Last week, I am reminded of our temporary place in this world, as my brother (and his sons) went around to visit and help tidy up the graves of our loved ones. He himself lost his other half just recently (last August). Here are pics of their graves.
My late father Zainuddin Udin (18 September 1924 - 2 November 1990)
My late mother, Habibah Daik (16 November 1928 - 13 July 2009)
My step mother, Zaharah Ibrahim (1 January 1935 - 26 August 1991)
My eldest brother, Aminuddin Zainuddin (17 November 1944 - 6 December 2021)
My second eldest brother, Zainal Abidin Zainuddin (16 June 1947 - 2 October 1997)
My third eldest brother, Ahmad Tajuddin Zainuddin (23 January 1950 - 16 May 2021)
His eldest son Nashruddin Ahmad Tajuddin passed away just slightly more than a month before (19 September 1978 - 30 March 2021).
This will be all our final destination in this world. Please let me die with a good ending in the pleasance of Allah s.w.t.
Last Saturday, we went to visit sister in law Aishah, wife of late Ahmad Tajuddin. Had brunch there. We were there nly with my eldest son as my other half went back to Segamat with my third son, to visit her sister whose husband was hospitalized for lung infections and heart problems.
We also met Kak Aishah's elder sister there. Besides meeting them, I took the opportunity to salvage some books from my late brother's book collection before they are donated elsewhere. This is what I have got.
It seems that the second book was heavily used by my brother (plenty of bookmarks).
There were many more interesting books mainly on philosophy and management but I was already too shy to get that few (not sure when will I read it). With my eldest brother book collection, there would have been many more mathematics books, but unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to salvage any. May Allah forgive all of them and reward them with Jannah.
My other half's return to Segamat saw them (with my other two kids) having meals like below and picking up rambutans in the compound.
I didn't get to mention in my last post while my other half was having a conference that our neighbour (a few houses away) saw a snake at their place.
The snake has been caught by Malaysian Civil Defence Department, shown in the video below).
We try to keep our backyard tidy (without too much vegetation) simply because of this reason.
I sincerely wish that my mind is as clear and tidy as this.
During mid-week last week, I just got my students' evaluation for the subjects I'm teaching in XMUM and it was ok. I also received some criticisms (being slow, which I have mentioned here). On another point, I did introduce vector calculus at the beginning since they are very much used in electrodynamics. I do know that they are often taught elsewhere usually in the early years of the bachelor programme. But my main point of revisiting the topic was to introduce index notation, which could be used in electrodynamics. When I asked about index notation, I was told that they were not taught about this technique and thus my insistence to introduce it. When I was an undergraduate student, it was introduced by Prof. Green earlier in our theoretical physics programme (and done in an abstract sense). It also has great utility for (general) calculations.
Anyway, I'm happy to improve my teaching wherever and whenever possible. I have also checked the second part courses of Electrodynamics and Mathematical Methods in Physics. Electrodynamics II seems to be more engineering in flavour and I hope that I will not be asked to teach this, if ever Xiamen still wants me to teach. Mathematical Methods in Physics II seems to be interesting because it is on differential geometry and (geometry of) Lie groups. I won't mind teaching this.
This weekend, we went to Melaka because my other half has a conference there. She was given a hotel room on Saturday (midway through the conference) by the organizers. We decided to book a room anyway from Friday until the weekend because partly she has to be there early morning Saturday but also we have to send back our youngest back to college in Jasin. So there we were there at Hatten Hotel on Friday late afternoon. The hotel is connected to Pahlawan Mall. Here we are (pic) trying to get to the mall for dinner via a connecting bridge.
We had our dinner in a restaurant there.
This is the view just outside the hotel and interestingly there is an MMA office nearby there.
My other half conference ends at 1pm today. We checked out of our rooms before 12 noon and thereafter we waited for my other half to meet us, in the meanwhile we were having snacks.
Leaving Melaka city, we send Izzuddin back to college and then travelled back to Seremban.
I still follow the development of the war in Middle East. Right now, there are over 12,000 dead in just slightly over a month. The latest news I heard that As-Shifa hospital was evacuated and that a UN-run Al-Fakhoura School was bombed leaving many children dead. I continue to share news items to my social media in the hope that there will be international pressure to halt this madness. I do try to read or listen or watch commentaries that carry opposite views to mine (with difficulty) and they can be classed into three:
Rational-like arguments; most of these are easily countered with facts or shown to be inconsistent.
Cringey arguments; often these are based on underlying assumptions that one side is more evil and the other more superior. Here, I tend to wonder how can that be that many are blinded with this colonialist mindset. What are the logics at play?
Blatant horrifying racist arguments taken with no room for rational thoughts; often here I can't bear to listen/watch any of these.
How should one make judgements, so that one is rightly guided? While I'm a simple average Muslim, I do know of the Qur'anic ayat:
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah , witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do. (5: 8)
Another is the Golden Rule (which is well-known to non-Muslims alike)
Treat others as you would like others to treat you
These will act as constraints to our own biasness. Do the research needed. In this age of social media, it is very easy to do that but it also means it will be quite easy to be misled. On making mistakes, be humble enough to admit them and be quick about these (no to let one's ego to take over). I remembered sharing posts with my family members and later I knew these to be false, and thus I apologised and clarified the matter.
The previous week has been busy for me since I need to put out mid-term exams for the subjects I am teaching. In a way, even my teaching preparation was put on secondary place. The questions need to be vetted by an assigned person in the department and I was rather late to do this. Besides the vetting documents, I had to fill in a specification table to see how the questions fit and map into the course learning outcomes and the programme learning outcomes. Normally one have these only subconsciously but here it gets explicitly mapped. Thus, quite a fair bit of things to do and hence the rush. I made changes according to suggestions arising from the vetting and finally got the questions 'approved'. Finally, the exam was conducted last Thursday.
