Reciting the Quran

Most muslims usually learn to recite the Quran at a very young age, which is good really, since it's easier for us to learn and remember when we were younger. However, some of us tend to not read it as often at a certain phase of our own lives. For instance, when you're busy catching up with coccuricular activities in high school, assignments in college or even catching up with your own friends in university. Basically, most of us tend to have our own phase whereby we tend to prioritize everything else and abide our obligations in reciting the Quran, which is normal. People just get busy chasing their goals sometimes, although we try to balance our current life and after life ambitions.

Anyways, the problem is that in this phase of life, most of us get a little rusty on reciting the Quran. We miss out on the little things that is important in reciting the Quran like the 'hums' and 'tajwids'. Then when we start to grab hold of the Quran and start reciting it often again, we think we're doing it right.

For me personally, I learnt to recite the Quran when I was 5 years old roughly. And I managed to finish it when I was about 12, in a way, 'khatam'. Throughout high school, I did not really spend as much time reading the Quran. Gotta admit, my recitation got a bit rusty. When I was about 17 years old, I started to read it again. Alone, in my room, usually after prayers after roughly 4-5 years of reciting the Quran during 'festive' season or whenever necessary. I've definitely lost my touch.
However today, I decided to tag along with my mum to her 'Quran Recitation Classes', or in a way 'Tadarus'. And I stuttered on a few words.Then I realised, I really need to start reciting with guidance again. So many Arabic words I've pronounced wrong. I needed to stop thinking I was good enough to read by myself, that I needed a teacher.

It came across my mind, that so many of us might be doing the same mistake out there. There's so many of us who suddenly decides to start reciting the Quran often again, thinking we've got it, but we actually lost our touch.

It occured to me that, we need to put our ego and over-confidence down. Language is not that easily remembered if not practised. That we need a teacher to be really fluent and pronounce this beautiful Arabic language properly. Its okay to learn again even if it means from scratch, rather than to continue reciting the Holy Book wrongly. Doesn't matter how old you are, or how many years it's been since you've last read it, it's always good to learn or atleast have someone to guide & teach you. And it's definitely not about how fast you've read it, or how many times you've finished reciting it (khatam), but the concern should be more on the quality of your reading and what you understand about this significant Holy Book that is supposed to guide you in your life-making decisions :)

Fear of Falling in Love,

"I fear of falling in love. No, the heart ache if it doesn't work out does not fear me. People will always get hurt, doesn't matter if you're in or not in a relationship. I fear that when I fall inlove, I would lose myself. My own identity. What defines me. I fear that I place my time and effort too much on that one person when I could've spared my love for others who deprive of love more. I fear that when I fall inlove, I would fall out of my family and friends. I fear that I might actually be more inlove with the idea of being in a relationship rather than loving the person for who he is. Worst of all, I fear that in the end of the day, I won't even be able to define what love is"

Confessions of a Hijabi

We try to make it seem easy, but its not as easy as it looks. Wearing the headscarf means you come with the responsibility to show that Muslims are good, as most people meet Muslims first before they meet Islam.

People criticize and scrutinize us, but they forget that we are still, only human. We still have the same temptations and desires as anyone else does. And our temptations differ, like anyone else. Some of us might have temptation to get out of our comfort zone. Whereas there are some of us, who sometimes wanna keep up with what's in trend or what the world calls fashion. Although we know that some of these things are wrong, but like anyone else, we still give up to temptations. We still make mistakes. People say that we live in a liberated society, that our scarves or the way we wear our clothes, are not to be accepted as a practice within the community. But liberation can only mean so little if it does not make a person feel free from social conventions, especially with regard to sexual roles. And when people argue that we lack freedom of rights, the only freedom of rights that we do not have is to be judged by the society. So yes, please stop scrutinizing and bashing us on your social media networks.

