A Meeting With Allah.

For those who do not know me, I am the owner of a chat channel in the mIRC at GalaxyNet.

My channel is called #madrasah. This channel is mostly occupied by madrasah students and my main interest as a channel owner here is to educate these students on how to use the internet and chatrooms. How to use scripts etc etc etc.

But mostly, they will ask advice about religion. Hey, it's not an easy job but where else can I speak arabic?

I was particularly bored today since I am not having anybody to talk to the whole day. The phonecall I was waiting for never came through. Some people have the cheek to tell me to wait by the phone because that particular person will be calling me but never does so. Empty promises are abundant in this world.

So, relieve of my loneliness came in the form of chatting with my channel chatters. At least, these people are polite to me and you know that I hate rude specimens of any species!

Anyway, somebody had posted this note in my channel topic for all and I think I will forward his/her wishes here as well.

Just watch this --




Now tell me who will not be shaken nor stirred after viewing this?

May Allah bless the kind soul for this reminder.

Ameen. Ya Rabbal 'Aalameen.

Shaken Not Stirred

I was bored at home yesterday. Having taken five days of sick leave due to the extraction of my wisdom tooth followed by two weeks of annual leave, I was left by myself without my Sayang Manja who has been busy herself. Agreed ... we had been seeing each other almost daily and calling each other on the phone everyday ... we need to have space for our own activities.

So, there was I left alone bored. I decided to take a walk at Tampines Mall to kill time. As soon as I reached there, I remembered about Casino Royale ..... hence .... I got this!

Casino Royale is based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.

Do not get confused with a movie of the same name which is a spoof of that novel.

In this 1967 movie spoof, Sir James Bond, a spy from the old school is called back to service by the death of "M" and the imminent collapse of civilisation. The opposition tries to compromise him, but even as nubile young agents are thrown at him, he remains above it all. Going beyond parody to sillyness, every agent is renamed James Bond, 007 to confuse the enemy, including Woody Allen who plays, Little Jimmy Bond.

In the latest Bond film, a new actor was chosen to play Bond. Will he make it like Sean Connery and Roger Moore?

Will he surpass the famous Bond actor, Pierce Brosnan?

Daniel Craig plays the new Bond. There were many objections from Bond fanatics like me mainly due to his blond hair. Bond is not BLOND! Critics had even called Daniel Craig as James Blond.

Being a Bond fanatic, I watched Casino Royale alone.

This latest James Bond movie which is based on the first James Bond novel started with black and white scenes. It shows that Bond, a rookie spy had just been promoted and given the DOUBLE O status. Having that status gives him the licence to kill.

In the opening, Bond had only killed ONE guy and he was recollecting the event with someone whom he was pursuing. That person became his 2nd guy to be killed!

This movie shows Bond being new and reckless. I nearly hated this character since that is not Bond.

As he was chasing a 3rd bad guy (Sebastian Foucan), he did not care about the safety of the innocent onlookers. Making a mess and wrecking things. He even demolished a construction site during the chase! How contradictory.

But as the show continues, I tend to be facinated by the cinematography.

This Bond film does not show much gadgetry as most of the Bond films do. It shows how Bond is physically!

There were car chases, but the best chase is the ground chase on foot in the first half hour. It reminds me of how Jackie Chan would run away from his tormentors by climbing on walls, jumping through windows etc.

It reminds me of how Johnny Weismuller (original Tarzan) swings from one tree to another from one branch to another without breaking rhythm.

The foot chase scene was a feast to the eye and the audience was brought to many places on foot at a fast pace.

This escape itself uses a form of martial art. It is known as Parkour. Parkour is about forward motion without interruption. It uses the force which is already present to enable oneself to defend or attack. It is like Tai Chi.

Sebastian Foucan is an expert in Parkour. His remarkable skill helped in making the scene exciting. I like that scene :-)

The 2006 Casino Royale has Bond struggling to carry out his first major mission with his target the super rich banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).

Bond finds himself pitted against Le Chiffre in a winner takes all, high stakes poker game at the plush Casino Royale in Montenegro.

He is placed under the care of the beguiling and beautiful treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) as our hero risks his life and limb for Queen and Country.

I like the scenes where Bond and Lynd tried to outsmart each other. The use of words and puns were humorous. I love the English language!

