Winter Wonderland

It has been snowing on and off for the past week but only last night that Edinburgh really turned into a winter wonderland. The snow storm last night painted the ground, roofs, and cars white.

Subhanallah, it is a breathtaking sight and down my street, I see the kids (and adults) finally coming out to make snowmen. But I'm glad I am inside, away from the cold. I'll venture out later to take some photos of my street and Arthur's seat. Meanwhile I am grateful to Allah for this chance to experience a white Christmas, even if I don't celebrate Christmas.

Munich Trip in the middle of August

Went to Munich with my friend Nicole before she left for home in August and here are some of the pictures we took of the beautiful city.






A guide for the blind

The 1972 Olympics commemorated in the new town house.

Trevor, our New Munich guide, giving us an explanation for the "royal" residence of the Bavarian kings.

The open market - really busy little place...I enjoyed it as I sipped my iced mocca across the street with Nicole.

Munich was the birthplace of the Nazi and yet more than half a century after the WWII, here is a synagogue once again...I admire the Jews for their determination to triumph against all odds.

One of the more "overt" dedication to the holocaust (Munich is definitely the soul of discretion in this matter).

A river running through the city.

The new city hall by day and by night.

From the top of the city hall, you can see this church which was rumoured to have been built by the devil.

One of the towers of the church.

Nicole, wondering why I'm snapping a picture of her. Anyway, we were waiting for the train to take us to the airport on our way back to Edinburgh....I definitely enjoyed my trip very much. Thanks, Nicole, for the memories.

Weather turning

Not only has the day begin to darken earlier, the weather has turned. This morning I woke up only to find the ground covered with frost. The temperature has dipped to below zero overnight. While the sun was shining, the day was still chilly. Winter is almost here.

Eid Photos

I'm back in Edinburgh and finally managed to download the pictures I took for Eid onto my laptop. Here are some:


My first night back and my first introduction to my youngest nephew, Ilex.

Eidul-Fitr - my whole family is finally together.

My siblings - Zikri & War Wat match while Isniati matches the curtains...hehehe, just joking.

Linda's daughter teaching Ian about fishes - he is clearly fascinated.

First cousins, once removed, but both around the same age.

The oldies, relaxing and enjoying themselves.

My dad with Kieran, my cousin's son.

Ilex is clearly not afraid of people - he has just met Shariffa for the first time and yet he's letting her carry him.

My late mother's family visiting us during the open house.

My godchildren, Umar and Fatima, are enjoying stacking up the big "cups" as they dubbed the stools.

A bit over-exposed but the only shot of all four kids.

War War's family enjoying my mom's cooking.

I love his eyes!!

He looks as if he's much older than 3 months old.

What are you doing, Auntie Sid? ...at least, that's what I think he's thinking. I'm going to miss him and his brother.

Back home & Eid Mubarak

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends! It is lovely to spend Eid at home with my family and friends. But I also miss my friends from Edinburgh, though most of them are back home too, and hope that they have a lovely Eid as well.

Will write more soon but for now, I can smell the spices from my mom's cooking as she's preparing all the traditional dishes for tomorrow's Eid. I'll have to follow my nose...

Looking forward to ...

going home. By this time Tuesday, I will be back in Singapore, to spend Eid with the family. I'll be meeting Ilex for the first time too. I've to thank my dad for this wonderful gift.

Second Ramadhan in Edinburgh

Today is the middle of Ramadhan and this is my second Ramadhan here. The difference between this Ramadhan and last year's is stark. Perhaps, last Ramadhan, the excitement of starting a new course and making new friends made it seemed less lonely. On the other hand, because of the course and adjustment period, I couldn't really concentrate on the worship aspects of Ramadhan.

This Ramadhan, it feels different. First, I have the time to sit and read the Qur'an as well as do my night prayers without worrying what time I have to get up the next day. However, it is a sad time too. I miss my family and friends, including those who had just gone home. This Ramadhan is turning out to be a lonely one. I guess that makes it easier to concentrate on the spiritual aspect of Ramadhan.

Whatever it is, I pray that this Ramadhan brings blessings to all Muslims.

Finally over

Thanks be to Him, I've managed to finish my dissertation last Friday and am now officially jobless. To counter this, I am taking a two pronged approach - firstly, work on finding a job and second, build up my publication record. From my dissertation, God willing, I think (and my supervisor agrees) that I can produce a paper with slightly different emphasis.

Even though intellectually I know He will provide, there is a part of me that is worried that I will not be able to find one. Especially when my first salvo comes up negative. Hopefully the coming Ramadhan will cheer me up and boost my morale again. Still I miss my family, especially not being able to be there for the first few months of my new nephew.

I pray that everything will go well. Ameen.

Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle - for Umar, Fatima, and Imran

Salams, Umar, Fatima, Imran,

Your Ami mentioned you kids were getting a bit potty with the new Harry Potter movie. So, since I went to visit the castle where they filmed the movie and previous movies before the latest one, I made a short video for you.

Hope you enjoy.
Auntie Sid

An experiment on making a video

Given that I was a bit frustrated in terms of writing the final paragraph, I thought I'd try out something new - using my various pictures and combining them into a video. It is a bit rough but here's the result of my attempt. It is basically various views of Glencoe, one of the beautiful glens in the Highlands. So, enjoy. :)

Duddingston Loch

This is the loch near my flat - went there on a cloudy day and got this shot of the water's reflection.

As summer progresses, one notices the wild flowers taking turns to bloom every month. Here's one for the month of July.

And then there is the fireweed or rosebay willowherb - they grow in such quantities that the fields are awash with this soft purple flower.

Of course, this is Scotland and the sight of her national flower, the thistle, is a reminder of the wild beauty and prickly nature of the land.

Trying out my new lens

Bought a new lens for my camera a few days ago - a 75 - 300 mm/f4.5-5.6 and so I had to try out the combination of both lenses on yesterday's trip to Falkland Palace and St Andrews.

Below are selections of the photos I took.


Because the day was rainy and the sky was overcast, I tried playing with B&W shots. Got this picture of one of the seabirds gliding on the winds of St Andrews.

Not sure what flower this is but I found its purple and yellow alluring.

This flower is not quite in focus - again, I don't know its name but I found it in the greenhouse of Falkland Palace.

The Falkland village is quite picturesque with flowers everywhere. Here's a clump outside the kirk.

Again, in Falkland Palace gardens, the raindrops were caught on the soft petals.

This seagull was flying overhead in St Andrews Castle.

This bird's beak is quite unique - it was hovering at eye level. I wished the rain marks on the lens didn't mar the photo.

Caught this one as it soared above the sea of St Andrews. A bit blurry but I like the feel of motion.

Falkland Palace as seen from the rose garden.

Ah, the rose...the sparkling red roses.

A rare warm summer day in Scotland

While summer is here, most of the time, there will be intermitten showers. This day, in late June, was one of those rare summer days where the sun was out throughout the day. Being on campus that day, I decided to enjoy the sun with Alexia (top picture) and Nicole (bottom picture).

Review - Desperately Seeking Paradise (Part 1)

This is the first part of a series of "review" on Ziauddin Sardar's book "Desperately Seeking Paradise." It is not going to be a sequential review but more of the parts which resonate with me.

This first part is on the chapter called "the Inquiry Years" where he talked about Al-Faruqi's idea on Islamization of knowledge and his opposition towards it. While the years he described were in the 80s, I do remember that such ideas were still big in the 90s when my friends and I were active in the Muslim Society on campus. The Muslim intellectuals, similar to those described by Sardar, were almost obsessed with the need to Islamize knowledge. I think I still have the book by Al-Faruqi that was quoted in Sardar's book. Now, I wonder what happened to this movement - have it been abandoned? Where did the energy and effort go to? Perhaps it is still there but now, things seemed to be hijacked by the issue of terrorism and extremism; the need for "moderate" Muslim voices.

Coming back to the book, I like how Sardar argues against Islamization of Knowledge. In his "discussion" with Al-Faruqi, he mentioned in the book:

"we must Islamize the disciplines...establish the specific relevance of Islam to each area...Al-Faruqi picked up the knife and fork lying in front of him..."Think of them as a discipline...Now in the West....People eat with their left hands...we Muslims eat with our right hands. So all we have to do is to switch....Certain disciplines would require that kind of transformation."

I was dumbfounded..."Forks and knives emerge out of a particular context....part and parcel of a certain etiquette of eating...disciplines are not, as you seem to think, made in heaven, they are not a priori given...Disciplines are born within the matrix of a particular worldview and are always hierarchically subordinated to that worldview...Islamizing disciplines already infused with a materialistic metaphysics and western, secularist ethics is tantamount to a cosmetic epistemological face-lift."


His description of his group's (the Ijmalis) idea to knowledge echoes within me - emphasizing on ethics and interconnectedness. That the pursuit of knowledge is a form of worship and that it must be pursued in the promotion of values that enhances the Muslim society and culture amongst others. These were some of the topics of discussions between my friends and I, if I recalled correctly. I believe the LKI 2 topics (part of FMSA leadership training) that we worked on in the late 1990s were geared towards this idea that the Ijmalis were promoting. That is the reason why I think I enjoyed this section of his book. If only the LKI 2 seminar series could have continued.

