If I Were...

If I were...

If I were a big leader, I would get myself close to Ulamak and scholars. I would listen to them before others. I would try hardly to follow The Prophet Muhammad steps as he led the ummah to Allah and successful life. I believe in Islam as a way of life. It always brought us to happiness and peace, no matter we live in numerous races or we live as community. Islam is a system of life. It was a perfect gift from The Creator. And I would never get myself dare to insult any part of the gift. So my friends, whether we like or not, we are a leader; a leader to ourselves, a leader to our coming family, to our community and so on. So the important for the leaders is a system. The best system you have, the best you will lead them.

New Year Resolutions

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Write a 100-150 word essay describing your New Year resolutions for 2007.

One of my resolutions for 2007 is to enhance my writing skill. In my opinion, writing is a way to keep our mind active and civilize. When we want to write, we must have some information. And we do know that by reading, learning and researching, we’ll get more info and knowledge. A good writer came from a good reader.

In order to achieve the resolutions, I plan my steps. Firstly, I want to assure that my writing in Malay will be improve and fluent. I joint kelantan magazine’s team as they always arrange profitable activities to those who like writing. Until now, we already publish a magazine, two bulletins and more than five Weekly leaflets. We also have “bengkel penulisan” to refresh our writing.

Secondly, I hardly try to attend English class every Thursday and Friday. The teachers and students there were always happy to help me to excellent the language. They also asked the students to write monthly article and publish it in The Voice bulletin. Since last year, we already publish twelve bulletins.

Thirdly, I read newspapers. I meant local newspaper. I like to read Liwa’ Islami. Then I’ll ask a few of my friends to pick up some interested articles and we translated them together. Sometime we tried to translate song or poet. Until now, we already translated four articles, a song and a poet. Most of them had already been published. I also tried to write my own Arabic article.

Although this essay will end now but I’ll try my best to keep my steps to enhance my writing skills will always move forward.

One year from now...

Tulisan berikut adalah yang belum diperiksa oleh guru saya. InsyaAllah, setelah beliau siap memeriksa dan memperbetulkannya, akan saya paparkan lagi.

One year from now...

One year from now will be very hard to me. The pain and sorrow will hurt me more. Yesterday, my heart was eager to know more about Aqsa. And I was happy when one of my ustaz told me about it. It was a holy place. It was the place that showed us the betrayal of Jews to Prophet Moses.

It was the place that Allah chooses it to be our first qiblat. It was the place that Israk and Mikraj take happen. But now, that great history will gradually be disappeared. Not only because Fatah deny their failure to Hamas. It wasn’t only because Israel Colonized Palestine. Not only because Olmert decide to dig down Aqsa site and destroyed it. They weren’t strong enough to do these all. It was us who help them to complete the colonization.

It was us who just stood and didn’t act to stop Israel from harming our sacred symbol. It was us who satisfy enough to say that we weren’t agree with Israel when they killed Palestine Citizens. Believe me, Aqsa is in danger. If we did not act now, then when should we act? We must use every single of time we have to change this. It was us who didn’t want to fight back. We have money. We have oil. We have gold. We do have military weapons. But we choose to do nothing. What is wrong with us?

Where's the key ??

• Practice makes perfect... But nobody's perfect, so why practice?
  
• The key is : " Practice tell we're not perfect, Practice guide us to The Perfect "

• The more you learn, the more you know, the more you know, the more you forget, the more you forget, the less you know... So why learn??
• The key is : " We learn to be a humble to The Almighty. We learn to... "

Define a hypocrite

Everyone has a friend. Everyone needs to befriend. As long as we are living within a society, we must find a friend, and be someone’s good friend. That’s why my column in this issue will discuss friendship.

Read it all with your heart…

I have a friend. Actually I have a lot of friends. But this one is different. Both of us have lots of agreements. We have the same faith. We both come from the same country. Our faces are almost similar. We have no problem to discuss or talk anything because we use the same language. In many things that we do, we do it together as a team. We also agreed to build our own group. The group is of high importance to us. We want everyone who looks at us, to show their awareness of our existence and spontaneously their tongue will move and say, "O...I…C", which means they understand that, although we are not in their circle of associates, we really exist on this earth.

