Jim

By Meem, 29th May 2003.

There’s this one Jim,
Neither plump nor slim,
softness hidden in her screams,
unsure of what she seeks
from all the stars she can barely see.

Hearts set ablazed,
Wounded and scarred
not even when the tears dried,
would anyone know
from the thickness of those shadows

Still, just wait!
Beyond all the ices and heat,
may come a crisp green leaf
…drifting
by the tender sways of the wind.

Hold this, dear Jim
It isn’t all dreams
Thy God forget not
For life is forever short.

Meet You There

Now you’re gone
I wonder why you left me here
I think about it on and on and on and on again
I know you’re never coming back
I hope that you can hear me
I’m waiting to hear from you
Until I do
You’re gone away
I’m left alone
A part of me is gone
And I’m not moving on
So wait for me
I know the day will come
I’ll meet you there
No matter where life takes me to
I’ll meet you there
And even if I need you here
I’ll meet you there

I wish I could have told you
The things I kept inside
But now I guess it’s just too late
So many things remind me of you
I hope that you can hear me
I miss you
This is goodbye
One last time
You’re gone away
I’m left alone
A part of me is gone
And I’m not moving on
So wait for me
I know the day will come
I’LL MEET YOU THERE

Simple Plan

A whole new meaning to 14th Feb

I just read a moving and inspiring account of Lt. Adnan Saidi’s heroic fight against japanese colonization in Singapore back in World War II. Although his story is not new to me, I am surprised when I learn the actual date his regiment fell. It was the 14th of February 1942. This sure is no valentine story. On that day, Lt. Adnan Saidi was the last man standing to defend Malaya in Singapore, after 48 hours of gruelling fight against the Japanese troop which way outnumbered the Malay Brigade that he led. After all of his men died in the battle, Lt. Adnan soldiered on with face-to-face combat against the japanese before he was finally captured and tortured to death at Bukit Candu.

There is even a movie “Leftenan Adnan” and a telemovie “Bukit Candu” made to honour his courage and patriotism.

Summation: To many people, February 14th may be a day for celebrating cheesy love (yes, I think its cheesy and pretentious) but from now on I shall remember it as a day that Lt Adnan and his men bravely sacrificed their lives to defend their country (and mine, too).

Wednesday is the New Weekend

When I was in school, the mid week was usually the busiest part of the school week. Homeworks started to pile up, numerous tests were announced and all of that have to be cleared and dealt with before the week ended. I used to think that it would be cool to have wednesday as a the new “weekend” break, instead of saturday, so that I could catch a breath and keep up with all the revision and homeworks to be done. Instead of lumping 2 days of rest ie. saturday and sunday at the end of a week, why not spread the break more evenly across the week? I always see too many people getting exhausted by the time they reach the mid-week, hence their productivity falls to low levels or worst, they can get sick and are forced to take a leave.

Most students spend their saturdays doing homeworks and attending extra classes or other school activities, which rob them of their free time during the weekend, even when they had to toil all weekdays straight. By the time Sunday comes, people are just too tired to even think of doing anything fun for themselves.

Recently, I have the chance to test if this idea will work out fine (for me, at least). My work schedule is organised such that I work everyday except for sunday and wednesday. When I first received my working schedule, I thought a wednesday without having to go to work will be a wasted day. As it turned out, I felt more productive. Think about the work-life balance concept. Not having to work on wednesday takes out the fatigue and slack out of the mid-week and injects a fair amount of enthusiasm and energy into the week. I find myself rejuvenated to get back to work on thursday, instead of wanting the week to end as quickly as possible as I would have normaly felt most thursdays.

However, this kind of schedule will not suit most industries, though I think the education industry can be flexible enough to take on such changes. Students and teachers are by the way, one of the groups of people who are most likely to suffer from extreme stress. A little change can go a long way to improve the quality of life. Good day!

Fasting in Muharram

I’ve just got an informative forward regarding fasting in Muharram:

The Virtue of observing more nafil fasts during Muharram:

Abu Hurayrah (ra) said: “The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘The best of fasting after Ramadan is fasting Allah’s month of Muharram.’” (reported by Muslim).

The phrase “Allah’s month”, connecting the name of the month to the name of Allah in a genitive grammatical structure, signifies the importance of the month. Al-Qari said: “The apparent meaning is all of the month of Muharram.” But it was proven that the Prophet (saws) never fasted any whole month apart from Ramadan, so this hadeeth is probably meant to encourage increasing one’s fasting during Muharram, without meaning that one should fast for the entire month.

It was reported that the Prophet (saws) used to fast more in Sha’ban. It is likely that the virtue of Muharram was not revealed to him until the end of his life, before he was able to fast during this month. (Sharh al-Nawawi ‘ala Saheeh Muslim).

It is mustahabb (encouraged) to fast Tasoo’a’ with ‘Ashoora’:

‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbas (ra) said: “When the Messenger of Allah (saws) fasted on ‘Ashoora’ and commanded the Muslims to fast as well, they said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, it is a day that is venerated by the Jews and Christians.’ The Messenger of Allah (saws) said, ‘If I live to see the next year, in sha Allah, we will fast on the ninth day too.’ But it so happened that the Messenger of Allah (saws) passed away before the next year came.” (Reported by Muslim).

Al-Shafa’i and his companions, Ahmad, Ishaq and others said: “It is mustahabb to fast on both the ninth and tenth days, because the Prophet(saws) fasted on the tenth, and intended to fast on the ninth.”

On this basis it may be said that there are varying degrees of fasting ‘Ashoora’, the least of which is to fast only on the tenth and the best of which is to fast the ninth as well. The more one fasts in Muharram, the better it is.

A Week since 1st Muharram 1427H

It has been 7 days since the new hijrah year… What has changed? What hasn’t? Nobody wishes me happy new Hijra year, neither have I wished anybody. Is there even such a thing as wishing fellow muslims a happy 1st Muharram? What are muslims supposed to do during the new year? I feel like I’m missing something but I don’t know what it is. This past week which also happened to be a week of the Chinese New Year celebrations, I’ve had my Lo Hei, I’ve got my Hong Bao, I saw the Chingay Parade when I passed by the street, I enjoyed my gifts of tasty oranges, but I hadn’t done anything which I could relate to my true new year.

1st Muharram-the day the message of Islam was brought to Medina, taking it to new levels never seen before by mankind. The same message that is now living and breathing inside the hearts of so many people around the world 1427 years and approximately 7 days later. Without the message, I can’t be me. I wish for myself and all muslims a stronger faith and compassion, greater patience, dilligence and hardwork, growth in knowledge and wisdom and blessings in every step. Allah Yubarik!

A Life Without Regrets

I have just read an interesting account of a nurse, Monica, on what she thinks is the most disturbing thing she encountered in the course of her career. She said: “Not the cancers, not the bedsores, not the death and dying…What bothers me the most is when a dying person verbalizes his regrets about what he “shoulda done” or “coulda done” in life. Life should be lived so that there are no regrets in the end…no missed opportunities. Like Nike used to say…Just do it.”

Wow. That is a truly amazing reminder.