TAARIQ AND HIS UPSR

Alhamdulilah, what a real relief...my son Taariq scored 5As for his UPSR!

Muhammad Taariq at Menara Kuala Lumpur during his school's trip

I say a real relief because Taariq is a sort of a happy-go-lucky child, with an interest more on handling mechanical and electronic gadgets as well as woodwork rather than on reading books. He is a kind of a hands-on person, interested more in practical rather than theoretical endeavours. He hardly read books, even his school text books, except the night before the UPSR examination. During those nights, he carried his books around the house, up and down, flipping through the pages, asking his mum and sister and brother about anything he did not understand. Though earlier we had insisted him to read the books and doing exercises, he could only manage to be with his books for a few minutes everytime we persuaded him. Then he had thousands of excuses to be away from the books.

Undeniably, both his mum and I did not really force him to get engaged with his book indeed. We know very well that his brain is working fast to think what he should do next rather than entangling himself passively with the books. Instead, he would rather engage with a more creative endeavours, such as repairing or painting and repainting his or his brother's and sisters' bicycles, or dismantling and refitting his remote control cars, or investigating the gadgets of his handphone or of his mum's digital or video cameras.

All in all, Taariq relatively did not burden himself by studying madly for his UPSR. He neither attended any tuition nor had a private tutor at home. What he did was only attended extra classes organised by his school and did his homeworks, and once in a while followed one-day motivational course somewhere around our area. That's all, briefly, and that's why the result was really a relief and happy moment for many of us - his parents, his sisters and brother, as well as our close family members and friends. We are really very grateful and thank Allah s.w.t. for His grace. Taariq followed the footstep of his sister A'firah and brother 'Akif who were bestowed by Allah s.w.t. with 5As in earlier years.

Contemplating on Taariq's accomplishment, we came to realise that he is actually a brilliant child. His creativity is actually a manifestation of his working mind. His success in spite of his rather little effort is a reflection of his strong memory. His activeness in helping his mum and others - from buying chicken from Haji Qudus at Taman Tun Sardon market to buying chicken curry from Kassim Mustafa Restoran at Bukit Jambul and accompanying his mum and others to wherever necessary - is a portrayal of his inclination towards active activities. And his ability to grasp his lessons through only his extra classes together with his friends is actually an exhibition of his effectiveness in doing things through collective endeavours (jemaah). All of these, plus his talkative and friendly attitude, to his mum and I are indeed great assets that must be channelled to an avenue that could lead him to serve his religion and ummah!

Taariq and cousin in-law Din during the recent Eid celebration, 2006

For this, we hope to send him pursuing his study at Imtiaz School of Excellence in Terengganu - a school that cultivate students to be hafiz-cum-scientists, with characteristics of ulul albab, that is Islamic scholars with a Quranic, ijtihadic and encyclopedic ability to become global leaders. We hope that this could nurture his creativity to the right path, InshaAllah.

An application was sent through internet on the very day we knew Taariq's UPSR result. We are now waiting for a formal call for an interview, expected to be sometime in between 10-12 December 2006. May Allah s.w.t. helps him and may Yayasan Terengganu - the institution in-charged of the Imtiaz School of Excellence - accepts him for the sake of Allah s.w.t. Amiin!