الحد لله, on Friday, the 11th of Shaʿbān, 1431 (23rd of July, 2010), at 12:40 AM local Columbus time, Allāh blessed us with a healthy, 6 lbs, 14 oz blessing that we’ve named عبد الله (ʿAbdullāh), which, in Arabic, means, “slave of Allāh” (Allāh being the proper name of God).  For the very same reason we’ve named our first son ʿAbdurraḥmān, we chose this name for our second son, in reference to the following ḥadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah, salallaahu ʿalayhi wa sallam:

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book 025, Number 5315:
Ibn Umar reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: The names dearest to Allah are ‘Abdullah and ‘Abd al-Rahman. (link)

Both mother & new son are doing very well, walḥamdulillāh.  The birth of Abdullah was a bit special as we chose to have him delivered at home (i.e., a home birth), and that turned out to be an excellent and blessed decision, alḥamdulillāh.

Note: I strongly apologize for the delay in announcing this birth.  Please forgive us and do not let it detract from your duʿaaʾ for him. No special reason for the delay except that I wanted to have this post ready first.

Note 2: You can see the announcement for our first son here.

Note 3: You can see the birth of ʿAbdurraḥmān noted here.

Alhamdulillaah, nothing can take away from the blessing & joy of being a father, but one of the obvious side effects of having an infant is the drastic change in priorities.  So, naturally, most of my projects have fallen on the wayside.  Even work has suffered.  But, alhamdulillaah, this just means I have to reshuffle schedules and be more prudent about my time usage – I’m still figuring this out.

To help me get back on track, I wanted to revisit a recent post I had made about unfinished projects.  The two projects that I feel I need to put some extra time into, due to their nature, are the AlMaghrib in Malaysia project as well as the Global Homeschooling project/business idea.  The former needs attention because people are waiting on me for further action, while the latter is important because I am convinced it is the future for my family, in shaaʾ Allaah.  Although the other points on the list are quite important as well (and some are, actually, more important), I am choosing these as examples because I think making progress on them is something of a “low-hanging fruit”.  Therefore, I need to make some kind of schedule or plan for getting both of these done.

As for the AlMaghrib in Malaysia project, the first task I really need to push forward is just getting a website up.  This really isn’t hard, especially for someone like me who has dozens of websites floating around the ‘tubes.  However, what’s held this up is that I wanted AlMaghrib in Malaysia‘s website to be the first one to utilize my new server completely – not just for the web hosting, but also for DNS as well as e-mail.  Sadly, this condition has meant that I haven’t been able to get things going as straightforwardly as I have in the past.  The good news is I do have DNS working on the new server, but not e-mail.  Therefore, my plan is to just launch the website, which, once done, will also make me become more serious about getting e-mail working on that server as well, in shaaʾ Allaah.  But, “launch” in this context may be rather limited in scope, since one of the first things I want to do is have a mailing list for people to jump onto…sigh.

So, the plan for AlMaghrib in Malaysia is:

1. Just get the website up.  DNS is ready to go.  The website, at this point, is really just going to be a blog, which is more than sufficient for our needs.
2. Once the website is up, get e-mail working on the new server ASAP.  Though this may take a lot of work, that’s fine, because it will also benefit a lot of my other sites, which need the same functionality.

As for the Global Homeschooling project, I’ve already gone ahead and purchase a slew of Islamic homeschooling-related domain names, all of which will point to one canonical website name, which will be the one we advertise.  The rest are there for serendipitous searches and/or hits.  I’ve dragged my feet on this one as well mostly because a lot of the work hinges on my wife’s availability, which, now, is understandably quite limited compared to before the birth of our son.  Still, I don’t really accept that as a valid excuse, because the site really should be ready for her as soon as she is ready, so that she can get started filling out the sites with content (which was how we had divided the initial work).

So, the plan for the Global Homeschooling project is:

1. Finish getting the website components up – blog, wiki, school, & whatever else.
2. Make the various website components ready for my wife to use them easily, without her needing me to fix things here-and-there.

Well, at least now it’s down.  I hope to have some results within a week, in shaaʾ Allaah.

Alḥamdulillāh, on Monday, the 19th of Rabīʿ ulʾawwa, 1430 (16th of March, 2009) at 5:38 PM Malaysia local time, Allāh blessed us with a 2.3 kg (~5 lb.) blessing we named ʿAbdurraḥmān (عبد الرحمن), which, in Arabic, means “slave of the Most Merciful”, which is one of the beautiful names of Allāh in Islām.  In fact, the Messenger of Allāh, ṣalallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam (may Allāh peace & blessings be upon him) mentioned that the two most beloved names to Allāh are ʿAbdullāh & ʿAbdurraḥmān (slave of Allāh), which is why we chose that name for our first son.

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book 025, Number 5315:
Ibn Umar reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: The names dearest to Allah are ‘Abdullah and ‘Abd al-Rahman. (link)

Both mother & son are doing fine, alḥamdulillāh, and we all came home earlier today.

Picture requests will not be honored. 

Alhamdulillaah, my wife & I are en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we’ll be staying one night with her brother & his family before continuing on our way to home in Kuala Terengganu, in shaaʾ Allaah.  Right now we’re in the Kuwait International Airport, and, alhamdulillaah, they have free wifi throughout the airport.  This is even more wonderful given the fact that we have a 7 hour layover here.  Alhamdulillaah.

One thing that I’ve had a hard time getting used during our stay in Egypt and now as we transit through Kuwait is the sheer prevalence of smoking in the society.  Easily one third to one half of all men in Arab society, at least amongst Egyptians & Kuwaitees (according to the sample here in the airport) are chain smokers.  It is so bad that, despite a widespread policy if non-smoking in public places, this rule is completely ignored.  In fact, I would hazard to guess that some of them purposefully smoke right next to the no-smoking sign, as it cannot be a coincidence that we noticed a cluster of them surrounding the very visible sign at the Alexandria Nouzha airport.

Another interesting observation I’ve made during our “brief” stay in the Kuwait airport is that, apparently, I’m far more approachable than most people here, despite not speaking most of the international traveler’s native languages.  First, two Filipino ladies stopped to ask me where a particular flight’s gate was.  Before answering, I was “rescued” by one of the airport staff who quickly showed the ladies to the right (I hope!) gate.

After this, while my wife & I were sitting having some refreshments a few hours before our flight, I one of the Filipino McCafe workers who spoke English quite well approached me asking if I could translate some names from a series of cards printed entirely in Arabic.  I tried to sound out the letters at first, finding them surprisingly difficult and unrecognizable, until she quickly recognized the name and completed it for me.  This continued with approximately eight cards in total.  I realized, after she left, that I had just sounded out the names of the other Filipino staff members to her, which is why she recognized it, and she simply didn’t know how to read the Arabic letters.  For the record, the transliterations of the Latin Filipino names into Arabic letters was quite poor.

The third incident that added to my suspicions about my approachability was when an Arab lady stopped me to ask where she needed to go to get her visa.  I quickly pointed her in the direction she was already going (no more than 10 meters in front of her) and escorted her there, pointing out the sign to her.  She was quite grateful, and I was quite happy for having performed yet another good deed for day.

So, there you have it.  Conclusive, scientific evidence that I am above-average in approachability in the Kuwait airport.

Or..did it have something to do with my attire (dress slacks & shirt, sans tie), which happened to be suspiciously similar to that of other “in-the-know” information types amongst the staff of the airport?

Naaaaah.

Disclaimer: This was written while still at the Kuwait airport, but it was not saved to the blog until after we arrived in Kuala Terengganu.

Alhamdulillaah, we’ve had some good times this past month here in Alexandria.  The weather has been outstanding – the only other times I’ve been here I remember the weather being far warmer on the border of being uncomfortable.  This time we’ve hardly had a day that didn’t feel cool and fresh, alhamdulillaah.

Our routine is a little disrupted here, though, because we do not have Internet access in our new place yet, so we have to travel to another place in order to connect.  So, we get to do some walking, which is good, alhamdulillaah.  It’s only rained on us once, and the rainstorms here are short and not terribly intensive.  A few minutes under an awning will suffice to wait it out while keeping dry.  Many were with us along the street in solidarity.

I’ve been feeling more-and-more disconnected from home, however, as I’ve been away now almost 5 months.  While I definitely enjoy being able to live with my wife and wouldn’t trade it for the world, a part of me yearns for the routine back home as well, especially the activities in the community.  However, as the immigration process for my wife’s visa has not moved since I’ve arrived here, I wonder when it will be that I can bring her to the country.  At this rate, my stay abroad is seeming more-and-more permanent.  I have to say, so far, we are managing, alhamdulillaah.

But anyway, I just wanted to post something here as I’ve been woefully neglecting my blog.  I always get ideas from time to time, but I never get around to putting them down into bits.  Maybe this will help rejuvinate my old routine.

Oh, and here are some JPEG goodies.

Alhamdulillaah, my wife & I arrived safely in Alexandria, Egypt this past Friday to the welcoming arms of my parents, whom I haven’t seen since I left the US back in June.  If you’ll recall, I originally departed on this journey because I could not bring my wife to the US yet, as the immigration process is still ongoing.  Needless to say, we are enjoying happiness upon happiness being with family that we haven’t seen for months, and, in the case of my wife, well over a year.

