there are no accident

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift, that's why it's called the present. We always worry so much about our past and our future which makes our present not so effectively being what we should be doing. In Solat, we are trained to be focus (khusyu') and be present when we're doing it and while we're doing it. It makes a lot of difference in our life if we can practice what we do in the Solat outside the Solat, what we read in the Quran out in our daily routine. I'm telling this to myself that if we go for the worldly affairs, it won't go anywhere, there's no end to it, but if we go for Islam, the world will surely come to you, and there will be relaxation and satisfaction in what you do. Everything that had happened to us is meant to happen in a way that we find our Creator and submit ourselves to Him and only Him.
I am responsible to do whatever I've said and if anyone seeing me doing against my sayings, please remind me for I am an ordinary human being, and being a human means we always forgetting and need to be reminded.

I am very worried and sad about the world nowadays. We are not supposed to be angry with the ignorant people, rather pity for them not getting 'hidayah' from Allah but I am very confused with the so called Muslim who didn't practice the teachings of their own religion to its fullest. Are they not thinking clearly or too full of themselves that they decided not to follow Allah's commands? Is this the world that I want to raise my son into? It doesn't take too much intelligent to comprehend Islam, it's the easier way of life for all humanity, not exclusively to any particular tribe or race or country...I am not a 'sheikh'(scholar) giving 'fatwa' or whatsoever, but I am just doing my part to make the world a better place to live. How much longer do we have to tolerate all this shenanigans to go on? Let's put ourselves together to fight this madness...so who's with me?

I missed you so much Ummi...

Words couldn't really describe how much tears had dropped, how much sorrow felt and lonely we are without our parents. We are so much in debt with them, that we can't afford loosing them before we can pay back as much as we could. But we come to realize that they are also human being created by God, borrowed by God to us temporarily to be our ultimate test. Parents can both be a blessing to gain reward and the door to a greater sin to be punished later on. It would be nice to still have a father and mother to turn up to, who don't get envy even a bit with your success, who really want us to be better than themselves, the one we can talk openly without any secrets, or share our feelings, bitter and sweet. Oh Allah, the owner of all the blessings, I pray for You to let my mother be happy on the other side, peacefully rest with Your Mercy. And when I come to join her, please let my son remember me in his prayers everyday. Please don't leave me alone in the darkness with no help.

My wife and I shared a quite similar story about our mothers. Our grandmothers passed away followed by our mothers after a few years. Hope they all are doing well and we still missed them and surely will follow their footsteps sooner or later. For those who still have parents, please don't wait until it's too late to be nice with them. Apologize immediately if we have any mistake that hurt their feelings, it's your mother, and your mother, and then still your mother comes first before your father. Your mother is your key to enter the heaven, you'll get more chance of a place in paradise if your parents are pleased with you...think about it...it's not worth it to fight our parents over something so vague and intangible than to loose our chance to be in an eternal life in heaven. Life is short as if the period between the Athan and Iqamah, that's why Athan are supposed to be whispered in the ears of a new born baby and we are being prayed after we die. It's that short...and within that short period of time we are suppose to think how actually are we going to survive in the hereafter, that's it!
I still can't believe that my mother had passed away, sometimes it feels like she is still here, but we must grow up and live with it, so help me God!

Music is just a tool!

Surprisingly I'm not a music lover...I don't actually listen to music...I never bought a music CD in my life...I have a few which I got it for free:) I can't call myself having a deep passion in music...but I'm not saying I don't like music...All I wanted to say is that we should all aware it by now that music is just a tool...not a means to find peace in our heart. It can bring (the idea of)hatred and it can also bring (the idea of) love. Many people didn't believe me when I said I don't always listen to music because I have been a recording artist with many albums all these years. Yes, you read it right, I don't really listen to music to find peace. I do it just to study and manipulate it into my experiments. I use them as a reference to train my vocal and that's it. It's not a necessity in life where we have to listen to music every day, or even every hour like some people.
I'm not a multi-talented musician who can play all the instruments but I am gifted not being a tone deaf. Is that something I pray to get? No...it's a gift and at the same time a test from Allah for me, whether I want to use it as a bad thing or otherwise. People are born with different gifts to be the means of getting to know our Creator. It is not a thing to be proud or ashamed of, it's a test of loyalty and allegiance to Allah. Sadly artist nowadays are being idolized by many, without realizing the danger lies behind the culture and lifestyle being brought together within the community from early age and are being consistently absorb and accepted as a normal behavior by the youngsters. Oh Lord, I seek refuge from being into the same ship as the others who let themselves be idolized and made a huge contribution towards the misleading information from God's true path.



