Chapter 2.2 - How to make a bottle of milk

Don't mess with the ziemer when he wants his milk

Aziem's head popped from his hiding place................ behind the huge-smooth-sofa-with-no-legs.
he heard footsteps from above. It seems Abang Tah (Fattah) is coming down from his very-high-sleeping-spot. Aziem scratched his head. why in the world do "grown ups" like Abang Tah puts there sleeping place soooooo high.

Like me, anywhere is my sleeping place, penat je, jatuh and asleep..........................

Abang Tah has come down already, finally some company to watch the "moving pictures" together. This one was reallly good, they literally dazzled my eyes, just watching at these things is somehow fun.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmppph, my tummy just growled, time for some milk, good thing Abang Tah is here, hopefully he could make me some milk.

"Abang Tah.... Tah!", why in the world isn't he listening.

"Abang Tah!!!!"

"Ye!!!"

Finally, some attention, huh now for the milk.

"Su, Su"

"Ummi went to work lah Aziem"

No he got it all wrong.

"Su, Su" i pointed at the big cylinder on the table and the bottles in the sinky. Cant this guy understand I want some milk?!?

BAH!! grown ups, I'll teach him how to make milk. I saw ummi buat senang je.

I pointed my small, sausage-shaped  fingers at the big RED tin. Take it already abang Tah ni!!!

he took it obediently, I prompt him to put his hand into the the tin, and then............ and then WHAT!!!?!!


I pointed at the cylinder-shiny-thingy and ask Abang Tah to open it, holding his shirt at the same time. hurry up, I'm starving ni.

Obediently, Abang Tah, did how I ordered him to. What was it 3 or was it 4 scoops of "white dirt" Abang Si always put like what? till all the yummyness could be consumed maybe??$&#*@!

Huh, after that, pour in some water, make sure it's warm.

Yeay!!!! it's finished, with the lid on, I snatched the small bottle from Abang Tah's awesomely-gigantic-crushing-hands.

The warm-sweet-milk-that-makes-your head-all-peaceful was soooooooo delicious! Although I still would want to comment on Abang Tah's personal taste, it's sometimes feel wiggle inside out, if you get what I mean Abang Tah.

Abang Tah Thanks, LUV ye =)

Chapter 2 - Aziem's "River"

Fauzul Aziem was jumping up and down in his "makeshift" swimming pool. he never had so much fun since ummi "went to work". It seems an awfully lot of work, every time he sleeps and wakes up ummi wasn't there beside him, but no matter, baba was always their, and now abang si (Fakhry) is here too. Abang si just came back from work, he supposed.

Ever since Abang si sat and baba's place in the car, he never felt any better in the car than before, rasa macam nak muntah, Abang Si masak pun keluarkan semula dekat luar, tak boleh bagitau Abang Si, or else he'll smile very widely, entah kenapa waktu dia senyum lebar2 nanti dia tumbuk dinding or gelikan Ziem. Freaky Abang.

But now, since Abang Si has been back, he bought with him some box. It was like magic. Abang Si open the box and some "oversize bathtub" came out. He used some weird equipment, one of those things you put at the bicycle and tiba2 bicycle tu boleh jalan, like magic. Abang Si said that every morning kalau nak boleh mandi in this "kolam" he called. macam Abang Si pulled the river and brought it to the back of our house, one day I really need to learn all this, macam "cool" je.

I tgk kat atas, ohhh, the big-bad-bright-hot-round-thingy is shining so much, kena bawa my river to a shadier place.

"Abang Si, Abang Si!....... Abang Si!"

"Yes Aziem???", Abang Si's head poked out from the wall, Masyaallah! terkejut Ziem tgk. It seems he's at the "touching TV", getting out long sparky things that looks like spaghetti and rewinding them. Is he doing dinner? Yuck, tak nak makan tu.

"Niiiiii, Hot, Aziem Hot", pointing my finger at the big-bad-round-thingy.

Abang Si quickly understood and went out to the backyard where my "round river" is and started............... pulling it??? bringing it under the cool shades of the roof. I giggled with a smile of thanks.

