viller is pronounced as “Oma Villa”.

It was a 2-storey bungalow with basement.

The front yard was green turf. In the stroller was baby Paula, while Frank was sneaking from the front door.

The rear view of her house. In the stroller was baby Paula.

the backyard was a mini garden bordered by a bushy vacant land.

The basement was a garage, boiler-room for the heating system and storage of bulky items. The handyman would have their DIY workshop in there and the wine lover will turn some of it into a cellar. In short, it is a multi-purpose basement hall.

Of course my wife loved the kitchen and the luxurious dining hall.

Frank was a little shy, as he had not seen us for 6 years.

Paula looked at us a strangers, as she was born in France, and that was our first visit.

That night we had a nice delicious dinner, especially for me,

after a month of butter and cheese in Heerbrugg.

My sister is a fantastic good cook.

523 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0845hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

007-2e The Cave 18:28 Do not be influenced by pride and desire

2008-11-02T06:49:00.000+08:00

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

Literal Translation of verse 28.

Be patient in the company of those who call their Lord

in the morning and evening in seeking HIS pleasure.

Do not turn away from them,

in seeking the luxury of this worldly life,

and do not follow those people whom

WE have made their hearts forget to remember US,

and who only follow their desire.

Such are acts of extremely over the limits.

Commentary by Jalalain.

Be patient with the company of your poor followers,

as they are unable to give you any worldly benefit.

Do not leave them for the sake of worldly luxury

and do not join those who were not interested in the Quran,

i.e. Uyaynah ibnu Hishn and his friends,

who do things as they please, especially in idol worship,

which is an act of extremely beyond limit.

Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

The true servants of GOD are those whose hearts are

turned to HIM morning, noon and night.

They seek only GOD's Grace and HIS Nearness.

The poor followers are rich in spiritual satisfaction than

worldly grandeur.

GOD's Grace is always satisfying.

On the other hand, resisting the Quran and following your own lust

will left you abandoned and hopeless in false pride.

Commentary by Muhammad Asad.

And contained yourself in patience by the side of

all who at morning and at evening invoke their Sustainer,

seeking His countenance,

and let not your eyes pass beyond them

in quest of the beauties of this world's life [36],

and pay no heed to any, whose heart,

We have rendered heedless of all remembrance of US [37]

because he had always follow only his own desires,

abandoning all that is good and true [38]

[Footnote by Muhammad Asad]

[36] Several years before the Muslims exodus to Medina, some of the the pagan chieftains at Mecca wanted to accept Islam on condition that Prophet Muhammad dissociate himself from the company of the former slaves and other poor people among his followers.

[37] The well-knowned commentators, Zamakhshari and Razi explainthe Arabic verb 'aghfalna' is agreeable with the Quranic doctrine and means "whom WE have found to be heedless".

[38] Rejecting all bounds of what is right.

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.
Asbabun Nuzul of verse 28

In the name of The God Most Compassionate Most Merciful

Ibnu Murdawih brought forward a hadis from the chain of narration of Juwaibir from Dhahhak from the companion Ibnu Abbas that is related to His commandments:

"and do not follow those people whom WE have made their hearts forget to remember US"

[Al-Kahfi 18:28]

Ibnu Abbas said that the above verse 28 was revealed in relation to Umayyah ibnu Khalaf Al Jumahiy.

That is because Umayyah suggested to ProphetMuhammad to do things that the Prophet did not like to do, that is, to ask his poor followers to go away from him, so that, the leaders of the pagan Meccan people will be attracted to come near to the Prophet.

After that incident the above verse was revealed.

Ibnu Abu Hatim brought forward a hadis from Ar Rabi' who narrated that, Prophet Muhammad narrated to us, that one day he met Umayyah ibnu Khalaf who persuaded him, while the Prophet, at that time, was not paying attention to what was meant by Umayyah; thus the above verse was revealed.

Ibnu Abu Hatim brought forward another hadis from the chain of Abu Hurairah who narrated that, one dayUyainah ibnu Hishn came to Prophet Muhammad, while Salman, the Prophet's companion was by his side.Uyainah said,

"When we come, ask this person to go away, and then invite us to come in"

Thus the above verse was revealed.

[Apparently, Salman, is one of the 70 poor companions of Prophet Muhammad.]