I have another mid-term exam coming this Thursday for the other subject and I am still preparing. My mind is often filled with on what should be the exam questions and I figured I need to address one 'problematic' course learning outcome (else I will have to push this in the final exam or the continuous assessment).
Last weekend also saw my other half going to a conference in Meru and she shared her room with her close colleague there. So we are left four of us at home; two of my sons came home then. We fetched our youngest son from college on Friday since the university gave a week long break for the Deepavali weekend. The highway then was already packed due to the upcoming long weekend. We had a 4pm lunch due to this.
On the way back home, there was heavy rain and there was a traffic jam due to an overturned lorry.
The next day, my third son came home and we had our dinner together (without my other half).
Elsewhere, my other half was in Meru with her colleagues.
On the war in the middle east, the current death toll has surpassed 11,000. I still can't imagine the situation there and the Palestinians perseverance facing all these calamities. To have a glimpse, here is an American nurse describing what was it like over there - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk7iWgCk14U (and imagine how the real Palestinians are feeling).
There are a lot of discussions on this 'war' and I tried to listen as much as I could for my own understanding (e.g. Sami Hamdi, a risk consultant from the International Interest) and developing my own perspective (if that is even possible). It is quite easy to oversimplify the matter given the arising emotional pressure. This is why I 've changed my FB cover photo to a tropical fruit platter. I can't imagine what kind of world will be left after this war. It is troubling to see some are hell-bent towards the end-times future scenarios (some indeed used this to justify the war). As a Muslim, we are often advised to not wish for this or for that matter, wish for our own death no matter what circumstances. It is better to focus on what have we prepared for our eventual certain death. Can anyone say that they are really prepared for this certainty?
Last night, I responded to a question of contemporary Muslim scientists that have been given international recognition (by Muslims and non-Muslims alike). Very much to my thought, we should not strengthen the stereotype that Muslims are backward (or worse, savages), not capable to contribute to civilization matters. So it was my little contribution to highlight lesser known Muslims that have indeed won prestigious scientific awards. And in my attempt to do so, I learned about Munir Nayfeh is an American Palestinian. I regretted not using his book to teach my current Electrodynamics course.
Perhaps we have yet to see is a Malay Muslim to reach such stature. We need to strive to be a good Muslim scientist (and whatever international prizes that one gets is a bonus, a reward that Allah give) and as a start, begin a healthy scientific tradition (and not be swayed by other intentions). Me, as an average person, and alhamdulillah I have tried to start something and the rest will lie with the younger generation of scientists.
Last Wednesday, my eldest son celebrated his birthday. My other half recommended that we go to a Korean restaurant in Gateway, Seremban since my son has a liking for Korean food. She knew about this Oiso Restaurant when she met her friend there in the last weekend. Due to my limited diet, she checked out if there are dishes that I could eat and indeed there are. Together with my second son who just came back home from JB, we went there for lunch. Here are some photos.
The restaurant owner (a Korean) actually came out to meet us and handed me a traditional Korean hat and thereafter offered to help take the picture of us together.
While on the point of my limited diet, let me just say this problem of mine can be a disadvantage when attending official functions or when travelling abroad. I remembered attending an etiquette course and I was told that I must take whatever the host offers us, even if a little. What shocked me, in a different briefing (which was not for me and it was not the etiquette course I attended), we were told to take a sip of wine if there is a toast being made. Of course, we do not follow that and when there is a toast, it is already well-known to foreign hosts that Muslims do not take alcoholic drinks and we were offered only soft drinks. In any case, when I was given a role in management, and attended official functions, sometimes there was still some anxiety in me (due to my limited diet) and had to prepare myself for any embarrassing moments. I must say that there was a huge relief when I stepped down from an admin post years ago, and that I can then be my normal ordinary self.
Sometimes, because of the 'different culture', that we (either as Muslim or Malay) may not subscribe to certain norms prevalent in the West, it is unfortunate that 'we' are pictured at times, as less cultured or worse as 'subhumans' (even animals?). That is why, I have told my students and those who wants to listen, that one should try to be counterexamples (not as examples) to break down stereotypes or dominancy of those with excessive power or influence. There is a propaganda or narrative war going on these days to the recent armed conflict in the middle east. It has always been the case, that those who lie will eventually need to have greater lies to cover up the one(s) before. Some may resort to the idea of post-truth or even world-views to frame 'truths', which I do not subscribe in the absolute sense; 'truths' are not that malleable and if we take that view, we'll be doomed to solipsism. Sure, whatever 'facts' there are, they do not exist in vacuum and more often than not, they have been pre-selected to be known but that does not absolve us to strive to know whatever 'truths' out there. It is in this view, I've started to post (alternative) news item on my social media despite fear of being shadow-banned (as they say). Related to this matter, two days ago, I received this warning from AdSense that my blog(s) is in violation of some policies (see figure below),
Initially, I thought it was due to watermelon posts I've made in my blogs. Later I saw that it was due to an extraneous website that was somehow associated with me (with a EU url). I'm not sure how or why it was there, but I have already deleted it. In any case, even if my site gets demonetised, it does not really matter since it was not my original intent to earn any money from my blogs, but I certainly would not want people (whoever they are) to stop me from saying things that I want to say.
Finally, I just want to share this new song from Putri Ariani called Perfect Liar, which is apt for today's world of deceits. It is good songwriting with melodic hooks and interesting vocal runs and certainly show a polished production suited for an international market.
In a way, I'm glad that she did not win AGT and she will be an independent artist, so that she can stay true to her identity. May she be successful.
