Sell my dignity? the price is priceless

When we talk dignity, we talk about self valuation or the so called harga diri.

When we have 'harga diri' it means that we can trade our dignity with something...

Just something for us to ponder about.

Allah buys us with heaven...

heaven is priceless!!!

But we tend to sell ourselves to materials... which have prices!!!

But no matter how pricey the material is, its still cheap. Why? because unlike the heaven, jannah, materials don't last forever.

So let's 'sell' ourselves to Allah. I don't mean sell as if 'selling'. I mean submit. Prostrate to Allah...

How? guidelines from our beloved prophet Muhammad pbuh are here to help us 'selling' ourselves to Allah.

1. amalan
2. charities fisabilillah
3. beneficial knowledge...

so money and materials are just tools for me to do these three real business.

It's a simple, clean, peaceful and prosperous way of life isn't it?

This is Islam... a deen that is so beautifull... woe to me that i have missed many chances to embrace this deen full-heartedly during my 20 years duration of life.

Let's Jihad... the Malaysian way

Jihad... its always been associated with guerilla warfare and suicide bombings. Well everybody knows now that that's merely a wrong interpretation of the west. We know that Jihad literally means 'strive to the best'. Its a motivational connotation which applies to every single things that we do. Coincidenytly its the best word to motivate and arouse the spirits of Muslim army during the many wars that Muslims from all ages involved in. Hence the labelling 'jihadist' by the simple-minded westerns for those who strive for their best to defend their land in Palestine and Pattani.

Well, those westerns don't call them jihadists for nothing. They call them jihadist because Muslims fight the parties that colonised them with force. Muslims in Pattani fight the Thai government by force because since 1826 this free Islamic state was colonised by the Siam government. So does the Palestinian. Well, of course our fellow muslims from these region call themselves as 'mujahideen'-loosely translated as jihadist. They do the Jihad their way because they are forced to.

However, our fellow muslims there are keep losing the war. Day by day they are more oppressed no matter how strong their jihad spirits are. More and more Palestinians are killed.

Let's ponder on history for a while. I've been reading the first chapter of a book entitled "Ulama' Dalam Sorotan Perjuangan Kemerdekaan" (Ulama' in the strive for Independence) by Riduan Mohamad Norand Mohd Fadli Ghani. These ulama's histories are covered with their jihad fighting the imperialists by war. Some of them win the war like the Indonesian, Libyan and Sudanese ulama's. But some of them lost the war like those in Pattani. But the winners in Indonesia and Libyan despite of their success in ousting the Dutch and the French, fail to form an Islamic country or a Daulah. The secularist won instead. Libya and Indonesia today is a rather secular country with Islamic movements are being oppressed. The JI in indonesia is a good example. Now as I looked back to these histories I formed a simplistic and biased conclusion that these Mujahideens has failed. Yes, force is an option for them, but they are losing. We muslims are yet to see a living daulah, like the Umayyad, Abassinian and Ottoman empire.

The question is why? Why, despite of our brothers burning jihad spirits fighting the 'ignorance' with force, we are yet to form even a small, succesful daulah?

Because a daulah, an Islamic government cannot be formed through force. For me it can never ever be formed through force. Lets get back to the Quran. Allah's first message in the Quran is "Iqra'". Read. We muslims are told to prioritize knowledge first. Hence that's how our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) spread the message of Islam. By knowledge. By knowledge of tauhid.

The first daulah was not formed by sword's effort. It was formed by the effort of spreading the tauhid knowledge to the people of Madinah. And so forth. The next generations of Muslims are able to topple down the Roman and Persian with the effort of knowledge. Islam became the order of the world because of the muslims ability to master knowledge of various areas.

The world power was held by those who become the master of knowledge. Its the law that Allah has set for us human being. The wests became the world order today because they master knowledge. But how can they become the master of knowledge?

They master knowledge because they have peace. United States of America, France, Italy, Great Britain, Netherland, Belgium, German. These are all peaceful countries. They are peaceful and prosperous, rich! With peace they can expand knowledge. Taking Stephen Hawking for example. There's no way he is able to expand his ideas and knowledge if the British government doesn't have fund to patronize his study. Without funding from a peaceful and prosperous government like Great Britain, there's no way the Big Bang theory can be born.