===will be continued with the grace of GOD===

007-1e The Cave 18 : 27 - Read, Learn & Convey

2008-10-12T09:55:00.000+08:00

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi (The Cave)

Literal Translation of verse 27.
And read to them what has been revealed to you, that is, the Book of your Lord. No one can change HIS Words. And you will not find a place for refuge other than HIM.

The Commentaries

The 2 imam Jalalain interpreted this verse as written above and he interpreted refuge as aplace for protection.

Muhammad Asad interpreted this verse as
"to convey to the world whatever has been revealed to you".

He said that the statement
'nothing can change God's Words',

according to Razi and Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, this sentence means that, there is no such thing as "Doctrine of Abrogation" which is better known in Arabic as the term "Nasich wal Mansuch". [1]

[1] There does not exist a single Tradition or narration of any kind, that Prophet Muhammad ever declared a verse of the Quran have been "abrogated" or have been replaced by another verse. This doctrine was formulated by some commentators who were unable to reconcile one verse with another. This "Doctrine of Abrogation" has no basis in historical fact, and must be rejected.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, briefly interpreted this verseas to recite and teach the revelation of the Quran.None can change God's commands, Decrees and Orders.And you cannot find as protection other than HIM.

Prof Mahmud Yunus interpreted the meaning of this verse as "Read! O Muhammad whatever that has been revealed to you, that is your God's Book. None canchange HIS words and you will never find any protection other than HIM.

Zurich & Basel who is older?

2008-10-12T09:17:00.000+08:00

In my last post on Zurich and basel, I couldn't find these pictures which were saved in my office pc. Now I managed to copy them to my thumb-drive and bring them home, 4 U 2 C....!!!

I was wondering who is older, Zurich or Basel ?

But in Zurich I saw this double-decker train. It must be younger. But the Railway Station was so messy.

But you see above that there is a limousine, tram bus and a lady on her bicycle in the middle of the busy world business city of Zurich !

Still I am not convience that Zurich is younger because there was also an old red English double-decker bus in the city.

But after seeing this Basel railway station above, I am sure Basel is an older city than Zurich. The framework of the station were made of steel. Only very little concrete.

But outside the station the view is much new and modern.

I walked till I came this roundadbout, I don't know which way to choose. I chose to walk to the right and came to almost an end of the pavement and saw these grafiti at the building.

It was this staircase that led me to the unexpected porn cinema. I should have known from the words in the grafiti that it was a red-light area.

Then I walked back to the Basel Railway Station.

Please sent me your comments

2008-10-05T07:51:00.000+08:00

Thank you very much for reading my Blog
Please do not hesitate to pen me your comments.

Your comments will surely inspire me
to continue writing my thoughts,
observations, and confessions in my Blog.

The picture above shows my seriousness at work

You are very important to me.

Please sent to me your comments

My email address is

adiekosongtiga@yahoo.com

006-5e Historical events on miraculous sleep for 300 years

2008-10-05T07:32:00.000+08:00

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

This is a continuation on the historical events related to the revelation of this Chapter 18.

Ibnu Mardawaih brought forward another hadis from Ibnu Abbas who narrated that when verse 25 of Chapter 18 was revealed which means;

"And they stayed in their cave three hundred."

the companions of the Prophet asked,

"O Messenger of ALLAH, is it 300 years or months?"

So ALLAH revealed the continuation of the verse as follows,

"years and add nine".

Ibnu Jarir brought forward another hadis via the chain of Adh Dhahak. And this same hadis was also brought forward by Ibnu Mardawaihfrom the chain of Ibnu Abbas who narrated that The Prophet uttered a vow. Then, only 40 nights later ALLAH sent down HIS revelation;

"And never say of anything,

'Certainly, I shall do that tomorrow.'
except, 'if God wills it'.

And remember your Lord.

When you forget, then say,
'May my Lord shows me nearer

to this Truth.'"

[Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi Verse 23-24]

My Note:

We have discussed this subject of 309 years in the previous posting

on the meaning of verse 23 & 24.

Please refer my previous older post.

Thank you for reading my post.

Please write to me your comments.

UEFA 29 - Evil Balloon

2008-10-04T15:45:00.000+08:00

UEFA 029 – Evil Balloon

The train ticket to Paris valid for 1 week, which means, I could actually stay a few nights, along the way, in any interesting cities of Switzerland.

I stopped in Zurich and wandered around the city centre which is also Swiss world business centre. I must admit that there were many items that would tempted you to spend all your money. With Paris in mind, I quickly caught some bread, dough-nuts and coke for lunch at MacDonald’s.

