Obama: Christian or Muslim?

I am sure that almost everyone who had one glance at Obama would immediately classify him as Black, even though he is actually multiracial. Even so, his race did not change my opinion of him negatively, but rather positively I must say before and after I learned from class that he is multiracial.

Everyone was indeed talking about how he is the very first Black president of the USA (even though he is not black 100%). Despite not being an American citizen, I could understand how the locals feel proud of their country as they finally took a step further to go against racism, to finally get past that ugly history of slavery. In addition to that, I managed to get a chance to hear one of Obama's speech on television before the election. Honestly speaking, I find Obama to be a very intelligent man, with so many words of wisdom that he had spoken during that speech of his. His skin color did not leave a negative impression in me, but after listening to his speech, I had double the respect for him for being so courageous to walk into the path that I'm sure he knows will not be an easy one.

There was once where Sam (my SOC119 lecturer) asked us vote on what we think Obama's religion is, and Sam got really upset when some of us said he was Muslim, and not Christian. Just because Obama was black, the whole nation questioned his religion even though Obama said that he was Christian. Racism, in America, still strongly exist, even towards the president of America! Sam said that if Obama was white, such a question will never be raised against the president of America.

I must admit that I was one of the person who voted and thought that Obama was a Muslim. I did it not because I questioned Obama's religion of him not being a Christian just because Obama was black, but I did it because I did hear rumors that he was a Muslim, and I was actually very happy about this. This is because if Obama was indeed Muslim, he would be the man who will be able to fight Islamophobia, the stereotypes of Muslims being terrorists and Islam being a violent religion after the horrible incident of 9/11. I believed that he was an intelligent and respectable man that could deny all the false news on a religion of peace. It wasn't, as Sam indicated in class, because I saw Obama as a person of color.

So after learning that Obama is indeed a Christian from class, my opinions of him did not change much (other than letting go of the hope for him to stand up for Islam). But truth be told, the people of knowledge can tell what is right and what is wrong, and take the right path with courage. ;)

Inspire Our Children to Pray

Assalamualaikum my dear brothers and sisters! :)

Here is a great link on advices and tips on how to teach our children (or future children hihi) to pray to Allah and encourage them! :)

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/worship/prayer/inspiring-our-children-to-pray/

I guess the best way is to set a good example to our children by performing the prayers ourselves! :) And give positive encouragement to our children to pray and not always scold them or get angry at them 24/7 if they have yet to perform their prayers appropriately. Patience has its rewards, insya-Allah :)

Good luck dear parents! May all of us be blessed with solehin and solehah children, amin! :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

One night, in Ramadhan..

There is one night in Ramadhan that we would like to be able to 'find', which is called Lailatul-Qadr. It is the night full of blessings, where our deeds and ibadah will also be multiplied many many times :)

But there is this one night during this month of Ramadhan, I had experienced something very special from Allah :)

This year's Ramadhan, I had decided to try to do 8 rakaat terawikh prayers and 20 pages of Qur'an everyday. I know it's a challenge, but I'm willing to give it a shot and try my best :)


So after I have done my 8 rakaat of terawikh prayer, I took my small Qur'an and started reading the 20 pages. Just a few pages later, I felt terribly sleepy and fell asleep on my bed (yes I was reading the Qur'an on my bed, bad strategy but very comfortable ;p)

Then I had a very very terrible dream. It was a nightmare about something I feared for so long. I could remember that right after that 'incident' happened, I was crying in my mother's arms in that dream.
As soon as I woke up from my sleep at around 2am, I realized that it was a dream. Even so, I couldn't help myself from crying my heart out as it all seemed so real. "Is this the truth, oh Allah?" I could remember saying this to myself with tears..


I then remembered that I haven't completed the 20 pages of Qur'an, and I also had work the next day so I can't cry too much or I would have puffy eyes at work the next day XD

So I went to the toilet to take my wudhu', returned to my bed, wore my telekung (or hijab) and took my Qur'an back. However, I was only capable of lying down at that moment, and I fell asleep once again.

I then had another dream.

But this time, it was different.

It was about the very same incident, but it was as if the second dream was the complete opposite of the first.

The first was about something I feared so much, while the second was about something I wished and loved would happen, on the very same matter, with the very same people :)

The feeling of happiness and tranquility that I felt in that dream is indescribable. And as soon as I woke up from my sleep, I felt extremely calm, and I could smile happily. I could not bring myself to tears even though I could clearly recall the first horrible dream.

SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah oh Allah.. :')

Some might say that dreams are indeed the games and play of Syaitan or Setan, but then, I have never had two consequtive dreams, which are the COMPLETE opposite of each other, on the very same matter.

