when i’m damn hungry, but food’s not nice. dampens my appetite. but forced to eat a little, just so my stomach won’t grumble. but not full enough so i still feel hungry. and when cough attacks strike,(i’ve had two cough attacks already) i cannot stop coughing, that dampens the appetite more. because food goes down the throat was coughed out. so i don’t enjoy my lunch at all. i’m still hungry, but no food seems nice enough. and when the forbidden drink, my seasons ice lemon tea, is the only liquid that tastes nice but i shouldn’t be drinking it because of the cough attacks. and the running nose is not helping either. and the fluctuating temperature, i’m too cold but then again, body heat is high.

i shouldn’t be here at the moment. i should be resting.

Still having the last bits of feeling feverish. And as I usually did, i forced myself out of this fever, still go to work despite my mother’s worries. But let me tell you, PANADOL EXTRA really works la! Haha yeah, i downed two capsules last night, slept earlier than usual, and felt amazingly better this morning, though still with that hot/cold feeling you usually get during fevers. So peeps, and i understand, being students are very hectic, and sometimes the body can’t carry on much longer, take panadol extra la k. promote~ i’m perked up now, even singing to fave songs – Red Jumpsuit’s Guardian Angel.

but anyway. works getting more hectic, the pressures getting scarier. i seriously felt so even though my face don’t always show it. this saturday, there’s going to be a seminar at suntec, even though most of the preparations are done by assyakirin mosque, we are busy on our side. tak tahulah apa yang busy sangat tapi 9 hours at work macam tak cukup nak buat semua. there’s always something to be done. and yeah, am going through my down phase, i’m just degrading myself, trying to push myself to do more. i can’t help it. i just have to relax myself, but i don’t know what will alleviate this phase.

first challenge, have to write an advertorial on something la. it’s a tedious job, having to write something to convince people, though not really knowing what it is all about. i have to push myself to feel this advert, so it’ll sound sincere. and it was done, with the help and the advices of all the superiors. you can’t believe the things ‘they’ want for the advert. despite the stress, it was good experience.

and just got news that the new mrc is up. just the names but not who’s who yet. am anxious and was worried for i heard some not so good news about the process. i really am. i wish i can be in two places at one time. i seriously do. and at this very moment, i really feel like flying there to help. seriously pray that everything will be alright. i think i’m going to call nuyu, my only mrc who stayed true.

let’s pray for better days ahead for all of us.

first of all
one of the pc got zonked out one day. and this one of the pc got to be the one which i KEPT ALL MY PICTURES IN!!!! all the pictures taken during iiu life, with friends, with assiium, and whatnots!! three years of hardwork– of posing for one pic to another, of collecting from one friend to another, of transferring from thumbdrive to thumbdrive to pc, from one msn download to another!!! AARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! yes my friends. all those histories and memories, just went pufffffhhh in ONE NIGHT. camaner ni???? mana nak carik gambar2 tu balik??? there’s like hundreds of it!!

makanya, mungkin mengharap simpati dari rakan-rakan yang bersama-sama posing dan mengollect gambar2 tu semua~ when will that ever be???!!!!

ok rileks. tapi gambar banyak giler! ok, shush. hek hek hek…gambar~~

the day i felt like a failure, not so much la, nak kena pelangkung saying oneself a failure??!! i’ve gone so far, just to say i’m a failure. it’s more of the day I THINK TOO MUCH.

i always have too much to think after i teach this teens advance class in annahdhah. some recollections of all the things i said to the teens, and applying those words to my life. an dtoday, while i was walking home, i saw three different kinds of malay groups in the neighbourhood.

one – group of skater kids, two- looks like a young family, two brothers playing football with a little brother, and two more girls, i assume their sisters and three- another group of cycling kids.

