ANOTHER RISDEV GETS GRADE 1 IN VIVA

The RISDEV student himself - Farid Wajdi in action responding to the questions posed to him.

ISDEV received another good news in the arena of viva voce of its RISDEV (ISDEV Postgraduate by Research) student. Farid Wajdi has added the tally to ISDEV records of "Excellent PhD Thesis". He was awarded Grade 1 (the highest scale accorded to by Universiti Sains Malaysia for a viva) by the Board of Examiners during his viva on Friday 20 June 2014 at C06, School of Social Sciences.

ISDEV members strongly behind Farid's back silently pray for Allah SWT for his success during the viva

His viva which was held at 3:00 p.m. on a blessed Friday afternoon saw him defending his PhD thesis on "Undang-Undang, Pentadbiran dan Penguatkuasaan Logo Halal di Indonesia: Kajian Kes di Sumatera Utara" (The Laws, Administration and Enforcement of Halal Logo in Indonesia: Case Study of North Sumatera) with a very cool, calm and collected disposition. The Board of Examiners unanimously agreed that his PhD thesis deserved a nomination as an excellent PhD thesis.

Professor Dr. Abdullah @ Alwi (3rd from right) posing some questions to Farid.

The Board of Examiners consisted of the Chairperson, Professor Dr. Rozhan Mohammed Idrus from the School of Distance Education, USM, external examiner, Professor Dr. Abdullah @ Alwi Hj. Hassan from Open University Malaysia and two internal examiners who were Dr. Zahri Hamat and Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad. In the meantime Dr. Mohd. Zaini Abu Bakar represented the Dean of School of Social Sciences while his main supervisor, Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh and co-supervisor, Dr Zakaria Bahari were also present.

A day that Farid Wajdi will definitely remember. He (seated second from right)
took a photo with his Board of Examiners moments after his excellent results were announced.

As the  culture in ISDEV prior to any viva, there are two routines that are strictly adhered to prepare students spiritually, emotionally, physically as well as intellectually. First is a mock viva which is usually held on the eve of the viva. For Farid, his mock viva was held on the Thursday morning at the University Conference Hall (DPU).

The mock viva in session at DPU

The second routine is performing the nawafil solat hajat congregationally amongst ISDEV members. Members would congregate in the morning at 8.30 a.m. of the viva day at Masjid Al-Malik Khalid to perform the solat hajat together with a focussed intention of seeking Allah SWT help to guide the RISDEV student who is sitting for his viva later that day.

This culture was upheld in the morning of Farid's viva. ISDEV members were seen at the masjid grounds as early as 8:00 a.m. The imam for the solat hajat is usually the RISDEV candidate himself. This holds true even in the case of Farid Wajdi, as he was the one who led the solat hajat that day.

 Farid (right) before leading the solat hajat expressing his requests to ISDEV members to ask Allah SWT to pass him if it is good for Islam, himself, family, and the ummah, and ease him in his viva for the sake of Allah SWT.

With these two routines in place that makes up part of the ISDEV viva culture, and the viva that took place thereafter it was indeed heart-warming to hear Farid's declaration to all those present, that with this gift of passing his viva, he intends to waqf (endowed) part of his life in educating and instilling the importance of a halal lifestyle to Muslims all over the world in general and in Indonesia in particular.