There were many busy people in Zurich. There were also many foreigners. It was very much different from Heerbrugg. There were many tram buses that ran on tracks, and had cables lines along the road. I saw for the first time in my life a double-decker train, at the Zurich Train Station.

I had calculated my time and made it easily in time to catch the next train to Basel, another town in Switzerland. I had planned my trip, with the help of Swiss Train Guide. According to the train guide, the night train to Paris will leave Basel at 6:30pm.

I reached Basel at around 4pm. So I had 2 hours to prowl the hustle and bustle of Basel.
Basel was not as busy as Zurich, which made me easier to go around.

Once again, I wish to stress that this post is not for you to follow my mistakes. I confess these

mistakes to warn you that there are many dangers awaiting us, if we do not strengthened

our faith and fear of GOD.

GOD is repeatingly warning us that this world is a test for us. It is required from us to prove to GOD that we will prevent ourselves from doing things that GOD forbid us from doing. The challenge is to uphold our faith when we are alone in places where there are so many evil.

In Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi of the Quran, GOD said that great rewards will be awarded to anyone who fear GOD when he/she is alone and prevent themselves from doing evil.

Unlike my condition in 1986, this time in 1994 I was cheated and fooled by the satan, who were given the permission by GOD to misguide us.

Unknowingly and unexpectedly, I walked into a phonographic cinema. As I was confessing earlier about my changed attitude, my curiosity managed to win me over, to see what is inside the cinema.

There were 2 big screens in 2 mini theatres. There were about 50 seats in each theatre. Different movies were running concurrently in both the theatres, and one is free to hop from one to the other as he like. There was no guard or usher.

Next to the theatres were rows of about 10 cabins, like the telephone booths. In each cabin there was a TV screen and many buttons to select hundreds of porno movies.

In these cabins one had his own privacy, while, in the theatres there are many other people.
Anyway, there were not many people in the theatres and cabins.

I left the theatre thinking, “Where could the peep-show be?”
My friends were saying that "the peep-show is peeping at real life models performing the sinful act. You can see them, but they could not see you."

The thoughts, however, reminded me of the devils. They can see us, but, we cannot see them. Thus making us easy prey for them, and we do not seems to be able to avoid them.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was reported to have said that the devils run in our body, like the flow of the blood in our veins.

No wonder, I was so easily following my corrupted desires, because I had allowed the devils to run in my blood veins. GOD did helped me,and I managed to pierce a pin in my evil balloon and proceeded straight to Basel Railway Station.

With the help of GOD I consoled myself with the thoughts that, at least, I only look at evil, but I did not get involved in any evil. GOD really protect me from evil. I must confess that with the thoughts and remembrance of GOD we can be prevented from evil and dangers.

I checked in at the counter and booked a sleeping cabin to Paris.

530 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 22.07.2007 at 0752hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

Eschatology 10 - TQN Music Theraphy

2008-09-28T08:51:00.000+08:00

On September 11 I wrote something about depression and my music inclination.

Let's side track for a while to my self analysis and diagnosis of the depression and the musics which I called music theraphy.

The following is the article which is an extract from another of my series called Eschatology.

Eschatology 10 - TQN

TQN is the abbreviation for Thoreqat Qodiriyyah Naqsyabandiyyah. It is a combination of Thoreqat Qodiriyyah and Naqsyabandiyyah formulated in Mecca by Syaikh Ahmad Khatib bin Abdul Ghaffar al-Sambasi al-Jawi.

Thoreqat can be understood as a system by which man can get closer to GOD. Beginners would be required to memorise and read repeatedly certain verses from the Quran and teachings of Prophet Muhammad in order to train himself to remember GOD consistently within 24 hours and 7 days a week.

Syaikh Ahmad Khatib received a legitimacy (khirqoh) as a legitimate teacher (mursyid) of both Tariqah Qodiriyyah and Naqsyabandiyyah. He was a prestigious Indonesian religious scholar (ulama) but became a permanent resident in Mecca and died there in 1878.

He had many followers and representatives world-wide. In Cirebon, a Central Java District of Indonesia, TQN was represented by Syaikh Ahmad Tolhah bin Talabudin.

In 1908, Syaikh Ahmad Tolhah appointed Syaikh Abdullah Mubarok bin Nur Muhammad, as his representative and leader (khalifah) of TQN at the Pondok Pesantren Suryalaya in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. Syaikh Abdullah is passionately known as Abah Sepuh by the TQN ikhwan (members).

