DJ calling Tokcik, DJ calling Tokcik.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

DJ calling Tokcik, DJ calling Tokcik.

Assalamu ‘Alaikum,

DJ Calling Tokcik; DJ Calling Tokcik

It was with some sheepish bravado that I approached the PKNS Bazaar Ramadhan DJ Shah Alam to inform him that I have lost not a little kid, but a 75 year old grand aunt.

We asked Tokcik to sit on the stool outside one of the shops quietly as she will be too tired to follow us around to buy Zahir’s black baju Melayu and the girls’ baju kurung. As we were busy buying Raya clothes for the kids I pondered on whether to send Kakak to sit with Tokcik but I dismissed the thought as we would then not be able to buy Kakak the raya Baju Kurung if she were to babysit Tokcik.  It’s not often we get to PKNS Shah Alam and  I would like to settle the kids raya shopping quickly, in one go if possible.  Mama and Papa are not buying anything this year; Mama because she still has clothes in her wardrobe she had hardly wore whilst Papa, the reason is a bit technical. Papa is just about the waistline where a new baju Melayu always fits, but the trousers is always much too tight to say the least. So Papa have cotton on to a new tactic, and that is to buy a single piece black baju Melayu to fit all the black office trousers Papa has. Last year’s black baju Melayu is still fine so there’s no reason to buy another one this year. Sometimes I wish I have a striking yellow office trousers to match the striking yellow single piece baju Melayu that caught my eye. Tailoring somehow doesn’t happen with me; by the time I decide to tailor a new baju Melayu for raya they have always stopped taking orders.

Anyway that was how we lost Tokcik at the busy PKNS Bazaar Ramadhan tonight. Shah Alam town is particularly gay tonight with bright stalls lining the street and coloured lights defining the festive atmosphere. I always marvel at the way the Malays define Raya. It’s so festive and happy you can almost touch the happiness in the air. This contrasts with some countries I’ve been or lived in during the month of Ramadhan. A+ for the Malays for the uniqueness and creativity of their Ramadhan; every year they will  win the prize hands down if ever there is an international prize for the most colourful Ramadhan in Muslim countries. The Tarawih Imam’s mathematical calculation last night of 1000 months equalling 83.3 years of tahajjud and qiamullail  also played on my mind; and I’m sure is also not lost on the busy shoppers tonight.

Anyway we found Tokcik at the guard’s control room having a lively conversation with the young security guards who has taken on to her lively chatter. The friendly guard explain she found Tokcik wondering in the basement car park looking for our car and decided to take her to safety, the kind soul. Praise be to Allah this beautiful Ramadhan night was not spoiled by any tragedy. We learnt our lesson and will not leave Tokcik alone ever again, as I dismissed all the practised explanations in my mind to the wider family as to how I could lose a 75 year old auntie, the family’s current reigning matriarch.  Praise be to Allah who looks after us in more ways than we can imagine.

Wassalam,

Zahid

Feelings

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Feelings

Assalamu ‘Alaikum,

Feelings

It was an ordinary day at the office, plenty of applications to review, plenty of admin stuff to handle, the guys and the ladies were working merrily beyond my office divider. On my left was the window giving me a bird’s eye view of Jalan Tun Perak when some historic happenings were to take place in later days. The building was called Menara Tun Razak and the pride of  Jalan Raja Laut at the time. We took a group picture once, I looked so thin.

Many a time we gather at various resorts where the bank decided to have it’s Manager’s Conference. They made sure we roommate with different people all the time so that we bond with as many different people as possible.

Just some memories of the days at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad. For me it was between 1990 to 2000. It was magical, we were a group of dedicated souls determined to implement the demands of Shariah in economic life. Many joined at reduced pay just to get the opportunity to serve. That was why it hurt so much when at one time those baseless accusations were flung at us with merciless acrimony. We never knew what it was all about; we merely served as best expected of us. Sure there were inefficiencies in some of our ways when benchmark against giant international banks. We never had the size to benefit from scale. Sure we could have been more profitable, we could have been more machine like and efficient, but we were not corrupt. To accuse us of such is really the unkindest cut of all; to souls who cried in the darkest of night. We were anything, but.