My friend and I also share the same strength. Most of the energy source on earth are on our land. We have oil, we have gold, and we have people who support us. They always believe in us. No matter what decision we make, they will be with us, as long as we keep giving them something material as a 'souvenir'. My friend and I felt proud to have this strength. That’s why we don’t want to pass our chair to others. Anyone, everyone who expresses another opinion which contradicts ours, will automatically be declared as our enemy. And the judgment table will be ours. That’s our rule. We'll chase them. We'll throw them. We'll capture them. We'll do anything, even if we have to execute them.

However, my friend and I also have an odd agreement. It was accepted since long time ago. (But no one knows when it has been signed officially). The agreement is about 'intruders'. Both of us agreed that if any one of us gets into trouble with them, the other will react. Our reaction will be shown to mean sympathy and to show to the world a simple fact, that we have done something to help. This is the main point of the agreement. Whether the intrusion will end or not, is not important. That’s why when they attacked my friend recently, my reaction goes to my people. I command my news team to broadcast my disappointed to what had happened. I ordered them to show the cruelty of the intruders. I also asked my publishing team to highlight news telling that I will contribute a large amount of money to help the victims of the war. (Whether the money will reach them or not are not my concern). Since then, I know and I began to learn the importance of the odd agreements. I'll lead my people to survive from the intruders. What'll be happen to my friend and their people?…May God help them. Everyone has their own destiny. By then, I'll have time to sleep in and face my routine happily without any bad feelings.

What do you think about our friendship? It’s great isn't it? If you want to be like me, I suggest you follow some simple ordinary jobs. What you have to do is easy; you just step away from doing these things:

• Don’t buy or read any newspaper about Palestine and Iran
• Don’t visit any sites from the Internet which broadcast news about Iraq and Afghanistan
• Don’t open al-Jazeera channel, al-Manar channel, Berita terkini and any others which broadcast news from war in Lubnan and Checnya
• Don’t follow the campaign of boycotting Israel and their Pro's product
• Don’t come to English class during this summer
• Don’t fill your vacation with reading, writing and learning more about the fundamental of Islam
• Don’t even train your mind to be sensitive or sensitive to current issues

As alternatives, try these:

• Always believe in America, especially when they talk about terrorist
• Confess that the existence of Israel country is necessary although it will deny the Palestinian authority
• Keep your mind on movies. Entertain yourself.
• Keep your keyboard on chit-chat rooms.
• Keep thinking about love, sex and romance
• Keep your body to your bed.
• Chase any latest issue about song and learn it. Explore the world of music.
• Ease yourself from prayers. Especially Subuh prayers and performing prayer at mosque.

It's up to you. The choices are in clear color. But watch out, your choice have its own affection to you and your friendship. That’s what I can say. Be smart on your destiny, and don't be hypocrite!

إن الله لا يغير ما بقوم حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم

A Pet Peeve Story

Saya teruskan pengisian kantung maya ini dengan menyiarkan kerja rumah kelas bahasa Inggeris. Seperti yang dihantar sebelum ini, karya yang pertama adalah yang belum diperiksa oleh guru saya. Manakala karya kedua pula adalah wajahnya setelah diperiksa dan diperbetulkan oleh guru saya yang lebih senang dipanggil kak Zah.

Karya 1

I stepped in to the van calmly. There, I found the only vacant sit was beside the windows. Perhaps I should tell that in Egypt, I meant here, we could travel from a place to another by van. It was the same as we use taxi or cab.

The van moved and lived Ramsis congested behind. I could smelt the freshness of Nile as we passed the river. Suddenly the fresh air disappeared. The old lady in front of me also realized it. She had coughed twice. Uhuk! Uhuk!

