Sinai-Dahab-Sharm Sheikh travelogue part 1

I just posted one of 600 ++ photos available of my vacation recently on instagram and the memories struck like really I felt like going to that moment back, again.

I’m glad that I’ve decided to join the trip this time, at the right moment and right people to be crazy with. It was almost 12 hours travel by bus but the place is so beautiful. I wish I have Polaroid with me. We went by bus at 2am and managed to reach St. Catherine and check in to the hotel at 3pm that day. We did a little warm up at Wadi Arbain where the rock that had been knocked by Moses which happened to produce 12 source of water still there.

Also I forgot to mention we visited the Bar Liev fort that belong to Israelite army but Egyptians Army manage to confiscate that fort in 6 days.

1 in the morning we went climbing and I have no words on that experience. Tiring but it’s worth it. Here’re my few tips:

1.       Good companies keep you motivated.

2.       Bring snickers, mars or energy bars.

3.       Limit your water consumption because the loo there is not the best.

4.       A good pair of shoes helps.

And the last place which is the top of the mountain is so amazing with the sun rise on point. I love that moment so much. I wish I have a better word for that moment but naah. I wish who read this will have an opportunity to visit there someday!

the place was somehow like a village and as i googled, it says that this is the place where prophet Elijah hide from Jezabel.

Way back from climbing the mountain, we managed to visit a few tomb of prophets, historical places before heading back and packing for Dahab.

it's a fake smile. i'm dying inside lol.

the tomb

I guess I’m gonna need part 2 for Dahab. Untill here,

Bye.

Alexandrina

Assalamualaikum and hello people.

I just came back from Alexandria for a short-packed vacation with few of my buddies; I guess all of us needed to wind up a little bit before the class is starting and everything is spinning out. Actually it’s not planned at all. It just randomly come to my mind when they said they want to go there “I’m in!” .

Montazah, King Farouk Castle.

It’s quite a nice one although the first one is my favorite. I’ve been there last summer and this time is still not the same. I love that place. I love seashore; I love the sound of the smashing wave, the smell of salty water and the blue-greeny color of the sea. It’s so calming and worth it. Also we walked a lot, hell ya like 30k steps a day and I like it. I always love walking while wandering around…

excuse our tired-face lol.

Also, the people there are different from Cairo like earth and sky differ especially Syrian people who mostly working in food industries there. There’s particular restaurant that I like which is ‘Aruuus Dimasq’ or عروس دمشق at the streets of ‘Asafirah’ عصفرة  and a Syrian ice cream shop which sell one of the best ice cream in the world, Trifillo at the same place just in front of the sea. The people who works there are also nice, eye-catchy and surprisingly… they can speak English well!

I was having Faransawi Syawerma and I tell you what, it's nyummy!

the must-try ice cream here!

Not to forget, I personally think that Egyptians like native Alexandrian are differ than one in Cairo just by their common courtesy. For an instance, most of the drivers will stop/slower their vehicles and stopped others beside and behind just to let you crossed the streets and that is a very major common courtesy that I think rarely happened in Cairo. Secondly, when I was in a train and I offer an old lady my seat and she happily thanked me and asked me if there’s anything that I’m selling so that she can buy *how nice is that?* and one time we (our group) in bus one of us offered an old man a seat and he thanked him and asked my friend to leave his bag to him so it would not burden him and.. the list goes on and on.

Citadel of Qaitbay.

Sorry for this quite a long rant but I just felt like typing down this though out  and… here some of the photos that I managed to capture when I was there; or you may view it through my Instagram account.

I guess that is it. I definitely am coming back there, if I may and with that… thank you for reading.

Ramadhan *realistic* goals.

Peace be upon to you.

This post was written with my stream of consciousness, not planned at all and I’m sorry if it’s quite random.

I know Ramadhan is already here and this post might be quite late but I always believe that you are never too late until you already done with it, and our journey is way too long. Make it count.

To some of my readers who don’t know what Ramadhan is, it is a month;  seventh month of Islamic Hijri calendar where all of Muslims fast, restraining our self from food, drinks and stuff that can break the fast, as an act of spiritual cleansing or ibadah (act of pray, I don’t have the perfect words to put here) from dust to dawn.

