Tattoo

Dear A,

To answer your question that day, the answer is: 'No, I didn't regret meeting you.'

Thank you for all the memories, both the good and the bad.

Take care.

:)

Little Bird

- by Elly Yusof

Little bird, little bird
With one broken wing;
She can't really fly
But she still can sing.

As she sang in pain
She pleaded to the wind:
"O' Wind, O' Wind,
lift me up to your chin!"

"O' Bird, O' Bird,
With one broken wing;
Come, let me carry you,"
said the kind, old Wind.

Little bird, little bird
With one broken wing;
Though she can't really fly
But she still can sing.

- 14 January 2010

This, I Know For Sure

Over the past 35 years that I have lived, so many things have been learned, so many mistakes have been done, that whenever a calamity happens, I could actually calm down and say to myself:
'This is nothing. I've gone through worse.'

These are among my tried and tested life lessons:

1) Don't be greedy.
2) Don't take more than what you can handle.
3) Don't commit if you can't deliver.
4) Learn from the past, but don't dwell on it.
5) Cherish the present.
6) Cherish all the people who cherish you. After all, you never know if they'll still be around tomorrow.
7) Always say 'thank you', 'please' and 'sorry.'
8) You can't love others properly if you don't love yourself first.
9) Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
10) Once you've identified your key strengths and weaknesses, the world is your oyster, baby!
11) Light kills darkness. Love kills hate.
12) Time heals.

Lakum Dinukum Waliyadin

I am not perfect, and I would never ever be.

All I can do is try to be the best Muslima that I could be, according to my own capacity.

That being said, I really find it annoying when people (read: Malaysian Malay Muslims) suddenly become all touchy about a petty issue (the Court allowing a Christian weekly to use the name 'Allah' in their publication) when there's an even bigger issue that we are currently facing:

A LOT OF MUSLIMS NOW ARE LOSING THEIR FAITH.

In fact, I used to be one of them too. I was angry with God and blamed Him for all the bad things that had happened to me. Luckily, Allah showed me His light before it was too late.

Orang Islam sekarang ramai yang menggunakan arak, dadah, seks, shopping, clubbing, golfing, gambling dan sebagainya untuk mengisi KEKOSONGAN jiwa mereka.

They turn to all these to pacify their chaotic yet empty soul, instead of turning to their God.

Mereka tak nampak keindahan Islam kerana sang Ustaz dan Ustazah hanya rajin berkata: 'Ini tak boleh, itu tak boleh.'

Mereka tak lihat keindahan Islam kerana sang pendakwah gagal menerangkan bahawa Islam is the most comprehensive, yet simple religion in the world.

In fact, Islam is not merely a religion; it's a way of life.

Mereka tak mengerti bahawa Islam adalah agama yang menggalakkan umatnya berkasih-sayang sesama mereka dan juga dengan mereka yang bukan Islam, bukannya agama yang menggalakkan penganutnya menghentam sesama sendiri dan menghentam orang lain.

So my dear friends, must we blame the Christians for this, when we are supposed to blame ourselves?

Note to God

Dear God,

Today is the second last day of 2009 and I would like to thank you for all these:

Thank you for all the blessings that you've showered upon me
that had made realise that I'm a very, very, very lucky girl.

Thank you for all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful people that you've sent in my life
whom had taught me what kindness, forgiveness and uncoditional love are all about.

Thank you for all the bad things and failures that I have to go through
that had made me stronger, wiser, better.

Thank you for all the dreams that had come true,
for all the prayers answered AND unanswered,
because I know for sure now that you won't give me what I really want
but what I really need instead.

Thank you for giving me a good brain, a good heart, a good health, good 'rezeki' AND good teeth.

Thank you for giving me the ability to breathe and to think, to sleep and to sing, to cry and to laugh, to love and to let go.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

YOU, are indeed EVERYTHING.

