assalamualaikum.
Overheard at the back of the dissection room, after a probably mentally harassing session of anatomy:
"To learn all this, we'd have to literally live in the library."
A stranger - man - who stood beside me while waiting to cross the road, showing a sudden bout of concern upon noticing that cars have stopped to give way to us.
"Let's cross the road, sister."
Kak Atun's housemate.
"Here, you don't say 'excuse me'. You say 'Hey bastard, let me pass!'"
Kak Atun's housemate again.
"You live in the UK, you should know how to swear!"
Kak Atun's housemate, again... (to her, of course.)
"You cook, wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. You ought to be the mom in this house!"
Kak Atun to her housemates, in a notice pasted above the kitchen sink.
"I would like to ask for a BIG FAVOR from you guys. Please, please, please wash the dishes."
Mags, my housemate, in a notice she pasted on the fridge door.
"Please, clean your things, in the interest of hygiene and my sanity."
A random guy who stood in the pavement in front of a row of houses with his pal, cat-called at me and my friend as we pass, and FARTED, then laughed loudly. We're sure he did it in
purpose. A new way to flirt, huh??
I'm currently in a period of abstinence from long creative/expressive/critical writing that doesn't directly have anything to do with my course. The suffering I'm experiencing befits the topic we're learning for this case : PAIN. Tomorrow it'll be a nine-to-five hospital visit to Hope Hospital in Salford, and insyaAllah that'll end my week. I hope someone'll be willing to feed me after I return. I'll be too tired (or lazy) to cook, and I'm too health-conscious to indulge in another takeaway bounty after dining on chicken-and-chips-with-chilli sauce-and-mayonnaise plus baked McVities Boasters cookies with chunks of Belgian chocolate and hazelnuts today..
Someone said that I should be more academic in my writings, if I want to achieve any substantial impact, if I wish to change people's mindsets (referring to my writings in other places, not here, here is too personal a site for mindset-changing business). The thing is, I preferred the idea of writing expressively, my responses to certain issues and quoting facts at random without essay-like references and facts. Post-traumatic effects from the nightmarish assignments I was subjected to in Banting, perhaps. But I think the advice is sound and perhaps I should heed it to some extent.
Sometimes I don't really like the idea of simply picking Quranic verses or Hadiths to support my point when I'm discussing social issues - sometimes it feels like I'm using them for my own interest. Applying the verses to my arguments simply to strengthen it. I prefer to do it the other way round - reading the divine commandments and applying them in life, and letting the lessons flow effortlessly when I'm writing, without necessitating proving my points - which might not be perfect - with the flawless revelations. (Those who joined Journey for The End I might remember one of the speakers saying something to this effect.)
And I also feel that using the verses and sayings may deter free analysis of my article, hinder free thinking and decision-making by my readers. Get my point? My article - or anyone else's for that matter, those who so love to use references to the divine - might be flawed and wrong, but people may feel inclined to believe it or be afraid to argue for fear of unintentionally refuting the irrefutable. The verses are perfect truth, but human application and interpretations are not. Even ulama's make mistakes, what more us, the ill-educated ones?
Islam, and all its teaching, is applicable in both worldly and other-worldly affairs. I'm trying to my best to apply it as I understood, both in real life and in writing. (By no means am I boasting that my writing is 100% Islamic-compliant. I'm not as arrogant as that.) It is just that I'm admitting my own weakness, inability to confidently apply the exact verses to my own commentaries, for fear of mis-using them and mis-leading my readers.
Disagree with me if you like, I just hope that you'll bother to actually understand what I'm expressing before condemning me or anything. (Like I care. Haha.)
Tonight is the 23rd night of Ramadhan. Sigh...
meow~
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Terasa nak comment. hehe.. Erm, I always struggle with the very idea of when to be gentle and when to actually lepuk orang sampai dia paham or ikut. By nature I think I prefer the former - a lot - but I am well aware of its flaws. But it's abit hard to escape from who you are, innately. I agree that doing the TOK way will usually make you arrive in a series of catch22s - pointless at times. Even as im writing now, I think I'm trapped in my 'soft' ways. So I guess everybody just has to be who they are, but always look back to reflect or one maybe in danger of falling into the state of jahil muraqqab (I can't think of this term in another language right now). Owh, good point about the qur'anic verses and hadiths. I'm always scared when im about to write one or utter one. But well, sometimes terkeluar je... Hope they are not misleading.
Now I guess you understand why I was such a rat in my third semester, especially with the 'Do not disturb' sign on my door. Hehe.
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck for your studies. Trust me, things do get better, inshaAllah.
Post a Comment