Artikel muncul dalam Islam Online oleh Tuan Abdul Halim
Puan Zarina Mohamad
Gambar-gambar yang digunakan oleh Islam Online
Saya tersenyum ketika ini. Dalam bulan puasa disebut ada dua kegembiraan, kegembiraan ketika berbuka dan kegembiraan bertemu dengan Allah. Pada hari ini saya juga ada kegembiraan peribadi. Rencana berita gabungan tulisan bos, Tuan Abdul Halim dan saya disiarkan oleh akhbar Islami antarabangsa, Islam Online. Ini termasuk semua gambar yang saya ambil sepanjang Sabtu lalu.
Tuan Abdul Halim adalah koresponden Islam Online di Malaysia. Beliau yang banyak menghantar saya melakukan tugasan. Bayaran yang paling mahal ialah pengalaman demi pengalaman. Pada penghujung khidmat saya di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia ini, banyak benda yang berlaku ya!
Rakan-rakan lama menelefon dan ada pula yang menawarkan kerja itu dan ini. Ada pula yang marah-marah saya kerana saya membisukan diri. Maaf rakan-rakan, saya sedang memulihkan diri, pemikiran dan jiwa sambil meneruskan hidup.
Minggu ini memperlihatkan timbul tuntutan baru dalam menjalankan tugas. Iaitu membuat reka letak buku untuk negeri Kedah kelolaan Tuan Abdul Halim dan ajakan seorang teman membantu majikan beliau bagi menyusun penulisan-penulisan milik ahli akademik ini.
Saya baru sahaja membaca buku Memulakan Bisnes Sendiri karya mentor, Puan Ainon Mohd. Ia ada menyebut tentang sikap seseorang yang suka bekerja tetapi menghargai kebebasan, tidak cenderung kerja 9.00 pagi hingga 5.00 petang. Saya menganalisa diri, adakah saya memiliki sikap sedemikian berdasarkan pengalaman kerja terdahulu?
90 hari lagi saya akan menamatkan kontrak 18 bulan berkhidmat di sini. Moga-moga penghujung ini akan memberi lebih kenangan terbaik diri. Saya akan kembali ke Melaka buat sementara, kembali menyusun jigsaw hidup dan kembali semula ke bandar ini.
"Saudara mesti belajar banyak kaedah menulis bagi pendapatan seharian," kata mentor dua bulan lalu.
Petikan rencana berita dari Islam Online
Malaysians on `Eid Shopping Spree
By Abdul Halim Taib, IOL Correspondent
The majority of `Eid last-minute shoppers are women purchasing for their families. (IOL Photo)
KUALA LUMPUR — As the countdown for `Eid al-Fitr begins, Malaysians are on the usual shopping spree for the major Muslim festival which marks the end of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
"This is a normal phenomenon that can be seen in any state of Malaysia during the final days of Ramadan," Zarina Mohamad, a seller in the capital Kuala Lumpur, told Islamonline.net.
"People are rushing to bazaars for their final preparation to celebrate `Eid al-Fitr."
The buying spree is in full swing across Malaysia, where the sighting of the Shawwal moon which determines the beginning of `Eid will be conducted at 28 locations nationwide later on Thursday evening.
Malaysians are thronging the malls and shops to buy new apparels and gift items for Hari Raya, the Malay term for `Eid al-Fitr.
Several stores are holding special sales in conjunction with the festive season Bazzar Ramadan which the government had declared a mega sale month.
In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the Masjid India area is the destination for many last-minute shoppers who are looking for the best deals.
Zarina, who sells long and loose-fit garments for Muslim women, notes that the majority of `Eid shoppers are usually women.
"We could see that the majority of purchasers are women. There are many wives who are buying clothes for their husbands."
`Eid Al-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations, together with `Eid Al-Adha.
After special prayers to mark the day, festivities and merriment start with visits to the homes of friends and relatives.
Traditionally, everyone wears new clothes for `Eid, and the children look forward to gifts.
Muslim Malays make up nearly 60 percent of the 26-million population of multicultural Malaysia.
Cookies Too
"Customers are buying the cookies even though the price is a little bit higher than last year," Muormaunita tells IOL.
But it's not just clothes that Malaysians rush to buy for `Eid.
"Customers are buying the cookies even though the price is a little bit higher than last year," Muormaunita, who sells traditional home-made cookies and chips, told IOL.
Standing in her shop surrounded with the freshly-backed cookies, the 18-year- old says that customers usually start purchasing cookies for `Eid in the middle of Ramadan
"They first identify and select different kinds of cookies and chips during the first two weeks of Ramadan.
"Later on, they come for the second time and do the real purchasing."
The colorful cookies and chips are usually made by Malaysian villagers.
As the `Eid celebrations draw nearer, villagers send the traditional home-made cookies to shops in major cities.
Muormaunita says that cookies are now offered in a wide variety of styles.
Arab Delight Cookies, Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Crunchy, Honey Cornflakes and
Roll Tart are but a few of the delicacies on sale.
And with so many options before them, customers grow choosier than ever, notes the cookies vendor.
"They now prefer modern cookies instead the traditional Malay cookies."
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