My 22th birthday

Bismillah,

Yesterday was my 1st birthday celebrated in Australia.

So I started my day yesterday by finishing my summer report. What a pathetic way to start your birthday huh? Then I submitted my assignment on the afternoon and visited lab to finalise few things. Then when I was on my way to the NextByte at UQ Union from Goddard building, I got a text message from Rafizan:

"Pukul berapa nak datang? Translation: What's time you'll be coming?"

Owh my! I forgot that I've promised to pay his moths a visit at his insect lab. Then I turned back to Goddard building. Okay done visiting the cute moths (eww~), I headed to the NextByte according to the original plan. I passed by the Boost juice booth at the UQ Union. Owh! I forgot about claiming my free Boost juice on my birthday using my Vibe card. Boleh pulak lupe? Free kot >.<"

Then I proceeded to the NextByte to settle couple of things; form for MARA claim laptop and GST claim documentations at the Gold Coast airport this Monday. Owh yeah! I'm coming Malaysia!

Okay done with all the stuffs at the uni, then I headed to RUN office at Toowong to submit the "Notice Intention to Leave". Say good bye to Sir Fred Schonell Dr peeps.

After that, I pay Auntie Nisyat a visit. She's will be leaving for India next Saturday. She is a very generous person. Remember my flood story where she cooked us lamb Briyani? (Click here) I treat her now like my second mother at Australia. She fed me with lots of foods! Alhamdulillah2. So I ate grilled lamb, butter chicken, potatoes, with rice. Wah. Tak celebrate birthday pun makan mewah jugak. :)

At Auntie Nisyat's place, Ainna did henna on my left hand. Syukran jazilan Ainna! So I balik nanti jangan nak ada gosip - gosip liar cakap I dah bertunang ke hape ye ;p

 

Then, after Maghrib prayer we went to uni for Arabic and Al Quran translation classes. Alhamdulillah I managed to add my Arabic vocabulary with few new words. And when the classes ended, jeng jeng jeng! 

Surprise! Surprise!

All the sisters were waiting for me outside the class to sing me a birthday song. :') And we were sit at the Great Court enjoying this lovely cheesecake. Thank you very much to everyone!

Phew~ What a day.

Eh eh! I haven't finish people.
I still have the last good thing that was happening yesterday. This:

Resignation of Hosni Mubarak.

They even celebrated it with fireworks. Owh, how I wish I could have joined them. :)

Aniqah and Syazwani sent me back home using Asma' after that. On tmy way back, I gazed up the sky.  MashaAllah. The stars were shining brightly that the deep dark sky on that night just emphasizing the sparkle of the beautiful stars.

I silently thanked Him for this one blessed day.

The story of AUD200

Bismillah,

This is another story of post-flood crisis. Roughly a week or two after the flood receded, UQ was offering  helps financially and emotionally to their students; locals and international. Anyone that was being affected by the flood is eligible to apply for this:

The Vice-Chancellor's Emergency Student Welfare Fund

Each successful applicant will received AUD200 being bank in direct to their account. And so I thought, why not I just apply? I'm not putting any hope though. I just want to apply. You know, if you get lucky you might get that AUD200.  Whoa! $_$ *kaching2*

On the day that I've submitted the fund application form, a lady brought me to her office and interviewed me. So she asked about my condition after the flood, how's the damage, any property that you've lost etc. For one of her questioned I slip tongued and accidentally said:

"My printer got affected, my TV....."

And she was jotting down all of this details on my application form. I was like, "Owh! She just wrote that on my application! This is not good because the truth is I never had a TV". On that time, I was too chicken to take back my words and corrected her. I don't know why. So I walked out of her room felt terribly guilty and wrong. I kept telling myself, "How should I fix this? How should I fix this?".

Ahhh! Maybe they will not even approved my application because I already received AUD170 from the state government. So I let my guilty went away. 

Few days after that I checked my bank account. And yes, they already bank in the AUD200. Okay I'm so dead. I know this money was not belong to me because I was kind of 'cheated' during the interview remember? This money is haram to me.

