Siapa itu Sumayyah bint Khubbab?

It's been awhile since I call out this name "Sumayyah". Tiba-tiba terlintas pula di hati untuk memperkenalkan siapa itu Sumayyah Bint Khabbab and why at the end of this article is she significant to me.

Sumayyah bint Khubbab

One of the most noble examples of muslim womanhood and the first martyr of Islam was the female companion Sumayyah Bint Khabbab (may Allah be pleased with her). She was one of those who stood fast and resolute upon the worship of Allah SWT alone when the muslims were few and their success was only through patience upon the truth .

An excerpt of her biography [radi'Allahu anha] follows.

The Biography of the companion of Allah's Messenger [sall'Allahu aleihi wa salam] Sumayyah Bint-Khubbab as found in the Al-Isabah [vol 8 ./189-190] of the noble scholar and imam of hadith Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani [rahim'Allah] with additional details taken from 'at-Tabaqat al-Kubra 'of Ibn- Saad Volume 8 pg 193.

"She is the mawla of Abu Hudhaifah ibn Al-Mughirah ibn Abd'Allah ibn Amr ibn Makhyum, mother of Ammar ibn Yasir. She was the seventh one to accept Islam. Abu Jahl tortured her by stabbing her in the private parts and she died as a result of that. Therefore she was the first 'shaheedah' (martyr) in Islam. Yasir was a slave to Abu Hudhaifah, so Abu Hudhaifah married him to Sumayyah and they had Ammar, and Abu Hudhaifah freed his slave. Yasir and his wife and his son were all from the earliest people to accept Islam.

Ibn Ishaq stated in his 'Maghazi' that some men from the family of Ammar ibn Yassar narrated that Umm Ammar was punished by the family of al-Mughira because of her Islam. And she refused to leave Islam [and so she was punished ] until they killed her. The Prophet [sall'Allahu aleihi was salam] used to go to Ammar, his mother and his father when they were being punished at al-Abtah, during the month of Ramadhan in Mecca. He [sall'Allahu aleihi was salam] would say " Be patient oh family of Ammar- your appointed destination is Jannah."

Mujahid said "The first ones who showed their Islam in Mecca were seven: the Messenger of Allah [sall'Allahu aleihi was salam], Abu Bakr, Bilal, Khatab, Suhaib, Ammar, Sumayyah." As far as the Messenger of Allah [sall'Allahu aleihi was salam] and Abu Bakr then their people prevented them from being harmed. As for the others, they [the mushrikin] seized them, dressed them in a suit of armor and cooked them in the sun. Abu Jahl came to Sumayyah and stabbed her with a spear in her private parts. Abu Shaibah and the author Jarir and Mansur and Mujahid… stated it is mursal with an authentic chain.

Ibn Sa'd narrates with an authentic chain on the authority of Mujahid that the first shaheed in Islam was Sumayyah, the mother of Ammar ibn Yasir. And she was a small old woman. And Abu Jahl was killed on the day of Badr. The Messenger [sall'Allahu aleihi was salam] said to Ammar: "Allah has killed the one who has killed your mother."

Taken from: Sumayyah's Garden

I did'nt have the opportunity to get to know Sumayyah bint Khabbab in person, but I am looking forward to getting to know Puteri Nur Sumayyah ( as shown here, the latest addition to Bani Ishak.. ) a great deal more. May she live up to the name given to her, Amin.

Ikan oh ikan...bakar ke terbakar?

Got an sms from my pal at the office this morning, she needed me to come in and fill up some "important" forms ( can't reveal waht they are, sorry! ). Earlier I had decided to bakar ikan kerapu for my lunch, a treat konon. Tell you more later.

After completing some chores and making some calls (regarding my wrongly paid januari gaji, can you believe these people!! ) , I drove off to my eX-office ( or is it?? asyik ke sana twice a week, some people think I am still working there). What the heck I love my friends there so what can I say. Lepas dah habis kerja kat opis tu we all ( seven of us, miss having you Sew Keoh ) headed to The Mall. Each of us had a huge plate of Kenny Roger's good for high BP diet chicken yum yum yummy!!( except of course our chicken hater friend who had soup hehe ).

