Monday, August 13, 2007
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11:24 PM
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A name is something that you live by for the rest of your life. It's something that one are labelled with. I grew up having a dislike to my name. Heck, I disliked practically everything about myself when growing. Firstly its a name that non-native tongues find difficult to articulate. So, I would have to correct whenever someone tries to pronounce my name. For the last time, it's pronounced as (feer-da-os). Feer as in can you feel the feer. Da as in da(h). Os as in, not 1 O but 2 O's. Most of the times, I would not really bother. As long as it sounds okay to me.
With this name, I learnt to facilitate my teachers whenever they are checking for attendence. I would memorize whose name was before me and raise my hand when the teacher tried to say out my name. I know they appreciate that.
Didnt help either that there are 83749256 other Firdauses around. There's always another Firdaus around somewhere wherever I go.
As a kid, I found that the name was not funky enough. I felt it was old fashioned. I grew out of that phase and learnt to appreciate the name that my parents gave me when I learnt the meaning of my name. I also had an assumption that my name was spelled wrongly as I had a classmate named Firdhaus. In arabic, its the the letter dha instead of dal. Well, for all the Firdhauses out there, tough luck. You got your name spelled wrongly. I checked, that's not how it is spelled in the Quran. Having said that, I just checked my jawi(sort of arabic) spelling on my IC and realised that my jawi spelling is so wrong.
For those not in the know, Firdaus is the name of one of the heavens. I let that be a motivation in my life for the after-life. My name is Firdaus and it's a beautiful name. I recently found out from a Nigerian friend that Firdaus is a common name for the fairer gender in Nigeria. Well, I am still Firdaus and happy with it.
With this name, I learnt to facilitate my teachers whenever they are checking for attendence. I would memorize whose name was before me and raise my hand when the teacher tried to say out my name. I know they appreciate that.
Didnt help either that there are 83749256 other Firdauses around. There's always another Firdaus around somewhere wherever I go.
As a kid, I found that the name was not funky enough. I felt it was old fashioned. I grew out of that phase and learnt to appreciate the name that my parents gave me when I learnt the meaning of my name. I also had an assumption that my name was spelled wrongly as I had a classmate named Firdhaus. In arabic, its the the letter dha instead of dal. Well, for all the Firdhauses out there, tough luck. You got your name spelled wrongly. I checked, that's not how it is spelled in the Quran. Having said that, I just checked my jawi(sort of arabic) spelling on my IC and realised that my jawi spelling is so wrong.
For those not in the know, Firdaus is the name of one of the heavens. I let that be a motivation in my life for the after-life. My name is Firdaus and it's a beautiful name. I recently found out from a Nigerian friend that Firdaus is a common name for the fairer gender in Nigeria. Well, I am still Firdaus and happy with it.
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Firdaus
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3 comments:
Nice name you have there, Firdaus
Hello from one Firdaus to another. I totally relate to everything you have written.. and to add to my dilemma, i am a female, and 99.9% of all the Firdaus'ses ive have come across in real life or internet spelt like our name.. is a Male. I am presuming you are a male too..
I've always known the meaning of Firdaus, but few years ago wanted to know exactly in what context it is used in the quran, and i found this in my searches online..
The Prophet said, "... There are one-hundred degrees in Paradise which Allah has prepared for those who carry on Jihad in His Cause. The distance between every two degrees is like the distance between the sky and the Earth, so if you ask Allah for anything, ask Him for the Firdaus, for it is the last part of Paradise and the highest part of Paradise, and at its top there is the Throne of Beneficent, and from it gush forth the rivers of Paradise." (hadith 9.93.519)
@Nadiah Alwi; thanks
@Webgrrl.Biz; I've been told by a Nigerian acquaintance that it's a girl's name from where he comes from. Thanks for the sharing. May we get paradise... Amin
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