Doc Ahmad Hajiri

I was supposed to post about the happy days I had this week. But it seems I have to turn right, and drive through another road. And let those unpublished essays stay under my table for a while. they can wait. This one I cannot take any longer. I am angry. Angry, because things are getting worst in my homeland, Sulu. Angry, because there are more kidnappings, day by day. Angry, there was a report of a massacre of a Muslim Family; no actions done for their justice. Angry, because the civilians were left helpless; no where to go. Angry, and most of us don't know or didn't even care. Angry, our political leaders are pretending that these things did not even happened! I am Furious! Because I can't do anything but weep in my room; curl in my bed, crying out those unknown names of victims; feeling the agonies that filled the hearts of the innocent civilians; I feel furious. Yet I must not Loose hope. Never should I give up! And now, I only have YOU to help me p...

5 minutes starts.... Now! Limang Minuto na naman.  Hindi ko akalain na ako ay malilibang pala sa bagong addiction na ito. Limang minuto ako ay magsusulat (o mag-i-encode) ng kung anuman ang papasok sa aking isipan.  Limang minuto. Nakalog-out na ang aking FB pagkat ayoko rin namang ma-abala nito. Limang minuto ay napaka ikling panahon ngunit... napakaraming bagay ang pwedeng mangyari dito. Sa loob ng limang minuto, ilang mga bagong panganak na mga sanggol ay massisilayan ng araw; isang panibagong buhay na magiging pagsubuk sa kanila. Sa loob ng imang minuto maaring mawalan ng hininga at buhay ang isang tao. Malunod. Masaksak. Mabangga ng tren (ang brutal naman). Makain ng piranha. Mahulug sa bangin na puno ng tinik at basag na bote. Aaah! tama na. basta, sa loob ng limang minuto maaring mangyari yun lahat. Di mo alam ano ang susunod. Ngunit iilan lang ba sa atin... iilang beses nga lang ba natin napagtanto na ang bawat limang minuto na dumadaloy sa atin ay nap...

Ehem. Ehem. Mike test. Mike test. 5 minutes starts here==> Limang minuto ako ay magsusulat. Nang kung anuman ang papasok sa aking isipan. Ito ay isang paraan para aking mabalik-tanaw ang mga bagay-bagay na akin nang nakaligtaan sa loob ng ilang linggong pagiging isang uod na hindi na gumagalaw. Ewan ko ba ano ang nangyari sa akin nung makalipas na mga linggo. Tila baga ako ay isang (traveler) na nawawala; hindi alam kung san patutungo. Alam ko. Alam ko kung ano ang mga dapat kung gawin, ngunit hindi ko pa rin magawang igalaw ang aking katawan patungo sa mga hangaring ito: mga hangarin na alam kong mas makakabuti sa akin, sa aking pamayanan at sa ating kalikasan. Tila baga may ibang puwersa na humuhila sa akin. Humihila patungo sa ibang landas. Humahatak palayo sa aking mga napagtantyang mga "Prayoridad". Limang minuto... Limang minuto. Bibigyan ko ang aking sarili ng limang minuto sa hangaring maibalik ko ang mga dating nawala sa akin. Ako ay (hopef...

I stare blankly on the screen. I can make my thoughts into order. I can't find any words out of my mind but boggy ideas. I cannot focus on anything now. I am just out of my old self. And then I ask myself, "Who am I really?" I stare blankly up the sky to find the answers. And to my greatest dismay, I found none by myself looking down on me. Oh where am i going now.

[Second Title: 9/11 the 10th: How the Muslims fought against Terror.] Published: September 11, 2011 If I will write about the whole story on 9/11, I don’t think I would be able to stop writing. There were just so many things that fly in through my mind each time I hear the infamous name: NINE-ELEVEN. On who’s really behind this grievous incident, I won’t talk about it. Let the critiques do their job. On weighing things out, on how many are the victims (the number of people who died during and after the incident), I cannot talk about it. Let the news feed your minds. But let me talk on a very short post on how this incident—even how much far it happened from where I am now—had greatly affected our ways of life. It will all boil down to a single fact: We were affected because we were (and still are) Muslims; and we did suffer the most. After the event that shook the whole world, the waves from the ‘epicenter’ of the shock resulted to too many incidents that followed it. The whole...

(Short Post) Last September 8, 2011, I went to the island Province of Basilan to attend a Mass Graduation Ceremony for our First batch of Literacy classes (our foundation’s beneficiaries are mostly adults, women, elderly and out-of-school-youths who were illiterates). It was indeed a double-excitement for me; an incident I have always wanted to experience. Aside from the excitement of attending the mass graduation of our first batch of Adult learners, it was also my very first time to be in Basilan. Basilan is a small island south-west of Zamboanga Peninsula. You can ride a fast seacraft and arrive in Isabela City, Basilan 45-minutes later. It is so near that you can see the other island by simply looking out the window from inside the seacraft. Unlike Sulu, my homeland: it would take at least 8 hours of sea travel in regular sea vessels. Yet still, in my twenty years of life, I have never ever stepped my ever-so-travelling feet on that island. And I have always been wondering h...

(The reasons why) This was my "Why Anak Iluh" page before. Why Anak Iluh? (edited April 10, 2012) Anak Iluh  means 'orphaned child'. Two Tausug words: ' Anak ' meaning 'child' or 'son/daughter' and ‘ Iluh ’ which is the equivalent of the English word 'orphan'. I consider myself an 'Anak iluh' (though, not a complete orphan. I still have my beloved Inah, Alhamdulillah). I lost my father when I was at the young age of four (a month before I became five and enroll in school). This paved way to various realizations in my life. I never grew up with a father's hand leading my way; I sought and found answers to questions I have by myself; I became closer to the poor children whom I shared the same fates; I learned to see things the way a common Tausug child would; I learned to give importance to every little thing I have. And along my long journey in life, I realized and believed that everything indeed happened with ...

Days after Eidul Fitr, one of my best friends, Aldam Absara, and also my beloved brother in Islam shared to me the following text message. It was so inspiring and full of meaning to me that I have decided to re-share it here. May Allah bless him for reminding me andd his other friends, and may Allah Guide us all-especially the young Ummah-to the only right path. (The original text is in Tausug, I will try my best to translate it to English in this post. To those who do not wish to read the Tausug text, kindly scroll down to the English version. With Peace! :-) " In tau biyah (sapantun) kappal.. Bahgu tumulak magbalik, mag-guna da isab humali-hali ha jambatan bat kalanuan marayaw, iban in gas niya kaganapan... Biyah sapantun sin pagdungguh natuh bahgu yan ha bulan ramadhan...Bihaun Insha'Allah, kiyalanuan in nyawa natuh, kiya-Gasan in pag-iyman natuh, narenovate in pikilan natuh... Sah bang in nadawhat ta marayaw ha bulan Ramadhan luppasun natuh, naaa, biyah ra kita ni...