Could this be real? What's the message conveyed?

The discovery of human skeletons of unbelievable, phenomenal size at the desert "Rab-Ul-Khalee" or the Empty Quarter in Saudia Arabia in 2004 still haunts some people, including me. There were many feedbacks and comments made on the discovery.

The Middle East, though to the very best they can tried to secure the news from leaking out, was of the opinion that these were the remainings of people of 'Ad (during the days of Prophet Hud A.S.) who were penalised by Allah for being arrogant and stubborn in accepting and embracing Islam. The Western, however, insisted that the pictures were hoax and linked them with some sort of propagandas, thus pointed their fingers to the Talibans, Jamaah Islamiah, Hamas... everybody... for faking the pictures.

Discovery made by the ARAMCO Exploration team

I don't care what these people said. I am more interested in looking at the pictures from a different perspective. Of course we can't simply swallow what is put in front of us without investigating its reliability. So I made some research. I went to the library and dug out some facts about human beings who lived thousands of years ago. Then I searched further on the history of the People of 'Ad. This is what I found:

Ancient people used to have a very long life span, for example, during the time of Prophet Shu'ib A.S. he lived for 254 years, Prophet Saleh A.S. 180 years, and Prophet Adam A.S. and Prophet Nuh A.S. each lived for 930 and 950 years respectively!!! Masya-Allah! This is amazing! With this very long life span, it is not possible that they have huge body frame.

Photo credit to Swamibu, taken from the flickr photostream.

Just look at the architecture of the pyramids  and sphinx in Egypt. I have been there myself when I visited Luxor and Cairo several years ago. And I marvelled at the art of the people who built them. The blocks are amazingly huge and I am sure they are heavy too, so the people back then must be of a very big size to be able to transport and erect these pyramids. 

This photo belongs to Eliseo Oliveras, taken from the
flickr ptohostream

And the statues of Pharaohs, they are also of big sizes, indicating the size of those people at that age back then. SubhanAllah! I used to read about giant from story books like "Jack and the Bean Stalk" but never had I imagined that such 'giant' really exist in this world!!!









Oh! by the way, have any of you had the opportunity to see for yourself the sword of our beloved Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. ? It's huge! I have witnessed it. To hold the sword and use it against the enemies would require energy, unless you are really really big and strong that the size of sword is not a problem to you. Even though the Prophet was not as big and tall as any other prophets before him, I posit that him and the people during his days were of much bigger size compared to us.

Back to the story of our Prophet Hud A.S., he lived for about 165 years. He was sent to disseminate da'wah to his people, the 'Ad, to stop worshipping lifeless and helpless statues they carved themselves and named 'Shada', 'Shamud' and 'Al-Hava'. He conveyed to them the warnings from Allah S.W.T. and the consequences if they refused Islam, but the people were so stubborn, so they challenged him to ask Allah to befall unto them what He has warned. So Allah S.W.T. sent down a terrible punishment as mentioned in Surah Al-Qamar...

"The 'Ad (people) also rejected (the Truth): Then how terrible was My penalty and My warning? For We sent against them a furious wind, on a day of violent disaster. Plucking out men as if they were roots of palm trees torn up (from the ground). Yes, how (terrible) has My penalty and warning! And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: Then is there any who will receive the teachings?"  Al-Qamar (54:[18-22])


We must look back at the history of the people before us as a reminder that those who strayed away from the true religion of Allah will be punished severely. And beware! Allah is patient and always gives us the opportunity to repent. He gives us warnings beforehand to remind us that we have sinned. He allows sufficient time for us to revoke, but it is us who failed to observe and realise the destructions that we have done to ourselves.

Even in the modern days we can still see the signs and warnings from Allah Almighty now and then. Let's not forget how Allah has reminded us of our sins through the fatal waves of tsunami in December 2004. It took only 10 minutes to eradicate more than 100,000 lives from the earth! And look at how Haiti being completely destroyed through the massive earthquake.  Flood in China. Hurricane in the USA. Volcano eruption in Iceland. Wildfire in australian desert. Prolonged draught in Darfur.  Astaghfirullah hal 'azhim! We are so weak and tiny in the eyes of Allah S.W.T.

