WORKLOADS AWAIT

As expected, and in fact normal for a person who just came back from a long holiday, workloads await me when I return to office yesterday: bundles of letters to go through, row of persons to be met with, and continuous rings of telephone to attend to.

Quite life and chance for contempaltion such as spent in my private office in Islamic Research and Training Institute in Jeddah and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in Oxford have gone. Instead, life has changed beyond merely reading, researching and writing, to physically active: talking, walking, communicating, etc.

Both kinds of life - here in USM and abroad in Jeddah and Oxford - are interesting and joyful in their own way. But a blend of both would be more interesting and joyful. One who is able to read and write while simultaneously able to attend to administrative tasks would definitely be the best.

I hope Allah swt would provide me with such an ability, for there are series of activities that require me to read, contemplate and write, as well as at the same time activities that require me to communicate and administer.

At least till the end of this month, I have three activities that need my reading, contemplating and writing: an invited speech to be given at Hajj Seminar in Penang, a keynote address to be delivered at International Workshop on Islamic Development in Medan, and a panel address to be presented at International Conference on Dakwah of Institutes of Higher Education, also in Medan. These do not include another keynote address to be delivered at an International Conference on Islamic Education in Nakhon, Thailand at the end of this year.

Apart from that, ISDEV should move with new ideas, especially with those ideas accumulated during my stay in Jeddah and Oxford. The first meeting for this would be held on coming Friday, subsequently followed definitely, InshaAllah, by actions and realisations that could easily make me fill all my time, fruitfully, hopefully.

I need prayers from all.