Hadith #8

Narrated Anas bin Malik The Prophet said, "Take Suhur as there is a blessing in it." Sahih Bukhari

Hadith #7

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." Sahih Bukhari

Monkeys and their bananas

I found a great story off the internet and I'd like to share it with you.

Put five monkeys in a cage. Put a ladder in the cage with a bunch of bananas at the top. As soon as one monkey starts to climb the ladder, spray cold water on all the monkeys. When another tries to climb, spray cold water on all the monkeys again. Soon, no monkey will attempt to climb the ladder.

Now, remove one monkey and put a new monkey in the cage. The new monkey will see the bananas and try to climb the ladder. Not wanting to be sprayed with cold water again, the other monkeys will quickly pull him down.

Remove a second monkey and put a new monkey in the cage. Again, the new monkey will see the bananas and try to climb the ladder. Not wanting to be sprayed with cold water, the other monkeys will quickly pull him down.

Repeat this process until all five original monkeys are gone, and five new monkeys are in the cage. None will try to climb the ladder, and none will understand why.

Now, remove all five monkeys and put a brand new monkey in the cage. The monkey will quickly climb the ladder and eat the bananas. Don't spray any cold water.

Put the five original monkeys back in the cage with the one brand new monkey who has tasted the delicious bananas. Replenish the bananas.

The brand new monkey will again climb up the ladder. Despite the efforts of the older monkeys to hold him down, the brand new monkey has tasted the bananas, he will strive again until he succeeds.

When he succeeds, the other five monkeys will realize that bananas are worth the climb, and worth the risk of some cold water. They, too, will climb the ladder and enjoy the delicious bananas.

Moral of the story? I trust you be able to come with it yourself.

The Special One special no more?

Reports are circling that the outspoken Portuguese manager, Jose Mourinho was sacked from his position as Chelsea fc head coach. I was shocked! I mean who wasn't? We're not talking about any Tom, Dick or Harry here. We're talking about Mourinho!

Mourinho is pictured here managing his last match for Chelsea against Rosenberg

Read the full coverage here and here.

And I am no Chelsea fan to be the least. Heck, I'm Liverpool all the way. But I for one had the littlest of ideas that after winning back to back English Premier League's, the Chelsea board decided to part with him. The self proclaimed 'special one's' future was sorted out earlier in the evening after Chelsea's surprise draw with lowly Rosenberg in their opening UCL match yesterday night.

Mourinho was reported to have had a sour relationship with multibillionare owner, Roman Abrahmovic regarding Chelsea's dull play style, Shevchenko, and what not. I wonder who would the Russian tycoon put at Chelsea's helm this time. And btw, Mourinho was the second manager to be fired by Abrahamovic.

My verdict: Chelsea is left in a crisis within their own ranks. Surely, the future is still in doubt for Chelsea. Mourinho's exit left Chelsea in turmoil. He's probably the only one able to contain the good atmosphere in Chelsea's star studded team.

Hadith #6

Narrated Aisha: With the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet used to tighten his waist belt (i.e. work hard) and used to pray all the night, and used to keep his family awake for the prayers. Sahih Bukhari

Hadith #5

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that Muhammad said: "Every person has a zakaat (to pay) and the zakaat of the body is fasting." Ibn Majah

Think about this...

The Glorious Al-Quran nul-kareem has 6666 ayats. This holy month of Ramadhan has 29/30 days.
6666/30 ~ 222.

We pray 5 times a day.
222/5 ~ 44

If you read 44 ayats everytime after solat consistently, by the end of this month, we'd khatam the Quran insyaAllah. Anybody up to the challenge?

Or yet, picture it this way. There's 30 juz in the Quran. One juz is 20 pages long (the usual resam Uthmani). 20/5 = 4. Subhanallah, by just reading 4 pages each time after prayer, we can khatam the Quran by the end of this month.

InsyaAllah, let's strive together.

Hadith #4

"Whoever gives iftaar to one who is fasting will have a reward like his, without that detracting from the fasting person’s reward in the slightest.”
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 807; Ibn Maajah, 1746;

How absurd can they get?

I saw this sign board while waiting to use the bathroom at a gas station somewhere in Tenessee. How absurd can these boards get?

O. J strikes again?

The highly recognizable O.J. Simpson was named a suspect in a break-in involving sports memorabilia at Las Vegas casino late last night. Read the full story here.

His Wiki biography here.

I was more about 6 when I first heard of his name. He was the suspect of and tried for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. I remembered the case was so big, so highly publized, so long, and so talked about, that a foreign guy of my age then, even knew about it. It's even proclaimed as the 'Trial of the century'.

Way to go O. J!

Hadith #3

Narrated 'Aisha (the wife of the Prophet) Hamza bin 'Amr Al-Aslami asked the Prophet, "Should I fast while traveling?" The Prophet replied, "You may fast if you wish, and you may not fast if you wish." Sahih Bukhari

Hadith #2

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas, "Allah's Apostle was the most generous of all the people, and he used to reach the peak in generosity in the month of Ramadan when Gabriel met him. Gabriel used to meet him every night of Ramadan to teach him the Qur'an. Allah's Apostle was the most generous person, even more generous than the strong uncontrollable wind (in readiness and haste to do charitable deeds)." Sahih Bukhari

Ramadhan Mubarak!!