But, our fellow brilliant brothers in Palestine, Sudan, Indonesia, Pattani doesn't have peace. I believe there are many potential Ibn Sina out there in these countries. Of course there must be one. Indonesia alone has hundreds of millions of muslims. Its impossible that all these hundreds of millions of muslims in Indonesia are the dumbs. Its true that the majority of a society are the dumbs. But there must be geniuses. But they cannot be geniuses because there's no peace in their upbringing place. A brilliant proffesor from Sudan are forced to work here in Malaysia because there's no way he can expand his ideas and knowledge there in Sudan.

Malaysia, unlike Paletine, Sudan, Indonesia and Pattani is a peaceful country. We Malaysians are so proud of this status that we sing it daily in television. But singing alone is not enough. Appreciating it is better. Let's Jihad. No, don't try to topple our beloved Agong the Al-Maunah way. Let's jihad the Malaysian way instead.

Malaysia is a peaceful country. And its quite prosperous too. Therefore as I said before, knowledge can be expanded and mastered if there's peace. Hence our Jihad is to master various areas of knowledge. We should master the Historical knowledge. Get to know the real history of our forefathers. We should master engineering knowledge. Build our own bridges, refinery plants, roads and so forth. We should master biology. Formulate our own medicine, products and so forth. We should master physic. Be the next scientist to expand the Big Bang theory.

This is our Jihad. So to those who claim themselves as dai'e, this is your next job now. Besides spreading the tauhid awareness through programmes and usrahs, jihad yourself to master knowledge of your area of expertise. If you are a medical student, be the best medical student who are able to teach medical knowledge to thousands of other students. If you are a farmer, master the best farming method and share the knowledge to thousand other farmers all around Malaysia. Beside our jihad in spreading the Islamic message, this is also our Jihad! So let's jihad the Malaysian way. Because I see that Malaysia is a bright place to spark the reemergence of a daulah. Happy independence day everyone.

Wallahuallam

How humans need religion and God...

Why do humans need religion? Let us ponder for a while... A man, proclaimed that he is a free thinker, an atheist. He has loudly proclaimed that he does not believe in God. But one day, he went parachuting. He jumped from an airplane at the height of 20000 feet. Suddenly when reaching the correct height that he should open the parachute, his parachute refuse to open. At this moment, he shouted loudly... "Oh My God, oh my God, oh my God!"... then the parachute opened and he safely landed on the ground feeling grateful to God whom he refuse His existence before. Hence an atheist still need God. He still need religion.
Let us now look back at the history. We may want to start with the American history. George Washington, the first president of the United States of America has desinged a secular constitution so strong that after three centuries of America's independence, this country is still a secular country. Nevertheless, no matter how secular America is today's president, Bush won the election because of religion. Bush won because he championed his background as a member of a roman catholic church. People vote for him because of his religous background. Given that bush championed his secular background i doubt that this president will ever reach the White House.
Now lets look at Malaysia, my beloved country. After the independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman was seen as trying to bring Malaya into secularism. This was evident by his action of approving the lotery licence for TOTO, MAGNUM, and many other companies. He also championed the establishment of the casino in Genting Highlands together with his chinese partner. The current site of KLCC was once the site for the horse racing stadium, a betting centre. In those days, women wearing the hijab are absurdities. Even the ustazahs wear the mini scarf while doning a tight kebaya...
Amid this moral downfall of Malaysia's citizen, during the 80's come the islamic awareness wave. This Islamic awareness was championed by several islamic groups like ABIM and Al-Arqam. During those days, ABIM and AL-Arqam was a phenomenon. Their movement was effective that people began to gain great awareness about Islam. Women wearing hijabs are not absurdities anymore. Large crowd flock to Ustaz Ashaari's sermont. Then, Anwar Ibrahim became famous and Mahathir won the UMNO's presidency because he brings in Anwar Ibrahim. My mother who doesn't wear hijab when she first went to the US suddenly don robes and long hijab. She got married early to my father, at the age of 21 and follow usrah groups under the MISG. And today, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, with his Islam Hadhari won 2004's election with great phenomenon. He grabbed over 90% of the parliamentary seats, a record that he himself cannot beat after this.
Why must all this happen? It happen because history repeats itself many times. Pak Lah wins because he learns history. Mahathir wins because he learns history. They repeat history. What history? Its the history of human being so keen on returning to religion. Its a history that when it comes to religion, man are not being hypocrite because they cast their votes for religion's sake... just like the Americans and Malaysians as well. Man just love to repeat history right? Yes. but why? Because, the history we are talking about relates with man's nature. Human will never fail to repeat their nature. Its their nature to return to God. Hence when it comes to religion, man will repeat history.
Therefore, an atheist will shout "Oh my God!" when he's in danger... Americans vote for bush who destroys Iraq and Afghanistan... Malaysian returns to religion when Tunku tried to make Malaysia a secular state... Turkish Islamic party wins the mandate as government despite her status as a secular country... Mahathir won UMNO's presidency because he brings in Anwar Ibrahim, one of the person who revive Islamic awareness in Malaysia besides allaryarham Dato' Fadzil Nor... Pak Lah wins a phenomenal election thanks to his Islam Hadhari... and so on.
As a conclusion, we need Allah... ALLAHUAKBAR.... SUBHANALLAH....

