Secangkir Teh Pengubat Letih.

أَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّـيْطٰنِ الرَّجِيْمِ
Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim.
Assalamualaikum wbt

Title of the book : Secangkir Teh Pengubat Letih
Genre : Travelogue tarbiah
Year of publish : 2010

May Allah.swt grant the writer jannah : Utz. Hasrizal Abdul Jamil

Review : MasyaAllah, a very excellent book that deserves 5/5 and definately a must read for everyone! 

In this book, the writer tells us about the beautiful stories of the unbreakable true friendships, i would rather call it brotherhoods, built with warm-hearted turkish friends of different ages and backgrounds, that are bonded nonetheless, under the same belief that they would live upon and die with-La ilaha illAllah, Muhammadur rasulullah, there is no gods except God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God. As a frequent visitor ( 20 times, from 1995-2002 ) to Turkey, he witnessed with his own eyes the political paradigmal shift that had cost the nation, that was once ruled 2/3 of this world, to lose grab of its own grandiose Ottoman legacy.
From a respectful nation that was once rich with manners and knowledge, in a split of time became an ordinary westernized country full with 101 socioeconomic problems arisen, as if they were never great, never had anything at all.
My tears literally dropped when the writer takes us back to when Sultan Abdul Hamid 2 was unjustly expelled not just from the throne but to a far away land(Salonik) far from Istanbul, again, as if he had never done any good towards the nation. Truely, they were blinded and now, its just too late. The struggles and suffering of the people of faith in Turkey would leave us thinking of how lucky we are for having the blessings that we had taken for granted today. Also, the writer has interestingly described about the cultural differences and mentality between turks and malaysian, especially of younger generation, which means he is talking about us!

Therefore, here is the Learn-From-The-Turks list, which i pick up from the book and i strongly believe, if to put into practice, would benefit us if not significantly, enormously, insyaAllah :

1. The culture of seeking knowledge versus the culture of receiving knowledge. Instead of waiting to be spoon fed by the imam in the long Friday talk(khutbah) once a week, gaining knowledge about current world issues by reading the news paper and watching every news on the tv on daily basis give us a broader worldly thinking dimension and developing the sense of justification upon receiving inputs, thus will prevent us from following a person blindly(taklik buta) up to a point where we are just capable of uttering what we heard, sometimes, without any understanding, rather than giving an own senseful overview thought and analysis from various sources. On few occasions, the writer wrote how his turkish friend  would instantly stop talking in the middle of their discussions and everyone would straight away jump from dining table straight to sit quietly yet, attentively watching the news, and when the news finish, they would immediately discuss about the current news and the cycle goes on and on. 
2. People of Turkey have the culture of making a verbal du'a for any person they come across with good prayers even if they do not know each other, example from the book, the writer offered a man who was working on a copy machine in a publishing company and he said "May you be granted with ease in doing the work", the worker replies with "May Allah grant you His blessings". Isn't it healthy if we all could live like this, it will bring absolute positivism to both parties and taking away all the akwardness and distances in between, thus creating the atmosphere of efficient productivity.
3. "Akil yasta degil bastadir" or intelligence is not defined by age. The writer's best friend, Furqan, a young man in his 20s, already trusted by his own father, Uncle Mehmet, to help with the work as he is the leader of the town council. This proves that the turkish way of children up bringing should be taken full attention by us! 
4. Muslim quality versus muslim quantity. It is obvious the secularism is infecting the Turkey especially among the younger generations, paralysing islamic development by many folds, eliminating all the nonpracticing "muslim by names". There is a period when the madness of greedy dishonest authority came and they did their best to make the life of the muslims miserable-thousands of islamic schools were closed, islamic faculties in all universities were shut down, hundreds of thousands lecturers were saken from the universities, headscarves were not allowed, firstly in the governmental compounds later on, it was forbidden at the universities and ridiculously, on the street of Turkey, the prestigious ultimate Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Egypt was illogically announced unrecognized, leaving thousands of disapointed students who had spent years of sweat, money and tears for the degree which they love wholeheartedly. Yet, strong muslims remained calm, steadfast in their belief and continue working their best, and truly Allah is with those who have patience and steadfast. Taken at the moment, a practicing strong muslim has powerful knowledge and strong faith helped them to face against all odds. I don't think i need to elaborate about our youth nowdays when you see them sitting in front of the Dota 2 ( an online game ), playing the "aku tidak pedulisme (i don't care)" part.
5. This last point is my favourite! They pay attention to everything , having sensitive heart with high sensitivity towards the needs of other, even the smallest kind of act is given a handful thought. For example, they lift their shoes high above the head when exiting the mosque full with crowd of people, just not to dirty other people's clothes! They purposely changed the name Muhammad to Mehmet when given to people because they would not bear to listen any unkind act ( if the name bearer did any wrong doing ) being directed directly on the last prophet's name. Okey, here comes the last example, if u enter a mosque with rather smelly socks, its either you will be asked to change or given a new pair in order not to disturb other people.

Here are some excerpts that i simply want to keep for my future 'go through' so that i would remember why would this book made me a better me.

What you see is what you get.  

The fall of Greek empire.

Language defines a nation/Bahasa jiwa bangsa.

Upon perceiving a test. 

You and only you alone can answer that.

Test will define the good and the bad.

Writing with hope,

TianaAsSamad.