flattered much?

Assalamualaikum readers. 
to those who are anxious about what happened today in class, don't worry, nothing happened. the student who did not pray last year went back to the hostel, so i assume the student did pray. i'm not an idiot to ask the student whether he/she did perform prayers.
but something else happened yesterday. ELECTION TIME!

"any votes for ema?"

praise to Allah, i am no longer the leader of my group. it may sound simple, just taking care of 13 students, but it's harder than it seems. 
~ you are responsible for all the 13 students to be present at all learning sessions, if any of them are missing in action, you'll be the first to blame. 
~ you need to call the doctors and make sure they attend the classes, for if you fail, you'd be held responsible for your carelessness and puff goes one learning session. 
~ you must contact the doctor in-charge for case presentation, for the doctor only knows you and not the rest of the group. if you fail to let them know the case for the week, you're dead meat! 
~ oh, last but not least, the attendance. students' attendance carries 5% for the final exams. so if you fail to collect all the students' attendance, you are PARTLY responsible if the students fail their exams because of poor attendance. yeah, it seems stupid, but a lot of students fail due to poor attendance. attendance has nothing to do with us, it depends on the students themselves, but somehow, you will feel the guilt for not performing your very best as a group leader.
so, yeah. i can live stress-free for a whole year, not bothering about attendance and my group mates, and of course my phone credits. ~weee
then, i realize, it's not as easy as it is. people have been depending on me for the past one year for attendance and they ask me if there's anything wrong with the doctors and attendance. well, yesterday, even after letting go of my job, there are still students who pass the attendance sheet to me, as if i'm the one responsible for it. hmm, i guess i have to stay cool and not fret about it. 
just when i thought things are over, my whole class mentioned my name as the vice batch leader for next year. oh, God, will things ever get better?
i screamed and shout and let it all out. eh? sounds like Will.I.Am and Britney?
well, i let the whole class know how i don't want any post for next year, but of course, my name was mentioned and a lot of hands were raised. praise to Allah again, i lost by a few hands to my group mate. she was shocked she was even elected, but she'll do just fine. 
however, my name was elected a few times for a number of other posts, which i clearly kept screaming from the front of the lecture hall, 'Aku tak mau!!' meaning i don't want!
luckily, they heard me loud and clear because at the end of the day, i'm just an ordinary student, without any posts and titles! *phew*
i don't think i'm popular as such that my name was elected a number of times, i just think people have become too dependent on me, as i am the nice one, hunting people down for their signature on the piece of blue sheets which are called the attendance. because of that, they love me. they know they could trust me, in such way that i am too tired to care if their friends sign the empty space next to their name for them. 

flattered much? Nah!

i shall enjoy my time sitting in the lecture hall, not bothering to chase the doctors for their signature as well. *evil laugh* 
however, i know deep down inside, i will still chase after the doctor for their signature in the lecture hall. why bother ema? coz i'm afraid, if i don't do this, non of the attendance are accepted and i won't even get the 5% carry marks for my final exam. 
i don't need people to flatter me with compliments, i just wish people would stop asking me and making me responsible for things which are not my concern now. let's keep on wishing!

*whispers* would you do the honour?

Assalamualaikum, readers.
today's entry is rather simple, but the title is so catchy, i'm lovin' it! *please don't hate me*
tomorrow marks the day we Dental students will be hanging out with each other for two weeks. it's going to be tough, so, please pray for all of us.
something happened this time around last year. so, this whole morning, i've been thinking and wandering if the same thing would happen again this year. so what happened last year?
cut story short, there was this one student who was super tired and fell asleep on the table right after lecture. by the time we came back from prayers, the student was still there, sleeping. my friends and i were guessing the student have to performed prayers. and they pushed me to ask the student. i, for once, was super shocked! 

"err, why me? why so random?"

