Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Last Sunday, 17th May 2009, I was asked to attend a Marriage Seminar at Masjid Al-Mawaddah as part of my reporting duties as an intern here at Islamicevents.sg. Imagine my embarassment when I called to register and after giving my details, the lady on the phone proceeded to ask “Okay. Nama pasangan?” which translates to mean “Partner’s name?”. I stuttered for a bit and said that I was going on behalf of Islamicevents.sg and was it okay if I came alone? She hesitated and went on to say “I guess it’s okay.” I couldn’t help but feel her overwhelming pity pouring towards me.

As I made my way towards the mosque, I prayed and hoped and wished that there wouldn’t be “Couple Games” and that the seating arrangement would not allow couples to sit together. No, let me rephrase that: that the seating arrangement was such that ladies was on one side and men on the other. (I don’t sound so bitter that way.)

Alhamdulillah, to my grandest relief, although couples did sit together, I was not the only soloist there. There were mother-daughter pairs even! Others came with girl friends or their siblings. Some came as a family. MasyaAllah. Either they had come to the wrong venue, or they really wanted their kids to prepare early.

Either way, I enjoyed myself at the seminar. The speaker was none other than Mohd Khair himself – the man behind Suchi Success. He was entertaining, engaging and candid. He made attendees feel at ease with his easy-going demeanor and humorous jabs.

Since it was not a marriage preparatory course but just a short seminar on marriage, Mohd Khair could not dwell too long on the topics, although we would have loved it if he did. He talked about having love for Allah and the Prophet SAW and loving your spouse for Allah’s sake. He made many social commentaries on the couples and families that he has met along his journey and he meted out advices with regards to marriage and also parenting.

At the end of the seminar (which truly ended too soon), he made many of us blush (or maybe it was just me) while he asked us to look through a list of 60 activities that you could/should do with your spouse and tick those that you had done. Some of those included sleeping naked under the blanket with your spouse, taking a bath together and lying on your spouse’s lap. While I sat there twirling my pen, the boxes remain unchecked, Mohd Khair told us that all 60 activities were taken from sound ahadith! Having heard that, I looked through the list again and could only come to this conclusion: The Prophet SAW was indeed a most romantic man.

One of those in the list of 60 was “pinching your wife’s nose when she is angry”. The lucky woman who got her nose pinched by the Prophet SAW was Sayyidatina A’isha RA. Reading that, I melted and wondered how anyone could remain angry if someone came up to you and pinched your nose.

Of course, on hindsight, it really depends on who is pinching…

Anyway, you might like to check out the Kasih Sejati website, which is a brainchild of Mohd Khair and his wife Suriati Abdullah. There are a lot of tips and articles for a healthy, successful marriage and also the upcoming events by Suchi Success.

Ameera Begum Aslam

Seminar Perkahwinan: Demi Cintaku Padamu… 17 May 2009, 2PM – 4PM Venue: Al-Mawaddah MosqueDetails» Organiser: JPM Sengkang