Sunday, July 30, 2006


Usrah. Yes, yes. Just read. It is not what you think.

Assalamualaikum wrh. wbt.

This is in further response to Erin's little rant:

Remember, girl, that I used to be just. Like. You.

Is it for better or for worse?

People can talk and say things. But they would not know what it's really like until they've experienced it.

Hopefully, insyaAllah, I use my good ol' brain to distance myself away from the bad, and find a way to digest the good.

Is it hard?

Oh, you bet.

But I just want to mention something you already seem to know (I read your blog regularly, dahling):

There's something nice and satisfying about doing something you know is right by Allah.

So I'm letting that feeling, and my aqal, lead me.

Where to?

There is only one final destination, insyaAllah.

The road there is going to be tough. At certain points, I will have to travel it alone with only my Lord and my faith as my companions.

But maybe that is enough for me. :)

Allahu'alam bissawab.

P.S:- You like Indon-rock? Try listening to Dewa's Laskar Cinta and OPick. I tell you, nasyid has been brought to a new dimension...

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 12:41 am

3 comments

Tuesday, July 25, 2006


This is interesting. And new.

Come on, mankind. Let me see you cry.

No more bravery.

If it can't make you, then you do not deserve this world. I say.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 2:57 pm

3 comments

Monday, July 24, 2006


Damnification.

Someone living in the States can see the truth. And those far away from them want to emulate the country.

As someone who is currently surviving in a foreign land solely on the money provided by Malaysian taxpayers, it places me in a dilemma. Because I must continue to study here. It is my only form of jihad - of uprighting justice.

But how can I use the money of a nation that I no longer approve of?

Because like it or not, the world is officially coming to an end.

Courtesy of IkhwanWeb.com:


The Shame of Being an American

Paul Craig Roberts, Antiwar.com, U.S.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Gentle reader, do you know that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing in southern Lebanon? Israel has ordered all the villagers to clear out. Israel then destroys their homes and murders the fleeing villagers. That way there is no one to come back and nothing to which to return, making it easier for Israel to grab the territory, just as Israel has been stealing Palestine from the Palestinians.

Do you know that one-third of the Lebanese civilians murdered by Israel's attacks on civilian residential districts are children? That is the report from Jan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator for the UN. He says it is impossible for help to reach the wounded and those buried in rubble, because Israeli air strikes have blown up all the bridges and roads. Considering how often (almost always) Israel misses Hezbollah targets and hits civilian ones, one might think that Israeli fire is being guided by US satellites and US military GPS. Don't be surprised at US complicity. Why would the puppet be any less evil than the puppet master?

Of course, you don't know these things, because the US print and TV media do not report them.
Because Bush is so proud of himself, you do know that he has blocked every effort to stop the Israeli slaughter of Lebanese civilians. Bush has told the UN "NO." Bush has told the European Union "NO." Bush has told the pro-American Lebanese prime minister "NO." Twice. Bush is very proud of his firmness. He is enjoying Israel's rampage and wishes he could do the same thing in Iraq.

Does it make you a Proud American that "your" president gave Israel the green light to drop bombs on convoys of villagers fleeing from Israeli shelling, on residential neighborhoods in the capital of Beirut and throughout Lebanon, on hospitals, on power plants, on food production and storage, on ports, on civilian airports, on bridges, on roads, on every piece of infrastructure on which civilized life depends? Are you a Proud American? Or are you an Israeli puppet?

On July 20, "your" House of Representatives voted 410-8 in favor of Israel's massive war crimes in Lebanon. Not content with making every American complicit in war crimes, "your" House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press, also "condemns enemies of the Jewish state."

Who are the "enemies of the Jewish state"?

They are the Palestinians whose land has been stolen by the Jewish state, whose homes and olive groves have been destroyed by the Jewish state, whose children have been shot down in the streets by the Jewish state, whose women have been abused by the Jewish state. They are Palestinians who have been walled off into ghettos, who cannot reach their farm lands or medical care or schools, who cannot drive on roads through Palestine that have been constructed for Israelis only. They are Palestinians whose ancient towns have been invaded by militant Zionist "settlers" under the protection of the Israeli army who beat and persecute the Palestinians and drive them out of their towns. They are Palestinians who cannot allow their children outside their homes because they will be murdered by Israeli "settlers."

The Palestinians who confront Israeli evil are called "terrorists." When Bush forced free elections on Palestine, the people voted for Hamas. Hamas is the organization that has stood up to Israel. This means, of course, that Hamas is evil, anti-Semitic, un-American and terrorist.
The US and Israel responded by cutting off all funds to the new government. Democracy is permitted only if it produces the results Bush and Israel want.

Israelis never practice terror. Only those who are in Israel's way are terrorists.

Another enemy of the Jewish state is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a militia of Shi'ite Muslims created in 1982 when Israel first invaded Lebanon. During this invasion the great moral Jewish state arranged for the murder of refugees in refugee camps. The result of Israel's atrocities was Hezbollah, which fought the Israeli Army, defeated it, and drove it out of Lebanon. Today Hezbollah not only defends southern Lebanon but also provides social services such as orphanages and medical care.

To cut to the chase, the enemies of the Jewish state are any Muslim country not ruled by an American puppet friendly to Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the oil emirates have sided with Israel against their own kind, because they are dependent either on American money or on American protection from their own people. Sooner or later these totally corrupt governments that do not represent the people they rule will be overthrown. It is only a matter of time.

Indeed Bush and Israel may be hastening the process in their frantic effort to overthrow the governments of Syria and Iran. Both governments have more popular support than Bush has, but the White House Moron doesn't know this. The Moron thinks Syria and Iran will be "cakewalks" like Iraq, where ten proud divisions of the US military are tied down by a few lightly armed insurgents.

If you are still a Proud American, consider that your pride is doing nothing good for Israel or for America.

On July 20 when "your" House of Representatives, following "your" US Senate, passed the resolution in support of Israel's war crimes, the most powerful lobby in Washington, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), quickly got out a press release proclaiming "The American people overwhelming support Israel's war on terrorism and understand that we must stand by our closest ally in this time of crisis."

The truth is that Israel created the crisis by invading a country with a pro-American government. The truth is that the American people do not support Israel's war crimes, as the CNN quick poll results make clear and as was made clear by callers into C-Span.

Despite the Israeli spin on news provided by US "reporting," a majority of Americans do not approve of Israeli atrocities against Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah is located in southern Lebanon. If Israel is targeting Hezbollah, why are Israeli bombs falling on northern Lebanon? Why are they falling on Beirut? Why are they falling on civilian airports? On schools and hospitals?

Now we arrive at the main point. When the US Senate and House of Representatives pass resolutions in support of Israeli war crimes and condemn those who resist Israeli aggression, the Senate and House confirm Osama bin Laden's propaganda that America stands with Israel against the Arab and Muslim world.

Indeed, Israel, which has one of the world's largest per capita incomes, is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. Many believe that much of this "aid" comes back to AIPAC, which uses it to elect "our" representatives in Congress.

This perception is no favor to Israel, whose population is declining, as the smart ones have seen the writing on the wall and have been leaving. Israel is surrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims who are being turned into enemies of Israel by Israel's actions and inhumane policies.
The hope in the Muslim world has always been that the United States would intervene in behalf of compromise and make Israel realize that Israel cannot steal Palestine and turn every Palestinian into a refugee.

This has been the hope of the Arab world. This is the reason our puppets have not been overthrown. This hope is the reason America still had some prestige in the Arab world.

The House of Representatives resolution, bought and paid for by AIPAC money, is the final nail in the coffin of American prestige in the Middle East. It shows that America is, indeed, Israel's puppet, just as Osama bin Laden says, and as a majority of Muslims believe.

With hope and diplomacy dead, henceforth America and Israel have only tooth and claw. The vaunted Israeli army could not defeat a rag tag militia in southern Lebanon. The vaunted US military cannot defeat a rag tag, lightly armed insurgency drawn from a minority of the population in Iraq, insurgents, moreover, who are mainly engaged in civil war against the Shi'ite majority.

What will the US and its puppet master do? Both are too full of hubris and paranoia to admit their terrible mistakes. Israel and the US will either destroy from the air the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Iran so that civilized life becomes impossible for Muslims, or the US and Israel will use nuclear weapons to intimidate Muslims into acquiescence to Israel's desires.

Muslim genocide in one form or another is the professed goal of the neoconservatives who have total control over the Bush administration. Neocon godfather Norman Podhoretz has called for World War IV (in neocon thinking WW III was the Cold War) to overthrow Islam in the Middle East, deracinate the Islamic religion and turn it into a formalized, secular ritual.

Rumsfeld's neocon Pentagon has drafted new US war doctrine that permits pre-emptive nuclear attack on non-nuclear states.

Neocon David Horowitz says that by slaughtering Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, "Israel is doing the work of the rest of the civilized world," thus equating war criminals with civilized men.
Neocon Larry Kudlow says that "Israel is doing the Lord's work" by murdering Lebanese, a claim that should give pause to Israel's Christian evangelical supporters. Where does the Lord Jesus say, "go forth and murder your neighbors so that you may steal their lands"?

The complicity of the American public in these heinous crimes will damn America for all time in history.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 12:02 pm

0 comments


Tears. Overflow.

Assalamualaikum wrh. wbt.

I have found, in recent days, that Yahoo!-ing everyday does not suffice anymore. Becauseif you are to compare the news articles presented on its website with various other blogs that are - how to say? - more up-to-date with what's going on in the world today, you'd see that to some level, they're trying to hide something.

Whether they realize it or not.

They're trying to hide some images. Things that would make you do what my subject title says. They're trying to separate you and me and everyone else from what's happening just a few thousand kilometres away. Have you been to the moon, mankind? A few thousand kilometres on this small, dying planet truly isn't all that far. It's far too near, actually.

Too close for comfort.

And as they say, denial is only too human.

And something I've just read from brother Lutfi's blog, just made me realize that despite the tears I've been shedding compulsively these past few days, the material on my blog no longer reflects that. It took me a few visits to a few fellow bloggers such as him and this guy here for me to see that we have to take a stand now, or not be counted at all. Superficiality takes you no where.

Lutfi is right.

How can we, as people (let's do this regardless of creed or religion, for the sake of mankind), feel it still relevant to harp on about the next concert on sale at Ticketek (The Strokes in Sydney, so I have heard) or what Jessica Simpson has done to her body (if you think I'm going to link to that, you are sadly mistaken), when wordless things are being done to human beings as we speak?

It's just too bad that Mr Coles-Janess can't get anyone to show his film anywhere other than Nova and Melbourne Uni's Copland Theatre. It's won 43 awards from various pretigious film fests. It's being considered for Academy Award nominations. That should say something about the impact it can have on society (I personally found myself crying endlessly throughout the 1+ hours; I don't know about the rest of my friends, but watching that toddler die slowly and painfully on the hospital bed as the rest of his aunts watched did the trick for me).

Or maybe. Just maybe.

Are we too scared to care?

Wallahu'alam bissawab. I have Advanced Chem right now.

Ya Rabbi, adkhilni mudkhola siddqi, wa ahrijni mukhroja siddqi, waj 'alli milladun'ka sultonan nasiro.

Wassalamualaik.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 9:44 am

0 comments

Saturday, July 22, 2006


Winter Blitz.

Assalamualaikum wrh. wbt.

Alhamdulillah, for in this lifetime, I have been given the rare oppurtunity to experience life overseas.

I mean, there is no such thing as winter break in Malaysia, as you may well know. So a blisteringly cold month-long break from uni is not really an option where I'm from. And due to the current circumstances I am in, the things that I have experienced are unique to my fascinatingly new life in Melbourne. No matter how many times I go through the routine, and no matter how many times I pass through the streets and feel like I'm in a corner in Seoul or Shanghai (and oddly enough, feel right at home), everything is new and fresh, and begs me to review it. And I find that everything reminds me, in its own distinct way, of God, and how He made us all different and wonderfully so.

But the main thing I really seeked to do is to sit down (finally!) and list down all the things I've managed to do and learn this past four weeks or so. For some reason, the month seems to have flown by, and yet it seems to have been so long. Something must be done right for me to be able to long to fall asleep each night, and for me to catch some winks as I ride on the tram (which is a dangerous thing to do, and which I do not encourage at all). And yeah. The past few days have been hectic, I can't even keep track of the days and the dates anymore.

So here goes:

My Done! List for Winter Break 2006 (MasyaAllah)

Update: My two bowls of chocolate cake pudding (chocolate cake appearance, with gooey melted chocolate sauce in the bottom) also taste promising. Am in danger of polishing off half the bowl. I take orders till Sunday night. Please bring own ceramic bowls for cooking. :)

Wassalamualaikum. Forgive me for my discontinuous writing pattern. I am awfully tired.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 12:35 am

0 comments

Monday, July 17, 2006


'Afwan.

Assalamualaikum wrh. wbt.

My recent blogging activities have involved insulting some reputable bloggers in their own right. There is no defense to excuse what I have done. Both (known) offenses involved my being continuously frustrated at the state of global hypocrisy, but by saying what I did, I proved to be a huge hypocrite as well. And by failing to see the point being made, I seriously erred. By refusing to reread, and stop a moment longer before indulging in an unjustified and emotional rant, I have made a serious mistake.

Public apologies are in order.

Fellow bloggers BR and MLH (acronyms, because I highly doubt you'd want any of our prior miscommunications to be made known), minta maaf banyak-banyak. 'Afwan. I will be more careful with my words, insyaAllah. Don't forget to remind me where and when I do wrong.

Mintak halal makan-minum ye? Aku serious ni. Takut kalau aku mati dalam berdosa pada korang.

Wassalamualaikum.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 2:13 pm

3 comments

Saturday, July 15, 2006


Ever onwards.

Assalamualaikum wrh. wbt.

It's been a while, has it not?

Sometimes I wonder where all the time has been spent - where all the hours fly to, and whether I have spent them wisely. To use a quote from the movie extravaganza last night, Lawrence of Arabia: 'It has been written.' Every step I take, and every intention I have had been decided for me before I came into existance. And somehow, it shames me how I never seem to remember.

My mother reached Malaysia safely last night. She spent 10 full days with me, and it was fun. Now that she's not here, chatting with my housemates or telling me to observe as she cooked, the house seems a lot emptier. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do today. The past week and a half had been jam-packed with outings and cooking and shopping. I have never had such a tiring week. It's odd, you know. I discovered more about Melbourne because my mother forced me to. And again, it comes down to just how much influence she has over my life. It took me 10 days of living next to her to be reminded of it.

If I used to whine about having to do everything my mother asked me to last year, now I really miss it.

I've been in the habit of viewing everything that happens to me as mini-lessons from God. Considering how many I've learnt with my mother by my side, it's sort of apparent that Allah really, really loves me, to want me to learn so much. It's shameful to me, because I know that I can never requite such a great Love, no matter how I try.

So here it is in list form:

The Things I've Learnt From/With My Mother

  1. No matter how much I think I know or I've learnt here, it turns out that my mother has learnt it earlier, and understands it better than either one of us here. The things I find new and mind-blowing are all too easy and too familiar to my mother. So I need not worry about the danger of communicating anything anymore to her, because she clearly understands, and even approves of how we live here. Which shows just how much I have to learn from her. Hm.
  2. I have to switch on the heater for the next few weeks, or my bones will shrivel into nothingness, and I will have the posture of a shruken possum.
  3. I should not walk this earth as if it will not, or cannot swallow me whole any second. Humility is key.
  4. Everything in moderation. Islam requires us to be considerate of other people no matter what we do. Tolerance is another key. :)
  5. Mama gets along with my friends better than I do.
  6. Knitted scarves, beanies and flecce blankets are wonderful things~!
  7. I have to put myself first, or put myself last, according to the situation.
  8. I have to be more conscious of where I am, what I do, and the things I say, because life is no dream. I cannot drift off or angau every other second. I must always be in a state of ehsan - aware that Allah is Ever Watching.
  9. I have to start planning my life la wey.
  10. If I don't do my best, and strive to better myself while I am here, I will be wasting the hopes, dreams and effort my parents and the rest of my family have invested in watching me from a distance. Aja~!
  11. It's okay to not bathe in the mornings once in a while, especially when it's been raining for hours outside and the temperate is below ten degrees. Tak peluh pun~.
  12. Everything has to be done for the Love of Allah. Otherwise, it is meaningless.

Wallahu'alam bissawab.

Wassalamualaikum.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 11:39 am

2 comments

Thursday, July 06, 2006


Inilah janji kita.