Many had already knew about how Mirwana and Brothers are connected. Mirwana was originally a nasyid group from SMKA Maahad Hamidiah, Kajang...formed by Yasin when he was 15. The name was the idea of Yasin Sulaiman himself, named after his little brother Marwan. Brothers is Mirwana's senior in school days. They were the one to be feared or force to respect if you don't want to get bullied. After leaving school, Yasin formed another group called the 'Brothers'. Let's just look at this similar scenario happening to Brothers and Mirwana. Brothers consists of 4 people; Yasin, Salleh, Syah and Faiz. (Salleh was not from Maahad).Yasin left the group and make a solo album and won the AJL in 2001. He had been so successful since then leaving Brothers with Salleh, Syah and Faiz. They took Akbar as Yasin's substitute to proceed with the group. Later on, Syah were focusing on Mirwana and left the group. They took Halim as Syah's substitute. Now that Halim continued his studies in Australia and Akbar went solo, Brotherz now left with Salleh and Faiz. Then they decided to reunite back in an album called 'Kembali bersatu'...
Mirwana consists of 5 people; Izzat, Hafiz, Akmal, Along, Faizal. (Faizal was not from Maahad). Faizal left the group and join OIAM and won many awards. He had been so successful since then leaving Mirwana with Izzat, Hafiz, Akmal and Along. Later on, Akmal starts focusing on Varian. Izzat went to the UK and Mirwana had to take Naim and Ikram as a replacement.
Is this all just a coincidence? will they be joining back together in the future? who knows...

Islamic Medical Treatment

Purpose:

The main purpose of this intensive course is to provide an avenue for those throughout the UK who desire to learn about Islamic Medical Treatment. Participants will leave with a sound understanding of the unseen in light of the Qur'an and Sunnah, whilst having acquired the necessary knowledge to diagnose whether an individual has been inflicted with jinn-related diseases and the Islamic method of treatment thereafter.
Topics covered:
1. The concept of Islamic Medical Treatment (IMT)
2. IMT in relation to modern medical treatment
3. IMT in relation to alternative therapy
4. The unseen in Qur’an and Sunnah
5. Illnesses and disease caused by the unseen
6. Sihr and disturbances
7. Protection against the unseen
8. Determining diagnoses
9. Treatment methodology (Ruqyah Shar'iyyah): Evidence and principles
10. Ruqyah Shar'iyyah (practical)
11. Case studies
Cycle 1: Sat 4th, Sun 5th, Sat 11th, Sun 12th (April 2009)
Cycle 2: Sat 18th, Sun 19th, Sat 25th, Sun 26th (April 2009)
Cycle 3: Sat 2nd, Sun 3rd, Sat 9th, Sun 10th (May 2009)
Cycle 4: Sat 16th, Sun 17th, Sat 23rd, Sun 24th (May 2009)

Course Fees: £150 (Inclusive of course materials, lunch and refreshments)