i glanced at them, but then immediately looked away, as if to avoid eye contact with them. lest they thought i’m staring. i just wanted to smile at them and tell them, hey we’re neighbours. but i didn’t. and here i was just after teaching, feeling some goodness aura, and i couldn’t bring myself to smile to these neighbours, for all i know, they are the ones who need the care and concern. i felt like i did not do them some favour. i felt like i’m deliberately pushing them away from the society. i felt like i’ll be held accountable for seeing and doing nothing…. i wanted so much to help. i wanted so much to tell. but i didn’t do the simple act of smiling to them. so what am i doing at all, all this while?

the week has gone… and it had been a rather exhaustive but fun!! my first week of working 9 – 5, hmm, in this case, 8.30 – 6.oo pm. and the days in the office, had done calls after calls! and letters after letters!! and looking at the screen every other minute. yes, my best friend at work is the pc~, but mind you not for leisure… no friendster, no multiply except for some occassions when i got real sick of reading and reviewing of the task i had to complete, i would just have to surf some place else!!

and sitting most of the time, penat seh! so every two hours, i would like steal myself out of the office go out, look at the trees, at the road, unfortunately, the scene out of muis is not very interesting! turun naik lagik!! dari tingkat empat turun tingkat dua, dari tingkat empat turun tingkat satu, pegi stor cari buku2 yg berlambak kat situ! for a first week at work, i did a lot.
add that up to the meeting held at hdb hub, attended by some 160 representatives from various mosques in Singapore. that’s a real eye opener. met some friends who have become asatizahs. the meeting on friday, starts at 8.00 till 10.00 PM! so imagine, me from work 8.30 to 6.00 pm straightaway to the meeting, and of course we had to do some prior preparations. i couldn’t really sit down for the meeting for i had to run around. but despite the exhaustive work, taking a positive stance and it’s all a learning experience.

heh, i remembered this incident, i had to call one mosque, to ask for their reply ah, so after waiting for quite sometime for someone to pick up the phone, the answer came, and i so happily greeted the makcik on the phone and before i managed to start saying anything, the makcik so happily, and very loud, i tell you very loud voice telling me that there’s no one on the office, and that she was only the attendant sweeping the office~ her voice was too loud that i had to put the phone away from my ear and my colleagues in the office all began to laugh because apparently, they could hear the makcik as well!!! bayangkan betapa kuatnyer makcik kat telephone tu berbual!!!

my week did not end on friday, for the next morning, i had to teach at annahdhah till 10.30 am. but luckily nasir (ustaz 😉 ) did most of the teaching. right after class, i went to madrasah aljunied to lend support to assiium for there was peertalk held at the school. peertalk is like something for the students in various madrasahs to see what’s in store for them after their final year at school, and there were singapore students studying at institutions from the middle east and malaysia, came to exhibit and show to the adik-adik the alternatives for them. and i had the honour of giving a brief talk for iiu, very short, only 7 minutes. and fortunately, the new exco assiium had the initiative to create a powerpoint presentation on iiu, so i just had to explain a bit on it.

it so happened that there’s only 2 sisters who were going to represent for their institutions, and am one of them. the rest are brothers, and it doesn’t help that most of them were from aljunied, so for most, they looked comfortable with the place, while me being an al-maarifian (no al-maarif students, except for yg bebudak IMPIAN satu dua and from iiu itself), but i had confidence and comfort from the thought that most of the top persons of IMPIAN were assiiumers, somehow felt a little at home. i had to give the briefing in a rush, but alhamdulillah, the assiiumers were happy with the things i said on stage. and thank god i managed to control my nervousness. menggeletar la seh kat mike tu. my congrats to the assiium excos who handled the peertalk, very good effort by you guys. keep it up!

so the week has been a fulfilling one and am very glad of that!
so people, the days go on………
my love to my girls

Witchcraft: An Islamic Response

The young generation today is living in a fast learning world in which, information is immediately accessed at the point of their fingertips. It is also a world of entertainment and the media is the top source for the latest trends and in the young minds, this means the latest fashion, music, movies and anything materialistic. This will further detach the youths from any form of religious beliefs. The subcultures emerging from this melting pot of trends are creating worry and concern on the influences it brings to the young, when it is adopted negatively.

