Yea, please stay strong!

Be strong

It has been such a boring day, being alone in a place far away from home. Away from family, friends and things. But this is just a small scarification I have to make for now. More is waiting ;/ 

Never giveup Yusri! Be strong

pre-school social problem

Currently, I am having my pre-school period at Labuan base. The location is nice, I can learn alot, people are helpful, very work-oriented group is here.

However, being away from actual home is not that fun actually. Especially, when you know there are so much things you have to face, you must be in a very strong Emaan to overcome so much things present here. Alcoholic drinks are everywhere. I just found it is weird when Malaysian government seems has no control who can sell alcoholic drink. It is not like in Australia where only selected places are allowed to sell them. In Australia they don't even openly advertised brand of these alcoholic drink, unfortunately, it is different in Labuan/Malaysia. You see them everywhere- literally almost everywhere, in Giant/ chocolate shop/ supermarket/ restaurant and almost everywhere...

The staff house I was put before was full of different brand of alcoholic drinks bottle displayed in the living room.. And I thought it ll be better when I was placed in the other house that I have moved in now- but there is no difference. It is so sad to know, this is the condition or reality I have to face each day, each time. 

When I was in Brunei, I don't have to worry about this, but now I can feel this is the challenge I have to face for being away from Brunei. and to tell the truth, I don't feel this type of challenge when I was in Australia...

As a Muslim , you know, living in a house with full of alcoholic drinks should be avoided and might not bring rahmat to you... Please Allah, please give this Hamba a strong heart and strong Emaan.. aminn

Kenapa diriku sukar sembahyang Tahajjud...

:'(

Taste of blood

update

Late post.

I turned 27 today. Alhamdulilah, I am still here, still given an opportunity by Allah, to strive to Him, to ask for forgiveness and to be better person day after day. The last 365dwys was tough, but the recent 6 months was tougher. Sometimes, I regret for things that I could have change, I could have avoid, but I didn't do anything to make that changes. I regret on many things, unfortunately, I realised I didn't make a move to improve it.. what a loser I feel about myself.

I graduated from my UNSW Sydney last July 2013, and after that I joined an oil service company as Field Engineer Trainee. Unfortunately, I didn't last long there despite they said they could turns me to a success person one day. However, I have had enough already with the promise. I feel down to realise I didn't develop much myself within the 5 months I was in the company.

Yesterday, I had my exit interview with my manager who kept on accusing I am such a stubborn person who didn't want to accept I am growing a career with them. I was labelled as as person who thought 'he himself is smarter, genius than the company' when I mentioned about my unhappiness with the career development. I was told, I have right to voice out anything, I was told I can be independent, I was told I ll get proper mentor, I was told I ll be assist, I was told I ll get great career, I was told a lot of stuffs. But the last 5 months I was there, I don't feel/ see those promise are being fulfilled. I complaint that my manager had no time for me which my manager disagreed and trying to defend with bucket of reasons.

I had so much bad experience either it is about working procedures, safety, working instructions, JSA, and so much. they are mainly personal behavior problems. I was questioned back why If I know they are better way which is safer than the current one, why don't you just write the procedures yourself and implent it? Thats true, unfortunately, interms of support, I realised, I won't get help because people are always busy. My manager said I can asked for help from them, but daily actions speaks themselves better than words. No, I won't get help, support, assistance and etc. So how can I make the changes. If i were to speak about using power based on my position, unfortunately, it won't happen.

When I raised thing I ve seen on how other companies treats their people on safety, my manager laughed lot about it... Yea, just because we are big, we think we are perfect, unfortunately, i feel down with all those promise. I was even told "if you want to be safe, just stay at home"

Yea, myb i am a guy who is really stubborn, who wants everything perfect, who is very demanding...

As day goes by...

As days go by, I realised, I failed in many aspects of my life which is hidden in success I gained. These failure are not happen to be there to be forgotte and ignored, but to be learned. Unfortunately, my ignorance in certain things - because I take thing for granted, resulted in, I slowly become an ignorance person.

Elliot Rodgers - the virgin killer

Last saturday, the world was shocked by the massacre killing of 7 people in US. People was shocked  not because it happened in US; but the reason behind this was very unbelievable.

Elliot Rodger killed 6  while injured 7 before he shot dead. A day before the massacre, he posted a video in the Youtube, telling the world about his loneliness feeling, GF-less. In his 8 mins video, he even posted,

"I am 22 years old, and I' still virgin, no girl is attracted to me"

Due to above reason, he decided to kill some of the women who rejected him before. This is sad, unimaginable and hard to swallow reality. This guy killed 6 and injured 7 due to he feel he is unlucky when he compared to his friends/other guys. He feels he is out of the norms in his society.