Assalamu alaikum,
Ustaz Trimizi Zainal, Deputy Chairman of PISANG (Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group), arrived in the UK today and will be here for about 2 months. He will be conducting PISANG Islamic Medical Treatment courses and will hold several mobile clinics throughout the UK during his stay here.
Prior to his arrival, he was in Cairo where he conducted Islamic Medical Treatment courses and held mobile clinics targeting Malaysian students (Islamic Studies and Medical students). studying there Some disturbing figures that were obtained from the mobile clinics are as below:
Number of students screened: about 1,200
Students with sihir (black magic) cases: 114
Students with jinn affliction: 153
Students suffering from severe stress/depression: 48
TOTAL number of student with problems: 325 (about 27%)
Egypt has about 8,000 Malaysian students and with an assumption that 27% of them have similar problems, this will translate to 2,160 students. The Malaysian embassy in Cairo were equally alarmed with the figures.
We have not done this scale of jinn-screening in the UK amongst Malaysian students and their dependencies. It may turn out that the figures are equally alarming.
If you would like PISANG to hold mobile clinics in your locality, please contact me via email hamidi@melayu. org.uk. Just like scanning your PC for viruses, there is nothing to lose if there is no problem. In fact it will give you peace of mind. If we find problems, treatment can be given promptly.
On the other hand, if you have been afflicted by jinn and jinn-screening has not done, your condition may get worse and goes unnoticed over the years. Problems may only be noticeable after the medical condition has deteriorated to a critical condition and by that time treatment will be more difficult or ineffective. DON'T WAIT TILL IT'S TOO LATE. REGISTER FOR JINN-SCREENING NOW at www.pisang.org. uk.
PISANG does not charge any fee for screening or treatment. However we welcome any amount of donation to sustain and expand our operations. PISANG is a not-for-profit organisation registered in England.

Wassalam,
Hamidi Abdul Rahman
Chairman PISANG
www.pisang.org. uk

ps. Please forward this email to other individuals/ e-groups

the end of a new beginning

These 2 songs were supposed to be in our second album, but because of time limitation and marketing strategy by our former recording company(Supra 7), they had these songs compiled as a repackaged version with a new cover album featuring only 4 of our member since Faizal left the group. I will tell you insyaAllah how we met each other and how it all begin...until we are in the situation that we're in...with the latest version you wouldn't get anywhere else...
Now that we are an independent group with no label, so Supra 7 and Universal Music are out of the story...I can definitely say that the repackage album was the end of a new beginning...
Anyway,even without a proper contract we can still do our job...which is to spread the true meaning of the teaching of our religion to the world.
This song is about the most essential key in the pillars of Islam, which is the prayer. Why did I say that? Because this is the one and only command that Allah gave the prophet directly not through the angel Jibril/Gabriel...the prophet had to be prepared physically and mentally before the event took place, and was taken to the highest level of the heaven (Sidratul Muntaha) a place where not even the angels can simply go and meet the Lord. This practice is the only thing that separates a Muslim and non-Muslim, the first thing that will be ask in our graves, the way to solve problems, how we connect with God, the protector from doing sins and many more...We may have heard this points many times before, but couldn't really grasp the true objective in performing it. For example, in the solat..we actually do all the 5 pillars in Islam...1. we did recite the testimony of faith (2 words of Shahadah), 2. Solat came in the second place, 3. we did not eat and drink during Solat, in a way are actually fasting... 4. we did spend our time and energy for the sake of Allah to do it, in a way of giving Zakat...5. we did the Solat heading towards the Kaabah in Makkah where we actually did when performing hajj/pilgrimage...
and by performing Solat, we are actually practicing our 6 pillars of faith...1. we did believed in the Oneness of God, 2. we did believed in the angels who brought the messages from God to the prophets, 3. we had already believed in all the prophets sent by God, because the Solat was only done by the prophet, not prescribed in the Quran 4. we believed in the books (Torah, Zabur, Injil, Furqan), 5. we believed in the hereafter, because if not, we wouldn't pray at all.. 6. we did believe the pre-destination by God whether it is good or bad.
Thus by searching the right way to perform this obligatory practice, we had discovered so many unrevealed answers which is the true meaning of the religion... the important of having knowledge! Allah said in the first ayah in Quran: "Proclaim! in the name of Thy Lord and Cherisher who created"
For example, to perform the Solat, we have to learn the history and literature.. because nobody in our time had actually met the prophet, all we have is his Sunnah.. we have to search the direction of the kiblat , which brings us to geography and astronomy, before and during the Solat, we have to be clean which brings us to medicine, science and biology.. the numbers of rakaats and the exceptional things that cater the one in journey and the sick brings us to mathematics...in order to build the place of worship so called the mosque brings us to architecture, the need to teach others about the way to perform Solat brings us to art and technology, to prepare the means of traveling to Masjidil haram brings us to engineering and a whole lot more! this is only a mere example that I could think of at this time...I think human beings aren't just capable to think beyond what Allah have prescribed for us, if we want to write it down in a paper using the sea as the ink, we will fail to do so even if a double size of the sea of ink came to refill the pen we use to write it down.



