Those were the times before I returned home to Penang from Singapore back in 1986 and got married in 1987.

Myself when I was working at Sykt.Haji S. Abdul Wahab Jewellers at KOMTAR, Penang

You can read about how I got involved in Islamic Dakwah activities here, here and here.

I miss my Dakwah Walkabout’s with my fellow Da’ee’s in Penang. We used to go through the streets of the City of Georgetown, Penang with our brochures and pamphlets sharing info about Islam. We used to meet and greet the tourists and travelers coming from all over the world and invite them to visit our masjid.

Many of them would take us up, on our invitation and turn up the next day at the Masjid Kapitan Keling.

We would invite them in, give them robes to wear and cover their modesty if they were inappropriately attired and take time to first explain about what Islam is and what it is not, answer their numerous questions and if they are serious about learning more, guide them towards knowing about their birthright which is to worship None but Allah the Almighty.

Many of them have embraced Islam through the Guidance of Allah and our minuscule efforts. Alhamdulillah!

Myself in blue jubah and checkered turban, handing out informative leaflets on Islam to a Finnish tourist at Chulia Street, Georgetown, Penang circa 1988.

[Left to right : Haji Yassin,  Haji Kamaruddin Abdullah, Haji Abdurraheem, Haji Zainol Abideen]

I am now living in Bandar Tun Razak, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur since 2001 after starting a new life with a new wife in 2002.

I worked in the Gold & Diamonds Jewelry trade, continuing my career in the business which I had worked in Penang.

I then moved on to the General Insurance business and after qualifying in both the General and Life Insurance exams, started my own general insurance agency which after finding the market too saturated with insurance agents everywhere decided to venture into the Canadian Landbanking business.

It was tough, trying to sell Canadian real estate to our Malaysian investors and I managed to sell a couple of acres of land to a single Malaysian investor. Many of the millionaires I approached simply were so just in name and just didn’t have the extra smackeroos to invest in real estate overseas.

Luckily, the investor I had sold the Canadian lands to managed to make a substantial profit in his landbanking and that was that. No other clients because every other person I had approached said they didn’t have the capital needed to invest and the Landbanking Company soon closed shop here and transferred their operations from Malaysia and moved all activities to Singapore where there are wealthier clients.

I started The Muslim Bloggers Alliance with the help of a few likeminded Muslim bloggers in 2008 and have been hosting the site on my own after our webmaster Brother Abdylas Tynyshov who helped start up the site out of his own expenses transferred control over its administration to me as he was busy with his studies.

It is our online Dakwah effort to share useful articles and news about Islam from those who have registered with us. I try my best to keep the site up to date but find it hard to do so as most of those who are registered have been quite busy with their work and life as well. I pay for the domain renewals out of my own pocket and update the site with relevant content as often as I can and when the members have published anything new and worthwhile to be shared.

I was asked to help set up an internet-based IPTV in 2010 and upon successfully setting up the station was appointed as a Communications Director with the said TV station. 

Things soured when a batch of ex Television executives joined the startup station and the new CEO took offense to my being a critical blogger taking the government to task over its shortfalls. I was given an ultimatum. Stop blogging if I wanted to remain there or quit.

I did the latter.

I then started to learn script writing and took part in a couple of workshops organized by FINAS. I learned how to write scripts for Film and Television Drama. I am still researching and studying content for two titles. Namely ‘Dilemma Syaitan’ and ‘Kembara Sufi’. Both based on Islamic Cinema content.

I also learned Script Writing for Documentaries. I aim to produce a documentary on Islamic Knowledge and Malaysia’s Muslims ~ Between Culture and Religious Practices.

In 2011, I was asked if I wanted to be part of the official Media Team covering the Hajj and naturally I accepted. I got to perform my Hajj and cover the pilgrimage at the same time! Alhamdulillah!

I sensed that working on my own was the best thing for me to do and chose to work using my abilities in the field of academic program consulting and writing services.

I am now Self-Employed, working as a Translator, Editor, Proofreader and Script Writer at my own Writing Services at www.readnwrite.net.

This is my acting workshop class. The short stint was about a Mamak, married to a Sabahan, and the husband was calling out to his wife, asking whether she had cooked anything? The wife was saying that the stingy husband had not given money to buy groceries. There was also a drought. Water shortage. Add drama to the whole episode! 😛 Talk about stereotyping the ‘Mamak Kudukut’ lah! 😀

I took part in an Acting Workshop at Galeri Perfileman FINAS under the tutelage of renowned Malaysian actor Hilal Azman in May, 2014 and after successfully graduating in that acting workshop have been offered to act as an Archaeologist in ‘The Chini Saga‘ an up and coming mostly CGI film project due to start shooting by December 2014 and scheduled to begin filming in several countries.

Reason for my wanting to enter the Malaysian Creative Film and TV Drama industry is because I want to explore the possibility of carrying out Islamic Dakwah efforts through the cinema and television medium.

Those of us who are in the ‘Calling to Islam‘ efforts as commanded by Allahu Ta’ala in Surah An Nahl Chapter 16 Verse 125:

May Allah bless and guide us all.


Ameen.

Haji Zainol Abideen @ Blogger Mahaguru58.