Around Qatar's National Day

Those who have free time and wanna join the people of The State of Qatar to celebrate their national day, you can join activities lined up throughout the week before the final countdown this Saturday, 18 December 2009.

You can get the information from http://www.nationalday2009.com.

For those photog out there, take out your camera and show your skills..

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Eid Mubarak)

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......

It has been a very very long time since I last posted in this blog!! The last posting was in 19 September 2009 ie on last Eid. I find it is time again to start blogging.. After a long log 'rest'..

For a start, let me wish you Eid Mubarak. We doa our friends in Mekah will have "haji mabrur".

As for us in Doha, Eid day was celebrated "Sederhana Tetapi Meriah" yesterday with Malaysian Association of Qatar (MAQ) together with Malaysian Embassy organised a small scale qurban and aqiqah. We then organised a gotong royong to cook daging aqiqah at the home of one of the embassy's staffs, En Ahmad. Many thanks to Encik Ahmad and family for having us!!

In the run up to qurban, I actually visited the Animal Market 2 times. Once I brought Alisha along for her to get close and personal experience with the sheep. She loved the experience even she complained of the bad smell..

As usual, this Eid is also filled up with open houses! We had 3 yesterday excluding the session at En Ahmad's house. I missed one of them though as I was busy with qurban session. We will have another 3 open houses today and now tomorrow, so far...

Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim friends..

Eid Mubarak

We would like to wish Eid Mubarak to our family and friends.. No matter where you are, please ensure we have a good celebration.

May Allah accept our ibadah especially for the last one month.

For this year, we celebrate Eid with our families in Malaysia. We foresee that we will celebrate Eid in Malaysia from next year onward. This is mainly due to the fact that Eid will fall during summer holidays. We celebrated Eid for the last two years with our friends in Qatar.

Selamat Hari Raya
Maaf Zahir Batin

Exhition of The Year

Fanar Expo to dispel myths about Ka’aba

DOHA: To put an end to misconceptions about the Ka’aba in the holy city of Makkah, Fanar will showcase a model at least half the size of the original at the Fanar Expo 2009. The exhibition at Doha International Exhibition Center will run from November 19 to 23.

The cuboidal structure of the Ka’aba, the annual pilgrimage by millions of faithful and the city closed to non-Muslims have all aroused curiosity in people around the world. Some have disguised themselves as Muslims to enter the city of Makkah and then the Grand Mosque that houses the Ka’aba, to witness the pilgrims’ rituals.

“We will show people images of the beautiful, historic town and its details throughout the history of mankind,” said Mohammed Ali Al Ghamdi, General Director of Fanar.

“We will also take a unique step in showing the Ka’aba from the inside. Many people think that the Ka’aba is just a stone worshipped by the Muslims; others think that it contains graves or treasures or swords and shields. The model will show the details of the Ka’aba from outside and inside, to illustrate clearly that it is just an empty mosque.”

The height of the model will be seven metres, with its sides measuring six metres by seven metres. The actual dimensions of Ka’aba are 13.1m X 11.03m X 12.86m. Touch screens with information about the history of the Ka’aba and the history of the Prophets who made pilgrimages to it, charts and various maps will also be exhibited.

“We will present a panoramic view related to all aspects of Islam, in a modern, professional and attractive way. The aim is to cover the various issues of every visitor to the expo, be they from any community in the world. Separate areas have been designated to give information about Makkah, the Ka’aba, all of the Prophets, the holy books, arts, Islamic arts and other cultural activities through the eight departments of Fanar,” he said.

Apart from the Ka’aba and Makkah, the history of the Prophets mentioned in the Quran and their relationship with Islam, what Quran says about them and how Muslims value them will also be discussed.

Posters and charts on Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) will include his biography from his birth until the revelation of his mission, the glad tidings about him in earlier books, the humanitarian aspects of his mission, as well as the value that he preached.

Islam’s stand on the Testaments will also be showcased, showing the relationship between the Quran and earlier religious books and other prophets. The holiness of the Quran and its miraculous aspects will be highlighted in the expo.

“We will make a great show about architecture, decorations, ceramics, wood works, binding and other fine arts. It will contain a workshop by Ahmet Cocktan, an Ebro artist, and Obaidah Al Bankee, an international calligrapher, along with their masterpieces. Works of Muslim scientists and their contributions will also be shown,” Al Ghamdi said.

Qatari traditions will also be exhibited, showing the close relation the land has with the sea. “The sea and the desert, its importance to the region, the history of Qatar and its morals and culture will be shown through some motifs and traditional pieces from Qatar,” said Mohammed Ammar Al Boni, Executive Manager, Seqlia Exhibition Organisers, the main organisers of the event.

The expo will have a traditional souq, which will showcase traditions of Qatar such as making markook (traditional Qatari bread), pearl jewellery and wooden boat workshops. Visitors can also get an insight into Muslim prayers through live demonstrations.

A mosque and two majlis — one for men and another for ladies — will also be opened.

The expo will also have a theatre. The theater will be a venue for cultural and educational events conducted by a team form Britain and various Islamic organisations in Qatar.

THE PENINSULA

Note : The article was published in today's The Peninsula

Back to school

While people in Malaysia celebrating the country's 52nd Independent Day, Alisha was back in school again in Doha.

It was her 1st day at new school on 31 August 2009. She is now in Grade 1. We enrolled her at The International School of Choueifat. This is school which is on my way to work. It will be easy for me to drop her off and head straight to office...

I took 2 days off to ensure she settled well in her new school. The 1st day proved to be non-event...sigh.. Everything went so smoothly. In fact, it felt like any other school days for her. There was no registration! We went straight to the class. It did not even take us 5 minutes to locate her classroom.. List of student names for each class were published outside the classroom. You juts need to know how to read to locate the class..hehe. Everything seemed very much in order.. In fact, the school already allocated the table for her as well. Every table had names on them. Students just needed to go to the allocated table and ready for the class!! Everything completed in 10 minutes, I would say.. Then we left..

At 1st, I thought the only reason you would notice it was 1st day of the term was because so may cars parked at the road sides. But again, when I came back for the 2nd day to send Alisha to school, I could still see fleets of cars parked by the road sides... I suppose it was daily affair, not only on 1st day of the term.

I could not imagine how smooth the process was! I still remember how havoc any 1st day at school during my school years especially for 1st year or standard one students.

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka

We would like to convey our congratulation to all Malaysians for the country's 52nd Independent Day!

Let's join together to instil the true spirit of Merdeka in ourselves....

1Malaysia. People First, Performance Now.

Congratulation Malaysia!!!

Ramadan Kareem

We would like to wish our families and friends around the globe, especially in Malaysia and Qatar, a very happy & blessed month of Ramadhan. May Allah accept our ibadah and reward us accordingly.

To our friends in Qatar, Malaysian Association of Qatar (MAQ) will be organising Ramadhan Bazaar for 3 consecutive Fridays starting from 28 August 2009 at Hyatt Plaza's Food Court.

MAQ will also hold an Iftar Programme on 27 August 2009 at Al Arabi Sports Club.

Selamat Berpuasa.. See you there!!! God Bless..