If you had notice the achievements that we got only came from 2 songs, 'hikmah kembara' and 'aku tanpa cintaMu'...it was a successful experiment made by us as a team with the producers, so we were thinking to make another hit just like those 2...so these 2 new songs were specifically composed using the same mood as the previous hit. So if a duet with a veteran hit the pot, what if we do a duet with a new comer? what kind of impact do the song have...after all, we are just trying to convey the message to people, if the message is not delivered properly, then what is the point of delivering...if you know what I'm saying....
anyway, this song is about a person who is dying and wants to repent all his wrongdoings for his entire life...it's the scariest thing ever going to happen to all of us...whether we are prepared or not, young or old...no one is going to escape death...let's face it my brothers and sisters...one day, we will not be here to see the world... so let us be prepared in whatever way that we can...
Wallahu a'lam

NEXT09 Sheffield

NEXT at Sheffield started in 2005, which of course I could not join as I was still in Malaysia. I didn't manage to come to the second and the third as well because my mother was sick back home, so I had to go back. Last year I did came to NEXT08 with the 'Cymru' team. Camouflaging behind the contestant, I was hardly recognized by the organizer until Ustaz Erfino invited me to the VIP room. I realized that one of the contestants was a recording artist from the group 'Nur Irsyad'. I saw many talented individuals with a very bright future and a pleasant personality. I got to snap a picture with Hamza Robertson, the guest artist..he said that I look very familiar... I don't know whether he's just saying it out of the blue or he really meant it.
Anyway, for this year insyaAllah, I will be coming to NEXT09 with Akbar on the 15th of March... Please show your support to our Muslim community event by attending and don't forget to bring your families and friends. It's an annual event we rarely got the chance to see in the UK.

For more information click here

Mirwana without me:(

I don't know how to react to this situation where I am not there to be with my friends. It's a complicated feeling overwhelming between happy, sad and excited combined. It's still awkward to think of it, but when all is said and done... there's nothing I can do about it. It's good they choose not to wait any longer, because people hate waiting...I will keep you updated with the upcoming videos from Mirwana and please stay tune...thank you!

My (wife's) best friend's wedding

I am flattered to find someone acknowledging me to perform on her wedding and specifically demanded two of the most audacious songs to sing especially by me. Although I've received many unpleasant comments from people in front and the back of my face, I find it hard to refuse the request as I can kill two birds with one stone. With the knowledge that I never could've perform these songs elsewhere because of who I am, I get to challenge myself to give it a go in public. I wish someday nasyeed songs could've been composed as high quality as these songs so that we won't be undermined from the main stream media. If you'd notice I'm still wearing my graduation 'hat' as to remind me that I as the student of the International Islamic University, had solemnly pledge under oath that I will perform my obligatory daily prayers regularly....proper covering of the 'aurah'...promoting good and forbiding evil....and the list goes on...People just worried if I'm going to become a pop artist leaving behind the nasyeed industry which I don't intend to do nor will I leave any of my clothes off.

I think justice is to put something in its place, and these songs are dedicated for two people loving each other, and marriage is the sacred form of ibadah (munakahat). The pure love between man and woman is only permissible for husband and wife and strictly prohibited to the unmarried couples. Therefore, those who are in that category, these songs aren't really suitable to avoid unnecessary time wasting. Due to these circumstances, I had justified my action not against any sharia' law and I am promoting people who are ready and afford to get married as soon as possible especially for those who are above 25 years old. What are you waiting for? this is the only thing you have to do if tomorrow is your last day. A fact yet controversial statement to provoke others...insyaAllah

Nasyeed Extravaganza Ireland

It's been snowing all night yesterday, reported to be the heaviest snow in the UK in 18 years. Thousands of roads closed and people can't go to work and schools aren't open as well. It's a beautiful white day for the students to play outside making snow man, sliding down the hills, or snapping some pictures. This is only a small fraction of God's attributes for mankind to ponder about His absolute sovereignty.
I found this video in youtube and want to share it with you. It's my first time in Galway...hope you like it...