The movie also shows why Bond wants his martini shaken but not stirred. This concoction is known as the 'Vesper' after Vesper Lynd.

"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."
''Oui, monsieur.''
"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"
''Certainly monsieur."
The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
"Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.
Bond laughed.
"When I'm...er...concentrating," he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold, and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I think of a good name.”

It also shows Bond in another angle -- his physical and mental prowess against all odds.

This was the scene when Bond was captured by Le Chiffre and stripped naked. Yeah .... he was seen totally naked with this guy and not with Lynd nor the Italian Beauty Queen actress.

Le Chiffre wanted to know the password for the money kept in the vault and tortured Bond to get the information.

The naked Bond was tied to a broken chair that has no seat thus exposing his manhood from front to the bottom.

Le Chiffre uses a BIG whip to scar Bond's exposed scrotum but Bond was witty. This scene turned out like a gay scene with him asking for more and giving directions where to whip him. Talk about male bonding and bondage .... hmmmm ..... so that's where the word came from!

By the second hour of the movie, I like this new Bond. It shows how his character developed from a bungling rookie to a professional spy. It shows Bond from being reckless and cold-hearted to be someone caring and able to fall in love. It also shows why bond is able to detach himself emotionally.

It portrays Bond, being newly promoted, resigning from MI5. That resignation surprised me since this should be the first Bond series. All this is for his love for a girl!

Vesper:
You're not going to let me in there. You've got your armor back on.

Bond:
I have no armor left. You stripped it from me.
Whatever is left of me,
Whatever I am
I'm yours.

As usual, the never-ending twist and plot of the movie makes sense at the last half hour of the movie.

And at the very last minute, the most famous line was uttered by Daniel Craig ending the show.

The name's Bond, James Bond!

That was how the movie ended. James Bond in his tuxedo, moving calmly towards his target.

A new Bond is in the making and I like it! Forget about his blond hair, forget about his clumsiness earlier. This is a new Bond.

This is not the end. This is the beginning of the James Bond movies!

Note: I do miss my Sayang Manja and I'll be watching this again with her next time!

Congratulatons To Ci Yuan CC MAEC!

Let me congratulate the Chairman and Committee Members of Ci Yuan Community Centre Malay Activity Executive Committee (CYCC MAEC) for their recent 4-Star achievement.

Yes, we have been given 4-star ratings for our activities in Ci Yuan CC which is for the Aljunied-Hougang Constituency in Aljunied GRC.

At the meeting I attended last night, the Chairman for CYCC MAEC, Mr. Ahmad Abdul Majid announced that we have achieved our target of 4-Star for all our activities for the year 2006.

It is the second year since 2005 we have been receiving 4-Star and this is a feat difficult to maintain.

Mr. Ahmad mentioned that we shall need to focus our activities by July 2007 to achieve the third 4-Star award.

Cikgu Siti, 2nd Vice-Chairman for CYCC MAEC, was eager to ask what we will get if we managed to attain the 3rd 4-Star and what is the highest star.

Mr. Ahmad quipped that this award is just a measure of how good a committee is in each Communitiy Centre. By attaining the highest star which is the 4-Star, CYCC MAEC will be recognised throughout Aljunied GRC.

True to his word, it is confirmed that CYCC MAEC will take the lead in Gentarasa 2007!

Gentarasa is always organised by private professional bodies under MESRA.

Gentarasa 2007 will be a first to be organised by any MAEC in the whole of Singapore and that MAEC is CYCC MAEC.

Again, my heartfelt congratulations to CYCC MAEC for their recent achievement!

On a heavier note, I was assigned to be in charge of the Dangdut Night in one of the mosques in Hougang. I'm not looking forward to this but it shall be a first if it is done. Of course, nothing is finalised but it was only a suggestion by Mr. Ahmad for our 2007 activities.

There are lots of activities planned for next year and our activities for this year is never ending!

Tonight, there will be a Deeparaya 2006 jointly organised by CYCC MAEC and Aljunied-Hougang Resident Committees of Zone 7, Zone 8 and Zone 9 at NC Park in Hougang. Tickets are available there.

