Zakat

Ramadan sudah hampir ke penghujungnya. Pada waktu-waktu seperti ini, persiapan menyambut perayaan semakin rancak.

Namun dalam hati aku terselit satu persoalan: Mak dan Abah sudah ada baju raya ke? Senyap je orang tua aku ni.

Hujung minggu itu, aku pulang bersama isteri ke kampung untuk menjenguk mereka. Aku tidak dapat berbuka bersama mereka maghrib itu kerana ada perancangan lain bersama rakan-rakan sesekolah rendah dulu di sebuah hotel.

Malam itu, aku ambil peluang berborak bersama Mak dan Abah. Kebetulan pula adik kandungku, Awi pulang ke rumah dari asramanya. Isteriku menemaniku di ruang tamu itu.

"Dah dekat nak raya ni, Mak Abah dah ada baju raya ke belum?" tanyaku.

"Eh takpe la, Ki. Kau simpan dahulu duit kau tu. Teguhkan kewangan kau dan isteri," jawab Abah seakan-akan faham akan niat asalku untuk membelikan mereka baju raya.

Aku tidak terus memberikan kata dua. Sedikit masa kuambil sebelum aku bersuara semula, "Itu lah. Zaki dan isteri pun sebenarnya tak beli baju khas untuk raya ni. Sebabnya baju masa bersanding dulu kan ada. Cantik pun. Tapi...."

"Tapi apanya Ki?" pantas emak memotong.

"Tapi Zaki rasa bersalah lah pula kalau tak belikan Mak Abah baju raya tahun ni. Tahun lepas Zaki belikan, tahun ni dah kahwin..." aku tidak menghabiskan kata-kataku.

"Takpe... Abah dan Mak faham. Kau tu baru kahwin. Baru belajar nak seimbangkan kewangan. Zakat fitrah kau dah bayar?" tanya Abah.

"Belum lagi," jawabku lalu kusambung, "tapi Zaki rancang nak bayarkan zakat untuk Mak dan Abah. Awi pun."

"Ha... Kalau macam tu, bagus. Itu lagi wajib. Jangan lupa bayarkan zakat untuk isteri kau tu sekali" Emak mengingatkan lalu menyimpulkan perbualan kami.

Terima kasih Emak dan Abah.

Third Article in Utusan Malaysia

For the third time, the article that I wrote was published in Utusan Malaysia. Go to Utusan Online and search Muhammad Zaki Ramli. All of my articles are available there.

This time, I wrote about Ramadhan. The article that was initially entitled "Puasa Bukan kerana Kesihatan" was published with the title "Betulkan Niat Sebenar Puasa".

The idea of putting such title was to attract readers to read more on the article rather than just a cliché one like (I'm sorry to say) the one published. This is because, to my observation, people would skip such articles thinking that it contains thoughts like in any other articles.

I think the approach that I used to write the article was simple and easy to be understood and thus it needed a catchy title to put readers' eyes till the end of the article and eventually made them think.

As expected, the article was edited to suit the available space in the page. However I found that the main idea was still there anyway.

The idea to write that article was inspired after a weekly talk session during Ramadhan held in Yayasan Ilmuwan by Prof. Dr. Mohd Yusof Haji Othman of Institut Islam Hadhari. In his talk, he explained something more or less about what I shared in the article and I put some of my thoughts regarding the matter.

I hope many have benefited from the article and may Allah bless Prof. Yusof.

Mahu Raya, Banting atau Muar?

#1

"Sayang, walaupun Sayang isteri abang, tapi Sayang tetap jatuh nombor 3 dalam hati abang. Nombor satu emak, nombor dua abah, nombor tiga baru Sayang."

#2

"Sayang, sebaik sahaja Abang lafazkan akad nikah, terus rasa berat bahu Abang sebab mak ayah (mertua) dah debitkan tanggungjawab membela Sayang ke dalam akaun tanggungjawab Abang."

#3

"Sayang, pada pendapat Abang, kalaulah seorang isteri tu betul-betul memahami tanggungjawab berat seorang lelaki yang masih ada ibu bapa, yang juga merangkap suaminya, dia tidak akan persoalkan tahun ni balik raya di mana, tahun depan di mana."

#4

"Sayang, abang juga ada mak abah. Abang boleh faham perasaan Sayang kali pertama beraya tanpa mak ayah bersama. Tapi, bukankah mak abah Abang, mak abah Sayang juga?"

Penafian: Saya dan isteri sudah membuat keputusan mahu beraya di mana pada hari-hari terawal Syawal tahun ini. Malah, keputusan tersebut mendapat sokongan kedua-dua belah keluarga.

Kenyataan: Saya sangat cintakan isteri saya dan keluarga mertua. :)

Szakif Meli - Pelik?

