Perihal Seekor Bangau..

...dan seekor ikan, dan rumpt, dan seekor kerbau, perut kerbau, nasi mentah, api, kayu api, hujan, seekor katak, dan seekor ular.

Bangau oh Bangau. We've all heard and sang this popular traditional Malay folk song sometime during our childhood years right? It's a wonderful song, no doubt, but the message? Herm... Let's just say that here's my interpretation of this song.


bangau oh bangau,
kenapa engkau kurus?
macam-mana aku tak kurus,
ikan tak mahu timbul - ikan tak mahu timbul

Boy,what a lame excuse. And what a lazy bangau for that matter. Even a duck would stick their short necks and beak into the water to catch fish. This bangau, however, with it's long narrow neck and beak would rather wait for fish to come out of the water.

kan oh ikan,
kenapa engkau tak timbul?
macam-mana aku nak timbul,
rumput panjang sangat - rumput panjang sangat

The fish was probably just giving a stupid answer to a stupid question. Now why in the world would the fish purposely show itself for the stork to eat?

rumput oh rumput,
kenapa engkau panjang?
macam-mana aku tak panjang,
kerbau tak makan aku - kerbau tak makan aku

I would accept that excuse. It's not like grass can shorten by itself.

kerbau oh kerbau,
kenapa tak makan rumput?
macam-mana aku nak makan,
perut aku sakit - perut aku sakit

perut oh perut,
kenapa engkau sakit?
macam-mana aku tak sakit,
makan nasi mentah - makan nasi mentah

Now that's not good. Blaming other's for their own short comings. The kerbau was stupid enough to eat uncooked rice in the first place, and then goes about blaming it on it's stomach.

nasi oh nasi,
kenapa engkau mentah?

macam-mana aku tak mentah,
api tak mahu menyala - api tak mahu menyala

api oh api,
kenapa engkau tak mahu menyala?

macam-mana aku nak menyala,
kayu api basah - kayu api basah

kayu oh kayu,
kenapa engkau basah?

macam-mana aku tak basah,
hujan timpa aku - hujan timpa aku

hujan oh hujan,
kenapa timpa kayu?

macam-mana aku tak timpa,
katak panggil aku - katak panggil aku

katak oh katak,
kenapa panggil hujan?

macam-mana aku tak panggil,
ular nak makan aku - ular nak makan aku

ular oh ular,
kenapa nak makan katak?

macam-mana aku tak makan,
memang makanan aku - memang makanan aku!!!

I could more or less accept these other excuses. If you think otherwise, let's share!

Teka-teki DUN

DEWAN UNDANGAN NEGERI, or more commanly known as DUN is the legislature of Malaysian states. Duh.. everyone knows that. However, listed below, are some interesting facts about DUN's you might not yet know.

At a time of election like this, let's take a moment for laughter..

DUN yg paling sejuk, DUN Batu Berendam
DUN yg paling tak de rasa, DUN Air Tawar
DUN yg paling panas, DUN Pedas
DUN yg paling miskin, DUN Sekupang
DUN yg paling muda, DUN Sri Muda
DUN yg paling l ema h, DUN Batang Berjuntai
DUN yg paling basah, DUN Sg Besar
DUN yg kuat makan satay, DUN Kajang
DUN yg banyak hantu, DUN Pucong
DUN yg ada istana, DUN Kota Raja
DUN yg banyak ikan, DUN Tg Sepat
DUN yg paling keras, DUN Batu Tiga
DUN paling pendalaman, DUN Hulu Klang
DUN banyak air, DUN Ampangan
DUN banyak pengganas, DUN Kuala Kubu
DUN paling takde k ema juan, DUN Gurun
DUN paling bahaya, DUN Baling
DUN banyak semut, DUN Kota Sarang Semut
DUN paling pelik, DUN Sg Ada Burung
DUN ada binatang, DUN Kijang
DUN paling wangi, DUN Pokok Sena
DUN paling tak cantik, DUN Batu Buruk
DUN paling garang, DUN Senggarang
DUN paling banyak berahsia, DUN Tell Anybody kehkehkeh

The last teka teki sounds something that would come out of Azlan.. lol.. Have your laugh!

Bandar Hubab

Heck, just for the fun of it.

