Saturday, May 27, 2006

CHAIN LETTER

I do not really like chain letters from young. First received it in primary 3, some kid wrote it 100 times and placed it in my mailbox. It's the usual we saw nowsaday, to write to 100 people or misfortune will befall... I was stunt open-mouthed, don't know what to do... asked my sister, and she told me to ignore it and I did. Nothing happened after that.

Now grown up, received many such chain letters, be it email or sms. Stories getting more and more touchy. From blood or monetry donations to religious stuffs, and from curses to blessings! Can't believe so many people, Chi Bao Mei Shi Zuo (Eat too full, nothing better to do).

Me too... very nosey, everytime I would go check out everyone of its authenticity, incase it is genuine and needed help badly. Sadly, none of it is genuine, everyone is fraud... fake stories. No matter how genuine they would sound, once you called the numbers/hospitals/email addresses/handphone numbers or addresses... all are not in existence. Although so many fraud, it doesn't stop me to check for authenticity.

For email users, you have the responsibility to forward to your mailing list, authentic informations. Or you are becoming part of the Junk mailer, which not many noticed that. Now with the advance of sms & mms, chain letters invaded handphones as well.

As a Muslim, we should always be telling the truth following the Sunnah (virture) of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). So beware, do not be a part of spreading these falsehood.

You may not know, sometimes you are spreading fear to your fellow Muslim brothers and sisters too. Below was a recent sms between me and a sister. I quote from word to word (and letter spacing) as a reference. No name is listed.

Beep Beep... an unrecognised sms received. **

"Take 60 seconds & give this a shot!Let's just see if shytan stops this one.All you do is, say - >subhanallah>Alhamdulillah>Allahu akbar>la ilaha illallahMohammadur rasoolallah,>Allahumma salli ala sayidina mohammadin wa ala alihi wasahbihi wasal'lam. Then send it on to five other people or more.Within!Hours, five people have prayed for you and you caused a multitude of people pray to Allah.S.W.T"

My Translation of the Arabic text: >Glory Be to Allah>Praise Be to Allah>Allah is the Greater>No god except Allah Mohammad is His Messenger>Oh Allah, shower onto our leader Mohammad and onto his family and his companions with Peace.

My reply: "Wassalam. Who is this?"

Her reply: "xxxx yr frnd frm xxxxxxx xx xxx xxxxx" (a friend from a class I attended)

My reply to that sister: "Salam sis xxxx. I m sorry to inform u, we shld not believ in dat sms. Only Allah hv d power to gran doa not sms or numbr of pp sent. D msg also didn't pray4 sender."

Her reply: " yes I agree bt I send wth the intentn that they wll rd the zikr part so at least they zikr fr a moment of the day"

My reply: " yes your intentn is pure, but the msg is not. It mention shytan to create fear first then talk abt d blessin, so pp wil fall for it." "Hope I didn't offend you, sis. Wassalam."

Her reply: "no problem salam", "yeah maybe I missed out that part thanks fr remindg"
~ End of conversation ~

**Writer's Note: This sms is not a good example of chain letter...It is just a mild case on spreading false message. Those that would crashed with our Islamic Aqidah ones are those with curses, if the reciever do not follow the instruction to spread the message around to a limited number of people; or gain great fortune if you spread the msg to a limited number of people...

Why Blog?

Why Blog? Do I have so much to talk about? Nothing better to spend my time with is it?

The problem is, I am always poured with thousands of question about MY IDENTITY. Almost everyday, every stranger I meet when I started talking to.

I can see your big question mark started to bubble :D

What is wrong with my identity that so many people are curious about?

I am just a normal Female Chinese Muslim Convert in Singapore!

And YES, I am a Chinese not Malay, please don't speak MALAYU to me, "Saya tak boleh cakap Melayu."

This Blog, will be tackling on the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) that I faced with the strangers on the street, in religious class, at work, at play, in cab, at Food Courts, at my Sat Team South East jogging session at East Coast, at bookshop, at mosque, at travel, at... places that I usually go.

I will also be posting some of my favourite hobbies in this Blog:
• Religion - Signs of Allah, Misconceptions, Beauty of Islam
• Astronomy - Space Exploration, planets, Star Gazing
• Graphic Design - Photoshop, Digital Imaging, Html (I am at amature level)
• Neopet - where I meet lotsa wonderful oversea friends from kids to grandmas, MY FAVOURITE PETS and some chat languages like LOL Laugh Out Loud, ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing etc
• Art - History, Calligraphy, Contemporary, Fine Art
• Sports - Sport injury, Self help
• Survival / First Aid
• Books
• Arabic - I can read and write in Arabic and qualified to teach Taisir, I am at conversational & gramma level.

I think I am a bit over ambitious, just some thoughts that what I want for my blog... haahaa. I have too many interests and always complaining TIME IS NOT ENOUGH. How nice if I have more hands here to help me type... haahaa.

So, why the title "Sister Aisya's Telescope"?
Basically, it's what I see and observed, and I like Astronomy... always hoping to see far... my sister gave me a microscope when I was little, really amazed with the details of my experiments, although they are so tiny. Now I longed for a telescope to see far and real from the night sky... not images. So anyone like to sponsor me one is greatly appreciated, haahaa :P

I hope this blog will be of interest to you and not bored you.

:D Sister Aisya Chen