Talking about love...

Way back then....Love was about nurturing!

I never once saw my father and mother exhibited any act or expression of love nor did I hear them say 'love' to each other. However, never once I doubted their love for one another. It was there - in the conversation they had after meals while munching betel leaves. It was there - in things they did not do just as much as in things they did. My mother would not eat until my father was ready to eat. My father would not even think of not coming home for lunch unless he had already informed mother.

Way back then, love was taken for granted and it was ok! There was no need for roses from florists, or for wedding anniversaries to be celebrated. Their love for each other centered around what they did together out of their love for their children. I saw their love at its best during prayers - mother would obediently be behind father and it warmed my heart everytime I saw mother kissed father's hands after prayers.

Way back then it seemed to me that love was caring for each other out of a sense of duty - father was to protect and provide, and mother was to feed and nurture.

Way back then, my father showed me love by spending his afternoon making me bird-traps out of bamboo sticks and sago branches. When he took me on his round to check his 'taut' (fishing rods) - that was love!

Way back then, mother showed me her love by staying up to accompany me finishing my homework by the 'pelita minyak'. She could not read or write, but her presence was more than adequate support for me to strive for excellence. She made it known that she was proud of me. When once I left behind my eraser at home and she walked to school to send it to me - that was love.

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Today....Love is about "things!"

Today, love seems to be more fragile and demanding. There is a price to pay for love to exist. Roses for valentines, cards for certain days, presents for birthdays, and candle light dinners for anniversaries. God forbid if you even think of ignoring any of those celebration - "You don't love me anymore!" will be echoing for days! Such is today's love - it is symbolized with 'things'.

Love seems to be a one way thing between parents and children. Today's children are self-centered lots - they demand love for free but hold back theirs as ransom for presents or favours.

Parents who are drawn more and more away from their children due to work are easily blackmailed - at least emotionally. Hence, loosening of discipline and letting go of morale and religious values. How many parents today forced their children to wake up for Fajr prayers! Or maybe the question is, how many parents today themselves wake up for Fajr prayers??

Many couples break up due to absence of love in their relationship. So one of them if not both would claim. How can their hearts not be void of love for another human - if they don't even feel love for their Creator and their Prophet!

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Love first in your hearts

Then love with your deeds

Love not only with your words

For such love will not last for keeps.

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Love and Iman - when Love is deep within your heart.

Love - At one level it seems clear why the faithful should love the Prophet: he is their teacher, guide and leader and it is impossible for him to teach, guide and lead them if they don't love him. But there is a deeper meaning in the principle that love for the Prophet is essential for iman.

Love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable and which the Prophet as al-insan al-kamil (the Perfect man) possessed in the utmost degree. Love for the Prophet means to acknowledge, cherish and glorify all the potential of goodness and greatness that God has created within Man.

It also means love of humanity, not just in regard to its potential for perfection but also despite its general inability to realize that potential and despite all kind of imperfections and weaknesses from which it suffers. For the Prophet is not only the Perfect Man but also the Representative Man who on the day of judgment will represent mankind and plead on their behalf for their imperfections and weaknesses before the throne of God.

Thus love of the Prophet, on the one hand puts us on the road to perfection by making us cherish it dearly and on the other hand it helps us accept our imperfect humanity and in this way to live in peace with ourselves as repentant servants of God hopeful of His mercy. This is why love for the Prophet is a condition of iman, for what is iman if it is not to acknowledge and repent for one's imperfections and weaknesses and to cherish and strive for - even as an unachievable ideal - the perfection of which man is potentially capable?

You can read more about love for the prophet here.

"Every saint has a past - and every sinner has a future!"

I am not yet a saint, and nor do I want to stay a sinner. Please help me God!

Talking about wealth...

Creating Wealth…!!

Way back then…(1960s)

When I was young, I stood open mouthed and wide eyed – admiring in sheer amazement and envy of my friend's new Raleigh bicycle. He took all the admirations in his stride, as he cycled the symbol of wealth around our village. One thing admirable about him – he let his friends tried out his bicycle or even carried us around one at a time as a pillion rider.
Being wealthy in those days – meant you can afford a brand new Raleigh bike for your child. My friend’s parents were wealthy. They had wide expanse of padi-fields, many acres of rubber plantation, and also a tractor which they rented out to other farmers in the village.

Way back then, creating wealth was by means of tending to the soils, toiling the land, and landing good catch from rivers and canals. Creating wealth was harvesting what you grew, barter trading eggs from your poultry farm for coconuts and vegetables with your neighbors. Creating wealth was buying a pair of goats, raised them until they reproduced. Upgrading you keep from goats to cows, and from selling of cows came a source of wealth! Creating wealth was also a matter of saving any surplus in cents and ringgit notes by depositing them into ‘piggy banks’ made from bamboo trunks.

