Aiman Azlan's Blog

Photo by Umar Mita Oh, we are so preoccupied with numbers. Today I thought about the numbers that I have. What does 40,000 likes on Facebook and 25,000 followers on Twitter mean? Do they mean that I am somewhat better than someone who has less than 40,000 likes and 25,000 followers? Am I more "credible" because I have those numbers? If so, then riddle me this: what about the Prophets? Some of them had only a handful of followers and some of them had none. NONE! But they are Prophets, the greatest human beings ever walked on this earth. If numbers were the measuring stick, then where do you place them? Astaghfirullah. I learned a valuable lesson today: Truth is free of numbers. Even if the whole world is on my side, without Allah al-Haq (the Truth), then I am nothing. Nothing. That number is zero.

Photo by Umar Mita Yesterday, I was in close proximity with a world-renown singer. If I mention his name, it is likely that you will know him. But I won't mention his name because it's irrelevant to the point I want to make. Just knowing how famous he is is enough to bring meaning to this point. It was the time of Maghrib prayer when I saw him. In order for me to go to the prayer room, I would have to walk pass him. As I slowly approached him, there was an increasing feeling of admiration in my heart. "OMG, it's him!" "Wow, I can't believe he's here!" "He's so close, I can touch him!" "I want to take a picture so badly!" "OMG! OMG! OMG!" I saw that people were crowding him. They are possibly driven by the same feeling that I felt in my heart; the result of being close to a celebrity. I bear no ill feelings towards that famous person. I admire his work and Masha Allah he is doing a good ...

Winter is coming. The day is getting shorter and the night is getting longer. That means that the prayer times are closer together. To give you an idea, this is the prayer times today (November 20th, 2012): Prayer times. The conflict that might arise while studying here is that classes clash with prayer times. I try my best to arrange my class schedule so that the conflict doesn't happen but sometimes I can't avoid it, especially when the timings have changed so much that the prayers are close together. Unlike Malaysia, the fluctuation in prayer timings is pretty huge here and I think it's because Canada has four seasons. This semester, every Monday I have a 3-hour Psychology lecture from 2-5pm. Asr time is at 2:30pm and Maghrib is before 5pm. Usually the lecture ends early or I would leave the class early, and I would pray Asr in the prayer room. On Monday yesterday, the lecture didn't end early nor could I leave early because there was a test during the...

I attended a mental health awareness event last Sunday and I displayed the video above at the event along with artworks from various people. Since this video has a healing aspect to it, I figured it was a suitable piece to display at the event. A cute boy came to me, pulled my arm to get my attention, and said, "Could you please turn the video off? I don't like it." I was stunned. I smiled and wanted to know more about what this boy was thinking. I asked that we watched the video together and he can tell me what he thinks. So there he was, narrating every minute of my video. He didn't like the fact that I was punched by a guy in the video. I asked him, "What do you think?" He said, "I don't like it. You have to turn it off." I was very careful with what I said to this boy because I was on the verge of sending the wrong message. I was very afraid. I smiled more than I talked. This boy has muted me. Thankfully, his father was there...

26 Disember 2016 Ahmad: I don't want to lie. Anis: You don't have to. Ahmad meletakkan buku tersebut kembali ke dalam kotak, bersama dengan barang-barang lain yang disimpan olehnya.  Ahmad: But I don't want to tell the truth either. Anis memegang bahu Ahmad. Ahmad menoleh ke arah Anis dan tenggelam jauh ke dalam renungan matanya. Daripada raut wajah suaminya, Anis dapat mengesan sesuatu. Anis:  Apa yang Abang takutkan? Ahmad tersentap mendengar soalan itu dilontarkan kepadanya.  Ahmad:  Abang...Abang...sebenarnya... Ahmad tidak dapat meneruskan kata-katanya. Dia tidak dapat meletakkan nama kepada punca ketakutannya itu. Dia tidak pernah menyoal dirinya. Dia juga tidak pernah menyoal mengapa dia menyimpan masa silamnya dalam sebuah kotak yang mengumpul habuk di dalam perpustakaan rumahnya.  Ahmad:  I don't know. Ahmad menghembus nafas yang berat di dada.  Dia merenung barang-barang di dalam kotak usangnya. Setiap barang mewakili...

26 Disember 2016 Kedengaran Maisarah menangis. Anis: Oh, Maisarah dah bangun. Abang, Anis pegi tengok dia jap ek. Ahmad: Nak Abang yang pegi? Anis: Takpe la. Biar Anis je yang pegi. Maybe dia lapar kot. Anis berdiri lalu berjalan ke bilik tidur untuk melihat Maisarah. Ahmad duduk bersendirian di atas sofa. Suasana ruang tamu itu sepi. Ahmad melayan fikirannya. Tiba-tiba dia terfikir untuk mencari sesuatu. Dia berjalan ke bilik perpustakaan rumahnya. Dia menarik sebuah kotak daripada ruang almari buku yang paling bawah, sambil menyapu debu di atasnya. Ahmad: Hmm...mana buku tu ek? Dia menggeledah kotak tersebut. Akhirnya dia menarik sebuah buku latihan sekolah berwarna coklat. Buku tersebut kelihatan usang. Ahmad tersenyum melihatnya. Selepas itu, tiba-tiba mukanya muram.  Anis: Abang? Buat ape tu? Ahmad terkejut kerana disapa oleh isterinya. Kelihatan isterinya berdiri di pintu bilik perpustakaan dengan mendukung Maisarah yang baru sahaja bangun. Ahmad: Ab...

26 Disember 2016 Anis melepaskan cubitannya. Ahmad mengurut-urut lengannya yang sakit. Ahmad: Waduh, pedih bangat seh! Anis: Itulah balasan ke atas seorang stalker. Ahmad: Abang tak stalk la. Kita mula kenal time Form 5, tahun 2007 kan? Tapi yang time Form 4 tu kebetulan kita dok kelas Tajweed yang sama. Satu kelas tu ja. Abang pandang Anis sekilas pandang je, tapi Abang dah boleh ingat raut wajah Anis. Anis: Of course la! Dah muka macam model, mesti la ingat. Ahmad: Uwek! Nak muntah! Anis mencubit lengannya sekali lagi. Ahmad: Adeh, adeh, adeh! Anis: Lagu Negaraku sekali lagi! ********** 17 Januari 2007 Loceng berbunyi menandakan waktu rehat sudah tamat. Husaini: Please la bro! Please! Please! Ahmad: Menyusahkan aku ni memang dah jadi hobi ko ek? Husaini: Haha...mana ada. Kita kawan beb, kena la tolong-menolong. Please! Please! Ahmad: Ala, OK la! Pantas Husaini memeluk Ahmad. Husaini: YES! Bro, I love you! Ahmad: Woi! Woi! Orang nampak la...