Oh Allah the Almighty.... Please forgive us for all our wrongdoings!

May we all be protected from such disasters. Ameen.

Fatima Az-Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad S.A.W.

A very poor Bedouin came to see Muhammad (S.A.W.) in a very bad condition. He was starving and his clothes were all torn up. He greeted the Prophet and said,

"Ya Rasul Allah, I am so hungry and I am almost naked because this clothes I have is all worn up. Please give me something to eat and to cover myself."

Our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. is a very generous man. He always gave away what ever he has to help the others in need. But it so happened that at that time, he has nothing at all with him to give to the poor man.

"I don't have anything that I can give you. Go to my daughter and see if she can help."

And so the Bedouin went to Fatima Az'Zahra's house and said,

"I have just met your father. He has nothing to give me. Oh you daughter of the Prophet, please help me!"

Fatimah was confused. Even she didn't have any food in the house or clothing that she could give to the poor Bedouin. Whilst searching around, she saw her son, Hassan, sitting nearby on a goatskin rug. She took the rug and gave it to the Bedouin.

"Oh daughter of Muhammad, I came to you because I am starving and in need of clothes to cover myself. What good is this rug to me?" the poor man looked so sad.

Fatimah became more confused. What else can she give the man? Suddenly she remembered that she was wearing a necklace. It was a wedding gift from her grand uncle, Hamzah bin Abdul Muthalib.

"Here, take this. This is the only thing I can give you."

"Thank you, dear Fatimah. May Allah bless you." With this, the man left Fatimah with her necklace in his hand.

The necklace was valuable. It was expensive. It was a special gift. But Fatimah gave it away for the sake of Islam. Would we be willing to sacrifice our belongings to help others like what Fatimah did?



How do we (this means you and I) contribute and help our Muslim brothers and sisters out there who need our help? Do we care? Then what have we done for them?

Facts that non-Muslims are trying to ignore...

What happened when time goes so slow....?!?!??

I have to go back to my husband's hometown to attend a wedding reception. His cousin is getting married. I don't mind following him, but the truth is, I don't really know who the bride and bridegroom. They are not close to us. We only meet each other during Eid Mubarak celebration, and that is once a year. Sometimes, I didn't even meet the cousin's family.

The wedding reception was a joyous one. Everyone took the opportunity to meet and greet their families and  relatives because, honestly, we hardly find time to get together unless there is a specific occassion such as wedding, aqiqah, and such. To cut the story short, my husband was as excited as his cousin the bridegroom that he ordered us the get our things packed from night for he wanted so bad to reach his hometown as early as possible the next morning. We left our house in Kuala Lumpur and headed south to Melaka right after Subuh prayer. The journey took only about 2 to 2.5 hours, so by the time we reached Melaka, it was still early in the morning. There was this very popular stall by the road side serving nice and delicious breakfast about 10 minutes from my in laws' house. We stopped there and took our time to enjoy the food. Alhamdulillah...

Because the reception will start only at 12 noon and we reached early, I started to get a bit bored, not knowing what to do. Most of the works in preparation for the wedding were done and the relatives were just relaxing and eating and talking. What to do now? Gosh! I don't know what to do!!?? I regret it that in the midst of chaos to leave early I have forgotten to bring along some reading materials. I can't stare at the walls and ceilings for long. My eyes will pop out! Then I got this idea....

I took a small piece of paper, made a tiny hole, and stick the paper to the lense of camera of my handphone. I wanted to do an experiment with this old handphone camera..... and here are the results...!

Normal picture before experiment

The result...Taraaaa!!!!!

At least it's beautiful to my eyes.....

The background changed colour from light blue to dark green, I think maybe because there was not enough light fed into the camera

A test on my husband's nephew... isn't he chubby? LOL!

Another nephew of my husband eating cake

Some geese of the neighbour get themselves photographed as well!

An exquisite circle of love

I received this award unexpectedly from a wonderful sister Zarina Haseem in Johannesburg. Alhamdulillah! Thank you sis! I am so happy...

And in return, I'd like to share this award with my lovely sister Nadia Masood in Dubai. I really adore her blog!

Alhamdulillah. Suddenly I am flooded with new friends from around the world. May all of us become true muslimahs and be granted the strength to fight for Islam, Insya-Allah.