Everytime somebody enters the site, a nice house would be built, and thus, the population of this city would grow. So people, masuk la sini yer. Bandar Hubab

Lunar Eclipse Night

Earlier tonight, at approximately 9.01 pm, there was a lunar eclipse. That's when Earth's shadow blocks the moon from our sight. Unfortunately, as tonight was rather cloudy, it was hard to differentiate between the clouds and the actual shadows on the moon. Heck, it was hard to even locate the moon in the first place. Read more here.


The Prophet (Alyhi swalatu wa salaam) made salaat in congregation.

From ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr who said: "When the sun was eclipsed at the time of the Messenger of Allaah (pbuh), the call was given ‘al-salaatu jaam’iah (the congregational prayer is about to start)." - Sahih Bukhari.

Malcolm X :How Islam affected the Movement

Please read:

On behalf of the Muslim Students Association, I would like to invite you and your organization to attend a lecture this Thursday given by Dr. Amir Al-Hadid titled "How Islam affected the Movement: Malcolm X". This lecture will focus on the Civil rights movement, and in particular how Malcolm X's conversion affected his opinion and policies regarding the movement.


This program was intentionally planned to take place during Black History Month and in conjunction with the events taking place thought the month. It now seems even more appropriate, however, after the burning of the Mosque in Columbia by white supremacists on Feb. 9th. This act represents the continuity of the principle struggles of the Civil Rights Movement.

Please help us by spreading the word about this event and by encouraging your members to attend. Your support and that of your organizations would greatly be appreciated.

Again the lecture will take place this Thursday (Feb 21st) at 8:00 p.m. in Stevenson 4309, Vanderbilt University.

Thank you very much for your time and efforts.
May Allah put barakah in your time ameen~

On behalf of,
Amearah Elsamadicy
Vice President
Vanderbilt MSA

A Nice Poem

I was heading back to Lewis today from class when a middle aged lady stopped me and asked, "Do you speak English?"

Assuming the lady wanted to ask for directions, I replied, "Yes, I do."

Apparently that wasn't the case, as she was then talking about this personal experience of hers and the need to spread it out for everyone to know. Then, she handed me a piece of paper, which on one side, had a nice, long poem, and on the other, had some sentences from probably the Bible.

As the latter parts of the poem had something to do with Jesus, I'm not going to include it here. But the first few verses were just beautiful. So, enjoy..

Words of Wisdom take Time
(from Beth)

Take time to give, it brings a joy,
Take time to be friendly, it's the road to happiness,
Take time to think, you would make less mistakes,
Take time to know yourself, you'll make discoveries.

Let's all take lesson from this.

Northern Illinois Shooting

It's still short of a year since the Virginia Tech massacre and now, US is terrified with another on campus shooting, this time, at Northern Illinois University. Six people (including the gunman) were killed. Read more here.

It seems that it's becoming a trend nowadays that depressed psycho's shoot and kill innocent people (and shoot themselves latter) after the Cho incident. I remember another shooting at a mall sometime last year.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", as the saying goes for Spanish born American author, George Santayana. It's about time we ask ourselves what's causing all these problems. Is there something wrong with the educational system here in the US? Should the fault be upon the families of the shooters? Is the security system in universities too loose? Or is it simply time for Americans to go back to religion? It's your pick. But one thing for sure, these on campus shooting has got to stop. Pretty soon, people won't be sending their children to overseas universities anymore if it continues.

More on the tornado

So more about the storm. Turned out that last night's tornadoes were 'the nation's deadliest barrage of twisters in almost 23 years'. Alhamdulillah it didn't hit Nashville as bad as it hit other places in the southern parts of US.

And Alhamdulillah also, the storm is over. The sirens went out through the night which really made us hard to sleep. Hope things get back to normal, although tonight might see another thunderstorm to say the least. Winds are still strong, and the clouds are rolling in. We'll just have to wait and see.

Read more here.

And as my friend mentioned, that was just a tornado. Belom lagi bunyi sangkala, belom lagi gunung tercabut dari bumi, belom lagi langit terbelah! So sama2 la kite beringat, InsyaAllah..

Tornado Watch

So there's currently a tornado warning here in Nashville. I was in lab when the sirens started to go off. Then everyone got sms's from vanderbilt warning about the tornado and asking everyone to take cover immediately. I was finishing lab when windows started to shake, which of course, scared me, too.

