By Atiqah Ismail
The exact word to describe this young man is ‘extraordinary’. His deep passion towards knowledge and literature has brought him to become a writer. He started out as a blogger. Hafizul Faiz, 23, is currently a final year Bachelor of Arabic Language student at IIUM. His talent in writing is undoubted since several of his works have been published and became bestsellers among the books in MPH such as Travelog Budak Mentah (Raw Boy) and Travelog Isnin dan Rabu Bersama Bro. Sham (Monday and Wednesday with Bro Sham). Hafizul has also become an inspiration among young writers to gain knowledge, at the same time to polish their writing skills.
Furthermore, Hafizul is also friendly among his friends, juniors and even his lecturers. Because of his approachable nature, people can easily discuss and share anything about life with him. After having a sharing session with others, he will normally write what he got from them in the form of a poem, article or letter to be saved.
When he was around 7 years old, he did not even know how to write. There was a time, when he saw his mother writing a doa in the beautiful Jawi writing. At that moment, he started to observe and learn how to write from his mother. His father, however, did not know how to write until he reached forty years old.
Being the youngest child from the sweetest couple in the village, he did not have any chance to see the reality of writing world. But he loved to see the natural environment in his village which has inspired him. As a boy growing up in his village he did not miss his childhood time by socialising with the other villagers and playing a variety of games with his friends such as going into the forest, bathing in the river, and playing in the rain. He believed his close relationship with the natural environment is a key to his success today.
When he was around 10 years old, his elder sister bought him a small note book. He used it as his diary. He loved to write anything that he felt and thought. He wrote what his heart whispered. So, writing became a routine for him. He used simple words of Bahasa Melayu in his diary.
He spent his secondary school time in Maktab Mahmud Sik, Kedah, but felt empty and lost his freedom. Maktab Mahmud is located in Kedah which was originally named Madrasah Al-Infitah Al-Khairiyah. The school is located on a hill above a granary, facing a river and behind the school is another hill, Bukit Enggang, which became a place that inspired Hafizul Faiz to write.
He missed seeing his village and playing around his village. To replace the emptiness, he continuously wrote his diary to express what he felt until he was in the fifth form. The diary became a close friend for him.
Besides that, the moments that he loved remembering is his village, and living within forty houses, and every Ramadan, the villagers would rotate the schedule to provide a meal. In his village, the river with a width of 5 to 6 meters has become a centre for villagers since the river flows from the top to the bottom of the village. So, they are living along the river and sometimes they will bathe in that river as well. There are also rubber trees and they are living at the foot of the hill. All villagers depend on rubber trees as their main source of income. The location of the village makes the villager dependent and familiar with one another.
When he was in form 3, he was introduced to new technology at his school which is a computer. His teacher only allowed a few students who knew how to use the computer. He actually did not know how to turn on the computer until his cousin taught him to do so. So, he became one of the students who was able to use the computer. At that moment, the internet was also accessible so his cousin had suggested to him to create his own blog. So, during his free time, he went out to the market to access the internet and update his blog about himself. The blog has become a second diary to him right now.
Furthermore, during form 4, his teacher, Ustaz Taufik Ismail, appointed him as the chief editor for their first school magazine. He had been asked to write a creative material to be included in that magazine. Besides, he was appointed as secretary for Badan Dakwah dan Kebajikan (preaching and welfare bodies) in his school because he knew how to use Microsoft and make a paper work. He had also been instructed to produce school bulletin like a zine (small magazine). Fifty percent of the content of school bulletin was prepared by Hafizul Faiz which included short stories, articles and poetry. He did not put his real name, his nickname was Ryu Watanabe. So, everyone in school was so impressed with his writing skills. Since that day, he realised his deep passion and talent in writing. It started with the inspiration from the natural environment in his village.
He also had a love story during his secondary school. At that moment, he used a letter to express his feeling to that girl he liked but his teacher knew about them. So, he decided to stop to send any letter. The most unexpected thing was while his teacher used his words in that letter to be read in their school, there were people using his words and wrote them in wedding invitations. It was so funny!
The phase of his life began to change when he entered Matriculation IIUM, Nilai, he was shocked by the culture in IIUM because he started to see the real world. One day, his English lecturer asked his class to create a blog and write English story. After his lecturer knew that Hafizul already has his own blog account, everyone started to know him as a blogger because his lecturer told others that he has a blog since he was in form 4. In his blog, he wrote about his personal life and expresses his deep feeling.
The turning point that changed his life was when he had been introduced by his friend to a woman who just finished her studies in Australia, Nuraini Ruzi, or her nickname in writing is Thoyba Murshidah. Hafizul called her Kak Aini and Kak Aini was one of the participants of Minggu Menulis Remaja (Youth Writer Week) 2009, organised by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. While, he was chatting with Kak Aini through Yahoo Messenger and Kak Aini offered him to join Minggu Menulis Remaja (Youth Writer Week) 2011 with his other friend from IIUM, Fakhratu Naimah Muhad. From that moment, he learned to develop his skills in writing. After that, he officially participated in the writing world. At that time, he was 19 years old.
In 2012, the executive of Kemilau Publika Publisher, En. Masri Abu Soed, proposed to compile all his stories in his blog in the form of a book. From that moment, his life changed from a blogger to a writer. He did not expect such a thing to happen to him. So, his first book was Travelog Budak Mentah (Raw boy) and later Travelog Isnin dan Rabu bersama Bro. Sham (Monday and Wednesday with Bro. Sham). A year after that, his short story entitled Jeruk Kemaman that was analyzed by S.M.Zakir had been published by Tunas Cipta afterwards.
When he was in his second year at IIUM, he was chosen by Institut Terjemahan Buku Malaysia, to go to London for 10 days with other friends. He could never imagine his writing from his childhood brought him to the different world, the United Kingdom. He also won second place in Academic Arts that was organized by Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka (DBP). Recently, he managed to publish his first poetry book entitled Kau Menjadi Kata-Kata yang Tak Sempat Ku Baca (You become words that I can’t read)
Thus, writing has become the soul of Hafizul Faiz. That is how the natural environment has fascinated him to become a writer from a blogger until today.
Moreover, Hafizul Faiz, a strong-willed man, has put some great inspirations to push him to the limits which are Faisal Tehrani, Hafizulloved on Tehrani’s early works; secondly, Dr. Maza, he learned the way Dr. Maza wrote an article; Ustaz Pahrol Mohd Juoi, his teacher; and lastly Buya Hamka, because his words always pierced people’s soul.
On the other hand, Hafizul Faiz also created a small group in IIUM, Buku Kampus which includes around ten to fifteen persons who share the same passion as him. They have a sharing session and discussion that talk about poetry once a week. For him, Buku Kampus is a platform to consistently talk about poetry. ***