Playing Tourist

The opportunity came up to play tourist for a few days at the end of 2011 when hubby's  niece decided to get hitched to a Johor boy and we decided to join the bride's entourage to Kulaijaya, Johor the day before Christmas.   I kind of got an affinity with the State of Johor and had wanted to pay a visit there even for a short while  if given the opportunity.   My father  was based in JB as a customs officer before I was born but since he decided to retire early and came home to KB and thus I didn't get to see the daylight of JB in  Kg. Melayu Majidee to be exact.

Our destination...beyond the smokey hills (to KL)

and then to Johor ...

Hujan turun pada hari majlis kahwin tapi tak apa mungkin hujan rahmat lah tu...

Part of the bride's entourage 

Sempat lagi pengantin ber'sms' dlm hujan

Lain pulak adat dari negeri ke negeri...kalau di Kelantan kita panggil 'hantar menantu' iaitu satu rombongan akan hantar pengantin perempuan ke rumah pengantin lelaki dan di pihak lelaki pulak panggil majlis ini 'menyambut menantu'.  Anyway it is interesting as its all about our rich malay culture that hopefully will be carried on by  our future generations.  

In Johor Bharu we didn't have time to play tourist because the eldest daughter was more interested in searching the locations for these...

The famous Kacang Pool Haji

Kacang Pool 

Pagi esoknya dah hampir sebakul makan buah langsat  sesat cari lokasi ni...di Jalan Petri

anak nak makan ini...gulp! forget about the cholestrol cos bila lagi nak makan kan????

Mee Rebus Tulang 

itu dia...dah puas hati dapat makan yang diidam

Lontong Kering yang sedap

The ambiance...in the open air and you have a choice    where to be seated...

or here ...

after the heavy breakfast, drive around a bit in JB and found Kampung Melayu Majidee tapi now rasa kesal pulak sebab tak snap a few pictures of it nak tunjuk to my elder sisters who had the chance to live there a long time ago.  

Later we continue our way to the much-talked about JPO ...

as far as the eye can see.....cars queing to JPO, it was Christmas Day!  

Kembalinya Seorang Mufti...

Dato' Haji Hasbullah bin Haji  Mat Hassan (Dato' Kaya Perba)
(Mufti Kelantan 1990 - 2007)

Pagi ini semasa bersiap-siap untuk menghadiri mesyuarat bahagian yang pertama kali untuk tahun ini dikejutkan oleh panggilan telefon dari suami memberi khabar sedih ...Dato' Mufti sudah kembali ke Rahmatullah.  Selesai saja mesyuarat tergesa-gesa ke rumah Allahyarham Dato'.  

Di rumah Dato' semasa ziarah

Masih terbayang di mata semasa Allahyarham mengakad nikah anak menantu pada tahun 2006....setahun sebelum Allahyarham jatuh sakit.

Ini pula catatan my sister the writer....a tribute to Dato' ...

Kami merasai kematian beliau bagaikan satu kehilangan ahli keluarga yang terdekat. Pada pagi Khamis 25 Safar 1433 bersamaan 19 Januari 2012, cuaca mendung. Sebelum itu, dini hari hujan turun renyai-renyai mulai pukul 3.00 pagi. Entah mengapa, terbangun awal untuk solat tahajud, biasanya  bangun lewat sedikit supaya tidak lama menunggu waktu Subuh.

Terasa gelisah dan serba tidak kena pada  pagi itu.  Sewaktu hendak ke KB Mall, kami berasa bosan mendengar lagu-lagu yang disiarkan radio, semua saluran termasuk radio klasik yang menjadi kegemaran. Ha  berkata, elok kita dengar cd quraan. Setelah membelek koleksi cd, kami memilih untuk mendengar alunan suara Sheikh Bahari  membaca juz Amma.  Bacaan ayat suci berkemundang di dalam kereta sepanjang jalan ke pusat bandar. Waktu itu pukul 9.00 pagi.  Empat puluh minit kemudian, sewaktu bersarapan nasi lemak di depan Kota Darulnaim,  sepupu Ha, Haji Zakaria, seorang tahfiz,  menelefon dan menyampaikan berita sedih bahawa Dato’ Mufti Haji Hasbullah Hassan meninggal dunia.

 Kami tidak terkejut namun kami tetap sedih.  Hampir  5 tahun beliau koma. Beliau jatuh dan pengsan sewaktu hendak menunaikan fardhu Asar, pada 1 Ramadan, lima tahun yang lalu. Sejak itu beliau bagaikan koma walaupun semua usaha dilakukan untuk memulihkan beliau. Beberapa bulan beliau dirawat di wad HUSM, kemudian, beliau dibawa pulang ke rumah dalam keadaan koma. Selama itu isteri beliau Kak Moh atau Datin Fatimah menjaga beliau dengan penuh kasih sayang. Isteri soleh ini tidak keluar rumah langsung walaupun untuk berjemaah di masjid seperti rutin kebiasaan beliau. Segala keperluan di luar diurus oleh anak-anak dan jiran.

