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Sana as a Muslim girl

20:42 |

Assalamualaikum peeps!

 In this post, we are going to talk more and more and more about our friend, Sana.

      As we all know, China is one of the countries with the most Muslim populations. However, it is unfortunate for Sana as she lives in a non- Islamic state as a minority. So, it wasn’t easy for her and her family to practice Islam in their daily lives.

 She shared that women are not allowed to wear hijab and can’t wear it outside in public such as school, workplaces and etc. So, Sana told us that she only able to wear hijab at home and cover her aurah to her non-mahram relatives.



COUPLE IS HARAM!

      We were quite surprised when she asked why a couple can’t sit close to one another and can’t even hold hands? Thus, we explained to her that it is forbidden for two people of the opposite sex to be dating. This is because such relationship often leads to haram and if you are alone the third person in the room is shaytan. Thus, we told her that the best solution is to get married if she has a boyfriend. But, she told us that she doesn’t have a boyfriend and would like to find a future husband in Malaysia (AWWW so cute!)

      She even asked, it is true in Malaysia, man are allowed to marry more than one? So, we explained to her that it's not just in Malaysia but actually Islam allowed men to marry  two, three or at the most four wives. However, according to al-Quran,  if a man fear that he is not be able to deal justly, marry women of his choice, two, or three, or four; but if he fears that he is not able to deal justly with them, then marry only one. Additionally, the first wife MUST approve of an additional wife. EACH gets equal housing, staff and budget. Hence, the husband MUST be able to afford that second wife. In short, that man must be quite well to do, economically. His wives must agree to the new addition to the family and he gets additional expenses of the extra households.

      To conclude, based on the sharing by Sana, we find that it is not easy living under a control of non-Muslim countries as there are certain things you are restricted to do as Muslims. 

      Thus, we should be lucky as we were born as a Muslim living in a Muslim country.

Love,

N & A. 

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Posted by Nur Aisha

International Friend: Differences

20:11 |

Hi. 


     Today we are going to write more on our international friend, Sana. 


      Since Sana can only understand simple English (for now) we can only communicate in a way she would understand. Even so, we already manage to get many information and learnt new things from her! (thanks to her for being cooperative and talkative hee)

      So, instead of asking her about prejudices we asked her the differences she had and experienced from her country, China and Malaysia.
MALAYSIANS ARE FRIENDLY



     We were genuinely shocked hearing about this to be honest. We thought Malaysians would somehow ignore foreigners but Sana said NO. According to her, they are really friendly and always willing to help her with anything. 

      Even when she got lost, Malaysians would help her find her way (good job Malaysia!). Different from her country, Sana stated that in China everything is so fast. Everyone seems to be rushing to somewhere and when she wanted to ask for directions, she would be asked to seek help from someone else. 

MALAYSIA HAS FRESH AIR



      We know, we can't believe it either. The thought that Malaysia has fresher air (you know with the air pollution and the haze) seems a bit....unimaginable. But that's the truth according to Sana. 

      She then showed us a picture of her friend wearing a mask in her country as the air was really bad. Wow. 

 Alright, for now that seems to be it. STAY TUNED with our blog if you want to hear more stories from this cute dimpled cheek girl. Adios. 
Love, 

 N & A. 
     

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Posted by Nur Aisha

International Friend & How We Communicate

14:01 |

Hello.
We hope everyone would be in their pink of health. 

      For this post, we will introduce our International friend whom came all the way from China to study in our university, IIUM.



Our International Friend: Ji Xiao Yuan a.k.a Sana 


      We first texted each other before actually meeting up. Since, we both are usually awkward with people we're not close with, we were anxious of making new friend. But after meeting her, we hit it off rather quickly! 

      A little bit about our friend, her name is Ji Xiao Yuan and also know as Sana (her Muslim name). She is two years younger than us, 19 years old. She's still new and just got here for about two months or so. 

      Sana is a very friendly person and tried hard to start conversation with us despite still in a process of learning English. Through out the meet up, we quickly got over that awkward phase and the next thing we know we were teasing her about finding a husband in IIUM! Not to mention that she's very expressive so when we teased her on something her facial expressions were priceless!