So I decided to give this money to some charity. Then I thought of Aqsa Sharif with their bread factory. Hmm.. Why not right? That night I logged in my Netbank and tried to make an international money transfer. But unfortunately it was unsuccessful. :( Tu la nak derma pun guna duit haram. Padan muka! See how Allah showed His warning sign because you were cheating to get that fund money. Even though you just slip tongued, in a way you still cheating. *bunyi suara-suara hasutan malaikat *

Okay fine. =.="

So I emailed this to that lady:

A week after that she was still not replying my email. Thus I send her the second email just to push her a bit:

Wahaha.. Berani mati je kan? Time nak hantar tu pun pejam mata, bismillah banyak2 then tekan "send" harap2 tak bounce back. Kalau tak, memang petanda amaran lagi satu dari Allah la. Gulp!

Then, finally she replied me (Phew!):

I quickly replied her email saying that:

Few days after that, I received an email again. But this time it came from the finance department itself!

With that, I solved my problem with my last email to them:

And now I'm at peace. 

Even I know that I have less AUD200 from my bank account. Alhamdulillah. I thank Allah for the chance that He gave me to return back the money, for His mercy to listen to my repentance, and the most important of all, for His unconditional love that He pour onto me and you. SubhanAllah~ InsyAllah there will be a better rizq (provision and sustenance) for me than this 200 bucks. 

".......And whoever fears Allah, for him Allah brings forth away out, and gives him provision (rizq) from where he does not even imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things" [65:2-3] 

Moral of the story:

Do not use haram money, do not ever lie, and do not burden your uni's administrative team like what I've did. Haha..

A text message from Malaysia

Bismillah,

Okay this is a quick post as I'm currently writing my summer report.

I just received a text message from Malaysia. It was from my father. The text message sounded like this:

"Yun, dah dapat cari rumah sewa? Ika dah masuk KISAS hari Isnin hari tu. Kat rumah sunyi tak ada kawan. Nasib baik ada Pinky buat teman"

Translation for my non-Malay readers: "Yun (my nickname), have you manage to find any house? Ika (my sister) has registered herself to KISAS last Monday. The house now is silence, it's only me and your mom (okay ni tambahan, tak tahu nak buat ayat cmna dah untuk "sunyi tak ada kawan tu"). But we do have Pinky (my cat) to accompany us."

Owh, I'm so touched. Feel like crying now :')

That's what you will get when a father misses her daughter so much. *mata berkaca-kaca bak kata Amalina Peter* Eventhough it was a short simple text message but it was a meanigful one. =) Ingat senang ke bapak-bapak (terutama ayah saya) nak menggambarkan rasa rindu kat anak perempuan dia? 

When I miss my family terribly, I will sneak through my photo album. I once disappointed when I looked at this 2 pictures. The pictures were captured before my departure to Australia. Observe carefully:  

I was disappointed because at first, I don't understand why he did not smile. He didn't even looked at the camera. :( Yela, bila rindu keluarga di Malaysia dan tengok gambar balik tak senyum pulak, mana tak sedih. Keluarga orang lain senyum lebau je dalam gambar kt airport.

But now I understand. Deep down in his heart, he was sad to let me go. Takkan nak nangis pulak kan? *hiba lagi* I love you dad! I love you mom! In bahasa it sounds: saya sayang ibu dan ayah saya! :)

And I remember that years back, I once complained to him when we were dropping by my brother at Pudu bus station,

"I never had a chance to study far outside of Selangor since my primary school. I wonder when will I get a chance to ride this bus express" 

And his reply made me not to complain anymore after that.

"You don't need to ride a bus express. You will have a  flight to study far beyond the Selangor itself"

And now here I'm down under. Sabar ye ayah, 4 hari je lagi. :)

Hand shake: when you try to explain to them

Bismillah,

Lately I have been busy with the house inspections as me and my housemates want to move into a cheaper rent house. Sometimes I inspected 3-4 houses a day. With the hot sun blazing your skin on a summer day, it was a tiring house hunting. Plus, I were walking under the burning sun to each house inspection and not to forget climbed the super hilly Carmody Road. Phew phew phew~ *wiping the sweating forehead* 

And now I lose weight (which is not good for underweight people like me) due to excessive walking and got tanned. Who told you not to apply the sunblock? Padan muka! Sweat plus melting sunblock which will make your face oily and shining-shining bling bling. Urghh!! I hate that okay. So the solution: no sunblock. Lantak pi dengan UV ka kanser kulit ka.

Okay now is the real story.

