Last night, i received a text message telling me that we have just lost one prominent faculty member, Prof. Madya Dr. Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid. He died due to brain hemorrhage as a result of him slipping down from his own home water tank. He intended to do the DIY on the water tank himself but at the detriment of his own life. I was really, really saddened by the loss. Even though I have not known him for a long time, it was enough for us to share some good laughs together.
He was responsible for the creation of Muslims in Space, a tool to assist in determining the prayers time as well as the qiblah (kaabah orientation) while in outer space. Such was a brilliant discovery in time with the first malaysian space voyage program where Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was selected among thousands of malaysian applicants to join the russian astronaut team to be trained as the first malaysian astronaut.
Dr.Zainol has left such an important legacy which in turn would be an inspiration for muslims worldwide for further aerospace explorations without neglecting the islamic practice.
Below is his last email to all of us engineering faculty members:
TiungSAT-1 tidak berkubur, now is orbiting to death (possibly reentry and burst sometimes in the near future), battery has malfunction.
We have gain a lot of knowledge and experiences through TiungSAT-1.Not only the team has benefitted from the program, many universities and school has incorporated and activitely involved in space activities, the Malaysian public are now aware of the space program. The TiungSAT-1 programme has enable Malaysian to embark with confident into the challenging space technologies and business.
There are a lot of publications in local and international conferences and journals by Malaysian on the space technology.
Innosat is the programme that bridge the industry (ATSB) and universities into long-term programme for educating, training, critical mass development, and knowledge development in space programe.
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About 30mins after that heartfelt text message, i received another one and this time bearing a good news from my friend, Azizah, who has just given birth to a healthy baby boy, weighing 3.0kg at Hospital Serdang. She was already at 5.0cm dilation when she got admitted to the hospital, a week earlier to her predicted due. The second baby delivery experience for her was much more easier than her first born.
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One man gone, another man is born. Still, Dr.Zainol will be terribly missed. May he rest in peace with a lot of blessings during this holy month of Ramadhan.
This morning, we received another news that AlMarhum Dr.Zainol's head of department, Professor Azah has just lost her mother. Two losses in that Electrical, Electronic and System Engineering department in less than two days.
Additional info: For those in Malaysia who are available on the 27 Oct, 3 Nov and 24 Nov, you can watch a program entitled "Ilmuan Islam" on TV3 that will feature Dr.Zainol.
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Monday also the day we lost one of the brilliant british snooker players, Paul Hunter, who died of some sort of a rare stomach cancer called neuro endocrine. Known for his sleek and flamboyant appearance and sporting shoulder length blonde lock, the Yorkshire man (he was from Leeds) has left a hole in the professional snooker arena. He was given a year out to undergo the cancer treatment last July but unfortunately, he did not survive that long. Hunter leaves a wife and a daughter, who was born nearly 9 months after he was diagnosed with the disease in March 2005.
This is really devastating, especially as most of the snooker players are down right fuddy duddy fellas, with only few exceptions: the late Paul Hunter himself and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Not only that, both these two fellas are also very cheeky and creative on the snooker table with their spontaneous ability to perform some "daredevil stunts" with their cue sticks.
As shocking as it is, he will always be remembered as one of the great snooker legends for many more years to come.
7 comments:
What a loss! Al fatehah. The Muslim world has indeed lost a great person.
And congratulations to Azizah. Is she the one who studied in London and was living in the block of flats opposite Hammersmith Hospital?
Yes, Kak Teh, he was also very much involved in the National Space Agency Institute locally known as Angkasa headed by Datuk Dr. Mazlan Othman (pengarah planetarium negara). I met the latter and she looked prettier in real life.
You have guessed it right :-) Yeah, she was.
Al Fatihah to them both who had passed on to Rahmatullah.
By the way, never knew that a day lasts 90 minutes in outer space. Interesting... And congrats to the winner whom I believe is a doctor at HUKM. Another good reputation is added to UKM's portfolio.
Why am I not surprised that the cute doctor wins?
Al-Fatihah for the recently-departed ones.
Abdun,
How coincidental is that? I hope that Sheikh fella acknowledges such legacy.
Pugly,
A nice union of brain and brawn. Lets hope he does have a great attitude to match.
(PS: He probably charmed some people's pants off to get selected apart from his mental strategies. I wondered why didn't they show such selecting process on the telly. Too confidential ke ape?)
Dr. Zainol (Allahyarhamhu) was my master supervisor and PhD supervisor (for 3 months ONLY!). I was in shocked when I received news of his death. He came to the lab almost every day during Ramadan. May Allah S.W.T. place him amongst the pious people.
farah hani,
It was nothing but great shock and huge loss for us all. Those who knew him personally are those who were very much affected by it. I am sorry to know that you have to suffer for such consequences. Inshallah you may breeze smoothly throughout your PhD endeavours but with a different supervision all together.
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