The Head Hunter

Bicara Ku Pada Mereka....

2011-05-05T20:44:00.002+08:00

Ramai yang bertanyakan tujuan aku menyertai dunia pendidikan sedangkan peluang pekerjaan yang lebih menarik sedang menunggu. Persoalan mereka semua itu tidak dapat ku jawab kerna pada waktu itu, aku sendiri kurang pasti kenapa aku begitu berharap untuk menyertai bidang yang aku ceburi ini. Hendak dikatakan aku suka mengajar, terus terang tahap kesabaranku akan menipis jika mereka yang aku berikan penerangan tidak memahaminya langsung – satu ciri-ciri guru yang sangat tidak elok dicontohi!! Apa yang aku pasti ketika itu hanyalah minatku yang mendalam untuk melaksanakan kajian-kajian ‘ilmiah untuk memahami struktur budaya dan masyarakat yang kompleks. Aku begitu terpesona bila membaca kajian-kajian ahli antropologis Barat terhadap masyarakat Asia seperti Clifford Geertz dalam kajiannya terhadap masyarakat Bali dan Jawa; E.E. Evans-Pritchard dalam kajiannya terhadap masyarakat Nuer di Sudan; Edmund Ronald Leach dalam kajiannya terhadap masyarakat Shan dan Kachin di Burma; dan beberapa ahli antropologis Barat yang lain. Itu sahaja jawapan yang aku ada untuk mereka pada waktu itu……

Pun begitu, setiap peredaran masa pasti disertai dengan perubahan. Begitu jua dengan jawapan ku. Ada suatu ketika, aku dihadiahkan sebuah naskhah agung karya Dr. Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman, Rektor UIAM yang kedua sebelum Tan Sri Profesor Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan. Karya Dr. Abdul Hamid itu bertajuk ‘Crisis in the Muslim Mind.’ Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman dalam karya ini berhujah bahawa masalah utama yang dihadapi umat Islam ketika ini bukanlah masalah ekonomi mahupun politik, tetapi adalah masalah pendidikan dimana budaya materialistik berleluasa dikalangan muda-mudi Islam dan mereka melihat menuntuk ‘ilmu itu suatu jalan (means) untuk mencapai kenikmatan material di dunia, bukanlah jalan untuk mengenal lebih mendalam apatah lagi mencintai Tuhan mereka. Lebih memburukkan keadaan bila ramai umat Islam tidak serius dalam menuntut ilmu dan untuk itu Abdul Hamid menekankan adalah menjadi tanggungjawab guru sebagai ‘murabbi’ untuk membimbing mereka dalam menuntut ‘ilmu dalam memahami Pencipta mereka.

Terus terang aku katakan aku sangat terkesan dengan karya ini. Lantas aku berazam untuk menjalankan tanggungjawabku sebagai seorang ‘murabbi’ dan moga-moga ianya menjadi satu ‘amal yang kecil yang dapat aku persembahkan buat Tuhanku di mahsyar nanti. Dan minat ku yang awal itu, tidaklah ku matikan begitu sahaja. Ianya menjadi alat penyeri yang aku rasa akan senantiasa menceriakan perjalanan ku di muka bumi ini untuk mencari mardhotillah.

Pun begitu, tugas tersebut tidaklah mudah untuk ku. Terlalu banyak dugaan yang harus aku tempohi dalam membimbing mereka. Dan yang paling menyedihkan bilamana aku dilabel sebagai seorang yang ‘kedekut markah’ malahan terkenal dikalangan mereka sebagai seorang yang suka menggagalkan mereka. Pernah aku bertanya pada diri ku sendiri, adakah semua ini benar? Adakah aku suka-suka untuk menggagalkan mereka? Dan semakin banyak aku bertanya, semakin keyakinan ku bertambah untuk terus menyedarkan mereka bahawa sesungguhnya menuntut ‘ilmu itu suatu kewajipan agama, bahawa kegagalan mereka adalah kerana sikap mereka yang endah tak endah dalam menuntut ‘ilmu. Hingga satu tahap aku pernah menangis di hadapan mereka merayu untuk mereka bersikap lebih serius dalam menuntu ‘ilmu, pun begitu natijahnya masih sama……

Kini setelah hampir empat tahun aku di sini, aku masih mencari-cari jalan yang sesuai membimbing mereka, cara yang sesuai untuk mengubah sikap skeptikal mereka dalam merentasi lautan ‘ilmu di taman ‘ilmu dan budi ini…

Kenangan Silam.....

2011-01-13T18:57:00.003+08:00

Ithaca sudah memanggilku. Lantas ia mengingatkan aku pada 'sang kerbau' ini. Dan semestinya kedai makan di seberang sana itu. Gelak ketawa Prof. Schwartzman dan Prof. Douglas memang menceriakan suasana hari itu. Adakah takdir akan menemukan kami kembali? Hanya Dia yang Maha Mengetahui.....

Prolog....

2010-11-04T12:21:00.002+08:00

Langit mendung petang itu. Sang burung berterbangan pulang ke rumah mereka. Dan angin bertiupan sepoi-sepoi bahasa, mendinginkan suasana. Dan aku, masih lagi di situ termenung sendirian, dalam mencari arti kebahagian, makna sebuah kehidupan…

Dan....

2010-07-29T20:20:00.002+08:00

Aku jadi hilang arah, tidak karuan. Tidak pasti dengan apa yang berlaku pada diri ku ini. Saat dia hilang dari pandangan, aku tidak pasti apa yang sedang berlaku pada diriku……

Tika aku melihat wajahnya, segala-galanya berubah. Senyumannya membuatkan aku terasa dunia ini terlalu indah. Tutur katanya terlalu halus, terlalu jujur, disertai bait-bait merendah diri. Dia tidak pernah sekali membongkak diri, mendabik dada dengan apa yang ada. Mungkin kerana asasnya yang kukuh, membuatkan jati dirinya yang kukuh sebegitu. Senyumannya…. Aduhhh bisa membuatkan jantungku luruh, jam detikku berhenti seketika. Dan gemersik manja suaranya buatkan jantungku berdegup pantas….

Benar, aku amat mencintainya. Amat-amat mencintainya. Pun begitu aku cuba untuk menghindari dari dia mengetahui perasaanku. Aku takut pada diri sendiri. Aku takut untuk terus disakiti, apatah lagi untuk dikhianati. Aku cuba untuk tidak kerap berhubung dengannya. Dan aku terus mencuba…..

Jauh di sudut hati, ku tanamkan perasaan bahwa dia terlalu istimewa untuk insan biasa seperti ku. Ku tahu bukanlah tempatku untuk berdiri disisinya, duduk semeja bergelak ketawa bersamanya. Ku tahu tiada tempat untuk diri ku ini dalam hati nya. Dan aku cuba sematkan ingatan ini erat-erat di mindaku, agar aku tidak sekali-kali alpa….

Namun, manusia hanya mampu berbicara pada diri, dan tiada yang pasti dalam bicara mereka. Tiada siapa yang tahu apa yang akan dihadapinya di masa mendatang. Walaupun dia cuba untuk kuat, namun segalanya tidak pasti untuk dia….

Kini aku di sini, melihat sekeliling dalam menikmati keindahan alam ciptaan Tuhan. Mengagumi kebijaksanaan-Nya mencipta alam yang terlalu indah untuk umat manusia diami. Sambil untuk cuba meredakan keresahan jiwaku ini. Yang tidak pernah surutnya. Kadang-kala aku sendiri takut untuk bangun pada esok hari, takut jika aku akan terus dikecewakan lagi. Takut jika kemurungan akan menguasai jiwa ini lagi; takut untuk kebencian terus bersarang di kalbu ini….

Dan aku amat mencintainya; namun adakah dia jua mencintai ku?

Deep Conversation

2010-05-11T08:36:00.001+08:00

Yeah I know I have caused her only pain and sorrow. I took her time that she should spend with her hubby love. It’s not good; to me, to her and to her love. *sigh*

Well after considering the situation I believe it’s time now for me to leave. To pack my things and say goodbye. And I shall learn how to die…

Alone...

2010-04-21T15:02:00.000+08:00

I tried to be strong…..
But I failed….
I am weak…
And now I am left alone….
In the darkness….
Heading to nowhere…..

Dingin Malam....

2010-04-17T18:02:00.001+08:00

Tuhan…. Hari yang berlalu masih kosong, tanpa sebarang erti. Jalan yang dilaluinya penuh dengan ranjau, duri di sekelilingnya membuatkan dia lemah tidak bermaya untuk meneruskan perjalanan itu. Pun begitu masih digagahkan jua dirinya, walaupun hakikatnya jauh di sudut hati dia tahu yang jalan itu tiada pengakhirannya.

Malam itu langit cerah. Bersertakan angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa, berlalu dan bermain dengan anak rambutnya. Cuaca dan keadaan yang indah, nyaman, dan permai. Namun tidak se-enak jiwanya, yang terus bergelumang dengan pelbagai perasaan dan rasa. Racau dan kacau, mungkin itulah perkataan yang sesuai untuk mentafsirkannya…

“Hmmm…. Sampai bilalah kau harus menempuh perasaan sebegini Iff. Jiwa kau yang akan menderita. Tapi orang tidak tahu. Orang tidak pernah ambil peduli. Ko kena kuat Iff…..”
“Ko senanglah cakap Syah, tapi ada ko cuba faham perasaan aku nie? Aku tak pernah mintak semua nie lah Syah. Dia datang sendiri. Ko ingat aku tak waras ke, nak mintak benda-benda yang akhirnya aku tahu hanya akan merosakkan jiwa dan kebahagiaan aku sendiri??!!”

Secara tiba-tiba suasana menjadi tegang, dan tiada jawapan yang mampu diberikan untuk persoalan itu…

“Ya memang ko cakap ko tak pernah mintak. Tapi tue cakap mulut ko, cakap hati dan tindakan ko lain Iff….”
“Dahlah Syah, kalau ko datang sini just nak sakitkan hati aku, nak tambah beban aku, baik ko blah lah. Ko kawan aku Syah, dari kecil sampai besar. Ko tahu perangai aku, tapi bila aku macam nie, bila aku susah ko tak pernah nak faham perasaan aku, ko tak pernah nak cuba bantu aku. Malah ko selalu nak salahkan aku kan. Ko baliklah Syah…..”

Diam…. Tiada jawapan. Setenang alam sekeliling. Dan akhirnya dia berlalu pergi, meninggalkan temannya keseorangan….

'Cinta Gila'

2009-12-20T23:27:00.003+08:00

I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles

And the heavens open every time she smiles

And when I come to her that’s where I belong

Yet I’m running to her like a rivers song

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

She’s got a fine sense of humour when I’m feeling low down

And when I come to her when the sun goes down

Take away my trouble, take away my grief

Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Yes I need her in the daytime

Yes I need her in the night

Yes I want to throw my arms around her

Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight

And when I’m returning from so far away

She gives me some sweet loving brighten up my day

Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole

Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Abu Raihan al-Biruni

2009-11-27T16:41:00.000+08:00

Abu Raihan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was one of the well-known figures associated with the court of King Mahmood Ghaznawi, who was one of the famous Muslim kings of the 11th century A.D. Al-Biruni was a versatile scholar and scientist who had equal facility in physics, metaphysics, mathematics, geography and history. Born in the city of Kheva near “Ural” in 973 A.D., he was a contemporary of the well-known physician Ibn Sina. At an early age, the fame of his scholarship went around and when Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi conquered his homeland, he took al-Biruni along with him in his journeys to India several times and thus he had the opportunity to travel all over India during a period of 20 years. He learnt Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from three Pandits to whom he taught Greek and Arabic science and philosophy. He died in 1048 A.D. at the age of 75, after having spent 40 years in thus gathering knowledge and making his own original contributions to it.

He recorded observations of his travels through India in his well-known book Kitab al-Hind which gives a graphic account of the historical and social conditions of the sub-continent. At the end of this book he makes a mention of having translated two Sanskrit books into Arabic, one called Sakaya, which deals with the creation of things and their types, and the second, Patanjal dealing with what happens after the spirit leaves the body. His descriptions of India were so complete that even the Aein-i-Akbari written by Abu al-Fadal during the reign of Akbar, 600 years later, owes a great deal to al-Biruni’s book. He observed that the Indus valley must be considered as an ancient sea basin filled up with alluvial.

On his return from India, al-Biruni wrote his famous book Qanun-i Masoodi (al-Qanun al-Masudi, fi al-Hai’a wa al-Nujum), which he dedicated to Sultan Masood. The book discusses several theorems of astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary motions and relative topics. In another well-known book al-Athar al-Baqia, he has attempted a connected account of ancient history of nations and the related geographical knowledge. In this book, he has discussed the rotation of the earth and has given correct values of latitudes and longitudes of various places. He has also made considerable contribution to several aspects of physical and economic geography in this book.

His other scientific contributions include the accurate determination of the densities of 18 different stones. He also wrote the Kitab al-Saidana, which is an extensive materia medica that combines the then existing Arabic knowledge on the subject with the Indian medicine. His book the Kitab al-Jamahir deals with the properties of various precious stones. He was also an astrologer and is reputed to have astonished people by the accuracy of his predictions. He gave a clear account of Hindu numerals, elaborating the principle of position.

He developed a method for trisection of angle and other problems which cannot be solved with a ruler and a compass alone. Al-Biruni discussed, centuries before the rest of the world, the question whether the earth rotates around its axis or not. He was the first to undertake experiments related to astronomical phenomena. His scientific method, taken together with that of other Muslim scientists, such as Ibn al-Haitham, laid down the early foundation of modern science. He ascertained that as compared with the speed of sound the speed of light is immense. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His investigations included description of various monstrosities, including that known as “Siamese” twins. He observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 18 petals, but never 7 or 9.

He wrote a number of books and treatises. Apart from Kitab-al- Hind (History and Geography of India), al-Qanun al-Masudi (Astro- nomy, Trigonometry), al-Athar al-Baqia (Ancient History and Geography), Kitab al-Saidana (Materia Medica) and Kitab al-Jawahir (Precious Stones) as mentioned above, his book al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina’at al-Tanjim gives a summary of mathematics and astronomy.

He has been considered as one of the very greatest scientists of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times. His critical spirit, love of truth, and scientific approach were combined with a sense of toleration. His enthusiasm for knowledge may be judged from his claim that the phrase Allah is Omniscient does not justify ignorance.

Pujian Buat Ibn Abd al-Wahhab

2009-11-13T18:25:00.001+08:00

Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradhawi dalam kitabnya Fiqh al-Awlawiyyat memuji Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab katanya: “Bagi al-Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab di Jazirah Arab perkara aqidah adalah menjadi keutamaanya untuk memelihara benteng tauhid dari syirik yang telah mencemari pancaran tauhid dan dikotori kesuciannya. Beliau telah menulis buku-buku dan risalah-risalah dalam perkara tersebut. Beliau bangkit menaggung bebanan secara dakwah dan praktikal dalam memusnahkan gambaran-gambaran syirik.”

Dr. Wahbah al-Zuhaili memuji Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab dengan berkata: “Sesuatu yang tidak syak padanya, menyedari hakikat yang sebenar, bukan untuk meredhakan sesiapa, berpegang kepada ayat al-Quran yang agung (maksudnya) “Jangan kamu kurangkan manusia apa yang menjadi hak-haknya”. (surah Hud:85) bahawa suara kebenaran yang paling berani, pendakwah yang terbesar untuk islah (pembaikan) membina umat, jihad dan mengembalikan individu Muslim kepada berpegang dengan jalan salafus soleh yang terbesar ialah dakwah Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab pada kurun yang ke 12 hijrah. Tujuannya adalah untuk mentajdidkan kehidupan muslim, setelah secara umum dicemari dengan pelbagai khilaf, kekeliruan, bid’ah dan penyelewengan. Maka Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab ialah pemimpin kebangkitan agama dan pembaikan (islah) yang dinantikan, yang menzahir timbangan aqidah yang bersih.”

Blue....

2009-11-09T23:54:00.002+08:00

In blue now. Lost myself at nowhere......

Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Civilization

2009-10-27T18:37:00.000+08:00

Ibn Khaldun is universally recognized as the founder and father of sociology and sciences of history. He is best known for his famous ‘Muqaddimah’. Abd al-Rahman Ibn Mohammad, generally known as Ibn Khaldun after a remote ancestor, was born in Tunis in 732 A.H. (1332 C.E.) to an upper class family that had migrated from Seville in Muslim Spain. His ancestors were Yemenite Arabs who settled in Spain in the very beginning of Muslim rule in the eighth century.