Yesterday, I met a local called Adam at one of my house inspection. Then he gave me a ride to my next inspection as we were going (luckily) to the same house at Warren St. When the last inspection for that day finished, we continued our conversation for about another 15-20 minutes. We talked about the flood that recently happened (click here and here), about his experience sharing the house with 6 Indonesian students, about his frustration in finding a house, and many more.

It was getting late and he want to excuse himself. So he gave me his hand for a hand shake....

.......and was just about to say (I assume), "Nice to meet you Nurul".

So I quickly pull my hand away and say, "Sorry, I can't hand shake with opposite gender".

And he gave me his amazed look coupled with his almost-popping-out eyes. O.o

Then I added, "It's not that I hate to, but it's my religion you see".

He then made a conclusion saying that, "Owh. Now I understand. It's your custom and tradition on East countries". He wanted to continue with his reasoning, so I let him finished it. 

"In Western countries (tak sedar diri Australia tu belah-belah East jugak) we used to hand shake at the early of any deal. Or introducing yourself. It means that you comes with good intention, that people want to be friend with you and he will not harm you. That's the meaning of hand shake. If people do not offer a hand shake, it means the opposite thing. And it's consider rude. People will think that you are not a nice person to deal with in a business. I have been to East countries and their tradition is different to ours. They hand shake at the end of a business. But that's between men. I never see women hand shake. Maybe women never had a business to deal with. Haha".   

I cut his word and once again tried to stress that, "Is not an East peoples' custom, it's our religion".

He then replied, "So tell me more about this. Why you can't have a hand shake?" 

Owh yeah! This is my chance. :D So I inhale a long breath and started.

"It's our way as a Muslim to prevent ourselves from being involved in an illegal sexual intercourse. You know what I mean right? When unmarried man and woman are touching each other. It's only between opposite gender. Women are okay to hand shake each other. And woman can hand shake with her husband (ofkos la kan) because they are now legally connected. You know, through marriage. For example, I can hand shake with my husband's father and husband's grandfather. For us women in Islam, it's only not permissible to hand shake with opposite gender who is NOT our family member. Like you and me. When I refuse to hand shake, it doesn't mean that your are not a nice person or I'm not glad meeting you today".

Okay Uncle Adam, now let me explains using a picture to make it clearer. :)

This is allowed. Man to man. For example in a business like Uncle Adam's example.

This is allowed. Woman to woman. (Hamboi! Panjangnye kuku you)

This is not allowed. Man to woman. Only allowed between family members. Got it?

Or else, you will become like this. Okay that's a lie..

And now Uncle Adam seems to grab the gist of this issue. Alhamdulillah. :D (Sebenarnye panjang lebau lagi eden dan terangakn kat Uncle Adam ni).

After awhile, he threw me one good question. Well, it was indeed a good question considering that this was his first time knowing about this issue.

"So how about woman in a bus? A cramp bus with many people?"

I smiled and replied,

"In that situation, it's okay for a man ACCIDENTALLY touches a woman. For example, when the bus suddenly brake to avoid crashing into a herd of cows that's crossing the road (okay ni random example je, tetibe dapat idea time tu)".

End of story.

When you are in non-muslim country like me, you will get the chance to become the representative of Islam. :) Being able to play the role as a Caliph bit by bit based on your ability and knowledge, that's the part I love the most. Locals and non-muslim people see you as if they see Islam. 

If you a late for house inspection, then they will assume that Muslims are always not punctual. But the truth is there's one Arabic proverb states that: Time is like a sword, if you do not cut it, it will cut you. (Source) 

If you spit or littering, then people will think that Muslim never cares about environment and cleanliness. But the truth is in the holy Quran is states that: "Truly, Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly, and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean" [2:222]   

So you need to constantly keep you attitude based on Islam. After all, Islam is a way of life right? ^_^ 

When people ask why do you wear hijab, sometimes they purposely asked to provoke you (Like my story here). But sometimes, they just curios! Like this Uncle Adam. Their curiosity could lead to many opportunities towards Islam! Who knows from your explanation, people like Uncle Adam will have interest in Islam and started doing research on Islam. Then who will get the rewards if finally he decided to embrace Islam? :)

(Source)

Let's play London Bridge is Falling down! (Eh kau ni, tetibe plak)

The true message from the  picture is: Let's together we spread the Islam regardless of our fields and specialties. 

Kau permudahkan lah ya Allah perjuanganku. Ameen 

Disclaimer: Click at the picture to be directed to the original source.