When he died in 1956, his son KH. A Shohibulwafa Tajul Arifin, who is known as Abah Anom, took the lead. He lead the TQN movement to nation building by improving their education, sosio-economy, irrigation system, agriculture and hydro-electricity.

TQN is a moderate religious group helping man to balance between spiritual obligations and worldly affairs. Ustaz Ali bin Mohamed as the khalifah of TQN in Singapore, shown a good example by working together with MUIS and the government to save humanity from destruction.

There will always be differences between 2 person. But with diplomacy and compromising we are building bridges of understanding. If we begin with hairsplitting of differences then understanding is almost impossible.

I had the oppurtunity to attend the 2-day Tasawwuf Seminar organised by TQN on 5 and 6 February 1989. Many ikhwan from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei attended the seminar. But I did not havea n opportunity to attend their regular classes on religious knowledge.

Although I had a friend as an ikhwan, but there do not seem to be any ushering of visitors to be a member. Perhaps I should have surrendered myself to Ustaz Ali. But I did not meet him in person and did not talk to anyone about my intention. Thus, it was only a one-session experience.

However, the acappella recitation of the 99 names and attributes of God by some ikhwan drew my fullest attention and emotion. I sang it along.

In one of the session during the seminar in Khadijah Mosque at Lorong 29 Geylang, I observed and learned the head movement when reciting the zikir "La ilaha ill Allah" as follows:-

La - the head turn to the left

ila - turning the head to the right

ha - head looking up

ill - head looking down

Allah - head looking up again and down

then....back to 'La' and repeat the above.

The recitation had a slow start with the warming up of the head movement. However, the word 'ill' is stressed with a comanding note.

As the recitation got faster the head moved vigourously up and down. The commanding note became like thunder.

At the fastest speed the head movement is like the 'head banging' of the rockers and the recitation is like the gurgling of a steam engine.

Sometime in May 1997, when I got drifted far away from God and became obsessed with rock concert and long hair culture, I was reminded of the 'head banging' movement of the zikir of the TQN ikhwan.

The drift began in 1990 when I decided to retreat from all religious activities to give more attentions to my children's education and also partly due to night shift-work that both my wife and I had to adhere to.

Unknowingly, my life was drifting to emptiness, although I was happily married with 3 children and had a promising career. By 1994 it became a dark vacuum and I fell into the labyrinth of depression.

I took up rock music as a hobby and was so desperately clinging on to it to fill my emptiness. I was illusioned to see that some of its lyrics represented my meaningless life.

Iklim, BPR and Bon Jovi sang me lullaby to my retreat. Sad to admit but true that Mettalica had influenced me that I was 'The Unforgiven' and to me 'Nothing Else Matter' and I became 'My Friend Of Misery' who claimed to be 'Holier Than Thou' but unfortunate had found 'The God That Failed'.

A sudden Loudness whispered that I was 'Lost Without Your Love' and in'Losing You' I became 'So Lonely' and I could not 'Find A Way' home.

As I lingered in the labyrinth of darkness an Iron Maiden shouted at me not to'Fear Of The Dark'. It is a difficult road from 'Here to Eternity'. Don't go on'Wasting Love'. Do something. 'Be Quick Or Be Dead'.

My life became complicated it's like Guns & Roses.

For a while I thought I had attained Nirvana. But when they go around the stage breaking drums and guitars, I realized that I was 'Walking On The Edge' of hell with Scorpions. 'When The Smoke Is Going Down', a 'Lady Starlight' seduced me to 'Believe In Love' and she whispered a ballad that HE is 'Still Loving You.'

In Spring the flowers bloomed again and the family doctor opened his clinic. With his Emotional Intelligence, Dr Search diagnosed that I had 'Double Trouble'. I was deliberately destroying my life as I was sulking away from God. I was like a child who was beaten by his father.

In May, Wings of M Nasir finally blew me back to the shore of hope with his beautiful and adorable composition "Kepada MU Kekasih" meaning "To YOU my Love".

This song is about the Love between man and GOD, and how a man regretted his sins and repented to GOD and hope that GOD will forgive and accept him when it is time to return to GOD in Eternity.

However, like many other songs, people and fans was misguided that the composer was writing about love between a man and a woman.