Way back then, I myself was enterprising and participated in wealth creation. I bought ice blocks from a ‘Nyonya shop’ in the nearest town – hacked them into smaller blocks, placed them in gunny sacks filled with saw-dust. Those ice blocks were products which I carried around the village on my father’s old bike – advertising them with my high pitch screams “Air batuuuuuuu……air batuuuuuuuuu!!!”.
Normally I made a net profit of one ringgit per day, but reached as high as three Ringgit during fasting months!

Creating wealth – way back then was through sheer hard work.

Back then….(1980s)

When I graduated and started to earn salary – I did not waste much time before buying a house. My thought was, instead of paying rental just as well I pay the banks for my loan installments. My first purchase was a two bedroom compact house on a plot measuring 14’ by 65’ in Taman Melawati. Small, yet we were proud and happy owners. My first enterprising move – I negotiated with the seller to elevate the price so that I could get a 100% bank loan. As part of the negotiation, I agreed to pay for any incremental difference of property gain tax which he had to pay! That house bought for RM60k was sold two years later at RM73K. I made my first profit – and we moved to a rental and bigger house. The profit from the house sale was deposited into ASN! That was my early exposure to equity and unit trusts. Great lessons!

When our first child was born ( Adlil ), I shared with LiL my vision of buying a house each time we get a child. Six children later, I am pleased to say – I kept to my vision!!!

Later, a friend introduced me to ‘Futures trading’ of the palm oil commodity. That was an expensive lessons for me! I lost my ASN savings….and lots more. No more commodity futures for me!!! And not for my next generations either!!!

Then the same friend convinced me that investing in the stock market were safer. I was gullible – so I did. It was ok until one day when Saddam decided to attack Iran! I saw my capital shrunk and kept shrinking. When it hit 50% loss – I exited. I have stayed away from stock market since then…..!!

One day, my wife came home telling me about a get rich quick scheme which her office colleagues have invested and made lots of easy money. What ever remained from the stock market, I placed with one guy called ‘Pak Man Telo’. A few months later – his business went bust and I lost everything!!

The only investment which has seen my money grow year after year has been the real estate investment.

These days…

In Malaysia!
Creating wealth in Malaysia in recent years – means joining politics and getting into the right circle. Just to show that life is not all unfair, there are a few people who made it through honest effort of sheer hard work. Read about two of them here.

In U-ay-E!
Creating wealth means being lucky in winning the millionaire prize during the monthly National Bond draw!
For those with strong hearts, creating wealth in U-ay-E is about gritting one’s teeth, closing one’s eyes and splash money to invest in Real Estates!!
Many have got it right!!! The only flaw in that system is that – you need to be wealthy first in order to create more wealth.
To the less than wealthy average person like me – we can talk all day and admire with envy all night, listening to stories of how others have made it!
But – there is one millionaire in U-ay-E for every sixty people! Read here about it, and be inspired!!

Sometimes, I long for the good ole days…..when a ‘ice cream potong’ was all the indulgence I need to make me so so so happy!

My new toy!

My newly acquired toy - a canon G9!

Headline features
-12.1 Megapixels (1/1.7” sensor) with RAW mode for maximum image control
- 6x optical zoom lens with optical Image Stabilizer and SR coating
- DIGIC III and iSAPS for lightning fast response, superb image quality and advanced Noise Reduction
- Face Detection AF/AE/FE and Red-Eye Correction in playback
- 3.0” high-resolution, PureColor LCD II with extra wide viewing angle
- ISO 1600 and Auto ISO Shift
- Compact body with dedicated ISO and Multi Control dials
- 25 shooting modes including full manual control and 2 custom settings
- Extra telephoto reach with Digital Tele-Converter and Safety Zoom
- Hot shoe support for Canon Speedlite flashes and optional lens accessories

Canon G9 is a high end compact camera with many of the SLR features built in. But its ease of use means that a seven year old Luqman can point and shoot pictures like above and below.

The arrival of my new toy, means that my old toy Canon EOS400D is more available for use by Haziq, a budding photographer in the family. Pictures below were taken by Haziq! I think they are amazing...

The EOS 400D features
- 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor
- Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- 2.5” LCD screen with 230K pixels and 160º viewing angle
- High-precision 9 point AF system
- Picture Style image processing parameters
- DIGIC II image processor with 0.2 sec start up
- Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
- Compact and Lightweight body
- Fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites