BEAUTIZA

You know..sometimes.. i appreciate what had happened..especially the trial that i have been through… seriously..its a wake up call to me.

How would you know how deep the water is without trying.. and when i feel its deep.. its either..i have to go out from there or dive in.. my choice. But i warn you.. please wear the safety precaution..the wave is rough out there.

How would you know the melody if you don’t listen to the song….you have the lyrics..then sing it.. i know the song that you love is all about you.. so why sing a sad song if you can sing a happy song.. what come out from your mouth influence your mind..believe me.

How would you know that certain fruits can be acne treatments if you don’t try it. Start your research and do your practical.. why do you need to go for surgery or buy expensive products .. like i say..it might be the food that you are craving to eat.

How would you know that you can do whatever you want to do..until you do it ..just give it a try.. a person who wants to do something but scared to try is a loser.. but somebody who failed even when he/she try is already a winner.. and they keep going strong.

Our life is a learning process.. like a baby.. learn to crawl.. and walk.. fall.. walk..when they start running… its hard to make them stop.

Sharing from Marina’s blog.

Professor Tariq Ramadan is a European Muslim who advocates reform in Islam and promotes interfaith dialogue. Born in Switzerland and the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan Al Banna, the European academic has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the century. He told ZAKIAH KOYA during his recent visit to Kuala Lumpur that Muslims must make an effort to move from mere formalism – a fixation on ritual – towards a committed spiritual and social presence.

MUSLIMS say that their religion is perfect and it is because of this many are against interfaith dialogues. What is the point they ask? So why are you promoting interfaith dialogues among religions?

We have a perfect religion, yes, but we are not perfect. Dealing with other religions means that we are challenging the very meaning of ours. When we have a dialogue, sometimes when we meet Jews, Christians, Buddhists, agnostics or atheists, the way they are helps you to better your religion as they may make you see something which you have neglected to see.

For example, when I was in South America, the priests there were talking of love. So, I learnt to also talk of the spiritual dimension of love in Islam and its importance in life. So the experience of others is helping you to have other viewpoints of your religion.

When we talk about values, when we speak about dignity and solidarity and when we talk about racism, dialogue can be very important because at the end of the day when dealing with Christians and Buddhists – why do they have to listen to me? – because together we want to change the world for the better. We want to make our world a better place.

Malaysia cannot have social cohesion if you do not have dialogue. We need this dialogue among religions. There are areas we can explore. For instance why do we believe what we believe? Is there someone who can believe that Allah is happy with the 100,000 people who are dying of starvation everyday?

Will there be someone who, when we speak of global warming, will convincingly say that God is happy with us? He is not. We know that we are not meeting the challenges and dialogue can be a meaningful exchange if we do not make it just an exchange of words.

Since Muslims say that their religion is perfect, why are you talking about the need to reform Islam?

I am not saying this. Islam does not need to be reformed and Islam has in itself tools for Muslims to have a true understanding of it. What we need to reform is the Muslim minds. The texts that the Muslims refer to – the Quran and hadith – are going to stay as text. They are not going to change. We have an immutable set of principles.

We are facing challenges. Islam is for all times and all situations but who is going to do the job? Our minds of course. And we have to evolve our minds with our rationality. It is our static rationality that is betraying the text. Active rationality is what makes the text universal.

Whose responsibility is it to bring all this about?

It’s a multiple responsibility. Of course, the first to be mentioned are the Muslim scholars, the ulama and the intellectuals. They have to come with a vision and they have to deal with the matter of authority. They deal with the text and scriptural sources. So, I would say they have a great responsibility on that.

I would also say the ordinary Muslims should understand that they are responsible too. Ordinary Muslims should understand that they cannot just blame the people at the top but understand that they too have power. As a result the ordinary Muslims are too passive, suffering from a mentality of victimisation and are always blaming others. They must understand that they have their share of responsibility in the whole process to shoulder.

Malaysia is a country with a lot of diversity. It is a plural society. How does Islam view these diversities?

This diversity is God’s will. The Quran says that if God wants it He could have made you one community. He said: We made you tribes and nations so that you may know one another.

It is God’s will. It is, therefore, not enough to tolerate others. We must respect them. As one prominent scholar said in one conference “who wants to be tolerant, we want to be respected.”

In Islam the word, therefore, is respect, not tolerate. Who are we to tolerate? This is God’s will for me to be here. So it is for Muslims to understand that because Allah wanted Christianity, wanted Judaism, and Buddhism and atheists and anarchists to be here it is for them to respect God’s will. To respect means “I acknowledge the fact that you are here, I acknowledge the fact that you have to be respected – and more than that – I am asked by Allah that I have to know you, which is a two-way process of acknowledgment. Respect is to acknowledge you and know you that you are different and to know about you. My knowledge towards you is an act of respect.” So, I think tolerance is not enough. We must remember that diversity is God’s will.

At the same time Muslims must stop the belief in this illusion that we have one and the same thought in Islam. There is diversity among Muslims too. It is a reality.

Never forget that this diversity is not only a challenge but also a gift. Through dialogue with Christians, Jews, Buddhists, they may make us better people.

Most Muslim societies are guided by their ulama and religious scholars. In time they have become revered people. Whatever they say is accepted without question. Thus many Muslims grow up with a fear of asking questions. It is unfortunate, don’t you think?

We have to respect the scholars but we should not fear to question them. Especially now. What is said today is not what was said fifteen years ago because the Muslims are experiencing new situations. The point here is ordinary Muslims should stop acting like blind followers and blaming the scholars for not doing their jobs when they themselves are not doing their job. What is their job? It is to come with a critical mind – there is no deep faith without a critical mind. You know there is one principle to be followed when you go to a scholar and you ask him for a fatwa. But when he gives you the fatwa, you have to ask him or her where does it come from. Give me the evidence. Not only do you get an answer but you have to understand where the answer comes from.

What the Muslims are doing is that they just want answers and very often they are having a “touristic” attitude towards fatwa. They are looking at scholars and they choose the scholar that they want that gives them the fatwa that they want. In the end they get the fatwa they are looking for. This is not Islamic – an attitude which is lacking in sincerity. We need more sincerity from the Muslims and more critical minds – and carry out deeper challenges and deeper questions – not only how do I enter the mosque and such.

The scholars must listen to the community and know what is happening. By definition, a scholar is serving the community – not to be served by the community – his power or authority is coming from the community he is serving. What we have now is the other way round. We are idolising some of the scholars and in the process giving them authority over us.

We have to revive the questioning mind. During the time of the Prophet, when he gave an opinion or a ruling his companions questioned him, “Is this coming from God or is this coming from you?” When he said, “This is my opinion”, they said then we challenge you. They were challenging his authority to find out how he came up with his opinion. If it is coming from God, no problem.

You must have heard that there is a request by a Catholic publication, the Herald, to use the word “Allah” when referring to God in its articles in Bahasa Malaysia. The government has objected to this. What is your view on this?

If you travel around the world, in the Arab world, Allah is used by all Christians – Coptics and others. To us, Allah is the one God who sent us the prophets Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. When we use Arabic, we say “Allah”, when speak in English, we say “God” and when we speak French, we say “Deus”.

The point is the substance and the substance is one God. We are using the language to say it. Some of the scholars coming from the literalist trend, the Salafiya-al Harfiyat, say that Allah is a very specific name.

The majority of the Muslims are using the word “God” when they speak English and the other words in other languages. Allah is not the God of the Arabs but Allah is the only God of all human beings. This is what we are saying.

When we speak other languages, you change by knowing what you are talking about and we understand that He is like nothing we can imagine Him to be. Therefore we cannot describe Him. So when I speak English, I do not have a problem saying “God” and in French I say “Deus” and that’s it.

When the Christian Arabs speak Arabic, in their Bible, they use “Allah” to speak about God. So, you cannot deprive them using this as this has been the case for centuries and in Arabic, God is Allah.

The Roman Catholics among them do not use “Allah” to describe Jesus. There is no problem there. And my understanding of their general hypothesis is that the Trinity is Three in One but they are not confusing the three dimensions of One God. If that is not a problem for them neither is it for us.