During his formative years, Ibn Khaldun experienced his family’s active participation in the intellectual life of the city, and to a lesser degree, its political life. He was used to frequent visits to his family by the political and intellectual leaders of western Islamic states (i.e., North Africa and Spain), many of whom took refuge there. Ibn Khaldun was educated at Tunis and Fez, and studied the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad’s Traditions and other branches of Islamic studies such as dialectical theology, Shari’a (Islamic Law of Jurisprudence, according to the Maliki School). He also studied Arabic literature, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. While still in his teens, he entered the service of the Egyptian ruler Sultan Barquq.

Ibn Khaldun led a very active political life before he finally settled down to write his well-known masterpiece on history. He worked for rulers in Tunis and Fez (in Morocco), Granada (in Muslim Spain) and Biaja (in North Africa). In 1375, Ibn Khaldun crossed over to Muslim Spain (Granada) as a tired and embittered man solely for the reasons of escaping the turmoil in North Africa. Unfortunately, because of his political past, the ruler of Granada expelled him. He then went back to Algeria to spend four years in seclusion in Qalat Ibn Salama, a small village. It was in Qalat he wrote Muqaddimah, the first volume of his world history that won him an immortal place among historians, sociologists and philosophers. The uncertainty of his career continued because of unrest in North Africa. Finally, he settled in Egypt where he spent his last twenty-four years. Here, he lived a life of fame and respect, marked by his appointment as the Chief Malakite Judge. He also lectured at the Al-Azhar University.

Ibn Khaldun had to move from one court to another, sometimes at his own will, but often forced to do so by plotting rivals or despotic rulers. He learnt much from his encounters with rulers, ambassadors, politicians and scholars from North Africa, Muslim Spain, Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world.

Ibn Khaldun is most famous for his book Muqaddimah. It is a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology. The main theme of this monumental work was to identify psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contribute to the advancement of human civilization and the currents of history. He analyzed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group feelings, al-‘Asabiyya, produce the ascent of a new civilization and political power. He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of the rise and fall in human civilization, and analyzed factors contributing to it.

Ibn Khaldun’s revolutionary views have attracted the attention of Muslim scholars as well as many Western thinkers. In his study of history, Ibn Khaldun was a pioneer in subjecting historical reports to the two basic criteria of reason and social and physical laws. He pointed out the following four essential points in the study and analysis of historical reports:(1) relating events to each other through cause and effect, (2) drawing analogy between past and present, (3) taking into consideration the effect of the environment, and (4) taking into consideration the effect of inherited and economic conditions.

Ibn Khaldun’s pioneered the critical study of history. He provided an analytical study of human civilization, its beginning, factors contributing to its development and the causes of decline. Thus, he founded a new science: the science of social development or sociology, as we call it today. Ibn Khaldun writes, “I have written on history a book in which I discussed the causes and effects of the development of states and civilizations, and I followed in arranging the material of the book an unfamiliar method, and I followed in writing it a strange and innovative way.” By selecting his particular method of analysis, he created two new sciences: Historiology and Sociology simultaneously.

Ibn Khaldun argued that history is subject to universal laws and states the criterion for historical truth: “The rule for distinguishing what is true from what is false in history is based on its possibility or impossibility: That is to say, we must examine human society and discriminate between the characteristics which are essential and inherent in its nature and those which are accidental and need not be taken into account, recognizing further those which cannot possibly belong to it. If we do this, we have a rule for separating historical truth from error by means of demonstrative methods that admits of no doubt. It is a genuine touchstone by which historians may verify whatever they relate.”

Because of his emphasis on reason and its necessity in judging history and social events, some scholars have claimed that Ibn Khaldun tried to refute conventional religious knowledge and substitute for it reason and rational philosophy. This claim is unfounded. It is known that some schools teach things which are irrational in nature. But this is not true of Islam which has always encouraged observation and thinking, and reminded the nonbelievers for not using their reason and thinking. An example is the Verse 164, Chapter 2 of the Qur’an: “Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the benefit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies; and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that he scatters through the earth; in the change of winds and the clouds which they trail like slaves between the sky and the earth; - (here) indeed are signs for people that are wise and think.”

Ibn Khaldun remarked that the role of religion is in unifying the Arabs and bringing progress and development to their society. He pointed out that injustice, despotism, and tyranny are clear signs of the downfall of the state. Ibn Khaldun points out that metaphysical philosophy has one advantage only, which is to sharpen one’s wits. He states that the knowledge of the metaphysical world particularly in matters of belief can only be derived from revelation.

Ibn Khaldun pointed out that true progress and development comes through correct understanding of history, and correct understanding can only be achieved by observing the following three main points. First, a historian should not be in any way prejudiced for or against any one or any idea. Second, he needs to conform and scrutinize the reported information. One should learn all one could about the historians whose reports one hears or reads, and one should check their morals and trustworthiness before accepting their reports. Finally, one should not limit history to the study of political and military news or to news about rulers and states. For history should include the study of all social, religious, and economic conditions.

Ibn Khaldun’s influence on the subject of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and education has remained paramount down to our times. He is also recognized as the leader in the art of autobiography, a renovator in the fields of education and educational psychology and in Arabic writing stylistics. His books have been translated into many languages, both in the East and the West, and have inspired subsequent development of these sciences.

Introducing Anthropology

2009-10-19T15:56:00.003+08:00

The word ‘anthropology’ derives from the Greek and literally means ‘the study of man’ or ‘the science of man’. But the ‘man’ of anthropology was a special kind of ‘man’. Historically, anthropology was known as the ‘study of primitive man’.

In The Mind of Primitive Man (1938), Franz Boas, the founder of American Cultural Anthropology, delineated that primitive people are people whose forms of life are simple and uniform, and the contents and form of whose culture are meagre and intellectually inconsistent.

Anthropologists study people, individuals in the society. They study how people live, human society past and present. Anthropology is also about how we think about people thinking about people, now and in history. And sometimes it is about power relations between people, cultures and societies, colonialism and globalization. In brief, anthropology is: 1) the study of man from biological, cultural and social viewpoints; 2) the study of human cultural difference; 3) the search for generalizations about human culture and human nature; and 4) the comparative analysis of similarities and differences between cultures.

Today, anthropology is defined as the systematic study of the ‘other’ while all other social sciences are in some sense the study of the ‘self’. But who is the ‘other’? The ‘other’ is anyone perceived as different and used to ‘inter-define’ one’s own identity; or simply say people of non-Western cultures. Nevertheless, in Reinventing Anthropology (1969), Dell Hymes argued: “the very existence of an autonomous discipline that specializes in the study of ‘others’ has always been somewhat problematic.”

There are two things need to be highlighted. First, the ‘other’ has changed. Non-Western societies have undergone rapid social change. And second, anthropology has come home. It no longer exclusively studies non-Western cultures. Now anthropologists also study marginal cultures in the Western societies as well as institutional and organizational cultures, such as business and corporate organizations, scientists, health organizations, and the police.

Anthropology, as a modern discipline and a professional career, begins with the establishment of university’s departments teaching anthropology as a course. In America, Boas began lecturing at Columbia University in 1896. While in Britain, a new diploma in anthropology was introduced at Oxford in 1906. In Britain, the term ‘anthropology’ loosely designates a number of different branches of study which are more or less closely associated. Yet, sometimes the association derives rather from the historical fact that they developed as socio-cultural evolutionary studies of man. Thus physical anthropology, prehistoric archaeology, primitive technology, ethnology and ethnography are usually subsumed with social anthropology under the name of anthropology. Nevertheless, it is not true to say that they are not related to sociology because its problems and methods overlap with those of social anthropology in a considerable degree. Therefore, it is not surprising that the term ‘anthropology’ connotes different things to different people, even when it is assigned with the adjective ‘social’. As a consequence, social anthropology may mean an interest in bones and head measurements, a concern with prehistoric man and his works and also it may mean an obsessive interest in exotic, preferably sexual, customs.

Alan Barnard in History and Theory of Anthropology names the French philosopher Charles Montesquieu (1669-1755) as the common ancestor of all modern anthropology. Anthropology marks its inauguration in 1748 with the publication of his The Spirits of the Laws. It is a product of the enlightenment. Then the Darwinian horizon flourished in the 1860s when great names, such as Sir Henry Sumner Maine, Lewis Henry Morgan, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, and Sir James Frazer, define the intellectual tradition that leads to modern anthropology. When Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown established the practice of ethnography, the extended study of how people live and where they live, modern anthropology is underway.

Kelmarin....

2009-10-13T12:40:00.001+08:00

“Hey are you serious?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure….”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t say anything, being silent since that day….”
“Perhaps she needs more time to ponder….”
“Yeah you are right. She needs time so that she can escape. She has been telling that for how many times. And I think this is the time that she will do what she says….”
“Come on. Don’t be so negative….”
“No I’m not. I’m just telling you the truth….”
“Erk. The truth??”
“Yeah. The truth that she is leaving me…”
“Haih… Apalah you nie. I think you need to give her more time to think, more time for herself, to be alone. Janganlah fikir bukan-bukan…”
“Don’t you get it? Aku tak fikir bukan-bukan. Itulah kenyataannya. I know it was my mistake, I should not ask her that question…”
“Nolah. It was not your mistake. Semua orang tahu perangai ko. Semua orang yang rapat dengan ko faham perangai ko. Ko tue sengal. Benda dah jelas lagi mahu tanya. Tapi nak buat macam mana, that’s what we call variations of human behaviour. Orang faham senanglah, cuma orang yang tak faham ajer susah….”
“Entah…. I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s true that I was meant to be alone…”
“Laaa… You are not alone lah. You still have us…”
“I’m gonna miss her….”
“Dahlah. That’s her decision. Semua orang buat silap. Ko buat silap, dia pun buat silap. Takda manusia yang perfect. Kalau nak cari yang perfect, Nabi ajerlah yang perfect. Even dia pun tak perfect….”
“Dahlah. Malas nak pikir.......”

Love Is Gone!!

2009-10-04T16:28:00.002+08:00

Now that the love is gone!

What are we supposed to do

After all that we’ve been through

When everything that felt so right is wrong

Now that the love is gone? Love is gone.

What are we supposed to do

After all that we’ve been through

When everything that felt so right is wrong

Now that the love is gone?

There is nothing left to prove

No use to deny this simple truth

Can’t find the reason to keep holding on

Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Now that the love is gone, what felt so right’s so wrong

Now that the love is gone

I feel so hurt inside, feel so hurt inside, got to find the reason

What are we supposed to do

After all that we’ve been through

When everything that felt so right is wrong

Now that the love is gone?

There is nothing left to prove

No use to deny this simple truth

Can’t find the reason to keep holding on

Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Got to find a reason, got to find a reason,

Got to find a reason to hold!

Love, there’s nothing left for us to say, yeah!

Love, why can’t we turn and walk away?

What are we supposed to do

After all that we’ve been through

When everything that felt so right is wrong

Now that the love is gone?

There is nothing left to prove

No use to deny this simple truth

Can’t find the reason to keep holding on

Now that the love is gone, love is gone

Love is gone!

Eid Mubaraq

2009-09-27T11:44:00.002+08:00

Thank you to all my friends and co-workers for your Eid wishes. My family and I wish you and your family members a blessed Eid. May Allah continue to strengthen our taqwa after this year's Ramadhan.

The Final Days

2009-09-11T14:14:00.002+08:00

The Prophet’s wife ‘Aisyah (may Allah be pleased with her) said, “With the start of the last ten days of Ramadhan, the Prophet used to tighten his waist belt (i.e. work hard) and used to pray all night, and used to keep his family awake for prayers.” (Reported by Bukhari).

For Muslims, the last ten days of Ramadhan should be a time to perfect one’s fast and avoid anything that may damage it. It is a time to give more charity and to settle disputes and forgive one another. It is also a time for soul searching, evaluating one’s life, supplicating, and asking forgiveness. This should be done sincerely because if Allah were to accept the supplications, the reward is the remission of one’s sins.

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “When the last one third of the night remains, our Lord, the Glorious One, descends towards the lower heaven and proclaims: Is there anyone begging Me for anything so that I grant him his wish? Is there anyone who seeks My forgiveness, so I forgive him?” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim).

We pray that Allah gives us strength to perform ‘ibadah during these last ten days of Ramadhan and forgives all our mistakes and misdeeds…

Dan Penghujungnya.....

2009-09-09T19:08:00.003+08:00

Menggamit nostalgia tika di bumi yang diberkati
Tika diri menjadi tetamu Tuhan yang Maha Suci
Moga doaku dicucuri kasih Mu

Kini hingga akhir hayatku

Meniti Hari Ke Penghujungnya

2009-09-04T19:17:00.001+08:00

Waktu berlalu begitu pantas, meninggalkan kita semua. Samada sedar atau alpa, itulah hakikatnya. Moga apa yang telah kita lakukan pada masa-masa yang lalu menjadi pengajaran buat kita pada masa hadapan. Pada yang mereka yang telah ku guris perasaannya, ku pohon seribu satu kemaafan. Pada teman yang senantiasa di sisiku, tika panas mahupun hujan, jutaan terima kasih yang tidak terhingga ku ucapkan. Pada ayah yang menanti di sana, aku senantiasa merindui-mu….

Mimpi-Mimpi Manis

2009-09-02T11:23:00.002+08:00

Every night I rush to my bed

With hopes that maybe I’ll get a chance to see you

When I close my eyes

I'm going out of my head

Lost in a fairytale

Can you hold my hands and be my guide

Clouds filled with stars cover your skies

And I hope it rains

You're the perfect lullaby

What kinda dream am is this?

You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

My guilty pleasure I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here

I'll be floating on air cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

I mention you when I say my prayers

I wrap you around all of my thoughts

Boy you're my temporary high

I wish that when I wake up you're there

To wrap your arms around me for real

And tell me you'll stay by side

Clouds filled with stars cover your skies

And I hope it rains

You're the perfect lullaby

What kinda dream is this

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

My guilty pleasure I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here

I'll be floating on air cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

Tattoo your name across my heart

So it will remain

Not even death can make us part

What kind of dream is this?

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true

My guilty pleasure I ain't going no where

Baby long as you're here

I'll be floating on air cause you're my

You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Either way I, don't wanna wake up from you

Kenangan Kelmarin

2009-09-01T12:18:00.005+08:00

Hujan renyai membasahi tubuh mereka yang berasak-asak keluar dari rumah Allah itu seusai solat tarawikh. Syariff tercari-cari akan bayangnya Kasyah. Masih belum kelihatan. Lantas dia berdiri di tepi pohon cendana yang rendang itu, sebagai pelindung dari hujan yang mulai lebat.

“Oit sorrylah. Lama ker tunggu?”
“Mana ko pegi daa. Aku tunggu, punya tunggu. Tapi ko tadalah…”
“Sudahlah hang. Jangan nak bercereka kat sini. Hujan makin lebat nie. Jom balik.”
“Hehehehehehe…….”

Gelak Syariff, sambil tersenyum sengeh. Lantas mereka bergerak menuju ke kenderaan pacuan empat roda, milik Kasyah.

“Ko nak drive?”
“Maleh. Aku terasa macam nak megholoh lah…”
“Haih…. Tak produktif langsung. Asyik nak membuta ajer…”
“Elloooo pakcik. Orang penat okay. Dari tengahhari kat dapur, masak laksa. Hang tue tahu kuar berjalan ajer dengan makwe. Cuba-cubalah beristighfar ker, iktiqaf ker kat Masjid. Nie takder, asyik berdaaaatinnngg ajer……”
“Mak oit!!! Hang kalu bab berleter, memang saling tak tumpah macam Mak Mah. Musti dia berbangga ader keturunan dia yang kuat berleter…..”
“Kuang ajaq hang!!! Tak sayang mulut nampak. Sudahlah hang. Aku nak balik nie. Cepat ler drive……”

Jawab Syariff sambil terus membuka pintu kereta. Dengan wajah yang agak serius, menunjukkan yang dia sedang marah.

“Hahahahahahahaha….. Bapak marah? Nanti kena jual….”
“Hahahahahahahaha….. Tidak. Bapak tak marah. Buatlah lagi. Buat…..”

Mereka berdua ketawa besar. Walaupun jenaka itu sudah acapkali mereka ulangi. Pun begitu, setiap kali jenaka itu dimainkan, pasti mereka akan ketawa berdekah-dekah.

Laluan ke Pusat Bandar agak sibuk malam itu. Mungkin kerana ramai yang ingin menanti detik 12 malam menyambut sambutan kemerdekaan yang ke 52. Bagi Syariff dan Kasyah, tahun ini mereka tidak keluar ke mana-mana. Maklumlah waktu itu bulan Ramadhan. Lebih elok mereka berjaga malam untuk bertahajud menghadap Tuhan yang Maha Esa.

“Iff, aku tengok dari tadi ko banyak mendiamkan diri ajer. Ada apa-apa ker?”
“Erk…. Iyer ker? Tadalah. Aku besa ajer…..”
“Sudahlah. Ko dengan aku pun nak mengencing. Kita kenal dari kecil lagi kay. Aku dah masak dah dengan perangai ko nie….”
“Hmmmmmm……… Entahlah. Susahlah nak cakap.”
“Come onlah….. Pebenda yang susah sangat nak cakap tue?”
“Hmmmmm…… Sofeya call petang tadi…..”
“Sape??!!!!”
“Haih…… Sofeya….”