In my own experiences, having been a scholar and also a teacher, it is difficult to Islamize knowledge as propound by al-Faruqi. As Sardar mentioned, such effort only lent to a "cosmetic face-lift" especially in the subjects I was specializing in. However, Sardar's idea if ethics and promotion of values within the subject is quite reachable. For example, while I couldn't, for the life of me, think of how I could Islamize Operations Research (Optimization), I could utilize it in beneficial applications that would serve the society better, thus exercising the connectedness between knowledge and the Quranic value of public interest. I do hope that the younger generations of Muslims will build upon what the Muslim intellectuals of the past have started, especially in this challenging times. We truly need fresh ideas in creating a new worldview that is not defined by terrorism or extremism. Perhaps there are new works out there already...if so, that is very good and hopefully I will get to learn more. If not, then as Muslims, it is our duty to once again revive these Islamic intellectual works.

Another thing about this book is the funny yet almost brutally honest way Sardar has written it, an autobiography of his life so far. His description of people make most into caricatures (almost) and that makes the book easy to read while dealing with some pretty heavy issues such as discussed above. Next time, I'll touch on another topic that he brought up in his book, Insya Allah. Till then.

New Nephew

It's been 11 days since my newest family member arrive. Ilex Itsham Kusuma, my sister's second born son. My prayer is that he would grow to be a strong Muslim, a joy to his parents, family and community.

Updates

Duddingston Park South, my new digs. We moved on 22/05/2009 and will be here for the next six months or so. Can I say that it is home-sweet-home? Well, to a certain extent, it is definitely more of a home than Caddon was. The four of us, Mauricio, Rocio, William and I, are enjoying our time at the flat even though the first few days were a challenge; we had to figure out how to turn on the gas and electricity. Then, there is the fact that the flat wasn't cleaned when we first moved plus we had to get our own furnitures...the first few days were a nightmare.

To illustrate, the picture below was taken right after we cleaned the flat and unpacked all our stuff. It took us a week to actually recover from the move. Of course, there was the flooding of our kitchen due to the washing machine. Sigh.

(Will is the one on the floor)

Anyway, now that we've settled in, we've been experimenting with food - Mexican, Taiwanese, and Singaporean dishes plus some other types of Western style. We've also been exploring round the neighbourhood. It's a great location, if a wee bit far from Heriot Watt. Five minutes to the East is Fort Kinaid which is this big shopping area with lots of brand name retailers. Then 10 minutes NorthEast is ASDA, a giant supermart, good for cheap food and items. 10 minutes to the West is Lidl, a another supermart. So, shopping is not a problem.

What excites me most is the easy reach of some beautiful places - Portobello beach (okay, it's not white sandy beaches, but it has a charm of its own), Duddingston Loch at the foot of the hills of Holyrood Park, Craigmillar Castle (I've yet to explore) and more. So, I think we managed to get a good place.

Now, all that remains is to work on my dissertation (and get a job).

Animals of Heriot Watt

These are some of the animals that can be found at Heriot Watt; the first two photos were captured by my friend, Nicole, recently on her walks across HW. Enjoy.

Trip to the East Coast of Scotland and England

Sorry for this very long delay but having moved to a new flat roughly three weeks ago, I've been deprived of the internet for quite some time and then there is my dissertation proposal to be crafted out. Well, this morning, I am taking a short break from it to recount some of the adventures I've had.

Saturday, 16th May, was a good day. We were finally free of all the exams, and were on our way to enjoy the east coast of Scotland and England. Our first stop was Holy Isle...as you can see, the ten of us were bundled up nicely for the day was quite cold. From the right (back): Chen Jia, Shuyuan, Yi Xing, William, Rocio, Mauricio. From the left (front): Amy, me, Alexi, Nicole, Etienne.



The isle was a religious centre of the kingdom of Northumberia once upon a time and the celtic influence is visible as seen by the Celtic cross below.

Next stop was Bamburgh castle, which is now situated in England. In the early days, it was the centre of Northumbria.

This was the first sight of the castle which is situated along the coast. The beautiful golden carpet seemed to beckon us towards the castle, a welcoming sign.

In the old days, the coast along Bamburgh saw many shipwrecks and so a tradition of knights on horses patrolling the shore in storms were born. While there are no knights today, the tradition of riding/galloping horses along the shore still continues.

Bamburgh castle as seen from the moorland bordering the castle and the shore. I like the silhoutte of the castle against the sky.

Fresh from our adventure in Northern England, we went back into Scotland and ventured to a remarkable landscape where a bird colony awaits. St. Abbs Head, Berwickshire, Scottish Borders. Below is just one of its many cliffs, a dramatic coastline so different from the gentle beaches of Bamburgh, only an hour or so away.

There we were, after braving the rain and the winds, walking along the edge of the cliffs at some point along the trail. We finally reached the bird colony behind us where hundreds, if not thousands of sea birds were nesting and breeding.

Fiona, our guide, told us that some of these species might be in danger as their food source near these traditional breeding grounds are running scarce.

On our way back, we took a different route and saw this lochen within this valley that I found charming.

All in all, it was a lovely trip where we could decompress and refresh ourselves.