WEEK 12: OVERCOMING CHALLENGES IN GROUP WORK

 

    Assalamualaikum and Hi to the readers. We are already in Week 12, and Semester 2 is soon to finish. As mentioned in the previous week's blog, we do have several problems arrive. However, we have managed to solve it. From the three topics that we suggested, we have chosen one of the topics that are quite similar to the topic that we will be doing. The topic that we chose is Effective Approach Toward Waste Management. We try to find a topic that is suitable and fits all the SMART criteria. We also have sought help from our SCSH lecturer, Dr. Izyani and we have made the discussions through online meeting via Zoom meeting. We ask our lecturer's advice and ask her opinion on our three topics at the early stage of this project. After the meeting, we also have made some discussions within ourselves to conclude our final topic and the topic is as written above. We also chose this project based on the things that happen in our surroundings, especially at our mahallah's waste management. Our project also included the distribution of Google Forms to conduct a survey for research on Waste Management in IIUM. For the report of this project, we have divided the parts according and each member of our group will do 1-2 parts of the parts from the full report. After all the work, one of our group representatives emailed the full report to our lecturer, Dr Izyani. I think that is all I would like to share in this blog session, Thank you for your time!

WEEK 11: CHALLENGES IN GROUP PROJECT

 Assalamualaikum everyone. We are already in Week 11, and everything is happening quite quickly lately. This week, and the week before, we have been discussing our group project. It is also nice to be knowing everyone in my group and everyone is really participating in this group discussion. We were still discussing the topic that we're gonna do for our project. We have to make sure the topic that we are choosing is sustainable enough and doable. The topic also needs to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound). We find it difficult to find a topic that can fit all of these criteria. When we have a topic that is quite interesting, it sometimes doesn't fit the SMART criteria. At the beginning of the discussion, we brainstormed some of the project ideas. After that, we have come out with 3 different topics before we do our finalisation on what topic to be chosen. However, during the process of coming out with the topic, we faced several challenges. One of the challenges that we faced in this group project is that we don't fully understand what type of topic we are supposed to do. It is because we don't really have a vision of what thing that we want to do. After that, to erh challenge is that, we were a little bit confused about what type of SDG goals that are achieved based on the topics that we chose. Another challenge that we got is that we cannot finalise one of the three topics that we want to do before we discuss it with our lecturer, Dr. Izyani. 

    

     For this week's blog, that is all that I want to share about my group project's progress with my member. That's all and I hope to write a new blog soon, InsyaAllah! Stay safe everyone. 

WEEK 9: CIRCULAR ECONOMY

 

    Assalamualaikum, before we start, let us first acknowledge What is Circular Economy? So, the circular economy is an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable or environmentally, friendly way.  The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. Therefore, after diving a little bit into what a circular economy is, I do agree the circular economy might be able to solve the world's mounting waste problem. Since circular economy aims to turn all wastes into a resource by reintroducing them into the production cycle instead of product disposal at the end of their useful life. As well as creating new opportunities for growth, a more circular economy will reduce waste, and drive greater resource productivity. 

    

    There are a few examples of how circular economy is being ti applied to the real world. One of the examples is the Danish deposit and return system for recycling drink cans and bottles. This has the benefit which producing cans from recycled materials using 95% less energy than virgin materials. The next example is the recycling of artificial turf. Every artificial turf pitch that is recycled by Re-Match results in a saving of 400 tonnes of CO2, when compared to incineration, which is equivalent to 1.4 million plastic bags, or 250 tonnes of waste. The other example is a closed loop in reuse packaging-as-service. The reuse packaging-as-service offers a new circular consumption model, which reduces packaging and waste, thus encompassing the potential to reduce CO2, emissions by up to 60% when compared to single-use packaging. In conclusion, a circular economy can be able to reduce waste in the world. That is all for this blog this time!

WEEK 7: THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUALS IN ADVANCING SDG

 

            Assalamualaikum and Hi guys, I will give several of my opinions on my own role in achieving the SDGs for this blog. For the intro, let me describe a little bit about SDG. So, what is SDG actually? The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated- they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in other, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. One of the roles that I can do is achieve role no 6 which is clean water and sanitation. For this goal, I can save water and most importantly not waste clean water. We should not be greedy and wasteful for our own desire and instead needs to have some accountability toward others' needs. Other than that, I would think also that I can achieve goal 2 of the SDG which is Zero Hunger. What I think I can do to achieve this goal is I can start a small charity and collect money from people once a year. The money that has been collected will be used to provide food to places where people are struggling with food especially places that are in rural areas where food aid is hard to get. I think that I and other students have an important role in achieving the SDG as we are the young generations that going to continue what the older generations have left for us. Other than that, I also think that I need to be a wiser person in using the energy that is being consumed. I have counted my ecological footprint but I don't really sure if it is accurate since I do not have the accurate answer to some of the questions. My ecological footprint is 10.4 and here I attached the result of the quiz I took to count my ecological footprint.

As for this blog, that is all that I would like to share. See you in the next blog!

WEEK 5 : MAQASID AL-SYARIAH

        Assalamualaikum, in this blog, I would like to discuss the topic of Maqasid Al-Syariah. I don't know what Maqasid Al-Shariah really is. After doing a little bit of research on its term, my brain cells started to connect, and what I can say in my understanding is that Maqasid Al-Shariah is the reason or aim why something that being demanded in Shariah law. It also refers to the purpose, objective, intent, principle or goal behind Islamic rulings, the WHY behind our actions. There are 5 principles of Maqasid Al Shariah which are the preservation of Faith, Wealth, Life, Lineage and Intellect.