It is important to know what subculture means before going further. Subculture can be defined as a cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member. Another definition is ‘a set of people with distinct sets of behaviour and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part of.’ It is a form of expression detached from the cultural dominant mainstream in unexpected ways. Some examples of subcultures are the punk ideology, hip-hop culture and hippies lifestyle.

One of the disturbing and growing subcultures is the interest in witchcraft among the young adults. In Singapore, it cannot be said as a new subculture, though it might have been on the scene since during the seventies. It has become a disturbing issue now when it is found out, that teenagers as early as thirteen years of age are already exposed to witchcraft. What makes it more interesting and appealing to the inquisitive and secularized young people is the atheistic and pagan influences, the strong self-esteem that one may built within one self to change the course of events, believing as without any transcendence assistance. The writer believes that this growing popularity is due to the nonchalant or sometimes adventurous but attractive portrayal of witchcraft from television drama series, movies such as the Harry Potter series and fictional novels, whereby, gifted and noble borne characters with supernatural powers are able to have control over events and, as the story goes, save the world from evil creatures.

Nevertheless, to the Muslim born youths, this can be seen as a sign of declining faith(‘aqidah), disregarding Islam as the way of life and might even lead to blasphemous acts of rebellious and angry young hearts. It might seem that some are trivial popular practices such as performing séances, praying to an imaginary god while surrounded by candles, making love potions and invoking harmless spells, though there are other practices which are diabolical in essence, such as performing voodoo spells for revenge. These teens, in need to have a sense of belongingness to something binding to its members may cause social problems and this must be see to immediately before it becomes even more widespread, and later be seen as an issue of mere phases of teenage life.

Witchcraft

It is not the aim, at present, to fully study the subject of choice. Witchcraft is a very wide subject and can be discussed from various approaches of the different lines of study: sociologically, anthropologically, and even psychologically. It has a very long history tracing back to the ancient times, as a primitive ritualistic practices and had went through various eras such as medieval periods of the Western world, up to the present of new age movements, after going through the enlightenment and renaissance eras.

Witchcraft has also gone through various levels of societal acceptance, from one which has high regards to those practicing witchcraft, with titles as shamans and high priestesses to facing periods of suppression and perceived as a source of terror and evil, thus, despised by the society and avoided like the plague. There was the witch –hunt rush, which claimed hundreds of lives claimed or accused to be witches.

The term witchcraft is derived from an Old English noun, ‘wicca’ meaning ‘sorcerer’ and the verb ‘wiccian’ meaning ‘to cast a spell.’ Witchcraft has been defined as human’s ability to manipulate natural laws to their advantage. Witchcraft has always been associated with Satanism, though its followers will assertively deny any association with satanistic themes, claiming that Satan, hell and even the original sin as imaginary creations of the Christian Church.

Sorcery is an original concept of witchcraft, a web of beliefs and practices, whose purpose is to manipulate nature for the benefit of the witch or the witch’s clients and believed as a generous act of aid. This is the ritualistic practices performed by African tribes in their attempts to create remedies and causes to illnesses or when the tribe is going through some misfortunes that affect the whole community such as plagues and droughts.

Another phenomena of witchcraft is the alleged diabolism practiced by the witches. This is in the late medieval Europe period, in which it faced aggressive remonstration from the Christian churches, accusing witchcraft as a Satanic occult. The Christians were imaginative and provided illustrative descriptions of the witches’ practices and their mysterious dark gatherings that usually involves, as it is claimed, bloody sacrifices and blasphemous acts. A very popular illustration of these gatherings would be one that featured a goat-headed man, being worshipped by the witches. It is believed that this goat-headed creature is the Satan himself.

A new age phenomena has emerged during the 1800s- 1900s, which is termed as the pagan revival of the twentieth century. The Wiccans of this new age movement believes that the world is made of balanced forces, neither good nor evil, but a necessary counterparts, complimentary elements of the world. These beliefs are often mixed with mystical traditions such pagan Celtic or Norse, Greek and Roman God- worship.