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

Yesterday I had plenty of free time and I used it to understand from bigger context on Elliot Rodger incident. It made me so speechless to learn more about himself.

The day what he described as day of retribution happened last saturday. BUT, it was shocking to know that it was planned to occur on 24th April. This can be read from his 141 pages - My Twisted World. 

A day before the massacre, he posted video describing his plan, how he feels very lonely, being treated unfairly, jealousy and etc. he feel that women are unfair to him because he can't feel love, sex,to love and to be loved. He feel women cause this world to be without humanity. He blamed women for his action.

On 24th April, that was the initial date he wanted to fulfill his dream-day of retribution.  But he didn't feel well on that day.. So he reschedule it to 26th May.

From his 141 pages notes, I learned that Elliot is such a lonely, disturbed guy. He explained quite well on all things happen to and surround him since he was borned. He keep on describing how he was mistreated by people around him. He also always described himself as unlucky due to no woman feel attracted to him.

He also described himself as only has few friends who he slowly lost as he grown up- due to facts he acts weird. 

Few times in his notes, he visualise/imagined himself was skinning a couple - this is very distubing imagination. In the last few pages of his manifesto, he described in details about his pan for the day of retribution which include his plan to kill his younger brother and his step mother!

He feel jealous to his younger brother who he described as will has bright future and will got a girlfriend one day. Because of this, he feel his younger brother must be stopped a.k.a he need to kill his younger brother!.

Im very speechless to read his manifesto. 

It is not only that, the video he posted a day before the massacre was also fulll of gztes, jealous and plan.

I cant continue this post.. It is too disturbing....

 

...

The situation become tense now, some ethic/race feels their right is being ignored. This was infact due to some comments by the minority. Unfortunately, the power of this minority seem to be heard more than the voice of the positive. To make it more upset, people start to openly trying to say or judge the new law based on their understanding without proper knowledges about it. If we think we are intillegent enough, we will open relevant books to review by ourselves or ask the right person about this law; not by listening or heard the news from non-knowledgeable people. 

And one more thing, it is actually up to the individually how they want to respond on certain thing. They are responsible on how they want to respond on certain things. The law is not actually to ruin nor to take rights of everyone. 

If we want to say not to forbid alcohol, strong evidents on disadvantages of alcohol is available everywhere. If the law said, not to share house between unmarried of different genders, it is to forbid unlawful, unprecedented activities that later people will feel regrets. Islam don't want you to regret one day, unfortunately, this law is taken in negative way by certain group of people.

So it is seriously up to individual which comments they would love to hear. But most, seem love to listen to negative, discourage comments more than the good one. 

Satu lumrah hidup ini, the negative can walks faster than the good deeds...

Right now, right today.. :(

Being humble like before and more...

“And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth.  Verily, God likes not each arrogant boaster” 

(Quran 31:18)

“It's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying. Learn to recognize good writing when you read it, even if it means overcoming your pride and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable.” 

― Ashly Lorenzana

something to ponder on...

“You can’t change someone’s behaviour, all you can do is remind them, and hope that Allah will change their heart.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

“When you’re going through something hard and you start wondering where Allah is, just remember, the Teacher is always quiet during a test.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

“Your sin is not greater than God’s mercy.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

“If we were truly the people of “Alhamdullilah” we wouldn’t find the time, energy, or motivation to complain.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

“We live in a society where we wake up our kids for school but not Fajr.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

“Just because you’re a Believer, doesn’t mean your safe from the Hell-fire.”
-Nouman Ali Khan

Crocodile mucus use to cure disease

Few days ago, I saw a set of photo of Dr Haron Din (Darussyifa'advisory) with a giant crocodile was uploaded in the facebook. The photo shows the crocodile is to be carried using a blue truck and Jawi texts could be seen written on the truck' body. This confirmed that the photo were taken in Brunei ( It is part of Brunei' law for business where name of company must be written in Jawi, besides Roman text). 

Some speculation was made by some people that the crocodile was captured by Dr. Haron Din, which later found to be not true. Upon reading comments from others, I learned that the crocodile was actually "on-loan" from Louis Zoo (private zoo) in Tutong for medical purposes. Some users mentioned that, Dr. Haron actually plans to get several pints of the crocodile' saliva /mucus to cure some (skin) diseases. This theory is supported by a claim that crocodile never get sick even if they feed on dead animals only. 

