Srinivas: Exam comes and go, but knowledge remains

We were in the dissection hall, as usual, dissecting parts of human body studying its anatomy. This time around it was the head and neck region.
One of our lecturer comes... Mr Srinivas. He's not a doctor but pure anatomist. Challenge him with any anatomy question, hell he knows almost every part of the body. How can he be like this?
Well, Hamid, one of our fellow here talk to him about exams...

"Sir, exam is near, and still there are a lot to be read... how sir?"

"Well..." raply Mr Srinivas

"Man, exam comes and go but knowledge remains!" said Mr Srinivas, tapping his head.

Mr Srinivas is merely a 26 year old fellow. Unlike all other old proffesors, he's damn young and damn genius in anatomy.

I think this is such a good quote from him to be shared...

Good Luck to everybody, may Allah be with you...

Living Up Islam in our life

“Islam is the solution, Islam is syumul, Islam is the answer…bla bla bla…” huahhhhhh!(yawning)… boring!

Many would resort this statement as being empty… empty slogan they say. Indeed I agree. These are empty slogans. Really empty. Totally empty… nothing!

Why… don’t you believe me? Shoot me for saying this. Kill me for voicing this out. I believe I’m saying the truth. These slogans are empty because they are not being manifested.

True, Islam holds the solution to everything. Islam is the answer; Islam is the way of life, etc. But still people don’t believe them. Okay, so we blame the people for not believing these and hence the Qur’an? Good… now let’s lash these people further. We label them kafir, munafiq, fasiq.. . what else? Member of the jahannam?

God forgive me… astaghfirullah…

Qur’an is the answer. But Qur’an itself doesn’t manifest the answer to everything. We believe the postulate that Islam is the answer to everything and indeed it’s true. This postulate has prove itself once… hundreds of years ago, but not in the recent time. The proven postulate has become a hypothesis again. It is yet to be proven that Islam is the answer to everything because we, the Muslim didn’t manifest the postulate. We didn’t manifest the Qur’an; we didn’t manifest the sunnah; we didn’t manifest this deen or way of life. In simple term: Muslim did not walk the talk!

So this is the problem. We are good in finding problem and even better at lamenting about it. We are also good in feeling sad about it… just feeling sad. Nay we are good in finding the solution. When it comes to finding the resolution, we reserve ourselves further lamenting about our own dumbness.

No wonder we Muslims are so good boycotting western’s products. Two years ago it was our beloved prophet’s cartoon; we call it a blasphemy, and we got angry, got crazy, make processions, and some even went to the extent of burning cars and churches! Today history repeats itself. Now it’s the Fitna film. Again we Muslims call out for the same thing; processions, demonstrations, and again, the same boycotting.

Actually, we have the solutions to all these problems. We can disprove all these blasphemy, we can gain back our dignity but many reserve themselves not to venture themselves into this solution. Why did I say this? The reason is this resolution requires them to invest. What investment? I would say, they need to invest their entire life into it. However, unlike those financial investments, this involves no risk; it only involves security… eternal security.

So what can Muslims do in order to manifest the postulation that Islam is the way of life… in fact the only viable way of life? For me, there’s only one key to this. Muslims need to be ‘syumul’. Then only can Islam manifest its light.

Syumul… hmmm. Many of us now this. There’s nothing new in this solution. Am I bragging another empty slogan? Yeah.. maybe. Maybe I’m bragging about another old empty slogan. Here it goes:

“O my friends! O youth! O Muslim! Let us all become a syumul muslim!”

And yeah, I’m going to shout this over the minaret so that the whole Karnataka state can hear my sermon.

Nay I am like that. A good Muslim doesn’t talk empty; a good Muslim walks the talk. I want to be a good Muslim, hence for me and my fellow friends, I’m writing down some criterion of a good Syumul Muslim so that we can all ponder upon it and thence act on it.

Who is a good, syumul Muslim?

It is simple. We Muslims live by a simple principle. A clear principle which resonates a strong believe that there is no Ilah other than Allah, that we are a caliph to this world, and that we live in this world to abide to no other entity other than Allah; and we take Rasulullah as our qudwah or pure living example.

So a true syumul or complete Muslim have all these believe firmly bound to his/heart. Then ultimately this kind of person will manifest himself as a complete, excellent person. He’ll be excellent in all manners. A true Syumul Muslim is envisioned by his excellence in everything that he do.

If he study he’ll study to his best that he become the best student. If he go to work, he’ll make sure he’s doing the work to his best, be on time, keeping all the amanah given secured. If he gives speeches, he’ll be the person everybody wants to listen to. If he plays basketball, he’ll be the best player. This person has the wit, has sound general knowledge, he can give brilliant ideas and comprehensive solutions and best of all, he’s the person respected by everybody. Simple… Our prophet and fellow sahabah are the living example.

This is how Qur’an can manifest itself. All these personalities that I’ve listed down are Islamic messages being conveyed to human being by the Qur’an and Sunnah. It’s pity that many of Muslims today understood Islam as being a ceremonial religion just like other religions. People only use Islam when it comes to marriage, ceremonies etc. Some only use Islam when they got problems or wishes to be fulfilled. Example; Majlis solat hajat dan baca yassin serta doa selamat. Even worse, many interpret Islam as being only solat, fasting, and zakat.

How I ended up in India?

IB result is out! Im all sweating that night. All sweating to accept the verdict. My father lied cordially in front of the tv mocking my worriedness. I just can’t stay put. Something in my heart says that this is going to be bad. The result will be announced in the net by 9.00 PM. It was around 7.30PM.