Klik pada gambar untuk membaca dengan lebih jelas.

Sudah beberapa minggu aku tukar namaku di Facebook kepada Szakif Meli.

Mungkin ramai sudah tahu cerita di sebalik nama Szakif itu. Tetapi mana pula datangnya perkataan Meli (sebut: mur-lee)?

Bagi yang mengenali isteriku, mungkin mudah sahaja mereka mengaitkannya dengan nama isteriku kerana namanya di Facebook ialah Mary Mei Li. Tetapi sebenarnya, bukan.

Meli ialah panggilan kepada Abahku. Biasanya di sebelah keluarga Abah, adik-beradiknya memanggil Abah dengan nama "Abang Meli" walaupun nama sebenarnya ialah Ramli. Abah ialah anak kedua, sulong bagi yang lelaki daripada 16 adik beradiknya. Ye, 16 orang. Jarak umur antara yang paling tua dan yang paling muda cuma 20 tahun. Gila produktif arwah nenek aku.

Pernah Abah meluahkan dia kurang selesa dengan panggilan Meli itu, malah Abah lebih selesa dengan panggilan "Acik". Mungkin Abah tidak berapa kisah sangat, asalkan orang lain selesa memanggilnya dengan nama itu.

Nak dijadikan cerita, selepas aku tukar nama kepada Szakif Meli, ada pula orang yang aku tak kenali berminat menjadi rakanku di Facebook, seperti dalam gambar di atas.

Persoalannya:

1. Tak cukup Melayu ke nama Szakif Meli?

Mungkin. Nama Szakif unik kot. Cuba google. Apa yang korang jumpa?

2. Tak cukup Melayu ke muka aku?

Memang. Aku kan kacukan Pan Asia.

:D

Berpuasa sebagai Suami

Petang itu, aku tulis di Facebook:

Szakif Meli sentiasa tertanya-tanya, dalam iklan radio kurma Yusuf Tayob tu, perlu ke berbisik-bisik tu? [via Celcom SMS]

Ketika itu, aku dalam perjalanan pulang ke rumah dari pejabat. Aku bosan tersekat dalam kesesakan trafik, namun otak aku tak pernah bosan berfikir, lalu timbullah persoalan itu yang sebenarnya sudah lama aku fikirkan.

Malam itu pula, seperti biasa aku luangkan masa yang berkualiti bersama isteri. Mula-mula memang berkualiti, namun apabila kedua-dua mula hanyut dalam kemesraan, mulalah buat perangai.

Aku berbisik kepadanya, "Sayang, esok kita dah nak puasa. Sahur kita makan kurma ye?"

Dia membalas dengan berbisik juga, "Yusuf Tayob~"

One Year with Yayasan Ilmuwan

I started working with Yayasan Ilmuwan on the 3rd of August 2009 after about 2 months working as part timer in the organization. Today it's already the 4th of August of this year and that means I am already a year ahead after stepping my feet in Yayasan Ilmuwan as a Research Executive.

Frankly, I have never thought I can work this long in an organization, but in the same time along the past one year, I had never thought of leaving Yayasan Ilmuwan and seeking jobs at other companies. It's not an easy thing to be able to do so considering I put myself into a field that I did not familiar with namely consultancy, publication and training, while maybe the research field was close to me but not in the type of research Yayasan Ilmuwan is doing. However, I managed to cope with the environment rather fast and I took not long to learn to get myself comfortable with career life.

One year working with Yayasan Ilmuwan had exposed me with a lot of experience ranging from writing articles for the newspaper until public speaking through the radio. I didn't and still don't find a reason why I must hate what I am doing with the organization given everything I have there was nothing but blessings from Allah - nice bosses, crazy officemates, and most importantly, the opportunities to contribute to the society through the career.

Last week, I ended my last day of the first year of my career life with a program held in Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS) by delivering a speech in a workshop for the foundation students. The topic given to me was "An Approach in Mastering Biology". Since it wasn't only me to give the speech but two others were scheduled after my slot, I took the opportunity to share with the students on what the basis of life (bio in Greek literally means life) is, based on my understanding. In the end of the workshop, I shared a video with them and let them think about who is behind all the great creations in ourselves and around us. It's none other than Maher Zain's Open Your Eyes.

Now, I am in the first week of the second year as a Research Executive in Yayasan Ilmuwan and I've been assigned to present a paper entitled "Etika Penyelidikan ke atas Haiwan" (which later I changed to "terhadap" instead of "ke atas" to make it more grammatical) in a seminar held in Akademi Pengajian Islam, University of Malaya named Seminar Islam, Sains dan Teknologi: Kupasan Beberapa Isu Semasa. I am looking forward to presenting the paper as it'll be a first step stone for other seminars that I hope I'll be given the chance to write and share the knowledge.

Ya Allah, I am grateful.