First. Why do we need goals at the first place? Well… I think it’s nice to have something to achieve to enhance our ability, to make this whole time because Ramadhan is the time where Allah gave a lots of His chance, rewards and based on I know (I’m an Islamic law student, and one of my favorite subject to look  up to is Islamic Jurisprudence) and in it fasting (in Ramadhan) is ‘wajib mudhayya’ the obligations with limitations where you only have one month to fast. That’s all. Why not have a good plan on making this whole time the best of us?

Okay, let’s get to the main point.

I think it would be nice if we have a top 3 goals that we really want to achieve like;

1.       Read the whole Quran in a month.

2.       Stop smoking.

3.       Donate to the people in needs

 and give our full attention and focus to this three, if you have more just put it there but know your limits and start making it work. If you have other things that you want to achieve but not really as important as your top 3, make a general list so you can always review it.

Ramadhan is a perfect time, to change our inner self, from bad habits stuff. I hope everybody is in good shape and time and this little writing helps you, or at least give you an idea on making our best Ramadhan this year.

I guess that’s all.

Bye.

credits; https://www.tumblr.com/theshawllabel

Exaggerate.

You know when a particular job/work is actually already challenging and ‘hard’ then there’re few people that make everything of it even harder and they kept bragging the thing when they can just stay positive and optimist?

Particularly speaking, here in Egypt living as a student there’re few stuff that always make us almost crazy but I want o address one thing.

Getting visa.

But you still have choice whether to face the annoying bureaucracy by yourself or just pay an agent to make everything for you but still you have to do few stuff but with less stress, less effort.

There’s one time I manage to experienced myself but I must say that it’s not that really bad like people used to brag or whatever. I admit that the process is so stress full and sometimes you might feel like giving up but at last, it’s worth waiting and standing and whatever it takes. It just when people kept being pessimist and bragging it out to generation to others, so that everything just the way people thought it would be.

With that, I end my rant.

Insecurity.

Asalamualaikum and hi.

First of all, I have wanted to write about this specific topic for a long long time but you know, procrastination.

credit: kellieburgers.tumblr

There is someone in my relatives that always pointing out my weakness/ something that I always insecure about whenever he get chances to do so and yeah, I get used to it but it always hurt. Even when you’re so done with all of it but I always tell myself to be calm every time he did that to me, by just ignore it/ keep it in my heart because I have a saying that I read said,

Don’t let idiot ruin your day.

Don’t. Now I’m kind of relief that I’m been able to get rid of him personally as I live in other country and I don’t get to face him, not a chance but I also know that he always did this to my siblings and somehow I manage to tell them all of these stuff too and I hope they’re strong. Even after all the stuff he did to me, I personally never fight back/backfire or whatever but I try to be nice, like nothing happened.

Well, I believe people like this is actually they need attention or maybe they’re too insecure about themselves and the easiest way to get rid the feeling is by being mean to others. That is why I don’t want to take their insults seriously even it hurts, sometimes. I wonder what is in their mind, hurm…

Sometimes, we are mean to. Conscious or unconscious we are human and never perfect. Never being able to make everybody happy. It’s like a wheel that sometimes we’re the one that are mean and sometimes we are the victim.

But here’s some tips from experience, I guess :-

1.       Avoid people you feel insecure around. You have to protect yourself from them.

2.       Surround yourself with supportive people that always gonna back you up.

3.       Know your weakness and accept it. Embrace it!

4.       Know that the more you felt threatened the more they like it. Don’t give a chance for them to indulge from it.

5.       Beat them with your own happiness. Be happy and smile because they hate it.

6.       Sometimes you need to share things to someone you really believe in. it’s scary but challenging one.

Above all, I hope this post might help somebody or as a reminder that it’s not cool by being mean. At the end, we all know that none of people expectation matters. You matters. It’s just on how you define yourself.

With that, thank you for reading.

Me and social media

Rant on social media.

Assalamualaikum and hi.