    The implementation of Maqasid Syariah is quite vital for us to be better Muslims in our daily life. One of the applications that I have seen in my own is the preservation of faith. When I was younger, my father encouraged my siblings and me to pray. When I grew up older, he also encouraged us to do Tahajjud, Dhuha and other Sunnah prayers. Even though we did not do the Sunnah prayer every day, this encouragement from your parents can preserve your faith as a Muslim because praying can make us closer to Allah despite guarding our beliefs and avoid deviation from our faith. On the campus itself, I can see the preservation of lineage. On campus, we are highly encouraged to dress appropriately and cover our aura in a way that can avoid men's gaze. There are men and women on the campus who also based on my view, take care of their manners and don't interfere too much with one another and most of them are just in their own group of girls or boys. This indirectly helps them to avoid approaching Zina. I also can see the preservation of faith in this campus being applied. Especially, most of the lectures from the class that I enter will encourage us to recite our doa before the class begin. This shows how we should always have Allah in everything that we did in our lives and eventually can increase our faith and taqwa to Allah SWT.

    I'm not very knowledgeable about this particular topic but I hope the person who reads it can get some of the knowledge and information that I would like to share with you about this topic. Hope you stay tuned for my next blog :)

WEEK 4: AVOIDING FOOD WASTAGE

    

     Assalamualaikum and Hi. For this blog, as per the title, I'll be discussing avoiding food wastage. From my point of view, food wastage is when we throw food when we can't finish consuming it. To be honest, I might not be the right person to give my opinion on this as I also act like wasting my food and I must admit, it is not the right thing to do. As in Islam, food is sustenance from Allah SWT and we should not be wasting it but instead, be grateful for what we got. This blog is written during Ramadan month and I want like to take some scenarios that happen during it. During this holy month, most Muslims usually will go to Bazaar Ramadan and they tend to be a little over-excited when buying the food sold there. However, at the end of the day, they tend to be unable to finish the food. Sadly some of the food that is not even touched will be thrown in the trash. Therefore, avoiding food waste must be a habit or an act a person must do.

    I don't know what's the correct way of avoiding food wastage. However, sometimes, I don't like throwing my food away when it is not finished. One of the tips is, for example, when I bought fried rice with some tom yum and I'm unable to finish it, I fill in both food into containers separately. On the next day, you can eat your food again as breakfast. Also, you can invest in a little high-quality food container, where you can just pop the food container into the oven and reheat it just like that and you can enjoy your meal while it is still hot. 

    Other than that, we can also donate some of the food that is not finished. For example, during Ramadan, if there is still food left (not the food that you already bite), such as fritters or karipap,  you can donate it to the mosque when you go for your Tarawih prayer. It is because based on what I observe at the mosque near my house, they usually have some food for the people to take after their prayers. Apart from avoiding wasting food, we also share our sustenance with other Ummah. 

    Apart from that, I also have done some reading on how to avoid food wastage. One of them is taking inventory before you go to the store to buy food and taking stock of your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to prevent overbuying. This will help us buy things that we already have especially food such as vegetables as it easily turns bad and does not last long. Another tip that I would like to share that I have gained from a page I've read, is about storing your bread in the freezer. It will stay fresh and mould-free.

    Another tip is that we can compost the leftover food. Even food such as vegetable peels doesn't have to go to waste. Backyard composting is a good way to keep food waste out of landfills and provide nutrition for your garden. You can use a small composting container. Other than that, you might want to invest in buying a small kitchen decomposer if you have a higher budget. You can just throw all the food waste in there, and it can turn waste into compost. In the end, we must take this issue seriously and participate to avoid food wastage in society within our capabilities.

    

#AvoidFoodWastage

INTRODUCTION

Assalamualaikum. My name is Noor Khadijah Aqilah and I'm currently a student at International Islamic University Malaysia as a Second Semester, First Year Student in Kulliyyah of Economic And Management Sciences. I am currently in the course of a Bachelor of Accounting, but still have some doubts about whether I should change to another course. 

I was born and raised in Kuching, Sarawak. I literally had lived almost my whole life there and it's a new journey for me to live and study here at IIUM Gombak. I am actually quite an introverted person, to be honest, but also quite love talking. I went to a girls' school, St. Mary from Primary 1 to Form 5, and when I was in my Form 6, I went to a boys' school, St. Thomas.

Pursuing my degree at IIUM Gombak is not one of my primary choices at the early of filling up for the UPU course, however, at the last minute, I change my mind and put it among the top choices even though it is not my first choice. When I got the offer to study at IIUM, I think I have mixed feelings about whether I am happy because I will enter an Islamic University or a little sad that I didn't get my first choice. After coming to this University, I'm also feeling sad that I'll be far from my family. However, I am still adapting to my life here and also started to love the Islamic vibe here. Other than it being an Islamic university, I also chose this university because I get to know that in their Mahallah there are also rooms with compartments for each student. I like that we will also get some privacy in our room.

In this current semester, I have added SCSH 1201 as my subject. For this subject, I hope that at end of this semester, I gained something as knowledge that will help me in identifying more about the current issue while also sensitive to what happens in my surroundings on the current issues that are going on in this world. I hope this subject also will interest me to do more readings.

I guess that's all for now as an Introduction. Hope to write more, soon.😉