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.
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