The rest, well, they don't really matter.

xoxo

**********************************
A PRAYER
(by Anggun Cipta Sasmi)

Thank you for blessing the road I walk on
That I’m walking on
I’m sorry for every mistake I fall on
Can’t help but fall

You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know, I can always count on you
To give me the signs

In the wind on my face
Each time I try to run
From the sight of your grace
From the wrongs I have done

You shine down your light
Each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer

Give me true love in my life, a peaceful mind
Save me from harm
Pull me back if I ever try to walk away
Don’t let me stray

You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know I can always count on you
To give me the signs

In the wind on my face
Each time I try to run
From the sight of your grace
From the wrongs I have done

You shine down your light
Each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer
Say to all hearts in despair, there’s an answer to a prayer

You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know I can always count on you
To hear my prayers

You shine down your light
And I know there’s an answer to a prayer

You shine down your light
Each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer...

Haiku - Part I

Bulan sembunyi
Di balik tirai bintang
Merentas malam.

Lembut sang bayu
Bak sayap bidadari
Menghembus sunyi.

Engkaukah itu?
Muncul menghulur tangan
Memimpin daku.

Bertatih langkah
Namun tetap ku gagah
Menuju cahaya.

-nly-
December 16, 2009

*Image credit: 'Starry Night Over The Rhone' - by Van Gogh

Legends of Granada (Continued...)

*Taken from Don Quijote's website (http://www.donquijote.org)

Secret chambers, revengeful massacres, imprisoned princesses, palace ghosts, and fragrant gardens… many of Granada’s spots tell the story of legends and fables, turning it into a magical city.

THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH

There is one popular legend that relates how Boabdil, a pacifist and the last king of the Moors, surrendered Granada without a fight to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain in 1492. The Catholic monarchs exiled Boabdil and immediately hoisted the banner of Christian Spain above the Alhambra, marking the end of the last Moorish city of Spain. Boabdil began to weep as he handed King Ferdinand the keys to the city. His mother Ayesha, in disbelief and anger, reproached him for his tears by exclaiming:

“You do well to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend as a man.”

It is not at all difficult to understand why poor Boabdil wept. The tears he shed were his realization that he was going to abandon paradise on Earth. So when Boabdil paused at a mountain top to glance one last time at the beautiful city he had lost, he sighed.

HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES

The Hall's name derives from a tragic legend in which 36 members of the noble Abencerrage family were invited for a banquet at the Alhambra palace by the Sultan Abu Al-Hassan (Boabdil’s father). The Sultan wanted revenge after finding out that Hamet, the chief member of the Abencerrage family, was courting Zoraya - his own favourite concubine. During the banquet, he had his guards come into the intricately carved hall and cut the throats of every member of the family. Afterwards, the victims’ heads were thrown into the fountains. Legend holds that the stain visible at the bottom of the fountains today is the blood left behind as a permanent reminder of the horrible massacre.

THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER

Don Vincent was a student in Salamanca, who enjoyed travelling around villages during the summer, playing his guitar and singing for money. He once arrived in Granada on the eve of St. John. Noticing a fully armed soldier standing guard who went unnoticed by everyone, Don Vincent asked him who he was. The soldier replied that he had been taken prisoner in an attack against the Moors 300 years earlier. A spell had been cast upon him to guard a Moorish treasure and keep it from falling into Christian hands.

He was only temporarily freed every 100 years, on the eve of St. John, when the spell allowed anyone to see him and free him. The desperate soldier promised Don Vincent half of the treasure in exchange for his help. His quest was to find a fasting priest to call off the spell and a pure maiden to open the treasure chest. Setting out and willing to help, Don Vincent found an unfortunate insatiable priest and a chaste girl. The priest did his best to ignore his insatiable appetite.

Once Don Vincent, the priest and the girl reached the foot of the tower, the vault appeared. Once inside, the spell seemed broken. As Don Vincent began to fill his pockets with gold, the gluttonous priest ate some fruit. In the glimpse of an eye, Don Vincent, the maiden and the priest found themselves outside of the tower. St. John’s Eve was over and the spell wasn’t undone… the priest had eaten too early!

So, the legend claims, the soldier remains imprisoned in the tower, where he can still be seen guarding the treasure of the Alhambra…