Beliau akan menelefon sesiapa yang beliau  mempercayai dan berfikir dapat membantu.  Untuk keperluan menempah tudung dan pakaian, beliau akan menelefon Ma 'tailor', yang tinggal sebelah rumah kami.  Untuk keperluan membeli juadah luar apabila tetamu datang terutama dalam bulan puasa, Kak Moh akan telefon Kak Bah, jiran yang juga saudara sepupu kami. Untuk urusan kereta, pintu pagar elektrik rosak, beliau akan menelefon suami blogger.  Panggilan SOS beliau tidak pernah tidak dipedulikan oleh jiran dan rakan taulan. Semua bersedia untuk menaburkan bakti kepada beliau kerana beliau sebagai isteri menumpukan sepenuh perhatian untuk keselesaan  suami tersayangnya.  Suami tersayang beliau ini merupakan lambang kekuatan, keutuhan moral, penegak kebaikan untuk kami, jiran beliau di Kampung Masjid, Kota Bharu. (Arwah Dato Mufti sekeluarga tinggal di kampong Masjid dari 1985 hingga 2006, kemudian mereka berpindah ke rumah baru mereka di Jalan Atas Paloh, dekat Sungai Kelantan).

Sewaktu beliau terlantar, amat sukar  untuk kami membandingkan jasad yang kecil kurus, bergantung pernafasan pada alat dan mendapat khasiat  daripada susu yang dibancuh si isteri  dan dituangkan ke dalam tiub untuk disalurkan ke dalam badan suaminya dengan Dato’ Mufti yang kami kenali, yang kami hormati dan yang kami segani.  Dato Mufti yang pada zahirnya tidak tinggi mana tetapi disebabkan personaliti besarnya pada kami penampilan beliau seorang individu yang berdiri tegap dan perkasa.

Kami ingat lagi pada pertengahan tahun 1980-an, beliau membeli tanah ibu saudara kami di belakang rumah kami.  Untuk ke rumah beliau, sesaorang perlu melalui lorong sempit. Jelas kereta beliau tidak boleh diparkir di depan rumah.  Arwah Ayah menawarkan porch sisi rumah kami untuk beliau parkirkan kereta.  Beliau sekeluarga tidak keberatan untuk tinggal di  situ kerana, bagi beliau amat payah hendak mendapat tapak rumah berdekatan Masjid Muhammadi. Mendapat tanah di dalam lorong sempit itu suatu rahmat kerana akan berada berdekatan masjid.

Sejak kehadiran beliau dalam kalangan kami di Kampung Masjid, corak kehidupan kami sekampung berubah.  Boleh dikatakan kami seluruh kampong terutama yang tinggal di sekitar rumah beliau, berubah menjadi lebih baik, sopan dan tertib.  Kaum wanita menjaga tertib berpakaian, kaum lelaki menjaga suara supaya tidak lantang. Perkelahian rumah tangga tiada langsung dan kanak-kanak tidak bercakap bermaki hamun seperti kelaziman anak-anak nakal. Semua segan dengan Dato’ Mufti.

 Malah generasi baru kampong kami yang dilahirkan  akhir tahun 80-an, 90-an dan awal millennium, kebanyakan mempunyai nama-nama indah yang bermakna baik.  Nama mereka merupakan hadiah daripada arwah Dato’ Mufti.  Apa tidaknya ibu bapa muda akan memohon beliau meletak nama untuk bayi masing-masing.

Untuk kami pula, arwah Dato’ Mufti ( sewaktu beliau berpindah ke kampong kami, beliau menjawat Timbalan Mufti) merupakan a tower of strength. Sewaktu ahli keluarga sakit tenat, beliau berusaha hadir untuk menziarah, malah sewaktu keadaan mereka nazak tenat, beliau sanggup ke hospital pada awal pagi untuk sama-sama berdoa. Sewaktu ada kematian, beliau memimpin talkin, mengetuai tahlil, sewaktu majlis bercukur, beliau akan membelah mulut semua  generasi baru keluarga kami.  Sewaktu kami mempunyai kesulitan dalam hal ehwal peribadi terutama yang berkaitan hukam hakam  syariah, beliau tidak bosan-bosan memberi nasihat.  Hidup kami tenteram sebab keberadaan beliau.  Untuk kami beliau adalah satu  lambang keutuhan, tempat kami bergantung apabila ada kesusahan.

Wajar kami ibarat beliau sebagai  abang  tertua kami. Malah masa hayat arwah Ayah, beliau rapat  dengan arwah ayah kami. Beliau memanggil arwah ayah sebagai Abe Heng dan menganggap dirinya sebagai abang tertua kami.  Beliau berkeyakinan tinggi akan kesejahteraan kawasan  tempat kami dan tanah kepunyaan keluarga kami yang tidak mungkin dijilat api kerana arwah  Tuk Kenali yang akrab dengan arwah datuk  sebelah ibu, Haji Ismail Ahmad dan bapa saudara kami, Dato’ Lela Negara, pernah berdoa untuk kesejahteraan keluarga kami.