The air was poisoned by smoke of cigarette. Although the in-van-lamp wasn’t on and we took night travel, but I could clearly see the assistant driver smoked. We were truly affected by the smoke as shut off all the windows. Of course we did that, we traveled in night and it was in winter. I could not stop thinking about it at that time. It was miserable. Then, I asked the assistant driver to stop smoke until we reach our destiny one hour after. Unfortunately he showed no response. It was very depressed. To my lucky, then, several passengers also asked him to stop, but again, he just ignored us. The situation was worsening as the driver persuaded us to accept his assistant behavior and sit in calm. We were in great upset. It wasn’t relevant and uncomfortable.

I just couldn’t understand why they don’t listen to us? We didn’t ask them something harm instead we just wonder if they could learn to be patient and respect to other. Did they have a little bit of sense and consider the others right to have a fresh air?

I didn’t think so. We reached Tonto after that and everyone compete to jump down from the van. The journey was filled of irritated smokes. Perhaps, I should be more cautious when I’ll travel in van next time.

Karya 2

A Pet Peeve Story

I stepped into the van calmly. The only vacant seat was beside the window. Here in Egypt, we could travel from one place to another by van. It was the same as using taxi or cab.

The van moved and left the Ramsis traffic congestion behind. I could smell the freshness of Nile as we passed the river. Suddenly the fresh air disappeared. The old lady in front of me also realized it. She coughed twice, “Uhuk! Uhuk! “.

The air was poisoned by cigarette smoke. Although the in-van-lamp wasn’t on and we were traveling at night, I could clearly see the assistant driver smoking. We were truly affected by the smoke as all the windows were shut. Traveling in the cold winter night, we had to shut them all. I could not stop thinking about it at that time. It was miserable. Then, I asked the assistant driver not to smoke till we reached our destiny which was one hour away. Unfortunately he showed no response. It was very depressing. To my luck, then, several passengers also asked him to stop, but again, he just ignored us. The situation was worsening as the driver persuaded us to accept his assistant’s behavior and sit calmly. We were very upset. It wasn’t relevant and it was uncomfortable.

I just couldn’t understand why they did not listen to us? We didn’t ask them to do something harmful. Instead we just wanted them to be patient and respect others in the van. Did they have the sense and consideration towards others who has the right to fresh, unpolluted air?

I didn’t think so. We reached Tanta after that and everyone compete to jump down from the van. All through the journey, the van was filled with irritating smoke. Perhaps, I should be more cautious when I’ll travel in a van next time.

Kak Zah: Hisyam, I had edited your work. Many of the mistakes were the usage of words within that context. Good job.

Me: Thank You. Jazakumullahu khairal jaza

An unforgettable experience

Bertemu lagi kita di lembaran digital ini. Hantaran saya kali ini juga sebenarnya adalah sebahagian daripada kerja rumah kelas bahasa Inggeris. Karya yang pertama adalah yang belum diperiksa oleh guru saya. Manakala karya kedua pula adalah wajahnya setelah diperiksa dan diperbetulkan oleh guru saya yang lebih senang dipanggil kak Zah.

Karya 1

An unforgettable experience in monologue style

IT was a shiny day in the summer. I sat still at the bench watching them playing football. Then Said came and took a sit beside of me. Said is my friend. He is from Moon Island. From the first day we met at the camp, I knew, he can be a good friend. Don’t ask me why. It was my sixth sense who said that. And still, he is one of my best friends. We enjoyed the match, but we weren’t interested to join them. So we keep talking to each other.

As we were talking, Adam (not true name) and his two friends came. I realized that Adam always doing activities with friends from his own country; Anonynimous. That’s why I felt lucky when he came to us that evening. I could remember my nervousness and inferiority feeling gradually disappeared as our conversation getting deeper. I could see that Said also pleased to have Adam and friends joining the chit-chat. It was wonderful to have such colorful friends. Although we came from different countries but that wasn’t gab for us to befriends and communicate in warm condition.