Yes, in the May 1997 head-banging rock concert by the father of Malay Rock, Ramli Sarip, I was actually reciting 'La illaha ill ALLAH', the way I had recited it at Khadijah Mosque with the TQN ikhwan.

Tears of repentance welled in my eyes as the concert receded to the closing song 'KAU Yang SATU' (YOU Are The ONE).

Instantaneously, I was lifted from depression and the following week the world saw me going to Al-Khair Mosque, attending family motivation seminars.

The seminar reminded me of my days in Ba'Alwi, Muhammadiyyah, Tabligh Jamaat and Darul Arqam.

After the 3-week seminar, my wife managed to persuade me to attend the religious class conducted by Ustaz Abdul Rahman Mohamed at Al-Khair Mosque.

My life changed immediately to a sunshine meadow after a thunder storm. I strongly believed it has got to do with reciting the zikir 'La ilaha ill ALLAH'.

And reciting this zikir is one of the major daily events of the ikhwan of TQN at the Khadijah Mosque. It is also a major event of the 1-week TQN Annual Maulud Celebration (Prophet Muhammad's Birthday Celebration).

Note:
Iklim, BPR, May, Spring, Search, Wings, M Nasir and Ramli Sarip are Malay rockers, while Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Scorpions, Loudness, Mettalica, Iron Maiden and Nirvana are international rock and heavy metal bands.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^escha daily event is to write^^^^^^^^^^^^^

006-4e1 Continuation of the Historical events on The Cave

2008-09-20T23:04:00.000+08:00

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

So the 2 delegates returned to the unbelievers Quraisy people and said,"We return to you with matters between you and Muhammad."

Then the Quraisy went to meet Prophet Muhammad and asked him the 3 questions.

Prophet Muhammad replied,

"I will tell you the answer tomorrow." without saying, if GOD wills.

Then they went away and Prophet Muhammad was silent for 15 days waiting for revelation from GOD for the answers, but, the angel Gabriel did not come down with the revelation and answer from GOD. There were commotions among the Meccan people.

Meanwhile, Prophet Muhammad was in a sad and difficult situation because the revelation has stopped coming to him with the answers.

Then, the angel Gabriel came with the revelation of this Chapter 18 of the Quran.

In these verses are the answers to the 3 questions regarding the history of the 7 youths who went for seclusion in the Cave and the man who conquered the Far West and Far East.

However, the verse for the answer about the spirit was categorised as a verse in

Chapter 17 - Al Isra' Verse 85.

"They asked you about the spirit. Tell them that the spirit come from my Lord and you will not understand its nature as you have been granted very little knowledge."

*Note
[Both Muhammad Asad and Abdullah Yusuf Ali were of the opinion that, by the spirit, it was meant to be the nature of the revelations that were brought down by angel Gabriel, and not meant to be the soul, as it was generally understood, by other commentators.]

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

{page 2 of the above continuation}

Ibnu Murdawaih brought forward a hadis from Ibnu Abbas, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, who narrated, that, one day there was a meeting of the unbelieving Quraisy people.

Among them were Atabah ibnu Rabi'ah, Syaibah ibnu Rabi'ah, Abu Jahal ibnu Hisyam, An Nadhr ibnu Harits, Umayyah ibnu Khalaf, Al Ashi ibnu Wa'il, Al Aswad ibnu Abdul Muthalib and Abu Buhturi.

Seeing that, Prophet Muhammad was very heavily saddened by their rejection of his call. Thus GOD reveal to him the following verseof the Quran,

"So perhaps you will destroy and kill yourself, in grief, after they turn away from you and do not believe in the explanation of the Quran, because you are sad, as you really wanted them to believe."

[CHAPTER 18 - AL-KAHFI Verse 6]

GOD is giving us some kind of counselling on how to live in this world. All that GOD wants from us is to convet the message, but we do not have to ensure that people will listen and follow our mission.

Accepting the message of GOD is purely with the will of GOD himself. HE will choose who among mankind will believe and follow.

Of course GOD can change what HE has decided on. HE has HIS wishes. HE can make us go to Heaven, if we really work very hard for it, even after HE has decided that we go to Hell.

HE is the MOST POWERFUL GOD. HE does what HE likes. You and I cannot question HIM.

Our duty is live this life a good way. The rest is all in the hands of GOD.

Do not be depressed of what happen in this world.

Do not be angry with what other people do, but be mindful about what we do.