Edisi Berkenalan

ABEERGARDEN.

Waktu tu, apa yang saya bayangkan di fikiran… ia suatu perkataan yang orang luar boleh terima. Orang yang tinggal di Dubai, di London, di California. Dan di tempat-tempat lain di seluruh dunia.

Pada masa yang sama, saya mahu perkataan tu ada identitinya yang tersendiri.

To me, walau di mana kita berada, walau dalam situasi apa sekali pun… kita ada identiti kita yang tersendiri. Dan identiti inilah yang kita perlu jaga.

In 2006, there was once when an American guy was questioning some of my principles.

And this was my reply to him at that point of time while he was driving and I was sitting next to him, ‘Although I may look Americanised in certain ways, there are certain parts of me that I have to preserve and these are the kinds of things that I have to hold on to.’

I was actually explaining to him why I could not sleep with him.

Walau duduk di America, cakap omputeh ala-ala American accent, berfikiran terbuka macam American citizen… tapi untuk sesetengah perkara kita tak perlu jadi macam orang A-me-rii-ka!

Sebab apa?

Macam saya cakap awal-awal tadi… Sebab kita ada identiti kita yang tersendiri. Dan identiti inilah yang kita perlu jaga.

ABEER is not a combination of A BEER yeah :-)

My best friend, Awang McCain, was making fun of the name. Huhuhu~

‘Fir,

A beer Garden? I pun dah rasa pening-pening.’

Try google what ABEER means. In fact, Wikipedia has a dedicated page for the word ABEER.

ABEER is an Arabic word. Saya pilih satu perkataan Arab sebagai refleksi itulah identiti saya.

No… no… no… I am not an Arab lady :-)

Although Islam is something universal, Arab and Islam are inseparable.

Yes, you got that! Sebagai seorang Islam, kita ada identiti kita yang tersendiri. Dan identiti inilah yang kita perlu jaga.

Could someone please tell me how many times I mentioned the word IDENITITY in this writing? :-)

Till then. Assalamualaikum Warahmatullah.

p/s: Abeer Garden is the hotel where I was staying in Mecca in 2011.