what I should do and what the ustazs should do... after all its all for the sake of dakwah isn't it?

I haven't been writing for more than a month. But one comment spurred the urge to write tonight. Its easy to spot other's flop and write thousands word for that. Yes its true and I did that. So does many others who doesn't have strong islamic educational background but yet write islamic-articles like me.
These flops in today's malaysian muslims has been the target of constant bormbardment from these writerr. Some claims that islamic practices in Malaysia is not relevant. Then it spurs waves of retaliation from the so-called conservative muslim, claiming that these writers don't have authority or lacking in islamic knowledge to put such claims in their writings. And some of these waves are emotional rather than objective. When it starts to get emotional, sensitivities comes in.
Let's make things clear first. Good journalists and columnists and bloggers write reports rather than write their own biased articles. They have holistic views from many angles and produce a fair report. Eventually they are happy to let the reader judge the issue themselves. At least that's what a blogger who doesn't have sufficient understanding in Islam like me should do. And I did realise that I made a mistake. I report what i saw but then i gave my biased, one sided arguement on what i saw.
Yes I do think that i have made grave mistakes. I never thought of this before. Medieval Islamic scholars, get themselves cleaned up, wear good clothes, put on perfume, take ablution perform istikharah, and pray before they start to write their great books on Hadith, Fiqah and so forth. Therefore their ideas are great ideas, least corrupted by their own prejudices, nafs(desire) and all those undesireable human flops.
If I, a normal improperly educated person wants to write my own view on religious matter, i might get biased and (God-forbid) touches community's sensitivities. Hence what a 20 year old chap like me should do is reporting instead of forming corrupted ideas. I should report ideas from many parties regarding a particular issue. Let's take the hijab issue for example. i do think that if I am to write a good unbiased article about this issue, I should take ideas and situations from the obidient women, the ikut-saja women (who wear hijab because their mom wear it) and those who didn't wear it. I should also take ideas from women overseas. Those muslims in France for example.
However one might say that it'll be so rigid if i refuse to form my own views. Well, for the sake of reporting, i don't care much whether I am rigid or not. At least this is how i view a media should be: reporting.
Taking Dina Zaman for example. She produces a book entitled I Am Muslim. She posted her hijab-less picture on her book. Its ironic right? My firts damn shallow judgement was that Dina Zaman is just another liberal muslim trying to obscure the real islamic message.
Forgive me Dina, I was wrong to judge. Initiallly i refuse to buy the book because i judge her like that. Then I realize that I should not judge people. Allah has place the judgement based on the level of takwa, which is logically unknown to human being. Hence bought the book and found that her articles are full of reports, not biased sellfish views and ideas. She has represented the diseases our malay-muslim culture. She has revealed bit by bit, the corruptness of our people.
However, simply reporting doesn't satisfy readers. The reports presented us the problems in our society. Readers nowadays need answers. Thanks to the journalists, i think now our ustazs have jobs to do; clarify the reason why these problems occur (Some of these problems may be caused by them) and how to solve it. I urge our contemporary ustaz to embark on this new task because they have claimed (through the title ustaz) that they must have the fundamental undestanding of how this deen works. Young, uneducated chap like me should gain more knowledge in the deen and keep reporting instead.