     As Sana is still a beginner in English language, we communicate in simple English and tried to use other methods in communicating. Her for example uses dictionary in her phone which can translate the word she wants to English. We on the other hand, tried drawing on a piece of paper when explaining something so that it would be easier for her to understand hehe. 


     Thankfully, even though there are language barriers it did not stop us from talking to her for hours! (to the point that the cafe was closed and the workers had to ask us to leave) 


     All in all, we meet a very nice girl (with dimples!) and are looking forward to meet her again in our free time. For now that will be it but in shaa Allah we will post more on our friend soon!

 Love,

 A & N. 

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Posted by Nur Aisha

Prejudice

08:20 |

Heyya, 
Hope you are having a good day. 


     Today we learn about PREJUDICES. 

 What is Prejudice? Discrimination? Bias? Stereotyping? *Note that these are all negative words okay*

     Although all these words have different meanings, but they are rather similar. All in all, it means the perception/opinion one has that is not based on actual experience or reason. Usually it is something negative, like your thoughts you have onto other even when you actually do not personally know him/her. 

To get the rough ideas, here is a table on Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination

 For this post, Dr. asked us to write about four things: 

1) Identify a prejudice of your own.
2) What is the prejudice in your head?
3) Have you been the victim of bias, prejudices and etc?
4) Greatest fear related to the stereotype.

 *Note: Aisha's writing*

      Alright, to answer the first and second question, I may or may not had a prejudice towards these certain group of people. But again, it was in the past and over the years it is lessening. As I grow up, I learn people are different and we all have different ways of thinking or doing some things. So I try not to judge or being prejudiced but of course, things are easier said than done huh However, I will not write further about these prejudices of mine in here as it might unintentionally hurt other people upon reading it.

      I don't think I actually experienced bias or prejudices on me (nothing that i can remember of) but I did have stereotype implied on me. Heh. Well, it was not something major or totally harmful for me so in that sense, I'm fine. Like we had in the introduction post, I stated that I came from Kelantan. One of my roommates back in the Foundation years once told me she doesn't like Kelantanese as they always seem a bit arrogant and they like to stick with themselves, speaking their own dialect even though other people might not understand them.

So she always had this kind of stereotype, until she met me *flip hair* *cause I am cool like that* ngehehe. I always shrug it off though as it was NOT the first time I heard these kind of stereotype on Kelantanese. I learn to acknowledge it and take it as my duty to break off the stereotype. 

      To say about fear I guess I have to say that I am slightly worried if people were to know or define me through the stereotypes they have thus restraining them to actually got to know me.Well simply because, I want to be defined as what I am rather what I was perceived as. 


*Note: Nur's writing*

                                      Do I have prejudice?

      Well, I do have some kind of prejudice over my family. Now don’t get me wrong. Listen(?) Read (?) to my story first. 

      When I was in high school, my friend asked me to take care of his pet hamsters on holiday break. As an animal lover, of course I was happy and ready to help him. However, I am sure that my family would be very skeptical of me. My family really hated rat-species animals(?). They would described rats as disgusting, possibly slimy, just terrible creatures. But I kept it in mind, if I kept them out of their sight in a spare room, everything would be okay. ;p

      Two weeks later, I noticed that one of the hamsters was looking a bit chubbier than before. Turns out that my dad and brothers had been fully won over and they would sneaked in to the spare room to feed the hamsters handfuls of “kuaci”. They loved watching them and petting them a bit especially my father (HAHA). The hamsters started to really like him. He even had his favorite. He still claims that he hates rats, but the rest of the family knows better.

      Thus, my prejudice over my family was totally wrong as my opinion was not based on reason and experience.




******************

JUST REMEMBER to take it easy. Sometimes, stereotypes are not THAT BAD. It can also be well..compliments (in a way). Like in this video below. Be proud but humble. Just laugh and shrug it off. You'll live. 

Love,

 A & N. 


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