Gliese 581g: An extrasolar planet sitting in a "habitable zone"

Okay - so astronomers are getting close. Up until the mid-1990s, we did not have any confirmed detection of planets outside our Solar system. And now the number is close to 500 planets (and in the mean time we even managed to take away the planetary status of one of our own planets. Pluto is still a planet, Dammit! :) ). But then all of the detections were of planets much bigger than the Earth, with most of them orbiting close to their parent stars (this was mostly the consequence of the wobble detection technique being used - the parent star wobbles because of the tug from a big planet, orbiting close by).

Now astronomers have detected a planet, Gliese 581g, only three times the mass of the Earth and located smack in the middle of the habitable zone. Habitable zone only means that the planet is orbiting at a distance where water can potentially exist in liquid form. And water, we think, is essential for life.

Very cool! We are not talking about any intelligent lifeforms here - but simply the potential of simple life (though, of course, it would be absolutely amazing if there was complex life there - but we can't say any thing about it from the information we have).

Couple of quick things: This is the sixth planet discovered orbiting the star Gliese 581 (yes, such names are very sexy for astronomers) - in fact this is the most planets discovered (so far) around a star other than the Sun. Gliese 581 is located only 20 light years form us or about 200 trillion kms (crap - it sounds much closer in light years - so lets stick with that).

But here is the cool thing (literally). Gliese 581 is a red dwarf - which means that it is relatively cooler than the Sun (couple of thousand degrees on the surface, versus 6000 degrees for the Sun). The newly discovered planet, Gliese 581g, is quite close to its parent star and it takes only 37 days to make one full orbit. One consequence of this is that the planet is tidally-locked with its star - i.e. the same side of the planet always faces the star and the other star never sees any light from the star (our Moon is tidally locked with the Earth - this is the reason we only see the same side of the Moon from the Earth - and thus Pink Floyd could come up with their cool album name).

Here is a schematic of the habitable zone before the discovery of Gliese 581g. It would sit smack in between the planets c and d:


So can there be life on a planet - where there is perpetual light on one side and perpetual darkness on the other? Very hot on one side and very cold on the other. We don't know (yet). Some have speculated that the border between the shadow and light may be a good place for life to originate and evolve. One can also imagine local terrestrial features, such as mountains, cracks, or crevices that may shield organisms from the blazing heat and may provide a suitable environment to thrive.

Okay, we'll have to eventually take a field trip there. But this is certainly the first of many planets discovered that will be good candidates for hosting other lifeforms.

Read the press release here and a story from the Washington Post here. If you are interested in Gliese 581, you can more information here.

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Lesson 83: Why Do Bee Sometimes Become Defensive?

DavidSheriNew
Hello! We are David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois, beekeepers helping other beekeepers. Thanks for stopping in and checking out another beekeeping lesson. We now have 83 lessons on beekeeping for you to better equip yourself to be a great beekeeper and enjoy it more, too.

I have been asked so many times why a hive that has been very gentle all year, can suddenly become more defensive. In today’s lesson we’ll look at some of the reasons why this may happen, and what you can do to be more prepared. But first let me give a few updates on what’s been going on here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms.

Sheri and I had a great time speaking to our granddaughter, Sarah's second grade class on beekeeping recently. We even took a small observation hive with a marked queen. Wow, the kids loved spotting the queen and watching the bees walk around in the hive. This is always a great opportunity to plant the seed for young people to one day keep bees.
class 



 We are having a great response to our candy boards. We feel this is of paramount importance to place a candy board on hives by December 22 to assist the bees and possibly prevent the colony from starving to death. We even can place a pollen patty within the candy to help preserve the pollen patty until the bees eat through the candy. Our candy boards are in big demand so you should place your order immediately and expect a two week wait. We have designed a webpage that answers commonly asked questions about our candy boards. CLICK HERE TO ORDER!

LESSON 83: Why Do Bees Become Defensive?

It is not unusual for us to hear from beekeepers about their hives becoming more defensive than when they were first installed. There are many factors to consider about why this may happen, and today I want to share common reasons and what you might do to be prepared or prevent it when possible.

Install9 When a beekeeper installs a package, a 3 pound package usually contains around 10,000 bees, a small number. And that small number is very enjoyable to work with and is easily managed. As a hive grows in population, the bees can seem or appear to be more defensive. Let’s say that .03% of the hive is defensive. Out of 10,000 bees that would mean 3 bees are defensive. But later in the year, that same .03% would mean that 24 bees are defensive. So the same percentage of bees may be guarding the hive, but it is simply a larger hive now.

Also, the alarm pheromone known as isopentyl acetate is a chemical the bees produce to excite other bees to the intrusion. The more bees, the more pheromone response.
Obviously this does not mean that all large hives are defensive. It simply means that they may respond differently than a very small hive.
There are times however, when a hive does change and is more defensive.

QUEEN REPLACEMENT
Pioneer Queens If a colony replaces its queen and she mates with drones that have a more defensive nature, then the entire hive can become more defensive. So the gentle nature of your bees can change every time a new queen is introduced to the hive. Unless you mark your queens, you may not know if the original queen has been replaced.

THREATS TO THE HIVE
If a hive is continually annoyed it can cause the colony to become defensive. For example, if a skunk is bothering the bees at night, they may become very defensive in the day.

A skunk approaches the hive at night and grabs a handful of bees and chews them, drawing out all the nutrients, and then spits out all the bees. It looks like a wad of chewing tobacco made up of bee parts. A skunk may stay at the entrance of a hive for over an hour eating bees. Skunks are insectivorous and love to eat bees straight from the hive. As a result, the bees become very annoyed and defensive even during the day. To stop skunks, raise the hive higher so skunks will have to stand to reach in and the bees will sting her tender underside.

Signs of a skunk: Grass in front of hive the is smashed down or scratched up. The entrance of the hive can show signs of being scratched as well. Wads of compacted chewed up bee parts lying around the front of the hive.

Other threats to a hive can be vandalism. Rocks thrown at a hive or hives hit with sticks can become defensive.

MORE TO PROTECT
As a colony increases in size they will have more stored honey and more brood to protect. This usually will result in the bees being more protective of their valued resources. You want larger colonies with more resources! It just means you’ll have to use more smoke and be sure to suit up if your bees are more protective.

UNPLEASANT WEATHER
I’m cranky in unpleasant weather, and bees are too. During rainy days bees are generally more defensive, as well as in the evening and at night. Bees can also sting more during a dearth or a long period of extremely hot and humid weather.

AFRICANIZED BEES
The final example I want to share is Africanized bees. If you live in an area that has a high occurrence of Africanized bees, and your hive decides to replace its own queen, she could mate with Africanized drones. The disposition of the colony would be noticeably different than that of regular defensive European bees. Africanized bees (AHB) are extremely touchy, sting in higher number, and pursue the beekeeper longer.

WHAT TO DO WHEN A HIVE BECOMES MORE DEFENSIVE
When a colony becomes too defensive and too hot to handle, it is best to requeen the hive. Purchase a new queen from us. After 45 days all of the bees in the hive will be daughters and sons, of the new, gentle queen.
Sometimes the male drone bee is recruited to chase off intruders. Though a drone does not have a stinger, he is louder when flying and can intimidate the intruded by bumping into the intruder and buzzing loudly.
If you’ve solved all possible problems and your bees are not Africanized but they are still a bit defensive, you will simply have to conclude that bees are bees and take the follow steps:
1. Work bees during a nectar flow. There are less bees in the hive.
2. Work bees on a bright sunny day.
3. Work bees during foraging hours (10am – 3pm).
4. Wear white, not dark clothing.
5. Always use a smoker!
6. Be very gentle but determined in your movements in the hive. Work as in slow motion.