Driver teksi, kayu kokka dan kemunduran... something to ponder about

Pulangnya saya dari KB Mall pada suatu hari membuatkan saya berfikir panjang. Pada hari tersebut saya pulang ke rumah dengan menaiki Teksi. Teksi yang dinaiki macam biasa, buruk dan usang. Side mirror sebelah kanan entah ke mana hilangnya, enjin usang yang menderum itu seolah-olah tidak mampu lagi menolak kereta usang itu. Semua itu sesuai dengan drivernya yang juga tua. Inilah senario teksi di Kelantan. Buruknya teksi itu bukanlah satu isu, tapi yang menarik perhatian saya adalah enam cincin yang dipakai oleh pakcik teksi driver itu. Katanya untuk tujuan kesihatan.

"Ni, pok cik paka kayu kokka ni..."
"ooo.. kayu kokka, buke ko maha kayu ni eh?"
"pok cik beli lamo doh ni, time ore gi mekkoh naik kapa laut lagi pok cik beli"
"Pok cik paka sebab kayu ni banyok khasiat dio..."
"oooooo.. gitu"

Bila disebut perihal kayu kokka itu teringatlah pula satu artikel yang saya baca dalam Harakah. Artikel itu menaikkan isu khurafat dan syirik di kalangan pemakai kayu kokka. Dikatakan pemakainya dapat mengelakkan gangguan syaitan dan iblis. Jelas penulis artikel tersebut membidas pengguna kayu kokka yang terlalu taksub dengan acclaimed power kayu kokka tersebut.

Jadi apa kaitannya dengan Pak cik yang seoarang ni? Jom kita analisa dan muhasabah. Di sini saya dapat lihat satu pemandangan yang cukup memberi erti pada saya. Pak cik tua, teksi buruk dan kepercayaannya pada kuasa kayu kokka. Pak cik seorang ni nampak macam orang susah. Air mukanya menggambarkan keperitan yang dialaminya. Memang simpati. Cuma kita sebagai seorang insan, boleh mengambil pengajaran. Di sini saya hanya membuat satu generalisation yang mungkin tidak kena mengena dengan pak cik ini. Pak cik ini nampak macam susah. Kita boleh tanya diri kita sendiri. Kenapa pak cik ini susah? Bantuan kerajaan kurang ke? kita tak bayar zakat ke? salah pemimpin yang korup ke? saya rasa jawapannya adalah salah pak cik itu sendiri.
Bagi saya, susah tak susah seseorang itu bergantung pada keupayaannya untuk berdikari.
Pengalaman saya untuk menyaksikan sendiri kemiskinan masyarakat Melayu di KL, Kelantan, dan Perak memberi saya satu sumber inspirasi untuk muhasabah. Macam mana mereka tak miskin kalau mereka malas? Pemandangan masyarakat kampung yang malas dapat saya lihat di sebuah perkampungan nelayan di Pengkalan Chepa. Kawasan ini hanyalah 15 minit dari Kota Bharu jaraknya. Apa yang saya lihat, pada hari Ahad, pukul 11 pagi, yakni hari orang Kelantan bekerja, saya dapat lihat orang-orang kampung melepak di depan tannga mereka dan juga di kedai kopi, berborak. Tanah-tanah di sekeliling kampung nampaknya banyak yang terbiar dipenuhi lalang.
Allah berfirman dalam Surah Yasin ayat ke-19... 'Mereka (utusan-utusan itu) berkata "kemalangan kamu itu adalah kerana kamu sendiri. Apakah kerana kamu diberi peringatan? Sebenarnya kamu adalah kaum yang melampaui batas".
Ayat 13 hingga 21 adalah gugusan petunjuk Allah yang menarik. Bukan niat saya untuk memberi tafsiran sendiri tanpa autoriti kerana saya adalah penulis yang tidak bertaulaih dalam ilmu tafsir tapi apa yang saya ingin tekankan di sini adalah relevan ayat ini kepada masyarakat mutakhir. Kaum yang disebut di dalam ayat-ayat ini menerima kehadiran rasul-rasul membawa petunjuk tapi mereka tidak mahu ikut petunjuk itu malah menyalahkan petunjuk yang dibawa rasul-rasul itu di atas kemalangan mereka. Maka ayat 19 itu merupakan jawapan yang diberikan oleh utusan-utusan itu terhadap penduduk negeri itu yang menyalahkan petunjuk-petunjuk Allah yang dibawa oleh utusan-utusan tersebut. Berikut adalah maksud ayat 13 hingga 21:

13 ' Dan buatlah satu perumpamaan bagi mereka, iaitu penduduk suatu negeri ketika utusan-utusan datang kepada mereka;
14 (yaitu) ketika kami mengutus kepada mereka dua utusan, lalu mereka mendustakan keduanya kemudian kami kuatkan dengan utusan yang ketiga (utusan itu) berkata "sungguh kami adalah orang yang diutus kepadamu"
15 'mereka (penduduk negeri) menjawab, "kamu ini hanyalah manusia seperti kami, dan (Allah) yang Maha Pengasih tidak menurunkan sesuatu apa pun; kamu hanyalah pendusta belaka."
16 'Mereka berkata, "Tuhan kami mengetahui bahawa kami adalah utusan-utusan(Nya) kepada kamu.
17 Dan kewajipan kami hanyalah menyampaikan perintah Allah dengan jelas.
18 Mereka menjawab. "Sesungguhnya kami bernasib malang kerana kamu. Sungguh jika kamu tidak berhenti (menyeru kami) nescaya kami rejam kamu dan kamu pasti akan merasakan siksaan yang pedih dari kami.
19 'Mereka (utusan-utusan itu) berkata "kemalangan kamu itu adalah kerana kamu sendiri. Apakah kerana kamu diberi peringatan? Sebenarnya kamu adalah kaum yang melampaui batas".
20 Dan datanglah dari ujung kota, seorang laki-laki dengan bergegas dia berkata, "wahai kaumku! Ikutilah utusan-utusan itu.
21 Ikutilah orang yang tidak meminta imbalan kepadamu; dan mereka adalah orang yang mendapat petunjuk.

Ayat ini relevan dengan situasi mutakhir dimana kita lihat masyarakat barat dengan idea sekularisma mereka menyalahkan institusi keagamaan yang membawa wahyu di atas kemunduran mereka. Memang jika dilihat dari sudut sejarah, sekularisme muncul kerana kongkongan kristianiti terhadap kemajuan ilmu pengetahuan. Namun, kesan akibat daripada kesan globalisasi, ummah Islam sendiri terkena tempias sekularisme.
Persepsi masyarakat barat mengatakan agama itu membawa kepada kemunduran. Mutakhir ini persepsi ini bukan lagi milik masyarakat barat tetapi milik masyarakat Islam yang terpengaruh dengan unsur Westernisme yang dikatakan sebagai Modernisme itu. Maka pada hari ini dapat kita lihat bahawa masyarakat Islam di seluruh dunia yang menganggap diri mereka modern (sebenarnya westerned) menyalahkan mesej yang dibawa oleh Islam di atas kemunduran (kemalangan) yang diperoleh.
Pak HAMKA sendiri cuba membawa mesej ini secara halus tetapi lantang melalui novel Tenggelammnya Kapal Van Der Wijck. Watak wanita protagonis di dalam novel itu dihimpit oleh pengaruh westernisme dari rakan baiknya yang mengatakan pemakaian dan cara hidup mereka itu adalah cara hidup modern yang membawa mereka keluar dari kongkongan adat dan seterusnya agama. Bagi mereka adat dan agama itu menarik mereka ke belakang. Namun melalui novel ini Pak HAMKA dengan lantang cuba memberitahu pembaca bahawa apa yang menarik masyarakat Islam ke belakang adalah adat, bukannya agama Islam itu sendiri. Islam, jika disucikan mesejnya, di-Islamkan mesejnya (yakni tidak dicampurkan dengan unsur-unsur jumud adat dan kepercayaan) dan menjadi penjana kemajuan yang hebat sebagaimana yang dialami oleh Ummah terdahulu ketika syiar Islam masih tertegak di bawah daulah khalifah.
Kembali pada Pak Cik driver teksi dan kayu kokkanya. Penggunaan kayu kokka ini dapat dilihat secara umumnya sebagai pencampuran adat dan kepercayaan dengan agama. Kayu kokka didakwa sebagai kayu yang digunakan untuk membina bahtera nabi Nuh dan kayu tongkat nabi Musa. Ia dikatakan mengandungi banyak khasiat dan dapat mengelakkan gangguan jin dan syaitan. Memang benar kita wajib berusaha untuk berubat dan sebagainya tetapi jika menganggap kayu tersebutlah yang mampu menghalau jin dan syaitan, maka pada hemat saya itu sudah melampau. Bimbang takut jadi syirik.
Pak Cik driver ini miskin dan memakai cincin kayu Kokka. Apa yang saya ingin tekankan di sini adalah kebimbangan saya terhadap fitnah yang mungkin dilemparkan oleh sesetengah orang. Memandangkan Kelantan adalah negeri serambi Mekah, saya bimbang jika pemandangan seperti ini (pak cik driver miskin dan kayu kokka) dijadikan sumber untuk sesetengah orang membuat fitnah bahawa Islam itu membawa kepada kemunduran.
Ayat 19 surah Yaasin jelas memberitahu kita, manusia bahawa kemalangan kita, kemunduran kita adalah kerana kita sendiri, bukan kerana mesej yang dibawa oleh nabi kita Muhammad S.A.W. Kita malang, kita mundur sebab adat, budaya serta kepercayaan masyarakat kita. Islam yang secara literalnya bermaksud tunduk dan patuh bertindak sebagai agen pencuci unsur-unsur adat, budaya serta kepercayaan yang membawa kepada kemunduran.
Oleh yang demikian, saya mengajak rakan-rakan sekalian untuk menilai semula Islam yang kita bawa, yang kita faham. Adakah akidah kita ini betul-betul suci dan murni sebagaimana yang dikehendaki oleh syariat atau dicemari oleh unsur-unsur kotor dari unsur adat, budaya dan kepercayaan? Adalah sangat perlu untuk kita betul-betul memahami mesej yang dibawa oleh Islam melalui Al-Qur'an dan hadith agar kita betul-betul dapat menggunakan mesej ini untuk membina tamadun manusia yang sangat cemerlang yang memberi kemaslahatan kepada seluruh alam. Wallahuallam.