"Say Thank you", Abang Si said to me.

"Teee ku", whatever that means, but it must mean a good thing since, after i say it Abang Si looks nice and happy.

So now, back into the river! yeah! all the water with all the toys, and better still here come Ya and Udden.

"Ya, Ya, in Aziem" I said.

"Hah ye, nanto nadia masuk, kena tukar baju" she said.

"Ju?? Ju?, I pointed at her clothing, why can't she just go naked like me, much more easier. Girls makes things complicated.

"Ye, Nadia kena tukar dulu"

A few thick tocks, and finally Ya and Udden came in their "river clothes". Ya touched the edge, dipping her fingers in the water, testing how good it feels before getting into the river, while Udden just came in with a splash.

Yeay! now all the gang is here, just Abang Si, whom is busy with his "touching tv", what's so great about it? I tried touching it and all it did was some strange sounds, guess the more you get older, the border you get. Being a baby is always fun. Ya, Udden and me played in the river so much, there was a ball Abang Si took from "the other people's house" and he let us play with it.

Hmmmph, it's much more fun playing ball with Abang Si, because Abang Si is so strong when he hits the ball, no one could catch it, he even throws it so high.

"Abang Si, Si"

"Yes Aziem", again his head popped out from the "magical-wall-like-mirror", looking around, Abang Si nodded in satisfaction that Udden and Ya was there with me.

"In Ball, In Bal"

"Abang can't play ball lah Aziem, I wanna fix this computer", pointing to the touching tv, the what-ter? they call it.

"Abang............... in Bal, in bal", I started rattling, holding the ball in my hands, showing to him to play with us. it seemed like it didn't work, because after that he just ignored us.

So i stepped out of my river and went into the shady-place-with-spinning-thing-on-top-and -lots-of-bright-things, and I did the unthinkable. I threw the ball at him.

Rule number #1, don't make grown ups unhappy, and that was the rule I just broke. Abang Si's touching tv was hit by the ball and it all got wet.

"Aziem..............", Abang Si sounded grumpy, but why is he still smiling, Uh-oh, I know what's gonna happen after this. I ran back to my river as soon as possible. Of course I knew that my small body was no match to the huge structure that shadowed me, Abang Si. He quickly picked me up and together, jumped into the river with me, and he's still in his clothes! wet of course.

I saw his sinister smile, he held on to me and he started dancing and tossing me up and down, bringing me into the waters while teaching me how to swim. It was all fun, the spinning the dancing, the swimming, and finally Abang Si, sat down into the water, soaked in his clothes.

He looked like he needed nap times, I could have sworn I could hear his chest with those funny cat voices, it's like there's something inside of him, like in Naruto where there's a creature called Kyubi, yeah, and in the story it's a bad idea to let this "kyubi" get out.

So I went to his chest and tapped it a little, hopefully the kyubi will stay in there, that's how naruto does it.

"Ni kit?" I was pointing at his chest.

"ye Aziem, Sakit, your Abang Si ni has asthma, you know"

I knew it, there was something in his body, and it's name was................ Asthma.
Whatever happens, I can't allow it to get out.

Abang Si, was resting at the edge of the river, he looks exhausted, but happy. It's great that Abang Si comes out and plays with us, its always boring when he stays with his touching tv, fun, fun, fun. Life is soooo much fun.

Why in the world do grown ups do all these boring stuff? I don't know, but I'm glad Abang Si played with us today, I hope it was like this all the time.

Chapter 1.2 - Somebody has to Fattah

Fattah was trying to gain back balance. Some lunatic had just hit his back, almost crushing the parts where he had an operation.

He looked up and saw some arab guy laughing at him, showing fingers, acting like the world belonged to them.

His vision and his hearing came back, he could recognize the faint arab cliche's the guys were talking about.

What were they calling him? Slave boy? Asian? Mata Sepek?

he couldn't quite register it, he understood more Hebrew than these dumb a** would think an "asian" guy knew possible.

