Degrees of legibility

After going through my notes and doodles (reams and reams of both), I have detected a certain, uh, pattern in my handwriting(s).

Penmanship doesn't always stay the same, does it? Look:

Not as perfectly aligned and spaced out as I'd like it to be, but acceptable.

Extracting relevant points from books for some term paper.

How did that blob of water end up on this?

The above happens when I have to listen to the lecturer, copy down points from the slides as well as the lecturer's explanations, register in all the new facts while engaging in a discussion with the lecturer AND voice out my questions at roughly the same time.

I admit it. Sometimes my handwriting disgusts me.

Teachers teach

What do you expect to learn in your first Sciences of the Qur'an class of the semester?

I don't remember what I'd expected, but this certainly wasn't it:

He made sure we all wrote this down.

Welcome to Dr. Israr's class. Dr. Israr Khan, a.k.a. "Abraham Lincoln", also, "Killer" (he said this, I didn't), is a person who, in his own words:

"...sangat suka bahasa ini (English); jadi saya mahu awak juga suka bahasa ini!"

[Speaks a fair amount of Malay, too.]

He is very, VERY particular about English grammar. By the end of each class, we'd have listened to enthusiastic lectures about two or three grammatical rules.

As regards to his knowledge about 'Ulum al-Qur'an, there is no doubt about his expertise and brilliance. And he's a born teacher. Allah, bless him.

Peristiwa penting di dalam hidup

Keputusan yang (dengan izin Allah) akan memberi lebih makna kepada hidup dia

Kurang lebih tiga tahun yang lalu, sebelum menjadi pelajar DQ, Ayah kata:

“Pastikan lepas habis DQ dah boleh cakap Arab.”

Er.

Sekarang episod Darul Quran sudah habis. Cakap bahasa Arab? Apa itu?

Setelah menjadi graduan DQ, bahasa yang dia tahu ialah bahasa dialek Kedah dan macam ada tahu sedikit bahasa Pulau Pinang. Bahasa utara yang menyerupai bahasa Siam. Bahasa Perak selalu didengari. Daripada tak pernah dengar bahasa Kelantan dapat faham lebih kurang 2 peratus dialek tersebut. Tahu bezakan dialek Kelantan dan Terengganu. Pahang juga ada bahasa baru aku tahu. Dapat berlatih berucap dalam cara rakyat Singapura (melibatkan kata-kata seperti bedek, semangka, sajak, bilang, dan lain-lain). Menggunakan bahasa Johor sekali-sekala haha apa sahaja yang bahasa Johor ada. Diperkenalkan kepada bahasa Brunei, Sabah dan Sarawak tapi tak pandai cakap. Masih mengekalkan kegemaran terhadap bahasa Kuala Lumpur.

Hafal al-Qur’an guna bahasa Arab. Bahasa perantaraan semuanya Arab kecuali untuk pelajaran bahasa Inggeris, Komputer dan seumpamanya.

Selesai tiga tahun. Tak pernah berjaya berbual dalam bahasa Arab sampai ke hari ini.

Rasa seperti tidak lengkap saja hidup. Jadi, tadi dia mendaftarkan diri untuk menjadi ahli Arabic Debating and Public Speaking Club. Ini kita panggil "langkah yang terpaksa diambil demi menyelamatkan jiwa bahasa Arab di dalam diri".

What was I thinking?
I am so dead
but
I figured that
if I died after having spoken at least a ten-minute conversation in Arabic,
it’ll be worth the death.

Yang dia nampak hanya Arabic Debating and Public Speaking Club. I don’t care if it’s public or private or a debate or not. I just need to be able to speak.

Allah help me. Lepas ini tulis di blog guna bahasa Arab pula. HAHAA.


P.S: Terima kasih kepada Kak So, pencetus tindakan ini. Kak So memang pelajar BARB yang memberi kesan kepada pelajar BHSc haha terima kasih semoga Allah memberi pahala kepada anda.

When you don't know what you're looking for

Cerita bosan. Ada dua tajuk: Cara-cara mencari maklumat di internet atau What you'll get if you search for something without first knowing what is it that you're looking for:

In Monday's Sciences of the Qur'an class:

Dr. Israr: For the first group (hers): 'MacDonald's Views on Wahy'.

Her: MacDonald?

Him: Yes, MacDonald. M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D, MacDonald.