Actually I don't like giving comments right after a performance like a reality show thingy, because relatively my comments will contribute towards the audience votes to choose who's their favourite group to be the winner, but if I must, I must.

For Atap Hijau: They had a sense of humor in introducing their group. Both vocalists have beautiful voices. Back up vocals could sing in unison. The whole performance was very touching and had a lot of unpredictable gimmick.
For the solo performance: Obviously very brave and confident attempt. I can understand that it's hard to hear our voice without any monitor, but it's a good effort, well done!
For Munawwar: They did a nice intro and outro and they were the first performance with tight harmonizing noting that they definitely have some knowledge in music. Although it's not perfect, we can see the effect of a lot of training, may be too much towards the end until the tiredness shows. All I can say that this group is on a different level of the understanding of vocal projection.

For Gema galway: they have made a good song selection because it suits all the different vocal range in the group. They were very sporting and very entertaining. I like the group, I could tell that they are close friends.
For UCD Band: I had never seen a nasyeed band like this before, at least not at university level. You guys were brilliant! Honestly, I did enjoyed myself and quite excited to hear more from them. They were truly a very talented doctors.
For 7th note: This was one of the reasons I'm afraid of being a judge, despite being open to criticism, there could be someone out there who could sing my song better than me. What else could I comment? It's a good show, well done! and keep it up... Hope to see you soon...and Congratulations!
I just want to make something clear, not because 7th note sang my song they did won the first place, because the marks was 60% from the judges and 40% from the audience. Anyway, congratulations to all the winners and well done to all the committees for this great event.

quite spontaneous

I am currently waiting for the videos of NEXT-iere in Galway, so let me share with you some of my special featured songs made a couple of years back. These are not songs from any album but composed for a specific event back home.

the first video is an event for Maulidur Rasul held in Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur. I still remember the time I got back from the Stadium I had an accident, someone hit me from the back and run, the funny thing is the car in front of me pulled over and asking me why did I knocked his car? I said "when did I hit you? I was the one who got hit!" It's interesting to find many kinds of people when you're in the road.
The second video is a videoclip made by JAKIM for 'AidilAdha' program. The location for the video was held at Bukit Tinggi, near Janda Baik. It was a bit like French kind of setting with Christmas decoration and all...not quite suitable for 'a pilgrimage style' though but the producer must have something in mind we don't know...

I guess some of you might have heard this song before. It's a song from the album 'Doa Harian' by Shahir. I really enjoyed the time we shoot for this video in Summerset Villa, Rompin. Shahir was still in his primary school at the time of the album launched. His manager have a really high hopes for him.

this song was supposed to be the first big step into the local music industry as BMG's recording artist, but BMG had to merge with SONY music, and Warner didn't seemed to be interested in signing us up. Long story cut short, we signed up with Universal Music a fews years after that. This song was the only newly recorded song compiled in the 'Junjungan Mulia II' album, so the time was very limited for us (from different universities) to completely perfected it at our own unpressurized environment, if you know what I mean...Luckily our producer, Syah Rizal from Brothers helped out with his vocal parts. So it was supposedly written as Mirwana featuring Syah Rizal...

Ever heard of Ust Amal before?the featured vocalist in Raihan's first album 'Puji-Pujian' by the song entitled 'AsSolatu wassalam'. He was superb! That's all I can say...wonder how is he doing now...Before I forgot, this song was re-recorded by NowSeeHeart a year after because the composer thought that it didn't got the push it had to. Well, I guest when a composer entrusted us with their song, it certainly meant something more to them than just being released in someone's album. Some of them think the song have a soul, which I think is not an appropriate word to use, the song can go as far as it does because of the livelihood that Allah has granted for the people working for the song and their families...someone else might composed a song quite similar to the top ones but never did as far.