That is why the ukhwah is so sweet when we meet now in greyer years. We have moved on, matured, went to greener pastures, shined  and return to roost. Such sweet , sweet memories we saviour. Today we meet at Mcoba building, the ex Bank Islam staff of old in a memorable get together to renew sillaturrahim and find out about old friends. We treasure those memories of old; may Allah accept our deeds and forgive us our shortcomings. We seek no rewards. Allah knows best.

Wassalam,

Zahid

Troubled Times

Monday, April 30, 2012

Troubled Times

 Assalamu 'Alaikum

Troubled Times

The sound of the kids singing their children’s songs float over my ears as I napped for the umpteenth time at Tok Aboh’s retirement cottage in Gong Lilit, Besut. We arrived late last night from the Kota Baru family house with the usual addition of two girl cousins of Adlin, Adila and Zahir. The rest of the gang will arrive later today as we again gather for another Tok Aboh gathering. Tok Aboh has plans to add Archery  to his current proposed Kem Ibadah and Homestay. The gathering was supposed to be during the school holidays in June but we had to suggest bringing it forward as my teaching engagements in June means the family had to be elsewhere.

The innocence of the kids’ joy at being in their Grandpa’s kampong highlights my worry about what the future holds for them. What are we bequeathing them and what will they inherit from us as we exit from the world and hand it over to them to run soon? Are we making the right choices, or are we so cornered that the kids’ future is an irrelevance to our current survival? The yellow events in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend were not lost to us although we are far from the epicentre. I asked myself would 300,000 people leave the comforts of their homes to taste chemical laced water and get beaten up by the FRU if things are as hunky dory as it is made out to be? Is 100% of everything being claimed by the protesters, absolute and total lies? It cannot be, even to the most neutral of observers, it cannot be. There has to be some ring of truth to their claims that must be investigated and rectified if we are indeed the righteous people we make ourselves out to be. Justice is the key to solve all problems, and observance thereof is the key to avoid all manner of problems. I fear where we are headed to if justice is an irrelevance and there are members of the populace who condone its trampling.

Trips home to Kota Baru often gives me some quiet times to hasten my usual reads. I have just finished Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus’ “Banker to the Poor” and am in the middle of John Mauldin’s “Endgame”. The first is the sort of book you’d wish you had read much earlier. The thoughts of Dr Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank fame, are not just about how to help the poor people of the world but is an outright debunking of popular economic thoughts. The poor is thought to be poor because they lack skills when in reality what they lack were relative pittance to buy tools to earn a living. I just love some of his quotable quotes. “Poverty does not belong in civilised human society. Its proper place is in a museum”. “Free trade must mean freedom for the weakest. Globalization must promote harmony and partnership between the big and the small economies, rather than become a vehicle for unhindered takeovers by rich economies”. And probably the most succinct to the champions of conventional economics is “…the biggest drawback about the market is that it always pushes things to the side of the powerful.”

John Mauldin on the other hand is singing the evil of debt with the world heading to a catastrophic Endgame. He quotes liberally from the seminal work of Professors Rogoff and Reinhart the original harbingers of the catastrophe of debt. We of course need only to quote Surah AlBaqarah ayah 278 and 279:

278 O you who believe! Observe your duty to Allah and gives up what remains due to you from usury, if you are (in truth) believers.

279 And if you do not then be warned of war (against you) from Allah and His messenger. And if you repent, then you have your principal (without interest). Wrong not and you shall not be wronged.

There will be no end to the problems we and the world will face if we refuse to see where we are in the context of Islam. We practise a leadership system adopted from the west. We adopted economic and financial systems which also came from the west. We are discovering truths which had always been in the Quran. We are hearing realisations from the West which has also always been in the Quran. We also belittle justice when it is the third oft repeated word in the Quran.

May Allah guide us and have mercy on our future generations.

Wassalam,

Zahid

Bumblebee in the Face

Friday, March 16, 2012

Bumblebee in the Face

Assalamu ‘Alaikum,

Bumblebee in the Face.

