It was LITERALLY like Supermarket Sweep! Only 30mins per customer. I stuck to the list for about 5mins before I started grabbing whatever I could. By the 20th minute, they were already making an announcement for green tag holders to go to the cashier counter. I was racing shopping trolleys with aunties and braders in tracksuits. A good workout AND I also got Gardenia bread. I need to lie down now.
Yesterday, I received the sad news from my cousin Bernie that my Auntie Doreen Regis née Castillo, passed away in her sleep. For nearly a year she had been having asthma medicine to help her breathing because her lungs were getting weak. She was also suffering from dementia and had been staying at a nursing home for 8 years in Sydney.
Bernie said that for the last 5 years she was alive but not living because she was bedridden, unable to walk and talk. Auntie Doreen was my late mom's closest sister. She was the most generous and one of the kindest souls I've ever known. She always made others happy, and she'll always be part of many of my happiest childhood memories; school holidays at her home in Singapore, trips to Penang and the times she came over with my cousins Bernie and Vicky to stay at our place in JB. She even used to help us out financially.
The last time I got to see her was some 9 years ago in Singapore and I smile when I think about how she still remembered my name despite her failing memory (far left in the pic here). You will always be loved, Auntie Doreen.
Hari Pendaftaran dan Taklimat. Kursus Pengajian Al-Quran, Akademi Pengajian Islam, UM. Class begins next week. Insya Allah 😊👍
Note: Classes were postponed indefinitely in March when the pandemic hit. A few months later, the course recommenced, but classes were held on Zoom :(
I first got to know about Malcom X thru my African American Ulum Al Quran lecturer who became a controversial figure herself later on. She lent me his biography and it was a crash course on Islam in America for me.
This was a man who went from being a convicted felon to a fiery influencer for the Nation of Islam. But he was also misled by a false prophet. He found a different path, but was eventually murdered.
The documentary is currently airing on Netflix. It's an absorbing watch, to say the least.
End of Part 1 of today's excellent seminar on Art of Differing: The Prophetic Approach In Managing Conflicts with Sheikh Hasib Noor.
Some notes to share:
If He wanted to, Allah could have made of us all one ummah.
Differing is normal and permissible vs division. We agree on objective but can differ on how to achieve it.
But Differing must go back to evidence. The effects of Differing must be mercy.
Our Prophet teaches us the multiplicity of reward.