Another unexpected visitor!

Few nights ago I did not sleep well. My baby porcupine kept disturbing me on interval hours. At one time she wanted me to get her teddy for her as she can't sleep without it. So with both eyes shut, I climbed out of the bed and started searching for the missing teddy under her bed. The other time, she was singing softly right at my ear, just the way I used to do to make her sleep. so I told her I was already sleeping that there is no need to sing lullaby for me. When I tucked her in bed again, she complained that her finger is in terrible pain when in fact she has only a very tiny-miny bruise that is almost invisible. And finally, she asked for a bottle of milk...!  *sigh* I have to admit I was tired, but I never have the heart to scold this plumpy baby porcupine of mine, so, like it or not, I went downstairs to prepare the milk for her.

Naughty baby porcupine! She took her toys and drawings to bed and played alone when everyone else in the house was fast asleep. She was only asleep after a bottle of milk!

The moment I switched on the lights in the kitchen, I caught the glimpse of a mouse escaping through a gap under the back door. What!!??? A mouse in my kitchen??? Since when??? No! This can't be happening to me. I don't hate mice but I don't like them in my house either!

So the next day I told my husband of the discovery and we both agreed that mice could carry diseases and shouldn't be let into the house again.We were also worried that the mouse might have its offsprings somewhere in the house without us knowing it. So we bought a mouse trap to catch it. When night came, I put some leftover of a fried fish as bait in the trap and left it exactly in front of the gap under the door.

 As expected, the mouse made a night visit again into the kitchen and fell for the bait.













When morning came, the whole house, especially my baby porcupine, was so excited to see the mouse in the trap. The mouse was kind of cute. Yes, he's cute. *slap forehead* Not adorable, of course, but not ugly either.

Another problem arised. How to get rid of it? None of us were willing to kill it, so we handed it over to my maid to settle the problem. Later we went to work as usual and when we came back we never asked how she put an end to the poor mouse. I hope the problem is solved. Alhamdulillah. But the mouse reminded me of another unexpected visitor that once landed at the back door unknown to us how. I'll never forget that huge catfish!!!

Amazing Canvas of the Almighty

Before you go out to your destination (wherever it is), did you stop for a moment and look up to the sky and praise Allah for the amazing canvas He painted for you that very day? I do this only recently, and masya-Allah, I did not realise how beautiful the sky is all this while.

I have managed to capture some of the beautiful moments for us to share here. Some were taken in the morning, some afternoon, some at dawn, some on a bright sunshiny day, while others when it's about to rain. Aren't they beautiful? Well, I am amazed...

Masya-Allah, it's so beautifully carved.....

 

Harmony.

SubhanAllah! Allah is Great!

Windy and cheerful.

Alhamdulillah. Sunset at sea.

Allahu Akhbar! Allah is Almighty!

As fluffy as my pillow!

Dark cloud scares me. It reminds me of disasters like tornados, floods, volcano eruptions, etc.

So peaceful at heart...

Night is visiting soon!

Simply lovely.

Oh! What a hot day this is!

Gloomy feelings crept in... I am sleepy!

 

Angry and outrageous?

Good morning everyone!

Blessed! Alhamdulillah...

These are many more pictures, but let me just post these selected ones only. The big secret here is, all shots were taken from my old Nokia N70 handphone. There, no longer a secret anymore! Wish I own a good camera like Sister Nadia Masood from UAE, but in the mean time, N70 is more that sufficient for me.

Alhamdulillah...

Al-Hijama and the Isra' Mikraj

Wanna know what we both husband and wife did last week?

We detoxisified the dirty blood in our body using the traditional blood cupping! Sounds scary to some people especially those who are afraid of the sight of blood, but interesting and adventurous to us who were so curious to know how it feels like after the treatment!

Blood cupping (also known as Al-Hijama) is one of the Sunnahs of our beloved Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. On the night when Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. was ascended to the sky for Isra', he went through the process of blood cupping to clean and purify himself.  

 Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. said,

"I did not pass by any group of angels on the night of Al Isra', unless they said to me, O Muhammad, tell your Ummah to do Hijama."