“Goodbye recruits “said the female voice as we entered the war zone. “Don’t you mean good luck recruits, “corrected the Captain. “No sir, its goodbye recruits,” insisted the lady officer. Those were the last words ringing in our ears as we entered the Singapore Universal Studios version of total apocalypse of the Transformers Warzone. Optimus, Bumblebee and Decepticon which were once just toys lying on the floor in Zahir’s room were now right in our face epitomising violence in the uppercase in this mad 4D world. We lost Tok Aboh after the Rapids hell of the Lost World leaving me, Mama, Uncle Ron and the three brave cadets, privates first class, Adlin, Zahir and Adila.
Ron didn’t want to come opting to chicken out with a book in the hotel quoting the long hazardous trip from Brisbane as an excuse, but I managed to convince him we need all able bodied men if we were to survive this mission. Not wanting to announce our arrival our motley group of world saviours entered Sentosa Island surreptitiously via the cable cars. Upon landing on the beach head our instructions were to overcome the Redline bus to head to our main target. On arrival at ground zero we had to fight off the Madagascarian wild animals. It was harrowing, a fat hippo, a nervous giraffe and a vain lion king can be a potent threesome that can overcome any lost adventurer. We survived that, only to end up in a dungeon with Shrek the green giant and his saliva showering donkey; yuk, that was horrible.

We left Tok Aboh to recuperate in the abandoned musolla whilst we continued with the mission. Pulling ranks Ron and I decided to pull aside and discuss strategy, and left it to Mama and the three little cadets to negotiate the aerial battles on the high flying machines. Mama later reported the team survived the ordeal although the less said the better about the free flowing tears and screams in Egypt’s Mummy world.

We arrived late in the night at our base camp in Selegie Road, mission accomplished. Ron had to rush to bed to get ready for an early wake up call to Changi in the morning whilst we will head for yet another battle, this time at the Causeway Immigration later in the day. It was an eventful week for the Zahid family and Uncle Ron in Singapore. Mum, the kids and retired Tok Aboh on vacation, whilst Ron and I fit in an Islamic Finance Conference held at the Singapore Management University. Me, a panelist expert speaker whilst Ron a keen believer and supporter of Islamic Finance. I came with the aim of moving industry thoughts from Islamic debt financing to Islamic equity financing. I believed I achieved my objective of capturing the audience’s imagination for this radical realignment of Islamic finance, throwing in the umbrella of understanding Islamic Economics as a pre requisite to understand Islamic banking. However the release of pent up feelings against the local authorities by the Singaporean Muslim delegates in response to my words was a rush of adrenalin for all present. We heard the voice of the Muslim minority who has suffered so much to see their religion sidelined and Islamophobised, if you’d pardon this liberal coinage of words.

I reflect now in the comfort of my home, why would a brother Asian race feel closer to a religion that came from far way from the West, and not to the religion so close to them, embraced by the majority of their neighbours and even their original countrymen. It is so easy to fall into the race trap and blame other races but oneselves; but I do believe the towering Muslims amongst us will agree, not an insignificant factor, is about our abject failure and reluctance to talk and introduce our religion to others.

Wassalam,

Zahid

The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Assalamu 'Alaikum

The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Gone are the days when mum and dad or granny and grandpa would wait for weeks on end with the standard one child at their first days at school. I recalled my own granny from Lenggong stayed for at least a week with me at Pasar Road English Primary School Kuala Lumpur before I was confident enough to be on my own at school. It was understandable though for I had grown up with her and granddad far away in Perak before making the what I thought was a manly decision to come and live with my family and go to school in Kuala Lumpur. I still remember fondly my first teacher Miss Vimaladevi; and I still remember gleefully how I aced the city kids in the end of year standard one exam. There were no kindergartens in Lenggong Perak back then but I had the personal attention of two retired great school teachers in the likes of granny and grandpa who must have tutored me well.