Taken from IslamOnline.net:


The New Man and Woman*
By Fethullah Gulen**

History has carried us to the threshold of a new age that is open to the manifestations of divine favor. Despite, or in parallel with, advances in science and technology, the last two or three centuries have witnessed a global break with traditional values and, in the name of renewal, an attachment to different values and speculative fantasies. It is our hope, strengthened by promising developments, that the next century will be the age of belief and moral values, an age that will witness a renaissance and revival for the believers.

Among wavering crowds that lack sound thinking or reasoning, a new type of people will appear. They will rely equally on reason and experience, but give as much importance to conscience and inspiration as they do to the former. They will pursue the perfect in everything, establish the balance between this world and the next, and wed the heart to the intellect.

The coming to be of such people will not be easy. All births are painful, but these blessed births will take place and provide the world with a new, brilliant generation. Just as rain pours out of slowly gathering clouds and water wells up from underground, so too will the "flowers" of this new generation one day appear among us.

These new people will be individuals of integrity who, free from external influences, can manage independently of others. No worldly force will be able to bind them, and no fashionable ism will cause them to deviate from their path. Truly independent of any worldly power, they will think and act freely, for their freedom will be in proportion to their servanthood to God. Rather than imitating others, they will rely on their original dynamics rooted in the depths of history and try to equip their faculties of judgment with authentic values that are their own.

They will think, investigate, believe, and overflow with spiritual pleasure. While making the fullest use of modern facilities, they will not neglect their traditional and spiritual values in building their own world.

If changes and reforms are linked to and dependent on eternal universal values, they may be welcomed eagerly. Otherwise, there will be a plethora of speculative fantasies that are appealing because of their novelty and modernity. Standing on the firm ground of those eternal values, the new man and woman will always look to the future to illuminate the darkness enveloping the world.

They will be completely truth-loving and trustworthy and, in support of truth everywhere, always ready to leave their families and homes when necessary. Having no attachment to worldly things, comforts, or luxuries, they will use their God-given talents to benefit humanity and plant the seeds of a happy future. Then, constantly seeking help and success from God, they will do their best to protect those seeds from harm, just as a hen protects its eggs. Their entire lives will be dedicated to this way of truth.

To stay in touch and communicate with people's minds, hearts, and feelings, these new men and women will use the mass media and try to establish a new power balance of justice, love, respect, and equality among people. They will make might subservient to right, and never discriminate on grounds of color or race.

These new people will unite profound spirituality, diverse knowledge, sound thinking, a scientific temperament, and wise activism. Never content with what they know, they will continuously increase in knowledge: knowledge of self, of nature, and of God.

Equipped with the good morals and virtues that make them truly human, these new men and women will be altruists who embrace humanity with love and are ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of others when necessary. As they shape themselves in the mold of universal virtue, they will simultaneously strive to illuminate the way of others. They will defend and support what is good and recommend it to others, while seeking to challenge, combat, and eradicate all evils.

These new people will believe that the Almighty gave them life here so that they could know and worship Him. Without discriminating between the Book of the Universe (where the divine names are manifested and which is therefore full of signs of Him and acts as a "stairway" leading to Him) and the Divine Scripture (the translation of the Book of the Universe), they will see science and religion as two manifestations of the same truth.

They will never be reactionary. They will not pursue events, for they will be the dynamism of history that initiates and shapes events. With due perception of their age and surrounding conditions, and in devotion to their essential values and with utmost reliance on God, they will be in a state of continuous self-renewal.

These new people will conqueror their selves, thoughts, and hearts, and those of others, and they will discover the unknown. They will regard any time spent in not taking a new step into the depths of the self and the universe as being wasted. As they remove, through faith and knowledge, the veils covering the face of reality, they will become even more eager to advance further. With the messages and answers received from the heavens, the earth, and the seas, they will continue to journey until they return to their Creator.

* This article originally appeared in Zamanın Altın Dilimi [The Golden Slice of Time], Kaynak, Izmir, 1998, pp. 157-160.
** Fethullah Gulen is an influential Turkish Muslim intellectual who inspired a series of social activities, including a transnational education and business network, interfaith dialogue forums, and multicultural encounters. Click here to visit his official website.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 11:42 am

0 comments