Thanks for joining us for another beekeeping lesson. Remember our main website is: www.honeybeesonline.com
Here’s our contact information:

Website:
www.honeybeesonline.com
Email:
david@honeybeesonline.com
Phone: 217-427-2678

Address: Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841








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Restrepo: An unflinching look at the Afghan war

I had a chance to see the documentary Restrepo today. It is about the current war in Afghanistan and it follows one US Battle Company for 15 months - from its deployment in 2007 to its leave - in the Korangal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. Is it great film-making? Probably not. However, this provides a unflinching look at the Afghan war (and the war, in general) and I really liked it. It is made by war photographer Tim Hetherington and author Sebastian Junger - who followed the Company for 15-months. There are many fire-fights in the film, as this Company came under fire almost daily. But these fire-fights are real and not staged or acted. It is an haunting film. There is no real narrative arc (apart from the 15-month duty of the Company) nor is there a voice-over from the director. Instead, you only get to hear the voices of the soldiers.

There are many ways to talk about the film. But I will make only couple of points here: It is interesting that we (and the US soldiers) never see the enemy fighters. They do shoot at the targets, but apart from one instance, they don't see the individual they are shooting at. This is perhaps the nature of the modern war that even when you are face-to-face, you can't see the face of the enemy.

For me the most fascinating part of the film was the meeting of US soldiers with the local Shura of the elders. The elders were all very old - and the US soldiers were all very young. In fact, there is a whole lifetime written on the faces of the elders. Most elders had long beards, red with henna, and many of them with only a few teeth left in their mouths. These shura sessions in the film highlight the communication gap between the US troops and the local Afghans - and one of the reasons why the war has been going the way it has been going.

If you are interested in understanding the Afghan war (not necessarily the politics behind it), or if you want to see the impact of such conflicts on individuals, or if you want to have some idea of the tough terrain at the Afghan-Pakistan border, then check out Restrepo.

Here is the trailer of the film:

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Lirik : Rapuh

Hati itu Al-Qalb.
Qalaba dari segi bahasa bermaksud perbuatan memutar atau menerbalikkan.
Dan seperti itulah hati.
Hati sangat mudah berbolak-balik.
Hati sangat amat tidak dapat dijangka.
Hati itu rapuh.
Kerana itu kita perlu memeliharanya.

hati yang rapuh




Kebelakangan ini hati ini merasakan ketidakstabilan yang melampau-lampau.
Nafsu mengatakan "Ya!"
Namun diri ini mengetahui bahawa iman mengatakan, "Aku menderita!"
Namun ia hanya dikeTAHUi, tidak dapat diRASAi.
Apakah ini indikasi hati mula mengeras?
Na'uzubillah min zaalik...

Wahai hati, takutlah akan Suu Al-Khotimah...
Tidak ingatkah kau akan sabda Nabi,

Demi Allah Yang tiada Tuhan melainkanNya, sesungguhnya salah seorang dari kalangan kamu akan beramal dengan amalan ahli syurga, sehingga jarak antaranya dan syurga tidak lebih dari sehasta, lalu dia didahului oleh ketentuan tulisan kitab lantas
dia mengerjakan amalan ahli neraka lalu dia memasuki neraka..
[H.R. Bukhari dan Muslim]
Allah...
Ampuni kami ya-Allah...
Hati kami rapuh ya-Allah...
Selalu kami bertaubat..
Namun kami sering kembali bermaksiat..
Kami tahu Engkau Maha Mengetahui isi hati kami
Namun kami tetap mengatakan yang kami bukan melakukannya kerana sombong kepada-Mu
Tetapi kerana hati kami yang rapuh ini tidak kuat melawan kehendak nafsu yang ditunggangi syaitan.

Kuatkan kami ya-Allah
Kembali mencintai-Mu
Kembali mencari redha-Mu
Dengan pengembalian yang sesungguh-sungguhnya.

Terimalah ya-Allah..
Terimalah...



Artist : Opick
Lirik Lagu : Opick - Rapuh
Opick - Rapuh

detik waktu terus berjalan
berhias gelap dan terang
suka dan duka tangis dan tawa
tergores bagai lukisan

seribu mimpi berjuta sepi
hadir bagai teman sejati
di antara lelahnya jiwa
dalam resah dan air mata
kupersembahkan kepadaMu
yang terindah dalam hidup

meski ku rapuh dalam langkah
kadang tak setia kepadaMu
namun cinta dalam jiwa
hanyalah padaMu

maafkanlah bila hati
tak sempurna mencintaiMu
dalam dadaku harap hanya
diriMu yang bertahta

detik waktu terus berlalu
semua berakhir padaMu
p/s: Duhai teman...doakan aku. Kumohon, doakan.

~End Of Post~

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Is money the answer for universities? The Pakistan experiment

Lack of funding is often cited as a cause for low research and education standards in the developing world. Well, Pakistan this notion has now been challenged by Pakistan's experiment in higher education. From 2002-2008, Pakistan's budget for higher education increased 900% (no - this is not a typo) - with 474% just in 2002-2003 alone. It also led to the formation of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, now it all seems to have crashed down - and funding has again petered out. So what did we learn from this experiment?

This week's nature has an editorial and an article on the Pakistan's boom and bust cycle. Pervez Hoodbhoy also has an opinion piece for Dawn on the same topic.

So should we look at it? Was this enormous increase of funding good or bad for the Pakistani education system? The verdict is decidedly mixed. This level of funding provided opportunities for building institutes and for buying research equipment previously considered unaffordable. Similarly, numerous monetary incentives were given to improve publication records and to increase the number of PhDs in the country. However, many of these institutes remain unbuilt, either because of university mismanagement or because of the current security situation. There is anecdotal evidence that some of the research instruments bought were of no use for the faculty at the relevant university*. Similarly, publications were often just for the sake of monetary incentives (by either publishing in obscure journals - or, in some cases, there were also charges of plagiarism) and the same was true for churning out PhDs. The check for quality was missing. From Nature:
But critics say that the numbers don't tell the entire story. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, was initially supportive of Rahman's plans, but grew increasingly sceptical. One day in 2005, he opened his newspaper to discover that his university had bought a particle accelerator. "I rubbed my eyes and said, 'This can't be true'," says Hoodbhoy, who was head of the physics department at the time. The accelerator, an obscure device known as a pelletron, was ordered at the behest of other physicists at the university without a clear idea of how it would be used. "That machine has arrived, it's working perfectly, and for the last year and a half since it's been installed, it hasn't been used," he says.