We changed questions each other freely. That conversation taught me to value a respect to other in our expressions. We really need a freedom in our life and that’s includes our expressions. However, what is more we need is the strength and ability to keep the freedom survives. Perhaps, those who in Jylland-Posten don’t realized this. Perhaps those who were in Norwegian Magazinet also don’t care about respective ness in their tongue. Perhaps we should improve our iman and our language to teach the world that although the freedom in expression is needed but it was nothing without having respective ness in our heart. We should improve our local language to communicate with them. We should improve more on Arabic language in order to strength our iman by extract more knowledge from the holy Quran. We should make more steps to empower English language as we need to preach the world with to Islam with it. I thought that evening could be a good exposure for me to improve myself.

I was very excited to learn more about their countries. I thought it could be more exclusive as I took the information from those who lived there. Once, I asked Adam about his purpose of coming to Egypt as his country was facing a war. Actually, this question came from my conclusion after I discovered a website shown Anonymouse martyrs struggling with war. They were brave and full of spirit to defend their own tomb. I wonder why Adam chooses to be outside at the moment. For my surprised, Adam answered with his facial expressions. He and his friends suddenly looked sad. Not long after that, Adam told us why they prefer to be in Egypt than stay in their homeland. The situation was very sincere and honest. Frankly, it was true that a picture might describe a thousand words, but what I had seen in the website before still not enough to express what really happened in Anonymouse land. Adam told us that they were afraid. They were not brave enough to face the war.

The answer shocked me. Till now the conversation keeps in my mind freshly. From that, I learnt that war is not only taught us the meaning of martyrs braveness. More than that, war taught us about scare ness, suffering and survival.

Karya 2

An unforgettable experience

in monologue style

IT was a shiny day in summer. I sat still at the bench, watching my friends play football. Then Said came and took a seat beside me. Said is my friend. He is from Moon Island. From the first day we met at the camp, I knew he could be a good friend. Don’t ask me why. It was my sixth sense telling me. Nevertheless, he is now one of my best friends. We enjoyed the match, but we weren’t interested in playing, so we kept talking to each other.

As we were talking, Adam (not true name) and his two friends came. I realized that Adam only does activities with friends from his own country. That’s why I felt lucky when he came to us that evening. I could remember my nervousness and inferiority complex gradually disappearing as our conversation got deeper. I could see that Said was also pleased to have Adam and friends join the chat. It was wonderful to have such colorful friends. Although we came from different countries but that fact did not stop us from being friends and communicating warmly with each other.

We exchanged questions freely. That conversation taught me to value and to respect others when expressing ourselves. We really need freedom in our lives and that includes our expressions. What is more important is that we need the strength and ability to keep this freedom ongoing. Perhaps, those in Jylland-Posten do not realize this. Perhaps those who were in Norwegian Magazinet also do not care about respect in their speech. Perhaps we should improve our iman and our language. We need to teach the world that although freedom in expression is needed, it is nothing without respect. We should improve our local language to enable us to communicate better with them. We should improve more on the Arabic language in order to extract more knowledge from the holy Quran. Only then can we strengthen our iman. We should take more steps to empower the English language as we need to preach Islam to the world. I thought that evening would give me a good exposure so that I could improve myself.

I was very excited to learn more about their countries. I thought it could be more exclusive as I took the information from those who lived there. Once, I asked Adam about his purpose for coming to Egypt. His country was facing a war. Actually, this question came from my conclusion after I discovered a website showing anonymous martyrs. They were brave and full of spirit to defend their own country. I wondered why Adam chose to be outside at the moment. I was taken aback by Adam’s answer. He was filled with grief. He and his friends suddenly looked sad. Not long after that, Adam told us why they preferred to be in Egypt than stay in their homeland. They were very sincere and honest. Frankly, while it is true that a picture describes a thousand words, but what I saw in the website did not fully express what really happened in their land. Adam told us that they were afraid. They were not brave enough to face the war.

The answer shocked me. Till now the conversation remains fresh in my mind. From that conversation that day, I learnt that war not only taught us the meaning of martyrs’ braveness, but more than that, war taught us about fear, suffering and survival.

Kak Zah: Hisyam, I had edited your work. Many of the mistakes were the usage of words within that context. Good job.