Besides that, crocodile are always found to live in a dirty swamp or river and full of bacteria. Eventhough the environment are worsen, dirty and labelled as "toilet water" standard, but crocodile still can cure themselves after getting bruises or deep and serious cuts from fighting, accidents or other means . Isn't that amazing? The strong immune system presents inside the crocodile body is undeniably amazing, where human can easily infected and can get killed due to infection by bacteria- crocodile doesn't have to worry about this. Based on this observation,  is claimed that Dr Harun wants to make use of these information and knowledges to help in curing human (skin) diseases

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. (pbuh) said there is a cure for every disease.

One user also mentioned that, this medical practice is not recently found but have been practiced by people long time ago. However, I cannot guaranteed the originality of those claims by public regarding to reason behind this rehabilitation technique.

# Darussyifa is an Islamic alternatival medical centre present in Brunei. This medical centre mainly use Al-Quran verses / Ruqyah to cure human diseases. 

1) Allah says

" And We send down of the Qur'an that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss." ( surah Al-Isra' verse 82)

2) Hadith - Sahih Bukhari, Book 25, Number 5466, Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah 

Allah's Messenger  said: 

"There is a remedy for every malady, and when the remedy is applied to the disease it is cured with the permission of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious."

3) Hadith - Muslim, narrated Jabir Bin 'Abdillah 

The Prophet  said: 

 " Every disease has a medication: If the medication for a particular disease is found, it will be cured with Allah's (swt) permission."

Its lol

This really made my day :D

I am excited

I am very excited  right now but at the same time I feel nervous about it. I was accepted to be a Field Engineer at Schlumberger Brunei. The first induction program which is the OFS-1 (OilField Service induction) was supposed to be held on 7th Jan 2014 in Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, due to only small number of new recruited staff signed up for that induction program, it was cancelled. What a bad news for me.

I was informed by my recruiting manager that the next induction program is in February and he will put me for that slot if it is still available (what, if it is not available? Then I have to wait for March one). I fell down to learn that my OFS-1 induction was cancelled.

But 2 weeks ago, I was informed that there is one OFS-1 slot available and the recruiting manager asked me if I am interested to go for that one. Of course I am, especially after being informed, the training will be held in Abu Dhabi!!

I really want to visit this building- Burj of Arab. Photo courtesy of link

Now everything are like what have been planned, I have received my return ticket via email. I will fly to Abu Dhabi via KL and the transit time in KL is 6 hrs. urghhh.. Few days to go :)

What is OFS-1 actually?

Based on information I received through friend and mostly are from blogs I read, OFS-1 is just an induction program to introduce SLB, what they are doing, signing a contract, Quality, health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) briefing. So they are mainly lectures. Only after attending this OFS-1 I will be qualified to work at the base and workshops.

I will write more on this upon my return back to Brunei after my week long induction program.

The first few things that come up on my mind after being informed about Abu-Dhabi, I pictured Burj of Arab and Kebab (its proper name is Doner Kebab- Actual definition of  Kebab is just a skewer !!. Yea I have been craving for Middle-East kebab- which is not available anywhere in Brunei.

Doner kebab. Photo courtesy of link

When I was in Sydney, I only realised the uniqueness of Quad Kebab- which is available at my Uni' food courts few months before I was back for good. What a loss! Now 6 months have passed and my craving is still there and growing.

Sometimes, I found myself a bit too much weirdo- where I will stare at kebab photo in my computer. I Can't help to satisfy my desire!. What a story of my life!

I haven't tell you why I feel nervous. Next blog post (next time)

I think I miss Sydney (again)

My first and last visit to Tarong Zoo

 It has been 6 months and a week since I left Sydney for good. I completed my final exam in June 2013 and I left Sydney on 13th July 2013. It feels like it was just yesterday. Sometimes, I feel myself is still in Sydney; not because I don't like to return back but the nostalgia and memories are still clearly visible. 

While on a ferry- with Sydney Bridge at the back

I wish I can jog down from my home to the Coogee beach now, then lying my back on the wide, flat rock next to beach, listening to the sound of the waves hitting and losing their energy as they are approaching the beach.

Jenolan Cave at Blue Mountain region

I always picture myself walking down to IGA shop which is 5 mins away from my home at Meeks street. That was my hobby when I feel stressed out and feel bored for doing nothing. I will go around the IGA to look for something I need to buy... 