I just can’t stay put. I grabbed my mother’s Atoz key, start the engine and dash off to Masjid Sultan Yahya, the Blue Mosque of Kelantan. Waiting for azan, I prayed. I prayed hard for a good result so that I can go to one of the anglo-speaking countries. Again, after finishing Isya’ prayer I did another prayer. This time I prayed to Allah; “Ya Allah gave me the result that suit the things that I’ve done. I’ll take whatever the verdict You give me Ya Allah. “ That was my final wish after two years of struggling and prayers for the International Baccalaureate at Mara College Banting.

Indeed, the verdict suit what I’ve done. 35/45. That was my result. Good enough for MARA to send me off to overseas. With this poor result all I can apply for is Tasmania University, Australia. It’ll be a five-year medical course. 35 leads me nowhere. With no placement at all, UTAS is the only choice I left. Given that I fail to get entry to this university, the last resort will be India. That’s what MARA promised me with this result.

Fine… I only got 35. I’ll go with whatever I have. By the way, I’m not all alone. My best buddy Farid also have the same fate. No placement, poor result. Unwanted. All I can do is smile. Smile, feeling content with what I have. It’s takdir. I can’t question takdir. That’ll be hikmah. And I do believe that Hikmah is only for those who wants to think about it. Otherwise, it’ll be of no use. You’ll keep blaming yourself and everything around you, even your cat!

There were twelve of us who applied for UTAS. 12 hopefull unwanted students. Let’s make the story short- All the 12 of us didn’t get into UTAS. Bye-bye civilization... bye-bye beautiful country… bye-bye developed country…Aweful indeed. Most students from Banting are looking forward for living in developed countries. We, 12 students are receiving a ‘warm’ welcome from the ever-unexpected India.

India… one postulate will come to most of us…and our relatives: Subserviant to Malaysia. Yes, India is not as developed as Malaysia. The cities are dirty, it’s hot, people are not friendly, in short, life will be horrible! Is it true? You’ll discover later on.

Pn Ayuslina, our beloved MARA officer who took care of Banting students said that we will be sent to MS Ramaiah in Bangalore. Okay fine.. MS Ramaiah. Sounds good.

“You’ll be getting your offer letter in no time,” said Pn Ayuslina jovially

Upon getting the offer letter…

“Oh my God! What is this? This is no MS RAMAIAH… this is K…. U….. T… P… M!!! KUTPM?? What the %^%*?” She said it’s Ramaiah? What happen? Why? This is no India college. It’s Malaysian!!! Im expecting a local one.

Okay, okay… whatever. I was told that we were to go for an orientation at KUTPM Shah Alam. Okay, I’ll go. So I went…

TRUTH DISCOVERED IN ORIENTATION

Orientation is really a time for getting information. These are shocking truth that I’d discovered during the orientation:

1. That KUTPM has made a collaboration with Gokula Education Foundation, the body that own M.S. Ramaiah Medical School and all other associated schools in Bangalore. This collaboration has led to the establishment of a new medical college- KUTPM International Medical School (KIMS). GEF supplied lecturers and syllabus and KUTPM supplied a building besides MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital plus all the funding. Hence, Pn Ayuslina has told us the truth. We are entering MS Ramaiah.

2. That there are many more of Bantingites having the same fate as me. All the unexpected faces appeared. Even those who scored flying colours in IB examination appeared there at the orientation. So, no big deal.

So that’s how it went. The verdict is known. It was predetermined that a man, named after Anas Aminin bin Wan Mohd Izzuddin is going to furhter his 1^st Medical degree in India, at a Malaysian company-owned college.

Next will be the preparation to fly… finally. After all these years of suffering and uncertainty in Mara College Banting. Flying is yet another chapter to be told. Why must I tell story about flying? It’ll be the same old series of events… receiving tons of money from family members and friends, visiting them, buy all those new clothes and stuff, and finally hugging your parents in front of the International Boarding gate. Same boring stuff… Is’nt it?

No! mine is not. There’s nobody to send me off!

India: A New Chapter

I've been in India for the past five months-since October 2007. Now its February 2008. 5 months is such a long period. Many things have I gone through. Bulks to be shared and tons to tell. Last 20^th of February I’ve celebrated my 21st birthday. An appropriate day to begin writing entries again after leaving this blog unattended for five months (poor blog heh heh).

From today onwards InsyaAllah I'm updating my blog with series of entries reminiscing my experiences and stories to be thought about. There are much to be shared about. It can't stay here in my memory forever. It'll deplete with time and age as per the normal of human being. Hence, writing it would save all the memories and thought that have crossed my mind before.

India is indeed a new chapter in my life. It begin around September 2007. MARA sent me here for my medical studies at International Medical School (IMS). IMS is a college under Management Science University (MSU), formerly known as KUTPM. Indeed it’s a Malaysian college established here in Bangalore…filled fully with Malaysian students. Ironic isn’t it? Haha. Let it be. Just hope someday that MSU will take admission from local Indians and other international students.

So here I am now. Aged 21 already, living cordially in Bangalore amongst other 200 something Malaysian st udents, studying MBBS. Oh Yes… maybe… this blog will be co-authored by my dear brother in Islam, Ahmad Farid Nazmi.

I’ll halt for now. This entry is just the beginning for a new chapter in India…

Wallahuallam…

Al-Insan

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....