To my dearest mother on her 46th birthday, and my lovely ex-dormmate Kak Diana on her wedding today. :) Wishing you both much joy and happiness, and may Allah bless you.

The reason.

(This is a part of my write-up for the IIF conference, I'm going to break it into a few separate posts.)

William Rodriguez is a very friendly, warm-hearted and down-to-earth guy, he went around and stopped to chat with as many participants as he could during the breaks and lunches. For my part, I'm just glad that I've finally had an opportunity to meet with this heroic man, and listen to what he has to say about 9/11.

Brother William is a former maintenance worker at the World Trade Center, he had been working there for almost 20 years. On September 11, he came to work later than usual, and on any other day he'd be making his way to the top floors already. But on that day, he went to his office first at the ground floor.

He was still at the lower grounds when he felt and heard an explosion from the tower basement, along with his colleagues. This happened before 9 a.m., before the first plane hit the towers. Everything started to crumble around, and then one of his co-workers burst into the office from one of the elevators from the basement, his face horribly burnt by the fire. Brother William was aghast but quickly brought his friend out to safety.

But then he heard people screaming for help, people who were still in the building, people who were trapped in the elevators. He yelled to the people around him, We've got to go back, we have to help these people! But he was alone, nobody wanted to go back in so Brother William went into the building all by himself. He was an atheist at that time, but he remembered crying out to God to help him to save these people. Brother William had also courageously led a team of firefighters up the tower stairwell, since he was the one of the five people who possessed the master keys which granted access up the stairs. The other four had left due to emergency procedures.

As it turned out, Brother William was the last one to leave the North Tower and he heard screams of, Don't look back! Don't look back! Well of course he looked back and he witnessed the most terrifying sight in his entire life - the towers crashing down, all those people jumping out of the windows, being thrown around like rag dolls and falling to their deaths... it was a picture of unspeakable horror, anguish and desperation.

He dove for cover from the flying concrete under the first thing he saw in front of him - a fire truck. The audience were shown the photo of the truck, mangled and crushed by the debris. It was unbelievable... I just don't know how anyone could have ever survived that. Brother William said that he prayed so hard, he was thinking of his mother, If I die then please God, let my mother recognize my body. He was rescued, but he thought he had lost his legs and would never be able to walk again. And yet, still he stands today.

It was nothing short of a miracle, but that was also the moment when Brother William realized that he was protected for a reason. He said that hundreds of his friends had died on that fateful day, but he lived. There's a reason that I survived my own tragedy, and I believe that reason is that God had this mission for me to help others who have been devastated by some misfortune. Brother William also spoke of the 160 people who immediately voluntereed following the aftermath, the search dogs and some 62,000 people around the area who fell sick and died because of the toxic fumes.

He has testified for the 9/11 Commission and yet none of it appeared in the report. The FBI and the National Institute of Safety and Technology ignored his pleas to present his testimony, and the mainstream media is unwilling to give full exposure to his side of the story. But he is undaunted, he felt that he owed it to his friends and all those people who have perished and suffered because of what had happened on 9/11, to keep standing for the truth and justice. He is also actively involved in several organizations such as the Families Advisory Council of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Brother William is a genuine example of courage and strength, may Allah bless him for all of his effort.

Tip of the island

I don't know why, but Zeq's entry ("Pernah sampai ke Malaysia?") just cracks me up. I have no comment whatsoever, but for some very odd reason, instead it reminds me of some photos which I've never got around asking any one of my family members about them.

Anyway, I assumed they were taken en route to Kudat to celebrate a relative's wedding. It looks like such a beautiful place, am definitely hoping to go there someday.


Tanjung Simpang Mengayau.


The "You are here" globe.


I noticed Labuan first before the "You are here" thing. Naturally. :)


Sumandak-sumandak Tamparuli.


My dad and little sister, on the rocks.


A close-up.


Now I don't know where they took this one, but my friend went crazy trying to guess what exactly is this stuff.

IIF 2007

I was just planning to meet up with my sister at the International Islamic Fair last weekend, so it was a very pleasant surprise to know that my mom was also actually attending the IIF conference.

She did tell us she was flying back to KL soon for a conference, but we assumed it was just another one of the countless programs she keeps going to. And I still find it funny the way she'd beam so happily when some people instantly exclaim, But I thought both of you are sisters! after she introduced me to them as her firstborn.

So anyway, it ended up as a family meeting of some sort even though we didn't really get to spend much time with each other, only during the breaks. My brother was also there, he was supposed to go to his school's entrepreneurship week fair or something, but of course he decided he'd get a better deal if he followed us instead. :p

I've particularly enjoyed the third session of the conference, which is about human relations, the media and global peace, especially the presentation by Prof. Dato' Dr. Khoo Kay Kim (well shoot me, I just had no idea he's actually one of the co-authors of Rukunegara). I fully concur with everything he has to say about the Muslims (specifically the Muslims in Malaysia) except for one or two minor points. The keynote address by Tan Sri Sanusi Junid also gave a lot for one to ponder.

Other standout presentations for me are by Fadlullah Wilmot (Muslim Aid Indonesia), Khaled Taha (Al Jazeera) and of course William Rodriguez's account of 9/11. We've also managed to have live audio conferencing with Dr. Doug Rokke, the expert on the US military program of depleted uranium and video confererencing with Brother Yusuf Estes, all the way from Texas despite some technical problems due to the rolling thunderstorms over there. And Ms. Annie Machon, who shared briefly about her time as a former agent for MI5 before she blew the whistle on the organization's malpractices.

All in all, a very enlightening event. InsyaAllah I hope to have a write-up done during the midterm break next week.

The laundry jar

A real story. A mother was tired of her son's tendency to forget to turn out his shirts' and pants' pockets first before putting them into the laundry basket. In an attempt to curb this habit of his, she told him, Any cash that I find in your clothes after this, I'll put it in this jar instead of giving it back to you. When it's enough, you'd have to take me out to dinner and a movie.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, before taking out his wallet and dropping in some bills and loose change in the jar.

:)

Solat tiang agama.

The last time I remembered performing prayers in the wilderness is almost seven years ago, with the rain soaking us to the skin with each passing second and absolutely no clue on where we were and where we were going.



Subhanallah.



And the dust shall be our bed.

(Related entries: IU icebreaking "kasi pecah la beb!", pisang emas dibawa belayar...)

City of Blinding Lights

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then, than I do now.

Neon heart, day-glow eyes
The city lit by fireflies
They're advertising in the skies
For people like us.

And I miss you when you're not around
I'm getting ready to leave the ground.

Oh you look so beautiful tonight...

Don't look before you laugh
Look ugly in a photograph
Flash bulbs, purple irises the camera can't see.

I've seen you walk unafraid
I've seen you in the clothes you've made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?

And I miss you when you're not around
I'm getting ready to leave the ground.

Oh you look so beautiful tonight...
In the city of blinding lights.

Time... won't leave me as I am
But time won't take the boy out of this man
Oh you look so beautiful tonight.

In the city of blinding lights,
The more you know
The less you feel
Some pray for, others steal
Blessings not just for the ones who kneel, luckily.

Just because I love feel-good songs. :)