Twins of Faith

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

Last two week, I had the opportunity to go to the Twins of Faith conference. This event is held all over the world inviting many renowned speakers from across the globe. This year, this event was held at the O2 Arena. The venue is a prestigious venue where they usually held massive concerts such as the British Music Awards. This time, the venue was used to embrace Allah, SubhanAllah!

The theme for this year's ToF is Once upon a time in Madinah. The talks reflected on the Sahabat's (apostles/closest followers of the prophet) life during the time of Rasulullah (peace be upon him) both before and after Hijrah to Madinah.

The venue was super big, but it was a full house!! We got the tickets for free from our friends that bought the tickets earlier. Lucky us! Those with free tickets (they call it as general tickets) need to enter from a different door. 

They gave us stamps on the way in.

Luckily, we were one of the first to enter and we get to choose our seats in front! Yeay!!

There were various speakers that shared the life and lessons from the Sahabat. Quran reciters from Riyadh and another country that I don't remember. Their recitations can make you teared up. It was so peaceful in that arena, listening to his recitations.

Part of the talk that I want to share with you:

Twins of faith, means two things in faith which are Iman, and 'Amal. Neither one could be without the other. As Allah swt has said various times in the Quran:

And give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness that their portion is gardens beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom they say: “This is what we were fed with before” for they are given things in similitude, and they have therein companions, and they abide therein (Surah al-Baqarah[2], verse 25).

To have faith, is to believe in Allah as the One true God, and Muhammad peace be upon him is the messenger of God. Also to portray your believe, through actions, by following the guidelines that has been stated clearly in the Quran and Hadith.

There were some nasheed performance in between the talks. The nasheed is not like today's entertainment. It is all about worshiping Allah swt. If your entertainment does not make your faith stronger, then avoid it.

However, we had to leave early because I wanted to pickup my lifelong friend from the airport.

We headed out with my friend that came with her two daughters. 

After we rushed out, I found out that my friend is actually coming on the next day. hahaha...choi! That's another story.

I didn't get to take her anywhere or even pick her up from the airport (It's the weekdays dude!). So to make it up, I sent her off when she's going back to Malaysia. Come again dear friend! =D

Until next time...Ramadhan mubarak to every Muslim out there. May our journey throughout the month of Ramadhan is fruitful and be the ticket towards jannah.

Research Skills Development Course (RSDC)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

As I am still in my first year of PhD, there are plenty of courses that I need to attend. Some are necessary for my research, some are compulsory such as this RSD course. 

I have signed up to attend this course since early March because it's filled up pretty quickly. I chose to attend this three day course because it fulfill my yearly merit requirement. huhu...

I didn't think much about this course before I went there. I know the location will be outside of London which is great. I'll always grab the opportunity to see other parts of this beautiful country.

We were given the instruction to the place weeks before the course day. We had to take a train at Paddington (can choose to depart from Paddington or London Waterloo) to Bracknell. As we arrive, we had to take a cab to the conference centre. It's about 15 minutes drive. All expenses are covered. 

As I arrived, I was amazed by the place. It was gorgeous!! I felt like being in Downton Abbey, arriving at the Grantham Place. 

I felt positive as I arrived. My bestie and I checked in at the reception and went straight to our room. Each of us get separate rooms (single room) which was great because we had been worrying if we had to share rooms with other people. The rooms of our building is the most back of the centre and was located at the 2nd floor (no lift!). It's a good thing our bags were light. As we entered our room...I was mesmerized.

It's like a hotel room. I mean...WOW!!!

My room and my bestie's were nearby, but hers was located behind those walls. Opposite my room was a guy from my group. huh!

The bathroom was shared (separate male and female). But they have the toilet and shower together which was great!!

After settling down, we went down for dinner. 

We already had some food before we came because this place don't serve halal food. However, they serve fish either cold cuts or one of the buffet choices which was great for us. Also, none of the food have alcohol in them. The food was super nice too. Weee!!

There were loads of fun activities in store for us. The best thing is, most of the activities are outside where the weather is nice and sunny (thankfully).

Suddenly realised I'm the only girl between these brilliant guys in this pic. haha..

Throughout our stay and during our outdoor activities, there were these hostile training going on. There were bomb-like noises and shootings accross the venue. Eventhough they were shooting blanks, the noise is enough to make you jump.

Another great side of this venue is, we get to take long walks (during the breaks) and see the amazing view of this place.

The sceneries are just breathtaking.

This house used to be the place where King Henry VIII met Annabelle Lane (so I was told).

So because this house used to be occupied by the royalties, the inside looks spectacular as well.

This staircase reminded me of Downton Abbey.

On the last night of the course, we were treated with a fancy dinner (3 course!!)

Luckily they have a choice of duck and prawn.

This was my dish. Yummeahh!!

The table setting..

My team. They call us as Mostly Harmless. haha...not kidding. 

That's our group name.

After dinner, they held a dance activity for all of us. The organizer was very considerate of us Muslims. For the dinner and the dance activity, we were told beforehand if we didn't want any liquor on our table (they'll set a new table just for us) and the drinks that we would want. 

For the dance, the organizer told us about it and said, if we didn't want to join, we could just sit and watch because some of the dance will have a lot of hand holding. However, there's the line dance that we could join in. Yeaay!!!

The course really was amazing. Some of the activity is a bit boring, but most of it is so much fun! It'll just wipe all the boring aside.

I especially love meeting these great people and broaden my horizon on knowledge.

We're not only love doing what we do.

We love having fun and meeting new people too!

There's a weird incident that happenned while we were there. The pavement of the patio was stolen.

This was the scene of the crime. Who would want to steal these heavy pavements anyway. hahaha...we had a good laugh about it.

My group performance on the last day. 

All in all, this was definitely a good experience for me.

Until next time..