"coz you are a student from an Islamic school, you have the right to advice"

to be honest, when it comes to things related to religion, everybody gets sensitive. 
since we don't know if the student here is a male or a female, i'll provide you the scenario for both.
imagine if i walked up to a female student and told her to perform prayers, she would definitely burst into tears and start yelling at me. it would be the same in the case of a guy, minus the tears.
ema, what are you saying? just forget about the fact that the student have not performed prayers? how could you ema?
okay, chill people. last year, what i did was i left the student, in hopes that a closer friend to the student would drag the student for prayers. i have no idea what happened. but this time around, i have made up my mind. like it or not, the student will have to perform prayers, only if the student dozes off at prayers' time. 
i watched a video by MatLuthfi and in the video, he opened up my eyes about talking your friends into doing good deeds, in a more casual way. don't preach them, talk to them. provide them solutions. give them time. be patient.
i have no idea how am i going to walk up to the student and ask the student to follow me for prayers, well, maybe i'm thinking too much. but, i seek Allah's help to give me courage if any of this was to happen tomorrow. 
will update soon. thanks for reading.

ema answers question part 2

Assalamualaikum, readers.
Salam Ramadhan Kareem! *i know i forgot to wish to you guys, sorry!*

this time around, the situation was in a surau (it's a building where one prays, a smaller version of a mosque)
a girlfriend of mine asked a senior, who was also in the surau, preparing to pray whether the senior has got herself engaged. i have no idea what the senior replied, but my friend came to sit with another friend and me and immediately asked of our opinions.

"is it inappropriate to ask someone if she's engaged?"

i laughed. but of course, upon watching her face waiting for an explaination, i told her, the act is not wrong, but according to Islam, engagements is not to be told to everybody, better kept a secret. but in the case of wedding, the more people you invite, the better. because wedding is something confirm, where two individuals are joined together with a vow. i was happy with the reply i gave her until i realized i was wrong.

i came back and all i kept thinking is her question and my reply. 
i put myself in the situation. say i'm engaged, and if i don;t want to tell people about it and i don't want anybody to know about it until it's confirmed for sure that my fiance and me will get married, what would i do?

i have three seniors who already got married now. i watched them both and was surprised when they brought up the news that they'd get married. the first thing that came to my mind, "when did you get engaged?" *smile*

they both were engaged, but never once they put on their engagement rings on their fingers. they both were getting married, but they were as silent as ever.
it doesn't matter if they knew their husbands before this or not, the fact is that they succeeded in keeping the engagement a secret and kept nobody from questioning.

if you are somewhat like me, the type who is easily irritable, don't like when people ask you "do you have a boyfriend?" or "when are you getting married?", please, the only way is to hide your ring from the public eye. 
it solves a lot of things. it keeps you from the 'evil eye' of the public and those who hate you. you also get some reward for keeping it a secret, according to the teachings of Islam.

hope this helps! 

Ashraf Muslim kahwin lagi?

Assalamualaikum, readers.
*entry kali nie dinukilkan dalam bahasa Melayu ya?*

kecoh satu Facebook apabila dapat tahu Ashraf Msulim kahwin dengan Wan Sakinah kat Thailand. Selama nie, dia berdiam diri, tak nak bagitau apa-apa kat wartawan bila ditemuduga, tup tup, dah kahwin. Aikkk, apa dah jadi?
persoalannya, adilkah dia? salahkah dia berpoligami?

cerita poligami nie ema pernah cerita dalam entry sebelum ni, kalau nak baca klik sini. tapi ingat ya, entry yang ema tulis tu berdasarkan apa yang ema rasa betul. kalau salah, minta maaflahh...
pening jugak nak fikir salahkah dia nak kahwin lain. sebenarnya, tak salah pun Ashraf nak kahwin lain. sunnah. tapi ema tak berkenan dengan cara yang Ashraf gunakan untuk berpoligami. tapi, siapakah kita untuk cakap apa-apa. kita mana tahu apa yang jadi dalam rumahtangga diorang sebelum nie. 
ramai yang marah Ashraf, ramai jugak yang marah Wan Sakinah. yang pasti, semua orang kesian kat Dr Dayana. 
golongan yang marah Ashraf cakap dia gatal nak kahwin lain, kesian kat Dayana. tapi kita tak boleh cakap macam tu sebab kita dah tolak hukum Allah untuk berpoligami. berdosa. fikir baik-baik sebelum cakap ya, takut kalau tersalah cakap berdosa pulak...
yang marah Wan Sakinah cakap dia gatal nak dekat-dekat dengan Ashraf Muslim walaupun dah tau Ashraf suami orang. ini pun tak boleh kata jugak. sebabnya dia krew produksi. selalu ada kat set penggambaran, macam mana kalau dia tak buat apa-apa pun, diorang sembang-sembang and connect? mungkin diorang banyak persamaan dari segi personaliti. kita tak tahu. tapi ramai yang cakap dia tak perlu sembunyi kat Tahiland semua, selagi kita tak tahu cerita sebenar, kita fikir yang baik-baik sahaja laa...
yang kesian kat Dayana pula cakap hanya kerana diorang tak dapat anak lagi, Ashraf nak kahwin lain. kesian diaa....Dayana kena tipu, sebab Ashraf tak bagitau pun dia nak pergi mana. kesiannnn....

