Face/Book Anyone?

Today is Sunday. Ever since I've found my way around FB, I've got mesmerized and lost in pages of friends and families. Some friends have been lost to me since 1989...and now, with FB, reading about their life is merely a click away. Thus, I've been quite a 'busy-body' catching up with many of my long lost class-mates and school-mates. Often times, I am just a silent reader. Not daring to acknowledge my presence...shy and worried that they might not even remember me. How many of us have changed. We used to be young school girls - ambitious and idealistic. Now, mostly we are mothers - focused and realistic.

I am glad that my hubby is not at home. He is off for his monthly 3-day khuruj. If he sees me glued to the screen for hours at a time…I might be in for an earful of zihin. I know…I know…time is wasted. ..amal is lessened and khidmat is inferior. Frankly, this internet is addictive . I am weak and in serious need of help. Reading and reading from the i-net; fbs, blogs and e-books are consuming many2 hours of my life. It feels like I am walking into an infinite library…filled and lined with books and books. How do the others do it? How do they use internet casually?

I've always been passionate about reading. Once I get my hands on a good book, then, I will not put it down until the last sentence have been read. This reading habit have caused me quite a many sleepless nights. Some may think that reading is noble. But for me, I am beginning to feel that my reading habit is destructive. When I am engrossed in reading, I tend to ignore everything and anything around me. This includes my family, my daily chores, my career and finally even to the point where my amal will be down to a minimum…i.e. only the fardh. Additionally, when I read, I love to savor each words. I love to create the emotions and situations from the author into my consciousness…thus, sometimes, I read and re-read phrases, sentences , paragraphs and even pages. Speed reading does not exist in my vocabulary. Needless to say, I love my reading.

Thus, reading is my weakness. I know governments and libraries are campaigning for a reading culture. Still, I feel, as a parent, we must be cautious of our children's reading habits. What are they reading? How are they reading and When are they reading? Our children's reading materials must be especially scrutinized. After all, our children are at the time of their life when they are most susceptible to influences. We should ensure that they are reading Islamic ally acceptable contents. From my personal experience, I've learned that reading books on non-Islamic contents have greatly influenced my values and my intellect. I became tolerant and insensitive to many issues which was against my religious beliefs. Of course, I was unaware of this, after all, I was mainly reading novels for pleasure. How harmful are they? Have you read Sidney Sheldon? Some books are quite graphic. What about the Jackie& Joan Collins' novels (which are raunchy), Judith Krantz, Jude Deveraux etc…until I came to Anne Rice and her vampire& witches series (includes devil/satanic verses). Even both the Harry Potter & Twillight series aren't that aligned for young Muslim readers.

Am I overtly sensitive about these issues? You tell me. I guess I sound like the Book Censorship Board. Hmmm…its tough…being a mother means I am concerned about my children's values . Enough said, just be careful of what you feed your children's mind. Books are wonderful...If I have all the time in the world, I would probably curled up in a comfortable spot and read. I am glad that nowadays, many Muslims are starting to write. There are now a wide variety of books to choose from. In both English and Malay, my children can read books which potrays characters with Islamic values. Kudos to the islamic authors and publishers.

Sepi yang panjang

Alhamdulillah, lama sungguh saya tak dtg update blog nie...dah penuh dgn sawang. Masa nak sign-in tu, saya dah hampir lupa password. Dua tiga kali cuba barulah betul...ish...ish...ish...sampai begitu sekali ekkk. Kadang2 ada jugak terlintas nak tinggalkan je dunia blogging nie. Tapi terasa macam sayang pulak. Iyalah, seronok jugak jumpa ramai kenalan lama & baru bila kita berblogging. Iya tak? Secara tak langsung, seolah-olah seperti merapatkan tali silaturrahim.

Minggu nie, saya dah tamat tugasan mengajar. Students sekrg sedang sibuk memerah otak mengulangkaji sebelum bermulanya Final Exam minggu depan. Leganya, dah lepas satu tanggungan utk diri ini. Kebetulan pulak, suami saya outstation selama 8 hari. Hmmm...dalam hati dah terfikir berbagai2 benda yg akan saya buat utk mengisi kekosongan2 dlm jadual harian ini.

Yg paling sy rindu ialah hobi yg dah lama sy tinggalkan...membaca buku2 fiksyen...a.k.a. novel-novel. Bila suami ada di sisi, sangat susah utk sy dpt luangkan masa membaca. Maklumlah, suami kan harus didahulukan dlm setiap urusan. Kekadang tu, bila sy sdg dlm mood syok membaca, sy kena tunggu sampai suami dah masuk tidur baru boleh bukak novel. Kalau depan suami, novel itu saya sembunyikan...segan kat dia. Kesudahannya, tidur saya jadi terganggu. Iyalah, malam dah bersengkang mata membaca, jadi, siang hari tu kena buat kerja mcm lipas kudung. Kalau boleh semua kerja rumah nak disiakan secepat mungkin, barulah dapat qadha balik waktu tidur semalam. Inilah antara kelemahan2 saya. Kalau dah mula membaca, tak boleh nak berhenti. Bila dah membaca, mesti nak tau kesudahannya. Membaca pulak mesti nak ada feeling, tak boleh aje nak speed reading...akhirnya, lintang pukang jadual harian saya.

Inilah antara sebab kenapa blog saya dah lama menyepi. Tak sempat2 sy nak masuk blogs sbb dah tersangkut kat novel2 tu. Oleh kerana harga novel-novel ini mahal di M'sia. Maka, saya telah dapatkan versi e-book. Seronok sgt download e-book dr internet. Maklumlah, mcm duk dlm virtual library. Unlimited access. Setakat nie, dah beratus-ratus buku yg tlh sy dapatkan...angan2 utk membaca itu mmg panjang. Tapi... BAHAYA...risau bukan kepalang. Habis banyak masa sy kat buku2 ini saja. Hati mmg berbelah bahagi. Entahlah, lemah betul iman bila berdepan dgn nafsu membaca. I feel soooo guilty.

