naziehah

Born-Muslim that were brought up in Muslim country, most of us were forced into this ‘belief’ that we already know it all. Coupled with the feeling of superiority, or complacency or just pure laziness - our study of the religion stops at a very superficial level. In case of Malaysia, the issues then becomes more pronounced because our first language is either Malay, Chinese,Tamil, English (basically non-Arabic), and hence all our knowledge about Quran came from translation sources of the Arabic language.

In my search of greater understanding of my own ‘way of life’, I faced many challenges. I have many burning questions, with no answers. I was fed again and again, with superficial, one-dimensional answer that do not satisfy my curiosity. I seek my own Quran translation and still, I was dissillusioned.

Until I came across a knowledge that there were a ‘lost in translation’ issue when it comes to Quran translation. Quran was revealed in a distant language in an ancient time. It went through many levels of ‘translation’ - which encompassed the literal translation, the social translation, the cultural translation, and not to mention the personal interpretation of the translator. Through time, I knew that there were many types of translation - good ones and also not-so-good ones.

Then it hit me, I have been reading the not-so-good translation of the Quran all these while!  All due to my ignorance of  many other Quran translations that is available. If I keep reading from one source of translation, it means I am only listening to that one person’s translation, based on his own understanding and marked by his own personal interpretation. No wonder sometimes I felt that something was missing that I can’t really put a finger on. I knew there are many beautiful stories and answers and inspirations in the Quran, but somehow, I could not find it.

I started looking for other translations and my understanding grew. My appreciation of the many translations also grew. I am grateful that I was brought upon this knowledge, Alhamdulillah.

As normal popular-culture-influenced kid, my idol has always been Angelina Jolie. What’s not to like about her - Big beautiful eyes? Checked! Big beautiful lips? Checked! Smokin’ body..always a reason that pushed me to hit the gym although since we have different body type I will never ever look like her in a million years..but still..

However, as I matured and as she matured - I notice also similarity in awareness. Her works with the UN is amazing and she became a role model for young people in terms of social and humanitarian work. Besides all the big physical beauties - she now also has big beautiful heart.

She has a very colourful past. A lot of people still hates her (for the whole Brad-Jennifer case). But I guess it’s easier to talk about the nasty and the not-so-nice, rather than the good. After all, that’s what media are always feeding us and there’s minimal thing that we can do about what were splashed in tabloids and media.

But I guess - for us, for our ownselves (not for Angelina or anybody), we can always choose to look for the good in everybody. Accepting the past as it is, we look for the nice things in present. And in Angelina, I choose to look at her humanitarian works.

Islamic Relief has been doing tremendous amount of work all over the world and currently their appeal is on the Palestine Gaza Strip. If all you can do now is read about it and spread the awareness - that’s huge enough a contribution. Every little cent, and every little word counts in the work for good. So let’s be and Angel(ina) and be aware.

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Image 1 from here. Image 2 from here.

He’s the birthday boy today and we had a quiet celebration. Since he is no longer training on Sunday, so I have him all to myself all day! Weeee..

Morning started with a whole body massage by me. Yes, I know a thing or two about massages having been trained in a spa course before. Using the essential oils in combination of ylang-ylang, patchouli, sweet orange, lavender, cedarwood and rose maroc - I massaged him good! Giving massage is a actually quite a workout for the masseuse (not that I am anywhere near professional! ). Especially if the person we massaged is a huge-nearly-6-foot man!

Then we went out for lunch and I bought him a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Cake for his birthday cake! He loves ice cream cakes and since I can’t bake or cook - I figured Baskin Robbins will be quite a good alternative ;). The ice cream is Jamoca Almond Something, which tastes really good combined with a soft chocolate cake. Needless to say, we did a bit of workout after that to balance things off!

He did his usual weeding and gardening, while me - I did my usual dancing! All in all, it’s a pretty good day for both of us :).

Happy Birthday my hunky hubby! 

The hummus to my carrot sticks. The grape jelly to my peanut butter (Goober). The moon in my nights. The hunter of the ‘cicak’s. The best friend that listens. The man that protects. The lover that kisses. The partner that is always there.

I love you very much and I can’t thank you enough for everything that you did. You are always a man of action and I appreciate every single little thing that you did for me. You will always be my man -forever.

Middle Eastern Dance ( belly dancing ) and their enthusiasts is - when you started learning it, it doesn’t become ’sexy’ or ’sensual’ or whatever terms you want to use to describe the similar connotations.

When women (because I only teach women, but there are men doing/learning belly dancing as well), started to learn belly dancing, they are learning a whole new vocabulary of movements. They started to realise that it is not just about ’shaking your booty’, it is about learning about your muscles, getting to know your body the way you never did before, and appreciating the many wonderful things that your body can do!

After that, technical aspects came to place - which muscle is used to create which movements, how to emphasise, de-emphasise, strengthen, making the movement appear heavier or lighter or faster. Well, all in all, a whole lot more things to learn and do.

Then after that, the merging of the technical and the music - to create a beautiful piece of moving expression.

Yes, some people said that I am ‘too serious’ for a dance insttructor

Do you know tha you can tilt/move your hip in 5 different ways using 5 different muscle clusters that aligned the front of your lower tummy?

That’s what we did today in my morning private session. I am very proud of my students who now knows how to perfectly manipulate those muscles to make their hips looks like it’s moving on it’s own.

I know some of you are trying to do it now, and maybe some other are trying to picture how it’s done. Ladies, you know where to ask

Ada-ada masanya, seperti hari ini.

Otak buntu. Jiwa lesu. Badan layu.

Ada-ada masanya - perempuan memang kena berehat.

I have so much love,
so much love inside of me
it spilled, and poured in streams;
sweet sweet love like honey

but I have poison too,
a bit of poison inside of me,
it spilled, and stung and burnt;
that little scorpion in me

©naziehah mar 2008

As she sat on the floor, surrounded by baskets of fresh fruits; apples, grapes, oranges. She looked up and look at her uncle.

He asked, who gave you these fruits?

She answered, my lord, The Almighty.

He asked, how is it possible?

She answered, when The Almight wants to give, He will give boundlessly.

Boundlessly. Boundlessly. Boundlessly.

Probably you have to watch the movie yourself, but when she uttered the sentence, and the next scenes showed how moved he was by the realisation - my tears trickled down my face.

My Way - Frank Sinatra
[Recorded December 30, 1968, Hollywod]

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way” For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way! [instrumental]

Yes, it was my way

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As me and Mr. Z sang along to fake Frank Sinatra, reading the lyrics that appeared on our karaoke CD. Somehow, without talking about it -we both knew and understand - somewhere in that lyric, there’s a story about us.