H1N1 - Curing is better than Prevention?

The situation with the outbreak of A(H1N1) virus in Malaysia is getting from bad to worse. It is reported in The Star today (21 June 09) that "An 11-year-old girl from a Chinese vernacular school in Kuala Lumpur is among seven new confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number to 42."

The SJKC Jalan Davidson became the first school in Malaysia to be closed after it was found that she had transmitted the virus to two classmates.

Other than Malaysia several Asian countries have ordered mass school closures, some in the thousands, to stem outbreaks of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

The Hong Kong government has closed all primary, kindergarten, nursery and special schools since last week after the Chinese territory recorded its first case of the virus.

Japan has closed 4,466 schools in six prefectures, mostly primary schools, kindergartens, junior, according to its Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Thailand has authorised schools to suspend classes if necessary, without seeking the Education Ministry’s permission, according to a Thai news agency which quoted Thailand’s Education Minister Jurin Laksanavisit.

The Philippines, which has suspended classes in 11 schools and universities after detecting one case in each, told school authorities to report any influenza-like illnesses among their students, especially those who have recently travelled to affected countries.

It all began in Mexico and has now reached a pandemic level according to WHO (World Health Organisation).

Little did we know that about 1,400 years ago, we had been informed by a great man how to handle the problem if there was an epidemic in a certain area or country. He said that to prevent the disease from spreading, no person should leave that country and no person is allowed to go into that country. That great man was none other than Prophet Muhammad (prayers and peace be upon him) himself.

It was related that Usama ibn Zaid said that the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) said, " The plaque is a punishment, some nations before you were punished by it. Then it remained on earth, and it returns from time to time. Whoever hears of it in a land, he should not go there, and if it occurs in the land where he is, he should not flee from it." (Al-Muslim)

Thus, if we know that countries like Mexico, US and Australia are plaqued with the virus, we should not allow anyone from any of these countres to come into Malaysia. Likewise, we should also not allow anyone from Malaysia to go to any of these countries, until the disease has gone.

No doubt if we take this action, someone will say, "Oh, but they are Malaysians who must return to their families in Malaysia." Or even say,"We can't do that, it will badly affect our airline business."

Since a cure for the flu has not been found yet, it won't surprise me to hear next that a patient has succumb to the disease.

We talk about "prevention is better than cure". We talk about preventing getting a disease is better than trying to cure the disease. Yet, we are not preventing, but allowing the disease to come in. So instead of prevention is better than cure, it becomes curing is better than prevention. To make matters worst, we have not found the cure for it yet.

Let's pray and hope that the quarantine process for those already infected with the flu really works and that the disease can be safely contained from spreading. At the same time, it is still not too late to prevent people from infected countries to come into Malaysia. Better to sacrifice a bit of inconvenience to implement this preventive measure than to finally find that we are losing precious human lives instead.

My Visit to the Baitul Quran Care Center

I seldom have the chance to meet someone who devotes and sacrifices much or all of his/her time towards taking care of orphans and needy children. So when I found out that my friend Ismail Jusoff and his wife, Rosminah Atan owned and managed two (2) teenage homes known as "Pusat Penjagaan Baitul Quran" (Baitul Quran Care Center), I did not hesitate to contact them to visit the care center to find out more about it.

It was at about 9.30am on Wednesday, 17th June 2009 that my eldest son, Johan and I left our home at Taman Kosas in Ampang to go to Masjid Mu'az Jabal at Taman Setiawangsa to meet Ismail. My other friend, Johari Amat, who was staying near the mosque, was there to greet us. Together with him, we proceeded in my car to a "mamak" restaurant which was located a few minutes' drive away. Even though Johan and I already had a hearty breakfast that morning, we nevertheless joined Johari and Ismail for a brief "teh tarek" session there. Johari was kind enough to pay for the bill, citing the area as being his "territory" and he has therefore, the "full right" to pay for the bill.:-)

After having a short discussion and a light meal, we proceeded to the teenage boys' home at Jalan Setiawangsa 2A, which was not far from the restaurant. After reaching the home, Johari had to excuse himself for another appointment and Ismail then took us into the home. According to him. there were 20 boys in the home and that was the maximum number that it could accomodate. Located at a corner lot, the house was rented at RM3,000 per month. The house had plenty of land area, which according to Ismail, was convenient for the boys to play mini football or other games during their free time.

We observed that there was a group of four (4) boys at the car porch taking lessons in reading and writing from a tuition teacher, who was specially employed by the Care Center to provide the lessons. Inside the house, the other boys were occupied with reciting verses from the Al-Quran with an Ustaz to teach and guide them along.

