Assalaamu ‘Alaykum, may the peace of Allah be upon you.
Welcome to my humble virtual abode.
Take a seat, the coffee is brewing.
(Your choices are gourmet or Turkish. Instant is a profanity.)
Why is this the Beginning in the Middle? I first hopped online back in 1996 in Auckland, New Zealand (reminisce that nostalgic tone of a 33.6kbps modem dialing in to the ISP) , and I began experimenting with creating web pages on the free platforms Angelfire, Tripod and GeoCities, and the now defunct Xoom and FortuneCity. Ever since then, having a website has been a quiet hobby, something I dabbled at for a few months in a year, and in retrospect, it seems like I used that time mostly to experiment with various web development techniques.
Over the years, as my web development experience flourished, my websites took on various flavours depending on my time constraints and what I was actively doing at that time. For example, I experimented with DHTML and CSS before the days of Ajax. I also dabbled with a full Flash website, and while it didn’t last very long, it was a great learning curve that equipped me with design skills that came in handy during my IT degree.
Another example is this website, which began life during my university years to serve as the online front for my part-time IT services and mobile phone repair business. It stayed that way for almost five years. It then became the access point for MeemStream, which is an ad-hoc community online radio station for anaasheed (Islamic devotional songs), community lectures, and live audio streaming of community prayers and events.
When people asked me about web development, I would claim to enjoy it, hinting at my ability to swiftly develop and deploy a PHP-based site that interfaces with a MySQL database. But was I actually passionate about it? Where was the proof?
In the background during that time, I created the original website for MSA-UQ, and assisted my brother with various other development projects for organisations such as the Muslim Business Network, Muslim Charitable Foundation, MSA-QUT, and AMARAH, most of whom have now switched to more contemporary designs with other developers. Each task taught me something, even if it was just a better way to do something I already knew. I was up to any challenge and would not spare any resource available to me.
But if we fast forward to late 2013, and despite all of above, I still felt a certain yearning, poking me at the back of my head, tugging at heartstrings that seemed to have collected a few cobwebs, and this I interpreted to be a lack of contentment with what I was claiming to be part of my identity. I felt I had failed to use my web development skills to express how much I enjoyed it. In summary, I had finally realised what most recognised talented people are born with: the ability to create something that, if not intended to directly express their opinions or ideas, nevertheless expresses an integrated view of their personality, their mode of life, their wavelength, their excitement — their passion.
It became apparent that my devotion needed to be spread evenly across what I do and how I do it, with a focus on balancing the effort allocated to each. All of a sudden, flashing before my eyes, I saw routine, mundane tasks being beautified by the unique way in which people performed them, so much so that the tasks themselves, no matter how menial or boring, appeared as works of art. In the process of doing things with excellence and dedication, people used these tasks as a communication medium to explain who they are, and what they’re on about. As the legendary scholar, jurist, poet and sage Maulana Rumi so eloquently said:
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
So here I am, in January 2014, turning meem.com.au into a portal for you to see into my mind, with one sole purpose: mutual benefit. Take what you can from it, make of it what you will, share the good things, and help improve the weaknesses. This is the Beginning in the Middle – the middle of life, perhaps, and the beginning of my unique contribution to the world via the World Wide Web.
I’m Muhammad Khatree, a Muslim IT professional living in Brisbane, Australia, with a serious passion for electronics, computers, Arabic calligraphy, and coffee & tea brewing. I enjoy roaming the outdoors, community work, and seeking sacred knowledge. I value quiet moments and time alone.
What is your story? Where is your true beginning?
Wassalaam (with peace),
Mk:.