Rising up his fragile body, a calm hand help on to his feet. it was his sister, Ayesha.

"You alright?"

Fattah gave a slight nod, determined not to show his weak side.

The "arab" strangers were still laughing and mocking. Now calling his sister things like, prostitute or whatsoever. Ayesha kept her ground, not wanting to find trouble in the middle of "the dessert".

The shouting and mocking from the Arabs suddenly ceased, continued by surprisingly another type of shouting.

"Go to hell! All of you! Get out of here!"

It was our mom, and she was showing her right hand with a clench fist and on her left hand, a hand bag with 'God-knows-what" accessories that would make your head splatter when it hit you.

The guys knew that whoever this angry lady was, she meant business, looking at how the way she dressed with a purdah on, she looked like a modern arab women.

One of the guys quickly made a dash, not wanting to take on the fury of this "women in the purdah".

Fattah almost laugh at the fury shown by his mom, even he wasn't afraid to debate with his own furious mum, and yet here the people whom has just punched him are fleeing at the very sight.

Rising on two by two, Fattah quickly tidied up what was left of him, his hair was almost in ruin, as if he would care, but the worst part was on his stomach. there's a red-bluish spot where they hit him. whoever these lunatics were they really were going to pay, no wonder americans think these guys are terrorist: arabs like to bully Americans, like him.

By time everything settled back the way it was, it looked like as if this whole commotion of "arabs like to bully asian" was and everyday chore.

The trio quickly departed, seeing that it is now almost late, way late, and not wanting to go through a "worst case scenario" all over again.

Sending his mom and his sister back, Fattah made the journey back to his house accompanied by their trusty "muraqib" Anas back to where he was staying.

He thought back at the current events.
He has been in Jordan now for almost a week, things looked appeasing to him.

JUST, Jordan University of Science and Technology took on the stage of his attention. As a place to continue learning, it seemed "here" was a good place. The facilities were there, everything looked ok, and most of all, he loved the food, the lamb chops, the rice and the camels. He might even be able to get taller than his elder brother, Ibnu Ahmad, always boosting how tall he is.

And then, on the looks of it, things didn't go the way they should, with the gang members bullying asian-americans, saying things in chinese which "God-knows" what they are saying.

Something has to be done about this...........................

For some weird reason, whenever some problem like this acquires, his family, would end up thinking it's up to them to help it out. Whether it be in knowledge (his dad), Education (mum), socializing and peers (sister), social problems and Dakwah(his brother), military (his younger brother) and the list goes on and on, with the specific things each member of the family wants to solve, they always think it's up to them to do it.

Guess he'll be needing more than just his "knowledge in comparative religion".

Hmmmmphhh, Well.

if it's not these guys, somebody has to solve it..............................................

Are U Alim - Chapter 1 - I Believe

Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds:

(Suratul Al-An'am :162)

I remembered dear Nadia asking me:

"Is there really God?"

She being in her rebellious mode was making my life as a older brother like an ordeal. I should have known that these were one of those questions just to run away so she doesn't need to perform her prayers or not wear a hijab when going out. you can't blame them, there curiosity is enormous, why, I even once doubt my parents......... were my parents, thought I was adopted or something.

"Yes, there is", I said.

"Tak nampakpun"

hmmmphh, and I thought it would be easier to tell a child than something as complicated like this.

"Just because you can't see God, that doesn't mean He doesn't exist"

"hmmmmphh", she chuckled

"Do you see the air you breathe? no, because it's invisible, but you could feel it with your hand, it blows in your hair. Same like Allah, you could feel him, although not with your hand but with your heart, that's why you need to pray, so that you could "feel" Allah, blowing a relief into your soul."

Nadia smiled in delight. From that day I know, Nadia would be waiting to pray, wanting to "feel" the blowing relief of Allah.

And here starts our Journey.......................

Ramadhan Weekends

This recent saturday, 28th of August, I had exams................ Fardhu Ain, and it was freakingly hard, Masyaallah. They keep on asking about girls and there menstrual- cycle................