semua orang ada pendapat masing-masing, tapi siapalah kita untuk mengulas sedangkan kita tak tau apa pun pasal benda nie. rumah tangga orang adalah rahsia suami isteri. ^_~

ema tau ema masih tak ada apa-apa kesimpulan di sini, sebab ema tak nak judgmental.

surprise surprise

Assalamualaikum, readers.
it's 7.55 am here in Malaysia, and it's 2nd Ramadhan. i'm more than happy this morning, that i made a decision to write a bit.
remember i mentioned that my roomates were non-Muslims a few times in my entries? well, one of them went back a while ago. surprisingly, she came up to me and mentioned she's going back and she wished me luck for my upcoming exams, and.....she hugged me! i was so surprised i didn't know what to do. i hugged her back of course but in an awkward manner. 

i mean, after all that we been through, backbiting each other on our backs, she hugged me? wow. however, i'm still glad she hugged me, it means she is really happy of going back home and she doesn't want us living in the same room to end with negativity. 
i admit, this past few weeks, during their final exams, we got closer. we respected each other during prayers, spoke on the phone outside the room, i stopped singing loudly, and i bought food for them when i went out. i never regret having them as my roomates, i learnt a lot from them, and i hope they do to. 
well, that's about it. 

Happy Ramadhan, everybody!

expectations

Assalamualaikum, readers.
tonight, my entry this time is about Ramadhan, and this entry is inspired by my two non-Muslim roomates. they were talking and asking each other when will a Muslim start fasting, and they were guessing. it was funny because they had no calendar to refer to and they depend on Facebook statuses for confirmation. they didn't have the courage to ask me and i don't blame them. they are afraid of what i might think.
i didn't tell any of my friends about this because i know the response i'd get from them. "oh, my God, seriously, they don't know? how come?"
"every year we Muslims fast, they should know la..."
"your roomates are funny! *chuckles*"
to save my anger for stupid stuff, i rather not tell them. 
this is the problem with Muslims in Malaysia. *i'm not referring to all, just the ones who belong to this category* they EXPECT the others to know EVERYTHING about Islam just because Malaysia is ruled by a Muslim and majority of Malaysians are Malays. if you still think you're right, allow me to ask you something. 
since Chinese is the second race that is populated by Malaysians, why do Chinese celebrate Wesak? what do they do on Wesak Day? 
what about Indians? why do they celebrate Thaipusam every year? why do they walk on the streets, crashing coconut along the streets?
if you can't answer this, please kill yourself.
how long have you lived in Malaysia? how long have Malaysians celebrated these? to tell you the truth, this is just two of the many occasions Malaysians celebrate in a whole year. 
it's the same situation with what others know about Muslims. they know a little bit of everything we do. so please don't blame them for not knowing the purpose of us Muslims praying 5 times a day, why do we pay the zakat, why we recite the Quran, why we fast...we need to explain so that they understand. same goes to them. if you don't ask them, they'd never tell, and you'd never know.
i really hope this simple entry goes deep into your brain and switch on the light bulb that goes, "TING" and you get it. like really get it.
thank you for reading.

ema answers question

Assalamualaikum and g'day readers.
today's entry is rather random. i got a question from a friend, a non-Muslim friend, and i answered super briefly. but the whole time, i've been thinking about how i should have explained to him more about it. 

hop on!