Me: Thank You. Jazakumullahu khairal jaza

Next part of homework

Accident

bicycle

difficult

address

terrible

Accident. They said, “It doesn’t have a smell.” It can happen everywhere at anytime. I remember once I got my first bicycle. My heart was pleased when I rode it. I was very excited to ride it whenever my parents were out. I could ride freely. One day, I wish to go to my friend’s house out of my village. It was quite difficult because I didn’t know his address.

Bang! It was shocking. The sound came from junction in front. My journey to my friend’s house was interrupted by the bang sound. I wonder what happened there as I speed my ride to reach the junction.

Oh! It was…it was terrible. I couldn’t say a word…

Next homework

Underneath each of these pictures are five words which are often spelled wrongly. Write a little story about each of the pictures bringing in the five words underneath.

Business

foreign

secretary

interrupt

immediately

Being a businessman is my wish. I mean a successful businessman, especially in foreign country. secretary But, that was before. I’m now a successful secretary of a successful businessman. Being ais not easy. You need to empower your inner strength. You must know how to interrupt your boss to tell him that his client has come. You also must be patient with some client who interrupt your work and always want to meet your boss immediately without appointment.

Homework

Guru bahasa Inggeris saya menasihatkan saya untuk menulis lima atau enam ayat sehari untuk menguasai bahasa tersebut. Ia boleh berbentuk diari atau jurnal. Yang pentingnya menulis. Biasakan diri dengan bahasa.

***

Berikut adalah hasil kerja rumah yang saya siapkan. Saya paparkan hasil yang telah diperiksa dan diperbaiki oleh guru saya. Namun, di bahagian akhir tulisan ini saya siarkan juga komen guru saya.

Homework

TIT...Tit...Tit...

“Feel free to join football match tonight. Har! Har! Don’t be late. Adios amigos!”

Although the message sounded cheerful it doesn’t affect me. I can’t join them. That’s because I have to finish my homework.

Yes, my ‘homework’. Well, let see what we can get from it.

I would like to share about what has been said by Jocelyn A.Butler, a researcher in School Improvement Research Series SIRC about homework, “Home work is the time students spend outside the classroom in assigned activities to practice, reinforce or apply newly – acquired skills and knowledge and to learn necessary skills of independent study.” It sounded acceptable to me.

The next part of this writing is about positive and negatives sides to homework. Actually, homework might be positive and also negative. It depends on how we manage it. For example, we can differentiate amount of homework based on students level. This is because, pupils at difeerent age’s needs different skills and knowledge. We cannot ask a child at kinder garden level to spend more than one hour in their homework. They just cannot do it.

However, we can increase the time when talk about students at junior high school level. They can manage to handle more than one hour, but should not be required to do more than two hours of homework. The differences in the amount of homework should be like that, especially in order to maximize the benefits of homework and minimize the negative effect.

By now, we might list the benefits which we can gain from homework.

1. Help student’s to remember what has been studied.

Imagine studying maths without homework, it’s useless. There were lot of formulas to be applied. Doing homework will help us to learn how to apply those.

2. Keep student occupied.

Doing homework doesn’t mean that the student are weak in the subject. In some case, we should tell them that doing this stuff will help them to manage their own time.

3. Help students to prepare for next lessons.

We also need to know that the students really understood some certain topics before moving to another. But how? Some of the solution may come through doing homework.

The other perspective of this writing is about the negative effect of homework.

1. It will reduce prime time with family.

Imagine, a student wakes up early in the morning. After performing their prayers and having some breakfast, they go to school. After that they continue their journey to additional class and they reached home in the late afternoon. After having some food for a dinner, they are back in their room to finish their homework. They end their day by finishing homework. So, where is the time to bond with the family?

2. It might cause boredom.

After dozens of homework, they’ll get bored. And this is not good for them. We should make study something enjoyable.

After all that we have discussed, I would like to conclude that homework is important. It can bring us maximum benefits but it all depends on how we control it.

Teacher Shakuntala:

“Good work but quite often there are passages that you write that are not really required. Keep to the topic and stick to use one tense throughout, usually past tense.”

Me: “Thank you Teacher.”