Then there are times that they say we are terrorists, but the only terrorist out there are the ones killing others. Do we look like terrorist to you? Are we even carrying guns? Or maybe the reason we seem like terrorists to you, is because you fear the truth, that our religion is the religion of the truth. And no, we do not support those who kill others under the name of 'Islam'. In fact, we despise them. Islam is a religion of peace, although by some others, the obligations written are 'misunderstood' or 'misinterpreted'.

On the other hand, some of us like the challenge, especially myself. Waking up everyday, telling yourself, you've got to prove yourself that you are . To prove the world that although you're a Muslim woman with a headscarf, you are still educated and intellectual. Most people in the world underestimate us, thinking that women in Islam does not have rights to education are shallow enough. And nevertheless, we can still be adventurous and athletic still ! A scarf on a head doesn't change our decision making or make us less capable then anyone else. That we can still be as 'successful'. We are actually proud of our scarves, never embarrassed.

Also, sometimes we have good hair days that once in a while, the demon in us whispers to just wave it out in the air, be 'free'. But we constantly remind ourselves, on how liberated we feel wearing our scarves out, so we decide to wear them everyday anyways, although some of us still follow the temptations to open up once in a while. And no, that does not mean that our 'iman' or believe towards the Al-Mighty has decreased even a little. Beyond that, we also have bad hijab days like anyone else has bad hair days !

And no, we do not expect your pity. We expect to be treated like anyone else. With respect. Like how we are supposed to respect each others' different decisions living in a diverse community. Although it's nice sometimes to be rewarded, like how some of our friends and relatives buy us those beautiful scarves showing us their endless support. But we do not want that 'special attention' or to be treated differently. For most of us, the only reward we really expect is from the 'after-life' and that this life, that we regard as a test, will be more blessed by the Al-Mighty.

We never really mind anyone asking us about our scarves. As for most us, we made the decision to wear it by ourselves, and we aren't forced to. It is an obligation by our religion that we love most, that we feel and know is perfect. We feel protected and liberated wearing our scarf, and as women, it'd be kinda nice for us to let you know how it feels to be safe. Beyond that, the moment we put our headscarves on, we know that the society will judge us by our character and personality, rather than how we look, which is only with us temporarily. So if you're ever curious on how it feels like to go by a day atleast with a head scarf on, we would be more than happy and willing to put on the head scarf for you, even if it means using our own headscarves. We really do feel secure that when a man looks at us, he does not stare at us with the 'rape' look.

All in all, no matter what we do or how we wear it, we know by heart, that in the end of the day, we want to try wear the scarf perfectly, cover ourselves perfectly. And we will always pray and try, every day, to make ourselves better Muslims, better believers, to the one and only, the Al-Mighty. Together, insyaAllah.

Upon Selfishness

"I believe the longer we look at ourselves in the mirror, the more selfish we are prone to be. The more selfies we take, the more we would be 'full of ourselves'. The more we talk about ourselves, the more we are too self-orientated. But don't get me wrong, there are certain benefits in all this. It's just I fear that one day, the society we live in, would care way too much for themselves that they care too little for others. Would pressure themselves to keep up with the materialistic world rather than living the real world. Would help others only with intentions that they would be able to look better for themselves rather than to make others live a better life. I am afraid that the future of our society, would be filled with more selfish people rather than selfless, for the good"

Time,

"I wish to travel the world, to learn. I wish I spared more time for others, rather than myself. I wish I spent more time improving myself, increasing my skills. I wish I spent more time with my family and friends. Yet I wish I spent time working, to learn the value of money and live the reality. Yet life is so short and time is so limited. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way"

First Night of Ramadhan in Konya, Turkey

It's the first time for me to have experienced first night of Ramadhan far away from home and the whole family.

So me and my sister decided to check out what is the usual Ramadhan activity here in Konya, Turkey but it was definitely a more confused experience than we expected.

