My New Sacred Resting Place

To divert my mind from thinking any other issues, I have decided to write about my newly-renovated room.

I have arrived in Manchester for about 5 days ago and really don't have much anything to do. The main thing on my mind was that I need to settle down and had a long to-do-list to prepare myself for the new academic term. And the first thing on that list was renovating my room. For me, it's important to have a neat, tidy, clean and comfortable room as it is the place where you would study, do your work and get a good night rest. It is the best sanctuary in your home.

Before this, I admit that my room looks kinda boring and dull. I don't have much stuff for decoration and the lighting in the room was not that good. The only source of bright light in my room was my desk lamp and it shines much brighter than the ceiling lamp. Thus, I brought my own light bulb from home to solve this issue. It's a Philip, an electronic brand that you can trust, and use 18 Watts to shine. Trust me, my room now looks more clearer and I could see any dust or clutter on the floor with this kind of light.

Then, it's the duvet cover and pillowcases. Since my bed is a double-sized bed, it is undoubtedly the main attraction in my room. People would surely have a look at my bed first before scrutinizing everything else. Before this, I have used a bright red silk duvet cover and pillowcases which didn't work out very well. Now, I decided to change all of that and replace it with a more 'metro' kind of style. Look at the pictures below!

The furniture arrangements in my room also needs a change to instill a new environment in this room. The new arrangements made my room looks a little bit smaller than before. But, I think the new available space would suffice for me to pray or do some indoor exercises. That's good enough for me. Let's just hope that there won't be additional furniture in my room later on.

Have a look at the pictures below and you can imagine how comfortable and neat my new rooms is! :)

View from entrance

My stuff

Look at how bright my room is now!

p/s: There is more to come. Some finishing touches still need to be done. :)

The Sense Of Dinar And Dirhams

I felt intrigued after reading a news article a few days ago about the Kelantan State Government introduced a new currency only for its state called Dinar and Dirham. Each dinar is worth RM180 and one dirham is RM4.

Whichever way you look at it, the fact remains that the opposition party of the Malaysian government has introduced a new system of currency. This new currency is really interesting as the last time an Islamic country used this syariah currency was the Ottoman Caliphate, dated back about more than 100 years ago.

The dinar and dirham are said can be used in more than 1000 shops in Kelantan and are accepted to be used to pay zakat and dowry.

As expected, Bank Negara Malaysia issued a statement, claiming only Ringgit Malaysia is the legal tender in this country.

Then, the Kelantan state governement said that their administrative staff will be paid in this new currency. Problem would certainly rise later on because if the staff were to spend outside the state, they need to change their money first which I would think most (possibly all) money changers would not accept as it is not an official currency of a country.

Some might see this act has something to do with politics and I do not doubt that. Maybe PAS also wants to create a sense of belonging to the Kelantanese and to show the world that they are serious in upholding the Islamic most prestigious currency.

The Kelantan Dirham

In terms of practical reasons, how much of the currency of one state can be minted and circulated widely? Lets just wait and see what happens next!