I left my car at the boys' home and went into Ismail's car to visit the girls' home located a few minutes' drive away at Taman Keramat. There we met Ismail's wife, Rosminah and we sat together to listen and find out about their purpose of setting up the homes and their experience in running it.

According to her, there were 36 girls in the home and that was about the maximum number that the house could accomodate. The blessed couple explained why they started the homes. According to them, Muslim parents play a very important role to ensure that their children are raised in accordance with the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The status of the teenagers nowadays are that normally they have working parents who are always too busy that the teenagers have nobody to talk to or receive advice when they encounter problems. Their actions are not supervised and therefore, they are prone to be negatively influenced by their surroundings. They are exposed to bad elements from watching TV (television) and other media. They have no positive role model, except for artistes and sport personalities. They are badly influenced by the "lepak" culture which wastes their precious time away. As a result, many teenagers got themselves involved in crimes and immoral activities. Many of these teenagers are orphans or come from less fortunate families or financialy disadvantaged working parents, especially single working parents.

In view of the above, the couple came up with the idea of providing a "home" with Islamic environment to assist parents in bringing up their children according to the teachings of the AL-Quran and Sunnah. Their objectives are to instill a love of the Quran and abide by the Sunnah of the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) for guidance during the tumultous period of a teenager's life, to instill Islamic values, inner strength and a sense of self-worthiness within themselves, to teach and guide them through love and awareness of their purpose in life.

In 2002, the couple started to set up the home modestly with eight (8) "totally loss" teenagers from parents who could not afford to care for them the Islamic way. The parents were more than pleased to have their teenaged daughters and sons being brought up by the couple in the Islamic way. These teenagers were at first accomodated at a double-storey linked house but as their numbers increased, due to the effectiveness of the programme that the couple implemented at the Care Center, the teenagers had to be moved to the existing bigger house, which is more spacious and can accomodate more people. Soon after, this bungalow house became over-crowded too and the couple had to rent a corner-lot house at Jalan Setiawangsa 2A to accomodate the boys only, whereas the girls remained at the bungalow. They now have a total of 20 boys + 36 girls = 56 teenagers under their care.

Due to the big demand by other parents to request to accommodate their own teenagers into the home, the couple had to look for another place to accommodate them. They soon found a house at Taman Permata for this purpose. This house had been recently renovated and they said that as soon as they had found suitable and reliable staffs to assist them in running this new place, they would take in new inmates. In the meantime, they allow the place to be temporarily used to accommodate single mothers who were in desperate need of shelters.

When asked how they educate and bring up the teenagers in the home and ensure that the teenagers become good Muslims one day, the couple said that they implement the following programme :-

1. There is 24-hour counselling - a place to turn to in times of trouble and provide guidance towards becoming a good Muslim.

2. Teach them to read, memorise and understand the meaning of the Al-Quran and the Sunnah. They also provide advice and support to other Islamic schools - for example, when the Care Center receives bags and bags of rice from generous donors, they give some of the bags of rice away to them.

3. They also fill the teenagers' time with healthy activities and get them involved in charity work, such as visiting the less fortunate people to instill the spirit of sacrifice and volunteerism in them.

4. Provide training skills such as cooking, sewing, hair styling, facial and body care, massage and personal grooming.

5. Provide "Tarbiah" (education and training) through love and good examples and use the Quran and Hadith to develop a good "Akhlak" (character, moral) and "Akidah" (belief, faith) in them.

When asked how they managed to run their organisation successfully without financial support from the Government or even the Baitul Mal, they said that they survived on donations from friends and friends of friends. They say Allah is Great, Who always ensures that there is a source of financial support from the public, either in cash or in kind. For example, they were paying rental for the present bungalow house and a few months later, the owner decided to let them stay there for free. We were told that as a result of this good deeds, the owner's business also subsequently improved.

The couple said that their average monthly expenses was about RM13,000.00 and most of it go towards paying salaries to the staffs, teachers and ustazs. They said it was difficult to look for staffs who are dedicated and yet prepared to work for lesser salaries, but Alhamdulillah they still managed to find them.

We were served a plate of delicious meehun goreng, cooked by one of the inmates, and a glass of cool thirst-quenching drink while we were there. Not wanting to take up more of their precious time, we finally bid farewell to Ismail and his wife. On the way back to Taman Kosas, Johan and I were mostly silent in the car, each immersed in our own deep thoughts about the meeting with this fantastic couple, who sacrifice their time and money to take care of these teenagers and to train them to become better persons one day.

