Pulut for Irfan

Another milestone for Irfan. He has finished his muqaddam and is now reading the Quran. And as per tradition - something which we completely missed for Idlan - we have a doa and a small meal - usually in the form of pulut kuning.

Pulut kuning literally translate to "yellow glutinous rice", and it was just that. In full coronary stent-blocking glory!

Managed to escape early from work to get the transport organised. Puan Anita made sure of all the other stuffs were done. Pretty happy with the results. We had our usual caterer which my Mum used to order from to do the cooking. We also had pretzel from our friend added in.

Idlan finishing off the rest of the pretzelsPuan Anita was just doing the final packing before we take it across to the school.

The worry now was I thought we under-ordered. I might run the risk of not having any left for dinner ....

Dozing Off

After the whole week of bright sunshine, torrential rain hit KL just now. Luckily my slow morning extended to the afternoon. And even though things picked up before lunch, it sion quieten down again and I was able to leave the hospital just before 5.

Thus, I was able to avoid the rain and the suspected heavy traffic. But I got caught when I went to pick up my boys from their Qur'an class earlier. It was raining cats and dogs. And the rain did make me feel sleepy. In the sofa now, and I was sure I would be dozing off soon ....

Al Manar

One of the beauty of living an old, established neighborhood was the small things in life. Shops nearby. More often than not, established route to escape in and out of town, mosque, reliable neighbours. Should there be death or hardship, there would always be people around you to offer help. That was part of the reason why decide against moving out from Anita's parents' place despite having a place of our own. We at least know that our children would be safe if left at home. It also stopped us from worrying about what our parents were up to.

Another plus was, place for our children to learn the Quran and Fardhu Ain. Even though they have such classes in Sri Utama, we did not feel that secular and religious study should be tied together so closely. Luckily we had Al Manar School just a couple of blocks away from our place here. It has proven so popular that some of Idlan's classmates also joined him there.

Al Manar is actually a chain of Quran schools for the under 12s with branches all over KL. The mostly occupy houses in residential areas but according to one of the Ustaz, they were starting to venturers into shop lots as well. Only last week, the opened a new branch at KLSC in Wangsa Maju. The classes were divided into two streams, Fadhu Ain and Quran. For Fardhu Ain, students were thought the basic from the beginning and they progress by passing exams every six months. They then move up a class. As for Quran recitals, they were divided into a few subclasses depending on how well they can read the verses. They started off from Muqaddam and work their way up to Quran.

Both streams were separate. So, you can be in level I Fardhu Ain but had already progressed to Quran. Both were not tied together. Idlan attended the classes since January, taking a couple of hours - from 5 to 7 pm - every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The classes were flexible, you can choose any of the available session Mondays to Saturday, maximum three two-hour sessions per week. He had enjoyed it so far since he was together with his friends from school. It was surely havoc there every session.

The teachers had so far been fond of Idlan. Maybe next year, we would be sending Irfan as well. At the moment, we have an Ustazah coming over every Wednesday to teach both of them Quran and other stuffs for a couple of hours. The boys were very fond of the Ustazah as well, which helped a lot.

If any of you are looking for a good Quran and Fardhu Ain classes, do give Al Manar a look. The fees were very reasonable and the Ustaz and Ustazahs there were genuinely nice. Highly recommended.