Today we hardly see the crying kids on day one of school; kindergartens have braced them not to fear school anymore. I remembered sending Zahir off to his first day at Kindergarten no further than the house gate as he jumped into the school van with elder sisters Adlin and Adila. Zahir hardly looked back to wave goodbye to his mum and dad, eager to start his preschool. Today the pandemonium doesn’t happen with kids; it’s actually confined to the parents. Arriving at Zahir’s school the second day of the new year to attend the school’s standard one orientation day we saw parents almost bumping into street lights as they videocammed their child’s first walk into the school gate. Cameras were flashing everywhere like a paparazzi’s annual gathering as parents take pictures of their kids in school uniform. We were a little bit guilty of that also with Zahir although slightly less picture taking compared to Adlin and Adila a few years ago when they went to kindergarten in that foreign land. Kids first had to assemble in the courtyard while the entertaining headmistress with a microphone kept the kids alert with endless chatter and words of encouragement. Again it was the parents who were overexcited whilst I’m sure I saw one or two kids yawned. I wondered why some parents raised laptops towards their kids until my wife nudged me and said that that was actually an Ipad and the parents were actually taking pictures of their kids with it. Well what do I know, my education with technology stopped at IPhones.

The parents then gathered at the school hall which was actually the ground floor of a school block without walls but with ceiling fans. We were briefed on KSSR, Linus and JQaf. I missed Adila’s standard one orientation a couple of years ago and had always wondered why they were quoting Charlie Brown’s pal Linus at school. For those who are not enlightened KSSR is not the name of a new country in the Balkans and JQaf is not a new washing powder brand. Linus is a program that ensures the kids’ literacy and numeracy; and KSSR is the new primary school curriculum to replace KBSR where UPSR exams will only count for 60% of marks; 40% to come from schoolwork, or what the grownups will call coursework. I didn’t remember too much about JQaf but I recalled the Ustaz* thanking the previous prime minister for raising the importance of the Arabic language and Islamic education with JQaf.

With Agama* school in the morning and Kebangsaan* school in the afternoon for Adila and Zahir, and the reverse for Adlin being in standard four now, we knew we had to have the house gate semi permanently opened as endless streams of school vans will come and go, to pick up and deliver the school children throughout the day. We worked out there was a gap mid-afternoon when all are at school and not expected home for a few hours where mum and dad could slip out to Giant for a quiet  afternoon shopping and tea. That’s what we did and returned home to greet Adlin at the house gate. Zahir and Adila will be home by 7 pm and we called it a day, thankful for a successful first school day. That was when we got a call from Jamil the school van driver that Zahir and Adila were nowhere to be seen for the home trip from Kebangsaan school.

Sensing I should do something I half drove and half walked with Adlin to school to avoid the school jam and check out on the missing kids. We have briefed Adila to pick her younger brother from class for the walk to the school van so we were confident of bumping into them somewhere outside the school. Our hearts sanked when they were nowhere to be found, neither in class nor outside the school. I called Jamil to go on and send the other kid homes as there was no point in him staying on.

Wife called the Agama school whose van we used to send the kids to Kebangsaan school and they said they will call all vans just in case Zahir and Adila went into the wrong van. The Kebangsaan school now almost deserted I drove to Agama school to get news first hand. My heart sank further as one by one the van drivers reported that the missing children were not in their van. I was gradually slipping from the calm father to the berserk father mode when Jamil sheepishly called the school and reported apologetically that the kids were actually in his van all the time but he could not see them from his driver’s seat. Adila later reported that she called out yes when Uncle Jamil called her name but the big girl upfront blocked her view and voice. We put it down to tired kids and an inexperienced new school van driver. Alhamdulillah* all’s well that ends well; praise be to Allah that always creates little incidents for us to be thankful for mundane things He grants, like kids coming home safely from school. As I left the Agama school premises with Adlin to greet the missing siblings at home there was another father who was still pacing the school lounge waiting for news of his still missing child. We du’a* all’s well that ends well for him as well. We always tell our kids school is fun; it’s actually adventurous for parents as well, with roller coasters of emotions thrown in. Alhamdulillah.