The incident highlights how the flood of cash has led to profligacy, and ultimately to corruption, says Hoodbhoy, who is now one of the most outspoken critics of Rahman's plan. "I began to smell fish, and then it turned out there was a lot of fish." Among other problems, Hoodbhoy says that professors have enrolled PhD students simply for the cash stipends they can claim, that plagiarism has increased and that standards have dropped.
There is anecdotal evidence to support his claims. In 2007, the HEC cut off funding to the University of the Punjab in Lahore after administrators refused to take action against faculty members and students who were caught plagiarising. Salal Humair, a public-health scientist at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, a private university, says he has heard of many cases of professors enrolling PhD students for the money. "I think there was a lot of manipulation to try and get HEC funds," says Humair. The money "bred a culture of plagiarism and a culture of, I would say, incompetent PhDs".
Even the new tenure-track system, designed to boost funding for the best of Pakistan's academics, has shown signs of corruption. Irfan Chaudhry, an electrical engineer at the University of Engineering & Technology in Lahore, who returned to Pakistan from the United States in 2008 on an HEC grant, says that he saw many professors playing the system. For example, says Chaudhry, a certain number of peer-reviewed publications are required to qualify for the tenure-track system. But many researchers "were publishing in completely random journals that were published in Lahore or somewhere like that. They definitely got around it."
So what to make of all this experiment? I think the intentions were good. This program started under Musharraf - despite his other hideous actions, credit goes to him for this - and he picked Ata-ur-Rahman, perhaps, the best choice that he had. But then you run into other realities. In the absence of a general scientific culture, it is unrealistic to change the quality of education and research simply by the injection of more cash. Funding is indeed essential - but it has to come with severe checks and balances. I realize that this is easier to say this in hindsight. Perhaps, the development of few institutes with high quality (both for education and for research) may not have dramatically increase the numbers of publications and PhDs, but it would have provided a foundation for the next generation of researchers. Similarly, there has to be an effort to improve education at all levels - and not just at the universities. There are no short-cuts. India and China are not doing well because they suddenly turned a corner. Instead, a long-term belief in the quality of institutions, like the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology), are now paying off.

I don't think it is smart to drastically cut-off the funding for higher education in Pakistan - something that has been done by the current government. The Nature editorial correctly observes that "[i]n a country where only half the population can read, higher education does not have strong support from voters, but politicians must recognize its value. They should look to neighbours such as India and China, which have made large investments in higher education as part of their broader development". It then calls for the World Bank and other donors to step in and help with education funding at a time floods, recession, and internal turmoil in Pakistan. But for any meaningful progress, education institutes must maintain high quality and the government should ensure a long-term commitment.

Read the Nature article here, the editorial here, and the opinion piece by Pervez Hoodbhoy here.

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Tazkirah : Belajar Daripada Kesalahan Sendiri

Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda yang maksudnya: "Seorang mukmin tidak akan jatuh ke dalam satu lubang dua kali." Riwayat Bukhari & Muslim

Berbuat kesalahan tidak menjadi aib jika dilakukan sekali sahaja lalu bertaubat setelah itu. Tetapi ia menjadi aib apabila dilakukan dua kali, apatahlagi berkali-kali. Keterlanjuran perlu diusahakan untuk tidak diulangi.


1. Apa Yang Harus Kita Pelajari Daripada Kesalahan Yang Pernah Kita Lakukan?

a) Menyedari kesempurnaan hanya milik Allah sehingga menyebabkan kita rendah hati dan tawadhu’di depan Allah. Lalu memahami hikmah mengapa manusia melakukan dosa.
Rasulullah bersabda :
“Seandainya kamu tidak berbuat dosa, maka aku mengkhawatirkan akan terjadi padamu sesuatu yang lebih parah daripada dosa, iaitu bangga diri (sombong).” (As-Shahihah: 1382)

b) Dengan kesalahan yang dilakukan, menyebabkan dirinya lebih bijaksana dan santun menghadapi kesalahan orang lain.

c) Menyedari tanpa rahmat dan taufiq daripada Allah SWT, dia tidak akan dapat keluar daripada kancah kemaksiatan, sehingga dia akan sentiasa memperbaiki sikap dan perilakunya agar mendapat limpahan rahmat dan taufiq daripada Allah.
“Aku tidak bermaksud kecuali (mendatangkan) perbaikan selama aku masih berkesanggupan. Dan tidak ada taufik bagiku melainkan dengan (pertolongan) Allah. Hanya kepada Allah aku bertawakkal dan hanya kepada-Nya-lah aku kembali .” [Q.S. Hud, 11:88]

2. Mengapa Kita Mengulang-Ulangi Kesalahan Yang Sama?

a) Seseorang akan mudah mengulang kesalahan dan dosa yang pernah dilakukan sebagai satu hukuman daripada Allah SWT atas kesalahan yang pernah dilakukannya. Sebahgian ulama’ salaf berkata : 
“Sesungguhnya di antara hukuman atas keburukan adalah keburukan setelahnya. Sesungguhnya di antara balasan kebaikan adalah kebaikan setelahnya." (Al-Jawabul Kafi: 60)
Bermakna, seseorang hamba akan dipermudahkan untuk melakukan kemaksiatan yang kedua sebagai balasan atas kemaksiatannya yang pertama, dan begitulah sebaliknya untuk kebaikan.
“Dan balasan sesuatu kejahatan adalah kejahatan yang serupa.” [Q.S. Asy-Syuura, 42:40]

b) Antara tabiat dosa adalah adanya tarikan antara satu dosa dengan dosa yang lain. Ibnu Qayyim berkata:
“Kemaksiatan akan menanamkan kemaksiatan yang sejenisnya, sebahagiannya akan melahirkan sebagian yang lain sehingga sangat sulit bagi seorang hamba untuk meninggalkannya. Apabila seorang hamba melakukan dosa, maka dosa yang akan berkata, “Lakukanlah aku juga.” Apabila ia melakukannya, dosa yang ketiga pula berkata, “Lakukanlah aku juga.” Begitulah seterusnya sehingga kerungian akan belipat kali ganda dan dosa-dosa akan semakin bertambah." (Al-Jawabul Kahfi: 61)

Dosa bagaikan magnet yang menarik dosa yang lain untuk dilakukan

c) Dengan berlakunya keterlanjuran, maka syaitan telah mengetahui kelemahan dan celah untuk menggoda dan memperdauainya. Lalu syaitan akan lebih bersemangat untuk menggodanya agar mengulangi kesilapan yang sama berkali-kali.
“Dosa itu mengelilingi hati, tidak ada suatu pandangan melainkan syaitan akan bercita-cita untuk memanfaatkannya." (Ash-Shahihah: 3660)

d) Nafsu syahwat akan menuntut sesuatu yang lebih daripada seseorang yang cuba menuruti sebahagian daripada nafsunya.

e) Tidak ada balasan langsung atas kesilapan yang dilakukan sehingga dia berani untuk terus mengulanginya. Seperti yang berlaku kepada orang musyrik yang terus-menerus mengingkari Al-Quran kerana tiada azab yang diturunkan kepada mereka.
Dan (ingatlah), ketika mereka (orang-orang musyrik) berkata: "Ya Allah, jika betul (Al Quran) ini, dialah yang benar dari sisi Engkau, maka hujanilah kami dengan batu dari langit, atau datangkanlah kepada kami azab yang pedih." [Q.S. Al-Anfal, 8:32]

f) Tidak menyedari bahawa dosa yang dilakukannya adalah suatu dosa. Seseorang perlu belajar untuk mengetahui perbuatan apa yang perlu dilakukan dan yang perlu ditinggalkannya. Seorang ahli hikmah berkata, “Jika engkau tidak tahu bahawa itu dosa, maka itu adalah bencana. Jika engkau tahu bahawa itu adalah dosa namun engkau tetap melakukannya, maka itu adalah bencana yang lebih besar lagi.”