But we must also be aware that the Christians, depending on traditions that they are following, are promoting the concept of the Trinity. Each group has its own truth or understanding of it.

Would you describe yourself as a moderate Muslim?

I am not using this vocabulary. This qualification is coming from the colonisers who always had a binary view of the colonised – the good and the bad, the moderate and the fundamentalist.

All the people who resisted colonisation were bad and fundamentalists and all those with them were the good and the moderate. I think it is silly.

You are aware, of course, there are too many literalists and formalists among Muslims in Malaysia and many parts of the world. Are you saying that it is wrong for Muslims to be like that and that there is a need for them to be more than that?

The literalists are looking at the Islamic text, the Quran and the hadith, in a very literal way. I am not saying that they are less Muslim, but they are followers. Maybe in their literal faithfulness, they become less faithful to the objectives of being a Muslim.

I want be very faithful to the meaning of the text but I also want answers for my time. So, the reformist trend here is what we have with the first companions of the Prophet saw – some of them were looking at the objectives, not only at the literal meaning of the verses. I am following that one.

There are texts – I respect them and there are objectives – I have to reach them. So I am between the objectives I want to reach and the text I have to understand. Between that, there is the critical thinking – the dialectic process – which is exactly the reformist trend.

We need to go back to the origins to find out what is the creativity and the confidence of the first companions of the Prophet Muhammad. Today what we lack is confidence when we deal with the text, and we do not have confidence to face the world. Is the text for us to strictly just read and not change the world? We read whole night and don’t change the world throughout the day.

To change the world we need our critical thinking – the rationality, the understanding. We need to have our heart not sleeping during the night and the mind never sleeping during the day. This is what we need, this awakening process. It is important.

You are Hasan al Banna’s grandson and because of that many Europeans and Americans do not think you are what you say you are. To them he was a fundamentalist and an extremist and that what you are doing is to present a friendly face to what they think he was. How do you handle people like them?

I think that a variety of the people who talk of my grandfather never read about him, never knew him. I would never let people judge my grandfather with superficial perceptions. Only 5% of what he wrote is translated into English. Just try to understand what he did and said. Someone who said no to colonisation and who created 2,000 schools, half for girls in a time where this was not the trend is just unbelievable.

People questioned my grandparents on how they could send their daughter to school and the daughter in question was my mother. This is the way my grandfather was. When he was, for example, promoting a kind of Sufi trend –which is spirituality – which sprouted into 1,500 such organisations, shouldn’t I respect him for this?

So, to all the people today judging him while he was dealing with the world in the 1930s and 1940s, I would say this is unfair. And when you don’t read someone fully, don’t judge that someone especially based on the words of his enemies (the British colonisers).

I don’t have a problem with people referring to my grandfather wherever I am because this is a fact. But I am trying to present my own thoughts and I am asking the people to assess my view by reading what I have written.

We Open then closed…, A beginning with an ending…,  there goes 2009… it was another year…we met new friends… adding new number in our age, adding few wrinkles on our face, some of you may add family members and there were who loss their love ones, loss their job.  Its just a year where we added…we multiply,.. increase,..we win, we gain..or the opposites of it..we failed..we loss… whatever it is.. whatever happened…it have been done… gone… close the chapter…closed 2009… believe me..there are reasons for all of it to happened.

Now… we open a new chapter… 2010… Some hoping  for great opportunities…we hope, we wish, we pray….   does opportunity come knocking? can’t we create opportunity?  maybe at the right time and place.. we eventually find opportunity knocking.. or ..it actually in front of our eyes..we don’t know that we can create opportunity at that very moment.

As for myself, almost every year… i will start my budget and planning… but only for few first months.. and what i planned never turn out as what i wanted it… so this year..i leave it to God!…  i will go with the flow…eventually we will reach that end of the year.

Whatever your resolution, your dream, your wish for this year… the important thing is to try.. whether you want to change your career..get jobs in healthcare, be a teacher…you want to quit your job and be a housewife…whatever…it is a dream..a life to discover…another lesson to learn… to be wiser, be smart and be kind.