Happy Birthday to you (my wife)

Birthday is not the only special day for you...cause you're always special for me every single day...
May your birthday and the days ahead be wonderful for you & May Allah bless you forever!

new (unreleased) album promotion

although I'm not with them at the moment to record the new song, my spirit will always be there to support and encourage their efforts to preach the true meaning of the religion widespread. This is not the official video clip, but here goes...


I would like to think that these songs were dedicated to me though, nevertheless it was meant to be for all the generous fans who didn't stop supporting us for whatever happens inside and outside the country.

moments to be missed

only God knows how I felt at these times...all the pressure and adrenaline boosted in one blow... after all you're only carrying out the group's reputation, image and the peoples' expectations :) It should sounded better if I'm not worrying too much about perfecting my vocal projection.
As you may not notice that I never attended any award ceremony other than ACNI, including those which Mirwana won in AE and a couple of ABPBH and AIM. Nothing to do with the event but it's just me being paranoid after the late 'Zairi Ahmed', our mentor from Raihan died in Genting Highlands in one of AE if I'm not mistaken. I would never want to die in a place like that...Nau'zubillahi min zalik...but these 2 performances were exceptional because Mirwana was insisted to perform in AIM after a rather controversial winning in AE04 in 2 categories...the board decided to introduce Mirwana to Malaysia...It's a wonderful experience to follow the tour for AIM and ABP every year...cruising on Naza Kia up to the Northern until the Southern part of the peninsular...never had the chance to go to Sabah or Sarawak...

And the board decided again to put Mirwana forward with JayJay in ABPBH after winning 1 category in AE05. Luckily JayJay was available because we were suppose to perform in AE05 but he had a show in Brunei which was booked much earlier.

JayJay was not available again in ACNI05 so we had to find a back up plan and found Nash who was willing to help us out. I flew all the way from UK to be there which I think worth an effort for Mirwana had won 4 categories in that award ceremony. Nominated in ABPBH and AIM the same year but not fortunate enough to be the winner. We don't actually expected anything because we're still novice in the industry and felt that there's more work to be done before any acknowledgment deserved. We did won 3 awards from AE05 and AE06 but I didn't have the video for you to view, which made all our achievements were coming only from the local radio station. Surely there's something more to do before winning the hearts of the audience, striving hard day and night was just not compensating to the hours spent towards the betterment of the quality we need to deliver. And now here I am, far away from these kind of life, not sure whether coming back is a good idea...


this video was an event for EidulFitr, live recorded by TV3 during Ramadhan. I still remember we stop to break our fast and continue the shooting. Ramli Sarip was there too...he was among the early birds arriving on location. Who else...Aflin Shauqi, Adibah Noor and us. One thing about entertainment industry, they never keep on schedule...always dragging and waiting for another person and resulting the rest of the crew working late. As a consequence, they are not much a morning person, which is bad for our health I must say...

NEXT-ireland

Galway, a place I never been and a place of beautiful scenery. Famous of the actual scene in West Life's video clip, it's a place I would visit again, insyaAllah.
We all knew what happened to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. The students in Ireland had made a big contribution towards collecting funds for them. What about you?
For more info, please click here

my memories

I just want to share with you one of my first experience shooting for a commercial video clip. These are the only 2 clips which we had under Universal Music's budget. How much do you think these videos cost? Those were the days where artist still can't get a hold of the industry as a whole just yet. There were a lot of middle man playing extremely big part in the industry controlling every single move, until the nasyeed wave stroked where no logical explanation can be made. The demand for it keeps on coming eventhough they didn't get much airtime or promotion or whatsoever. It's a phenomenon where artist can do everything by themselves right before recording, song and lyric composing, mixing, mastering, launching, promotion, video clips, publishing house and some of them even do the distribution on their own. It's a revolution that killed the industry in a way, it shut down the major expensive studios and create more affordable home suite studios around the town. It made the international label closed down it's local departments, cds and cassettes are not selling because it's time for streaming online and download era, artist can't live depending only from their album's royalty because they are not sold, live shows are hard to find if you're not popular and many more. Then came the major recession period which is happening about once in a century. What sort of product do you think will come from this kind of motivation? Either way we see it, nasyeed scene still didn't get the full attention of the main stream media. I mean seriously, how many times did you guys see these 2 clips in the tv?