The last time I was in Egypt was in the Summer of 2001, and I didn’t have a blog, own a camera, or even have a website at the time (other than one through my university department, which is long gone by now).  The only way I kept people updated was via e-mail, interestingly enough!  Alhamdulillaah, now I have so many ways to keep people bored about my current goings-on!

I had forgotten just how big Alexandria is, and also how photogenic.  Our Internet connection is an order of magnitude slower here than it was in Malaysia, but at least it is stable, and we may be upgrading it, in shaaʾ Allaah.  So, updates will be forthcoming, in shaaʾ Allaah, but please be patient – since I’m sure you’ll on the edge of your seats waiting for more media from me…

In the meantime, I leave you with this treat – a view from our balcony.

Panoramic photo of the balcony from our apartment in Alexandria, Egypt in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea

Alhamdulillaah, I’ve returned “home” to Kuala Terengganu (KT), which is my wife’s hometown, and I’ve taken it to be my home-away-from home.  It’s a beautiful place, especially because we actually live in a kampung, or village, not to far away from the main part of KT.  Additionally, compared to Kuala Lumpur (KL), the air here is so much cleaner, fresher, and easier to breathe, alhamdulillaah.

I haven’t gone anywhere notably picture-worthy yet, but I hope I will get a chance to soon, in shaaʾ Allaah.  The weather today (after a fierce storm last night) is outstanding, and made me want to shoot some photos with a crystal-clear blue sky background.  Maybe another time…;)

If you want to see some photos of KT, just view the Malaysia category and there are plenty in previous posts.

Alhamdulillaah, I am back in Malaysia, which means I am also back with my wife.  Words cannot express how much joy the two of us are experiencing being together once again.  More than six months have passed since we’d been together the last time.  In case it is not obvious, the reason we are not yet able to live together permanently is due to the fact that the U. S. Citizenship & Immigration Services has not yet approved the petition for my wife’s immigration visa, and thus, I cannot legally bring her into the country.  Therefore, until such a time as the petition is approved (and the NVC approves the visa, and my wife passes the interview) in shaaʾ Allaah, we will face challenges to living together permanently.

Of course, there is also the question of “why don’t I just move to Malaysia to be with my wife for the duration of the immigration process?”.  And that is quite a legitimate one as well as one I have often asked myself.  And, if it weren’t for the fact that my employment ties me to the US, I would be here with my wife 24/7.  Alhamdulillaah, though, my employer has been accommodating enough to allow me to work for nearly the entire duration of my stay here remotely on a trial basis.

However, for now I am enormously content and overjoyed to simply be physically with my wife, so I need not dwell on extranous issues for the time being.  And, now for what you’ve all been waiting for — rest assured that I have in store some media in the form of stills, panoramas, time-lapse shots, and videos!

Last week my wife & I have decided to start our own family blog to track family’s Islamic development.  As a result, I will most-likely be posting my personal- and family-related musings over there rather than here, allowing HidayahTech to remain more tech-oriented.  That doesn’t mean there will be a complete dearth of such posts here, but I hope you get the picture.

While the family is generally personal and focused on my family, we are aware that it is public (anything with a URL should be considered as such), so feel free to visit, read, and even comment if you are so inclined, as long as you feel there benefit to doing so.

Putting aside for now the minor detail that it actually happened over six months ago, I just wanted to announce as far-and-wide as possible that Allaah has blessed me, Basil Mohamed Gohar, with marriage to Nor Sallsabil binti (daughter of) Abdul Razak.  Our marriage took place after `Ishaa’ (evening prayer) on May 3rd, 2007, in the beautiful city of Kuala Terengganu (KT for short), Malaysia.  Read on for the reason behind the delay in my announcement.

Some of you might find it to be rather odd that I am “announcing” my marriage over six months after that actual marriage took place (nikaah – marriage contact).  The biggest reason for this is that I am still unable to bring my wife into the country (legally) as the immigration has not yet been finalized.  I wanted to hold a waleemah (wedding celebration) after she’s arrived, and then make all my announcements.  However, as more-and-more time passes, the impracticality of this delay in announcing the marriage here in the US is only increasing, so I decided to go right ahead.

For those of you that may cry foul about this late announcement, I will point you here (assuming the link is still valid when you’re reading this):

http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?t=20763 

Yes, that may not be the most well publicized place for such an announcement, but it is (as of this writing) publicly accessible, so it at least offers an excuse for me. 

So, yes, I am married.  And I strongly recommend everyone else do the same as well, if you’re not already.  Now get started!

Oh, and if you’re interested in knowing the story of how we got married, as in, the steps leading up to our marriage, then know that I may consider posting that in a future entry, in shaa Allaah.  I tell everyone I meet anyway, so why not?