Dear my beloved readers,
During my teenage times, I don't like to go to school. I even hated the word "classroom" and any other things associated with it. Being confined in a four "cornered" cubicles with a bunch of childish boys, talking childish issues, playing childish games and doing funny face-games as a sort of entertainment, never amused me at all. As a result, I was known as the most reserve, the most quiet, and the most "what-ever"-type of kid in my school. My close friend used to bet if I cabn speak more than 10 words a day in school, he would treat me nasi berlauk in our canteen. Of course, I got my free treat that day, haha.
I used to sit in the second row from the back, in my classroom, just under the lights and fan suis. After discovering that that it is suppose to be the boy who sit under the suis who should be controlling the speed of the fan suis, I decided that I need to shift places. After few round of negotiation (bribery in form of a pack of keropok gontang also take place, actually) I managed to shift, sitting at the far end of my class. I was known as a socially awkward boy in my school. And of course, a socially awkward boy did not go to the glamorous Bilik Persatuan or canteen much often. A socially awkwad boy would spend much of his time in the library. So there was I, reading books in Ma'ahad's library (I somehow forgot the library name). I still remember reading a book titled "100 most influential person in the History of Mankind by Micheal Hart (Professor). It is an old book actually, but only recently they had reprinted and rebranded it to make it looks attractive for marketing purposes. Oh by the way, the book ranked Muhammad S.A.W first in its 100 rankings.
I was doing quite well in my exam though. I used to score number 1 in my class and used to study in the best class in my batch. Most of my classmates went to study overseas after their SPM. Six or seven of them went on the read Finance and Economics in U.K and some of them who left a bit earlier after PMR went on to read Medicine and Engineering in the U.K and U.S. universities. But majority of them (including the top scorer) went to the prestigous Al-Azhar University.
I had the priviledge of attending a gathering of Ma'ahadians, including the Ma'ahad Girls School (Ma'ahad Muhammadi Lilbanat) during previous Hara Raya Idulfitri. The organizers had a registration process where all attendees had to registered themselves. There's a form to be filled with all of your current details and they even take a picture of you for alumni databse's purpose. After paying RM 10 registration fees, I sat down a bit far from the mob. During the nostaligic gathering, looks like everybody are happy. Some of them are busy chatting with old friends and taking memorable pictures together.
However, apart from part of me feeling a bit jovial and jocund, another part of me was a bit dissappointed. Firstly because the person who I thought will be coming did not present. There are Ustaz Nik Aziz Nik Mat and Ustaz Nik Dir (now Dato'). Ustaz Nik Dir was my former Mudir. He is a man of discipline and considerate, in one piece. He was not just a teacher, he was also an idol and a mursyid. He thought us of life, of discipline, and of Islam. During his tenure as Mudir did I learn that Islam is not just a religion, but also a way of life. The second reason was many of my ex-ustazs and ustazahs were also not present. I remember arwah Cikgu Mat, my Math teacher. The most dedicated teacher I've ever known. He died of heart attack during teaching, in a classroom. What a true teacher he is.
When I thought of Ma'ahad, I thought of an Islamic learning institution. Our success is measured by not how many doctors or accountants did we produced, also not by how many studying medicine in Nottingham University or physics in a Jordanian University (with due respects to both of them), or how may KYUEMians graduates we produced. But our success is measured by how many had become a true "insan", or "jadi orang" as we Kelantanese preffered to say it. It is about how many good people who understand Islam, understand the purpose of this life, that Ma'ahad had produced. That's the success of Ma'ahad.
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