I miss going to EastGarden for grocery shopping, miss South Juniors for the gym, miss Sydney city for window shopping, miss blue mountain for hiking up and down the China stairway to heavens staircases,  miss Cronulla for its unique beach, miss bankstown for the large rack of steak, miss Gangho for the best Char Kway Teow, miss Bondi junction for their large shopping complex, miss uni basketball court for Jumaah prayer, miss Uni's Squarehouse for Free foods during iftar, miss green herbal Iran unique rice for such a great tasty meal which only available during ramadan, miss  my colleagues for their uniqueness, miss my housemates for being very supportive, miss my uni for providing unforgettable sleepless nights, miss lectures for the hard timing I encountered during group project, miss Prince of Wales hospital for fixing my 3 times shoulder dislocation, miss my juniors for always sleepover at my place, miss my naqib for never ending support and encouragement,  miss Papa Roti for their best bun, miss Mochi for their best topping, miss Ayam Goreng99 for their best ayam bakar, miss Nasi Goreng for their signnatured hot and delicious Ayam Sereh, miss walking alone at night for being mugged- sigh, miss Maroubra for their beautiful bbq place, miss Broadway for being unique place to go, miss Fishmarket for their fresh oyster, miss Its Time For Thai for their authentic bbq chicken and Penang curry, miss Quad foodcourt for their best kebab, miss Wollongong for sight and sea seeing, miss group projects for a fight, miss mathlab for being hard, miss Lakemba for its unique fresh carrots juice during ramadan, miss north Sydney for iceskating rink, I miss everything..

I guess this must be effect from Gloria Jeans coffee (an Australian Franchise) which I just had -   on top of the soft background music playing in the cafe.

Having a gup of Cappucino at Gloria jeans, City Square

Job Hunting Secrets

Interview at KL

On 1st October 2013, I attended an interview at Kuala Lumpur for Field Operation Professional- for Brunei placement. One of the question is,

" In Malaysia, the unemployment rate is increasing, yet we have a lot of fresh and old graduates who are still looking to find jobs. We have many opening available yet many of them are still there to be filled. What do you think the factors that contributes this unemployment issues?".

The above question remind me to several free career workshops I attended in my former University. These workshops are totally free but I am the only Bruneians in my University who  love to attend and hear this self-marketing and self-improvement seminar.




Strategy to get yourself hired

source: 

Having A+ scores in the University won't necessary make you always worth more than others but it is still bring advantage and potential to get hired. There are some strategies that you should learn how to market your-self. In the workshops, I learned few important things which later helped me to get part-time job during my long summer vacation in Sydney and nowthose tips are proven to be undeniable. They were proven to be valid not only during my jobseeking period but was also proven when I wanted to pursue my study to Master Degree.

Hidden Job Opportunity

One of the thing that surprised me is about 70% of job market are hidden- they are not published anywhere either in the websites, newspapers or company portals.  This is the thing that really surprised me and I made use of this information to grab me a part-time job in Sydney.

When I was in Sydney- I tried to get a part-time job (during my 3 months summer holiday) through some famous job-seeking websites such as Gumtree. Unfortunately, I received no luck- I rarely received interview request or even a replied from them.

So after knowing this 'secret', what I did- I submitted my resume to many shops which didn't publish vacancy opening on their door or at any job-seeking website. I talked to the shop managers asked if they have any available vacancy in their shop. Yes, I was employed after sending my resume following this tips. I was offered two part-time job during that summer period. 

It really surprised me where they are plenty of vacancies available in many shops, but they were not published. 

Lesson no 1: If you are looking for job- don't limit your self to newspaper, pelita brunei, websites- advertised opening only. Visit the company, ask if there is vacancy available and leave your resume with them.

Networking

This is the easiest way to get your self employed by a company. Lets me clarify the confusion that people always have on mind about Networking. Some people were confused that getting a job via networking is unfair, biased, and unaccepted norms in society. It was labelled as family-friends benefits types of corruptions. 

Photo courtesy of link

To tell the truth, it is not!

Networking is the most successful, proven ways to get yourself employed. Through networking, you can ask your friend or university colleagues to recommend you to their hiring-manager to hire you. If you still think this is a bad attitude, I am sorry to say, you need to open your mind.

Again, as mentioned before, many job opportunities are hidden. some jobs need to fill in faster, but the process for them to get advertised takes time- due to company policies, the manager are busy (and forget) to inform HR, or because the HR had filtered many candidates based on their preferences not based on department preferences of candidates- so your chance to get hired is lower.

So if you are interested to work in the same company as your friend, you should ask help from your friends to 'advertise' you to their manager. You might ask, what if the recommended friend is not a potential candidates, you lie about their working credibility for sake of helping a friend?. Maybe it might happen but many will avoids those from happen.