Novels

Alhamdulillah, beberapa hari yg lepas, kami berkesempatan ke kedai buku. Apa lagi, aku pun cepat2 lah mencari novel terbaru Habiburrahman. Seronok pulak membaca novelnya. Mungkin kerana banyak kata2 semangat yg diselitkan di dalam novel2 nya. Di kedai buku itu, hanya ada novel "Ketika Cinta Bertasbih". Novel2 Habiburrahman yg lain tidak kelihatan. Mungkin telah habis dijual atau memang tidak di stok langsung. Oleh itu, tanpa banyak pilihan aku pun membeli novel "Ketika Cinta Bertasbih" Episod 1 and 2. InsyaAllah, kalau ceritanya juga bagus, akan aku coretkan di sini. Unutk teman2 yg ingin membaca Ayat-Ayat Cinta tapi belum dpt memilikinya, bolehlah cuba dapatkan e-book di sini -- Ayat-ayat cinta.

Kalau ada kesempatan dan peluang lain, bolehlah beli buku Habiburrahman yg asli. Dapat lah kita tolong support penulis2 Islam. Lagipun, kita boleh gunakan resit2 pembelian buku untuk dapatkan pengecualian cukai pendapatan. Betul tak? Untuk tahun lepas, sebanyak RM1,000 rebet diberikan utk pembelian buku2.

Ultimate Laziness

Dear friends,

I do apologize for my looooong silence. Hmmm, there is definitely no excuse for my disappearance. I've been visiting and reading from the net, but, I have stayed incognito.

Entahlah, takde ilham nak tulis n3 baru. I am glad that some of my friends have started their own blogs. Reading their updates forces me to come out of my lazy spell.

Lately, I've finished reading the novel Ayat-Ayat Cinta. Amazingly, it was inspiring. Frankly, I've been reading romance novels since I was 12. I've completed rows & rows of M&B books in my hometown library. From M&B, I've graduated to Harlequins, Silhouttes and many2 others. My hubby used to tell me that my head is permanently in the clouds and I have unrealistic love expectations from reading too much romance books. Furthermore, now that I am much older, this genre of books seemed too idealistic. Thus, I stopped reading romance.

I was introduced to the idea of reading the book because the movie takes such a long time to appear in our cinema. So, I searched thru google and got a copy of the e-book. (I promise to buy the original book). Initially,I was quite sceptical about the book. I heard all the fuss about the book and the movie. I was definitely not convinced. Come on, I've seen quite a few of the Indonesian love stories ( albeit not full-length, only some parts and peices) and frankly, I do not believe in their values. Watching Indonesian movies make me question about the spiritual values of the actors/actresses/producers. Although I believe that most are muslims, their movies definitely do not potray muslim identities and beliefs. I am quite disappointed with all of them.

However, to my amazing surprise, the book Ayat2 Cinta has none of the stereotypical "western" love scenes and nuances. Alhamdulillah...I salute the author who managed to relay his message of love thru his beautiful phrases. He manages to simplify abstract values into everyday occurences. His analogy works. Although there are a whole bunch of Indonesian words which I do not understand, I still get the big picture/story.

I've seen the teaser/trailer for the movie. I do not think that I will be going to watch it. I believe that the movie did not manage to capture the spirituality of the book. From the few trailer scenes that I have seen, the movie seem to have betrayed the actual "feeling" and "values" of the characters. Alas, I guess the movie producers have compromised quite a bit to make the movie more commercial. I prefer to keep the story pure. I'll stick to my novel and I will not want to watch the adapted version of Ayat-Ayat Cinta.

Well...that's my 2 cents review of the book. What's your views ?

Adzan zuhur dah pun berkumandang kat PC nie. Time for me to go. Do leave your mark :)

Book Review

Currently, I am trying to finish the book Secrets of Secrets by Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani. Actually, it was written by the great Sufi but it was translated into English. I am of course, reading the English version. I actually picked up the book because the translator put a nice intro on the book's back cover. According to the translator, reading the book helps us to gain spiritual knowledge and purpose in our everyday ibadaat. This is so that our ibadat will be increased manyfold...so that it will not just be a routine of our life but an exercise which will strengthen our love and brings us closer to our Benefactor - Allah. Well, the reading has been slow. As I am only able to read a few pages at night before bedtime, the book will probably take me more than 2 weeks to finish. ALbeit the book is relatively thin.

As I was reading, I seem to ponder that the level of English in the book is quite abstract and high-level. It makes the writing very difficult to understand. Of course, taking into mind the fact that it has been quite some time since I've read anything else besides fiction. Thus, I am seeking help from fellow bloggers to recommend simpler books on spirituality and religion for me. Fyi, I have almost zero background in Islamic Thoughts and Revelations. I envy those people who were chosen and blessed to have the opportunity to have Islamic theology as their basic education. Thus, the knowledge that they gain while growing up, is 100% relevant to this world and the world hereafter. In fact, these fortunate people have the added opportunity/bonus to share their knowledge with other lesser mortals.

Alas, my pace of reading these genre of books is appaling. While reading,I feel especially bad that I have yet to get the opportunity to increase my understanding of the Quran. Apparently, according to Sheikh Abdul Qadir, the Qurans has 10 layers of understanding. 10 layers - Even the uppermost layer of understanding eludes me. In conclusion, I guess that's what I get from reading this book. It gave me some time to reflect on how ignorant I am.