3. Mengapa Kita Tidak Boleh Mengulang-Ulangi Kesalahan Yang Sama

a) Akan menjadi kebiasaan dan sangat sukar untuk ditinggalkan. Ulama’ berkata, “Pandangan adalah awal dari segala kemaksiatan yang menimpa seseorang. Kerana pandangan akan melahirkan lintasan fikiran, lintasan fikiran akan melahirkan idea, idea akan melahirkan keinginan, keinginan akan melahirkan kehendak, kehendak akan menguat menjadi tekad, dan tekad akan menghantarkannya kepada perbuatan dosa, dan perbuatan dosa ini akan menjadikan seseorang itu terbiasa melakukannya sehingga sangat sukar untuk meninggalkannya.”

Jadi, menahan diri tatkala kemaksiatan itu baru sekali dilakukan adalah lebih mudah daripada setelah berkali-kali dilakukan, dan menahan diri akan lebih mudah jika ia masih sekadar sebuah keinginan. Seorang ulama berkata, “ Bersabar untuk menundukkan pandangan jauh lebih mudah daripada bersabar atas penderitaan jiwa yang terjadi setelahnya.” (Al-Jawabul Kahfi: 153-165)

b) Menghantarkan seseorang kepada Suuh Khatimah. Seringkali seseorang mati dalam keadaan melakukan kemaksiatan yang biasa dilakukannya. Seorang ulama berkata, “Barangsiapa terbiasa melakukan sesuatu, dia akan mati di saat melakukan perbuatan tersebut.” (Al-Jawabul Kahfi: 167)

c) Menghitam-legamkan hati sehingga tidak mahu menerima kebenaran. Sabda Rasulullah,
“Sesungguhnya seseorang mukmin itu apabila melakukan sesuatu dosa, maka titk hitam muncul di hatinya. Jika dia bertaubat, meinggalkan dosan dan beristighfar, maka hatinya akan kembali bergemerlap. Jika ia melakukan dosa lagi, maka titik hitam itu bertambah lagi sehingga hatinya tetutup oleh noda hitam yang disebutkan Allah SWT dalam firman-Nya:
Sekali-kali tidak (demikian), sebenarnya apa yang selalu mereka usahakan itu menutupi hati mereka. [Al-Muthaffifin, 83:14]

d) Dosa-dosa kecil yang berulang-ulang menjadi dosa besar. Dosa besar yang berulang-ulang akan mengakibatkan pelakunya terjerumus kepada kekafiran, kerana telah terbiasa melakukannya dan akhirnya beriktikad bahawa dosa-dosanya itu sesuatu yang halal.

4. Bagaimana Agar Tidak Mengulang-Ulangi Kesalahan Yang Sama?

a) Segera bertaubat untuk memotong mata rantai dosa dan mengiringi perbuatan dosa dengan kebaikan yang akan menghapuskannya. Rasulullah SAW bersabda,
“Apabila kamu berbuat dosa, maka lakukanlah kebaikan (untuk menghapuskannya)” [H.R. Baihaqi]

b) Memperkuat azam untuk memperbaiki diri. Penyebab utama seseorang menjadi lemah di hadapan dosa-dosa adalah ketiadaan atau kelemahan tekad untuk menghindarinya sehingga dengan mudah dia mengulanginya.
“Dan sesungguhnya telah Kami perintahkan kepada Adam dahulu, maka ia lupa (akan perintah itu), dan tidak Kami dapati padanya kemauan yang kuat.” [Q.S. Thaha, 20:115]

Awasi tanda-tanda bermulanya keinginan untuk bermaksiat, agar tidak terlanjur melakukannya

c) Mencari lingkungan kodusif untuk memperbaiki diri. Seseorang yang berada dalam lingkungan yang baik akan malu untuk melakukan dosa. Itulah hikimah mengapa seorang yang telah membunuh 100 orang lalu ingin bertaubat dianjurkan untuk berpindah daripada kampung halamannya.


Wallahua'lam

~End Of Post~

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Students in the Arab World Today

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah

The academic year started yesterday at my university. (That’s quite late, but this year all schools here in the UAE decided to start after Ramadan.) So with the new school year, I thought I would bring you a quick round up of student views and university news from the region.
The first item that recently caught my (surprised) eye was the report from surveys and interviews of students in the UAE, according to which: (1) many want the educational system to move more toward a co-ed (mixed male-female) situation; and (2) many want web censorship to be tightened more. (Right now, throughout the Gulf region, all websites are filtered by the national communications authorities or providers, at least for the sexual elements, and oftentimes for political issues, at least articles related to national leaders, the country’s history and politics, etc.)

The request for co-education, surprisingly, came more strongly from female students. Traditionally, it has always been thought that it’s the boys who want more girls around, while the girls feel the weight and pressure of social norms and traditions and thus prefer to be in a totally female environment in order to be free to behave as they wish and thus to learn more comfortably.  But it turns out that many female students realize that being shielded from interactions with young males is, in the end, counterproductive for them, as they need to be more fully prepared socially and professionally for their adult lives. Paradoxically, in reporting the survey on this issue, Gulf News noted that despite the efforts being made by these young women to mix with the opposite sex, some men in the colleges purposely try and avoid mixing with women because they are not traditionally used to doing so.” Incidentally, of the main universities in the UAE, the American University of Sharjah is only co-ed institution.
The other surprising news from a survey of Arab students is that almost 50 percent of them want web censorship to be increased; the main reason mentioned for this view is that illegal downloading is rampant in the region; the trend will not be reversed or even slowed without forceful intervention by the authorities. The other half of the surveyed population believes there is nothing wrong in downloading anything (movies, music, software) from the web, which they regard as a “free exchange” domain (free here meaning no-cost).
Other surveys have shown the degree (reaching 85 %) to which men and women in the Gulf use the web from home. The following may sound very stereotypical and male-oriented, but the survey actually claims that the number one usage of the web by (Arab) women is chatting and Facebook, while for men it is reading newspapers and magazines. (My experience is not statistically significant enough to allow me to criticize these reports, however surprising they may be to me.)

On a more important, national, and generational level, Saudi Arabia has released figures on university enrollment in the Kingdom, showing a huge increase in recent and future years: 636,000 students in 2006, 850,000 in 2009 (that’s a 34 % increase in 3 years!), and 1.7 million students expected in 2014 (doubling in 5 years). (According to the World Bank, the total population in KSA is 26 million today, and it is expected to be 28.6 million in 2015.)
The report adds: “As part of its ninth five-year development plan, for 2010-14… [t]here will be an expansion of facilities including the building of 25 technology colleges, 28 technical institutes and 50 industrial training institutes… And Up to US$240 million a year has been earmarked in grants for science and technology research projects. In addition, the plan is to establish 10 research centres, 15 university technological innovation centres in association with King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), and at least eight technology incubators at KACST and other universities… Under the development plan, the 24 government universities will admit 278,000 secondary school graduates in the new academic year (2010-11) and private universities and colleges will provide an additional 15,000 places. [Additionally,] Saudi Arabia has sent more than 88,000 students abroad to study under the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Programme.”