Perlahan nada suara Syariff menjawab pertanyaan Kasyah. Seolah-olah tidak pasti dengan jawaban yang diberikannya.

“Nak apa lagi pompuan tue?!! Tak cukup-cukup ker menyusahkan ko…”

Diam. Syariff membisu tidak menjawab pertanyaan Kasyah kali ini. Cuba melarikan diri dari terus diasak dengan soalan-soalan yang tidap pasti untuk dijawab.

“Iff, can I ask you one simple question?”
“Sure. Pedia?”
“But I need a sincere answer please….”
“Yah.. Apa?”
“Do you still love her?”

Syariff diam seketika. Mencari kekuatan untuk menjawab persoalan itu.

“Syah, ko pun tahu aku sayang giler dia. She’s everything to me…”
“Come on Iff. After dia buat macam-macam kat ko pun still ko sayangkan dia?? Mananya ko letak your rationality?!!”
“Ntah. Aku sendiri pun tak sure. Ko sendiri pun tahu, bab cinta orang yang sihat pun bley jadi giler…..”
“That’s because you don’t know bezanya cinta dan hawa nafsu!!”
“I beg your pardon!!! So ko nak cakap semua yang aku cinta tue semuanya based on nafsu serakahlah….”

Syariff meninggikan suaranya. Tanda marah dan kurang senang dengan apa yang diperkatakan oleh Kasyah.

“Bukan macam tuelah brader. Im just questioning your rationality, tue ajer. Ko dah tahu apa yang dia buat kat ko. Even ko pun tahu apa yang dia cakap kat Kelvin, dia kutuk ko kaw-kaw. Tapi still ko masih sayangkan dia??”
“Haih…….”

Syariff hanya mampu mengeluh. Tidak pasti dengan apa yang dirasainya, dengan apa yang telah dilaluinya, kabur dengan apa yang akan dihadapinya.

“You see Iff, ko dan dia macam langit dengan bumi actually….”
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah no doubt, you come from a good family. Sape tak kenal daddy. Ramai orang kenal dia. Sampai menteri pun kenal dia. Tapi look at you….”
“What’s wrong with me??!!”
“Please don’t get me wrong Iff. You are too simple, especially dressing ko. Ko shopping bagai nak rak, tapi ko simpan dalam closet. Aku tengok ulang-ulang baju tue gak yang ko pakai. Tapi dia lainlah Iff. She’s living in a glamorous world. Even ko sendiri bagitau kat aku, dia lepak umah pun pakai dressing ngalah nak ke mana ajer. So can you see the difference between you and her?”
“Haih….. Aku tahu. Tapi……”
“Then?? Apa lagi yang halang ko for letting her go?? Ko sendiri dah nampak yang korang berdua tak serasi…..”
“Entahlah….. Aku sendiri tak pasti……”
“Tak sure atau pura-pura tak tahu?”

Diam. Tiada sebarang jawapan yang diberikan.

“Iff, you need to be strong. Let her go. She’s not meant for you….”
“Yeah. You are rite, she’s not meant for me…..”
“Hmmm….. Apa cerita Adriana?”
“Hahahahahaha….. Tada apalah. No news till now. And aku tak mengharap sangat pun….”
“Why don’t you give a try? She’s a medical doctor, suits you well I suppose…”
“Hahahaha…… Mulalah tue merepek. Apa yang sesuainya, kenal pun idak lagi…”
“Halah…. Kalu jadi, dua-dua doktor apa….”
“Tapi aku tak layak treat patientlah….”
“Cause you are a social doctor bengong!! Hang nie ting-tong betullah…..”
“Hahahahahahaha….. Wei jom makan Hershey’s nak?”
“Hmmm yummy!!! Jom!! Lama gak aku tak pekena Hershey’s nie. Mana?”
“Mana lagi. Port biasalah……”

Dan mereka menuju ke destinasi itu. Untuk menikmati pencuci mulut kegemaran mereka berdua. Sambil menikmati malam yang dingin itu……

Ramadhan Kareem

2009-08-22T11:27:00.002+08:00

Selamat meyambut Ramadhan al-Mubarak!! Moga Ramadhan kali ini dapat mendekatkan diri kita pada yang Esa. Moga ianya menjadi titik tolak untuk perubahan kepada yang lebih baik, kepada yang lebih di redhai oleh yang Maha Kuasa. Amin......

Kali Pertama.....

2009-08-17T15:32:00.000+08:00

“Hey you okay tak? Nampak macam pucat ajer…..”
“Entahlah…. Badan asyik tak sedap ajerlah. Rasa macam nak demamlah….”
“Come let me check your body temperature…”

Dan dia terus menghulurkan dirinya untuk diperiksa. Sambil tersenyum lebar….

“Kenapa senyum macam tue? Tue apalah difikirkannya….”
“Hahahahahahaha….. Takda apalah. Senyum tue kan sedekah…”

Sambil tersenyum simpul. Dan hakikatnya hari itu terlalu amat indah untuk dikenang. Sampai bila-bila…….

Pendirian Terhadap Replika DS Najib dan Jawapan Terhadap PKR

2009-08-11T11:49:00.002+08:00

Saya yang berada di luar negara baru tahu tentang replika itu, walaupun PKR telah menempelak saya seperti yang disebut dalam Malaysiakini kerana tidak membantah. Saya konsisten menyatakan seperti mana replika DS Anwar tidak patut didirikan, maka begitu juga replika DS Najib. Selain daripada ia berunsur berlebih-lebihan memuja pemimpin atau mengampu, ia juga tidak memberikan apa-apa kekuatan kepada politik seseorang.

Pemimpin dinilai pada pemikiran, sikap dan kerjanya, bukan pada besar kecil patungnya. Apabila saya menegaskan konsistensi saya dalam perkara ini, saya ini melihat sejauh mana konsistensi pihak yang membolehkannya dahulu. Malaysiakini melaporkan bahawa PKR ingin mendengar pendirian saya, maka ini pendirian saya.

Saya pula ingin melihat pendirian mereka yang dahulu membolehkannya. Sepatutnya, mereka yang mempertahankannya untuk DS Anwar Ibrahim, mereka juga kena mempertahankannya kali ini. Mengapa ia berubah-ubah jika untuk orang lain, dan hanya dibolehkan untuk pemimpin sendiri sahaja. Itulah politik. “Haram itu untuk musuh, halal itu untuk diri sendiri, musuh semua salah, diri sendiri semua betul”.

Alhamdulillah, generasi muda mulai sedar, kebanyakan permainan politik ini hanya memperbodohkan masyarakat. Ramai anggota PKR datang dari lubuk yang sama, iaitu BN. Nama berbeza, mentaliti dan sikap belum tentu?!

Dr. Mohd Asri, Lampeter, UK.

Realiti Hari Ini

2009-08-10T15:54:00.003+08:00

PULAU PINANG 9 Ogos – Ahli Parlimen Jelutong, Jeff Ooi tidak akan meminta maaf berhubung kenyataannya yang mengaitkan syariah Islam dan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) sebagai ekstremis sebaliknya hanya mahu menarik balik kenyataan tersebut.

Menurut Ooi, tindakan menarik balik kenyataannya itu dibuat atas nasihat Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng yang mahu beliau berbuat demikian.

Justeru katanya yang juga Ketua Staf Pejabat Guan Eng, sebagai seorang yang bekerja sepertinya dan mempunyai ketua, dia perlu mengikut nasihat dan arahan yang diberikan ketua walaupun mempunyai pandangan lain.

‘‘Sebagai sebuah pertubuhan yang berdaftar dan entiti awam, JIM juga seharusnya tidak mudah terasa hati dengan kenyataan peribadi yang dikeluarkan oleh orang ramai berkaitan misi dan aktivitinya.

‘‘JIM patut menerima segala kenyataan yang dikeluarkan tidak kira dalam bentuk yang bagaimana kerana semua orang berhak mengeluarkan pandangan peribadi masing-masing,’’ katanya pada sidang akhbar di Pusat Khidmat DAP Parlimen Jelutong di Jalan Perak di sini hari ini.

Menurut Ooi, beliau juga mencabar pihak-pihak tertentu yang mendakwanya sebagai anti-Islam supaya memberikan bukti kukuh terhadap perbuatannya yang menunjukkan dia berbuat demikian.

Katanya, beliau tidak teragak-agak untuk mengambil tindakan undang-undang terhadap pihak yang terus menuduhnya.

Sementara itu, Ooi juga mahu Ahli Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP), Mohd. Razali Abdullah, yang juga ahli JIM keluar daripada Majlis Jawatankuasa One Stop Centre (MJOSC) kerana beliau hanya satu beban politik kepada kerajaan negeri.

Katanya, tindakan Mohd. Razali yang telah menangguhkan projek dua pemaju yang tersenarai dalam Bursa Malaysia hanya kerana syarat dan permintaan ‘peribadinya’ tidak termaktub dalam garis panduan dan kriteria sedia ada tidak dipenuhi, hanya satu tindakan merugikan semua pihak.

Menurut beliau, permohonan Kebenaran Merancang (KM) telah ditangguhkan walaupun kedua-dua pemaju itu telah memperoleh surat kelulusan daripada semua jabatan-jabatan teknikal yang terlibat.

‘‘Dalam mesyuarat MJOSC yang diadakan, beliau telah mempersoalkan dan meminta maklumat berkaitan harga jualan rumah, meminta gambar perspektif 3D, pindaan pelan dan maklumat pelan induk terdahulu, sedangkan pelan itu telah diluluskan sebelum itu.

‘‘Ini semua tidak berasas dan bukannya merupakan aspek teknikal yang berada dalam bidang kuasa MJOSC. Tindakannya itu hanya akan menimbulkan keresahan, kegelisahan dan ketakutan kepada pemaju. Jangan bila mereka sudah keluar dan tidak ingin melabur di negeri ini, baru kita mahu mengambil tindakan terhadap Mohd. Razali. Ini sudah terlambat,’’ katanya.

Bagaimanapun, Ooi berkata, beliau tidak akan campur tangan dan menyerahkan kepada kerajaan negeri untuk tindakan selanjutnya terhadap Mohd. Razali.

Namun, kata Ooi, dia akan mengumpulkan segala bukti yang ada untuk menunjukkan ‘tindakan’ keterlaluan dan tidak berasas Mohd. Razali itu untuk diserahkan kepada Guan Eng.

‘‘Tidak seharusnya Mohd. Razali dibiarkan terus berada dalam MJOSC, dia harus keluar untuk menjamin pelabur terus berminat melabur di Pulau Pinang,’’ katanya.

Dalam pada itu, ketika ditanya pemberita, adakah beliau akan meletakkan jawatannya disebabkan isu yang timbul tersebut, Ooi berkata, isu mengenai jawatannya itu tidak penting sebaliknya yang paling utama kini adalah jawatan Yang Dipertua MPPP.

Menurut beliau, jawatan itu kini dipangku Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri, Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman setelah penyandangnya, Tan Cheng Chui menghadapi masalah kesihatan.

‘‘Cheng Chui sekarang sedang sakit dan desas desus ada mengatakan dia akan meletakkan jawatan. Ketiadaannya menyebabkan banyak mesyuarat MJOSC terpaksa ditangguhkan yang bermakna banyak projek juga terpaksa ditangguhkan kerana kita tidak ada alternatif pengerusi.

‘‘Datuk Zainal mempunyai banyak tugas lain. Dia tidak mungkin mampu melaksanakan semua tugas. Oleh itu satu perancangan teliti perlu dilakukan untuk menjamin ekonomi negara terus berkembang,’’ katanya.

Utusan Malaysia, 10 Ogos 2009.

====================

Tiba-tiba aku terfikir, bagaimana pula agaknya kalau ada diantara kita di luar sana mengeluarkan kenyataan yang DAP ialah sebuah parti yang bersifat rasis? Kepala terus jadi pusing!!

Tetamu Diundang

2009-08-08T17:14:00.007+08:00

Jumaat, 31 Julai 2009, yang lalu, kami warga pendidik Sosiologi and Antropologi Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) telah menerima kunjungan hormat seorang sarjana dari Akademi Kepimpinan Qatar (Qatar Leadership Academy), Doha, Qatar. Sarjana dimaksudkan ialah Dr. Khalid Mohammed Muftah.

Kunjungan Dr. Khalid sangat bermakna buat Jabatan Sosiologi dan Antropologi, serta diri aku sendiri. Dalam perjumpaan kami, banyak ruang-ruang dan peluang-peluang koloborasi antara Jabatan dan jua Akademi beliau telah dibincangkan, samada dari segi pertukaran pelajar dan jua staf akademik, mahupun peluang-peluang kerjasama kajian dan penyelidikan saintifik. Bagi aku, aku berharap pertemuan ini adalah satu landasan bagi aku untuk aku, di masa depan, mengajar di Timur Tengah, sambil menjalankan kajian antropologi terhadap masyarakat Arab modern. Insha Allah.

Berdiri dari kiri ke kanan: Dr. Rohaiza Rokis, Prof. Dr. Jamil Farooqui, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Nasr, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Aris Haji Othman, Prof. Madya Dr. Hazizan Md. Noon, Dr. Noor Azlan Mohd Noor, Nurazzura Mohamad Diah, dan aku (orang Oman celup :P)

Duduk dari kiri ke kanan: Dr. Badri Najib Zubir, Dr. Khalid Mohammed Muftah dan Dr. Pute Rahimah Makol-Abdul

Tiada dalam gambar: Khairulanuar Abd Rahman (jurugambar), Nor Azlin Tajuddin (cuti belajar), Norasikin Basir (cuti belajar) dan Dr. Omar Hisham Altalib (urusan peribadi)

Sekadar Berita.....

2009-08-06T20:18:00.003+08:00

Lama tidak menjenguk. Sudah bersawang agaknya. Keadaan yang tidak begitu mengizinkan. Terlalu sibuk dengan kerja, conference, persediaan untuk menjadi tetamu orang, dan pelbagai lagi. Ditambah dengan ribut yang melanda famili. Kasihanku pada Harith. Sedihku pada Afiqah. Mereka masih tidak mengerti. Melihatnya terbujur kaku. Sejuk. Pun begitu aku masih bersyukur, kerna Tuhan masih memberi kesempatan pada kami untuk masih lagi bertemu dengan si ibu. Sesungguhnya Tuhan lebih mengetahui......

Ahli Sihir Sudah Kembali

2009-07-18T14:44:00.001+08:00

Pengalaman Baru

2009-07-14T23:57:00.004+08:00

Semester satu baru sahaja bermula. Minggu ini aku agak sibuk bukan hanya dengan pengajaran malahan jua untuk menyudahkan kerja-kerja untuk Conference koloborasi antara Jabatanku dan Institut Antarabangsa untuk Perpaduan Umat Islam (IIMU). Ada beberapa isu yang timbul di saat-saat akhir begini, lantas membuatkanku agak pusing dan bingung. Namun apapun, perlu aku selesaikan satu persatu walaupun hakikatnya masalah ini bukannya angkara diri aku sendiri!!

Semester ini aku mengajar tiga subjek; Pengenalan Ilmu Sosiologi, Antropologi Organisasi dan jua Jenayah dan Devians. Agak memeranjatkan seorang muridku dari subjek Pengenalan Ilmu Sosiologi adalah pelajar Sarjana. Pastinya ia satu pengalaman yang menarik, yang tidak bisa untuk aku lupakan!! :D

Islam vs. Secularism

2009-07-10T20:07:00.002+08:00

Secularism is defined in the Webster dictionary as: “A system of doctrines and practices that rejects any form of religious faith and worship” or “The belief that religion and ecclesiastical affairs should not enter into the function of the state especially into public education.”

There is no doubt that secularism contradicts Islam in every aspect. They are two different paths that never meet; choosing one means rejecting the other. Hence, whoever chooses Islam has to reject secularism. In the following, we go in the details of explaining why.

First, secularism makes lawful what Allah has made unlawful. The Rule of Allah (Shari`ah) is compulsory and has basic laws and regulations that cannot be changed. Some of these laws are concerned with the acts of worship, the relations between men and women, etc. Secularism makes adultery lawful if the male and the female are consenting adults.

As for Riba (interest on money), it is the basis of all financial transactions in secular economies. On the contrary, Allah says (2:278): “O you who believe, fear Allah and leave what comes from Riba if you are believers. If you do not do so, then wait for a war from Allah and His Messenger.” As for alcohol, all secular systems allow the consumption of alcohol and make selling it a lawful business.