And to me it was like............... Masyaallah, do guys actually have to know all this? LOL

But all in all.............. it's exams, so what more do you expect?

After a thrilling hour with exams, it's finally time to mesmerize my weekends, you see, this might be the only weekend during ramadhan I didn't went back home, my parents were furious.......... partially wanting me to take care of my siblings (potty training Fauzul I guess, YEAH!)

Rather I told the m I wanted to hang out at rumah Daeng in KL (he really lives beside KLCC),

"ada nak siapkan kerja rumah with him and all"

So they allowed, hearing the name of Daeng of course (my mom knew his mom) so boleh trust lah that I won't do anything bad (protective parents)

before going to his house, I went to Markaz SRI petaling with Syarafi, we wanted to hear the news from the Markazand buy "God-knows-what" sunnah items (I.e Celak, Jubah, Sugi.... those things) my supply dah nak habis dah.

Going to Sri Petaling wasn't that easy, you see I brought along my bag with a text book inside because after this I was going to Daeng's house to sleepover. we went from Bus - train and finally taxi, all in one day.

It was a relief getting to Sri Petaling, the mosque was packed with people even though it was only Asar (that's something rare you'll find in other mosques) but the air was cool and filled with the air of hope and submition to God.

we stayed there until after Asar prayers, then me and Syarafi head back to KL.

By the time we reached to Masjid Jamie', it was already 6.45pm........... dah nak buka puasa!

there was a bazaar next to the mosqye, so we bought some food there, the bazaar was packed with people, and we're in the middle of KL for heaven's sake!

I almost choked in there, with the smoke and all the people, Syarafi, noticing this quickened his work, we quickly went out of the bazaar and straight to Masjid Jamie', where we will break fast and did maghrib prayers.

finally it was time to part our ways. Syarafi went back to CFS while I'll continue to Daeng's house, I wanted to invite Syarafi to Daeng's house, but he said he couldn't follow.. "takde baju"

I followed the LRT to KLCC, and by the time I'm infront of Surian KLCC, it was already almost Isya',

Masjid Asy-Syakirin was close by, so I went there, that was one of the most beautiful Mosque I've been, it's in the middle of KL, yet the environment was quite peaceful and spectacular. Buat tarawih kat situ jugak.

It seemed pretty cool: In one day I went and prayed in 4 different mosque, Masjid CFS UIA, MAsjid Sri Petaling, Masjid Jamie' and finally Masjid Asy-Syakirin. and that's all done during the month of ramadhan, guess great (spiritual) things do happen during ramadhan.

Reaching to Daeng's place, I slump across the floor, grabbed a remote controller, and played Resident Evil the whole night! So much for Ramadhan. LOL God-knows how long I slept after Subh.

Sekilau di CFS

Alhamdullillah, sudah nak habis semestar pertama di CFS IIU. Hidup disini memang syok (Apasal tiba2 cjp melayu ni?)

So what have I been going through really? well there were lectures from........... well lecturers

There was debate and God knows what hectic competitions: IDC 2010, IIU Open and ICRC Debate.

And there was also life in the campus. more or less what I expected.

In Class >>>>

Physics Lab, this was our last experiment, in picture: Hakeem and Zuhdi

Kelas Ustaz Wan Shuhor, he thought arabic, dia nampak garang, macam terrorist, but actually very nice (to boys lah)

My Math class, very fun learning with these bunch of people, in pic from top: Syarafi, Rafiq, Lutfi, Aidil, Atiq and Syukur. LOL

Last class with madam Suzana (middle one sitting) my chemistry lecturer, she took leave because she was pregnant. Miss u mdm Suzana

Debate >>>He he he (I never said I was a good guy), on the way for Iskandar Debate, my teammate Saddiq, poor guy, always doing the thinking. Penat

Eating a scrumptious 1 feet long sandwich. this was during Taylor's, don't forget to recite Doa'
Trainning for Iskandar Debate, God knows what Amnah is thinking of. LOL

Team Fauzi!!! Fakhry and Fattah Fauzi, during IIU Open, we made a great team together

Other Activities while in CFS >>>

Some activities with my Usrah buddies, and singgah Markaz SRI Petaling

Brother Khairul's Wedding, Hope you make a great husband!