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Good enough never is (or is it?)

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.” It’s inspirational, always calling the team to try harder and do better. It works to undermine excuses for poor or shoddy work. And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. Especially in teams that are managing by objectives (or OKR's), the pressure to deliver is intense. Under such pressure, the temptation to cut corners, to quit prematurely, or to hand off shoddy work to another department is overwhelming. It requires courage to stand up and say: "this work is simply not good enough. Sure, we could get away with it, but that's not how we work." Good managers work hard to create an environment where this courage thrives.


On the other hand, there are many stories of companies achieving a breakthrough by shipping something that was only "good enough." One such rumor, which I’ve heard from several sources, tells of the launch of Google Maps. The team was demoing their AJAX-powered map solution, the first of its kind, to senior management at Google. They were impressed, even though the team considered it still an early prototype. Larry and Sergey, so the legend goes, simply said: “it is already good enough. Ship it.” The team complied, despite their reservations and fear. And the rest is history: Google Maps was a huge success. This success was aided by the fact that it did just one thing extremely well – its lack of extra features emphasized its differentiation. Shipping sooner accentuated this difference, and it took competitors a long time to catch up.

So which is it? Is "good enough" good enough? Rules of thumb can be infuriatingly unhelpful. When should you settle for good enough and when should you push yourself to do your best?

This is precisely the dilemma that the doctrine of minimum viable product is designed to solve. And it’s really hard.

Most of us intuitively have a “split the difference” attitude when faced with recurring difficult choices. That is not a long-term solution. The reason: it actively encourages factional strife. Everyone naturally falls along a spectrum, from “ship anything soonest” to “always build it right, no matter what it takes.” When members of a team realize that the final answer will be some kind of average, they face an overwhelming incentive to express desires in the strongest possible terms. After all, someone else’s view will be averaged in, too. Any excesses are likely to be moderated by others. Of course, this logic applies to members of all factions. Over time, such teams either explode due to irreconcilable differences or dramatically slow down. The latter is actually more dangerous. Divided teams usually can’t agree on facts or interpretations. Yet startups rely on collective learning in order to find their way. Factional strife is learning kryptonite. I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal. Faced with these kinds of disagreements, strong arbitrary action is much superior to paralysis.

But action/paralysis are not the only options. As in many false dichotomies, we can find a third way that gives both factions a positive message to rally around.

Without an affirmative message, managers can cause lasting harm. I certainly have. When people start using quality, reliability, or design as an excuse to delay, it used to make me nervous, even when these suggestions were well intentioned. After all, how would Craig Newmark’s life (and the rest of ours, too) be different today if he had waited to build something with a high-quality design before starting his famous list? Rather than having this repeated argument, I sometimes found it easier to play dictator on the other side, forcing teams to ship sooner than they were comfortable with. As I found out to my dismay, this is a dangerous game: in many cases, you’re asking trained professionals to violate their own code of best practices, for the good of the company. Once you go down that road, you risk opening a Pandora’s box of possible bad behaviors. And yet, it does not have to be that way.

Almost everything we know today about how to build quality products in traditional management has its origins with W. Edwards Deming, the original quality guru. He had two concepts that are especially important to this discussion. The first is that “best efforts are not enough.” Despite what it seems in the moment, most quality problems are not caused by people slacking off or acting maliciously. (It seems that way only because of a psychological phenomenon called the fundamental attribution error.) In reality, most quality problems are systemic in nature. They have to be solved in the boardroom by making a company-wide commitment to building quality into the very systems the company uses to build products. Lean manufacturing, agile software development, and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action.

However, a commitment to quality alone is not enough. In old school manufacturing, quality was defined as reliability: parts and products that did not wear out, break down, or fail unexpectedly. And so Deming’s contribution was especially prescient, as he saw that “the customer is the most important part of the production line.” This means that quality is defined in the eye of the customer, not necessarily by arbitrary standards loved by insiders to the production process. In today’s world, this is increasingly important, as quality is often defined by factors beyond reliability: design, ease of use, aesthetic appeal, and convenience.

Now we come to the heart of the minimum viable product issue: how can we build quality in if we do not yet know who the customer is? All of our professional standards that lead us to want to get it right the first time – all of them were developed originally in a non-startup context, one where the customer was known in advance. Startups are different, leading to this axiom: if you do not know who the customer is, you do not know what quality is.

Which takes us right back to the original definition of minimum viable product:
the minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning with the least effort.
In other words, the minimum viable product is a test of a specific set of hypotheses, with a goal of proving or disproving them as quickly as possible. One of the most important of these hypotheses is always: what will the customer care about? How will they define quality?

One common worry is that this might lead companies to “release crap,” shipping too soon with a product of such low quality that it alienates potential customers and, thus,  causes entrepreneurs to abandon their vision. This critique combines two misunderstandings in one.

First, I want to explore the idea of releasing crap: that our product is of such low quality that we will release it, customers will hate it, and we’ll have accomplished nothing but alienating them. But notice how many hypotheses are baked into this supposedly simple scenario: we believe we have already solved the distribution problem for our product (or else how could customers try it?). We already know who to distribute the product to (or else why would we care what they think?). Naturally, we already know the standard of quality that they will use to judge our product. And, of course, we already know that they will care enough to be offended. In fact, we know so much that we already know what they will care enough about (namely, the product’s quality – as opposed to, say, missing features).

Even better, this is a falsifiable hypothesis. It is entirely possible that we can ship “crap” and have one of the aforementioned facts fail to materialize. In fact, that is one of the best possible outcomes, because it will force us to learn something. What if customers actually like the “crap” product? Or what if we can’t get any of them to even try it? Or what if the features they demand we build are different from the ones we were planning to build? In those cases, we can’t help but learn a great deal. Remember, the minimum in minimum viable product does not mean that you should ship just anything at the nearest possible date. It means to ship as soon as it is possible to learn what you need to learn.

The second misunderstanding is a concern for what will happen if things turn out exactly as we originally predicted (namely, badly). Entrepreneurs, faced with an early defeat, might lose their commitment to seeing their vision through. I understand this fear. It is a direct consequence of the reality distortion field, that ability most visionaries have to get people to believe in a vision as if it was already true. Data can undermine this field. It's easier to believe in a glorious future when you have only zeroes, for everyone: founders, investors, and employees.

But this fear is way overblown, in my experience. The great visionaries I’ve worked with can incorporate a commitment to iteration into their process. However, there are some important ground rules. As I wrote in Don’t Launch, it’s essential to remember that these early minimum viable product launches are not marketing launches. No press should be allowed. No vanity metrics should be looked at. If there are investors involved, they should be fully briefed on the expectation that these early efforts are designed to fail.

Again, even if they do "fail," it is improbable that they will fail in the way we originally expected. In fact, in all of the startups I have worked with, I have never seen this happen. There is always something unexpected when customers react to a product in the real world: we thought they’d be offended by low quality, but actually they refused to download it; we thought they’d share it with their friends, but actually they wanted us to provide the friends; we thought they’d care a lot about our beautiful design, but actually they wanted more features. As in any experiment, the important thing is not the bare fact that the hypothesis was invalidated. More important is to understand the reasons why. This is not an academic exercise; the goal of these experiments is to immediately get up off the mat and design the next one. And the next, and the next, until we have not just learned but proved our learning with hard facts: through the attainment of validated learning.