Wishes you all the best!

Beautiza

The law of beauty is actually simple.. . just follow the basic..at least twice a day.. morning and night before go to sleep..follow these 3 steps of cleansing your face..

1. Cleansing
2. Toning
3. Moisturizing

Once a week,try to…

1. Mask – put a mask on.. there are so many mask we need for our skin..to get a radiant skin..
2. Exfoliate/ Scrub – the use of exfoliator is to peel and get rid of the dead skin..

Okay that is for the skin…it is also important to take care of our eyes, lips and neck..

1. We need to use the under eye cream….reduce the wrinkles..and to refresh tired looking eyes..
2. For the lips.. we need lip balm and also gentle exfoliator for the lips..
3. Neck… apply firming neck cream

If you follow this beauty regimes.. you are on your way to perfection..  good for you!..i skip most of the time… hehe.. okay that is taking care our skin from outside..from inside.. drink plenty of water..eat lots of fruits, reduce intake of oily foods, get rid of hatred.. more love.. and forgiveness.. pray for others..appreciating life… and SMILE!…beauty reflects what you are from inside… keep saying to yourself..that you are Beautiful!!

Love.. Beautiza

I have been thinking to further study..but  juggling with career, family.. taking care of my children and study… sleep late to study.. get dark circles under eyes for not having enough sleep…can i do that? and i said to myself  ‘i am too old to study’..too old? how old is too old?  learning is a continuous process..that’s the purpose to live.. that’s what we always keep in mind.

I saw a picture of  this wonderful lady being congratulate by her family in the newspaper… she just graduated .. i thought.. ‘oh my, she can’t be serious’.. She is a busy woman…with her family, politics and business… how on earth she can sit and study? not only that.. she managed to obtain Deans list for 8 semesters.. and 1st Class Honours in  Bachelor of Management.

She really inspires me.. and for sure women out there.. no matter how old you are.. how busy you are …if you want to achieve what you really wanted in life.. you can! nobody can stop you.. you  have the will power to go through the challenges, to be where you want to be.

My post recently ‘My Inspiration’.. inspired me  to get close to this bright, beautiful.. and wonderful woman…she just celebrated her 51st birthday in July this year….her name is Datin Aminah Ambrose (Eugene Dumpangol) i love to get her story and share it with you.  This is my first interview… she have been very kind and willing to spare few minutes of her busy schedule to be interviewed.

What/who inspires you to study?

Hi, I attended a seminar ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling’ organised by Yayasan Sabah..(Hjh Patmawati) held at Shangri-La Tg Aru -one of the presenters was Prof. Dr. Mornie (UNITAR Adjunct Professor) Head of SIDMA(Unitar Sabah Branch), he inspired me to continue my studies and ‘The Break Through” and also another presenter was Datuk Adeline Leong ..she too inspired me to go forward and make time for ourselves and achieve our self-actualization.

You are always busy with welfare & Charity, what makes you feel like studying?

Oh Yes I was actively involved in Welfare & Charity works and was awarded the ‘Tokoh Kebajikan Negeri Sabah 2005” and also received a “Gold-award” in-conjuction with the 50th Golden jubilee of the Majlis Kebajikan Negeri. My husband (Datuk Amirkahar Tun Mustapha) told me to do something for myself as I had been working to help others. As I mentioned earlier about the motivation seminar that I attended, in July 2006 I went to see Prof.Dr. Mornie and enrolled myself as a ‘part-time’ student but I became a full time student as I attended the ‘face to face’ classes did my own assignments, participated in group assignments & other activities. In UNITAR, it is convenient for me as the notes are available through ‘VOISS. It’s the virtual system so I am able to get notes/updates communicated with course leaders/lecturers even though I am not in class.  This helped me tremendously as the VOISS has other functions such as e-library, emails, discussion boards, etc.

What course did you took?

Bachelor of Management (Hons); it is a 3 year program started from August 2006 -Jan 09..graduated on 31st Oct 2009… Initially, I just followed what subjects was given but once I knew that I can more than 4 subjects as I had more than 3.5 CPGA, so took 4 – 5 subjects per semester..Challenging but managed to get Dean’s almost all semesters.  Amazing!