And Finally.............. Going into ward for the 5th consecutive time in IIU. LOL

"What is a man, if he does not bring benefit the world"

Home of God

"Why do you want to go and pray at the mosque? is it any different than praying in your room?"

it makes all the differences.

"well the mosque is the house of God"

"that's very particular, how do you know he lives there?"

of course, Allah is anywhere.

What is a home really?

It's where you feel most secured, where you know you own most (if not all) the things in that place, it's YOUR place of remembered (where you are remembered, because obviously you live there).

Masjid, it derives from the word "Sajada" which means to submit. In the mosque, the man purpose of that institution is to submit to God ie the recognition of God.

That is why it's the home of God, because now, you submit yourself spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally towards God's cause.

Concerning the Ground Zero Mosque

should muslims in NY pursuit to get a mosque built there? what is the objective? to enhance inter - faith understanding? or is the true purpose to create the home of God where people once demise Him?

If Muslims really want to build a mosque, it must be on the grounds of Taqwa (recognition of God) Not for any other agenda.

Will this truly be the Home of God? moreover where is our home to be exact?

The Haram Police

Reminding You Just In case you forgot

When God is Angry

During the weekends, I had a debate competition in Taylor's University, although I wasn't actually able to break for top 8 teams, going into the final. my team was reshuffled from last times ICRC debate, so it was totally new for us, and we had to get to know each other more.

Training trainers

13 May 2010, 3.30pm

I was running in the hall way, heading to the parking lot of CFS (it's at the end of the other side of our football field, so it was like very far). I had a debate practice at Nilai campus against my seniors from Gombak.

Kamal, my senior debater, had "kindly asked" for me to follow, looking at the situation that I have debate competitions ahead, this might be a good training.

Book by it's cover

This is a cache phrase I saw one of my friends had on his t-shirt while going into class. It was totally cool (although i wasn't ab;e to get a picture of it).

I'm now having night class, starting with mathematics and after that Wallahu a'lam what kind of classes I'll be having. My schedule is as packed as any other student taking a 1 year course is.

Class from 8am to 6pm, non stop, breaks only during Zuhr. And I thought school was more horrifying than this. NOT

Back to the FIFA thing and the night class; well see this that there aren't any restrictions of dress code during night classes, so I choose to wear my favourite Blue-black jubah.

My lecturer didn't comment on anything when i went into class, just stared at my serban and my eyes which I wore celak. No problem with that.

I was amazed how simple rules and regulations, when not imposed could make people so.................. different.

I notice some girls wearing tight outfits with jeans and a plain tudung that is just not that opaque, you could see her hair inside, or boys wearing simple plain t-shirts with a three quarter trouser, like puh-lease, don't they know how cold it is in the lecture room.

Some people even came and asked why in the world am I not wearing something casual or "normal".

LOL, isn't this normal enough. and I thought only during the prehistoric ages were we only wore a plain cloth would think like that. Guess not.

So that's were I would start my 5 minutes lecture on "reasons why I wore a Jubah".

1. It's awesomely comfortable:if you wore it, your feet won't be that cold or that hot because there is good air circulation rather than wearing jeans. during class, I notice how shaking some of the boys whom wore the three quarters pants, and to say my body mass is low that I would shiver; ridiculous.
2. well it's the best attire to wear, especially when there are no laws enforcing you to wear a plain shirt, like it's the Sunnah, and this IS after prayers
3. well, one good thing when you were something that makes you look alim, you have this burden of pertaining that look, so if people notice like your doing something bad you wouldn't do do, because you have a reputation in stake, it's like a deterrence (this is for me personally).