The driver and the kopiah

There's this one common sighting on the roads of kelantan: Incompetitive and inconsiderate drivers. These drivers drive very slooowwly on the fast lane or on the highway, causing jam, and then they turn left or right without giving signals, or a little bit of signals, thus giving hard times for the cars behind them to break and avoid them (hope you can picture what i am trying to say). Sometimes, these drivers would enter the main road from a junction without first considering the incoming car, again giving hard times for the incoming car to break and avoid them.
More often than not, these drivers they drive old fourth-hand cars. Then, if you peek, you can see that the driver is actually a pak cik who wears kopiah. God forbid, but my heart always taunt this kind of drivers when i met them. Upon seeing this kind of driver, i'll spontanoesly spurt out words of fitnah to them: "pakai kopiah tapi menyusahkan orang". Astaghfirullah.. Ya Allah forgive me.
Let us examine this. Kopiah in Malay culture is so significant of religious people or to be exact islamic people. One who wears kopiah or ketayap would be expected by the common population to be a good mannered person. Because from the perspective of the general population of Malaysians, kopiah symbolizes piety. Just try once. Wear a jubah, equipped with serban, kopiah and buah tasbih. walk around pasar malam. i bet people will call you Ustaz even though you are a lawyer. hehe.
Since the perspective of the general population is like that i would say that those who wears kopiah actually carry great responsibilities. They must materialize or actualize the pious image that they bring when they wear kopiah. This can be done by being professional, considerate, do charities, help people and all those good deeds told by Qur'an and hadith. A pious muslim will surely be a good and professional muslim loved by everybody, just like prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
That's why at times, when i wear kopiah while driving, i will take it off if i found myself driving incompetitively. im putting a fitnah on Islam. For me, wearing kopiah will always remind myself that i need to be a good and professional muslim. Its a good thing to wear a kopiah then. It can become a tool of muhasabah.