The meeting ended with a surprise for one of our Executive Members, Mr. Zainal. CYCC MAEC Secretary, Mr. Suhaimi, announced that it was Mr. Zainal's birthday that day and the shy birthday boy who turned 39, was made to cut the cake.

After the recitation of du'a by Vice Chairman CYCC MAEC (me), we ate the cake merrily.

Now .... isn't that rewarding?

Mentos Mints And Diet Coke

Yesterday, I was at my Sayang Manja's place after we had our little shopping spree at Geylang. Little Naufal was around with Izan. They were playing around and occasionally came up to me to get me involved. I liked playing with children and I enjoy playing with them.

Naufal was having some food in his mouth while walking or running around and beckoning me with his own baby language to participate in his entertainment slot -- at times laughing and at times googling away still wanting me to understand his dialogue (more or less a soliloquy to me).

While I was talking to my fiancee, he came running to me, patting my thighs, trying to tell me something. I looked at him and saw him puking out the food from his small mouth. He had taken more than he could chew or swallow.

I held my palm out to collect the contents from his mouth and realised that they were unchewed peanuts. I told Farah that Naufal does not like peanuts since he was throwing it out of his mouth.

As he emptied his mouth, he kept coming nearer to me, his face changing from a smile to a frown, moving his head left and right continuously. He then pushed me and went under my legs. It was a funny scene as both my fiancee and I were laughing. We thought that he really disliked peanuts and was trying very hard to get that awful taste from his mouth by shaking his head vigorously.

The episode ended when he darted out from beneath my legs and ran towards his mother who was at the dining table.

Yes, it ended there but the event kept replaying in my mind over and over again. Not that I wanted to relive the comedy but that I wanted to understand little Naufal.

It was very late at night after I had put down the phone that ends my day with Farah that I realised what happened.

I had to call her back and explained to her my theory. I told my sleepy Sayang Manja that I had failed Naufal when he came running towards me for HELP!

He was eating peanuts. Merely a year old child eating a mouthful of peanuts. What do you expect? He cannot chew them and swallowed wholly most of the peanuts. When you have a mouthful, you tend to miss that tunnel to the stomach and a stray pea might have ventured into your windpipe. A small pea but it is big enough to block a child's windpipe.

He was choking!

No wonder his face changed. No wonder he was pushing me. He was trying to communicate to me. He had to go down to dislodge that small pea from his aesophagus. He came down to me expecting me to help him but what did I do? I was laughing!

Recalling this incident, I felt dissappointed. I felt fear. Fear of losing cute little Naufal. Fear of losing one of your loved ones.

My memory flashes back in time ......

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At that time, I was a four year old boy playing with my sisters in my kampung house at Tanah Merah. It was a cool afternoon. My sisters and I were laughing, running around with our favourite Mentos mints in our mouth. Our dad had given us those mints. They were colourful Mentos mints. There were the normal white ones, the red ones and the blue ones.

Out of the blue, my sister, Faridah came running to me. Her eyes were openned wide and she did not say anything. Her mouth was openned. She kept pointing at it. I did not understand what she was trying to tell me.

Our dad, who was watching us, grabbed my sister and held her firmly. He then put his palm on her stomach and pushed upwards forcing the remaining air to be released out of her mouth.

Something jetted out of her mouth and flew across the living room! It was a white Mentos mint. My sister started to make noise and we continued playing. Everything went back as per normal.

Now that I am all grown up recalling that incident, it is indeed scary! I could have lost my sister if not for the calm reaction of our dad.

Do you know that there are incidents of childhood death involving mentos mints? Last week a little boy died in Brazil after eating MENTOS and drinking Coca-Cola together.

A year before, the same accident happened with another boy in Brazil.

There was an experiment done by mixing Mentos mints with Coca Cola ----> http://www.wlbz2.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=44763

They utilised two household items -- Mentos mints and a 2-litre bottle of Diet Coke.

The experiment mixed Mentos mints with Diet Coke and it makes a reaction.

Soda shoots up the nozzle top!

"A coke is actually a super-saturated solution of carbonic acid or carbon dioxide," said Professor Mark Hayes. What professor Hayes means is it's not a chemical reaction but a physical one.

"You stored up a bunch of bubbles and they can't get out and when you throw the Mentos in there it gives us a whole lot of places to start the bubbles," said Hayes. It was something they figured out years ago back in small-town Maine.