So maybe the term "don't judge a book by it's cover" doesn't applied in my situation here, it's too obvious. the important thing is to make sure you become a better person than before

The Image

If you could do something like this....
even without a text, then you are amazing.

the very idea that, somebody from a religious school, could possibly think critically and yet still be able to retain there Islamic Image is incredible.

Hopefully we would have more people like this

Dare you to wear a jubah

(And so a continue on "Are you Alim")

I'm not going to talk about human rights or freedom of humanity or such (lame).

This weekend, 11th to 13th June, I went to the International Humanitarian Law Debate.
what we were debating was whether some acts should be done and whether it was humane enough to do it.

Things like the Flotilla, Myanmar, Eu and other stuff.

One of the things that I most fell grateful was debate, yet one of the things I regret most was my inability to be in control during the debate, because hey, FYI, debate is about in control of yourself.

Your emotions, how you think and how you create a strategy is all in debate.

When I was in Uitm Shah Alam, there were some bits of moments where I feel responsible as someone whom knew Islamic knowledge and philosophy, to tell my friends and teammates, what is the do's and don'ts. However it seemed like by the end of the day, I was not in control of the situation myself.

Sometimes (maybe all the time, especially in university) you forgot things. things that are suppose to be the principles and beliefs of your life. To me it happened during this debate. I was so into debate, so into winning and fighting for a place that I forgotten the real objective I went in there the first time. It's like you weren't actually doing anything much to change the people you intended to change.

I remember Fattah, how he "mingled" with these type of people, they didn't actually understood Islam as we did, so he tried to help them, but rather than helping them, he went with them. Diverting from his purpose, from his objective.

I remember the time when I went to my first ever training at CFS. I was wearing a jubah with a serban, and I actually got rank first in the audition.

Brother Irzal was surprised that it was me whom got first, and gave a slight comment

"by the end of this year, you might not be wearing this anymore"

I took that as a challenge, and as a dare to myself, that even within debate, i will still be able to be the Fakhry I am before this. I don't want to be like my seniors whom got lost nor like my friends who went through the trend of modernization and got lost.

Saddiq's influence over me it seemed was too great, and I didn't notice that there were some values I've forgotten, some things I missed. Further more was the influence the surroundings I was in. It wasn't like you were back in IIU interschool, you were debating with people whom has been brainwashed with secularism and liberalism.

But the truest victory wasn't actually whether I was able to make Saddiq, Kamal, Harris, Aidil or ASyraf a better person. It was actually making myself a better person, because I realize that to make others good, you don't need to watch them 24/7 like a mom does and make sure they do things, it's actually making yourself better, still holding on the principles you acknowledged and the beliefs you had. and in the process, these people, your friends will follow, not because of what you did, but what you believe in that showed what you believed in.

You bring them, show them the right way not because you are somebody Alim, but because you wanted to be somebody Alim, it was all about you.

Amnah dared me to help Saddiq with all I can, and I'll uphold that promise I made. I'm sorry Saddiq, sorry Wani, Sorry to Amnah for being lost.

Mingling Part

It feels weird to be mingling with people whom are another world than yours. Not that I'm saying they are from another world, it's just the way they think that is different.

Ok maybe saying some not so good words are a little uncomfortable when they say it in front of me. Or the fact that their knowledge of religion is way down than any Muslim I ever meet (Saddeq doesn't even understand the concept of “you can't get close to adultery”).

Maybe it was my fault for not teaching them or at least guiding them. Consider the fact that Saddeq (RMC), Harris (SDAR), Aidil (SAS) and Kamal (SASER) are all from conventional schools and lacks basic religious teachings.

Getting along with them isn't that tough. The fact that my religious knowledge is way higher than all of there's combined, they respect my views and my opinions, like why I don't eat McD, or why don't have a facebook account, or even why sometimes during their normal conversations I don't talk a lot (I like listening, letting them do all the talking).

By the end of the day, they are just a bunch of people whom are left unchecked and untold about the truth that there IS an Al-Mighty God and that there IS a Hell and Heaven.

It's a challenge for me to actually be able to bring them back to the right path (especially Saddeq) not because it's what Allah or the prophet's orders but because deep inside we all know we have a responsibility to our friends and family members.