Wassalam,
Zahid

*Note: Ustaz = religious teacher
            Agama school = religious school
            Kebangsaan school = national school
            Alhamdulillah = Praise be to Allah
            Du'a = pray
            UPSR exams = end of primary school exams

Sacrifice

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sacrifice

Assalamu 'Alaikum,

Sacrifice

Nope, I did not rise in the ranks. From the Eidul Adha* just after marriage to today my main contribution to the proceedings is again to sit on the cow while it is being slaughtered. The Rambo knife I bought at Kuala Kangsar R&R a long time ago is again just for show and a conversation  piece. I had harboured hopes of doing something more important this year but just like the rugby school trials in days gone by, I was again this year just an also ran. Determined to learn something this time I cut my teeth in the ‘lapah’ procedures being responsible for deskinning half a leg of the cow. Even that was due to the sympathy of Abe Long, my brother in law who sensed my desire to do something more important this year. The fact that a cow is 50% stomach full of chewed grass, no longer surprised as it did the first time I engaged with the slaughtering process. This time I learnt that skinning the cow begins with the legs and just underneath the neck of the cow till you meet half way in the groin.  Tok Aboh reminded us to be careful with the skin to ensure it remains whole and intact as it is to be given away to a pondok who can turn it into something useful.

It was supposed to be Tok Aboh’s maiden slaughter but after much thought he didn’t feel ready to graduate from slaughtering chicken to cows just yet. Fortunately he met a Kampuchean Tahfiz Ustaz during Subuh prayers who gamely volunteered to do the honours. This year we are doing the Qurban in front of the family home in Panji, Kota Baru instead of the usual venue of Besut in front of the late Tok We’s house. The cow for the Qurban and Aqiqah was fully subscribed by all sibling members of the family. For us only 6 year old Zahir is left to have his Qurban so our share was dedicated for him.

The night before, I asked all Tok Aboh’s grand kids whether they are ready to watch a cow being slaughtered. In unison all said they were ready; some have seen it before and many, in child bravado, indicated it’s no big deal. My children who’s never witnessed one before also joined the chorus of bravery. On the day itself I must say all passed with flying colours.

Slaughtering according to Islamic rites is another hikmah again much misunderstood. Studies have actually shown this is the most painless way to kill an animal provided the knife is very sharp, which is the reminder of the Prophet s.a.w. according to the Kampuchean Ustaz. In an Islamic slaughter you must cut the main aorta of the neck plus the breathing apparatus while maintaining the back of the neck intact. The logic is simple. As the blood gushes out of the neck aorta, the brain lacking blood sends a message to the body via the nerves at the still intact back of the neck, to send it as much blood as possible. The body duly obeys and sends more blood destined for the brain but diverted, gushing out of the cut aorta, thus achieving the slaughter objective of removing as much blood as possible from the carcass. It is a well known fact that in the blood resides all manner of germs and illnesses. Hence the hikmah of Islamic slaughtering, painless to the animal and healthiest for humans to eat.

After that it was much fun and laughter by the kids as they were given bamboo sticked pieces of beef to barbecue. The menfolk excercised their annual skills in cutting up the carcass into smaller pieces while the women folk focused on cooking the meat for the luncheon feast.

The entire Qurban exercise is to remember the ultimate sacrifice  of Prophet Ibrahim alaihissalam who with his son Ismail unquestionably obeyed the command of God given in a dream ,for father, Ibrahim to sacrifice son, Ismail. In an act of supreme sacrifice to the Maker, both father and son willingly obeyed only to be informed by God not to proceed as Ibrahim neared Ismail’s neck with the knife. Allah s.w.t said enough, you have already obeyed my command. How many Muslims today can approach this height of supreme obedience to the Maker? One is reminded of the ayah in Suratul Yasin

“Doth not man see that it is We Who created him from sperm? yet behold! he (stands forth) as an open adversary!”

Dear God, if bravery is to be given to us, your humble servants, let it not be bravery to stand against You as an open adversary.

Ameen.