Alhamdulillah the storm has passed Nashville. Hopefully there won't be anymore warnings later through the night. But elsewhere, the tornado is still striking. I just over heard news of an aircraft down. And before, there was news of an explosion. They're still investigating.

Sure is gonna be a long night tonight!

Do You Believe in GHOST??

Last week was probably one of the most thrilling and horrifyingly moments for Sekolah Menengah Sains Dungun. Heck, it could easily be the most horrifying moments for any school.

First, read here. That was an article from NST regarding that matter. But as usual, papers would add fabrication to spice it up.


Here's the real story. It all started last Friday when some girls claimed to see ghostly figures and went hysterical. Before nothing much could be done, the following Sunday, right after the assembly, kid after kid claimed to see 'ghost' flying all over classrooms. Some actually saw it, while others were merely caught in the hysterical frenzy.

The school decided to call off school that day, and students returned to their dormitories. There, things didn't get better, and people continued to go hysterical. And just to note, the victims were mostly girls.

The next day (monday), school was as usual again, but, just as the previous day, kids started claiming seeing ghosts, which resulted in the cancellation of the school once more. The whole school was in total chaos. Those who had the ability to sense these beings pointed to the hard spots everywhere in school. Even teachers went to the bathroom together! Ustazs were called to help maintain the situation, but they were basically not a match for all those so many jinns. Things would usually stay calm for a second, and go crazy the next.

Tuesday was the worst. It was as if the Aspuri was attacked by these jins. Everyone ran to the surau. Chaos was everywhere, and parents were called in to take their kids home. After that, things seemed to get back to normal, and school was ran as usual, with only the male students present.

And here's some additional facts about the 4 day incident:

• The Silat teacher/ustaz, Cg. Jaafar, was called on Monday to clear things up, and catch those entity beings. He claimed that there were many jinns all over school, and that a real big one was in class 2C.
• It was as if the jins were making fun of the situation. When students read the Quran to those affected, they would stick their tongues out in disgust.
  
• It was also thought to be that dirty women sanitary napkins that were all over the place attracted the jins as well. So, on Monday night, the girls collected all the used napkins and burnt them. They also held a meeting to discuss about the disposals of these pads in the proper containers. However, when they woke up the next morning, those napkins were everywhere again, in toilet tanks, near poles, places that were hard to reach. Who threw them there?
• In another incident, two hysterical students seemed to be wanting to fight each other. Both were in different rooms and had to be held by other students to prevent them from meeting. One was yelling "Sakit!" and the other was yelling, "Panas!"
• Recovered affected students claimed that their friends' faces changed black and ugly.
• The jins were thought to have come to SMSD via two incidents. First, ade orang hantar hantu nak kenekan bapak budak ni, tapi terpias kene anak die. Hantu tuh ikut anak die pergi sekolah. And then, half lagi hantu dari Bukit Bauk. Hantu2 tuh ikut budak2 yg training di bukit bauk balek.
• Newspaper reportes were not permitted to enter the school premises and thus unable to obtain any information regarding the incident from the people in charge. Thus, their reports were very misleading.
  

Ok, I don't know what to say, but there is surely the existence of Satan and Jinns. And they, by Gods will, can transform into anything (but the Prophet) as they will to mislead human into disobedience to Allah.

We created you and then formed you and then We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam," and they prostrated-except for Iblis. He was not among those who prostrated. [Allah] said, "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you to?" He [Iblis] replied, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay."

He [Allah] said, "Descend from Heaven. It is not for you to be arrogant in it. So get out! You are one of the abased." He [Iblis] said, "Grant me a reprieve until the day they are raised up." He [Allah] said, "You are one of the reprieved."

He [Iblis] said, "By Your misguidance of me, I will lie in ambush for them on your straight path." [Iblis said,] "Then I will come at them, from in front of them and behind them, from their right and from their left. You will not find most of them thankful." He [Allah] said, "Get out of it, reviled and driven out. As for those of them who follow you, I will fill up Hell with every one of you." (Surat al-A`raf, 11-18)

So let's hold strong and firm with the Quran and Sunnah, and forever shall we not go astray, InsyaAllah.

"I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these
you will never go astray."

p/s: The story was obtained from my conversation with Cigku Rohana, a teacher who's been a warden at SMSD for 8 years.