Well, to be honest I just read a few of my facebook friend’s status and have a few thought to say or to tell here specifically on social media. I knew the word social say it all but seeing someone posting their anger, out loud and commenting without knowing the border of you know… even there’s actually no borders but we as human do have instinct on that.

The problem is not about babbling and telling our problem out loud on social media but how we handle that. It might be okay for someone to do that at the first place but that doesn’t solve the problem. At all.

The thing is often we see people arguing, ‘practically’ yelling and so on through their tweets and stuff without, actually solving that problem. (Actually I’m trying to not to address the real stuff directly. If this is quite confusing, I’m sorry).

Secondly, I personally think that the way we handle our social media accounts reflect ourselves. It might seem like I’m judging but sadly saying that is how it works for me. That is practically why I have insecurities on posting something on facebook.

So the last to conclude all of the above, here’s my point :-

1.       Your acts on social media show your personality, be care full.

2.       Solve your problems; don’t just write it on your wall/tweets.

3.       You are free to disagree, but if you don’t mind tell me your thought.

So that’s all. Thank you for reading.

credit to: @80sNostalgia 

10 things I've learn living in Egypt.

Asalamualaikum and hi.

It’s been a year I have been living in Egypt. Wish I’ll have another incredible awesome year, amin. Well, there’re two big things happened today. First is I just finish my six days fasting (post Ramadhan) which is macam poyo ye dak? Lols while at the same time today is the opening of the new Suez Canal which is a big celebration in here, Egypt.

Regarding to this quite memorable experience ( been a year in Egypt) I think I would like to write 10 things I’ve learn living in Egypt. Here we go :-

1.       Patient is a must. Because there’re no rule here even there’re rules. Bureaucracy in here is quite challenging. hiks

2.       Always thank full of everything that you have because lots lots of people don’t even get to eat.

3.       The more you walk around the more you get something new.

4.       When it comes to conversations, just talk and talk. Don’t afraid to make mistakes as long as you learn from it.

5.       Not everybody will treat you good. Some will cheat you, some will make fun of you. Just don’t buy what they sell.

6.       Connecting to the point above, you got to choose two sides, be like Musa a.s (Moses) or Firaun (Pharaoh).

7.       Holding hand, kissing cheek and clapping hands are ways of Arabs being nice. Be prepared because you might find it weird for the first time but once you get to know the environment you’ll get it naturally.

8.       Celebrate eid at somewhere else/ new places with new people. Like I had done last eid fitri.

9.       Arabian food is not bad at all. Just try and error. You might like some.

10.   Transportation? Bus is the cheapest but always be ready to jump and run. If you choose taxi, don’t expect that you just come in and tell the driver your destination. You have to ask them first. Make sure you ask the price first.

So, I guess here is it. Wish me luck for this year, and may your day is great too. Peace J

Escape to Allah

Assalamualaikum. Now were in the few last days of Ramadhan and I Felt like sharing something to you.

so here it is.

He said to them, so escape ( Run away) to Allah. I am from him to you … a warner, I warn you about Him, so run away to Him in order to protect yourself from Him.

And Rasulullah (S.A.W) used to make this famous dua’ :

                “Oh Allah I seek refuge in You from You”

Rasulullah (S.A.W) after one of the battle that happened here were some captive and the muslims have to look after them and there were this mother who was running from child to child, from baby too baby trying to find her own child. She was so hysterical about finding her child until finally she found her child and she hugged her child so intensely.

The messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) was watching this with awe, with compassion, with emotion and he said to his companions:

                “Do you think that this mother would ever grab her child and throw it in the fire? And burn it?

They said, never. It would’ve never crossed our mind and he said (S.A.W),

                “Allah is more merciful to his servants than this mother to her own child.”

There is nothing greater than the mercy of Allah (SWT) and nothing can be compared to it and Allah will refuse to put anyone in the fire, just like that unless they truly, truly, truly deserve it.

Rasulullah (S.A.W) tells us, this hadis is in sahih Muslim; he says that Allah (SWT) he created Rahma (mercy) between us and he took it from himself and he gave us one portion of it and left 99 of this portion to be used in the hereafter. And he left a small portion of it for us to use in the world and because of this Rahma which he placed on earth.