Reached home around 5pm, rushed to the kitchen to bakar my kerapu. The rice was cooked earlier this morning ( remember, I was supposed to have lunch at home ). Took the fish out of the fridge and started rapping it in the daun kunyit ( dah sprinkled a pinch of salt on the fish earlier ). Cepat2 sepit ikan and bakar over the stove flame. While its giving out bau yang sedap, I decided to take my bath and pray. Bila dah selesai cepat2 tutup api dapur and bersiap untuk makan ( by that time baru 6.15pm ).

Mula2 cuba mengeluarkan what looked like fish out of something hitam legam. The daun kunyit would not come off so decided to biarkan ianya melekat kat ikan ( lagi pun bukannya racun and boleh dimakan pun ). Masukkan nasi dalam plate, panaskan menggunakan microwave and bergegas ke meja makan. Bila masukkan saja ke dalam mulut...my God!! that was the worst ikan bakar I have ever tasted in my life ( I am 47 now, so I have tasted alot of ikan bakar ). So the moral of the story is, it is not easy to prepare food to help bring down your BP. The easiest way, at least for my case, is to eat out with your friend and have fun ( by the way, my BP is now 146/80 ). Itulah alkisah ikan kerapu bakar yang tak menjadi....

p/s These people are definitely not having that ikan bakar ( but definitely my cooking ;-)) )

Where will I go from here...

Been busy these past few day surfing ( not the waves ) looking at Spain and Portugal, why? You guessed it, we ( my travel buddies and I ) might be heading that way this coming March, insya'allah.

What beautiful buildings, ancient and oustanding, just the way I like them . Can't wait to see the real thing. Tak nak get too excited nanti jadi macam Dubai tu, entah apa-apa. Malas nak ingat pasal tu dah.

Anyway, since tak dapat gi Dubai, my friend and I made a trip to.. you all ( well some of you ) sure cannot guess punya, MELAKA. Of course, not my first timelah. Bandar Melaka ni walau pun dah tiga empat kali pergi still able to attract my attention bila sampai to that "red building area" in the middle of town. Lepas kita orang parked kereta around there we were greeted, pleasantly I might add, by this beca man. He told us that we have to purchase parking tickets and that we could take a ride on his beca. It will cost us RM50 for an hour ride or RM10 to go from the parking place to the museum and back ( which we discovered later took roughly half an hour including the time taken to get down to snap some pictures ). What to do, my friend being a softy, and kesian kat that nice man, agreed to the RM10 ride.

The ride could have been more enjoyable if we did not have to squeeze ourselves soo tightly together ( the space was just nice for two size S not one XL and L ). I was at the same time trying very hard not to let my leg touch the paddler's leg. It was a real struggle for me. I am glad that the whole ride was short and quick. By the way, on this trip, I get to know what a pokok melaka looks like ( and its fruits too )

Then we headed for the souvenir stalls ( as usual, that's my hobby ) and my friend had to do some good deeds ( dia memang suka buat charity work ) by helping a sales woman convinced two elderly women that they look good in the Baba chongsum that they were trying on. They looked OKlah to me. I was more concerned with the T-shirt that I was choosing at that time ( not that she gave us a better deal for helping ).

There was also this interesting majic cube that she was selling. What you had to do is figure out how to open it. She told us some people took a few days to open it but my buddy took only a few minutes. So she ask if she could get it as a prize, the women said " no such thing" ( mind you this was before she helped her sell the chongsum ) After that pun, tak dapat juga hehehe. Takpelah good deeds are not necessarily rewarded.

Lepas dah tak ada apa lagi nak buat we headed back to KL. Eventhough it's not Dubai, a holiday spent with an enjoyable company is still a holiday, be it di dalam atau di luar negara.

That's how I see it ...

The finished product.

Remember I was telling you all about the "renovation" work in room no.2, well now I would like to share with you the new room no.2 ( kalau lupa how the old one looks like, you can always scroll further down )




This is the new door with its new border ( the old border was

yellow )

This is the inside of the room, with its new coat of paint ( the old one was green, just like its door ) and now with similar borders around its windows ( ada extra border so why waste )

p/s I had lunch with my friends today ( my old gang ) and guess what?? my BP is now 150/80 ( go figure ). It looks as though they are the reasons for my normal BP all this while ( some scientists will tend to come to that conclusion. The question is, are you one of those scientists?? )

Is stress the answer...