When someone recommend a friend to their boss, they will only recommend their friends who has potential. You don't want to get blame by your boss to get not-worth candidates which will lower your image in the company. You must consider this before recommending a friend to work in the same company as you.

Since your friend know you well, your friend will/will not advertise yourself to their manager depending on your strengths and weakness.

Besides that, your networks friends might know some opening in their companies and can direct you to the right person to contact.

I also learned that, before I quit my job from the shops, my manager asked me to recommend anyone I know to work with them. It didn't happen once but twice. From there I learned that it is easy to get a job via networking.

Currently people are using a famous website for job hunting via networking. It is called Linkedln. I learned from a friend that one of his colleagues receive a lot of job offers each month through Linkedln. Linkedln also the medium which helped his colleagues to get a job in Brunei.

So Lesson no 2: Good networking with people- and get job via networking

Profile page

I learned this strategy from a friend who works in BLNG- this technique was recommended by her Manager.

When I showed  my profile page to some of my friends, many believed a long profile page shouldn't be put in a resume.  Many of us still want to follow old-traditional methods of resume styled. We need to crack an interview hidden secrets to secure a job. We need  to understand the reason behind those profile page.

I would recommend, everyone should have a profile page attached with their resume.

Photo courtesy of link

What is a profile page actually?, It is simple, it is just a summary of your working experiences, educations and etc but you make use of this information to tell your proven credibility in handling and managing something to your hiring manager. For example:

"My good time management and self- independent is proven where I was able to spare some of my weekly busy schedules to work as a part- timer while I was studying for my University Degree. In 2011, I hold two positions in the XX society as an IT officer and Religious officer. My leadership and commitment towards the positions are proven when I- one of the main organisers was successfully organised the first-time religious event which was participated by at least 30 students and attended by officers from the XX. Besides that, I was also responsible as an organiser for several events such as interview by local radio, Eid greeting videos and trips to several places. 

In terms of teamwork and team-leader, I experienced a number of student group projects where I delivered a strong commitment to the group such as organising group creation, initial group meeting, medium for files and document sharing, job segregation, ideas and solution and etc. I also make sure each member are committed to the group such as by introducing the idea of job-role rotation within the group.  In the recent student group project, Enhanced Oil Recovery, as a group leader, I raised and idea to accommodate and to ensure everyone have an opportunity to be the chairman/woman or minutes writer for each meeting. This helps everyone to feel the importance of their present in the group hence better teamwork experience, communication and responsibilities. "

When I first created my resume, I only have 4 lines of simple profile information which I learned were not very useful to market myself.

If you still can't realised the difference between profile page and resume; in resume, you only put your experiences and etc in bullets points without elaboration. Whereas, in Profile Page - you link your experiences to your strange, and how these strange will benefits the company. 

When you show that you are a good team player and team member besides having goods results  in your profile page - Tell me, who can ignore you?

So Lesson no 3: put a long profile page in your resume.

There are many other tips that I would like recommend everyone to try and master by themselves. But for the time being, I only have time to write the above information. I hope the above information are useful. I will add  more information on job-seeking startegy next time (if I am free to write more).

Oil news is coming

I still haven't talk about petroleum industry or news in this blog (besides the old imported blog posts). It is not because they are boring, but it is just that I haven't have feeling to talk about petroleum now. Insha Allah I will cover about petroleum industry/news in Brunei soon.

Failure of BlowOut Prevention (BOP) in Mario game!

Tariq Ramadan rejects Hudud?

In late October 2013, Tariq Ramadan was invited to give a public lecture at the University of Brunei Darussalam. About 100 people consists of students and public attended the afternoon scheduled lecture. I can't recall the topic discussed but it was interesting but hard to be understood by engineer student (me).

Tariq Ramadan view on Hudud

On November 2013, Brunei Times published a complete article interview with Tariq Ramadan regarding the proposed Shariah Penal code in Brunei. I was shocked and confused on regards to which side Tariq Ramadan actually standing regarding to Hudud.

"I launched a call about 10 years ago suspending the [three punishments in the] penal code. The three things - stoning, the death penalty and corporal punishment. Saying to the Muslim-majority countries, you first have to start with what is the beginning [of Syariah] - social justice, education for all, protection of citizenships, whatever is religion. " - Tariq Ramadan (source: click here)

However, based on the above quote, we can see that Tariq Ramadan is actually proposing for a moratorium (temporary banning) of 3 Hudud punishments from  Shariah Penal Code in any coutries implementing Shariah law. This article received less/no objection from anyone in the country (based on my reading and research).