Kelantan... the conservative state

Wikipedia described kelantan as a conservative state governed by a conservative islamic party. Is that true? Are Kelantanese really a bunch of conservatives and traditional that they are anti modernism? I would say yes if we look at the general population, the most of the kelantanese. If we look at pak cik2 kampung at the surau, we will see that they are really conservative. they are really.. erm.. "malay". They are usually negative minded, passive and talk a lot rather than do the job. However, they are good muslims. They pray five times a day, they pray jamaah at the surau, they hear sermons from tuk guru after maghrib prayers, they read quran, chant zikr and so forth. However, they are not professionals when it comes to job. They go to their job places wearing white ketayap but then they came in late and went off early. They talk a lot rather than do the job and they didn't take care of the cleanliness.
In this sense, they are not really muslims. Seeing in this perspective, Micheal and Paul from Australia are more muslim then they are although they are atheist. They came in early for the job, really focus on their tasks, keep their home and town clean by not littering, they care for the environment, they do charity and so many good things. Only that they don't believe in Allah and His prophet. If these two good people from Australia came to Kelantan, how possibly can Kelantanese attract them to embrace Islam? They'll see that Islam makes us like this. They'll say that Islam makes our culture like this. It's a sad thing.
Actually, Islam in kelantan for centuries has been Malay-ized. It has been so corrupted by our malay culture that the true colour of Islam has diminished. In this way, secularism are able to triumph. Here in Kelantan, we can see two main groups of population. The first one consists of those Pak Cik and Mak cik who go to Surau everyday for Solat Jamaah (the one i described before). The second group consists of people who don't go to surau for solat Jamaah. Who don't obey the basic pillars of Islam. Both are not professionals, and both are conservative. Ironically to a certain extent, both groups have Mat and Minah Rempit as their children.
Supposedly, those who went to surau and hear the sermons from tuk gurus can heal the second group of the population. However, they cannot. This is because of the perception that Islam only limited to the surau, not to their real life which are their works and family. They hear sermons to ease their heart, not to learn what Islam is and thus not to spread the message of islam. What about the tuk gurus? What are kind of sermons they give that make kelantanese like this?
Suposedly, if the true message of Islam is given, the audience, the pak cik and Mak cik kampung, are able to spread the message to their family members and colleagues and thus modernize them. However, Kelantanese in general are still conservative, passive, traditional and not professionals. Simply put, they are not modern. Islam promotes modern. Our prophet says that hikmah are Muslim's property(aukamaqo). Modernism is a good movement and that's one of the effect of the real implementization of Islam. Our Prophet Muhammad agrees with the action of certain sahabah for installing lamp at the mosque in madinah replacing the initial bonfire set up for night time ceremony. The installation is a modernizing process and the Prophet agrees with it.
Why does all these happens? This is what i discover. conservativeness itself began at the surau and masjids. The tuk gurus, they learn at the pondoks which spawned all around Kelantan and southern Thai. At the pondoks, the syllabus are based on the muktabar books from muktabar ulama who lives 100 to 500 years ago. These ulama are really muktabar. However one problem is, these books are classics. The ulama wrote the books in their era, not in our time. The interpretation of the books by the pondok students will put them in those ulama's eras thus making them conservative. Some of the books have contents that oppose logics.
there's one sickness in the Malay culture. Not daring to oppose what the ulama and tuk guru says, thinking that everything they say are right. How does this happen? This is the famous says uttered by tuk gurus at the surau: "Kito tok leh guno ppalo otok kito nok mike. palo otok kito ni bodo. ikut hok qure royat." (we cannot use our head to think. our mind is stupid, just follow what the quran says). Then, who are brilliant? Since the meaning of the quran are read and interpreted by the tuk gurus and ulama's then the pak cik and mak cik will follow what tuk guru and ulama say who came from pondoks, not what the quran says. this opposes what Allah says in the Quran. the ayat Ali Imran 190-191 told us to ponder at the nature and THINK. Interpret the nature, learn, think, be ULUL ALBAB (men who think). they just forgot that ulama and tuk gurus are normal human being, not prophet. To err is human. This is ultimately true. No human is perfect. Even the prophet makes mistakes. But our prophet Muhammad has perfect conscious from Allah (teguran). A clear example can be seen from surah Abasa. I guess, this is one of the reason why the GENERAL Kelantanese are conservatives.
I never deny that many of the Kelantanese are modern, thinkers, succesful people and real Muslims; rich, educated, influential but humble and follow what Allah commands and avoid doing what Allah deter. These are exceptional people who really understand the message of Islam. I am interested to include one idea from one muslim, malay proffesor. He said that modernization is not westernization. Modernization promotes the improvement from whatever conservatives for the betterment while westernization is the assimilation of western culture into one local culture. Islam promotes modernization not westernization. Many are confused by the term modernization by saying that moderization is westernization. Kelantan nowadays is still conservative and some of the youngsters are already westernized.
Let us all improve the knowledge tradition in Kelantan. Modernize it with the real message of Islam. It starts with ourselve. All those amalan like reading the quran, matsurat, solat five time a day at the mosque helps us to be a good, modern, proffessional muslim, not MAKE us become good. Ahmad is not a good person if he solat five times a day but go to work late and lazy in doing his job. Instead, people will say Micheal and Paul are good individuals. Ahmad is a good person, a good muslim if he prays five times a day and be proffesional at work, and teach his family about the message of Islam. Islam will only rise again if its true meaning is conveyed throgh the individuals, their family and last but not least, through the daulah. to see islam rise, start with ourselves.