It is important to note that witchcraft has often been associated with women, even though there have been a number of male witches, specially holding the high positions of a wiccan organization. Nevertheless, witchcraft is very much a female dominated religion, centred on the worshipping of a Mother- Goddess. It is no wonder that feminist movements show an interest on witchcraft, for it shows the female empowerment to nature and giving a high degree of respect to women who possessed this intuitive and instinctive powers. This surge of belief to a Mother-Goddess is of Greek and Roman ancient theme, but it seems that this idea of a goddess characterized with love, peace and fertility seems to be receiving popular acceptance.

These new age movement includes clairvoyance, astrology, spiritual practices of diverse kinds, even including yoga and witchcraft has found its place in new generation as an accepted form of occult, rather than what its predecessors faced earlier, being suppressed and tortured.

The world of witchcraft is full of symbols and sacred items. Their rituals are designed with charms, amulets, crystals and magical stones, and the new age witches sometimes used herbs and leaves as ingredients to their potions and spells. Some of the popular symbols used in witchcraft are the pentagram and pentacle, a five-pointed star used for protection, a three- pointed equinox, also the crescent moon as the symbol of the Goddess, and was claimed to be similar to Islam.

A Response

Christianity has regarded witchcraft as its main adversity and considered is as heresy. The witch-hunt craze started in the 15th century was initiated by Christian churches, though not so much for theological defense, but sometimes influenced with the socio –political situations of that time, and it was observed that the women prosecuted as witches were mostly women from the lower working class, slaves and immigrants. As discussed earlier, the churches provided descriptions of the witches’ practices and even a guidebook on how to scout for a witch and a single accusation without any eye-witness will lead to death by hang.

From the Islamic perspectives, witchcraft and sorcery is closely associated to the term sihr, which brings the meaning, one which was caused by subtle or invisible ways, or in the form of spells and incantations which have effects on the mind and body. Sihr is considered as one of the major sins of ‘aqidah for it is disbelief, syirk in Allah and associating partners with Allah SWT, it is acknowledged in the Al-Qur’an that these form of practices do exist. Stories of magic and sorcery are told during the times of Sulaiman alaihissalam and Musa alaihissalam. Sihr is forbidden and it is narrated, by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, that the Prophet SAW said, “Keep away from the seven destructive sins!” They said, “What are they, O Messenger of Allah?” He answered, “Associating partners with Allah; practicing sorcery; taking a life, which Allah has made forbidden except for a just cause…”

Sihr is associated with the partnership of Shaitan and its counterparts, the jinns and the belief that these creatures are the source of help and able to control events, being at the advantage of those who practices sorcery, at the same time having serve these unseen creatures. Sorcery is usually used for evil acts of revenge or having evil intentions to make the victims’ lives difficult and disturbed. To be initiated to sorcery will usually require blasphemous and abominable acts, and performing any form of sihr is an act of kufr! In the opinions of the salaf and the great scholars of the past, those who practice sorcery deserves capital punshment. This is to protect other people from the vicious acts of the sorcerers. Among its consequences are destroying the relationship between husband and wife, among members of the family, losing one’s consciousness and unable to think and act sensibly and makes one suffer terrible pain.

A person with strong faith and belief in Allah will know that everything done was because of Allah and only He has the power to decide and do as He wills. Victims of sorcery should seek refuge only from Allah SWT. Regard those who perform sorcery as swindlers and disbelievers of Allah.

Here are some verses and traditions of the Prophet that are related to the subject of sorcery and withcraft.

“Say: None in the heavens and the Earth knows the Ghaib (unseen) except Allaah.” (An-Naml 27: 65)

The Prophet SAW said: “Whoever visits a soothsayer and believes in what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” (Abu Dawood)

On the authority of Aisah (raa): Allah Messenger was bewitched such that he thought that he had done something but had not really done it and he said to her one day: “Two angels came to me and one sat by my head and the other at my feet and one said: ‘What ails this man?’ The other said: ‘Sorcery has been done against him.’ The other said: ‘And who is the sorcerer?’ The other said: ‘Lubaid ibn Al-A’sam with a comb and and object in the well of Dhi Arwaan.”
“And the sorcerer will never succeed no matter what they achieve.” (Taha 20: 69)

From the contemporary perspective and issue at hand, which is the problem of teenagers being influenced to witchcraft, they will need a different approach, not the capital punishment of the Islamic rulings in the past. The approach may include reaching out to the youths affected and to try and bring them back to the basics of Islamic ‘aqidah, to have strong foundations of faith and to show them the grave consequences and the mean acts resulted from performing witchcraft.