Second, secularism is clear unbelief (Kufr). Secularism is based on separating religion from all the affairs of this life and hence, it rules by law and regulations other than Allah’s laws. Hence, secularism rejects Allah’s rules with no exception and prefers regulations other than Allah’s and His Messenger’s. In fact, many secularists claim that Allah’s laws might have been suitable for the time they were revealed but are now outdated.

As a result, most of the laws governing the daily affairs of life in the countries ruled by secular systems contradict Islam. Allah says (5:50): “Do they seek a judgment of Ignorance? But, who, for a people whose faith is assured, can give better judgment than Allah?”

Ibn Katheer said in the Tafseer of this verse that Allah is denouncing those who reject His ruling and accept other rulings that are not based on the Shari`ah of Allah. Whoever does so is indeed a non-believer. Indeed, belief in Allah can never go with the acceptance of other than His rulings in one’s heart. Allah says (5:44): “If any do fail to judge by what Allah has revealed, they are non-believers.”

From the above, the status of secularism and its relation to Islam are clear. But the ignorance about the Islamic truth is still dominating the Muslim’s mind. Most secular systems repeat slogans like “no religion in politics and no politics in religion” or “religion is for Allah, and the state is for the people.” Such sayings portray their view of Islam as a religion to be practiced in the mosque only, and that it should not be allowed to rule life outside the mosque. Furthermore, they try to deceive people with democratic slogans like “personal freedom” and “people governing people.” That means that people come first and no place is made for the ruling of Allah. This is why secularism is clear Kufr, this is why secular systems have no legality and authority and should be rejected by Muslims.

Sweetie

2009-07-06T17:23:00.005+08:00

Hey chomel tak saya? Macam pakcu sayakan :D

Weeeee bestnyer dapat main air!!!

Mana semua orang nie? Kata nak main dengan Harith....

Harith penatlah. Kita tido dulu!!! :D

Penghargaan

2009-06-23T17:40:00.003+08:00

Ramai yang bertanya dahulu, mengapa memilih Kampung Baru sebagai tajuk disertasi sarjana. Kepada mereka aku hanya mampu tersenyum simpul. Mungkin kerana kerumitan untuk memahamkan mereka. Namun dari pandangan aku, Kampung Baru memberikan seribu satu informasi, pemahaman dan jua kepuasan, untuk aku terus mendalami apa yang kita semua gelarkan 'masyarakat'. Moga-moga tulisanku itu dapat memberi manfaat kepada mereka-mereka yang cuba ingin mencari kefahaman tentang apa pentingnya identiti kepada proses pembangunan dan jua kemajuan.

Jutaan terima kasihku kepada mereka yang telah banyak membantuku menyudahkan disertasi sarjanaku. Profesor Dr. Mohamed Aris Othman, Profesor Dr. Jamil Farooqui, Profesor Dr. Saiyad Fareed Ahmad, Profesor Dr. Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Nasr, Profesor Dr. Fatimah Daud, Profesor Madya Dr. Hazizan Md. Noon, Dr. Pute Rahimah Makol-Abdul, dan Rohana Md. Dewa yang telah banyak membantuku, dan memberikan kritikan-kritikan yang membina dalam aku memahami proses interaksi antara budaya dan kemajuan. Pada penyelia disertasiku, Profesor Dr. Mohamed Aris Othman, kerna tunjuk ajar dan bimbingan mu, akhirnya aku mengerti apakah itu yang dimaksudkan 'antropologi'. Pada kakak ku, terima kasih tidak terhingga atas bantuan moral dan kewangan mu. Moga Allah rahmati kamu hingga akhir hayat.

Pada teman-teman; Ken, Vincent @ 'Akasyah Tan Abdullah, Jerry, Simon, Kelvin, Ahmad Hisham, Syahrul Akashah, Zarul Effendi, 'Aisyah, Emily, Allysa, dan Lisa, terima kasih tidak terhingga atas idea-idea bernas kamu yang banyak membantu ku untuk memahami apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan pembangunan dan kemajuan.

Pada ayah, inilah hadiah kecilku buat mu. Moga kau tenteram di atas sana, bersama Dia yang Maha Berkuasa.

Nota: Pada Monkibizniz dan Nite Garden, keputusan rasmi disertasi sarjanaku telah pun keluar. Alhamdulillah, aku beroleh A!!

I Love You

2009-06-20T13:26:00.002+08:00

At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen.

What marvellous route did you take from this world?

Beating your wings and feathers,

you broke free from this cage.

Rising up to the sky

you attained the world of the soul.

You were a prized falcon trapped by an Old Woman.

Then you heard the drummer’s call

and flew beyond space and time.

As a lovesick nightingale, you flew among the owls.

Then came the scent of the rose garden

and you flew off to meet the Rose.

The wine of this fleeting world

caused your head to ache.

Finally you joined the tavern of Eternity.

Like an arrow, you sped from the bow

and went straight for the bull’s eye of bliss.

This phantom world gave you false signs

But you turned from the illusion

and journeyed to the land of truth.

You are now the Sun

what need have you for a crown?

You have vanished from this world -

what need have you to tie your robe?

I’ve heard that you can barely see your soul.

But why look at all?

yours is now the Soul of Souls!

O heart, what a wonderful bird you are.

Seeking divine heights,

Flapping your wings,

you smashed the pointed spears of your enemy.

The flowers flee from autumn, but not you

You are the fearless rose

that grows amidst the freezing wind.

Pouring down like the rain of heaven

you fell upon the rooftop of this world.

Then you ran in every direction

and escaped through the drain spout . . .

Now the words are over

and the pain they bring is gone.

Now you have gone to rest

in the arms of the Beloved

Hidup Ini.....

2009-06-16T18:08:00.002+08:00

Kekadang sering aku terfikir akan karenah makhluk yang bernama manusia ini, sambil tersenyum sinis. Mereka acapkali berbicara tentang kebahagiaan, seolah-olah mereka mengerti apakah itu kebahagiaan yang hakiki. Mereka seringkali berkata-kata tentang konsep ke-Tuhanan, namun mereka alpa diri mereka berselaput dengan noda dan dosa - apakah itu yang dinamakan konsep ke-Tuhanan? Mereka selalu bertingkah akan kelakuan makhluk sejenis mereka, menuding jari mencari kealpaan mereka. Namun mereka selalu lupa, diri mereka jua tidak sempurna, penuh dengan seribu satu kepincangan......

Moga Allah mencucuri rahmat-Nya ke atas diri mereka dan jua kita.

Dr. Fathi Yakan

2009-06-14T21:20:00.002+08:00

Ketua gerakan Islam terkenal Lubnan, yang juga mantan ahli parlimen Lubnan, Dr Fathi Yakan diberitakan telah meninggal dunia pada usia 76 tahun setelah bergelut dengan penyakitnya di Lubnan pada 13 Jun 2009.

Ustaz Dr Fathi Yakan yang lahir pada tahun 1933 di Kota Tripoli di Lubnan Utara merupakan salah seorang tokoh penting bagi gerakan Islam di dunia Islam dan telah mengasaskan gerakan Islam di Lubnan pada sekitar 50-an.

Sepanjang hayatnya, beliau telah melahirkan sejumlah karya ulung, termasuk “Apa Ertinya Saya Menganut Islam”, “Masalah Dakwah dan Pendakwah” dan “Persepsi Yang Dinamis Dalam Kerja-kerja Islam” yang telah diterjemahkan ke dalam pelbagai bahasa.

Dr. Fathi Yakan telah menyertai pilihanraya parlimen pada tahun 1992 dan memenangi kerusi bagi puak Sunni di Tripoli. Pada tahun 1992 juga beliau merupakan salah seorang peserta dalam Muktamar Islam Antarabangsa.

Beliau memainkan peranan besar di Lubnan bagi menyatukan dan menghindari perselisihan di kalangan rakyat Lubnan, terutama antara kekuatan golongan majoriti dan minoriti.

Saya secara peribadi ingin merakamkan ucapan takziah atas pemergian Dr Fathi Yakan ke rahmatullah. Sesungguhnya pemergian beliau bukan sekadar kehilangan besar bagi rakyat Lubnan, bahkan untuk seluruh umat Islam khususnya di kalangan aktivitis-aktivis dakwah yang banyak mendapat tunjuk ajar daripada beliau. Dan hakikatnya saya masih terkejut dengan pemergian beliau. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat-Nya ke atas ruh beliau.

I Love You and Goodbye

2009-06-09T09:25:00.002+08:00

I will never forget you,
Though I may meet someone new,
But a part of my heart,
Will forever belong to you.

I know it won’t be easy,
And I’ll miss you every second,
But everything in life,
Comes with a special lesson.

Letting go is hard,
But when all the sadness clears,
There will not be a reason,
To shed another tear.

What we had was priceless,
And you will always hold my heart,
But now that our love is gone,
We must forever part.

My love you took for granted,
But I gave it anyway,
And still you overlook me,
Even to this day.

Of all the times you hurt me,
And all the times I’ve cried,
I think of why I worked so hard,
And why I even tried.

You said you’d love me forever,
But forever has come and gone,
And still I sit and wonder,
Where it all went wrong.

But now I see what’s really there,
And there’s nothing I could have done,
You can’t help who you love,
And I just wasn’t the one.

Maybe someday down the road,
Our paths will intertwine,
And once again I can hold you,
And know you are mine.

But until the day, if it even comes,
You will only be in my mind,
For now it’s time for me to see,
If it’s true love I can find.

We had some really good times,
And we had some really bad,
But the strength to keep on going,
Neither of us had.

I’m sorry our time has ended,

And we couldn’t make things work,

But then I think of all the times,

You acted like a jerk.

I know I wasn’t perfect,

But I gave you all I had,

And if we were so deep in love,

Why does it feel so bad?

I still have a lot of questions,

And I still wonder why,

But now all I can do is say,

I love you and goodbye.

Moments

2009-05-31T13:06:00.001+08:00

These moments in time are yours

These two moments are yours to keep

Treasure them

For we must each go along our own paths

You to your destiny

I to mine.

The dreams I dream of you

As I lay awake at night

Tears flowing down your face

Rivers flowing down mine

As we think of our parting

And reminisce our love.

But always remember

That I am here, I am here

I am here in your very beginning

Our love cannot be forgotten

For I am here, I am here

Hiding from you.

Kegilaanku...

2009-05-31T12:33:00.003+08:00

Inilah kegilaanku yang terkini. Setelah penat bekerja seharian balik sampai lewat malam, inilah sahaja hiburan yang dapat aku adakan untuk merehatkan minda. Mula-mula taklah minat sangat kerna cerita terlalu stereotype. Tapi lelama bley syioklah pulok. Apapun Jan Di memang chomel and kelakar!! :D

Mogok Lapar: Penjelasan Dr. Mohd Asri

2009-05-27T17:31:00.001+08:00

Dalam Islam matlamat tidak menghalalkan cara (the ends do not justify the means). Apa sekalipun hasrat baik tidak boleh dihalalkan dengan cara yang tidak diterima oleh syariat. Mogok lapar adalah satu penyeksaan diri sendiri yang mempunyai ‘nilai ketidakcerdikan’ yang amat sangat.

Memang, pada zaman Nabi ia pernah dibuat oleh ibubapa kuffar Quraish bagi membantah anak-anak mereka menganut Islam. Namun itu adalah kebodohan kaum Quraish. Para Nabi a.s. dan pengikut mereka telah menentang berbagai sistem dan kezaliman, tiada seorang pun di kalangan mereka yang melancarkan mogok lapar. Allah tidak pernah mensyariatkan hal itu sama sekali.

Mungkin Gandhi pernah menjadi contoh dalam hal itu. Tetapi tidak para pejuang Islam. Jika ada pun seseorang berpuasa dengan cara yang diajar oleh Allah dan RasulNya. Bukan untuk membantah sesiapa, tetapi mendekatkan diri kepada Allah. Itupun dilarang ‘wisal’ dalam puasa, maksudnya berterusan tanpa buka setelah masuk waktu berbuka.

Malanglah, jika umat Islam terpengaruh dengan pendekatan yang bukan Islamic, bukan memperkenalkan kematangan pemikiran Islam. Jika seseorang mati dalam mogok lapar, ia termasuk dalam hukum membunuh diri. Ini seperti dalam hadis al-Bukhari, dalam sebuah peperangan, ada seorang pejuang telah berjuang dengan hebat sehingga dia dipuji oleh para sahabat. Nabi memberitahu mereka dia ahli nereka. Mereka hairan. Namun apabila diperiksa didapati dia membunuh diri kerana tidak sabar atas kecederaan yang dialaminya.

Dengan itu, bagi saya jika ‘pejuang mogok lapar’ mati dia termasuk dalam hadis ini. Orang politik mungkin menghalalkan apa sahaja untuk politik mereka, tetapi para pejuang prinsip hendaklah berpegang kepada prinsip tanpa mengira siapa pun.

Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, Lampeter, UK.

Will You Ever?

2009-05-26T17:14:00.002+08:00

I don't think you will

Ever fully understand

How you've touched my life

And made me who I am

I don't think you could ever know

Just how truly special you are

That even on the darkest nights

You are my brightest star

I don't think you will ever fully comprehend

How you've made my dreams come true

Or how you've opened my heart

To love and the wonders it can do

You've allowed me to experience

Something very hard to find

Unconditional love that exists

In my body, soul, and mind

I don't think you could ever feel

All the love I have to give

And I'm sure you'll never realize

You've been my will to live

You are an amazing person

And without you I don't know where I'd be

Having you in my life

Completes and fulfills every part of me

Never I Have Fallen

2009-05-24T21:45:00.002+08:00

Your lips speak soft sweetness

Your touch a cool caress

I am lost in your magic

My heart beats within your chest

I think of you each morning

And dream of you each night

I think of your arms being around me

And cannot express my delight

Never have I fallen

But I am quickly on my way

You hold a heart in your hands

That has never before been given

If.....

2009-05-18T14:39:00.002+08:00

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream and not make dreams your master,

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And which is more you’ll be a Man, my son!

Happy Teacher's Day

2009-05-16T17:06:00.003+08:00

Ucapan Selamat Hari Guru kepada semua guru di seluruh dunia. Terutama sekali kepada semua guru-guru ku. Terima kasih atas tunjuk ajar mu, didikan mu dan sudah tentunya segala 'ilmu pengetahuan yang telah dicurahkan kepadaku. Ucapan terima kasih ku pada semua.

Guru SKSM: Puan Hajah Samilah, Puan Zuraidah, Puan Masitah Adnan, Encik Zainuddin, Encik Adami, Puan Hajah Aspah Jamin dan lain-lain.

Guru SMAPK: Puan Amnah Labib, Puan Kamarul Hazani, Puan Hajah Saadiah Haji Shamsuddin, Encik Johari Kassim, Encik Bakru Rozi, Puan Rahimaton Haron, Puan Zarifah Said, Puan Mahimun, Tuan Haji Saim bin Ithnin, Puan Hajah Jumaiyah, Tuan Haji Ishak Ibrahim, Puan Norah dan lain-lain.

Guru Matrikulasi: Puan Isfadiah, Puan Siti Khadijah, Encik Muhammad Rashad Bakashmar, Dr. Md. Yousuf Ali, Dr. Wahabuddin Ra'ees dan lain-lain.

Guru UIAM: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Aris Haji Othman, Prof. Dr. Jamil Farooqui, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Nasr, Prof. Dr. Fatimah Daud, Prof. Dr. Saiyad Fareed Ahmad, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hazizan Md. Noon, Dr. Noor Azlan Mohd Noor, Dr. Pute Rahimah Makol-Abdul, Dr. Rohaiza Rokis, Dr. Nurazzura Md. Diah, Ms Nor Azlin Tajuddin, Mdm Nor Aisah Areff, Mdm Norasikin Basir dan Dr. Fathi Jumaa' Ahmad.

The Perak DUN Fiasco

2009-05-16T14:19:00.004+08:00

I was at the Perak State Legislative Assembly on an official duty on 7 May only to witness the ugliest scene in Malaysia's legislative history. It was expected that some kind of ruckus would happen in the DUN on that fateful day but what I witnessed was beyond my imagination. I was shocked to see DAP and PKR assemblymen crossed the aisle (a very unparliamentary act) to harrass BN and Independent assemblymen and prevented them from speaking. The shove and scuffle in the Dewan, which lasted for more than five hours, with intermittent break in between, made similar experience in Taiwanese parliament a storm in a tea pot.

By now, the Malaysian public already knew the what and how of the ruckus. What matters now is how they perceive it. Let me deal with some of the perceptions and give my own eyewitness account.

1. Sivakumar was deprived of his right as a Speaker.

No, it was not true. Nobody stopped Sivakumar from doing his job as a Speaker when the Dewan convened. He entered the Dewan and sat on the Speaker's Chair. He then ordered the seven BN assemblymen who had earlier been suspended, including the MB, and the three Independents to leave the Dewan. This was despite the court's decision which declared the suspension of the seven BN assemblymen was illegal. No reason was given as to why he ordered the ten assemblymen to leave. He also refused to allow Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli who had been standing for more than 15 minutes to speak. As the Speaker, he was the most powerful man in the Dewan he said. This means he is 'untouchable" and could do anything he wanted in the Dewan. So who deprived whose right?