The first might have been Setan's play, but I am sure..

That the second was from Allah, consoling this very weak and tiny servant of His. :') I feel blessed, and embarrassed that Allah would consol such a weak person like me.

Thank you oh Allah.. :)

What was my dream about? Well, I guess that would remain between me and Allah ;) But I can give you an example of how the dreams are the direct opposite from each other.

Perhaps one of your loved ones had recently passed in an accident, and the first dream was about how he or she had died, and it was such a gory and painful death. And when you had your second dream, you met him or her, very happy and healthy, telling you that she or he is doing fine and is happy right now eventhough they may have passed.

Allah is indeed, The Greatest, The Most Merciful :)

Dwibahasa

Assalamualaikum! :)

Long time no write! :p

I apologize for my Manglish (Malaysian English), but this post is to actually address this very same issue :)

From now on, I will try my very best to post anything on this blog in both of my core languages; English and Malay. This is mainly because there are things that I post that I would like everyone to be able to read and understand (mainly English), but there are also things that are important that I know some readers would understand better if I were to write it in Malay. Hence, I will do my best to post any of my personal posts in both languages, Insya-Allah! :) But I would like to apologize in advance as my stronger language is indeed English ;p

*how we Malaysians have a huge variety of languages = rojak :p*

This is also a good exercise for me; your language or writing skills tends to get messed up when you mix them with other languages (for instance, Manglish :P) so I am also determined to improve my means of communication with you guys! :) so it’s a win-win situation! :D

However, there might be exceptions where if I were to copy and paste other people’s blog/posts/article, there might not be a translation as the original is always better in this case :)

With that being said, I apologize for not posting for a very long time! But I will soon, insya-Allah! :D (even though there aren’t that many readers that comes to visit my blog every now and then ;p) Oh and please do note that the English-Malay versions of my posts ARE NOT direct translations! :D *I tend to add and reduce certain areas, so they will not be exactly the same, but the main message will still be the core :)*

Till next time! :)

*Malay version :)*

Assalamualaikum!

Waah da lame kan tak tulis kat blog ni? ;p Maap2 yek da lama tak menulis kat blog nih! :D insya-Allah nnt akan ade update2 yeeek, amin! :)

Di sini kami ingin beritahu bahawa insya-Allah untuk post2 yg akan dtg, akan kami post dlm dua bahasa utama; English dan BM :) Ini adalah kerana ada post2 yg kami ingin semua org di dunia dpt membacanya dan memahaminya (pakai English la kat sini kn? :D) tetapi ade juga post2 yg kami rasa lebih senang difahami bila baca dlm BM (kdg2 baca English sakit kepala jgak kn klu tak paham XD) jd kerana itu, insya-Allah kami akan usahakn sedaya upaya untuk post ape2 post dlm dua2 bahasa! :)

Kami buat mcm ni pon untuk bantu diri sendiri jgak dlm penguasaan dwibahasa nih :D sbb selalu juga post blog2 nih dlm bahasa Manglish (campur English dgn BM, tp English lebih kuat la :p). Lama-kelamaan jadi lemah la juga penguasaan bahasa ni. Insya-Allah, dgn berbuat begini kita akan sama2 mendapat manfaatnya! :)

*Kami ingin terlebih dahulu meminta maap kerana BM bukanlah bahasa yg kami berjaya kuasai sepenuhnya. Insya-Allah, pada suatu ari nnt! :)*

Oh2 untuk post2 yang kami copy paste dari blog2 orang lain, atau article atau dr mane2 sahaja, kemungkinan besar tidak akan dialihkan bahasa asalnya sbb lagi best dlm bahasa original kn? :) tapi sekiranya mampu, insya-Allah kami akan cuba translatekan juga :)

Stakat ini sahaja! :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

Jihad?

Watching this video, though it may sound funny, made me scared as well despite being a Muslim. Even another friend of mine who is Muslim thought the video was scary.

It is definitely understandable of why Americans (or rather EVERYONE) who watches this video or any type of video on any religions, race or gender that portrays them as being violent based on what they have done, would give us a reason to be afraid and fearful.

Everyone should be aware that not everything portrayed in the media is the absolute truth. Yes, the events cited by the video might all be based on facts, but you could not judge the other 1 billion people just by the few hundreds that showed what is actually against our own religion as a matter of fact. Do a research on what is given to us on the news and analyze them intelligently. A very good example is to see how women are portrayed in the media. Women are often seen as being weak and passive, while men are always seen in masculine roles in an advertisement. Hence, will you judge that a women is incapable of doing tough jobs, while men are absolutely only masculine in character and could not show any weakness or tears? Of course you don't, and the same goes to all religions and race and gender, not just Islam alone.