In an effort to acquire as much wealth as possible to improve their lives in this world, most modern-day parents not only tend to neglect the affairs of their own children but also neglect to do something about their own lives in the next world (Hereafter). Life in this world is just a transition, in anticipation of another life in the next world, which is more secure and permanent. The accumulated wealth in this world will not help us in guaranteeing a better life in the next world, but the accumulated good deeds and sacrifices that we do in this world in the path of Allah SWT, will certainly help us to have a better permanent life in the next world, insyaAllah.

It's not easy to find a dedicated couple like Ismail and Rosminah, doing what they are doing now. We pray that Allah repays Ismail and his wife tremendously for the great efforts and sacrifice that they have done and are doing taking care of the orphans and the other less-fortunate teenagers. Ameen... As related by Sahl bin Saad, that the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) had said, "The orphan's custodian and me are like 'this' in Heavens." He said it while showing his two fingers, one was the index finger and the other was the middle finger."

However, Ismail and Rosminah could not have done what they have achieved if there are no generous and charitable contribution from people like you and me. And for people who contribute generously towards a good cause, Allah has promised a good return, as said by Him in Surah Al Baqarah : 261 of the Al-Quran, "The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is as the likeness of a grain of corn; it grows 7 ears and each ear has a 100 grains. Allah gives multifold increase to whom He will. And Allah is All Sufficient for His creatures' needs, All Knower".

The Baitul Quran Care Center is run by the couple on volunteer basis and therefore welcomes any contributions if any, be it in monetary form or in kind. There is also a scheme where if anyone is interested to sponsor a student, his/her "investment for the Hereafter" is only RM250 per month for the student's food and lodging.

You can contact the Baitul Quran Care Center by calling Rosminah at 013-3460580/012-640 5008 or Ismail at 019-2511792 and if you wish to contribute directly into their account, you can do so to Account No: 14030004456713 at Bank Muamalat Berhad, Taman Melawati. May Allah blesses you for your contribution.

My Trip to Cameron Highlands

I never thought I'd get another chance to savour the cool fresh air and feel the peaceful serenity of Cameron Highlands again until Salmiah invited me to accompany her to a seminar sponsored by her employer at this popular mountain resort. I can recall that the last time that I went to Cameron Highlands was about two years ago when I accepted the invitation from my younger brother, Rosman and sister, Rosnah to join them and their family for a barbecue by the side of a stream at Tanah Rata. But that was a day trip. This time, it was for four days and three nights. We stayed at the Equatorial Hotel, standing at 1,600m above sea level and located about 4 km from Brinchang town.

We left Ampang at about 4.00 pm that day (Tuesday, 19 May 2009) and took the North-South Expressway. We stopped for awhile at Rawang Rest and Service Area to fill up the petrol tank and perform the "solat asar" (prayer). We then made our way to Simpang Pulai Tol Plaza, preferring to use the new and better-constructed road to our destination, instead of using what I thought was a less-safe winding road from Tapah Tol Plaza. We reached the hotel at about 8.00 pm. We could have reached it earlier if not for the drizzling rain, which slowed us down after we encountered it about 10 km from the Tol Plaza.

As soon as we got out of the car to check into the hotel, we could immediately feel the cool and refreshing air of Cameron Highlands. However excited we were to arrive at this place, we didn't venture out that night, preferring to rest in the cosy hotel room after the long drive. We settled down for the night after we had our dinner at the hotel's Coffee Room.
The next morning we had buffet breakfast and I managed to meet some of Salmiah's working colleagues. I also met Najeeb, whom I first met many years ago when he was formerly working in Perlis. Now he is attached to Langkawi.

After breakfast, Salmiah went to her seminar and I took a walk to the nearest farm to buy myself a half-kilogram of freshly-picked strawberries (RM15.00), six (6) pieces of large "jagung mutiara" (pearl corn) at RM10.00 and a packet of sweet potatoes at RM2.00.

After Salmiah finished her seminar at about 4.15 pm, we took a drive to Brinchang town and stopped by a Malay restaurant to have the famous Cameron Highlands vegetable soup. It was really delicious. It contained an assortment of vegetables and boiled with seafood. On the way back, we stopped by some roadside stalls to look at some of the fruits and vegetables there. We compared their prices from stall to stall so that we would know where to buy after we checked out from the hotel two (2) days later.

We brought along an electric steamer with us and used it to steam-cook the vegetables. Whilst Salmiah had dinner in the hotel with her colleagues that night, I steam-cooked two (2) pieces of pearl corns and two pieces of sweet potatoes for my dinner. The delicious strawberries became my "snack" throughout the day. Come to think of it, if you want to look after your diet and slim down your body, this is a good place to do that, where vegetables and fruits are your everyday meals.