We passed by the Selimiye Mosque before the Isha' prayers and saw lots of carpets 'sejadah' spreaded on the ground outside the mosque and we were like, 'Whoa, the Muslims here really go for terawih prayers'. Locals who saw us as tourists then told us, there was a famous dance (The Mevlana Whirling Dervishes) being performed in the gardens of the Mevlana museum every Thursday night, which is only less than a kilometer walk, so we thought why not?

As we arrived, we saw the dancers sitting on the floor, waiting. So me and my sister thought they were waiting for the Isha' Prayers Calling, to perform their Isha' prayers, then only perform their dance, which we thought was part of their culture. As how Malaysia had Zapin as a culture of a dance to be performed after prayers many many years ago.

At about 10PM when Isha' prayers are being called upon, the dance started with loud music, simultaneously. We were stunned. I was disappointed and frustrated, I could feel my heart pounding, wanting to cry. Thoughts in my head were running like, "Ya Allah, it's the first night of Ramadhan. It's near a mosque. Adhan is being recited. Why wouldn't these people wait for the Adhan to finish atleast?"

We watched the dance for a few minutes. You would be able to watch it on YouTube as well if you want to, I reckon. The dancers were spinning for ages which was pretty impressive, but I guess we were too stunned to enjoy it as much. The dance seemed more as a ritual to us rather than culture. We didn't know exactly what the dance really meant to them, but we felt uncomfortable enough to leave early. Beyond that, it was getting late just for the two of us to wander around so we decided to head back, not intending to be disrespectful. For Malaysians, this was quite similar to the 'kuda kepang' dance to us as they were reciting sentences from the Quran before they started their Mevlana Whirling Dervishes.

Anyways, on our way back, we passed by the mosque again, and Alhamdulillah, our hearts were touched and we were amazed by the amount of people praying the terawih prayers in this month of Ramadhan, especially the first night. The men and women were even praying outside the mosque ! We sat down for a couple of minutes to enjoy the scene of the prayers, and left not long later.

It was a very confusing experience for us especially coming from quite a conservative country. But that's what you gotta expect out of travelling I guess, to learn and see what other cultures have got to offer you. It was definitely an experience to be remembered. 

Is the law really providing justice ?

Throughout our tour in Cappadocia, I met this heartful & loving lady in her 20s who sort of changed my perspective towards prisoners or in general, the law & justice (not that I had the worst perspective towards prisoners before this but it got me to ponder on a few things)

As a law student, you've always been taught that the law is create to accommodate others in providing justice. It changes within time, and adapts to cases, according to the majority of the society. 

But this lady I met earlier; Paripersia (a Mexican-Iranian girl) quoted,

'If the law is meant to bring justice, then all the corrupted politicians (or even all the politicians) in the world would be in prison. And the prisoners, usually in desperation due to poverty or lack of justice, would not even have to be in prisons in the first place'

Most of us would have looked down to prisoners. Discriminate them. Isolate them. But have we ever stopped and ponder, are we not at least a little bit responsible for what happened to them? Isn't the government as well ?

Imagine, if we live in a community, that helped each other. That treats each other equally and with respect. If all the wealth was evenly distributed or at least the gap between the rich and the poor wouldn't be as big as how it is now. If corruption or any crime committed is made to be punished. If the law really provides justice. 

They say the law is created to protect people's rights. To give them safety. Doesn't matter if you are the majority or minority. But we often see the faults in law, in failure to protect the minority's rights. For instance, the French Law does not protect much of Muslims and their rights in wearing headscarves to school.

On the other hand, another fault in the law that I've come to realise as well is that it actually fails to protect the rights of the poor in the world, which holds the majority of the population. Atleast 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. How much of the law has been created to protect these people? To prevent them from breaking the laws in the future? To provide them justice? Should it even be considered as just that the poor is suffering too much while seeing the rich live their lives so easily, only to leave them with more hatred and jealousy?

I understand that some policies are made in order to encounter the problem of poverty, but as much of a role they are in the society, they are mainly guidelines. And equity can only help one so little. 