Do not just accept what is given to us. Sometimes, it is not what they seem to be.

I could be criticizing a lot regarding the video; first off, the word jihad does not have a 'goal' of world domination. Go ahead and google it, and you will find that it literally means 'struggle'. The word jihad is not only applicable for war, but it could also be used when you are facing a 'struggle' to prevent yourself from committing sins or hurting others; I could say that I am in a 'jihad' if I am working very hard to get a good pay to put food on the table. I could also say that I am in a 'jihad' if I am trying my very best to get rid of a bad habit (even like smoking or drinking). Hence, you could quickly evaluate that the person who made the video did not really do much research about jihad or Islam itself rather.

It is true that Islam has been involved in many wars as the video has listed. But once again, you could not judge the rest of the people of that religion based on certain events that was committed by usually the extremists. I believe that if you were to search for the war histories of any country at all (wars do happen even without religion in play), you will also find a whole list of bad events. Hence, I do not think it is fair to simply depict to Americans (in this video) that Islam is a violent religion by showing all the bloodshed. Why is it that other religions and other countries who have also fought in a war not being questioned the same way Islam is put into trial?

For clarifications, it is true that there are verses in the Qur'an that some might say be 'promoting' war against 'infidels' or so they say. However, if you were to really analyze the Qur'anic verses, it only gave permission for one to go into war if one is in a state of oppression; hence war is actually forbidden for us to pursue unless lives are at stake and that is the very last option that we have. If you were to look back on Prophet Muhammad, he would definitely try to work things out peacefully with anyone at all, before finally residing to battle.

As a Muslim, I do feel sad that there are extremists out there willing to kill others (or what they may claim to be 'infidels') in the name of Islam, when what they are doing is against Islam itself. However, I am certain that there is a blessing in disguise. I do not support any act of terrorism, but I am optimistic that even from such bad events, it has opened the eyes of others, opened my own eyes as well. People are curious about who and what Islam is. Is it true that it is a terrorist religion? Is it a violent religion? Oppressing women by asking them to wear the headscarf?

Those who have really opened their eyes and hearts will be able to find out what Islam truly is. And unfortunately, there are still others out there who refuse to see beyond what is out in the media.

I sincerely would like to thank the commenters of this blog (at worldinconversation.org), as when I read your comments and your view of Islam even though you are non-muslims, I am very happy and glad to know that you guys are among those who do not judge others simply from what is portrayed in the media. :) Thank you, may God bless you. :)

Religion Dying Out?

Reading this article certainly made me devastated of the fact that there are indeed more and more people losing their faith in God, losing their faith in religion.

Based on what we have discussed in class, I would completely agree that managing a larger group of people is definitely much more challenging than managing a smaller group of people; this does not only apply to religion, but it could be applied to simply about anything at all. A bigger company with more employees under it faces more challenges to manage their employees compared to a smaller company. The more people present in a certain religious group, the harder it is for the pastor, imam, or head of the religion for that area to be able to reach the people's heart.

Most of the people that I know of who is no longer a believer of a 'superior being', or sometimes do not agree with religions that has been presented to them, are actually just people just like you and I.

They are the people who are brave enough to question the rules of a religion, to question who is God? And we as human beings, being curious beings as well, have the right to do so.

I am also not an exception myself.

Being born into a Muslim family, I was raised as a Muslim with the basics knowledge of Islam. I never did question about the religion since everyone was doing it; it was considered a 'norm' back home. However, as I grew older, just like any other teenagers and young adults, we begin to seek answers to our questions, to our curiosity. However, it was not an easy road to travel on, as I was afraid of taking the wrong turn.

Coming to the U.S., I could sincerely say that I have found Islam here, more than I did back home where majority of the population were Muslims. So far, I have found nothing but answers to my questions. Even though it is not as simple as getting all the answers I want in a day, but all my questions so far has met the righteous answers.

I dare to say that I found Islam here is because when you are out of your waters and travel onto another land, you will be able to see how strong your faith is and to what extent do you believe in yourself, believe in a superior being called God. I am free to not practice my religion, I am free to throw my faith away as it is not the 'norm' over here, and no one is there to prevent you from taking the wrong or right steps. It is all up to you.