Ada kumpulan lain dapat tajuk William Muir, Muhammad Asad, Dr. Muhsin Khan, Montgomery Watt, abrogation of Qur'anic aayaat, inimitability of the Qur'an. Kalaulah dapat tajuk yang itu semua, sekurang-kurangnya dia pernah dengar atau tahu sedikit tentang tajuk itu. Tapi MacDonald? Siapakah?

Habis sahaja kelas, Dr. Israr keluar dengan lajunya.

Wallaahi, I was clueless. I have to write a paper on MacDonald's Views on Wahy but I didn't know at all who MacDonald was. All the topic told me was that the person in question is named MacDonald, and that he had views on Islamic revelation. No first name, no titles of the books he authored, no clue of his origins, nothing.

Hanya ada satu MacDonald yang dia kenal:

Anda pun kenal.

Ronald.

I needed a McDonald whose Christian name is not Ronald. And because

1) McDonald is generally not a Muslim name, but

2) this [non-Muslim] McDonald has views on wahy, and

3) his views are apparently so important that we have to write a term paper about them for our Sciences of the Qur’an course,

so I assumed that this McDonald must be an Orientalist.

So I Googled “mcdonald, orientalist, views on islam”. My intent was to find a Christian name for this person. Which MacDonald, that is the question.

Alhamdulillah, the assumption seemed to be correct. After a click, (a long wait for a PDF file to download) and some scrolling down, I hit on this:


Duncan Macdonald! Now we have a name. And a date: 1863 – 1943. Okay Google some more. "duncan mcdonald":


Duncan McDonald | Facebook ?! Oh Tuhan. Definitely not this one.

Lagi, Duncan McDonald – School of Journalism and Communication Ini juga, tak mungkin. Jadi, tukar spelling sama wording. "duncan macdonald orientalist":

Which brought me to this:


Now that sounds more like it. Duncan Black Macdonald, American Orientalist. Selepas itu mulalah dia mencari karya-karya Macdonald pula. Seperti biasalah, bukan senang untuk cari sesuatu bila kita tak tahu apa yang dicari. Walaupun anda guna OPAC* untuk cari buku di perpustakaan itu pun, tak guna pencarian anda jika tujuan pencarian tidak jelas.

*Online Public Access Catalogue. Macam Google tapi untuk cari buku di perpustakaan. Kena beratur untuk guna (Di IIUM Library). PC OPAC di Dar al-Hikmah tak cukup banyak untuk accomodate aktiviti pencarian buku pelajar-pelajar UIA yang gila gigih mencari buku.

Key in "duncan macdonald" dalam OPAC. Tak dapat apa. Cuba keyword lain juga tak berhasil.

Esoknya cuba lagi. OPAC masih tak kenal "duncan macdonald" Setelah geram, taipkan saja "orientalists" habis cerita. OPAC pun bagi senarai judul buku tentang Orientalis. Orientalis dan al-Qur'an! Now we're getting somewhere. Dapat buku "Al-Istishraq wal Qur'an al-Azhim", jumpa akhirnya nama Duncan Macdonald di dalam bibliografi. Di mana ada nama penulis, di situ ada tajuk buku. Cari buku itu di OPAC. Jumpa!

Kutip semua buku tulisan Macdonald, pinjam (sebelum itu bayar denda RM2.60 kerana lewat pulangkan buku semester lepas). Tengok jam, uh lagi beberapa minit ada kelas Sciences of the Qur'an. Pergi locker room perpustakaan, mahu tinggalkan dahulu timbunan buku itu di dalam pigeon hole sebelum ke kelas...

Tapi semua pigeon hole dah tiada! Hah. Kenapa tiba-tiba locker dan pigeon hole dalam bag room semuanya dah tiada? Semester lepas masih ada. Hari ini hilang. Bilik locker kosong tinggal bilik sahaja. Bare walls bare floor. How inconvenient tapi takpe. Bawa buku semua sekali ke kelas. Aku duduk satu kerusi, buku duduk satu kerusi.

Lepas kelas jumpa Doktor Israr. Yeah. Memang betul beliau maksudkan Duncan Macdonald. Dapat petunjuk lebih sedikit untuk menulis term paper.

Hidup ini banyak simpang. Gunakan peta, tanya kepada orang yang tahu jalan dan jangan putus asa.

Raison d'être versus Paranoia

Why in God's name did I publish this blog in the first place?

Rasa macam mahu ditanam sahaja blog ini. Lepas tanam tuang konkrit supaya dia tak boleh keluar lagi.