 Pernah berlaku satu kekecohan dalam keluarga  berebut-rebut kerana kononnya, moyang kami  menanam harta emas  di kawasan rumah kami. Secara berlapik, beliau memberi nasihat melalui satu kisah seorang tukang gunting yang kelihatan kaya walaupun beliau bukan orang  berada.  Sebenarnya di  bawah kerusi beliau ada ditanam emas. Oleh itu, memadailah kita kelihatan bersinar kerana emas ditanam tanpa kita memperolehnya yang sudah sebati dengan tanah. Dalam lain perkataan, jangan buang  masa memikir benda yang tidak pasti. Jelas benar kebijaksanaan  dan sifat diplomasi beliau.

Secara peribadi, kami , sebagai kaum hawa jarang berhadapan dan bersembang dengan beliau berbanding dengan abang-abang.  Apabila ada keperluan, kami boleh duduk bercakap tentang masalah kami dengan beliau. Walaupun kami amat segan, malu dan amat berasa rendah diri  dan lidah kelu kerana berada di hadapan seorang alim agama, beliau tidak pernah memandang rendah dan  sabar mendengar hujah kami seperti seorang abang.

Pemergian beliau amat kami rasai, bagaikan hilang tempat bergantung dan tempat meminta pertolongan. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat-Nya ke atas roh beliau, diangkat beliau bersama-sama orang yang beriman dan beristirahat di Jannatul Firdaus. Amin.

Sharing is Caring...

Senarai buku yang telah diperakukan haram oleh Jakim....

His Greatest Creation?

"The most amazing feeling I feel/Words can't describe what I'm feeling for real/ Maybe I paint the sky blue/My greatest creation was you. You. Glory."

I don't care about the hullabaloo that these power couple caused and their diva-ish demands (it is expected of these celebrities anyway....nothing new) when  the wife gave birth to their baby girl a few days ago.  It is a rap verse by Jay-Z rapping about his newborn daughter that caught my attention...my greatest creation was you!  Wow....if  you can create a human being guessed you can create the universe!  

And this brings back a memory when  one of the singers from the popular group Manhattans dropped by my office if I'm not mistaken in the mid 1980's. I cannot recall his name and he was on a dakwah tour after converting to Islam and was giving talks on how he discovered the beauty of Islam.  A real big black man he was, in a flowing jubah and kopiah on his head .... he talked about his life before discovering the 'nur', how he nearly killed a man and was often on the bad side of the law.  Upon converting he had decided not to be an entertainer anymore because singing won't help him in the afterworld (akhirat).  But then the office staff won't let someone of an international fame leave us without  singing the famous "Let's Just Kiss and Say Goodbye'.....he gave in at the last moment and sang just one line ... let's just kiss and say goooodbyeeee...such meaningful words for him, kiss and goodbye to the life before him for he has discovered who is the Greatest Creator!

For old time's sake ...

Another Mushy Love Story

What a mushy love story...that's my take on this boxoffice movie and the haunting melody of the theme song made it even more mushier...is there such a word???  I just joined the millions (ade ke?) of audience and finished  watching the whole length of the movie today.  Just curious to know why this movie is such a tear jerker so habis duit RM15.00 dan tax 6%  to see it on Astro First.  Earlier hubby asked me...what made most/some audience shed tears watching this movie, he kept asking me...part mana yang sedih? Boring betul orang tua ni...tengok lah sendiri.  I mentioned 'most/some' audience since my eldest daughter who had watched this movie didn't shed a tear...she said 'hati dia sudah kering'...hahaha..betul lah tu.  I don't really know...maybe sympathy for the helpless orphaned lass who was treated badly nearly throughout the movie or the 'macho hero' who throughout 3/4 of the movie was always red-eyed and bawled out  his emotions in one or two scenes...hik hik.  Anyway that's entertainment for you....to be mushy and weepy for a while.

After the movie downed a couple of  this to get rid the feeling of mushiness....

Tapai beras pulut hitam

My favourite local snack, hubby bought this morning from Pasar Siti Khadijah...tapei ni pun dah naik harga...3 for RM1.00 :(

A Jew's Confession

Just had to share it here about a Jew's confession...maybe some people had read this...

The following was written by Ben Stein and related by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary..

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crčche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. (To be sure Muslims, too, don't like being pushed around - my emphasis) I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. 

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Selamat Tahun Baru 2012!!!

Love...Beauty...Freshness...Dreams....Truth...

Imagination...Feelings...Faith...Trust...

This is the beginning of a new year!

When the midnight bell rings for NEW YEAR...

Let it signify new and better things for us,

Let it signify a realization of all things we wish for,

Let it signify a year of good health, courage and believes,

Let it signify a year of rediscovery  the strength and faith within us.

May this year brings many opportunities our way,

to explore every joy of life;

and may our resolutions for the new year stay firm,

turning all our dreams into reality and all our efforts

into great achievements.

^^^^^^^^^^********^^^^^^^^^^

copywrite from Unknown Author with minor changes