This is why you find even the animal mother will be so compassionate while its baby comes to drink from its milk. It is so careful that it doesn’t step on it’s child.

Who taught this animal to be compassionate to its baby?

To give it from it’s body it’s milk and is so careful not to thread on it.

Who gave it this mercy?

Allah (S.W.T).

Because of this mercy even the enemy of Allah (S.W.T) drinks from the water of this earth, is given his or her comfort. This is the mercy of Allah (S.W.T).

This nurturing thing that when you remember your parents that Allah has greater mercy than your own parents.

This nurturing nature of the mother and the father they would rather the dust particle enter into their eyes than into yours.

That is they were to wake up in the middle of the night and find that you are ill or sick. They would wish that the sickness was in them instead of you.

This Rahma which makes the mother carry you in her womb for nine months and then after that breastfeed you and Allah knows, there is so much pain in doing so. Only a mother understands. After that nurturing you and going through all the agony and possibly getting diabetes and discs in her back while the father runs around trying to provide you their whole youth is spent on you and the whole world stops when you are born.

For this reason we are called an Ummah taken from the name ‘Umm’ because we might as well be one mother.

All of this is due to the Rahma of Allah (S.W.T)

When you see your mother and father being like that towards you, Allah tells us a lot about our parents. You know why?

He is telling us indirectly about himself.

He’s saying see how I’ve given you your parents. See how I have created this natural Rahma inside of them, how they see you as the most important thing for them in the whole world in the entire universe. They would rather them die than you die.

See this which I create in your parents, well this is only a tiny speck of the portion of my mercy. It is my attribute of mercy and I’ve given a little bit of it to your parents just to give you a small example of who I am.

So when your mother or father they keep away something from you only in order to teach you to become stronger in life. They are nurturing you.

When you prevent your child who is two years old from opening the fridge, are you preventing them from eating or drinking?

No.

But you’re preventing them from eating things that are bad for them. From grabbing the jar and it breaks on their foot and the glass will go into their feet or they might grab the vinegar and drink it thinking it’s water.

 Or they might open the cupboard under the sink and drink the detergent thinking it’s water or food and poison themselves.

You are nurturing them, you are preventing them from certain things because you have Rahma towards your children. So don’t ever think that when Allah prevents us from something it doesn’t mean that Allah (S.W.T) is punishing us.

He is nurturing us.

Because we don’t know any better.

From a video in the Youtube : The Merciful Servant: Escape to Allah by Sheikh Bilal Assad. Find them and subscribe or help them expanding dawah.

P/s : It is still a time to chase after Ramadhan !

credit goes to spreadsalam.com . Check them out!

Seliper merah.

Assalamualaikum dan hai.

Sihat?

Harini nak throwback something. 

Beberapa hari lepas Raya Syawal tahun lepas, kasut aku dan adik bongsu aku Ilham kena gigit anjing. Dan kasut dia parah jugak la.

The bad thing is tu kasut raya dia. He’s 6 years old waktu tu. Tau ja la kan budak budak. Meragam bila kasut rosak. Tambah kasut raya. So Ibu janji nak belikan dia kasut baru untuk dia.

Kasut baru tu warna merah.

Tapi terdetik di hati aku, samada Ilham terima atau tak kasut tu.  *if you know what I means*

Dan dia suka. The special thing is budak budak don’t judge that thing particularly or you know, some people kalau kasut biasa yang taklah cantik mana they  refuse to accept it.

Entahlah sampai atau tak benda yang aku nak habaq ni. Hahaha.

Mudah cakap, point of view of a child is sincere and precious. And i wish I still have that. Like when Ilham got that shoes, he’s very happy.

Dan kalau kita tempat dia, as an adult/someone who can think adakah kita kita terima something seadanya atau terkadang kita reject?

I wonder.

Dan tak bermakna aku ni kalau dapat benda yang selekeh aku reject.

Tak.

Tapi sejauh mana KITA menghargai something. aku nak sampaikan kat sini.

go to hidayahmilikallah.tumblr

Sekian :B

Cer cita sikit.

Assalamualikum, hi.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..