2. The sitting was never convened because Sivakumar refused to begin the sitting unless the 10 ADUNs leave the Dewan.

Yes, Sivakumar did say that he would never begin the sitting unless the 10 ADUNs leave the Dewan. But he erred in law. Order 13(1) of the Standing Order clearly states that the order of business begins with the entry of the Speaker. Speaker's announcement is item no 4 in the order of business. So when Sivakumar entered the Dewan, sat on the Speaker's Chair and made "announcements" that the 10 ADUNs should leave the Dewan, the Dewan was already in sitting.

3. If Sivakumar was not deprived of his right as a speaker, then why was his microphone turned off?

Get the fact right. The microphone was turned off only after the motion to remove Sivakumar as a Speaker was duly passed by the Dewan. This means, when the microphone was turned off, Sivakumar was no longer the Speaker. He therefore had no right to speak as a Speaker. He should have honourably left the Speaker's Chair and taken his seat as an ordinary ADUN. By refusing to vacate the Speaker's chair, he actually obstructed the new Speaker from discharging his duties. In fact, it was a necessity that the microphone was turned off. Sivakumar kept shouting "saya tidak dengar apa-apa, saya tidak dengar apa-apa, saya tidak dengar apa" when Menteri Besar YAB Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir moved the motion to remove him. Don't we think that it was an obstruction of the business of the Dewan?

4. The Speaker cannot simply be removed.

If an MB can be removed, why can't a Speaker? A Speaker can be removed by a motion passed by a majority of the members of the house. On May 7, the MB used his authority under Order 13(2) of the Perak DUN's Standing Order to move a motion to remove the speaker. It is as simple as that. And it would be against the public interest if a Speaker cannot be removed.

5. The BN wanted to remove the Speaker because he is a member of the Opposition. This is unfair.

How would you run a Westminster system of parliamentary government if a Speaker who is a member of the Opposition cannot be removed. The scenario would be like this. Whenever the government wants to introduce a Bill in the Dewan, the Speaker will find fault with government assemblymen and suspend them for one or two weeks, or worse still, for 12 or 16 months. (Don't rule out the possibility of arbitrariness in suspending the assemblymen as this is what Sivakumar exactly did in the suspension of the seven BN assemblymen previously). The Speaker will make sure that the number of government assemblymen he suspends would be enough to reduce them into a minority. No government Bill can be passed. What if the Bill is a Supply Bill. The government will be in a "loss of supply" position, i.e. having no money to spend constitutionally. Don't we think that this will lead to the collapse of a constitutional government? Removing the Speaker in the Perak case is a matter of necessity.

6. The police had acted arbitrarily by dragging Sivakumar out from the Dewan.

The police had been very cautious in taking action aginst the trouble makers. I bumped into a high ranking police officer outside the Dewan during the recess. Someone asked him why the police did not go in to stop the ruckus. His answer was that the police had taken enough heat in handling the protesters outside the Dewan. Interfering in the business of the Dewan would only worsen public perception toward the police. But why did the police finally come in and dragged Sivakumar out of the Dewan? The answer is simple. The situation was totally out of control. A Bentara was injured when he was trying to remove Sivakumar from the Speaker's Chair. The Speaker had no choice but to call the police in. And that was after five hours of shove and scuffle in the Dewan. My hunch is the PKR and DAP assemblymen purposely wanted the police to come in as part of their perception play. In fact the whole drama is just part of their perception play.

7. Democracy is dead

No. Democracy is not dead. It just overworked. Some people had just stretched the limit of democracy. In fact, it is bordering on anarchy. Yes, I mean it. It is anarchy with some leftist-leninist strand! Are some people slowly showing their true colors now? But throughout the ruckus, I was wondering why PAS assemblymen sat quietly in the Dewan. Some were SMSing and others just looked poker faced. Hmmmm ....

Note: All views expressed in this article are solely of my own and not of the institution(s) that I am currently attached to.

Written by:

Dr. Marzuki Mohamad

Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
International Islamic University Malaysia
Currently he is the Special Officer for Deputy Prime Minister

Religion and Politics in America: The Rise of Christian Evangelists and Their Impact

2009-05-12T17:52:00.004+08:00

This book by Muhammad Arif Zakaullah was published and released by Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations (Beirut-Lebanon) in February 2007. It discusses the dimensions and interactions of both, religion and politics, in the United States of America (USA), and more specifically the strong influential role of Christian Evangelists in determining the US policies. Though the subject was previously explored by several writers, this book is special in analyzing the historical background and the roots of Christian Evangelism, all the way till their present status and power. Remarkably, the author presents "in perfect doses" a blend of ideology and events, past and present (updated till late 2006), all tied up in a well organized concise approach.

Zakaullah produced a highly academic, documented and objective study. Being a Muslim, he managed to present his study from a different perspective, trying to establish a better understanding of the policy-making process in the USA in the Muslim world, and calling for a constructive inter-civilizational dialogue.

The author starts with a look on the current situation between America and the Muslim World, which “has been exploited by extremists in both camps endangering world peace in the first decade of the 21st century.”

Then he justifies the major reasons behind his research:

“The peace loving majorities in both the West and the Muslim world want to know the causes of this problem to resolve it. The hawks in the West have developed a number of approaches (e.g. Islamophobia, clash of civilizations, etc.) to explain this situation to their people and the world at large. These approaches put the entire blame on Muslims and Islam. On the other hand in the Muslim world it is the other way around as all the explanatory models put the entire blame on the west and Israel. This blame game has been going on for quite some time leading to actions by each side that, instead of solving problems, have caused further deteriorated of the situation. This reality calls for a different approach. The Muslim world has to learn to appreciate that in Western societies the bottom line is the public opinion and not the wishes of the President/Prime Minister and his cabinet.”

All through the book, Zakaullah discusses the rise of Christian Evangelists within “this democratic context” and the various challenges they faced and dealt with.

In its first chapter, the book presents the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections as a clear example of the democratic political system in the USA, and that public opinion does play the major part in shaping the US policies. The book then proceeds with a brief historical background of Christianity in America. In there, key teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin are presented, as well as a brief survey of the various political, economic and social factors that set off many Christians from Europe to the “New World”, during the 15th and 16th century. The early American society thus had a conservative protestant majority. Here again, Zakaullah discusses key social and economic issues that led to another change in the characteristics of the American Society, this time towards “contemporary Christian Fundamentalism” causing conservatives to become a minority.

This “contemporary Christian Fundamentalism” movement was then engaged in intellectual, educational and organizational fronts, in which it relied heavily on media. Nonetheless, it maintained its “non-involvement in politics” policy.

While the early chapters focus on the rise of Christian evangelism (fundamentalism) in the ideological and social context, chapters five and six discuss the circumstances that led them into politics. It was the era that followed Watergate Scandal and the 1976 presidential elections that paved the way for the Christian Fundamentalism (and later Christian Evangelism) towards political power. Jimmy Carter won the 1976 presidential elections with a vast support from evangelists. Though he didn’t stick to his “evangelist agenda”, his victory reflected a great deal of power and influence for Evangelists within the American public.

The latter was noticed and employed by the Republican Party, whose focus used to be primarily on a conservative economic agenda. In Zakaullah’s words, “the Marriage of Economic and Christian Fundamentalisms” took place and led to “A ‘Born Again’ Republican Party” whose major challenge was “winning the coming 1980 presidential elections.”

Here again, Zakaullah genuinely goes through the 1980’s presidential elections campaign to illustrate the rise of Christian Evangelists. “They realized that in order to unite right wingers of all shades and colors, this agenda would have to encompass economics, morality and pro-family issues as well as being anti-homosexual and anti-abortion. The party strategists knew that they already had the expertise, manpower and networks to promote the pro-market economic agenda but they were also aware that they had neither the expertise, the organization, the networks, nor the volunteers to articulate and sell effectively the pro-family evangelical agenda among the voters. The only way they could succeed was to unite all the fundamentalists across all the religions and denominations.”

Reagan did win the 1980’s presidential elections. He was then succeeded by George Bush (sr.). The Republicans realized that “president is not enough because it was the Congress and the bills that make policies” and they even succeeded in having a majority in both houses.

In its last part, the book discusses the rise of “Christian terror in the ideological war” and even some Christian terrorist organizations, the most dangerous of which is the “Army of God” organization. Such movements were justified by the fact that “16 years wait under these presidents (1976-1999) did not deliver the goods the frustrations started running high and many radical fundamentalists lost all hope” according to the book.

The author then goes briefly past issues like Millennialism, G.W. Bush presidency, to discuss more in depth the current views of the Muslim world regarding America and American Politics. The Muslim world perceives the American foreign policies as a result of external factors, pro-Israeli, biased against Muslims, disregarding the power of the American public opinion in shaping these policies. The only internal factor that they might consider, if any, would be the Jewish lobby inside the USA. No serious efforts were made into understanding the dynamics behind this lobby’s influence, that is the actually, the power of American public opinion in policy-making.

The Author then concludes with “The Need for a New Intellectual Culture in The Muslim Academia and Beyond”, what he calls: “A Wakeup Call”:

“The Muslim world has to learn to appreciate that in Western societies the bottom line is the public opinion and not the wishes of the President/Prime Minister and his cabinet. Muslim intellectuals, media and policy makers should be engaged in the exercise of understanding the way Western societies work. They should interact with the Western public opinion in a constructive way. This would in turn result in a genuine, meaningful and effective inter-civilizational dialogue on issues of mutual concern.”

This, according to Zakaullah, “would cause even the long standing divisive issues would have a much more conducive environment for a peaceful and mutually beneficial conflict resolution.”

The author, Muhammad Arif Zakaullah is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics in the International Islamic University, Malaysia. His ongoing research focus is the contemporary political economy of the United States. He is also the author of: The Cross and the Crescent: The Rise of American Evangelicalism and the Future of Muslims (Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2004). Being only 160 small pages, the book is strongly recommended for those who would like to have an updated “eye bird’s view”, that is yet comprehensive and worthy, of religion and politics in America.

BK

2009-05-08T17:58:00.002+08:00

Petang kelmarin kembali dari pejabat, terasa lapar yang amat sangat. Lantas berfikir-fikir sambil memandu destinasi makan malam. Secara tiba-tiba, aku mendapat ‘hidayah’ Ilahi untuk makan malam di Burger King. Bukan apa sudah agak lama tidak ke sana. Lagipun rindu dengan Hershey’s. Lama giler wei tak merasa.

Windu banget :D

Hari Pertama

2009-05-05T10:39:00.000+08:00

Kelmarin (04/05/2009) adalah hari pertama aku masuk kelas. Punyalah cuak pagi tue Tuhan ajer yang tahu. Pagi dan petang pulok tue. Entahlah. Harapnya mereka semua tue faham. Kalau tak naya gak :D

Gambar: Harith sudah siap sedia untuk menyambut tetamu malam kenduri tempoh hari.

Isu Agama Anak

2009-05-05T10:37:00.000+08:00

PANDANGAN DR MOHD ASRI ZAINUL ABIDIN MENGENAI KEPUTUSAN KABINET YANG MENETAP AGAMA ANAK BERDASARKAN AGAMA ASAL KETIKA PERKAHWINAN

Berbagai pihak meminta saya menyatakan pendirian dalam isu agama anak yang ditetapkan oleh Kabinet Malaysia yang baru. Di sini saya sebut, ada beberapa masalah dalam isu ini yang mesti difahami dan dinilai, juga pendapat saya dalam hal ini;

Islam menganggap setiap anak lahir dalam keadaan fitrah iaitu dalam keadaan yang bersih dari pencemaran pemikiran dan akidah. Tiada nilaian dosa atau pahala buat mereka. Jika mereka mati sebelum mencapai umur mukallaf, mereka mati dalam keadaan bersih sekalipun ibubapa mereka tidak menganut agama Islam.

Ibubapa merupakan faktor utama dalam mempengaruhi fitrah anak yang bersih tersebut. Anak kecil biasanya akan terikut dengan agama ibubapanya. Justeru itu Nabi s.a.w bersabda: “Setiap anak dilahirkan atas ‘fitrah’, maka kedua ibubapanya yang menyebabkan ia menjadi yahudi, atau nasrani atau majusi (Riwayat al-Bukhari dan Muslim).

Para sarjana fekah ramai yang berpendapat bahkan ada yang mendakwa telah ijmak (sepakat), bahawa pengislaman bapa membawa kepada pengislaman anak yang masih kecil. Namun mereka berbeza pendapat tentang pengislaman ibu; apakah diikuti dengan pengislaman anak atau tidak. Di kalangan sarjana fekah ada yang berpendapat agama anak berdasarkan agama yang paling mulia dan sudah pasti mereka akan memutuskan jika bertembung antara Islam dan selainnya; maka agamanya dianggap sebagai Islam. Apa yang penting tiada nas Islam yang jelas dalam memutuskan hal ini. Ia lebih merujuk kepada soal ijtihad. Namun asas yang penting yang mesti ditegakkan adalah keadilan, di samping memelihara kemuliaan Islam itu sendiri.

Kepentingan membincangkan tentang status agama anak ini adalah untuk pengurusan jenazah, harta pusaka dan beberapa perkara yang lain. Bukan untuk menentu kedudukannya di syurga atau neraka seperti yang difahami oleh sesetengah pihak. Ini disebabkan anak kecil bebas dari nilaian dosa dan pahala sehingga dia menjadi mukallaf.

Saya berpendapat; tiada kemunasabahan yang cukup untuk Pihak Kabinet menentukan agama anak secara keputusan yang sedemikian. Lebih baik urusan ini diserahkan kepada mahkamah –sekalipun mahkamah sivil- untuk memutuskannya. Mahkamah mesti menentukan hak jagaan kepada pihak yang paling baik untuk kemaslahatan anak. Di sini datangnya peranan badan-badan Islam atau pihak pengurusan zakat umat Islam untuk memastikan kekuatan kewangan dan sebagainya dalam membantu ‘saudara baru’ melayakkan mereka mendapat hak jagaan. Jika badan-badan ini masih tidur atau sekadar sibuk dengan lawatan dan mensyuarat di hotel-hotel sahaja, jadilah apa yang terjadi sekarang.

Keputusan kabinet tersebut boleh merampas hak salah seorang ibubapa yang menukar agamanya dan bersifat tidak adil. Jika sudut kebendaan itu yang dinilai, kelayakan menjaga seseorang anak itu berbeza antara pasangan. Tidak mungkin dibuat keputusan yang tetap kerana setiap pasangan mempunyai keadaan yang berbeza. Biar mahkamah menentukannya secara adil. Sesiapa yang berhak menjaga anak, maka tidak menjadi masalah jika berlaku perselisahan agama anak berdasarkan pihak yang menjaganya atau jika anak itu sudah pandai menilai, dia mungkin boleh membuat pengakuan agama pilihannya.

Sepatutnya, isu agama anak tidak ditimbulkan melainkan ketika perselisihan antara pasangan sahaja. Anak sepatutnya diberi peluang untuk mengenai Islam setelah ibu atau bapa menganut Islam. Peruntukan zakat muallaf secara besar perlu diberikan untuk ini. Zakat bukan lawatan hujung tahun dan penukaran kereta baru para pegawai. Malanglah keputusan kabinet ini boleh menghalang dakwah seorang bapa atau ibu kepada anak berkenaan.

Ini kerana, anak itu bersih fitrahnya. Ibubapa mempunyai peranan mempengaruhinya. Itu adalah hak mereka untuk mempengaruhi anak mereka. Jika salah seorang ibubapanya menganut Islam sementara seorang lagi tidak, anak berkenaan mungkin akan dipengaruhi oleh salah seorang daripada mereka. Sekalipun jika mereka berpisah, peluang yang adil untuk anak bertemu dengan bapa atau ibunya hendaklah diberikan. Selepas itu terpulang kepada anak berkenaan dalam menentukan agamanya.

Saya berpendapat; keputusan kabinet lebih dipengaruhi oleh perkembangan politik kepartian dan undi tanpa melihat kepada sudut keadilan untuk semua. Ia adalah penindasan terhadap saudara baru dan boleh menakutkan mereka yang ingin menganut Islam. Dalam kegilaan mendapatkan undi, jangan digadai masa depan umat Islam dan keharmonian agama dalam negara.