Ramadhan Mubarak people!!

So, it's now officially Ramadhan. So I thought I would post a hadith or quran ayat regarding fasting everytime I come across one. Here's the first:

Narrated Anas bin Malik, "We used to travel with the Prophet and neither did the fasting persons criticize those who were not fasting, nor did those who were not fasting criticize the fasting ones." Sahih Bukhari

This is so not Malaysia like

So they make us believe that Malaysia is a peaceful country. Take a look at this. And this, and this.

Two civilians were badly wounded when they were shot with live bullets from a police officer. And Berita Harian's title on this incident '4 polis cedera rusuhan di Kuala Terengganu'. I mean, wth? They decide to highlight the fact that 4 police were very2 slightly injured, and not the fact that the police shot two people. Stones and bullets aren't two equally matched weapons. Of course, the one with the bullets would win. Kalau yer pon gian sangat nak tembak, gune peluru getah sudah, dah cukup sakit dah, takyah la kot gune peluru hidup.

Berita Harian continues, "Melihat keadaan yang semakin tegang, polis mengambil pendekatan berundur bagi mengelakkan perkara lebih buruk berlaku, tetapi keadaan itu diambil kesempatan oleh perusuh untuk memusnahkan harta benda awam termasuk mencabut pokok hiasan, pasu bunga dan lampu isyarat."

1. Any rationally minded person would choose peace over a war. If so the police really did retreat, I don't think anybody would want to go pick a fight with them, especially ones armed with live bullets. This is just BS.

2. There's no actual proof that the rioters were the ones doing all the damages to the 'harta awam'. Sure there are pictures all over of 'kemusnahan harta awam yg berlaku', but there aren't pictures of anybody doing it. For all we know, it might of been the police themselves doing this and blaming others.

This is just insanity.

Ramadhan is Nearing

Ramadhan is a week away, if not a week + a day. It's probably the most awaited month for all Muslims, and if not, it should be!

Will I be able to make it? Will you be able to make it? Waallahua'lam, but one thing for sure, let's prepare oursleves towards it. Let's greet it with open hands.

Ahlan wa sahlan ya Ramadhan!!

Another Update

A friend of mine showed me a site where I can generate hadith from for my blog. She has it on hers, so I decided to have one for my own. It's under the Me, Myself and I. It generates a new hadith every time you refresh the page. And what's nice is that most of the hadith are from Sahih Bukhari.

Enjoy!

Indian Traffic

And I thought traffic in Malaysia was a disaster already. Take a look at this:

Most Hilarious Family Guy Quotes

I believe everyone one of my friends would know I'm a Family Guy maniac. Well, I wouldn't call myself a maniac yet, but I really do enjoy watching the show. I should say, it's one of my top shows.
I can watch an episode 2-3 times and still laugh at the same joke. Their jokes are just phenomenon, LOL... They tickle me to the bone!

Here are some of the most hilarious quotes from Family Guy which I found on the net. People who don't follow Family Guy probably wouldn't get much of it though. Sorry.

Meg: I just want to kill myself I'm gonna go upstairs and eat a whole bowl of peanuts.
(Lois and Peter stare in silence)
Meg: I'm allergic to peanuts.
(Peter and Lois keep staring)
Meg: You dont know anything about me. (runs upstairs)
Peter: Who was that guy?

Bonnie: Somebody save him, he can't swim!
Peter: Oh, he's not even kicking. Kick Joe, kick.
Lois: Peter, he's a paraplegic!
Peter: That doesn't mean he can't hear. Kick Joe, kick!

Tom Tucker: A bit of breaking news. A local family is forced out of their home by ghosts. Who are they gonna call?
Diane Simmons (sighs): Ghostbusters, Tom.
Tom Tucker: No, Diane. Their insurance company. That's just stupid what you said.

Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'
Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.

(Peter has to come up with a fake name on the spot, so he looks around the room to get inspiration)
Peter Griffin: Uh... my name is...(he sees a pea)
Peter Griffin: Pea...
(he sees a woman crying)
Peter Griffin: ... tear...
(he sees a Griffin fly by)
Peter Griffin: ... Griffin. Peter Griffin

Peter: Sometimes it's appropriate to swear
(Peter is in court)
Bailiff: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god?
Peter: I do........You bastard

Owh, I could go all night long posting these quotes, so I better stop here before I get too carried away.

Little Becky

I was browsing through Irwan's blog and caught this really hilarious recording of Becky, an 8-year-old girl from Dublin, Ireland, making prank calls to almost everywhere possible.

The recording was so funny that I decided to search for more Becky prank calls and tada! Here they are:

22.78

I was reading through a pamplet earlier today and found this ayat from the Quran which I'd be more than happy to share with everyone out there. And, as you may have guessed, the ayat is from al-Hajj, ayat 78.And the translation:
And strive in GOD's way as you ought to strive. He has chosen you, and has not imposed any difficulties on your way of life, it is the way of your father, Abraham. It is He (God) who named you Muslims, both before (this) and in this (the Quran); that the messenger shall serve as a witness among you, and you shall serve as witnesses to humankind. Therefore, you shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and hold fast to GOD; He is your Gaurdian, the best Guardian and the best Helper.

May we take ikhtibar from this ayat and strive for Allah's way. InsyaAllah.