So the question that has been lingering in my mind is that,

'Is the law really providing justice? Have we been educated on the wrong understanding on what justice really is? Are we, ourselves, even being just to others ?'

'Whoa, how do you pack so light?'

I am quite a minimalist whenever I travel. Although I feel like I've packed a lot, m bag will somehow, always be light. Even I surprise my mum (sometimes even myself) on how light my bag is ! Its been quite an amount of times that when I travel with my friends with my luggage/backpack, they would always go like, 'Is that it?', 'What is inside it?', 'How do you pack so light?' or even, 'Is that enough?' 

So, here's a few tips on how to pack lightly (and maybe even look pretty decent at the same time!). Hope this helps :)

1. Always roll your clothes

Never have I been disappointed whenever I roll my clothes when I pack. They amazingly save a lot of space which leaves you with more space to pack in everything else ! 

2. The right tops 

My sister thinks I still dress up pretty decent although I backpack. And even though both of us carry 10 tops and 3 jeans, my bag still weighs lighter than hers. This tip only applies when you're travelling in sunny countries. Just pack, blouses ! They're amazingly light, dry easily when washed and makes you look pretty decent in pictures especially when you're taking those beautiful pictures. Beyond that, they're pretty cooling (so you'd probably sweat less). Although, try not to pack blouses or shirts that needs ironing. 

3. The right pants 

I usually bring along only 2 pair of jeans (which I would wear one when I go on my flights), 1 pair of leggings and 'beach pants'. If you have extra space, just throw in a couple of pants (or my trick would always be white pants), to look a bit more elegant-ish. They're really all you need ! You really don't need to bring tonnes of jeans or trousers.

4. Even for months or weeks of traveling only pack ...

Always pack minimally. Constantly remind yourself that the weight is going to be a burden whenever you have to carry your backpack around. For 3 weeks of backpacking, I only brought along 10 tops, 2 jeans, 1 pair of sports shoes (incase I randomly decide to go for a jog), a pair of sandals and slippers. You really don't need to pack tonnes of shoes, just pack the most comfortable pair of shoes !

5. If you're wearing hijab 

Definitely, bring a black scarf. Then throw in 2-3 of your favourite coloured scarfs, and maybe just 1-2 patterned ones incase you get bored of plain colours or randomly feel like dressing up a little. Try not to bring the thick ones :)

6. Laundry !

You really don't have to bring a proper laundry bag like the ones you use at home, all you really need is just another ordinary plastic bag. Also, try to bring a laundry detergent from home in a small bottle. But try not to bring the liquid detergent as it would be a bit of a hassle when you go through security or check in your bags. Always do your laundry whilst packing so you wouldn't have to pack a huge amount of clothes

7. Make up maybe ?

So sometimes us girls, wanna look good in close-up pictures, and sometimes we are just somehow rather attached to our make-up set.  All you really need is your basics so try not to waste space by packing more than your moisturizer, eyeliner, primer, foundation and powder :) 

8. Bring what you need, not what you want to 

Every time when we want to throw anything into our bags, we have to ask ourselves, do I really need it ? Is it really that necessary ? 

9. Repack your toiletries

Repacking your toiletries into the small travelling bottles saves up loads of space and will definitely make your bag wayyy lighter ! Try to buy the light and fast-drying travel towels as well as some accommodation won't provide you with towels (and some charges you extra)

10. Bringing an extra small bag

Make sure they're the fold-able and really light ones. Atleast you would have a small bag to walk around with once you've checked in your huge backpack/rucksack/luggage in your accommodation. 

If you follow this right, your bag should only weigh up to 10-12 kgs only. That's how heavy my bag usually weighs whenever I pack (even if it was for more than 2 weeks of travelling). Good luck !  

Travelling Tips That Will Save You Money !

Some people like learning things the hard way, but its definitely not worth when it costs you lots of money as well, especially when you're travelling. So here's a few ways and things I've learnt throughout my travels. Hope it helps !