 *Tiup debu-debu, lama sangat terbiar blog ni. Tambah dua hari lepas berturut-turut rebut pasir.

Ehem.

Lama tak mengarang dalam blog ni. Alhamdulillah, cuti winter break dah habis dan sekarag jadual dah jadi macam biasa. Sepatutnya waktu cuti haritu boleh hapdet entry baru. Tapi. Hurm, nanti.

Alhamdulillah cuti dipenuhi dengan quite interesting stuff like,

Aku buat almost 2k bijik cucur. Tender café.

Spend a few times in ma’rod (Cairo International Book Fair).

Participated in Simposium Mahsiswa Timur Tengah which I get to meet a few cool/interesting/intellectual people like Mat Luthfi and etc. The program was good.

Tapi itu bukan point yang aku nak habaq.

Tapi nih.

Yup. Video nih will tell you everything that happened to me/ reason why I didn't update much. Do subscribe him.

Fyi I typed this post a way in early February. But I keep telling myself, soon and soon and soon.

And when the ‘soon’ come, I open my laptop, browsing  google but ended up scrolling my tumblr while my head telling me “just five minutes” and again I ended up scrolling it for 2 hours and the result,

I off my laptop and go to sleep. Ha.

Tu ja kot untuk masa ni. See ya next time.

Peace :)

Important reminder!

Assalamualikum and hi.

Actually I don't really have any point here, just to 'remind' myself and you because we merely human forget.

Right?

Stay strong.

don't forget them.

special thanks to almohamedg.tumblr for the poster :)

May Allah bless.

Winter not-so-sonata.

Assalamualikum dan hai J

La ni tengah musim sejuk tapi tak bersalji di Kaherah.. Aku rasa lebih baik takda salji. Sebab kalau bersalji maknanya suhu akan jadi negative camtu. Berselimut 24 jam lah jawabnya. Alhamdulillah fasa enam darjah selsius dah berlalu. *fuhh

Tak tipu, musim sejuk memang dugaan. Dugaan nak ke kelas. Sebab nak ke kelas kena mandi. Tapi sebelum mandi tu nak kena bangun tidoq pun jenuh (susah). Kira sindrom malas musim sejuk ni memang A ler. Nak jadi cerita lagi kelas aku memang sejuk tahap gaban. Kira cakap tu keluar asap lah. Ingat lagi Doc. Ahmad habaq, “antum ba’da usbuq satamut. “ (Hampa selepas seminggu, pakat mati habis sebab sejuk) sebab kelas tu tingkap atas terbuka luas. Tak boleh tutup pulak. memang sabaq je lah.

Dan antara perkara yang aku rasa agak obvious adalah selera makan aku. Makin berselera. Kira selalu makan nasik arab sepinggan tak habis kali ni habis sepinggan. Boleh kata jajan tu memang spare lah. Boleh baham waktu emergency *lah sangat. Bab makan aku ni dikira ok lah, tak la picky. Campak ja apa pun insyaAllah aku boleh makan asalkan halal.

Teringat aku satu hadis nabi, yang mafhumnya berpuasa di musim sejuk ini bagaikan hadiah yang mudah bagimu riwayat Ahmad dan makna hadiah yang mudaah disyarahkan oleh Ibn Rajab sebagai hadiah yang didapati tanpa kesusahan dari pihak yang menerimanya.

See?

Point nya kat sini, berpuasa di musim sejuk adalah perkara yang mudah dilakukan dan diamalkan. Mungkin antara sebabnya yang aku boleh kaitkan dengan kefahaman aku adalah malam lebih panjang daripada siang. So waktu puasa pun singkat. Contoh la ni subuh pukul 5.30. Maghrib pulak pukul 4.15 lebih kurang. Jadi waktu berpuasa tu lebih kurang 11 jam ja dibandingkan dengan musim panas/Ramadhan yang waktunya lebih kurang 16 jam.

Lagipun musim sejuk ni tak berasa sangat dahaga. Dan tak seletih musim panas. Cuma best nak lena ja. Haha.

Mudah cakap, antara ibadah yang mudah pada musim sejuk ni adalah dengan berpuasa. Rahmat musim sejuk mungkin. Alhamdulillah ala kulli hal.