Today I went for my follow up at HKL, Endocrine Clinic. It was uneventful except for the fact that they manga the 3 gates leading to UKM side which forced me and my buddy to turn around and walked back to the IMR's main gate in order to reach the destination.

Now, why tell this uneventful part then? Well I figured it will explain some of the masalah I was about to discover later. When we reached there, it took the nurse about 3 minutes to call my name( thus , the not enuff rest from the long walk ). I went up to the nurse ( or rather clerk ), gave my GL and was asked to check my BP at one counter they have ( it was not there before ). I sat down and had a shock of my life, my BP was 165/90 ( he was also shocked, the man who took the BP ). He asked me to stand and did it again ( not the Britney's thing ) and now it was 164/90. He wrote it down and told me to weigh myself.

I went and told him 58.4kg and he wrote, which I discovered later, 68.4kg ( kena pakai spek ke or choked on his tie ) me, 68.4kg??? Anyway, my buddy said " no lah it's your handbag, at least 2kg". True enuff when I weighed myself again ( with another less sophisticated machine ) it was 56.4kg, thank you GOD. Two bad news a day were too much to take ( what with the mee, bihun and paru I already had for breakfast ).

Then masuk jumpa Dr. She said "you are doing well with your thyroid treatment" and I might be able to discontinue my medication if this persist for another 6 months. What a relief! But then again she said," you either get cure completely or develope hypothyroidism" pula!! What a way to go. Let's just pray for the best. Then she added did you know that your cholesterol is high too ( besides the BP, which by the way, she repeated the measurement and it is still high ). I told her I have been eating eggs ( bila malas keluar makan or masak ) and as for the BP, it came as a surprise to me too. She gave some dietary advice and off we went.

You see, the thing I don't understand is, I am a retired government servant with no stress, how come I'm having high BP now? I used to be sooo stressful when I was working but my BP was OK. So, could it be that STRESS is good for ME? I think it's true ( at least, in my case )because the STRESS I have from being a government servant in THAT PLACE where I worked, will always be the TRIGGER for a lot of JOKES and LAUGHTER ( which only I and my people understand ) which resulted in normal BP for me. So listen here my people, if you don't want high BP, then don't retire from there OK!! That's the moral of this story.

p/s btw, that round-about walk I told you earlier, I think is causing my BP to be high ( my theorylah ). That's the moral of that story...

Semenjak jadi Pesara ni...

Asyik nak habiskan duit aje. I guess that's what having a good retirement plan is all about. Having to do what one's heart desires. Lepas dah "make-up" bilik pesara, I decided to move the "renovation " ke bilik termenung No: 2. Bukan apa, bila always at home ni, kita asyik buat endless trips to the kitchen. Kejap ambik air, kejap cari makan. Sambil keluar masuk dapur tu terpandanglah bilik No: 2 nii. Di sebabkan terlalu free, maka terfikir pulak in this still active brain of mine, what can I do to this room pulak?

So, I got in touch with my ever-willing friend, and we headed on to the.. mana lagi kalau bukan hardware store. Bought some under-coating paint ( to undercoat cat yang sedia ada tu ), the new colour paint ( eventhough the one I wanted takde ) and some masking tape. Not forgetting I also ordered 1 PVC door and an installation guy ( just for the installation, not for keeping ).

As you can see, the undercoating went well and the wall is just waiting to be painted. By the way, for those yang tak familiar, the wall was green before the undercoat.

The door is still wooden so bermakna yang baru belum di pasang lagi.

Tapi I just nak share this preparation with you guys first. Biasalah benda-benda macam ni pun dah got me excited.

Nanti bila everything siap kita tulis lagi ya..

What am I thinking today ?

It's 10.22am, Monday morning, and I'm looking at my notebook trying to pen down my thoughts. I am just thinking aloud about what I miss most about not working.. let me think!

I miss my friends at the office of course, but why? I don't miss the job that I was doing. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate what I was doing, just that I don't miss not doing them. Now, my friends, what do I miss about you guys? What I missed the most is having the usual conversations with all of you , about work, about people, about life..ours and other people's, about everything under the sun ( or sky ). I miss giving people my point of views ( and listening to theirs as well ). I guess, I miss talking to people, exchanging views and debating on issues.