Minimum viable product is an attempt to get startups to simplify, but it is not itself simple. How do you know which features are essential and which should go? There is no formula, it requires judgment. Any scientific method requires the choice of a hypothesis to test. This leads to two questions:

  1. By what standard is this hypothesis to be chosen? Minimum viable product proposes a clear standard: the hypothesis that seems likely to lead to the maximum amount of validated learning.
  2. How do you train your judgment to get better over time? Again, the answer is derived from the hard-won wisdom of the scientific method: making specific, concrete predictions and then testing them via experiments that are supposed to match those predictions helps scientists train their intuition towards the truth. 

(Fans of the history of science will recognize this as Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific paradigms. Minimum viable products are not a single hypothesis. They should therefore be properly understood as product paradigms. As in science, the paradigms that survive will be those that allow practitioners to discover the most productive experiments to try, during the period Kuhn calls “normal science.” A paradigm crisis is analogous to a pivot.)

I told you it wasn’t simple. And this leads to a last criticism of minimum viable product that I hear from time to time: it’s just too complicated. Most people prefer simple, short, pithy startup advice. I remember this acutely from my debate with David Heinemeier Hansson, of 37 Signals fame. As I was explaining the MVP concept, I could see the look of horror on his face. His answer, to paraphrase, was something like this: “that’s way too complicated. Just build something awesome, something that you yourself would love, and ship it.”

Other similar forms of this advice abound: “release early, release often,” “build something people want,” “just build it,” etc. This Nike school of entrepreneurship is not entirely misguided. Compared to "not doing it," I think “just do it” is a superior alternative.

But the teams I meet in my travels are often one step beyond this. What do you do the day after you just did it? It really doesn’t matter if you took a long time to build it right or just threw the first iteration over the wall. Unless you achieve instantaneous overnight success, you will be faced by difficult decisions. Pivot or persevere? Add features or remove them? Charge money or give it away for free? Freemium or subscription or advertising?

I won’t apologize for this aspect of the Lean Startup methodology. These are complicated questions. We are drawn to easy answers because we look at the landscape of successful companies with a biased lens. We see examples of startups who did things “our way” and were successful. Unfortunately, that’s true no matter which way we prefer. Even in the narrow field of giant tech companies, their early products were wildly different. Compare eBay and Google, Apple and Sun, Oracle and Seibel. And, of course, there’s incredible selection bias. For every successful company we think we know that “built it right” or “shipped crap” from the start, there are plenty we’ve never heard of, because they followed that same strategy and promptly died. That’s the deep flaw in most startup advice: it argues from selective examples.

So what about the question of whether good enough really is? What’s needed, I believe, is an alternative discipline that teams can get excited about. When we’re talking about being disciplined, following our methodology with rigor, continuous improvement, there is no such thing as good enough. Our pursuit of learning is ongoing and our commitment is absolute. But when it comes to the specific of a product release, business plan, or marketing launch, all that matters is: do we have a strong hypothesis that will enable us to learn? If so, execute, iterate, and learn. We don’t need the best possible hypothesis. We don’t need the best possible plan. We need to get through the build-measure-learn feedback loop with maximum speed.

Over time, I believe we will build a new professional discipline that will seek excellence at this kind of product-centric learning. And then that new breed of managers will, I'm sure, confidently go around saying: good enough never is.

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How do students at elite Pakistani universities view the world?

I have recently returned from Pakistan, so some of the upcoming posts will be on Pakistan. I should first point to this absolute must-read article in last month's Newsline by Ayesha Siddiqa: The Conservatively Hip. The article cites results from a recent study that tabulated the opinion of 608 students from Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The objective of the study was to "determine the socio-political attitudes of youth in elite institutions in the country's three major cities".

The study is crucial as madrassas - catering mostly to the lower and lower-middle income class - are often solely blamed for the radicalization of Pakistan. But how do the students belonging to middle and upper-middle class view the world? On the one hand we see the proliferation of 24-hour music channels, hip coffee shops, and even fashion shows. On the other hand, we also see many pop-icons and cricket stars sporting long-religious beards as well as a general increase in public piety.

So what did the study find? It appears that the new and upcoming generation from the elite universities is quite conservative - both politically and religiously. A majority of the respondents (56%) are against Pakistan being a secular state, and 62% versus only 26% agreed with the government's declaration of Ahmedies (a religious sect routinely suppressed and persecuted in Pakistan) as non-Muslims. Yes, you read it correctly. In 2010, only 26% had any issue with a whole group of people being declared non-Muslims by the state (in order to get a Pakistani passport as a Muslim, one has to swear that Ahmedies are non-Muslims. Instead of standing up against this state-sponsored discrimination, only a handful see this as being wrong). In case you are wondering, 18% also considered Shias to be non-Muslims (Pakistan has about 20-25% Shia population).

Perhaps, what comes as a bit of relief is that a majority of these students at elite universities have a negative view of terrorism. At the same time, they predominantly ascribe the causes of terrorism in Pakistan to poverty - and do not necessarily see a link with radical worldviews (remember, Faisal Shahzad - the Time Square bomber, was not exactly poor). Furthermore, US, Israel and the West, beat out India to be the "greatest threat to the Muslim ummah".

We have to keep in mind the challenges in interpreting societal trends from such a study. Nevertheless, here are a few trends that have come out:
1) First, Pakistan’s young adults abhor violence especially that which is directed against their own circle. 
2) Second, they do not necessarily understand the link between their particular worldview and latent radicalism. 
3) Third, they see terrorism mainly as a class issue rather than as a product of a peculiar mindset. 
4) Fourth, there is a great affinity for religious norms and religious identity. 
5) Fifth, there is greater political conservatism than earlier studies suggest, and this is reflected in a certain acceptance of the military’s role in politics. While these respondents did not totally accept the military as being reliable, they were even more vociferous in rejecting politicians and politics. 
6) Finally, the youth were more accepting of the religio-political and geo-political norms established by the state on issues such as the status of Shias and Ahmedis and the country’s foreign relations. These trends were ascertained from the responses, some of which are being presented here.
But what has been responsible for shaping these attitudes. Ayesha lists a few below - and I think the shaping/merging of Pakistani identity with Islam and viewing all conflicts solely through the lens of the "clash of civilizations", are perhaps two of the most important factors shaping these attitudes:

The basic idea behind the study was to explore the social and political attitudes of youth beyond the pre-conceived notion that all those who are highly educated are naturally liberal or reject militancy. It must be enunciated that while the majority rejected the very obvious symbols of radicalism and extremism, the mindset reflected a propensity towards latent radicalism. The trends uncovered here are influenced by the overall shift of societal attitudes towards latent radicalism as explained by the following four factors.
Firstly, the greater emphasis on religious identity is a result of what the renowned scholar Farzana Sheikh describes as the Pakistani state’s bid to define citizenship according to the citizen’s putative relationship with religion. Consequently, the selection process has continued to narrow down from the general to the more specific. All minority groups, who do not meet their requirement, are hence dismissed as peripheral to the state and society. The dominant groups then engage in violence against them. The process of the definition and re-definition of a citizen sharpened during Zia-ul-Haq’s rule. A society that seemed fairly liberal and pluralistic began to cave in before the systematic campaign launched by the military dictator to Islamise society. Presently, the worry is not that the youth are more Islamic but that they have begun to relate to each other within the narrow confines of a peculiar interpretation of religious principles.
Secondly, latent radicalism is also a product of Islamic social movements that grew or expanded during the 1990s through outfits like Al-Huda and the Tableeghi Jamaat (this is not to suggest that the Tableeghi Jamaat started during the 1990s). We saw children from the upper-middle and middle classes get inducted into these movements and change their perspectives about life and other people. These movements do not necessarily encourage jihad, but they shape the mind according to a certain theological interpretation, which can help create the likes of Faisal Shahzad and Omar Saeed Sheikh.
Third, latent radicalism in society is owed to the so-called “clash of civilisations” that seems to have taken off in a big way after 9/11. George W. Bush’s reference to the “crusade” and the subsequent policies that the US adopted created a general sense of abandonment and insecurity among the elite. Having to take off their shoes at airports and being subjected to extremely humiliating body searches created a feeling of hostility, especially among the educated youth, to the western socio-political system. 
According to Dr Muhammad Waseem, who is a professor at LUMS, students hate the US, but at the same time they desire to go there for studies.
Fourth, the above factors have added to the impact of militarisation on the Pakistani mindset. Militarisation begets further militarisation.
 These are worrisome factors and trends. Nevertheless, systematic studies like this one are essential in understanding how Pakistanis are viewing the world. If you have time, please do read the full article.

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Lunacy still reigns at the Texas Board of Education

The Texas Board of Education keeps its monopoly on idiocy. After repeatedly trying to introduce creationism in textbooks and attacking social sciences, the Texas Board today passed a resolution against the "pro-Islamic" and "anti-Christian" bias in textbooks. The vote passed 7-5, but it has no meaning as it is non-binding. Yes, it is easy to laugh at this (at this rate, the Texas Board of Education may render The Onion out of business) - but we should not underestimate the influence of such measures both in and outside the US.

The Texas State Board of Education adopted a resolution Friday that seeks to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, as social conservative board members warned of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation's publishing industry.
The board approved the one-page nonbinding resolution, which urges textbook publishers to limit what they print about Islam in world history books, by a 7-5 vote.
Critics say it's another example of the ideological board trying to politicize public education in the Lone Star State. Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom, questioned why the resolution came at a time when "anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country has reached fever pitch."
"It's hard not to conclude that the misleading claims in this resolution are either based on ignorance of what's in the textbooks or, on the other hand, are an example of fear-mongering and playing politics," Miller said.
Future boards that will choose the state's next generation of social studies texts will not be bound by the resolution.
Sigh!

Read the full story here.

P.S. Just a note to the writers of the resolution: They keep on mixing Middle-Easterners with Muslims. Actually a majority of Muslims do not live in the Middle East. For example, the largest Muslim country by population is Indonesia. Oh - but then this is something that they could have learnt in textbooks.

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Muhasabah : Rasanya Macam Baru Semalam

Semua daripada kita biasa melalui.
Kita kisah silam sering kita imbaui.
Kita sering mengharapkan ia akan kembali.
Namun hakikatnya ia tetap akan telah pergi.



Ketika baru masuk sekolah rendah, mak hantar masuk kelas. Mak kata, "Tak sangka anak mak dah besar, dah sekolah pun. Rasanya macam baru semalam mak kendong kamu." Dia tersenyum-senyum sahaja. Tidak faham sangat apa yang cuba disampaikan ibunya.

Lalu masa berlalu sehingga dia berada dalam darjah 6. UPSR bakal dihadapi. Malam sebelum menghadapi UPSR, ayah pula berkata , "Anak ayah dah besar. Esok dah UPSR pun. Rasanya macam baru semalam ayah hantar kamu masuk darjah satu." Dia senyum sahaja.


Tahun terus berlalu, dia masuk sekolah berasrama penuh. Sampailah hari dia akan ambil PMR. Dia telefon ibunya dan ayahnya di rumah. Ibunya berkata, "Esok buat betul-betul ya. Baca selawat banyak-banyak kalau tidak ingat apa jawapannya. Tak sangka kamu dah nak ambil PMR. Rasanya macam baru semalam mak hantar kamu masuk asrama. Cepat betul masa berlalu.

Dan masa terus berputar. Saat SPM hampir tiba. Banyak matapelajaran diambilnya. Dia curi-curi bawa telefon bimbit ke sekolah. Dia sms ibubapanya untuk mendoakannya agar berjaya. Ibunya membalas mesej, "Insya-Allah, mak akan sentiasa doakan. Mak dan abah buat puasa sunat sepanjang kamu ujian. Macam tak percaya sahaja, kamu dah nak ambil SPM. Rasanya macam baru semalam kamu ambil PMR."

Masa tidak pernah menunggu sesiapa. Kini dia melanjutkan pelajaran ke luar negara. Ibubapanya bahagia tidak terkata. "Bagusnya, kamu dapat berjaya sampai ke luar negara. Jangan lupa kami di sini ya. Tidak sangka, sebentar sahaja masa berlalu. Rasanya macam baru semalam mak melahirkan kamu, sekarang dah nak berpisah."

Keputusannya cemerlang sentiasa. Menghampiri tahun akhir dia mengajukan hasrat untuk menikah. Bapanya tiada sebab untuk menghalang. Dengan perantara telefon bapanya mengizinkan. "Kamu menikahlah. Kami restui. Tak sangka anak kami dah besar panjang. Sudah nak berkeluarga sendiri. Belum puas lagi kami membesarkan kamu. Rasanya macam baru semalam kami bergembira dengan kedatangan kamu."


Masa terus berlalu dan meninggalkan yang alpa. Semakin berumur si empunya diri. Anak-anak juga sudah besar panjang. Dia berkata kepada isterinya sambil tersenyum, "Anak-anak kita dah besar pun. Rasanya macam baru semalam kita bertunang."

Cerita akan terus disambung. Dan kita akan terus mengenang masa-masa silam kita. Terkadang rasanya segalanya seakan-akan baru sahaja berlaku. Rasanya macam baru semalam!

Rasanya macam baru semalam terasa diri ini perlu berubah.
Rasanya macam baru semalam bertemu murobbi pertama.
Rasanya macam baru semalam mula ditarbiyah.
Rasanya macam baru semalam berukhuwah dengan teman-teman seperjuangan.


Namun semuanya sudah berlalu.
Saya sudah punya anak halaqoh sendiri.
Saya sudah menghampiri tahun akhir.
Saya sudah kenal ramai ikhwah-ikhwah sama ada yang masih bersama ataupun tidak.
Saya sudah mendengar lagu Tragedi Oktober Awie dan 'merasainya' sendiri.
Dan tidak lama lagi ramai yang bakal menamatkan zaman kehidupan bujang bersendiri.


Hakikatnya masa akan terus berlalu dan meninggalkan kita. Terpulang kepada diri kita untuk memuhasabah setiap amal yang telah lalu. Atas kita segala usaha untuk memperbaiki diri dan menempatkan diri di tempat abadi yang diidam-idamkan. Semuanya tergantung atas diri kita. Mahu atau tidak? Masa untuk berubah itu sekarang. Masa untuk perbaiki diri itu saat ini. Jangan nanti-nanti atau tapi-tapi.

