Virtually Nurul – { Research | Fitness | Designs } by Nurul

Category: Knowledge

  • Hafazan – Al-Fajr

    Today, I have memorised up to surah al-Fajr. It’s a one page plus surah and I only had 2 days to memorise all the 30 ayahs. Struggled a little bit as I had headaches for a few days and can’t be bothered with doing things that require brain work. It’s the 89th surah in the Quran.

    How I memorised within 2 days – I first read the translations and find contexts in each ayah with the time that I had. Ideally, I’d like to read the tafseer behind each ayah. So I broke down into chunks – first it talks about Fajr and nights. Then the races that Allah mentioned for us to learn from – the Aads, Thsamuds, Irams and Firaun – how they’re advanced as a civilization but at the same time are those who were tyrants, like Firaun. Allah too mentioned about the humans – who praised Allah when only they’re blessed with abundance and turned away when Allah tested them with insufficiency of rizq. And also some other characteristics.

    I love the rhythms of the verses of ayahs 21 and 22 and all the reminders of the following verses like in ayah 24 – about people who regretted not performing more ibadahs and goodness when they were still alive. And how inviting Allah is of his obedient servants towards Jannah. It’s a beautiful ending for the surah.

    It’s a challenging one as the sentences are not arranged in a form that I am already familiar with. So I need to rely on photographic memory if I can’t relate with the context of a sentence. I manage to recite my memorisation with small mistakes here and there; then again, my next homework is to memorise al-Ghasyiah and probably slot in al-A’la – I think I have memorised this surah before so it should be manageable. More practice on the line – the challenge is different now from the previous month, but I am excited.

    Grateful for this journey. Thank you Allah for making it smooth for me.

  • Hafadzan Journey – 3rd Week Progress

    Had my 3rd class last Friday, first class during Ramadan. My most challenging task prior was to memorise al-Bayyinah. I did it in 20 minutes, plus I did extra hafazan on ad-Dhuha and at-Tin. I was so pleased with myself and thank Allah for helping me with memorising with ease. So my teacher proceeded with murojaah (checking my other hafazan) for 30 minutes, the next 30 minutes she checked my Quranic recitation (tahsin) from surah al-Fatihah up to al-Baqarah page 6. I don’t know, I liked the class – actually looking forward to it and felt like it’s the best thing I did all day despite of everything that’s happening in my life that day. Ustazah asked whether I have to time to do my hafazan. I told her I used the time stuck in traffic to practice. I actually lost my voice a bit but the sense of gratitude and achievement after memorising a surah is priceless.

    As at now I have memorised 23/114 surahs. I aim to memorise the whole Juz Amma (Juz 30) within a couple of months probably sometime in May or June. So much things I learnt by doing this. Like I am amused on how the verses are arranged and written. And the meaning in the surahs kind of stuck with me. Like how Allah wrote a surah specifically for gossip-mongers, those who are prideful of their possessions and a lot more. It works my brain in a whole different way. It also affects my heart and my soul. May Allah ease this journey and accept my effort to be closer to Him.

  • Hafadzan Class

    After being back from Umrah, I feel that I want to learn and get to know more on Quran, and protect it by memorising the ayahs. I also want to memorise as a challenge as I see a lot of people could do it at any age – also a way for me to recite when I got old enough that I could not read or illness could strike that would hinder me from reading Quran. I asked ChatGPT on strategies to do so, so it suggested that I memorise the last Juzuk first or ayahs from 78th to 114th surahs which are a lot. I tried on my own to memorise the verses for a week. Alhamdulillah, it set me up for my actual tahfidz class.

    My first class was a bit chaotic, probably the academy wanted to slot me in so that I could fit in February schedule. So my Ustazah wasn’t aware of my enrollment. Anyways all things cleared, I proceeded with my first class on 5th February 2026 – also the birthday of my sister.

    First class was okay, and a bit scary cause Ustazah was like asking me to recite all the verses from the last surah backwards as far as I can remember. I stumbled a lot but InshaAllah over time I would be comfortable enough to get used to it. So I managed to recite up to Al-Humazah and she taught me the strategies to memorise the ayahs. My first homework was to memorise the surah until I can recite smoothly without referring the Quran.

    Second class, the Ustazah was a lot more prepared. So we discussed a bit what should we do for an hour class. I decided that I want to do a bit of taddabur so that I can understand what the surah or verses are all about, which would help in my memorisation. She tested on my previous homework and we moved forward until surah As-Syarh. I was occasionally leading prayers at school, so all these short surahs were in my head. But that was like 30 years ago. Ustazah wanted to test me on Al-Alaq, she said, can you recite al-Alaq, the first revelation from Allah – I was like, I used to remember, now I couldn’t recall it – she gave me a go to try the first 5 verses, of which I could barely do. It was like a direct pang for me, how could I neglect and not protect all the surahs that I already memorised last time. I felt sad but also grateful that Allah gave me the chance to meet Ustazah and sent her to me to guide me. I am so grateful for being surrounded by good people. So my homework for next class is to memorise surah al-Bayyinah and I am so excited to do it.