Wassalam,

Zahid

‘72S

Note:
Eidul Adha  = Eid celebrations in association with the season of Haj.
Abe Long = wife eldest brother in Kelantanese dialect
Lapah = process of removing the skin of the cow using a sharp knife
Pondok =  Religious school
Tahfiz = One who can recite the entire Quran from memory.
Ustaz = A religious teacher
Subuh prayers = Dawn prayers
Qurban = An act of religious sacrifice involving the slaughter of an animal usually a cow or a goat
Aqiqah = A form of Qurban but specially in the name of recent borns
Hikmah = The wisdom behind an act or saying
Suratul Yasin = A chapter in the Quran

A bunch of roses on a Sunday morning

Sunday, September 11, 2011

A bunch of roses on a Sunday morning

Assalamu 'Alaikum,

A bunch of roses on a Sunday morning

“I will be embarrassed walking home with this bouquet of roses,” I said. “No,” the lady florist said, “all the wives who see you will be jealous. You didn’t just buy the flowers, you walked home with it!” Yes there were knowing smiles from the male motorists seeing me jogging with the bunch of purple roses, smiles that said wonder what he’s done to carry such a big apology for all the world to see.
Actually I needed to work out all the lemang* and the rendang* consumed since the first day of Raya*. As I jogged today in the morning cool my wedding anniversary played on my mind and wondered how I could slip out and buy some flowers for my wife. I have not failed to do so for many years now. Then I remembered the new florist shop at the new Plaza in our residential patch and made a diversion to continue the tradition. Just in a case you have not realised today is Sept 11 2011. It was on that fateful night of September 11 2001 a decade ago that I married my lovely wife Anira. Now if there is a husband in this world who has no excuse to forget his wedding anniversary that would be me. Although many times she caught me with a peck on the cheek on the morning of 8^thSept as that was the date of the akad nikah* at the  mosque in Panji, Kota Baru. Sept 11 was just the groom reception in KL but we sort of agreed to celebrate and remember both.

And who could forget Sept 11 2001. The whole Aziz Yeop's, my late father’s clan plus my wife’s delegation were there on that beautiful evening at the groom reception. At just about the time Abang Holek and the gang from Lenggong recited the Salawat Nabi* everyone started reading the sms messages on their handphones. I thought hmm, Manchester United must have won the European Cup again or something like that. The guest of honour, my late Tokcik* Basir, later told me that when he reached home later that night he switched on the TV and saw two aeroplanes diving into some tall buildings in New York. He dismissed it as another Hollywood movie and went to bed little realising the enormity of what he saw.

Much have been said of Sept 11 2001. Certainly it is difficult to rationalise the killing of civilian lives in an act of war which goes against the injunctions set by our beloved Prophet pbuh. However while many Muslims struggle in their minds with this infringement of the rules set by Islam, equally as many Muslims find it very difficult to forgive heinous crimes against Islam merely by virtue of this infringement. We call upon America and its people to look inward and see how they are constantly manipulated by the forces of Israel. Is this really what they want; how many more young Americans have to lose their lives in battles which America and Americans really need not go to war in? Similarly with the political scenario nearer to home. Without question the ruling crowd have done some good for the country and need to be thanked for but when citizens are asked to sweep under the carpet unending rape of the country’s resources in eternal gratitude for what they have done for the country it is equally difficult for many Muslims to forgive these heinous crimes. There has to be a solution which is fair to all parties. Democracy and votes, with money as the oil that runs power, may not be the answer; no amount of rejuvenation can solve the problem if money is the root cause of all ambitions. Either we look for a political party that runs on faith or we revert to bai’ah* of the pious, in debunk of the current system. Either way there must be realistic and unemotional discussions to resolve the issue, that sweeps nothing under the carpet.

Yes, much has been said of Sept 11 2001. To me it’s also a date I married a lovely girl; who is now a mother of three little joys in our life.

Happy anniversary sayang*.

Zahid

Class of ’72, Sulaiman House.

Note: lemang = A Malay rice delicacy roasted in bamboos for special occasions
          rendang = a beef delicacy to eat with the lemang
          Raya = Eid
          Akad Nikah = Solemnisation of the Muslim marriage
          Salawat Nabi = Recitals of praises of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
          Tokcik = Grand Uncle
          Bai'ah = Swearing of Allegiance, usually associated with the appointment of a Caliph.
          Sayang = darling