By Maisarah Armas
GOMBAK, 3 October 2018: Habiburrahman El-Shirazy, the writer of “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”, popularly known as Kang Abik, conducted a class on writing and held a book review session on of his “Ayat Ayat Cinta 2” last Friday (30 Sept).
The event was part of the programmes in conjunction with the Indonesian Day celebration, organised by the Indonesian Students Association (PPI-IIUM) at Mini Auditorium and Experimental Hall.
“Writing is an important way to make people smarter as Prophet Muhammad S.A.W and His companion did a lot of writing during that time,” Kang Abik said.
Kang Abik outlined six steps on how to write a best seller novel. “The first step is that the writer should have enough materials to write, including who, what, when, where, and why. Next, make a small note. Then, start to write. Follow up with table of contents. Furthermore, create the content chapter by chapter. After that, review what you have written.”
The session continued with a book review of “Ayat-Ayat Cinta 2”. Kang Abik said, “It was very hard to write the sequel for ‘Ayat-Ayat Cinta 2’. But I ended up writing it because of the request from my readers. I considered my writing as my own ‘children’ and I write for the sake of observance and to ask people to worship Allah.”
“I wrote to spread Islamic teaching in a different way, through books,” Kang Abik added. ***