It doesn't matter whether we are Alim or we are somebody whom is from a religious school, guess what the prophet is NOT from a religious school nor was Abu Bakr, he just thought people what he knew, and I guess that's what makes us one big family correlated with each other, not by blood but by bonding of minds and ideas.

I remembered what my debate trainer said, brother Irzal when he wanted people to understand that debate IS an important thing when it comes to religion:

“ We want to create the Intellectual Muslim, the Creative Muslim, the Great Muslim”

Guess we were never born great nor we were given great abilities, it's just that by the end of the day we need to do great things, and things like telling your friend whom has no idea what is the phylosophy of Islam is something GREAT.

May Allah bless you with Hidayah and Taufiq: Saddeq, Harris, Kamal and Aidil, my debating friends in CFS IIUM.

Are you Alim?

Even if I'm 17 that doesn't mean I'm young

Alhamdullillah, I'm learning in IIU Petaling Jaya Campus, taking Engineering.
Going into university, as I saw it, wasn't that much shocking than what I've heard of.
(Well, it was just.... the ta'aruf week)

And Insyaallah after a few years in IIU, I'll be flying to Saudi Arabia to continue my studying in Noetics and Nanotechnology (look up in a dictionary)

Life in university, does have it's ups and downs. There were pressures, even during the first days at IIU, some split decision moments, some bad days and sometimes great ones.

What I was most intrigued most in IIU wasn't the name of the university or it's system of conduct, it is it's society and environment.

Ok, you could say thath there is a mosque and mussolla very close by, everything is in walking distance. everyone smiles to each other and there is a huge line between the relationships of boys and girls. No comments there.

And yet, looking back, this time behind the scenes, we see that such things are actually a veil, or a hiding place for occult things.

I'm not trying to give a bad image to IIU, I live there right now, but I feel the need to watch over things so that they wouldn't go astray, especially when it's my home.

Back in Maahad Hamidiah, we had this idea, that everyone is a hypocrite one way or the other, no matter how good that person is or how bad, there is always something we would over saw. that means, we don't trust looks. That's why one of BADAR's main job is to make sure that everyone has a good being in them.

I've seen people following Usrah and Muzzakarah Iman yet go out for smoking, and people whom are wise and intelligent yet not so active in such things. It's a dual world in Maahad.

So my adventure in IIU started when as usual, going to the mosque wearing a jubah and a serban as i did in Maahad. It was a habit of mine to do such things.

However, when I was in the mosque, there wasn't any other single being (except 2 others) whom was wearing an attire like mine. ok don't mind about that.

I did my prayers, then the surprising happened. Someone came to me and asked whether I was fro Darul Qur'an. Like Puh-lease

He said that I "looked" like someone "alim" wearing a serban and jubah. I replied to him that, no, I wasn't exactly from DQ, not a graduate there, once learned but didn't stayed. Only memorize quite a few verses of the Qur'an, and God knows how many I scored in my Arabics and Islamic Studies (not to mention I got a C+ in Shariah, and I was hoping to take a double degree in that). I'm not that "alim" compared to some of my friends, especially the KISASians in Islamic knowledge.

I explained to them that our outer looks doesn't signify anything to others. It is just a proclamation of what we believe in. like if somebody really loves the prophet then he would wear a jubah and a serban, but not vice verse.

I've been telling people, don't judge a book by it's cover (although I could get a lot of things about people by there body language).

To come to someone and ask them "Are you somebody Alim?" I feel that isn't that much of a significance in these times. It's base on the heart of a person, then showing it through his-self and his surroundings.

What is Alim these days? somebody with a high knowledge in Islam, yet still doesn't practice it?
Somebody who looks nice but in his heart (which we wouldn't know) is filled with emptiness and ignorance in religion? or is it just somebody whom as all people would see it, once learned at a religious institute i.e. KISAS, Maahad Hamidiah or Darul Qur'an?

Last question to be thought of: Are you somebody who is Alim?