1. Always double-triple check your baggage allowance

Never assume your baggage allowance. Some airlines only give you 15kg and some upto 25kg or 30kg. They might not even give you any baggage allowance, especially budget airlines ! My experience with RyanAir was pretty harsh only to have realised that I was not given a baggage allowance to check in at all so I had to pay at the counter. And it was definitely costly. 

2. Taking the 'Day Pass' for Public Transports

Travelers would usually take the 'Hop-On Hop-Off' bus which is usually very expensive ! Instead, opt for the public transports that might save you lots of money to get around by. Most metro or bus stops near tourists areas anyways. Also, try not to take the cabs from the airports but opt for the shuttle buses instead to where your accommodation is. Cab drivers usually overcharge tourists

3. Read the 'Terms & Conditions'

As boring as it sounds, you really just gotta read through some of the 'TnC's. Me and my sister had our experience with our purchase of the Eurail tickets. We jumped on the first train from Rome to Pompeii not knowing that we had to get a 'stamp' on our ticket. But we were lucky that the instructor just gave us a warning to get our tickets stamped or it would cost us $50 on our next train ride. Phew. So, read the Terms & Conditions or Requirements !

4. Not asking for the 'Student' Discount 

Or even not bringing your student ID around. You might save a lot more than you think with the student discount. Just try not to forget to bring it around, no matter where you go. And annoyingly, ask around if there are any student discounts. Haha

5.  Double check the schedules !

Some public transports and opening times are not updated online. Thus, its always better to double check online by calling the agency regarding their opening times and ticket prices before purchasing them online.

6. Paying unnecessarily for tours

You'd probably have gotten tricked once or twice by paying for tours unnecessarily. For those who haven't, do check online first if the place you wish to visit has an 'audio tour' inside that is wayyy cheaper than the 'Agent Tours'. Beyond that, people will always try to make business by waiting around tourists places and offering you tours unnecessarily. Some would even say you would not be able to enter without a tour guide (which is a huge lie). Sometimes, they would even convince you to pay for the VIP price but you're still going for a package that everyone else pays a normal tour for. So, try not to get tricked ! 

7. Picking the 'right' or 'wrong' accommodations

Sometimes, picking an accommodation very near can be quite unnecessary. Public transports are quite at vast nowadays so you'd probably save a lot of money staying a little bit further. In our case, we booked the cheapest accommodation we could find in Monte-Carlo, Monaco which was still expensive ($80!) when we could have stayed in Nice, France and travel with a train to Monaco for a day visit. Lesson learnt, doesn't mean you stay in another country, it would be difficult to travel to the other. But double check if there will be problems with immigration as some countries have hours of immigration borders. 

8. Choosing the overnight trains

Some overnight trains require you to transit for a couple hours at the train station. And some doesn't. You would assume that taking overnight trains would save you loads of money but if they require you to transit for a couple of hours, it might be more costly than you think ! Its cause some train stations would not allow people to stay or sleep in the station, even just for a couple of hours. Which might eventually lead you to finding a place to stay, which would cost you a lot especially finding a place to crash last minute !

9. Finding for food

You'd be surprised how much money you would save by cooking and packing your food rather than buying it at restaurants. So try to book accommodations that will allow you to cook and always bring a water bottle around rather than buying them every time you get thirsty. Beyond that, even when you try to find for places to eat, try to walk the extra mile to find cheap places to eat ! Or better yet, try check on wikitravel on where they recommend to eat as they usually provide info on the cheap places you can eat. Or maybe even ask the people at your accommodation possibly ?

10. Doing your own laundry 

Bring a laundry detergent from home. Buying it from convenient stores might cost you money and space in your luggage unnecessarily as they usually sell them in huge packages ! And to prevent from having to wash a huge amount of clothes, try to wash your clothes and dry them gradually (like day to day sort of thing) so the clothes wouldn't pile up that you would have to wash them all in a machine.