After reading this Brunei Times article, I shared with my colleagues and asked for their feedbacks. Most were not aware about the moratorium proposal by Tariq Ramadan as published by Brunei Times. Although Tariq Ramadan clearly mentioned his points about the moratorium,  unfortunately the mentioned reasons are not strong enough to stop muslims from still go for Hudud.

Authentic hadiths about Stoning for adultery

The hudud about stoning for is clearly mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as reported in several Sahih Bukhari hadiths. The following authentic hadith is among tens hadiths available about stoning for adultery.

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: The Jews came to Allah's Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?" They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them." Abdullah bin Salam said, "You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm." They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift your hand." When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, "Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. ('Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones." Sahih Bukhari 4:56:829

more hadith regarding hudud can be read here

Tariq Ramadhan launches attack on Hudood (2005)

In 2005, Tariq Ramadan  published a paper relating to his disagreement or certain hudud punishments from being carried (Read here).

Some of texts from his calling for temporary banning of certain hudud punishments.

"The application of the Islamic penal code - known by the widely misunderstood term sharia - in Muslim societies is one of the most controversial subjects in the dialogue between the west and the Muslim world. The imposition of corporal punishment, stoning and execution in the name of religious texts on an entire society cannot be accepted. We must condemn such repressive applications, which are carried out without due legal process." -Tariq Ramadan ((Read here).

This article received many condemnation and frustration from many Ulama.

And the same call was ordered by Tariq during his visit in Brunei on last October 2013.

Hadith about people rejecting Rajam

Narrated By Ibn Abbas: 'Umar Ibn Al Khattab Said, "I am afriad that after a long time has passed away, people may say we do not find the verses of rajam(Stoning to Death) in the Holy Book, and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the Penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercource, if he is already married, and the crime is proved by witnesses, pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorised the narration in this way. "Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him". - Sahih Bukhari, Vol8, Book 82. Punishment of Disbelievers At War. Hadith Number 816.

Sultan' Titah on Hudud

photo courtesy of muzir

“WHO ARE WE, in the presence of Allah (SWT), to say ‘no or wait’; considering that (Islamic) law was not only formulated, but has been stated in Al-Quran and Al-Hadiths for more than 1,400 years.”

"We have no other choice than to obey all of Allah’s (SWT) commands.”


“If we are still saying no or wait first, (then) this does not make sense,” His Majesty said.

Replies on  Tariq's call

1 It is not methodologically fitting to introduce a paper calling for a moratorium on hudud in the countries executing them—as Ramadan has done—without mentioning the reason behind this call.

2. It is also not methodologically fitting to charge that executing hudud is cruel. This happened many times in the paper published on Professor Ramadan’s Web site, but without introducing statistics to clarify this “cruelty.”

3. Methodologically, it is inappropriate to base the call on the argument that the reach and the poor are being treated discriminately, without presenting simple statistics that show the average income of persons punished by hudud in comparison to other persons in other cases where hudud was not carried out. 

4. The same can be also said with regards to women; Ramadan said that executing punishment is restricted to women without providing any figures or statistics.

(source: click here)

5. With all due respect to Tariq Ramadan, no one has the right to propose a morotorium on a particular form of punishment. He may make the point that the punishment recommended in Islamic Shariah will require certain conditions to be met before it can be implemented. However, to reject a law in the Shariah, ridicule a ruling or hate a ruling in the Shariah takes you out of Islam. To believe that we are now living in modern times so that the Shariah is no longer relevant or barbaric also takes you out of Islam. The the Laws are eternal for all times and places. I am surprised and disappointed by this statement from Tariq Ramadan. 

We are really living in Jahiliya. What is more barbaric than people with HIV spreading it to others, paedophilia by priests, abortion of an innocent child, war for oil, torture of Muslims by the US, rape of Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs and the continued filthy Israeli humiliation and genocide of innocent Palestinians.(source:click here)

My comment

Sometimes I wonder if liberalism make people to reject Allah's order in order to please human preferences.  Unfortunately, human will never feel satisfy and always find reason to fulfill their nafs (nafsu). This reminds me of a story about shadow, if you want to catch a shadow, you won't be able to catch it. So don't follow the shadow, but turns away from the shadow, the shadow will follows you. This is the same about Dunya, don't follow the duniya, lets the duniya follows you.

and again, I am here not to judge either Tariq' decision on Hudud is right or no. He has his own reasons like what he had mentioned. And this discussion not means to blame or condemn anyone.

Special Edition: No RIP condolence by muslim to non-muslim?

