28 December 2008

Happy New Year 1430H and 2009



“Bismilla …..

Kepada Tuhan yang Maha Kuasa ku persembahkan segala-gala yang telah ku buat ditahun yang telah berlalu dan apa yang akan dibuat ditahun-tahun baharu. Kalau kejahatan mengatasi kebajikan dimasa yang telah lampau ku pohonkan semoga kebajikan bertambah ditahun baharu.

Kepada Kau, Tuhanku, ku persembahkan kesyukuran dan lautan terima kasih. Tak ada kejayaan yang telah ku perolehi kalau tidak dengan pertolongan dan keizinan Kau. Dari Mu ku masih dan akan selama-lama meminta pertolongan. Moga-moga Kau tak akan menghampakan permintaan ku yang suci.

Dengan adanya Engkau wujudnya aku didunia. Kepada Kau aku akan kembali. Saksama dan rahmat ialah yang aku pandang-pandang kan .
Amin”

That transcript was written fifty years ago today on the first page of Pak Cik’s Diary: Thursday 01-01-1959. (equiv. Hijrah 20.06.1378 )



I can still vividly imagine sitting alone in my room at 152, Herrick Road somewhere in the Midlands . The feeling of loneliness pervades me even as I was transcribing this today. It was cold, very cold in that room in a house without central heating. The use of an electric heater was too expensive for a student. It was loneliness living in a house with fellow students, none I could share my feeling with conversing in Malay language. By then I had been two years in that house enjoying an international company, eating foods prepared by an elderly English landlady. “Fish for you today, Hassan,” means everyone else was enjoying what I told her I could not take as Muslim. “You should try this, Hassan. Mrs Robertson is good at this, you know,” one or two at the table would tease me. Let me not dwell on this unpleasant subject.

You, children of Almanar. Pak Cik thought those words of prayers out when I was at about the same age as you who are at university today. I am proud to have those diaries of my yester-years. I look back and evaluate whether or not I have lived my life the way I promised myself fifty years ago. My above prayers tell me a lot of things, my success, my failure, where I have gone wrong and what little good I have achieved, and is there no room for improvement? If you make no effort to write down what you do and how you feel today, you will have lost the opportunity that one day you can look back and take pride, or bow your head with shame, in what has transpired in your life. Pak Cik said it all in those short prayers 50 years ago and I can say I have very little regret. He has answered my prayers.

To all of you I wish a happy new year, 1430 and 2009.






Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.







13 comments:

Kak Teh said...

Abang Ngah and Kak Mah, Salam Maal Hijrah to you both and may Allah reward you for your dedication and efforts to help others. I have a little tribute for Al-Manar in my blog.
Your entry here, again, is a good way to share your experience with your students. There are certainly many ways to do it, if we want to, kan? They are very lucky to have you.

Anonymous said...

I want to write something but I cannot do it now. I am so touched by what you write.

Azmiera

Al-Manar said...

Zaharah
We can never thank you enough
Love from us

Al-Manar said...

Azmiera,
Pak Cik wonder where the rest of your group are. I am told the SPM results will be released in March, three more months of sleepless nights. Do not forget to ask the rest of the gang to keep Pak Cik posted. I have sleepless nights all the time. Tomorrow, PMR results! Someone is sure to come to Almanar tomorrow afternoon looking for a shoulder to cry on. No one says ‘poor Pak Cik’ or ‘Mak Cik’ for that matter. Thank you Azmiera.

ARZ said...

I was 9 years old when you penned the doa in that cold room in UK. What a great doa - certainly one that can guide others as well.
You can certainly look back at all those wonderful years you have left behind, I'm sure with little regrets.
The only diary I have now are in my blog. A regret.
I read somewhere that if life is worth living, it's worth writing about.

Al-Manar said...

ARZ

There is no point regretting over what we have not done. I have my wonderful years, certainly not without ups and downs, and so have you, I am certain. Let us make the best of the opportunity we have right now lest we will regret it tomorrow. Your cycling prowess is something very special, something I envy, and you are a professional trainer as well. You know best how to turn that into something beneficial for our young ones. Happy cycling into the new year

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I am sorry pak cik, I don't know where the rest of al-manar students are. Insya-Allah I'll find out what they are doing now. I am sure some of them must be working to earn some money, just like me.
Pak Cik, please don't stop what you're doing now because our community really needs a person like you pak cik. I love to tell about you to my family especially my brother.
Last week he viewed your blog and he was proud of you. He had never met a person like you.
-AZMIERA-.

izah hamid said...

Salam, Pak Cik

Thanks a lot for helping and assisting the potential kampung kids to be successful people in the future.

I wasn't one of al-Manar students, but i'm proud of what you are doing.


Whenever i come home for holiday, i'll find the time to drive passing Nuri and al-Manar, just to look at the environment. Many people talk about your good deed.

How i always wished to study there, i didn't get the chance as i was studying in a boarding school then.

Your blog is the main source of motivation for me whenever i feel stressed out in teaching.

Thank you, Pak Cik

Anonymous said...
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Al-Manar said...

Izah
Your good UPSR results earned you a place at a boarding school and you have succeeded from there to be what you are. Those who join Almanar are the less fortunate ones, needing a second chance. You did not have a deed for that.Good luck to you in your work.

Zendra-Maria said...

Salam Sheikh. Having gone through your blog after just discovering it this morning, I'm simply amazed at what you are doing, Masya Allah. I feel small just thinking how I often while my time away.

I'm inspired by the doa you wrote eons ago. May I reproduce it in my writings, perhaps sometime in the future, Insya Allah? Don't worry, I'll provide a link to your blog. I'm just trying my hand at blogging actually.

May Allah bless you and yours always.

Al-Manar said...

Zendra
Welcome to my world. You are free to reproduce any parts you choose. Blogging is a good pastime if you have the time to spare for a start and the material to write. Good luck to you. I will certainly visit your blog. The e-mail address on my blog will get you to me if you need to say something or ask for particulars not meant for open discussion.