Sekali lagi saya tegaskan, golongan ‘saudara baru’ dalam negara ini tidak mendapat layanan yang sepatutnya dan pihak yang bertanggungjawab terutama yang menguruskan zakat dan badan-badan agama kerajaan pusat dan negeri tidak menyibukkan diri dalam menjaga kebajikan mereka dan usaha dakwah dalam memahamkan rakyat Malaysia tentang Islam yang sebenar. Zakat tidak diuruskan dengan sepatutnya dan dana-dana untuk kemajuan Islam tidak dialirkan dengan cara yang wajar dalam menjaga kepentingan dakwah Islamiyyah.

Saya dengan ini meminta pihak Kabinet menilai balik keputusan tersebut dan juga pihak-pihak agama dalam negara kita memainkan peranan yang sepatutnya dalam memberikan keadilan kepada ‘saudara baru’.

Jika Fatwa Kebangsaan JAKIM boleh membuat sidang fatwa segera tentang ‘dakwat pilihanraya’ mengapa tidak Pengerusi Fatwa Kebangsaan tidak memberikan pandangan para mufti dengan segera dan jelas dalam hal ini. Malanglah jika isu penkid dan yoga digembar-gembur, tetapi isu keadilan hak saudara baru dilewat-lewatkan.

Saya ingin berpesan kepada diri sendiri, juga mengambil kesempatan berpesan kepada mereka yang berjawatan berkaitan agama agar jangan memikirkan tentang gaji, sambungan kontrak, gelaran menjelang harijadi sultan, elaun, rombongan dan urusan dunia yang lain melebihi kepentingan dan masa depan umat.

Dr Mohd Asri bin Zainul Abidin,
29.4.09

Lampeter, UK.

Malam Itu.......

2009-04-26T12:54:00.000+08:00

Angin berpuput bayu. Menerpa ke wajahnya. Terasa kedinginannya. Sedingin persekitaran itu. Dan dia keseorangan di situ. Mencari angin malam. Di puncak bukit, sambil menyaksikan keindahan lampu neon Bukit Damansara dan Bukit Kiara. Terpancar cahaya keindahan, keriangan. Bak pesta tahun baru umpamanya.

Syariff cuba membetulkan duduknya. Takut-takut kalau terjatuh. Ketika itu ada suatu suara menyapanya…….

“Haa you kat sini rupanya. Puas I cari you. Call Kasyah pun dia tak tahu….”
“Owhh…. Terkejut I. Ingatkan sape tadi. Ada apa cari I?”
“Why? I dah tak boleh dah cari you?”
“Haih… Come onlah Liz. I penatlah. And I malas dah nak bertekak dengan you…”
“You ingat I sukalah. You memang selfish. Pentingkan diri sendiri….”
“What??? I pentingkan diri sendiri?? Okaylah now you tell me, siapa yang pentingkan diri sendiri sampai tiba-tiba ajer hilangkan diri? Tak tinggalkan note ke, email ke, apa ke… Siapa??”
“You tak tahu ker your mom jumpa I and asked me to leave you? You tahu ker yang dia marah-marah I, cakap macam-macam kat I? Ader you tahu semua tue??”
“You ingat I tak tahu ke?? I tahulah….. Haih….”

Suasana sunyi seketika. Tanpa sebarang bicara. Masing-masing mendiamkan diri. Untuk meredakan suasana yang tegang sebentar tadi. Sambil cuba untuk menikmati suasana dingin malam itu.

“Okaylah I nak balik dah. Ada kerja nak buat.”
“Iff… I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay. Benda dah lama berlaku. Malas nak fikir.”
“But I still love you…..”
“Allysa, you dah nak kawin dengan Smith lagi dua bulan. You patut lupakan I and apa yang dah berlaku antara you and me. Ok?”
“Hmmmm……”
“I know it’s hard for you. Tapi you mesti ingat, you are going to marry him. Kalau you tinggalkan dia dalam keadaan macam nie, tak kesian ke dia? I know that he loves you so much Liz. And I know that dia akan jadi suami terbaik untuk you. I’m happy for both of you…”
“Tapi Iff…..”
“Dah. Jangan cakap apa-apa. Jom balik. He’s waiting for you. Nanti risau pulak dia. Jom…..”

Allysa kelu, tidak mampu bersuara lagi. Hanya menuruti langkah Syariff menyusuri taman dingin itu untuk pulang. Meninggalkan segalanya di situ……

Homeless

2009-04-26T02:15:00.002+08:00

Waiting here

For you to call me

For you to tell me

That everything’s a big mistake

Waiting here

In this rainfall

Feeling so small

This dream was not suppose to break

I’m so sorry now

For the pain I caused you

Wont you please forgive

Please

But you don’t love me anymore

You don’t want me anymore

There’s a sign on your door

No vacancy, just emptiness

Without your love

I’m homeless

In this cold

I’m walking aimless

Feeling helpless

Without a shelter from the storm

In my heart

I miss you so much

Missing your touch

And the bed that used to be so warm

I’m so sorry now

For the pain I caused you

Wont you please forgive

Please

But you don’t love me anymore

You don't want me anymore

There’s a sign on your door

No vacancy, just emptiness

Without your love

I’m homeless

My, My baby

I’m sorry

But you don’t love me anymore

You don't want me anymore

There’s a sign on your door

No vacancy, just emptiness

Without your love

I’m homeless

Kampung Di Tengah Kota....

2009-04-24T22:01:00.001+08:00

Setiap kali menyelusuri bahagian tengah Kuala Lumpur pastinya kita tidak dapat mengelak dari melalui kawasan penempatan orang Melayu yang sangat signifikan bagi warga kota iaitu Kampung Baru. Bagi warga kota, terutamanya orang Melayu, Kampung Baru sangat dekat di hati mereka. Ini kerana sukar bagi kita untuk melihat suasana dan pemandangan kehidupan "orang kampung" di tengah- tengah hiruk pikuk kehidupan bandar. Di bandar-bandar lain negara ini kehidupan kampung dengan pengekalan identiti dan budaya yang biasa diamalkan merupakan satu pemandangan biasa.

Namun berbeza dengan Kampung Baru yang dihimpit dengan rentak kemajuan dan arus pemodenan serta pelbagai bangunan pencakar langit dan mercu tanda moden seperti KLCC dan sebagainya. Suasana sebeginilah yang menambahkan lagi keunikannya sebagai sebuah kampung yang tebal dengan budaya dan tradisi Melayu di ibu kota. Sedikit sebanyak arus pemodenan tidak mampu diketepikan oleh penduduk di Kampung Baru. Namun dengan binaan dan kedudukan rumah yang biasa kita lihat di kampung, apatah lagi masih terdapat rumah-rumah yang tetap utuh dengan ciri-ciri tradisional sememangnya sebagai orang Melayu kita patut berbangga dengan semua tradisi yang masih dipertahankan sehingga kini.

Jika kita menyelongkar tentang kehidupan seharian penduduk di kampung ini sememangnya jalinan perhubungan dan semangat kerjasama masih menebal seperti yang biasa kita lihat di kampung-kampung. Soal-soal kemasyarakatan dan perhubungan penduduk setempat seperti kenduri kendara, kematian, hal-ehwal kejiranan dari yang paling remeh sehingga membabitkan soal-soal yang rumit seperti soal tanah dan sebagainya masih lagi menuntut permuafakatan yang jitu antara penduduk. Keperluan bagi penduduknya untuk terus mengikuti aktiviti dan program keagamaan yang berlangsung di masjid dan surau di sini masih tetap menjadi keutamaan penduduknya. Lebih membanggakan setelah tiga atau empat generasi anak Kampung Baru menetap di sini semua mereka masih tetap mengambil berat antara satu sama lain serta sangat sepakat dalam soal-soal membabitkan kampung kesayangan mereka ini.

Kampung Baru sebuah perkampungan rizab Melayu tunggal di tengah-tengah metropolitan Kuala Lumpur adalah seluas 225.89 ekar dan dibentuk oleh tujuh buah kampung iaitu Kampung Periuk, Kampung Pindah, Kampung Hujung Pasir, Kampung Paya, Kampung Masjid, Kampung Atas A dan Kampung Atas B. Terdapat tiga kategori tanah milik Melayu wujud di Kampung Baru iaitu Tanah Simpanan Melayu, Tanah Simpanan Pertanian Melayu dan Tanah Melayu Diberi Milik. Kampung Baru mula dibuka pada tahun 1899 dan digazetkan setahun kemudian. Sebuah lembaga pentadbir khusus untuk Kampung Baru ditubuhkan serentak dengan pembukaannya sebagai Penempatan Tanah Pertanian Melayu atau Malay Agriculture Settlement (MAS) serta bertanggungjawab kepada Residen British ketika itu dalam menguruskan perkara mengenai pentadbiran kampung.

Kampung ini pada awalnya terbentuk apabila sekumpulan orang Melayu yang tinggal di kawasan Sungai Gombak dan Sungai Kelang terpaksa berpindah untuk memberi ruang kepada pembangunan Kuala Lumpur. Bandar ini ketika itu sedang pesat membangun apabila beberapa projek yang kini menjadi ikon sejarah dan seni bina seperti Kelab Diraja Selangor, Bangunan Pejabat Pos Utama, Victoria Institution dan Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad sedang dalam pembinaan. Oleh itu Sultan Selangor ketika itu, Sultan Sulaiman atau Sultan Alauddin Sulaiman Syah bin Raja Muda Musa telah memperuntuk sebuah kawasan di tepi Sungai Kelang untuk orang Melayu berpindah dan MAS diwartakan pada 1 Jan 1900.

Menurut Setiausaha Kehormat Lembaga MAS, Shamsuri Suradi, MAS diwujudkan untuk memindahkan orang Melayu yang menghuni pinggir Sungai Gombak dan Sungai Kelang walaupun ketika itu mereka aktif dalam kegiatan perniagaan dan perlombongan. Ini kerana British berpendapat orang Melayu wajar bergiat dalam sektor pertanian dan dengan menempatkan orang Melayu di sebuah kampung khas akan memudahkan anak-anak Melayu menerima pendidikan dan mengambil bahagian dalam pentadbiran. Ini sekali gus memberi peluang kepada penduduk Melayu untuk menikmati sebahagian daripada kemakmuran Kuala Lumpur ketika itu yang kaya dengan bijih timah.

MAS telah dipertanggungjawabkan untuk mentadbir kampung ini dengan kuasa yang luas antaranya melulus dan menetapkan perjanjian pemberian lot rumah dan pelan bangunan, menyimpan butiran pertukaran serta mengawalselia keselamatan dan kegiatan penduduk. Selain itu MAS turut mempunyai kuasa untuk memberi kebenaran hanya kepada orang Melayu untuk tinggal di sini dengan luas kawasan kediaman tidak melebihi setengah ekar seorang. MAS turut berkuasa mengusir penduduk yang tidak patuh dengan peraturan serta mereka yang mampu memberi ancaman dan dianggap berbahaya kepada penduduk. Menurut Shamsuri, anggota lembaga MAS pada peringkat awal terdiri dari kalangan pegawai tinggi penjajah dan kerabat diraja (Raja Muda Selangor pada asalnya menjadi Yang Dipertua) sehinggalah selepas Perang Dunia Kedua. Di bawah pemerintahan Jepun barulah beberapa orang penduduk Kampung Baru dilantik menganggotai lembaga itu.

Pada masa sekarang, tujuh orang wakil yang dipanggil ahli jemaah dari tujuh buah kampung di sini telah dilantik untuk menganggotai lembaga MAS. Ahli jemaah ini boleh dianggap sebagai penghulu di setiap kampung berkenaan. Beberapa buah kampung kecil seperti Kampung Manggis dan Kampung Sungai Baru turut digabungkan ke dalam Kampung Baru selain beberapa kampung setinggan, iaitu Kampung Limau, Kampung Cendana dan Kampung Paya Baru. Namun disebabkan semua urusan pentadbiran tanah adalah hak lembaga tadbir MAS, ia tidak dapat memenuhi harapan tuan tanah yang berhasrat membangunkan kawasan ini kerana mereka tidak memegang apa-apa surat hak milik yang boleh diurusniagakan hinggalah pada tahun 1960-an.

Bagaimanapun Menteri Besar Selangor ketika itu, Datuk Harun Idris yang menjadi pengerusi MAS telah berjaya mengusahakan geran hak milik tanah bagi penduduk kampung ini. Sejarah Kampung Baru ini jika ingin dihuraikan mungkin terlalu panjang apatah lagi pelbagai peristiwa dan cacatan yang amat bersejarah telah berlaku sejak dari awal penubuhannya. Pada peringkat awal kebanyakan jalan-jalan yang terdapat di sini dinamakan dengan nama Inggeris dan pastinya ia dianggap sebagai pelik pada ketika itu apatah lagi Kampung Baru sendiri merupakan penempatan terbesar orang Melayu.

Sebagai contoh Jalan Raja Alang yang sangat terkenal dengan Bazar Ramadan sebelum ini dikenali sebagai Perkins Road. Hale Road yang dinamakan sempena seorang pentadbir British di zaman penjajah kini bernama Jalan Raja Abdullah, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz di tengah-tengah Kampung Baru dikenali sebagai Princess Road manakala Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman pula pernah dikenali sebagai Stony Road.

Kelab Sultan Sulaiman yang terletak di Kampung Baru merupakan kelab orang Melayu tertua di Malaysia dan semenjak penubuhannya pada 1909, ia telah menyaksikan pelbagai catatan dan peristiwa penting negara. Pada peringkat awalnya penduduk Kampung Baru sering mengadakan perjumpaan di sebuah pondok di sini yang dibina secara gotong-royong. Bangunan baru yang dinamakan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman kemudian didirikan dengan kerja sama antara Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Kerajaan Negeri Selangor. Ia dirasmikan oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tun Abdul Razak pada 30 April 1969.

Bangunan ini telah menyaksikan pelbagai rakaman dan peristiwa bersejarah yang penting untuk orang antaranya Kongres Melayu Pertama pada 1 hingga 4 Mac 1946 yang membawa kepada penubuhan Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (UMNO) yang akhirnya telah mencetuskan gerakan menuntut kemerdekaan. Walaupun sesak dengan pelbagai kepesatan dan bangunan pencakar langit serta lebih dikenali sebagai syurga pusat makanan berbanding keunikannya sebagai sebuah perkampungan Melayu, namun ini tidak menghalang penduduk Kampung Baru dari terus ditenggelami pembangunan.

Secara umumnya penduduk Kampung Baru tidak menolak pembangunan kerana mereka menyedari pembanguan itu adalah sesuatu yang perlu pada era moden sekarang. Namun apa yang dikesali mereka dalam keghairahan mengejar pemodenan, mereka terasa dipinggirkan dan teraniaya dengan tindakan beberapa pihak yang dilihat tamak dalam mengusai kekayaan di sini.

Apatah lagi dengan beberapa insiden penipuan yang pernah berlaku sehingga menganiaya kehidupan mereka telah mengakibatkan mereka berasa serik dengan semua ini. Memang benar terdapat banyak jalan dan kaedah penyelesaian dalam menguruskan tanah yang bernilai lebih RM4 bilion ini namun yang ditakuti mereka ialah adakah semua kaedah ikhlas dan benar-benar menguntungkan mereka? Atau apakah ia akhirnya akan menjadi seperti kampung-kampung Melayu lain di Kuala Lumpur yang akhirnya tergadai hanya atas nama pembangunan.

Apa yang perlu ialah kesungguhan dan keikhlasan dalam membantu penduduk Kampung Baru ini sebagai pemilik asal tanah di tengah kota metropolitan. Jika tidak mungkin lebih baik ia dikekalkan sahaja seperti sekarang sekurang-kurangnya sebagai satu penanda sejarah bahawa satu ketika dahulu nenek moyang kita merupakan pemilik asal semua tanah di ibu kota ini.

Buku dan 'Ilmu

2009-04-23T17:26:00.002+08:00

Baru kembali dari Pesta Buku Antarabangsa. Gembira yang teramat sangat. Kerna banyak buku ‘ilmiah yang aku cari ada di sana. Kesudahannya aku yang merana. Kerna melayang wang membeli buku-buku tersebut :D

Are We Human?

2009-04-19T17:25:00.003+08:00

Before we can speak of human responsibilities or rights, one must answer the basic religious and philosophical question, “What does it mean to be human?” In today’s world everyone speaks of human rights and the sacred character of human life, and many secularists even claim that they are the true champions of human rights as against those who accept various religious worldviews. But strangely enough, often those same champions of humanity believe that human beings are nothing more than evolved apes, who in turn evolved from lower life forms and ultimately from various compounds of molecules. If the human being is nothing but the result of ‘blind forces’ acting upon the original cosmic soup of molecules, then is not the very statement of the sacredness of human life intellectually meaningless and nothing but a hollow sentimental expression? Is not human dignity nothing more than a conveniently contrived notion without basis in reality? And if we are nothing but highly organized inanimate particles, what is the basis for claims to “human rights?” These basic questions know no geographic boundaries and are asked by thinking people everywhere.