To conclude, witchcraft is indeed an act performed since ancient times and not only in the western world, even during the Islamic civilizations, witchcraft and sorcery was widely practiced by those who have weak hearts and lead an ignorant life. The reason Rasulullah himself was inflicted by evil sorcery was to point out that it really exists and its only cure would be to seek refuge with Allah SWT with zikr and reciting the Qur’an.

References
1. Encyclopedia of Religions, Second edition
2. Spellbound: A Time Tour of Myth and Magic
3. Ahkam al-Sihr and Al-sahrat fi al-Qur’an al-Karim, Imam Al-Razi, Darul al-Fikri al-Labnani, Beirut, 1991
4. Sorcery, Imâm al-Madîna al-Munawarrah ‘Alî Abd-ur-Rahmân al-Hudhaifî, 12th July 2005, Islamic Network website, retrieved on 11th September 2006.
5. Curing Magic, Shaikh Mashhoor Hasan Salmaan, 16th February 2006, Islamic Network website, retrieved on 11th September 2006.
6. Defiance and Despair: Subcultural and structural linkages between delinquency and despair in the life courseJohn Hagen, Social Forces, Proquest, September 1997.
7. Way of treating sihr, 12th November 2005, World of Islam website, retrieved on 11th September 2006.

plain tired.

first day of work!!! am so relieved that the first day went well, but i have to say, at some hours, i got bored. well, first day is more introductory, who’s who…where’s where…what’s what…ok ok. seriously nothing much, other than i had to help the admin staff (who’ll be leaving for maternity leave and will be taking over her job for that period, soon) to call mosques regarding a meeting this friday..hmm, least fave job, but oh well, something to pass the day.

job’s pretty much easy….at the moment la! the bosses are pretty much ok, and they allow me to just get used to the surrounding (yup, really have to, will by flying up and down the 4 flight of stairs!!), some filing needed and other Alive reviews that i have to do. i realised i’ll be doing two main jobs, the administration and the Alive thingy. pretty much keeping a positive stance. got to be grateful and fortunate that the bosses are ok, and there’s two iiu seniors, kak zubed and kak halimah in the same office, so am not alone la. but..EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. hmm, that’s the advice my head told me. i really hope that the hard experiences i had had in IIUM will prepare me for these. come on Seri, you can do it!!!

apart from being tired, i suddenly felt melancholic and…sadness somewhere in my heart? i don’t know why. is it the age that’s saddening me? or is it the thought that sometimes i was eager and sincere to remember others, tried to send out the best, only to receive mediocrity and meagre thoughts in return?? it’s a shame to admit that i was hoping for a certain character to remember this date, but i guess the character forgot, oh hey, plain uncaring yeah? thus the promise will stand. tired la seh. don’t try to contact whatsoever. i don’t know who you are anymore. that has always been my problem. i tried much, but others don’t seem to care so what the heck.
does it have to matter?? i mean what’s a birthday..and what’s me being a year older got to do with other people, right? it’s a good thing that my parents never taught us to be extravagant in celebrating birthdays, like presents and parties, we are grateful enough with remembrance.
i should not be bothered….. it must be the age.

heh, i was reminded of my birthday last 2 years. and how a birthday wish could be just a passing remark. meaningless. especially when it came from someone supposedly to be ‘something’.

reality check : grateful for this gift of life. trying. oh yeah, i must be on my way to ‘that girl period of the month’
that’s why i’m talking crap.

a day has past and i am about to embark to another phase of life.