I miss listening to the "blood-boiling" situations in the work place. Eventhough I hated what it did to my bp but still when you don't get a dose of it every morning you kind of miss it! What I don't miss is of cause WORKING!! I love retiring and having to do what comes to mind ( like writing this blog ) and the peace that I am feeling within myself. But being human ( and a bit selfish ) we want everything that makes us whole and happy. After being with your friends ( and non-friends ) for soo long, I guess it's only normal to miss them from time to time.

I am glad that I choosed to retire when I did 'cos from what I heard everyone is sooo busy this year and it could be even tougher for me if I had stayed. I was just not into the "work" anymore. To all my friends out there, still working, I salute you!

That's what I want to share this morning..

p/s someone wants me to share with you my experience ordering Hailam Seafood Noodle at one restaurant in Shah Alam ( can't remember the name ) so here goes..

We went to this restaurant for dinner and everyone was feeling kind of hungry. I ordered the above and waited for it to be served. Everybody else got what they ordered. When mine came, I saw what I thot was pieces of chicken meat in my black, fat mee. Shocked and annoyed ( at the black, fat noodle ) I asked the waitress whether that was chicken meat in my noodle and where were the seafood ( food coming from animals that live in the sea..) and she told me ( actionly.. hihi ) that, that was how hailam SEAFOOD noodle was prepared here with chicken meat and no prawn or squid. My temperature and bp pun naik serta-merta. She went off before I could react. I called another whether and demanded to know what he understood by the term SEAFOOD?? Without explanation, he took back the dish back and after half an hour later came back with a diluted black, still fat noodle with prawn and squid. I ate all the SEAFOOD but not the noodle. I was pissed off till after dinner when I had to say good bye to my favorite grandniece. That time I was sad 'cos I have to leave her.

A picture tells a thousand words..on the left is the HSN ( which I hated ) and on the right is my grandniece ( which I love ), jangan keliru ya!!

Some more bedroom stories...

These are not pictures of the furious rain water but rather what appears on my door, COOL kan ??

Yesterday I had the most horrible experience. It started to rain around petang and hujan tersangatlah lebatnya ( bukan lagi cats and dogs, tapi gajah dan badak ). My whole balcony was wet ( eventhough I put plastic covers over the grill...this is something you have to see but not imagine ). Anyway, berbalik kepada tajuk penulisan, bila I masuk bilik tidur, I ternampak air mengalir pada feature wall I( jangan jelus, kita ada feature wall kat bedroom ). Ooh my God!!! mimpi ngeri pun bermula...

I tarik ke atas blinds and nampak air bertakung dalam grooves sliding window. I ran as fast as I could into the third room to get some old unwanted T-shirts ( 3 in total ). Placed dua di celah-celah gruf tersebut dan satu on the floor ( oohh my new baby... ) dekat dengan tingkap. I sat on my bed watching if there was a need for more T-shirts. True enuff, I needed 2 more. One into the same groove and 1 lagi melekat pada dinding di mana air sedang mengalir turun dari gruf tersebut.

After about an hour, the rain stopped. And I had 5 wet T-shirts to wash. So, today I decided to seal my sliding window panels for good and pray to God it will keep the rain out of my bedroom. To do this I have purchased a sealant gun and bullet..hehe, I am prepared for all occasions.

That's that!

There's something going on at 8-2-2..

Remember when I told you that I have something to share dulu and asked you all to tungguuuu... Well it's here! It's my new bathroom door. Well, tell me what you guys think of it? I personally think it's COOL.

It's difficult to arrange the pictures cos this blog does not allow you to move the pictures as you like and I'm dying to publish this before the end of the day. Well, another happy moment of a pensioner.

That's it for now...

01.01.2006

Today, 1st January 2006, is the beginning of the rest pension days of my life. What a wonderful life I hope it will be. Nothing much to share with you all except these two things...

My grandniece ( could she be the future IMR staff like the mother and her grandaunty?? scary!! )

Pertama kali I melihat kabus yang menutupi Menara Rebung di Bangsar on my way back from Shah Alam visiting my grandniece

along the Federal Highway ( Kabusnya kat belakang the Pintu Gerbang Selangor DE ). Mind you this was taken using my mobile phone in a moving car. Terror tak??