The miracle given to us

When people talk about miracles of old, they will remember stories of how Musa (or Moses) peace be upon him split the Red Sea, or how Al-Masih Isa (Jesus Christ) healed, the blind, the lepers and brought the dead to the living. These are indeed wonderful stories, but to the people of today, rings more closely towards fiction rather than factual. It is understandable, given the magnitude of the miracles and particularly because we were not there to witness these miracles first-hand.

However, the muslims believe of a final miracle. A miracle which sadly, many - even the muslims - among us have either forgotten of are simply unaware of. A certain miracle that God had revealed some 1400 years ago for everyone, and that implies even to us, the people of today. This miracle is the Quran, which for the muslims, is the verbatim words of God Himself as a guidance for mankind.

Lately, there has been a lot of hate for the muslim world and we hear of cases of people doing untold atrocities to the Quran. Yet, how many of the people who do those things actually took their time to open the Quran and read it for themselves.

So here I would like to invite all of you to give the Quran a chance. For the muslims, read it to understand your deen better. For those of different faiths, remember that there is no knowledge that isn't power. You don't necessarily need to believe in it to read it. After all, people read Harry Potter knowing whatever written in it is hardly believable. So if you can read something like Harry Potter, why not the Quran? It certainly won't do you no harm. It's not even all that long if that's what's worrying you.

And while the Quran is in Arabic, these days you can easily find a translation on the internet to get a general understanding about the Quran. From what I understand, the most commonly used English translation is the one by Yusuf Ali, which you can read here.

However, bear in mind that while you can get some of the messages of the Quran from a translation, most of the things that make the Quran what it is will be lost in translation. If you are a person of literature, you will know that a translation of a text from one language to another will never be 100% similar. It will lose a lot of the nuances and features unique to the original language and might even lead to some confusion. That is why the Quran is actually meant to be read and understood in Arabic, the language it was originally revealed in. Don't let this dissuade you though, as I've said, it's okay to get the general sense of the message for starters.

Read it with an open mind and heart, then pass you judgement.

Click here to read the Quran now

Additional information about the Quran:

1. What are the main beliefs outlined in the Quran

2. Is Quran written by Muhammad (p.b.u.h)

3. Why is the Quran revealed in Arabic

4. Is Arabic uniform throughout the Arab world

5. What is the literary structure of the Quran & can the Quran be translated exactly

6. Are there grammatical errors in the Quran

7. Why does God refer Himself as 'We'

8. The Quran's relation with the Bible and the Torah

9. The Quran as a divine speech

10. Misconceptions about the Quran

Working title

I'm currently trying to write about something serious. Hopefully will be able to get it done at some point and post it here =)

Money money money

I see the world around me revolving around money.

I see people who work with every ounce of energy in their body to earn money.

But I also see civilians mugged everyday for money.

I see people killed for money.

I see people kill for money!

I see people think we could gain everything with money.

It's all to funny.

Because you cannot buy peace for any amount of money.

Indeed true are the words of Allah:

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

You Are Obsessed by greed for more and more. Until you go down to your graves. Nay, in time you will come to understand! And once again: Nay, in time you will come to understand! Nay if you could but understand [it] with an understanding [born] of certainty. You would indeed, most surely, behold the blazing fire [of hell]. In the end, you will indeed, most surely, behold it with the eye of certainty: and on that Day you will most surely be called to account for [what you did with] the boon of life.

Surah At-Takathur (Rivalry in world increase)

The Examination

Examinations.

For what purpose do these exams serve? If I recall correctly from one of the courses of which it's name I could no longer remember, the reasons are:

1. To measure how much a person has learnt / gained

2. To discern the good students from the not so good ones.

One who does well in exams also tend to get more privileges than those who didn't, like higher chances to study in better institutions, which at the end of the day usually lands them with better jobs, better pay, a better life in general.

Naturally, every person who could think straight would want to do well in their respective exams, but not everyone will. Some will merely pass and some will fail. However, everyone has the potential to do well if they work hard enough for it.

And in our excitement for all our exams to satisfy ourselves with better lives, with all the pleasures in the world, many forget of THE exam that we are undertaking our whole lives. Think about it - is our life not analogous to an exam? Everyone has the potential to do well and claim the eternal rewards that He has promised. But not everyone will. Some will merely pass and some will fail.

So ask ourselves, do we want to do well in this exam? Or will we be satisfied with a mere pass? Will we even pass?

So, what are we going to do about it?

Najibu the video game journalist?

All my life, I've had little choice in determining my own future. Almost everything was set by my parents. I wanted to be an artist. But NO, said my parents, and here I am today a teacher. I don't begrudge them for that. I'm sure all they want is a better life for me, and as a matter of fact, I'm doing pretty well. But ultimately, this isn't what I REALLY wanted for myself.

Having almost completely giving up on arts, my only interest now is video games. Saying that I'm 'interested' in video games, however, is a gross understatement. It's passion. Naturally, I'd want a work that I can channel my passion into. So when I heard GameAxis, the only real video game magazine in the country was looking for a writer, I knew I had to give it a shot.

I haven't heard anything back since I sent my resume for about a month, so I figured I must have not made the cut. Yet on one inconspicuous Friday, after a less than thrilling day at school, an unknown number rang up my phone, told me he was the editor of GAX, and that had been shortlisted to be interviewed for the job. I had to restrain myself from jumping in joy lest I bring down the shaky wooden house I live in.

Flash forward a week later, on the morning before the interview, one Brian Ekberg, an editor from Gamespot whom I used to admire just notified on twitter that he had resigned for another job. This post he left on his blog, which seemed just perfect to amp up my motivation for the interview, seemed to me to either be a really good coincidence, or that God was telling me that I am on the right path.

Later that day, I was there at the WriteOn Media office where I was to be interviewed. My wife, all the way with me has been very supportive and patient enough to wait at the lounge for the duration of the 2.5 hour interview. I can't thank her enough for that. Inside the interview room, that much time passed without me even realising it. I was talking to Terence Stephen, the editor-in-chief of GAX, a man who, like myself is deeply passionate about the industry. He was quite surprised to find out I am a teacher, but then again, he had had interviewees who are even lawyers and architects. There I was, in an interview for a job, and the interviewer was asking me questions like, "what's your favourite game?" It was surreal.

As part of the interview, I was tasked to write an article about a game, any game, between 500 to 800 words in about an hour. As much as I like writing about games, juggling between work and play had not left me much time to be writing a lot of game related stuff lately, so pulling off a well written article in an allotted amount of time was actually harder that it sounds. After giving it some thought, I decided to write a review of Blur, a game which I had intended to write a review for but never had the time and commitment to actually sat down and write.

Now all that's left is for me to wait. As much as I want this job, I don't think I'll be devastated if I were to be rejected. I'm a greenhorn with zero experience in journalism after all. However, Mr. Terence was kind enough to inform me that they're still looking for freelancers aside from the one full-time writer they will choose from the interview and the fact that I got shortlisted from god knows how many applicants was already pleasing enough for me. Regardless of wether I get the job, the interview was an experience that I won't likely forget... but man, it sure would be nice if I do get the job =)