ps: every single sentence in this article is arguable. Please think when u read and ready to critize either me, yourself or whoever you see around you. I am ready to be critize and i make mistakes. Ultimately, this article have mistakes but me as weak person didn't see it. Whatever good comes from Allah and whatever bad, keep it to yourselves as something to ponder and learn from. Wallahuallam.

why http://sunnatullah.blogspot.com/ ?

My new Blog page comes with the adress http://sunnatullah.blogspot.com/ . But why? why sunnatullah. Here's the reason:



I understand that the deen promotes two field of knowledge which is the shariatullah and sunnatullah. This is actually the knowledge of my deen, Islam. The shariatullah part concerns with the way this deen works. It comes with the knowledge like tafseer, hadith, sirah, fiqh etc. The so-called 'agamawan' studies these ( I don't agree this classification of the term agamawan though). Meanwhile, the sunnatullah part of the Islamic knowledge deals with the way to make life easier. To put it in simpler terms, natural sciences, human sciences, mathematics, history, ethics and so forth. Therefore we need to understand here that Islamic knowledge covers all these areas of knowledge. There is no distinction between shariatullah and sunnatullah. Secularism separates the shariatullah knowledge and sunnatullah knowledge, but Islam unifies these two areas. This is actually the basic concept of Islamic epistemology.



Eversince my childhood, I haven't been much exposed to the shariatullah knowledge. I am highly oriented with the sunnatullah part of the islamic knowledge. from standard one till form five my education was emphasized on the sunnatullah part. In form five, only one subject refers to the shariatullah part which is the Pengajian Agama Islam subject. After SPM, I was sponsored by the government to do medicine which again put me dwelved in the sunnatullah part. Now, I do think that for the next 20 or 30 years to come, I will be highly involved in this part of knowledge. Not only involved but, develop the understanding of this area of knowledge which essentially is Allah's knowledge after all. The understanding and thus application of this knowledge will make man's life easier. I am involved in Medical world and therefore my involvement will lead to a healthier lifestyle so that man can perform their ibadah to Allah easier.

My understanding upon the concept of islamic epistemology made me choose the name for my blog address... http://sunnatullah.blogspot.com/ . suprisingly, this name is available for me to choose despite of it's vast meaning.

My next girlfriend is my wife

My next girlfriend is my wife
Well, im 20 now and by this age, im already thinking about marriage. Haha.. sounds too early right? but indeed yes, im thinking over it. But why? Most of us, at this age will opt for girlfriends at this age. It is way too early for a mariage... way too early because we need to have fun first. HAVE FUN? is this all life about? HAVE FUN? Yes, most of us made this as their purpose of life; lets learn and have a little fun; lets have some fun; in a motivation programme, fun is needed, fun, fun,fun... life is for fun, life is funny!!! haha!!! enjoy life till you die!!!! NO WAY!! i don't go for that. Boring? Well you'll say im boring of course because im not having this ideology as my purpose of life. InsyaAllah, im living on the purpose of life being erected by Allah... wamakhalaqtuljinnawalins, illaliya'buduun. and We don't create man and jin except to submit to Us.
That's why im thinking of marriage. because marriage is for fun, its for love and now that im looking for a love of a spouse. again, too early? Yes, too early. But no its not. i also have feelings, feelings of affection that i think i need to nurture in order for me to become a muslim in the real context, muslim who really submit to Islam which is literally means sunnatullah by which the western equates the meaning to the word 'natural'. Simply, I need to be a normal human who follows the nature. Who follows the guidance that GOD give to a male. the guidanceis, i need to love and to be loved by a woman, and if i don't have that i'm not performing my duty as a human and of course as a muslim. So, im looking for a girl to love,but yet i still didn't find it and the time has not come yet for me to commit although it is around the corner. well, simply like this lah.... i want to have a partner, but the IB exam is around the corner, so the action of finding one would jeopardize my result. Furthermore, i don't want just a concourse-like love relationship... i want a serious one so that i can call my partner "tunang"..... MY NEXT GF WILL BE MY FUTURE WIFE, INSYAALLAH.
Wallahuallam