Jangan sampai nanti tiba saat kita ditanya, "Maa Robbuka!?"
Kita terkesima dan berfikir dalam ketakutan, 'Aku dah mati? Rasanya macam baru semalam aku nak berubah...'

Dan malaikat tidak perlu mendengar semua itu.

wallahua'lam...

p/s: sila baca blog Akhi Zikri mengenai ulasannya akan Tragedi Oktober yang sudah setahun berlalu.

~End Of Post~

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The Daily Show on Religious Conflict

Yes, I'm catching up on the Daily Show episodes I missed while I was in Pakistan. Here is a more or less accurate one on religious conflict. Enjoy.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Team Mohammed vs. Team Jesus - Religious Conflict
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Related: 

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Promosi : BAKSOS Masuk Sinar Harian

Assalamu’alaikum WBT

Alhamdulillah, Program Bakti Sosial (Baksos) berjaya dijalankan dengan jayanya pada 14 Ogos 2010 di Teratak Bait Al-Amin, Parit. Baksos kali ini adalah hasil kerjasama Synergy Media, Neo Synergy Training Centre, dan Kelab Dakwah & Rohani (KEWANGI) UniKL Mimet. Juga kepada Surau Nurul Huda, Tasek Putra dan Sinar Harian yang telah memberikan sumbangan ikhlas untuk kami sampaikan.


Program ini diikuti dari pelbagai Institusi Pendidikan bermula dari sekolah menengah, matrikulasi dan IPT. Antara yang mengambil bahagian dalam Baksos kali ini adalah MCKK, KMPK, KMPP, KISDA, UniKL Mimet, UTP, UIA serta graduan USM,UTP dan UTM yang pasti memotivasikan putera puteri Bait Al-Amin dalam menuju kejayaan.



Kesemua pelajar dengan gembira berkampung selama sehari bermula pada pagi sehingga iftar dan tarawih bersama. Banyak aktiviti-aktiviti menarik telah dilaksanakan bagi menguatkan ukhuwah, membina motivasi, membina jati diri dan mensinergi potensi diri. Keikhlasan dari para peserta memberi infak berbentuk masa, tenaga, harta dan senyuman jelas terpancar di tempat ini.

Penutupan Baksos diserikan lagi dengan persembahan nasyid dari putera puteri Bait Al-Amin yang amat menyentuh hati kesemua yang mengambil bahagian dalam program ini. Pihak Synergy Media mengucapkan Jazakumullah Khair Kathiran kepada semua yang telah menjayakan program ini khususnya NSTC dan KEWANGI. Tidak lupa juga kepada semua penyokong Majalah Sinergi yang telah membeli majalah tersebut, kerana setiap pembelian anda telah menyumbang kepada tabung kebajikan, palestin dan dakwah.

Antara Komentar dari peserta Baksos:

“ceria & menarik, ada lagi, bagi la tahu” – Affan
“amat menghiburkan dan menyentuh hati”- Syah
“perlu diteruskan, sebab bagus kalau dah start tarbiyyah kepada budak-budak ni” – Syawal
“Seronok tapi perlu aktiviti yang lebih aktif” – Japi
“bagus, ramai mohon rakaman” – Nu’aim
“5 bintang, wajar dilakukan lagi” – Afiq
“lain kali buat banyak kali” – helmi
“kalau boleh tambah slot yang khas untuk ‘hati ke hati’” – Arif
“happening & sporting, sedikit sebanyak dapat break the bond” – Zaimah
“ok, member motivasi yang baik dan menyedarkan diri”-Faezah
“nasyid dari anak-anak yang sangat menyentuh hati. Program sebegini boleh diperbanyakkn lagi.” – Farah
“memuaskan kerana menderma untuk anak yatim” – maisarah
“banyak perkara baru yang dipelajari. Banyak ilmu agama yang diterapkan.” – norasyidah
“menarik, dapat mengisi masa lapang & dapat bermesra dengan anak-anak di sini” – yasmin

Alhamdulillah, program Bakti Sosial tersebut telahpun dilaporkan dalam Ahkbar Sinar Harian edisi Perak. Berikut adalah liputan daripada Laman Rasmi salah satu penaja program, Synergy Media.



Assalamu'alaikum WBT

Sepanjang Synergy Media bercuti, BAKSOS yang dijalankan dalam bulan Ramadhan dimasukkan ke dalam Akhbar Sinar Harian. Semoga perkongsian tersebut menaikkan semangat masyarakat untuk sentiasa membantu golongan yang memerlukan. Alhamdulillah.

Di bawah kami sertakan keratan akhbar tersebut.

Fasilitator Lelaki dan Peserta Baksos bersama Putera-putera Bait Al-Amin

Memandangkan perkataan di keratan di atas kurang jelas, sini kami re-type untuk bacaan semua.

PARIT - Anak-anak yang tidak bernasib baik perlu diberikan semangat untuk merubah kehidupan mereka menjadi lebih baik.

      Oleh itu, sekumpulan pelajar institusi pengajian tinggi yang pernah mendapat bimbingan dari pada sebuah syarikat motivasi dan latihan iaitu Synergy Training Centre (pembetulan : Neo Synergy Training Centre) menganjurkan satu program bakti sosial atau bakso (pembetulan : Baksos) di rumah anak yatim dan miskin Bait Al-Amin, Parit.

     Pengarah program, Fakhrullah Mawardi, 20, berkata, program itu bertujuan memberikan motivasi dan keceriaan kepada penghuni rumah kebajikan berkenaan.

     Menurutnya, konsep yang digunakan diambil daripada al-Quran supaya perkara itu dapat terpahat dalam hati masing-masing.

    "Kita mahu memberikan motivasi kepada anak yatim ini supaya mereka mampu merubah kehidupan menjadi lebih baik dari sekarang."

    "Kita memberikan kesedaran kepada mereka kenapa mereka perlu berubah ke arah lebih baik dan tahu hala tuju hidup sebenar", katanya.

     Fakhrullah adalah pelajar Kejuruteraan Kimia tahun dua dari Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) berkata, bukan sahaja anak yatim akan mendapat manfaat daripada program berkenaan kerana fasilitator juga turut sama mendapat faedahnya.

     "Apabila datang ke sini secara tidak langsung fasilitator sendiri akan dapat melihat cara hidup di sini dan akan lebih menghargai ibu bapa masing-masing"

     "Kita juga mahu perkara ini berterusan iaitu mereka yang mendapat khidmat motivasi daripada program ini akan menjadi fasilitator kepada orang lain pula selepas ini", katanya.

     Sementara itu, seramai 12 fasilitator daripada UTP, UniKL, Kolej Matrikulasi Gopeng, UIA turut serta menjayakan program berkenaan. (Pembetulan : 12 Fasilitator, 60 yang lain adalah peserta baksos dari pelbagai institusi pengajian)


Fasilitator dan Peserta Baksos bersama Puteri-Puteri Bait Al-Amin
Synergy Media mengucapakan seikhlas terima kasih kepada Neo Synergy Training Centre yang menjemput kami bekerjasama menjayakan program ini. Terima kasih juga kepada pembeli Majalah Sinergi atas sumbangan anda ke tabung kebajikan kami dalam setiap belian anda. Semoga Allah meredhai semua usaha amal kita. Amin.

~End Of Post~

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