When news of Paul Walker killed in an accident spread out,  many people feel sad and sent their condolence message via facebook and other social websites. Many muslim fans were also sending their condolence including leaving text "RIP to Paul Walker" on his facebook wall.

Few days after that, my facebook thread was flooded by shared info stating that "muslim are not allowed to say RIP to non-muslim". I don't want to cover the full details why it was stated as sinful acts, you may find the reason via google search engine.

A week ago, I watched a video with title  "Are Paul Walker & Nelson Mandela going to hell?" by Ustaz Majed Mahmoud. The video was very interesting and should be watch by everyone. In his video, Ustaz majed covered about different aspect of non-muslim categories. 

To simply, he is stating that "not all non-muslim when died will be put into hell fire", it depends on the category. You should watch this 6.49 mins video to learn. May this video clarify our doubts and may Allah forgive us for the wrong idea we had before. (Click here if the below video is not working)

When your sin is better than your deen

" A sin which leads one to submit (to Allah) is more preferable in the sight of Allah than good deed which causes one to have pride"

(ibn al-Qayyim alfawaid p122)

photo courtesy of http://www.islamictreasure.com/1900-criticizing-the-sinner-who-has-repented/

Sometimes, it is better to remain silent than to speak out

"Don't criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances..."

We have to understand people' feeling and being respectful to everyone. We don't want to attack people. However, our action and words , sometimes,  hurting people without we realising it : or we only realised it when it is too late. We thought our good intention will bring positive result every time; no it is not. When you hurt people's feeling, do you think your action is right?

We don't want to be the reason why people move away from Allah... we don't want our spoken out become the reason for a fight or for a hurt..

We must workout an alternative how to speak this thing out in a better way, where it will make people think and realise the mistake without hurting their feeling.

Praying can prevent people from stealing

Click the above photo to read

Praying can prevent people from stealing..

That statement is absolutely true. Unfortunately, those 'unfortunate' people who  must be either not fulfilling the obligation set by Allah or their prayer is just a physical movement without/ lack of understanding on Islam. If we truly understand the acts of praying, we won't for sure not to do that; not even have intention to steal or do any other bad things.

This is a common behavior we see in people including myself. But common doesn't mean it is acceptable . We perform our prayers but at the same time we make mistakes. We either have realised the wrong doing beforehand and still doing it or because we still don't want to improve our knowledge to understand Islam as way of life.

We know ourselves better than others, so please do ask...

Mosque breakin- hints about failure in welfare in the country?

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and good day everyone,

Yesterday, the nation was shocked by a news that 12 mosques were break in within 10 days. (Media Permata reported 14 cases instead of 12). People  were commenting and discussing about this provoking criminal acts. Whats wrong with these people? Don't they fear of Allah for their act?

 12/14  mosques were break in within 10 days

Dream vs reality

Mosque is known as "The House of Allah", how could people do such non acceptable acts. Some were pointing that the crimes must be done by the foreigners. This shows how the people in this country don't have gut to accept if it was done by the local.

Today's Brunei Times newspaper reported three local men were captured after the mosque' security noticed them hiding in the mosque- after the mosque was closed and locked. The security man then informed the Iman which later led to involvement of policemen and gurkha. These 3 men were believed to be linked to the recent Mosque break-in reported.

This incident was openly discussed in one of the segments in  Nur Islam Radio Channel. The caller was asking  how could these people have no fear to Allah? have their Iman faded away?.

If they are fear of Allah- they won't never do this.

Some people are hoping that the Sharia Law (which Insha Allah will be offically run in April 2014) can be implemented now. They want to see these people to be hand chopped for this act. So it can bring fear, so people won't repeat this criminal acts in the future.

It is believed that, implementing Sharia Law will provide good  prospective  for this crimes not to happen again in the future, because people will be in fear. But we have to understand what is Sharia law actually.

Hudud for stealing  is not simply means just to cut hands of burglars. no, it is not!!. We have to understand what is the purpose of Hudud actually.  It is to make the guilt to repent for their acts, to bring fear to everyone. It is not simply to punish people according to our nafs (nafsu) or judgement.

If Sharia law is just simply to punish people- you are wrong. Sharia law was supposed to mean we want our country to have Islamic environment in all areas not just in handling crime activities. Sharia law need to be understand fully and need to be observed and digest in careful ways.

I remembered a story about Saiydina Omar (RA), he didn't punish a man who steal during a drought. This is because Saiyidina Omar (RA)  knows, the drought can led people to steal in order to survive from dying. So he made an exception in certain cases not to punish the guilt. 