Christianity in the West has sought to answer them on the firm theological basis that “human beings were created in the image of God” and it is the immortal soul and the spark of the Spirit within men and women that constitutes the basis for human dignity, the sacredness of human life, and ultimately human rights. In fact, many Christian thinkers, both Catholic and Protestant, as well as Jewish thinkers insist that human dignity is based on the Divine Imprint upon the human soul and that historically in the West the idea of human rights, even in its secularized version, is derived from the religious conception of the human state.

For Islam, likewise, human beings are defined in their relation to God, and both their responsibilities and rights derive from that relationship. As we all know, Islam believes that God breathed His Spirit into Adam and according to the famous hadith, “God created Adam in His form.” The word ‘form’ means the reflection of God’s Names and Qualities. Human being, therefore, reflect the Divine Attributes like a mirror, which reflect the light of the Sun. By the virtue of being created as this central being in the terrestrial realm, the human being was chosen by God as His vicegerent (khalīfat Allāh) as well as His servant (‘abd Allāh). As servants human beings must remain in total obedience to God and in perfect receptivity before what their Creator wills for them. As vicegerent they must be active in the world to do God’s Will here on earth.

The Islamic conception of insān, or man, as the anthropos encompassing both male and female sates, can be summed up as the wedding of these two qualities in him. But God has also given human beings free will, in which it means that they can rebel against their own primordial nature and become active against Heaven and passive to their own lower nature and the world of senses, so that not all human beings remain God’s servants and vicegerents. In fact, the perfection of these passive and active modes belongs to the prophets and saints alone. Nevertheless all human beings possess dignity, and their lives are sacred because of that primordial nature, which all the progeny of Adam and Eve carry deep within themselves.

Throughout Islamic history many philosophical, theological and mystical discussions have taken place about this issue, but one basic element with which all schools of Islamic thought and ordinary believers agree is the truth that God is our Creator, or, philosophically speaking, the ontological cause of our existence. It is therefore we who owe everything to Him and our rights derive from fulfilling our responsibilities towards Him and obeying His Will.

To understand our relation to God, we must first ask what God wants of us. The Quran makes this demand clear when it states, “I have not created the jinn and humanity except to worship Me” (51: 56); also “Verily I, I am God. There is no God save Me. So worship Me and establish prayers for My remembrance” (20: 14). The word “worship” (‘ibādah) in Arabic also means ‘service.’ To worship God is also to serve Him. Many interpretations have been given of the term ‘ibādah by commentators; its meaning ranges from ordinary acts of worship to loving and knowing God. The purpose of human existence is considered by Islam to be the worship and service of God, and only in carrying out the aim and purpose of our existence are we fully human. Otherwise, although we carry the human reality within ourselves, we fall short of it and live beneath the fully human state.

Taking Back My Love

2009-04-18T13:11:00.003+08:00

Go ahead

Just leave

Can’t hold you, you’re free

You take all these things

If they mean so much to you

I gave you your dreams

Cause you meant the world

So did I deserve to be left in hurt

So you think I don’t know

You’re out of control

And then I find all this from my boys

Girl you said I’m cold

You saving souls

You’re already know

I’m not a touching material

I give it all up, but I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love

I’ve giving you too much

But I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love, my love, my love, my love, my love

What did I do?

But give up to you

I’m just confused

As I stand here look at you

From head to feet

Always about me

Go ahead keep your keys

Its not what I need from you

You think that’s enough

You made your self cold

How could you believe

Your more then me

I'm your girl

You’re out of control

How could you let go

Don’t you know I'm not touching material

I give it all up, but I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love

I’ve giving you too much

But I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love, my love, my love, my

So all this love, I gave you take it away

You think material is the reason I came

If I have nothing what do u want me to say?

You take your money you take it all away

I give it all up, but I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love

I’ve giving you too much

But I’m taking back my love

I’m taking back my love, my love, my love, my

Buat Mereka Yang Amat Ku Sayangi.......

2009-04-10T12:46:00.002+08:00

To my dearly beloved father – late Haji Md. Yassin bin Basar – for his never ending love and affection and to my much-loved nephew – Luqman Harith bin Jamshid – who will grow up in the new millennium, the age where knowledge triumph……..

Note: I have completed my M.A. dissertation and the result is……… :D

Ucapan Tahniah.....

2009-04-10T12:36:00.000+08:00

Jutaan tahniah diucapkan kepada YB Datuk Razali Haji Ibrahim, Naib Ketua Pemuda UMNO Malaysia, merangkap ahli parlimen Barisan Nasional Muar, diatas pelantikan baliau selaku Timbalan Menteri Belia dan Sukan. Semoga amanah yang tergalas di bahu YB Datuk Razali dapat dilaksanakan dengan penuh rasa kebertanggungjawaban dan tawaddu’ kepada Allah s.w.t.

The Meaning and Concept of Philosophy in Islam

2009-04-07T22:31:00.002+08:00

In the light of the Qur’an and Hadith in both of which the term hikmah has been used, Muslim authorities belonging to different schools of thought have sought over the ages to define the meaning of hikmah as well as falsafah, a term which entered Arabic through the Greek translations of the second/eighth and third/ninth centuries. On the one hand what is called philosophy in English must be sought in the context of Islamic civilization not only in the various schools of Islamic philosophy but also in schools bearing other names, especially kalam, ma’rifah, usul al-fiqh as well as the awa’il sciences, not to speak of such subjects as grammar and history which developed particular branches of philosophy. On the other hand each school of thought sought to define what is meant by hikmah or falsafah according to its own perspective and this question has remained an important concern of various schools of Islamic thought especially as far as the schools of Islamic philosophy are concerned.

During Islamic history, the terms used for Islamic philosophy as well as the debates between the philosophers, the theologians and sometimes the Sufis as to the meaning of these terms varied to some extent from one period to another but not completely. Hikmah and falsafah continued to be used while such terms as al-hikmat al-ilahiyyah and al-hikmat al-muta’aliyah gained new meaning and usage in later centuries of Islamic history, especially in the school of Mulla Sadra. The term over which there was the greatest debate was hikmah, which was claimed by the Sufis and mutakallimun as well as the philosophers, all appealing to such Hadith as “The acquisition of hikmah is incumbent upon you and the good resides in hikmah.” Some Sufis such as Tirmidhi were called hakim and Ibn Arabi refers to the wisdom which has been unveiled through each manifestation of the logos as hikmah as seen in the very title of his masterpiece Fusus al-hikam, while many mutakallimun such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi claimed that kalam and not falsafah was hikmah, Ibn Khaldun confirming this view in calling the later kalam (kalam al-muta’akhkhirin) philosophy or hikmah.

Our discussion in this chapter is concerned, however, primarily with the Islamic philosophers’ understanding of the definition and meaning of the concept of philosophy and the terms hikmah and falsafah. This understanding includes of course what the Greeks had comprehended by the term philosophia and many of the definitions from Greek sources which were to find their way into Arabic sometimes with only slight modifications. Some of the definitions of Greek origin most common among Islamic philosophers are as follows:

1. Philosophy (al falsafah) is the knowledge of all existing things qua existents (ashya’ al-maujudah bi ma hiya maujudah).

2. Philosophy is knowledge of divine and human matters.

3. Philosophy is taking refuge in death, that is, love of death.

4. Philosophy is becoming God-like to the extent of human ability.

5. It [philosophy] is the art (sind’ah) of arts and the science (ilm) of sciences.

6. Philosophy is predilection for hikmah.

The Islamic philosophers meditated upon these definitions of falsafah which they inherited from ancient sources and which they identified with the Qur’anic term hikmah believing the origin of hikmah to be divine. The first of the Islamic philosophers, Abu Ya’qub al-Kindi wrote in his On First Philosophy, “Philosophy is the knowledge of the reality of things within people’s possibility, because the philosopher’s end in theoretical knowledge is to gain truth and in practical knowledge to behave in accordance with truth.” Al-Farabi, while accepting this definition, added the distinction between philosophy based on certainty (al-yaqiniyyah) hence demonstration and philosophy based on opinion (al-maznunah), hence dialectic and sophistry, and insisted that philosophy was the mother of the sciences and dealt with everything that exists.

Ibn Sina again accepted these earlier definitions while making certain precisions of his own. In his ‘Uyun al-hikmah he says “Al-hikmah [which he uses as being the same as philosophy] is the perfection of the human soul through conceptualization [tasawwur] of things and judgment [tasdiq] of theoretical and practical realities to the measure of human ability.” But, he went further in later life to distinguish between Peripatetic philosophy and what he called “Oriental philosophy” (al-hikmat almashriqi’yah) which was not based on ratiocination alone but included realized knowledge and which set the stage for the hikmat al-ishraq of Suhrawardi. Ibn Sina’s foremost student Bahmanyar meanwhile identified falsafah closely with the study of existents as Ibn Sina had done in his Peripatetic works such as the Shifa’ repeating the Aristotelian dictum that philosophy is the study of existents qua existents. Bahmanyar wrote in the introduction to his Tahlil, “The aim of the philosophical sciences is knowledge of existents.”

Isma’ili and Hermetico-Pythagorean thought, which paralleled in development the better-known Peripatetic philosophy but with a different philosophical perspective, nevertheless gave definitions of philosophy not far removed from those of the Peripatetics, emphasizing perhaps even more the relation between the theoretical aspect of philosophy and its practical dimension, between thinking philosophically and leading a virtuous life. This nexus, which is to be seen in all schools of earlier Islamic philosophy, became even more evident from Suhrawardi onward and the hakim came to be seen throughout Islamic society not as someone who could only discuss mental concepts in a clever manner but as one who also lived according to the wisdom which he knew theoretically. The modern Western idea of the philosopher never developed in the Islamic world and the ideal stated by the Ikhwan al-Safa’ who lived in the fourth/tenth century and who were contemporary with Ibn Sina was to echo ever more loudly over the ages wherever Islamic philosophy was cultivated. The Ikhwan wrote, “The beginning of philosophy (falsafah) is the love of the sciences, its middle knowledge of the realities of existents to the measure of human ability and its end words and deeds in accordance with knowledge.”

With Suhrawardi we enter not only a new period but also another realm of Islamic philosophy. The founder of a new intellectual perspective in Islam, Suhrawardi used the term hikmat al-ishraq rather than falsafat al-ishraq for both the title of his philosophical masterpiece and the school which he inaugurated. The ardent student of Suhrawardi and the translator of Hikmat al-ishraq into French, Henry Corbin, employed the term theosophie rather than philosophy to translate into French the term hikmah as understood by Suhrawardi and later sages such as Mulla Sadra, and we have also rendered al-hikmat al-muta aliyah of Mulla Sadra into English as “transcendent theosophy” and have sympathy for Corbin’s translation of the term. There is of course the partly justified argument that in recent times the term “theosophy” has gained pejorative connotations in European languages, especially English, and has become associated with occultism and pseudo-esoterism.

Philosophy also suffers from limitations imposed upon it by those who have practised it during the past few centuries. If Hobbes, Hume and Ayer are philosophers, then those whom Suhrawardi calls hukama’ are not philosophers and vice versa. The narrowing of the meaning of philosophy, the divorce between philosophy and spiritual practice in the West and especially the reduction of philosophy to either rationalism or empiricism necessitate making a distinction between the meaning given to hikmah by a Suhrawardi or Mulla Sadra and the purely mental activity called philosophy in certain circles in the West today. The use of the term theosophy to render this later understanding of the term hikmah is based on the older and time-honoured meaning of this term in European intellectual history as associated with such figures as Jakob Bohme and not as the term became used in the late thirteenth/nineteenth century by some British occultists. Be that as it may, it is important to emphasize the understanding that Suhrawardi and all later Islamic philosophers have of hikmah as primarily al-hikmat al-ildhiyyah (literally divine wisdom or theosophia) which must be realized within one’s whole being and not only mentally. Suhrawardi saw this hikmah as being present also in ancient Greece before the advent of Aristotelian rationalism and identifies hikmah with coming out of one’s body and ascending to the world of lights, as did Plato. Similar ideas are to be found throughout his works, and he insisted that the highest level of hikmah requires both the perfection of the theoretical faculty and the purification of the soul.

With Mulla Sadra, one finds not only a synthesis of various earlier schools of Islamic thought but also a synthesis of the earlier views concerning the meaning of the term and concept philosophy. At the beginning of the Asfar he writes, repeating verbatim and summarizing some of the earlier definitions, “falsafah is the perfecting of the human soul to the extent of human ability through the knowledge of the essential reality of things as they are in themselves and through judgment concerning their existence established upon demonstration and not derived from opinion or through imitation.” And in al-Shawdhid al-rububiyyah he adds, “[through hikmah] man becomes an intelligible world resembling the objective world and similar to the order of universal existence.”

In the first book of the Air dealing with being, Mulla Sadra discusses extensively the various definitions of hikmah, emphasizing not only theoretical knowledge and “becoming an intelligible world reflecting the objective intelligible world” but also detachment from passions and purification of the soul from its material defilements or what the Islamic philosophers call tajarrud or catharsis. Mulla Sadra accepts the meaning of hikmah as understood by Suhrawardi and then expands the meaning of falsafah to include the dimension of illumination and realization implied by the Sufi understanding of the term. For him as for his contemporaries, as well as most of his successors, falsafah or philosophy was seen as the supreme science of ultimately divine origin, derived from “the niche of prophecy” and the hukama’ as the most perfect of human beings standing in rank only below the prophets and Imams.

This conception of philosophy as dealing with the discovering of the truth concerning the nature of things and combining mental knowledge with the purification and perfection of one’s being has lasted to this day wherever the tradition of Islamic philosophy has continued and is in fact embodied in the very being of the most eminent representatives of the Islamic philosophical tradition to this day. Such fourteenth/twentieth century masters as Mirth Ahmad Ashtiyani, the author of Ndmayi rahbardn-i dmuzish-i kitdb-i takwin (Treatise of the Guides to the Teaching of the Book of Creation); Sayyid Muhammad Kazim ‘Ansar, author of many treatises including Wahdat al-wujud (The Transcendent Unity of Being); Mahdi Ilahi Qumsha’i, author of Hikmat-i ildhi khwdss wa amm (Philosophy/Theosophy - General and Particular) and Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i, author of numerous treatises especially Usul-i falsafa-yi ri dliym (Principles of the Philosophy of Realism) all wrote of the definition of philosophy along lines mentioned above and lived accordingly. Both their works and their lives were testimony not only to over a millennium of concern by Islamic philosophers as to the meaning of the concept and the term philosophy but also to the significance of the Islamic definition of philosophy as that reality which transforms both the mind and the soul and which is ultimately never separated from spiritual purity and ultimately sanctity that the very term hikmah implies in the Islamic context.

Jiwaku Kabut.....

2009-04-01T15:34:00.001+08:00

Mungkin betul kata orang, kalau kita gembira jangan gembira keterlaluan. Nanti ada padahnya. Dan inilah yang sedang aku alami…

Aku amat gembira dua hari yang lalu kerna beberapa perkara, samada yang telah pasti ataupun belum pasti lagi. Namun perkara yang berlaku kelmarin benar-benar menguji diriku. Menghentak aku ke tepi, menekan aku dari seluruh arah sudut. Dan akhirnya aku terpana. Terkesima. Kelu seribu bahasa. Tiada jawapan yang dapat aku berikan…..

Baru sebentar tadi aku mendodoikan Harith tidur. Setelah merengek kepenatan bermain kereta kesukaannya. Dan sekarang aku sedang menikmati angin pantai berpuput bayu. Menerpa wajahku. Bermain-main dengan anak rambutku. Berusaha mencari jawapan bagi apa yang telah berlaku……

Nota:
Buat abang Hisham & kak Nadia, abang Syahrul & kak Nurul dan abang Zarul & kak Ika, terima kasih untuk nasihat-nasihat anda. Akan saya pertimbangkan semuanya.

Buat Ken & Eve, Vincent & ‘Aisyah, Simon & Lily, Jerry dan Kelvin, korang toksah risau ahh. Aku okay kat sini. Cuma perlu masa untuk bersendirian. Nanti apa-apa aku sms korang.

Happy.....

2009-03-30T23:18:00.002+08:00

Yarghhh!! I am really happy now!! :P

Entah.....

2009-03-29T12:49:00.002+08:00

Kutahu, kau selingkuh

Kau duakan cintaku yang tulus

Kau tahu, diriku

Tak pernah berpaling dari dirimu

Tega nya kau dustai semua

Janji kita berdua

Entah masih kah ada cinta dihatiku

Untuk mu

Entah kapan kah ku dapat membuka hati ini, untuk mu

Tak pernah ku bayangkan

Cerita kita berakhir begini

Tega nya kau dustai semua

Janji kita berdua

Entah masih kah ada cinta dihatiku

Untuk mu

Entah kapan kah ku dapat membuka hati ini, untuk mu

Masih kah ada

Cinta dihati ini

Dihati kecilku berharap kau masih bagian dari hidupku

Entah masih kah ada cinta dihatiku

Untuk mu

Entah kapan kah ku dapat membuka hati ini, untuk mu

Shopping!!!