Most of the time in this cool and tranquil place, I spent my time reading a book about Khalifah Abu Bakar As Siddiq. He was the first "Khalifah" (Muslim ruler) after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had passed away. His character and leadership qualities is an example for a leader of any country to emulate, so as to make this world a better place to live in. Why I said so was because this God-fearing man was very concerned only about the welfare of the people under his rule.
Ever since he embraced Islam, he spent most of his cash and properties towards helping the Prophet (PBUH) to introduce and spread Islam to the Arab countries. He bought out and freed at least five (5) Muslim slaves, who were tortured by their former masters for becoming Muslims.

Immediately after he became the "Khalifah", he announced to the people that the fact that he was chosen as their leader, did not mean that he was the best among them. He said that if he did the right thing, they should support him and if he did the wrong thing, they should correct him. The weak among them would be strong to him for he would support them and the strong among them would be weak to him because he would take away from the strong to support the weak.

Initially, he carried his things to the market to do business as usual, until one day along the way, he encountered Omar Al-Khatab, who asked him, "Where are you going with those things, ya Amirul Mukmnin?" ("Amirul Mukminin" means the ruler of the people).

Abu Bakar replied," To the market to do business as usual."

Omar said," But you are a Khalifah, you shouldn't be doing this?"

"But I've to earn my living, haven't I? How am I going to feed my family if I don't have an income?" replied Abu Bakar.

Omar then brought him to meet Abu Ubaidah, who was the Keeper of the "Baitul Mal" (Treasury), who then determined how much salary Abu Bakar should get as the "Amirul Mukminin" (President/Prime Minister). His salary was only a meagre sum, just sufficient to feed him and his family. Only after that did he stop going to the market to do business.

Abu Bakar stayed about 3 km from Medina and during the first six (6) months as the Prime Minister, he walked back and forth to Medina to lead the five-times-a-day prayer in the mosque and also to administer the country. He seldom took a horse or camel unless he had to travel long distance, preferring to walk instead. He didn't have any bodyguard with him and preferred to walk alone everywhere.

He did everything with his own hands and preferred not to seek for help. For example, when he was on a camel and something fell down, he himself would pick it up, refusing to let anyone else to do it for him.

When he died, he left behind only one (1) dinar in his savings.

I had the opportunity to finish reading the book about him and his achievements with all the free time that I had in this popular mountain resort.


Now back to my stay in the hotel. On the third day, I ventured out of the hotel room to have a look at the swimming pool at level 5. There was nobody at the pool. I walked to the edge of the pool to touch the water. It was cold and not heated up as expected in a cold place like this. I then walked down to level 4 to have a look at the gym, but it was locked, with a sign asking guests to get the key from the reception if they wish to use the gymn facility. I then went down to level 1 and observed that apart from the business centre, which was closed, there was also the karaoke room known as "Singalot." The Coffee Room, where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served, was also located on Level 1. There was also a table counter, which provided a tour service for those interested to visit Cameron Highlands in more detail.


After Salmiah finished her seminar, we decided to take a walk to the nearest vegetable stalls to buy two (2) packets of mushrooms of different variety, a packet of tomatoes, a bunch of asparagus and two (2) packets of fresh strawberries. That night, whilst Salmiah had steamboat dinner with her colleagues, I had steam vegetables for dinner, which consisted of an assortment of mushrooms, tomatoes and asparagus. You should try it sometime, it was appetisingly delicious!
On Friday, 22nd May 09, the day for us to bid farewell to Cameron Highlands finally arrived. Salmiah's seminar ended at 10.00 am that day. Since the checking-out time was at 12.30 pm, we decided to do our "shopping" first before we checked out. We packed our stuff and shove them in the boot of the car and drove to the places that we had scouted two (2) days earlier and bought some corns, strawberries and an assortment of fresh vegetables.


When we had finished shopping, we went back to the hotel to check out. Salmiah invited me to join her for lunch because most of her colleagues had decided to leave early and skip the lunch. Only one out of the five lunch tables was occupied that day.

After lunch, we left the hotel at about 1.45 pm. We decided to use the same road that we used on the way up. When we reached the foot of the hills, we stopped at a Petronas station to fill up the petrol tank and perform the "solat jamak takdim" (2 different prayer times conducted together). After that we entered the North-South Expressway at Gopeng Tol Plaza and drove non-stop to reach Ampang at about 5.15 pm.

Finally, it puzzled me how the corns didn't taste as sweet or the strawberries as delicious as when we had them in the mountains. Could it be because the hotter weather at Ampang had adversely affected their taste? I would be glad to share your experience regarding this matter if you had been to Cameron Highlands before and bought the corns and strawberries.