What did your family reaction when you decided to further study?

My hubby & children supported me all the way, they were very understanding– especially my hubby as I had to burn the ‘midnight oil’ spend time in my study room –doing my assignment(s)/preparing my paper; especially before semester exams I will be spending time- hours revising and attempt to answer all past questions from previous years…I guess all my hard work has brought about this good results.  During exam time my hubby will be my alarm he will wake up when I tell him that I need to wake up say 4am if I have a paper the next morning so that I have time to revise again.

Why now and who is your role-model or hero?
To me, “Learning is a life-long process” and age is only a number not a hindrance. I prefer my heroes to be more skillful and accomplished than I am, so I can be inspired to emulate them by doing something on the scale of what they have done.

What is important to you?
Understanding what is important, what gives meaning to our lives is the compass to finding our purpose. I strongly believe that “Values” are the guideposts to purpose.”

What were your biggest challenges?

Aside from the normal challenges that after 30 plus years leaving the academic field and only at age 48 then begin to start studying again—I ask myself whether I am ready to go to another level? After considering, I told myself that if I am going to succeed, I must commit myself, align my life and my sense of purpose…Aim high with commitment.

I heard about the tragedy in your family, how did you face the challenge?

The biggest challenge was when my son was found dead upon arrival at QEH, I received a call at 7.38am 1st Dec ‘ 07, from his fiancee’s mum informing me that my son had a heart attack and was in critical condition, she told me to rush to the Hospital..I called back to ask which hospital but no answer so I ’sms’ her (Sheena’s hfon) as that’s the number she used and the sms reply was Emergency Queen..so I rushed there with my maid and 2 wanita members.. I got a shock when I pulled the curtain in the emergency room and found my son has bruises & cuts had already died and his body was so ‘icy cold’ like he was in a refrigerator…how come he is so cold ..he was still alive that was what I was told by Sheena’s mum..’cepat tidak lama lagi ni’ still ringing in my head…I shouted at the doctor and questioned him; I remember shouting, “ my son did not die of a heart attack ..he has been battered to death!”. I can’t forget that tragic moment.
You know, soon after his funeral, the ‘kenduris’, I think it was 12 days later that I had to take my first final paper for the 4th semester. It was English 3 and I remembered going early to avoid people but still some did offer their ‘condolences’ and this made me feel worst as I couldn’t take it. I was crying throughout the exams. A few days later, I had to sit for Management Guru & Quality, Fundamental of Strategic Management, Introduction to Futures Studies. Honestly, I don’t know where I got the strength, courage and recall memory to answer the questions..but deep down I knew that he was praying for me as well as he knew I was studying for my exams when I last saw him -and he gave me a Chocolate shake that he had prepared with his cousin Melissa for me to taste. Obtaining good results for the 4th semester also made me realized that I had the inner strength that I thought I never had.

Without the focus, prayers and  support from family members especially my beloved husband and children, I don’t know whether I would have succeeded..Syukur Alhamdulillah…Al-Fatihah to my late son, Datu Azlan.

What is your advice to other women?
To quote Robert Kennedy –“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” When we understand our purpose, all the challenging experiences of our lives serve to forge identity, character and meaning. Although life may be challenging, every experience becomes our teacher, and every challenge an opportunity through which we learn and live more purposefully. Awareness of our purpose, allows us to see our lives more clearly from the inside-out.
Never give up. Dare to fail. Follow your decisions with Action, whether things are ideal or not; success comes in the Doing.

Thank you Datin for your time, i wish you all the best in whatever you do.

You are most welcome and thank you for asking and considering me in your blog.

- end-

There you got it… my first interview.. for ‘The Inspiration’ and ‘Woman’s Mind’…there will be more to come.

The first time i heard this song.. i want to listen to it..again and again.. it makes me feel so good.. such an inspiration..

If somebody you love dedicate you this song, play this song to you.. or sing to you.. oh wow!.. if somebody do that to me.. i will be on top of the world!

Lets sing together with Uncle Kracker… Smile.