(Reference: Ibn Majah, 3477)

The Prophet S.A.W. also said:

"If there is anything good in the medicines with which you treat yourselves, it is in the incision of the Hijama therapist, or a drink of honey or cauterization with fire, but I do not like to be cauterized."

(Reference: Muslim, 2205).

Muslim believers are encouraged to experience the blood cupping at least once in a life time. It is said that blood cupping is able to prevent from 93 critical/cronic illness! Masya-Allah!  You can read more of the information on Hijamah here in English language and here in Malay language.

  

The traditional cupping practitioner, who perfers to be known as Embong, has been helping people with various health problem for many years ever since he is a young lad. For each cupping session he will set a reasonable charge, depending on the number of cups used and the seriousness of the health problem. He told us that dirty (bad) blood creates lots of health problem, and that the most feared one is stroke. This dirty blood is restored under the skin surface and does not flow together within the clean (good) blood in the blood vessels. Gradually, it will become toxin that harms your body. 

First step is to suck out air from the cup using a special pump. When this is done, the cup will be attached to the scalp, it could not be removed easily, as if it is glued to the scalp. After a few minutes, a huge 'bump' will emerge in the cup due to the sucking effect. Embong will then remove the cup, make nine tiny wound using a sharp blade and then put the cup back on the scalp and suck the air out again.

Within a few seconds, the dirty blood will come out from the tiny wound made. Irrespective of how much dirty blood you store in your body, it will be sucked out slowly but effectively through the process.

So how do you decide if it is a dirty blood? If your blood colour is dark, brownish red and it has a thick texture, then that is dirty blood. Good blood (clean) should contain more hemoglobin and oxygen, which is reflected in its brighter (lighter) red colour. For comparison, the colour of dirty blood is like the one in the cup, and the colour of a clean blood should be similar to the colour of the shirt sleeve.

Once when the cup is about a quarter to half full, it is removed and replaced with new cup. My husband has to change the cup for seven times! Can you see the jelly look alike blood clot? Eww! Nasty!

In the seventh (last) cup, Embong spotted some white bubbles coming out and accumulated in the cup. He told us this is the worst toxin that could ever exist in our body. He was glad he has been able to suck it out. The white bubbles can be related to many health complications, especially migraine, high blood pressure, severe headache, and many more. Can you see the dustbin with blood discharge from the cup at the bottom left of the picture?

Next is to suck the dirty blood from other various parts of the body, starting with the back, chest, stomach, and further down to the pair of legs. Same procedure took place here, except that this time razor blade is no longer used on the skin. 

After a minute, this is how it looked like.

Cupping procedure done at the back of the body.

About an hour afterwards, the session completed for the back of the body.  Can you see some circles darker than the others? According to Embong, the darker spots represent problematic areas within the body. Examples are back pain, high cholestrol level, bad fat compositions, etc.

My husband resting for a while before the session continued with his legs. Our maid was so scared to see these blood circles on his body that she refused to come closer. The fact is, though it looks bloody awful, the process is almost painless.

Cupping revealed cholestrol problem on the left chest (near the heart).

And finally, cupping at the neck areas as prevention to avoid stroke and heart attack that could either cause paralysis or death.

I went through the cupping process too, but in a closed session handled by Embong's wife. Nevertheless, the dirty blood that came out of my body is not as much as my husband's. Embong said women discharge their dirty blood on monthly basis through their menstrual period, so it is not surprising even if no blood come out at all during the cupping process. On the contrary, men do not have any alternative to naturally dispose their dirty blood accumulated in the body. That is why the rate of men getting severe illness or dying at young age is higher compared to women. Hmmm....How I feel blessed becoming a woman! You should try it too, one day. It's not a painful process at all, I promise.

Three days after the cupping session, here is my husband's observation and comment:

1. No more serious headache

2. Body feels lighter and energetic

3. He feels happier and more organised in planning

4. Better appetite

5. Clearer sight (eye vision)

6. Calm and peaceful

7. No more mood swing and bad temper

As for me, I am much happier now. No heavy, sleepy head in the morning because there is no more sleepless ordeal at nights. No more fatigue. Also, at this point of time, I have not experienced any migraine yet, and hopefully it will be gone forever. I can concentrate more on my study now.

Alhamdulillah.

Mission accomplished.