There are so many things that I did while undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas. One of the things that I like to do is to create posters. Here are some of the posters that I made. Well, basically, it is grammar and whatsnot. So, being a non-native speaker, of course I have to take the content such as idioms from elsewhere. 😀
I know about its existence last year (2018) when I did my Latihan Ikhtisas. I have no issue about its existence and whatever posts that people write. A similar kind of blog such as IIUMconfession has existed few years back earlier. For IIUMconfession, most of the times, the students or former students of IIUM would write about their experience learning and studying at IIUM. When they talk about former lecturers, even though some of the lecturers are well-known as “killer lecturers”, they would write something positive about those killer lecturers. They talk about the values they learn from them. [Note: There are also non-IIUM students or former students who post their thoughts at IIUMconfession 😀 ]
UTMconfession? It is totally a different game. Some might say that I am bias because I didn’t graduate from UTM. But the way I see it, UTMconfession has become a place where students defame, malign, slander (you name it) either the university where they go or went to study i.e. UTM or the people who teach or taught them or anyone that they have encountered for various purposes. Don’t get me wrong. There are some positive uplifting posts by various individuals (who are mostly students or former students) too.
I am not saying that one could or should not give bad comments on the institution i.e. UTM or its staff (academics or non-academics), but from the way I see it, majority of the bad comments are baseless. Only few can be considered as genuine cases that worth to be taken into consideration.
For example, if you get failing marks, rather than just go straight away to “attack” the person who teaches you, please have self-reflection first. Why do you get such marks on a first place? Most of the time (99.9%) it is due to students’ effort. As university students, it is not about judging how other people teach you, but rather judging how you learn from this person who teaches you. Capisce?
You might say that “Well, even though he/she has a PhD, but still he/she is a lousy lecturer“. I do admit that some of my colleagues might not emphasize on their teaching, rather than research but they are the “minuscule organism” at this university. Majority of us are passionate educators. Every semester during semester break especially, some of us attend workshops/training etc. to improve our teaching strategies. Some of us take the effort to change or adjust certain things that we normally do in class. To have a fresher style, we go extra miles to keep ourselves updated with the latest development in teaching and learning. All of these take efforts and time. Students don’t see the behind-the-scene things.
Do they know that we have to juggle with so many things other than teaching? Do they know that whatever things that we do in class will be evaluated, audited and monitored? So, when you guys give “lousy evaluation” on our ePPP, sometimes it does make others to raise questions about what and how we teach in class. This is especially if we are teaching different sections, and one section give us good rating about our teaching and another section give us bad rating. We are the same. How can we get two different ratings? It is you guys, students who have different perceptions about us. It’s ok. We are not stopping you from giving us bad evaluation if you feel dissatisfied with us. You are human being with feelings so, it is your right to let your emotion known to us. But you have to do it with hikmah (wisdom). That’s something that you need to learn.
Note: If you are dissatisfied with the university or the lecturer who teaches/taught you, please use proper channel. Don’t use UTMConfession with the hope that anyone that you think has nothing better to do than to entertain your slandering complaint would read it. Do you think that by posting such thing would change the situation according to what you wish? It might backfire you instead.
a) Charity will not decrease wealth
Abu Hurairah (R.A.) narrated Allah’s Messenger (S.A.W.) as saying: “Charity does not in any way decrease the wealth and the servant who forgives, Allah adds to his respect; and the one who shows humility, Allah elevates him in the estimation (of the people).” (Muslim Vol. 4, Hadith 6264)
b) Different kinds of sadaqah
– Sadaqah from what you earn
– Sadaqah by giving help/assistance to others
– Sadaqah by performing good deeds and restraining oneself from doing evils
Abu Musa narrated that the Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “Every Muslim has to give in sadaqah (charity).” The people asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.s.)! If someone has nothing to give, what will he do?” He said, “He should work with his hands and benefit himself and also give in charity (from what he earns).” The people further asked, “If he cannot do even that?” He replied, “Then he should help the needy who appeal for help.” Then the people asked, “If he cannot do that?” He replied, “Then he should perform all that is good and keep away from all that is evil and this will be regarded as charitable deeds.” (Bukhari Vol. 2, Hadith 524)
c) Examples of sadaqah
The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) said: “To smile in the company of your brother is charity. To command to do good deeds and to prevent others from doing evil is charity. To guide a person in a place where he can not get astray is charity. To remove troublesome things like thorns and bones from the road is charity. To pour water from your jug into the jug of your brother is charity. To guide a person with defective vision is charity for you.” (Bukhari)
d) Give sadaqah whenever you have opportunity to do so.
Haritha ibn Wahb narrated that he heard the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) saying, “O people! Give in charity as a time will come upon you when a person will wander about with his object of charity and will not find anybody to accept it, and anyone (who will be requested to take it) will say, “If you had brought it yesterday, I would have taken it, but today I am not in need of it.” (Bukhari Vol. 2, Hadith 492)
e) Sadaqah is best given when you are healthy, feeling hesitant (niggard) and afraid of being poor
Abu Hurairah (r.a.) narrated that a man came to the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and asked, “O Allah’s Messenger which charity is the most superior in reward?” He replied, “The charity which you practice while you are healthy, niggardly and afraid of poverty and wish to become wealthy. Do not delay it to the time of approaching death and then say, ‘Give so much to such and such, and so much to such and such.’ (And it has already belonged to such and such (his heirs).” (Bukhari Vol. 2, Hadith 500)
Why you should give sadaqah when you are healthy?
When we are healthy, normally we have the tendency to overlook certain things in life especially those who are in need.
