Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year 2007







On December 30, 2006, we celebrated Idul Adha at a hall at Ala Moana Beach with Muslims in Hawaii. As usual: greetings, reciting the takbir, "collective" prayers, listening to the sermons of the imam, meal, and taking pictures. Idul Adha is both religious and secular, as in any other religious celebrations. Then in the afternoon, we attended the funeral ceremony (ta'ziah) of the death of American husband who left an Indonesian wife. It was to comfort the left wife especially and to be a reminder that everyone will definitely follow the fate.






In the evening, we attended another moment of importance, but it was a joyful one. The wedding ceremony of our friend Wilmar Salim (Indonesian) and Feryial (Pakistani), hosted by Kimbrell's family. It was wonderful evening in such a typically cozy house. We enjoyed the various types of food, South Asian music and songs, and stories, and a poetry recitation by Neneng. Everyone looked very happy.








On December 31, we celebrated the New Year Eve at Waikiki Beach with Indonesians. We barbecued, danced, and sang songs, and watched beautiful fireworks.















On January 1, Neneng, Nandar (in the picture, a Burmese student), and I were invited to a very special traditional Japanese lunch by Suzuki's family (Itsuko and Skip) at their beautiful home at Nuuanu, Pali. We had a great food and company. Excellent memory for us.






In the late afternoon and evening, we attended (and I was honored to lead) a spiritual conversion of Ross C. Smith (adopting a new name now Faris Haddad) and subsequently his engagement with our lovely sister Rohayati. This was a so meaningful moment for both of them, but also for us, Indonesian Muslims in Hawaii. It was well-organized and deeply touching program (involving Mas Ubaidillah, Safril, Mbak Rina, Mbak Iif, Nelly, and others). We shared so much joy and happiness. The program was followed by dinner and entertainment. The food was delicious, the music and songs were fun (especially Mbak Ida was able to come and sang nice songs for us - and we wish her full recovery). All were all so nice and the Malaysian movie we watched (entitled "Sepet") was wonderful. Many many coungratulations to Faris Haddad and Mbak Yati. From the bottom of our heart, we say we are happy for you; we love you; and we wish you all blessings and happiness!

Now, in the morning of January 2, I have to continue writing my dissertation. But before that, I wish you, the reader, all best wishes in the Year 2007. Every single moment is unique, different, special. What is never ending is to keep learning, learning, and learning, to keep enriching our life with meaningful ideas and actions. This is never ending, because we will never reach the ultimate truth. We are simply approaching the truths. And we are simply trying our own best to live a good and beautiful life.

January 2, 2007.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

assalamualaikum

Wah..gak nyangka bisa ketemu blognya pak Muhammad Ali..

saya sering baca tulisan anda di jurnal2...:) dan kebetulan saya sedang menulis tesis yang salah satu referensi paling utama yah tulisan anda tadi...:)

Wah..asik banget kali yah kalo bisa ngobrol2 langsung sama Bapak.. beneran seneng deh...:) tesis saya tentang "maslahah" pak...

boleh tau imel bapak gak? saya ingin berkonsultasi kalo boleh :)

wassalam
dini MAIRK student of
International Islamic Uni Malaysia

Muhamad Ali said...

Terima kasih, Dini. Salam Kenal. Topik tesis Anda tentang maslahah sangat baik. Silahkan kontak saya kalo perlu diskusi lebih lanjut.

Salam hangat,