    After class, I cried again, like big cry of gratitude and how I miss being in Makkah and on how Allah loves me so much. I feel like I am with the right teacher and I am on the right track. May Allah helps me to stay consistent with class and provide me with rizq to continue with classes and all the new commitments that I am into now. Alhamdulillah ❤️

  • Bathroom Makeover

    As per my development plan this year, I am going to do some minor change on my bathroom appearance as the original tiles were so badly stained and getting hard to clean. I mean, I scrubbed the floor and all and the tiles especially the floor still look dirty. And then, the other day, the original bulb which is in dim yellow colour blew off. After I replaced it (yeah I change my own light bulbs) into a new one I found lying inside the house which is in day white colour, the overall look of the bathroom is so horrifying that I find it hard to use the bathroom and sleep thinking about it’s condition. Even after I gave it a good scrub, I still find it so dirty.

    So after doing some research since last year, I decided to just go for it and get it all done at once. I face a bit of hiccup here when my expenses is again out of range, I have not tracked down yet how much and where I spent my money this month. But for the bathroom itself, roughly I spent about RM250 and going to be less than RM350 I hope.

    I just relocated all the stuff inside temporarily and gave it a fresh paint. Even managed to detach the yellowing plastic toilet seat cover.

    First round of painting, the original tilings as in the middle – these after I scrubbed the wall and floor like crazy, and the ceiling repainted. I am so gonna replace the bucket or just not use one and fix the shower instead. Reflecting back, I did so much to fix the bathroom already. First, I fixed the leaky flush tank; then I proofed the tiles and the edges of the bathroom floor so that no water leaking down to the unit below me. I changed the tap from the original one with one with bidet sprayer attached to it.

    Funny thing happened when I realised that I gotta buy tape before I proceeded to paint with the blue paint to ensure no messy lines. I was automatically in my head went, okay I’ll buy it tomorrow on my way to my parents and other planning stuffs. Then I had to reassure myself, for God’s sake it only takes less than 30 minutes to walk to the shop to get them. Like now or never. I just quickly changed into a proper attire and get the tapes. It wonders me how my mind works sometimes. Ruminating over easy tasks. Anyways, I’m sure I’m not the only one like this. I often batch tasks, more efficient way of doing many things at once.

    So I head home with a couple of masking tapes. I have used them before for walls. Did the usual painting deeds covering areas I didn’t want to get stained with the blue paint. After I was satisfied with the coatings, I went out and just let the paint dry. As I got home, like seriously, I immediately checked on the paint condition and started to peel off the tapes out of impatience. The white paint at the bottom peeled off together with the tape. I told myself, ok next time find proper tape don’t use masking tape again. So the ruined part I immediately covered with the blue paint. Now I have to do another round of white paint touch up again. I just want to do it proper and right and get it over and out of my head.

    After! Picture at the top with tape, and picture at the bottom without tape. Still waiting for the paint to dry entirely before I start putting stuff back in. Majority of the work is done. I am feeling a bit misaligned not being able to use my bathroom as usual but it’s only temporary. It’s gonna get way better. Will follow up with other adjustments that I made with this bathroom. Now waiting for another tub of paint to arrive and some other accessories.

  • Good to Great by Jim Collins

    Finally finished the book after reading for more than 3 months. I am a bit agitated today trying to solve the kitchen drain problem to no avail. I decided to let it go and try again another day. Aimed to finish reading the book, at least I did something value-adding activities and just cross one of the pending stuffs today. Anyways, drain problem aside, my day is kind of productive in food-prep department so I am not worried if I am going to be malnourished for the next few weeks.

    Back to the book, it is about strategies or roadmap on how companies could be good from great. It has exhaustive illustrative examples on companies that succeeded and failed – very balanced and practical analysis, in my opinion. To sum up, to become good, there are 5 components that need to be present:

    • Level 5 leadership – leaders who are humble, visionary and authentic, realistic, brave to face harsh truth but remain faithful to goals.
    • Have the right people on the bus and discard the wrong people
    • Hedgehog concept – what we are good at, what we can be the best at, what are our economic engine (very nuanced and interesting concept)
    • Discipline culture – having disciplined people on the bus reduce the need to micromanage and can focus on strategies (again relate back with second point)
    • Technology as enabler (expand operation, simplify processes, increases productivity and profit)

    To build a great company, following the roadmap is not enough. The company must consistently build up what they are doing good at, that propels them towards their goals. The book introduces ‘Flywheel’ concept. That each momentum of buildup has to be iterated consistently like a pendulum, or a flywheel. Key thing is, there has to be momentum to keep improving, perfecting and progressing. Great companies don’t suddenly transform via flashy gimmicks or outrageous strategy overnight. It takes years of continuous improvement to arrive at where they are. As the book depicts, imagine an egg incubating before it hatches. People only notice when the egg cracks. No one can see the whole growing process within the egg during incubation. That concept appeals so much to me.

    Having read the book made me briefly think of what I am doing now. Do I want to make my fitness career or my IT consultancy thrive? How am I going to do both side by side? I must think hard and ask myself what I really need right now to get where I want to be. Fitness is all fun and great, but for now I don’t see stability and much growth in it for me; but it’s great to build a healthier community. Consultancy needs crazy networks and resources to even start up. I really want to do both but slowly adding more focus on consultancy. I know how to do both, I just need people and reflect back on the Hedgehog concept. What’s next, I got to create structure on the fitness side, simplify processes and redefine what are my goals for it to become a great enterprise to build what it has been doing; for consultancy, I am going to research my products and offerings for easy kickstart.