We should learn this Saiyidina acts in corresponding to the break-in crime in this country. Although we don't have drought or any serious natural or any sort of disasters in the country, but they must be something that triggers these crimes.

We should make a study to knoe what are the reason for this crimes? Do these people currently working? Are they in excessive debts and receive no financial help from anyone/agency? Do these people have learned Islam properly?

It is not right if we want to punish these people if they were actually in serious trouble to survive in the country. These criminal acts should be study and to be understood in order to make improvement in the welfare of people in this country. The failure in providing necessary help (financially, motivations and etc) could led to this crimes.

To stop them is to study them

We always says, our country is peaceful, everyone live in harmony and the country is about to have a null digit in poverty. If this is true, Alhamduliah.

But problems in economy, rising unemployment, low salary and wages could become reason or to trigger these criminal activities to happen. I am not making a statement but just pointing out the possibilities.

Stealing - unacceptable norms

But the acts of stealing is still unacceptable norms anywhere at any circumstances. If we have strong emaan, caring society, strong heart and love to work yourself harder to get something (through legal ways) - we will see acts of stealing is shameful, destructive to family and society. We won't do it and not even think to do it, It is not impossible acts of stealing can led to further violation crimes such as killing.

Last not least, May all of us receive Hidaya from Allah,  so we can understand what are the purpose of us in this world- not verbally understanding but through acts. Ameen.. Insha Allah

Regards,

He will always be there for you

"Kalau tiada bahu untuk bersandar, sentiasa ada lantai untuk bersujud"

(Khairul Nizam)

Menyesal sahaja tiada guna

"Perkara yang paling aku menyesal ialah apabila matahari itu terbenam, usiaku bertambah tetapi amalanku tidak bertambah..."

(Ibnu Masud)

Shale gas- criticized source but we still want to own one

WHILE shale hydrocarbons continue to be a hot topic around the world, success achieved in the United States might be hard to replicate elsewhere, an oil and gas expert said yesterday.

Emmanuel Liberelle, Total E & P Borneo geosciences manager, said that a number of factors contributed to the revolution of shale in the United States.

Oil Shale- the unconventional oi supply. (photo at energy digital)

Liberelle delivered a talk on shale gas and oil in the US at the Radisson Hotel.

The event was organised by the French Bruneian Business Association and attended by a number of local companies as well as government agencies, including Petroleum Brunei.

“First, in the United States, the owner of the land is the proprietor of the sub-surface,” he said, adding that this gives incentive for land owners to allow oil and gas companies to operate.

In other countries, however, the sub-surface of a land is owned by the state, making it complicated for the landowner, company and the state to negotiate terms for the mining of the energy resource, he added.

He also said that workforce was a factor, with the US having industrial logistic facilities already on location. Liberelle also noted that the terrain in the US is favourable for shale production, as its development requires large, wide and flat surface area as well as road access for logistics.

In many Asian countries, hilly terrain and jungles make it financially unfeasible for shale hydrocarbon production, noting that compared to conventional oil and gas production, shale production uses a significantly greater area, he added.

Public acceptance is also an issue, he said, without elaborating.

Shale has been criticised as an energy resource because it is extracted using the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Fracking entails drilling and injecting fluids at high pressure to fracture shale rocks to extract the hydrocarbons. Critics of the process maintain that it deals damage on the environment. Among others, fracking is believed to contaminate groundwater.

Liberelle noted that in the United States, shale production is accepted and is believed to be a sustainable industry in the country for the foreseeable future.

“It is quite important, and has big potential,” he said.

The talk came on the heels of the announcement that Petroleum Brunei would buy a three per cent stake in Malaysia’s Petronas’ shale gas assets in Canada.

A number of agreements were signed following the 17th Annual Brunei-Malaysia Leaders’ Consultation held in Bandar Seri Begawan, according to a statement from Petronas yesterday.

“Petronas and its Canadian subsidiaries Progress Energy Canada Ltd and Pacific NorthWest LNG Ltd have also signed an agreement with Petroleum Brunei for the latter to acquire a three per cent equity in Progress Energy Canada’s natural gas assets and in the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG’s export facility. As part of the proposed transaction, Petroleum Brunei has agreed to buy a three per cent share of the LNG facility’s production for a minimum of 20 years,” the statement read

The Brunei Times

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My comment:

I still wonder why Petroleum Brunei is really into Shale gas contract in Canada when this supply is unconventional. We have plenty of quality and conventional oil and gas field in Brunei both onshore and offshore. So why invest in unconventional one? :]