May 31, 2013

Wonders of the 'Youth', wonder at what?

does the story of the youth of alKahfi amazes you?

how a bunch of young teens, 
with their strong faith in Allah,
escaped their tyrannical king,
with a dog, and hid in a cave,
which they fell asleep in, for a very long long time...
that when they woke up,
it was already centuries after they first found that cave.

phew~ (imagine me saying all of that in one breath)

the whole story make us wonder right?
wow! a miracle!

*'to wonder' means:
to speculate curiously or be curious about; be curious to know:to wonder what happened.

but, which part of this story should we actually wonder at?

last year, i had the privilege to discuss surah alKahfi with ustaz Mahmood (one of the things i really truly miss)

in verse 13 of surah alKahfi,
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

نَحنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيكَ نَبَأَهُم بِالحَقِّ
We narrate unto you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) their story with truth:

إِنَّهُم فِتْيَةٌ ءَامَنُوا بِرَبِّهِم
Truly! They were young men who believed in their Lord (Allah),

وَزِدْنَاهُم هُدًى
and We increased them in guidance.

here, there's one point we should really be amazed at and wonder


is them being young men (فتى)
who believed in their Lord (Allah)

how boys.. barely turning into men,
could have such strong believes,
at what is right and wrong, 
and not afraid to act on it,
despite the consequences...

and they were rewarded immediately 
(and We increased them in guidance) - at the end of verse 13.


how can we be like them?
and get more guidance...

but most of us would actually wonder at...

were there 6 or actually 8 of them?
how can they sleep that long?
what happens to their nails and hair?...weren't it gonna be so long?...hehe
where exactly is that cave? the one in Syria or the one in Jordan?
which kind of dog that went with them? (i always have 'snowy', Tintin's dog in my mind)



these are valid things to wonder at...i did!

but why should we?...
Allah can do anything!
Allah actually created us and the whole entire universe!
why should we be so amazed and wonder how?

still, even if we get these answered...
how does these info benefits us?

we are easily carried away to focus on the unimportant stuffs, 
that the main point we should press on sometimes didn't even cross our mind.

so,
Let's not waste our time figuring out stuffs that doesn't give us profit
not just in the case of these Ashabul Kahfi, 
in any other stories and matters too

May Allah increase His guidance to us all : )
Happy Friday ^_^
wa sollu ala habibina wa sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم
wa ala alihi wasohbihi ajma'in 

*elaborated from my notes of discussion with Ustaz Mahmood on Sept 10, 2012

May 28, 2013

*fabricoplasty* - lynne's method

so, a couple of months ago...
my brother asked me to repair his track bottoms
it was a big deal to him that i'm learning to sew...haha, honestly i have no idea how to repair this one,
but i gave it a try...

it has a tear in a place very reliable to re-tear...so i thought, i needed to reinforce this fabric and stitch them up without tension..


thus, i decided to use the principles of a 'HERNIOPLASTY',
here's a quick story of 'what is hernia' and 'how surgeons repair them'...
(for final year students, this is a very important topic to know by heart in detail!)
do watch : )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GciYSjdLR-w

basically, 'hernioplasty' has 3 steps,

1. remove the hernia sac (we don't have anything protruding through this fabric, so i advised my brother not to overstretch his track bottom)


2. repair the defect ('the tear', so i stitched it up)


3. without tension meaning, reinforce the defect with other stuffs -a mesh in case of a hernia (thus, i stitched it on another fabric i had lying around in my room)




and Walla!, it's finished :D
'fabricoplasty, lynne's method!'
(not an A+ job, it definitely needs more research to be done on! but i combined surgery n sewing.. hehe, -stitching to be exact)

so far, my brother hasn't complained anything yet except that the white fabric is sometimes visible...hehe
i should've used a same color fabric next time.

the advice of the day, SPORT IS HEALTHY GUYS! ^_^
but boys after sports is just......huhu
am speechless!
*i'd advise anyone who wanna pick 'em up from sports (especially tennis in the afternoon) to remind them to bring extra clothes and open your windows while driving!