Aiman Azlan's Blog

I wanted to direct my own short narrative video for a long time. I had a little taste of it with my collaboration with Umar Mita , but I didn't get a full grip of it. I kept on postponing on making one. Of course, with procrastination, comes excuses. I believe in the concept of learning with experience. If I don't start, then how am I going to get experience? Everything has to start somewhere. So one day, while driving to Ottawa, I got an idea for a short video. I was driving, so I told my friend to take down some notes for me so that I don't forget. I ran the idea by my friend, Qayyum, because the idea involved a husband and a wife. Since he is recently married, I thought this would be a good opportunity. He agreed and his wife agreed to it too. I revised my notes with another friend, just to get a fresh perspective on the idea. We refined the concept together, I gathered a few extras to help me out, we all went to the university to shoot the video, and the vide...

Photo by  Pittaya Sroilong Bismillah. So yesterday I decided to stop eating rice for a week. You have to understand the "heresy" of that statement. Being an Asian, rice flows in my blood. I've been eating rice all my life - for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. Occasionally, I'll eat other stuff like noodles, burgers, bread, etc. But rice is my staple food. It is in fact the official staple food where I come from i.e. Malaysia. So when I decided to stop eating rice (just for a week by the way), I realized that the air is filled with a pinch of skepticism. "Wow, if I was you, I can't do it." "You can't just quick cold turkey like that. That's not healthy." "I can't live without rice." This is not a stunt that I'm pulling to lose some weight. That's not the main reason. The main reason behind this short experiment is to put into conscious perspective the things that I take for granted and to re...

Photo by the yes man Bismillah. Okay, I am going to stick my head in the clouds for a minute. We are very susceptible to trends, and not just on Twitter. Almost everyone wants to stay updated. Those who don't are looked down upon. Fashion, games, phones, cars, computers, television sets - you name it. If it's not the latest trend, then it's too old and must be disposed of. Nothing lasts. Everything has an expiry date. A trend is a powerful thing, but it must be kept in check. Otherwise, trends will control us. We will follow everything that trends dictate. We will give little to no consideration to what trend it is and what does it lead to; as long as we're ahead of the game, we don't care. Why are we so obsessed with being ahead? Ahead of what? Where does this race lead to? Where is the finish line? Or rather, is there a finish line? Capitalism is no secret. Capitalism is no conspiracy. The idea behind it all is to make us consume more and produce le...

Source: Full HD Wallpapers Bismillah. If you place a white kid and a black kid in a room, they acknowledge that each person is different from the other but they don't think that the other doesn't belong. Kids can make friends with virtually anybody; one is not better than the other. The criterion for our ultimate distinction between one another is one that no one can measure except for God, and that criterion is Taqwa (God-consciousness). "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted." (Surah al-Hujurat: 13) At the essence of humanity is diversity. We unite on the basis of our collective and individual differences. Those who try to make everyone the same are always those who cause unnecessary conflicts. Uniformity doesn't breed unity. Diversity does. It ju...

Photo by  Caleb Roenigk Bismillah. I think the key to a good quality life is in the present moment. It is in the here and now. It is in the present that I am currently living in. I don't live in my past anymore and I don't know I am going to live in my future. Too many people are preoccupied with their past; not letting go and moving on. Too many people are obsessed with their future; always rushing and looking at what's next. But how many are mindful of the present? The present is our centre. Our past and our future are in the periphery; not because they are not important, but because they are not the focus. The focus is on the here and now. The past is history, we learn from it. The future is a mystery, we don't know much about it. Both the past and the future play a supporting role in the story of our life, but the present is the leading role. It's all about the present moment. God doesn't judge us based on our past or our future. He sees us ...

Photo by Sulejman Bismillah. A Muslim woman emailed me her story. I edited it a little bit, but the overall message is still in tact. I believe everyone has his/her own dark past and I have mine that I have to deal with. I am a mother, but I am not married. Despite being pregnant out of wedlock, I was determined to deliver this child. Abortion wasn't an option. I didn't care what other people think. I want to raise this child like any mother would. I don't want to punish my innocent child for the crime I have committed. It has been three years. I accepted what had happened to me and I'm doing my best for my child, but I can't stop thinking about what I had done. Did I do the right thing by taking the responsibility and raising my child? I can't go out. I can’t go to work. People are murmuring behind my back. I feel like people will keep judging me. I somehow lost the will to live. I know that only to Allah I should turn for help, but I can...

Photo by Thomas Bismillah. I don’t have kids. I’m not even married, yet. So the title might throw you off a bit. But the title is not a gimmick, it is a statement. Rather, it is a question. "What kind of father am I?" Being unmarried and consequently having no kids, it's kind of a weird question to ask. It's even weirder to ask such a question in the present tense as oppose to the future tense. But my question is based on a principle that I'm trying to live by and it is this: "Parenting starts before marriage and the first child you’ll raise is yourself." I have learned enough about childhood, adolescence, and adulthood in my psychology classes to convince myself that the principle rings true. A lot of the psychological malfunctions can be traced back, partly, to the family and in essence, to the parents. Of course, I have to emphasize that there is no one specific and exclusive cause for a malfunction. A human being is influenced by so many...