thank YOU to the non-ending messages that i have received from friends. to my sweet sweet junior sisters who actually called me from IIU. the first birthday call, the first birthday wish, and long distance lagik!! i am truly touched. you girls have given me a nice hope to start the life of being 24. my deepest thanks. at this moment, i really wish i am back in IIU. i really miss my girls, those in IIU and those here in SG.
*zaimah, biler nak jumpa ni?? bole gak diskus pasal clearance ke~
*mary going to iiu soon……nak ikut!!!!! ;(

happy birthday to partners in birthdate – Najib, Amir Aizat and Izhar. best of wishes on this special day we share.

dinner with dayah…trying to fit in times with friends now that i’m going to have a 9-5 job on weekdays. thanks dayah!! and it’s a pity mahir couldn’t join us~ but there’ll be a next time i hope.
and it really was a nice surprise that i met dyan and the gang at pizzahut(centrepoint)!! that’s actually a prayer answered.

and by the way, good people…i have a new number (not new hp though;) ) –> 82245350

so i’m just still basking in the birthday glow…..

last weekend was a global dedication to create an awareness on the need to save the earth. for we are on the path of destruction with global warming. live earth wanted the world to wake up and look at the reality of the earth in crisis.

why global warming? because of the increasing by the millions by the minute population, consumption are ridiculously deteriorating the earth with the amount of carbon dioxide, the amount of trees felled, the amount of rubbish the whole world are disposing. its actually a scary thought, thinking that maybe in the next generation, the world is, not on land, but on ice, or in water. just watch A.I, or the Day after Tomorrow, or sinking of japan even. and on the day that live earth concert was held in tokyo, some parts of japan were actually having a flood.

i won’t talk here on the hows to save the earth. there are websites dedicated to it. and its actually practices we already learnt in school on civics class or geography. same old same old, people. recycle paper, save water, recycle tins, less transportation, do not litter. it’s just a matter of practicing it!

well, back on live earth. the concert did create some sort of awareness, well at least with the celebrities showing ways to save the earth, saying some random facts on global warming. and more clips. while i was watching the live earth concert on tv, i was thinking, just how much electricity, energy used for the concerts? the lightings, the amps, the mikes. never mind the rest of the world watching it on tv in the comfort of our homes. 24 hours, tv watching. for the record, i didn’t watch it 24 hours. other than having the rational thinking of i did not want my parents to get the shock of high billed for electricity usage in the house at the end of the month, the concert were actually boring. other than linkin park, i don’t seem to know who’s who.japan’s rock bands are cool, though.

well the real shocker revelation: post concert, on the news, the places where the concerts were held, the floors were covered with plastic cups and rubbish!!!! HELLO PEOPLE?? YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE EARTH!!! NOT MAKING IT WORST!! how irresponsible can these people be??? what’s the point of being there, assuming to show their support, but littering the very minute it ended??? what’s the point people??? it really was sad!! just shows how uncaring people can be? they just don’t understand do they?

one child in one of the clips said that God will not let the earth be destroyed. well, she is just a child. and i believe in Allah’s mercy and blessings. but why were we created in the first place? yes to utilise all the resources He has created for us, endless resources* of it. but humankind were also created to administer and ‘protect’ other creations. at the pace we are consuming now, we really are just being ungratefully wasting when we can conserve**

*”And do not do mischief on the earth after it has been set in order, and invoke Him with fear and hope.

Surely Allah’s mercy is near unto the good-doers. And it is He Who sends the winds as heralds of good tidings, going before His mercy(rain). Till when they have carried a heavy-laden cloud, We drive it to a land that is dead, then We cause water to descend thereon. Then We produce every kind of fruit therewith. Similarly, We shall raise up the dead, so that you may remember and take heed.

The vegetation of a good land comes forth easily by the Permission of its Lord, and that which is bad, brings forth nothing but with difficulty. Thus do We explain variously the Ayat for a people who give thanks.” [Al-A’raf: 56-58]

**”…eat and drink but waste not by extravagance…” [Al-A’raf:31]

one word: barbaric.