Just imaginge if the Coca Cola bottle is a child's stomach. The carbonated drink could have flooded his lungs.

So be careful, do not mix Mentos mints and Coca Cola together.

It is still Eid in Singapore. Children go around with parents or family members and are served carbonated drinks.

Do not mix mints with carbonated drinks. Think of your loved ones.

Be merry but be wary!

Common mistakes we make when we perform Salah

This is a reminder for forgetful me when I perform my Salah.

Mistake 1: Reciting Surah Al-Fatiha fast without pausing after each verse.
The Prophet (SAW) used to pause after each verse of this surah. (Abu Dawood)

Mistake 2 : Sticking the arms to the sides of the body, in ruku' or sujud, and sticking the belly to the thighs in sujud.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: "Let not one of you support himself on his forearms (in sujud) like the dog. Let him rest on his palms and keep his elbows away from his body."
(Sahih Muslim)

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) used to keep his arms away from his body during ruku' and sujud that the whiteness of his armpits could be seen (Sahih Muslim).

Mistake 3 : Gazing upward during prayer.
This may cause loss of concentration. We are commanded to lower our gaze, and look at the point at which the head rests during sujud.

The Prophet (SAW) warned: "Let those who raise their gaze up during prayer stop doing so, or else their sights would not return to them. [i.e. lose their eyesight]." (Muslim)

Mistake 4 : Resting only the tip of the head on the floor during sujud.
The Prophet (SAW) said: "I am commanded to prostrate on seven bones the forehead and the nose, the two hands [palms],the two knees, and the two feet."
(Sahih Muslim)

Applying the above command necessitates resting the forehead and the nose on the ground during sujood.

Mistake 5 : Hasty performance of prayer which does not allow repose and calmness in ruku' or sujud.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) saw a man who did not complete his ruku' [bowing], and made a very short sujud [prostration];
He (SAW) said:
"If this man dies while praying in this manner, he would die upholding a religion other than the religion of Muhammad."

Abu Hurairah (RA) said:
"My beloved friend, Muhammad (SAW) forbade me to perform postures of prayer copying the picking of a rooster; (signifying fast performanceof prayer), moving eyes around like a fox and the sitting like monkeys ( i.e. to sit on thighs). "
(Imam Ahmad & at-Tayalisi)

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: " The worst thief is the one who steals from his own prayer." People asked, 'Messenger of Allah! How could one steal from his own prayer?'
He (SAW) said: "By not completing its ruku' and sujud."
(At Tabarani & al-Hakim).

To complete ruku' is to stay in that posture long enough to recite
"Subhana rabbiyal Adtheem" three times, SLOWLY,
and "Subhana rabbiyal-a'ala" three times, SLOWLY, in sujud.

He (SAW) also announced:
"He who does not complete his ruku' and sujud, his prayer is void ."
(Abu Dawood & others)

Mistake 6 : Counting tasbih with the left hand.
The Prophet (SAW) used to count tasbih on the fingers of his right hand after salah.

Ibn Qudamah (RA) said: " The Messenger of Allah (SAW) used his right hand for tasbih." (Abu Dawood)

The above hadith indicates clearly that the Prophet (SAW) used only one hand for counting tasbih. No Muslim with sound mind would imagine that the Prophet (SAW) used his left hand for counting tasbih.

Aa'ishah (RA) said that the Prophet (SAW) used his left hand only for Istinjaa', or cleaning himself after responding to the call of nature. He never used it
for tasbih.

Yasirah (RA) reported: The Prophet (SAW) commanded women to count tasbih on their fingers.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: "They (the fingers) will be made to speak, and will be questioned (on the Day of Resurrection.)" (At-Tirmidhi)

The above Hadith indicates that it is preferable to count tasbih on the fingers of the right hand than to do so on masbahah (rosary).

Mistake 7 : Crossing in front of a praying person.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) warned: "Were the one who crosses in front of a praying person to know the consequences of doing so, he would have waited for forty* better than to cross in front of him."
(Sahih Bukhari and Muslim).
*The forty in the tradition may be day's months or even years. Allah knows best.

Wa Billaahi Taufik Wal Hidayah
Wassalaam.