Why you should give sadaqah when you are feeling hesitant (niggard) and afraid of being poor?
When we are feeling hesitant, normally we might be over-judgmental and then might easily become suspicious about the intent of the person asking for a charity/donation/something from you. Being over judgmental makes it difficult for us to be decisive about an action, which is in this case giving sadaqah.
Then if we think too much about how much money that we will “lose” because of giving it to others, this is as if we have a rightful claim over the money that we give away, whereas whatever we have is not ours on a first place. It is all belong to Allah. Sometimes, we tend to forget about that.
2 in 1. Appreciation ceremony and FSSH open-office(?) day. It started at 815am with registration and whatsnot and ended at 12pm. What a day!
The Dean came around 11ish am. Alhamdulillah he could come to celebrate the event with us.
Note: There are other pictures taken by others. But I only took these two pictures as memento.
I was waiting for ‘Asr prayer (as I wrote this). Then suddenly, I heard somebody knocking on my door. I asked who he was. He said that he is from Maahad Tahfiz. I remember an ustaz who has Tahfiz centre nearby my place who never did anything like this before. I was skeptical. I am in dilemma. I don’t want to lose any chance of giving sadaqah and at the same time, I don’t want to give my money to a conman. [Note: He came again on 18 August 2019).
What should I do? As I was typing this, one of my colleagues messaged us using Whatsapp to let us know about this. Alhamdulillah she has similar stance as I am.
If the person tries to sell some product, I don’t mind buying anything from the person even though I might not in need of the things that he sells. This is based on what my late mom taught me. Don’t refuse to buy anything from a seller who comes to your house especially if you see he/she carries the things on his/her own.
My mom was a regular customer of this lady who sells medicated oils and whatsnot. The lady would never fail to come to my house to sell medicated oils, talcum powder, fish cracker and such. After she passed away, the medicated oils and talcum power are still there on top of her make-up cabinet/drawer. A remembrance of my late mother and her kindness. Al-fatihah.
I received an email to invite me for an award ceremony. Me? Get an award? For real? That’s my initial reaction. I never got any such thing as far as I remember. I just came back from my Latihan Ikhtisas. Did I perform really well for my Latihan Ikhtisas? Err, no comment on that though 😀
I heard the news that he was sick on the way to KL on Sunday (21 April 2019). At first, I was not aware of the news because I was fasting and had a Personality Psychology class that day. A busy day for me.
When he was warded, I was contemplating to pay him a visit. But upon request of his wife to have limited visits, I just pray for his well-being. I know that he needs his rest. I keep updated of any news about him via Whatsapp messages. Alhamdulillah, when I saw he started to send messages on Whatsapp, I know that he is getting any better.
I pray May Allah Give our Dean, Prof Dr Muhammad Sukri Bin Saud a speedy recovery and ease anything that needs to be done for his recuperation.
The KPIs for university lecturers are not for faint-hearted people. Indeed. But sometimes, there are daredevil ones who would dare to do any and everything to make sure they hit their KPIs with flying colors. Slow professor principle? Definitely not on these peps’ vocabulary. They are one on the Shinkansen mode. Always. So, anything that block their way will be bulldozed indefinitely.
But the reality starts to show that the quantity does not justify the quality. People have started to talk about it. When asked about the practice of individuals who use other people’s students work without their contribution, critical people like Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz does say something spot on.
For me, I believe that we can’t hurry to be “matured”. It is as if you are taking a hormone booster to get old quickly. Does anyone want to get old early? Of course, there are outliers who excel in certain fields at young age and in academia, these people can be exemplified in the way they rise to the social academic ranking faster than the average. Some are really good. But I am not like them. I am a late bloomer. This is what I notice since young. So, I am not pushing myself to be on Shinkansen mode.
The incident that happened to one of my seniors in April 2019 left indelible mark that makes me think to reevaluate and reprioritise my goals in life. Now, I believe that if I improve myself in the way I relate myself to Allah, it will be translated in the way I lead my life as His ‘Abd. Even though in one of the verses in the Qur’an states
Yet, I believe that what is good in this world does not mean or equate with money or social status. Allah Knoweth the best and I pray May He Bless me with the best gladtiding.
He is known as “a killer” lecturer. (Former students still remember him as such). Nobody dares to come later than him. The moment he entered the class, he would lock the door. Late comers? You wouldn’t able to enter the class. Period. No negotiation. Nothing.
At that time, nobody dares to make a complaint to the administrator or the dean. Who dares to make a complaint when the one who locked the door is THE DEAN himself? You make complain to him? Are you crazy? Even the VC is younger than him. He is like Don Corleone. You don’t mess with The Don.
But former students learn values such as punctuality and such. One of my friends who took sociology classes with him would proofread her assignments (the things that we don’t bother to do for another classes). Why? Those with grammatical errors would be publicly shamed once he returned the assignments. He teaches us to be perfectionist and proficient in English. Of course, as students at that time, being young and reckless, some of us didn’t appreciate his style.
I heard the news yesterday that he passed away in his sleep. He was 81 years old. Al-fatihah to Prof. Dr. Mohamed Aris Othman (he is fondly known as Pak Aris even though he has Professorship title).
When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, the English teachers in my school attended a workshop/seminar conducted by Google Educator Group Johor. Well, since I am not the “real” teacher, for obvious reason, I was not selected to attend the seminar because there was an allocation for teachers to attend such event by school. I was not a teacher = Not selected. Kind of sad to be in such equation. But, that’s life. For all English teachers, check this out.