Hurm, rasanya cukup kot entry setakat ni. Moga bermanfaat. Jumpa lagi,

credit to : despicable-me.tumblr

Assalamualaikum.

Helping hands.

Assalamualaikum and hi.

For this time, this entry is just my personal thought. It happened every time I walk around Cairo especially around the area of my house and uni *I warn ya, this post might be extremely boring. When you walk around some places like Hussien, Darrassah or around shopping mall you’ll notice beggars and homeless everywhere.

Around the place where I currently studying you’ll find everyday few kids selling tissues. To me they’re supposed to be at school at that moment like the other child. Not begging people buying their tissues.

Whenever I saw them, I felt so sad kinda feeling and that moment remind me of how blessed I’m to have this life. How big are His nikmah/blessings to me that almost every time I forgot. One of my goals this year is to be helpful, to give more than I take.

And the reason I wrote this entry is to convey to you, and also reminding myself to all the point I wrote above.

credit to : usman-a93.tumblr

You know, sometimes when we help people randomly maybe when we’re in need there’ll someone else that’ll help us back. I believe the chains never end.

On the other hand, Quran tells us that next purity of faith, the most pleasing in the sight of Allah is kindness and charity, forbearance and forgiveness, and doing good to others. Those who spend in charity, whether in prosperity or adversity, who restrain anger and pardon people: for Allah’s bless.

And know what, when we give one of our belongings, Allah pay 10 back. In any possible ways. 

 May this post benefits us all. InsyaAllah.

Credit : Islamic-art-and-quote on tumblr.

How to get up early.

Assalamualaikum and hi people.

*English mode on.*

I’m kind of a morning person. I like waking up in the morning to do something instead of you know, dreaming again. *sometimes I did that too, you know when you too tired or too lazy to do anything :b.

Let’s just say in Islam, it is better to not to sleep after Solah fajr because our prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) told us so. Even when you do that you’ll notice you’ll become weaker and your day might not be productive.

But here’s some tips to get up early that I figure it out myself and some from my research on the web (I did googled it!) and most of it from Anna Vital.

1.       Have enough sleep. For an adult or youth like me it is enough to have between 5-6 hours. Recite dua/prayer.

2.       Sleep comfortably. Use a blanket that keeps you warm vice versa. Depends on your situation. Good sleep is between 16-21 degree Celsius *research.

3.       Sleep in total darkness because melatonin (the sleep hormone) is produced in the dark. *research

4.       Drink before you sleep! I did this to myself because I’m easily got a sore throat if I’m not hydrated. And drinking some water not only rejuvenating but keeps you hydrated. According to a research we lost lots of water in our body through breathing and of course, sleeping.

5.       Put alarm. Far than your bed so you can’t snooze it. Ahaha

6.       Plan an exciting breakfast. So you’ll look up to make that. And of course, if you want to work productively you’ll need a good boost because you brain feeds on glucose/sugar or something like that. I’ll just go as simple as a banana and hot chocolate. Or maybe some caffeine/coffee.

7.       Read a book. From a book (not online) because you can’t browse away from it. Or maybe your math/history books :D

8.       Have your goals of the next day/ schedule your most important task of your day especially in the morning so you’ll get excited to get up to do it.

9.       To my Muslims readers do look up for sunnah. The sunnah the better right? InsyaAllah I’ll list out some sunnah of sleeping (before/after) soon. There’s always goodness in every sunnah. You didn’t only get physical benefits but also rewards when you do it.

10.   Last but not least, in order to get rid of the sleepiness after you wake up a few tips that I can list out is :-

·         Be active. Sing in the shower or do some light exercise.

·         Caffeine. A cup of coffee always works on me.

·         Do something.

I hope that those tips might help even a little. I did not do the whole tips that I wrote up there but some of them help me.  Just to remain clear that my English is quite not good as I’m still working on it, through writing like this. If you do notice some mistakes grammatically or anything just tell me through all my social media networking account like twitter/comments bellow or maybe emails me at hdimussqim@gmail.com . I would love to know anything like ideas/tips/anything from you guys. With that, thank you for reading!