Hence, I would certainly encourage everyone to keep your hearts and mind open. Do question what you think is not right, and be brave enough to take one step further to find the truth. I am confident that if you have the intention of finding the truth and not simply to find facts to say that 'My religion is right, your religion is wrong!' or 'You will go to hell and I will go to heaven!', you will definitely find the truth with a good heart, God willing :)

I truly believe that if someone is telling the truth of something good, there is nothing to hide about the truth, there is nothing to be ashamed of the truth, as it is indeed nothing to be hidden, and should be told to every single person in the world.

No one on earth has the right to say that someone is going to hell and heaven, or judge a person just by his or her actions alone. Only He could judge on that day. As the saying goes, 'hate the sin, not the sinner'.

I admit, that I do not have much knowledge about other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or any religion. Hence, I do not have the right to criticize other religions and condemn them to hell, as only He knows who will be sent to heaven. Even Muslims, like myself, are not safe from the fires of hell if we commit a lot of sins. He will only judge us humans on the Day of Judgement, so who are we to judge others?

However, I am glad to know that the more I question about my religion, the more I find the answers. I hope that everyone out there will do to. :)

For me, religion is a part of my life, and it is the food to our souls. I noticed that the more you deny the existence of a superior being, the more unsettling your life would be. It is true that one could still be a good human and do good to others in the world, but they will always be in conflict and feel unsettled whenever God comes into a conversation. I personally feel that if we are indeed right about all religions, why are we always feeling so unsettled about it if we are so sure that God does not exist?

I urge you to investigate the religions out there, find people who has knowledge about the religion, people who are willing to share with you their religion and are not afraid to tell you the truth, and conclude your research based on your findings. God willing, you will find the right answer.

What a man is..

Article from an inmate : http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/

As I was reading this article, I had second thoughts on whether this was actually a letter of an inmate; it seemed more like those articles that give advices for men to be successful in relationships. Even so, it really touched me that all the points written in this article is true and spot-on, and were actually realized by an inmate when he is doing his time.

I completely agree with the inmate; why do people only change when something dramatic happens in their life? Why can't they just admit that they were wrong and change to be better without the need of a dramatic event? Even though the latter seems to be the better option, most of us only do change when something finally happens; usually a traumatic experience.

It is difficult to change. No matter what type of change it may be; finally eating your greens or finally managing your anger, it all requires a huge amount of innovation and emotional strength, where we most often lack off. I myself would admit that I still have bad habits that I would like to change, but changing just the very next second is not humanly possible.



Even so, I still do believe change is not easy, but possible. It WILL require a lot of emotional strength and support, and it also requires a lot of our effort as well. Truth be told, if we have the intentions to change and try our very best to do so, He will help us along the way. We should never give up on trying to improve ourselves even though sometimes it takes years for us to achieve what we want. We will never know that maybe, on the 99th day of our effort we gave up, when He will actually grant our wish to change on the 100th day. So we should never give up trying, never give up hoping, and have faith in Him :)

I could go on and on describing about recognizing what women wants from a man. But I could simply say that men also have fairly similar needs from women; attention, trust and love.

However, I would agree with what the inmate has mentioned; regarding what he has learned about what women wants from men, mostly from the video. As we have watched in class, music videos show the wrong idea of women only wanting sex and money from men, and that they enjoy being treated as a sex object within the videos when the reality is the direct opposite. Newspapers, magazines, televisions and films are doing the same exact thing to our society as well. Men are always portrayed to be the stronger and more masculine figure, while women are more feminine, submissive and passive.

Now, there are exceptions to these claims where in some films, women are the 'heroes' and saves the day. But you could almost always find both genders more in their traditional roles and gender stereotypes.
Once again, it is hard for the media to CHANGE to portray the reality of life unless they would see it to be profitable. Even so, there is still hope that one day all of these would change for the better, with people who are becoming more aware of our surroundings.



Changing, will never be easy. The important people around us could sometimes even be the main reason why it is so hard for us to change, as well as the society. Our friends would sometimes critisize us: "He/She is a horrible person!". And when we finally do change, the same people would give discouraging comments: "He/She is just putting up an act. Remember how he/she was before?"

I hope that everyone would realize that in this world, we could NEVER satisfy everyone. If you would want to change, do it for yourself, for your loved ones that supports you, and for Him. If you set your goals on changing to satisfy everyone, you will never find yourself be able to change completely, or perhaps if you do change, you will never be happy. Do it for yourself, for your loved ones who supports you, and for Him. As only these people and God will be able to see the change in you :)


Learn from the past, do your best in the present, for the better future. Don't judge a person based on his or her past, but judge based on what he or she is doing and has become. Spread the love, as we do not have time to hate :)