what was the question anyway?
he was on a motorcycle, fetching something when we met and he asked me where i was going, coz he wanted to drop me if it's somewhere near. i told him it's okay. that's when he popped the question. *of course he didn't ask me to marry him, he has a girlfriend already* he asked me if i can ride with him on a motorcycle. when i said cannot, he asked some more. 
"what if i put something in between you and me, can you still ride with me?" i smiled.
i explained to him the reason why a guy and a girl can't ride on the same motorcycle is as a preventive measure. it prevents one from knocking on the other or touching the other person. i didn't answer religiously, i didn't use the word Islam. i was afraid he might not be able to accept my answer. again, i didn't want him to get paranoid of me, so i used a different approach.
"imagine if you bring your girlfriend and you brake suddenly, see what happens? haa...like that la. so that's the reason why i can't ride with you lorr" he smiled.
then he asked some more. 
"if i'm your brother, you can ride with me?" i said yes.
"what if we just pretend we are siblings? if people ask, you just say i'm your brother la, 
can ah?" to be honest, i was doomed at that time. i had no idea what to say. but i answered this, i swear i don't know where the answer came from.
"you can lie to others, but you can never lie to God maa..." i smiled. he did the same.

to those who are still a little blurred, i don't blame you, based on what i told him, i don;t think he even gets it. here's the more factual and religious part of explaination.
Islam is a religion that is complete, covers all prospect of life. in this case, it's the way one mingles with his/her friends. it's okay if your intention is good, but you must remember the reason why Islam says no to some things. 
Islam prohibits one from coming into physical contact with another of a different gender, excluding the mahraams. *see dictionary below* this is because when one is not your mahraam, touching them or exposing our aurah is a sin. so, sitting super closely on the motorcycle, on the bench in the park, or even touching hands across the dinner table is a sin. 
regarding the statement i came across, about Islam prevents sins, that's because when Islam prohibits one from coming into physical contact with the non-mahraams, and the Muslims follow, then sins are not made. things will just stop there. imagine if this is not prohibited in Islam, the boy and girl are allowed to come into physical contact with one another, they develop this 'crazy in love' feeling for one another, and that leads to who knows what and ends up with you know what-conflict and problems. 
so, to me, Islam is a religion that prevents something from happening, only if one practices to be a real Muslim. 

Mahraam: people who you can never marry according to Islam. eg: father/mother, brothers/sisters, grandpa/grandma. *these people must be blood related. if you are adopted or they are your stepmother/stepfather, they are no longer your mahraam*

i know my writing is getting worse by the day. it's so hard to explain through writing. please provide me some feedback if you think i need to explain more or that you don't understand something. i will try to deliver better the next time around. 
thank you.

universal

Assalamualaikum, readers.
this entry is dedicated to those who have been calling me names since forever. my identity has always been a question to a lot of people. thanks to how i look, a lot of people have been saying stuff they think is fun but hurts till the core.
to those who have been reading my blog for some time, you'd know that i have Indian blood in me, thus my large, round cat-eyes, fluttering eyelashes and slightly dark complexion. let's not forget about the sharp pointed nose. yeah, that's me.
i received a lot of comments about who i am. some say i am an Indian, and i don't really agree with that. i'm not the daughter of an Indian mom of dad, nope, i'm not Indian. yeah, sure, i have Indian blood, but that's from my ancestors. it's like someone who has a Chinese grandma and of course has the Chinese features, and you call her a Chinese. but that doesn't happen much. people still call her Malay, and don't really question much about her race.
this is what i realized. 
when it comes to Indian, people gets very excited. they laugh when they see people speaking in Tamil, they laugh when they see Indian traditional costumes, they laugh when they see the complexion of Indians, they laugh about everything Indian. i don't get it. what's so funny about Indians? i wouldn't wanna go into details, but hey, we're all one in the end. One God, one nation, one ummah. 
where's the ummah when you are so happy laughing about others?
Islam is very universal. think about Bilal bin Rabbah. Bilal was described as a black man, who has super soft and sweet voice that he became the first person to say the adzhan. you know how special are those who say the adzhan in the eyes of Allah? my ustaz once told me if only people knew how much reward one gets when saying the adzhan, everyone would be running to the mosque to say the adzhan. 
don't be a racist. you'd never go anywhere being a racist. learn from others, that's the reason The Almighty made us from different backgrounds, different facial complexion, so that we'd be brothers and sisters on Earth, so that together we'd come as one ummah.
i can't defend myself when one claims my ancestors were Indians, that i speak in twisted tongue, that my complexion is dark, that i'm the odd one among all of my friends. they pick on me and i have no idea what to do. i come back and i cry. cry a lot. i didn't expect an ustaz to even comment that i'm an Indian. it's so sad. 
well, maybe this is a test for me. maybe not. i don't know.
let's stand together as one ummah, shall we?