2009-03-28T23:46:00.004+08:00

Tengah hari tadi aku bergegas ke Pavilion setelah menyiapkan kerja-kerjaku di universiti. Tujuan aku berkunjung ke sana adalah untuk menemui teman-temanku. Tiada agenda yang spesifik, hanya sekadar untuk minum-minum ataupun dalam bahasa hari ini ‘yam char.’

Ketika kami berbual-bual, secara tiba-tiba salah seorang diantara kami melontarkan persoalan yang mana kami sudah agak lama tidak mengadakan diskusi ‘ilmu – suatu perkara yang lazimnya akan kami lakukan sekali dalam sebulan. Menyedari hakikat itu, lantas kami bergegas ke Times Bookstore untuk mencari koleksi buku yang ingin kami perdebatkan. Dan kesudahannya kami membeli buku-buku ini:

Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin
Every generation needs to reinterpret its great men of the past. Akbar Ahmed, by revealing Jinnah’s human face alongside his heroic achievement, both makes this statesman accessible to the current age and renders his greatness even clearer than before.

Four men shaped the end of British rule in India: Nehru, Gandhi, Mountbatten and Jinnah. We know a great deal about the first three, but Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, has mostly either been ignored or, in the case of Richard Attenborough’s hugely successful film about Gandhi, portrayed as a cold megalomaniac, bent on the bloody partition of India. Akbar Ahmed’s major study redresses the balance.

Drawing on history, semiotics and cultural anthropology as well as more conventional biographical techniques, Akbar S. Ahmad presents a rounded picture of the man and shows his relevance as contemporary Islam debates alternative forms of political leadership in a world dominated (at least in the Western media) by figures like Colonel Gadaffi and Saddam Hussein.

Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization
Globalization, the war on terror, and Islamic fundamentalis, followed closely by a rise in Islamophobia, has escalated tensions between Western nations and the Muslim world. Yet internationally renowned Islamic scholar Akbar Ahmed believes that through dialogue and understanding, these cultures can coexist peacefully and respectfully. That hope and belief result in an extraordinary journey. To learn what Muslims think and how they really view America, Ahmed traveled to the three major regions of the Muslim world - the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia.

Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization is the riveting story of his search for common ground. His absorbing narrative and personal photos bring the reader on a tour of Islam and its peoples. Ahmed sought to understand the experiences and perceptions of ordinary Muslims. Visiting mosques, madrassahs, and universities, he met with people ranging from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to prime ministers, princes, sheikhs, professors, and students. He observed, listened, and asked them questions. For example, who inspires them? What are they reading? How do the Internet and international media impact their lives? How do they view America, the West, and changes in society? Ahmed’s anthropological expedition enjoyed extensive access to women and youths, revealing unique information on large yet often misunderstood populations. Lamentably, he found high levels of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism and a widespread perception that Islam is under attack from the West. But he also brought back reason for hope. He returned from his groundbreaking travels both impressed with the concerned, kind nature of the individuals he encountered and invigorated with the vitality and passion they displayed. Journey into Islam makes a powerful plea for forming friendships across religion, race, and tradition to create lasting peace between Islam and the West.

Social Justice in Islam
Social Justice in Islam is perhaps the best known work of Sayyid Qutb, a leading figure in the Muslim Brethren of Egypt who was executed by the regime of Abd al-Nasir in 1966. Despite the years that have passed since Sayyid Qutb’s death, the imprint of his thought on the contemporary Islamic movements of the Arab world remains profound. The Arabic original of “Social Justice in Islam” was first published in 1949, but this book in particular retains its relevance in many respects: the persistence of gross socio-economic inequality in most Muslim societies; the need for viewing Islam as a totality, imperatively demanding comprehensive implementation; and the depiction of the West as a neo-Crusading force.

Modernization of the Arab World

2009-03-27T23:18:00.003+08:00

In Western accounts of the Middle East since 1789, Islam is often treated as a primary impediment to the spread of technology, science, and modern democratic values in the region. As a review of the historical record demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth, for Islam encourages, and even demands, that Muslims acquire knowledge and reform society.

In this respect, the modern Middle Eastern experience stands in stark contrast to that of medieval Europe, where Christianity was indeed a real obstacle to intellectual progress. In Europe, where it first arose, the ideology of ‘secularism’ gave direction to a lengthy effort to emancipate humans from the hold of a corrupt religious institution. When the same ideology was belatedly introduced into the Middle East late in the nineteenth century, it became a tool of domination used to weaken local religious institutions as part of an effort to consolidate the cultural and social power of despotic authorities.

There was nothing inevitable about this development, as the record will show. In the first half of the nineteenth century, a variety of Muslim intellectuals responded warmly to the prospect of spreading technology, science, and democratic values into the Middle East, believing that modernization did not conflict with the established values and principles of Islamic law (Shariah). It was only later, and under the influence of a small group of Christian Arab intellectuals, that secularism was cast as the enemy of Islam, and turned into a tool of domination.

As a result of this unhappy experience with ‘secularism,’ the Middle East today is at a historic crossroads. A resurgent Islam at home with modernization promises a revival of free inquiry and technological progress. But it has been impeded by local despotic regimes that cling to the ideology of secularism, and by an American regime that feels threatened by any signs of a Muslim renaissance.

The first efforts to modernize the Middle East were a by-product of European involvement in the region. Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt between 1798 and 1801 dealt a humiliating blow to the Muslim Ummah, rather reminiscent of the Crusades more than five centuries earlier. Though it was brief, the French ‘incursion’ into the heart of the Arab world, the very centre of darul-Islam, exposed the weakness of the Ottoman Empire and her scandalous retardation behind Europe.

The task of regaining Egypt and expelling the French expedition was assigned by the Ottoman sultan to an Albanian task force led by a former cigarette seller named Muhammad Ali (1769-1849). Egyptians greeted Ali as a liberator not only from the French but also from the tyrannical Ottoman governor, Khurshid Pasha. Thanks to his military successes, first against the French at Abu Qir in 1799 and then against the Fraser led English expedition in 1807, Ali emerged as Egypt’s new governor. He promptly proceeded to establish a dynastic autocracy, one of the first in the Middle East to explicitly devote itself to ‘modernization.’

Perhaps because he was European himself, or perhaps because he had vanquished two European armies, Muhammad Ali became obsessed with the pursuit of science, technology and political power. Like two more recent Arab leaders, Jamal Abd al-Nassir of Egypt and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Ali embarked on a variety of ambitious industrialization projects. He dug irrigation canals, promoted cotton as a cash crop for export, centralized taxes, and established monopolies in industry and foreign trade. He hired European experts and professionals who helped him set up special schools and training facilities to educate and train army officers, state officials, and technicians.

In the meantime, on behalf of the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul, Ali sent his son Ibrahim to crush the expanding Wahhabi movement in Arabia between 1811 and 1819. He conquered the Sudan and quelled a rebellion in Greece. Emboldened by these successes, he seized Palestine and Syria. Alarmed by his growing power, French and British forces returned to the Middle East. In exchange for the hereditary governorship of Egypt for his line, Ali agreed to pare down his army.

At the same time, something similar was taking place on the eastern wing of what is today the Middle East. The second Qajar Shah Fath Ali, who ruled Iran from 1797 to 1834, found himself courted by the French and the British, who both wanted Iran to side with them against the Russians. His Azerbaijan crown prince, Abbas Mirza, sought Western training for Iranian forces and, as Muhammad Ali did, sent students abroad to improve the military. But the modernization of the military in Iran proved even more difficult than in Egypt, and under the Qajars, Iran lost more territory to the Russians.

The setbacks suffered in Iran and Egypt inevitably provoked debate over their causes. In both regions, the erratic and whimsical policies of despots made the systematic pursuit of technological capabilities difficult, if not impossible. At the same time, despots like Muhammad Ali lashed out at the power of the ulama (Muslim scholars), fearing it posed a potential threat to their plans for modernization and also to their political authority.

It was in this context that intellectuals in the Arab world began to debate the causes of the difficulties Muslim countries were having with modernization. Religion was of interest to such intellectuals but not, oddly enough, as a barrier to progress.

Take the case of an Al-Azhar scholar by the name of Rifa’ah al-Tahtawi (180l-1873). His preoccupation with the question of modernization grew out of a stay in France, where he served as a religious guide for a group of Egyptian army cadets who were studying science and modern military technologies. The scion of a scholarly family, Tahtawi threw himself into the study of European culture with enthusiasm. He acquired a precise knowledge of the French language and read books on ancient history, Greek philosophy and mythology, geography, mathematics, logic, and, most importantly, the French thought of the eighteenth century - Voltaire, Rousseau’s Social Contract, and other works.

Returning home after five years, Tahtawi made no secret of his admiration for what post-revolution France had accomplished. He advocated introducing democracy into the Middle East. And he criticized those who opposed the idea of taking knowledge from Europe, saying: “Such people are deluded; for civilizations are turns and phases. These sciences were once Islamic when we were at the apex of our civilization. Europe took them from us and developed them further. It is now our duty to learn from them just as they learned from our ancestors.”

Still, as a religious scholar, Tahtawi insisted that Muslims should only borrow elements of European culture that did not conflict with the established values and principles of Shariah. In 1834, shortly after his return to Cairo from Paris, Tahtawi published his first book, Takhlis al-Ibriz Ila Talkhis Bariz. This summarized his observations of the manners and customs of the modern French, and praised the concept of democracy as he saw it in France and as he witnessed its defence and reassertion through the 1830 revolution against King Charles X.

Trying to show that democracy was compatible with the laws of Islam, he compared political pluralism to forms of ideological and jurisprudential pluralism that existed in Islam itself: “Religious freedom,” he wrote, “is the freedom of belief, of opinion and of sect, provided it does not contradict the fundamentals of religion.” An example would be the theological opinions of the al-Asha’irah and the al-Matiridiyah; another would be the opinions of leading jurists within the doctrine of the branches. For by following any one of these schools, human feels secure. The same would apply to the freedom of political practice and opinion by leading administrators, who endeavor to interpret and apply rules and provisions in accordance with the laws of their own countries. Kings and ministers are licensed in the realm of politics to pursue various routes that in the end serve one purpose: good administration and justice. Tahtawi was not an isolated figure. Other nineteenth-century Islamic reformists including Khairuddin Al-Tunisi (1810-1899), Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani (1838-1897), Abdel Rahman Al-Kawakibi (1854-1902), and Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) were often referred to as ‘Muslim modernists’ and followed Tahtawi in stressing that Muslims could benefit from European successes without undermining Islamic values or culture. Typical of this generation of Muslim modernizers was Al-Tunisi, leader of the nineteenth-century reform movement in Tunisia. In 1867, he formulated a general plan for political and administrative reform in the Arab world in a book entitled Aqwam al-Masalik fi Taqwim al-Mamalik (The Straight Path to Reformation of Governments). He appealed to politicians and scholars to explore all possible means to improve the status of the community and develop its civility, and cautioned the general Muslim public against shunning the experiences of other nations on the misconceived basis that all the writings, inventions, experiences, and attitudes of non-Muslims should simply be rejected. He further called for an end to absolutist rule: “Kindling the Ummah’s potential liberty through the adoption of sound administrative procedures and enabling it to have a say in political affairs,” he argued, “would put it on a faster track toward civilization, would limit the rule of despotism, and would stop the influx of European civilization that is sweeping everything along its path.”

Another of the Muslim modernizers, Al-Afghani, called for adherence to Islamic fundamentals combined with a repudiation of despotism. In his view, a key cause of the decline in the Muslim world was the absence of ‘adl (justice) and shura (council). The remedy, he believed, was republican government: the people of the Arab world ought to be allowed to assume a larger political and social role by participating through shura and elections. “For those governed by a republican form of government,” argued Al-Afghani, “it is a source of happiness and pride. Those governed by it alone deserve to be called human; for a true human being is only subdued by a true law that is based on the foundations of justice and that is designed to govern man’s moves, actions, transactions, and relations with others in a manner that elevates him to the pinnacle of true happiness.”

From Tahtawi to Al-Afghani, Muslim scholars of the nineteenth century seemed to have had no doubt that the failure of the Muslims to modernize had more to do with a lack of freedom than a lack of technology. The latter was seen as a fruit of the former, and in any case Islam was not responsible for the absence of either.

In the later years of the nineteenth century, a quite different analysis of how to modernize the Middle East was elaborated by a smaller but quite influential group of Christian modernists. Among them were such important figures as Shibli Shumayyil (1850-1917), Farah Antun (1874-1922), Georgie Zaidan (1861-1914), Ya’qub Suruf (1852-1917), Salama Musa (1887-1958), and Nicola Haddad (1878-1954). The real problem with the Arab world, they argued, was its culture and, specifically, its dominant religion. Most of these men had been educated at the Syrian Protestant College and then settled in Egypt, which was the cultural hub of the Arab world. Their ideas were propagated through Al-Muqtataf and Al-Hilal, Arabic publications founded respectively in 1876 and 1892. These journals promoted a brand of aggressive nationalism, in which love of country and fellow countrymen would transcend all other social ties, even those of religion.

Through their copious writings, these thinkers laid the foundations of an indigenous brand of secularism in the Arab world. Praising the liberal thought of France and England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and condemning the hegemony of tradition over the human mind, they stressed that reason should set the standard for human conduct. For modernization to take place, they demanded that only traditions that were compatible with this objective should remain. The main aim of these intellectuals was to lay the basis of a secular state in which Muslims and Christians could participate on a footing of complete equality.

After graduating from the Syrian Protestant College, the oldest member of the group, Shibli Shumayyil, went to Paris to study medicine. He is reputed to have first introduced the theories of Darwin to the Arab world through his writings in Al-Muqtataf. He belonged to the late nineteenth-century movement that saw science as the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe, even as a form of worship. He believed that the religion of science necessitated a declaration of war on older religions. For him, social unity was essential for a general will to exist and involved the separation of religion from political life, since religion was a cause of division. He insisted that nations grew stronger only as religion grew weaker, and pointed out that this was true of Europe, which had only become powerful and truly civilized once the Reformation and the French Revolution had broken the hold of religious leaders on society. He criticized both shuyukh (Islamic scholars) and Christian priests for resisting progress and development.

Farah Antun, who migrated from Tripoli to Cairo in 1897, claimed that the conflict between science and religion could be solved but only by assigning each to its proper sphere. He dedicated his book to “those men of sense in every community and every religion of the east who have seen the danger of mingling the world with religion in an age like ours, and have come to demand that their religion should be placed on one side in a sacred and honoured place, so that they will be able really to unite, and to flow with the tide of the new European civilisation, in order to be able to compete with those who belong to it, for otherwise it will sweep them all away and make them the subjects of others.” Antun laid special emphasis on the separation of temporal and spiritual authorities. If European countries were now more tolerant than Arab, he argued, it was not because they were Christian, but rather because science and philosophy had driven out religious fanaticism and a separation of religion and politics had taken place.

By the end of the nineteenth century, a growing number of Muslim intellectuals fell under the influence of the Christian modernizers. For example, Qasim Amin (1865-1908) argued that the problem with the Muslims was their backwardness and resistance to social change. “Perfection,” he wrote, “is not to be found in the past, even the Islamic past; it can only be found, if at all, in the distant future. The path to perfection is science, and in the present age it is Europe which is most advanced in the sciences and therefore also on the path to social perfection.”

Europe is ahead of us in every way, and it is not true that while they are materially better than us we are morally better. The Europeans are morally more advanced; their upper and lower classes, it is true, are rather lacking in sexual virtue, but the middle class has high morals in every sense, and all classes alike have social virtues. Educated in law in France and a judge by profession, Amin became famous for his campaign for the emancipation of women. His call on women, in his 1899 book entitled Tahrir al-Mar’ah (The Emancipation of Women), to take off the traditional Islamic head cover, which he believed obscured their intellectual as well as physical abilities, invited angry response from the ulama of late-nineteenth-century Egypt. He responded to his critics in 1906 with a book entitled Al-Mar’ah al-Jadidah (The Modern Woman). Amin’s contemporary Ahmad Lutfi Al-Sayyid (1872-1963) was similarly eager to leave Islam behind. Religion, Islamic or not, was relevant to his thought only as one of the constituent factors of society. Seen as a leading figure in the national movement in Egypt, Al-Sayyid made a significant impact on the agendas of social and educational institutions in modern Egypt. A lawyer and a judge by profession, he served in successive Egyptian governments in various positions, and his ideas first found a platform when he became chief editor of Al-Jaridah in 1906. In 1925, he was appointed dean of Egyptian University and, three years later, education minister. Moving back and forth between the government and the university, he was appointed minister of foreign affairs in 1946 and, immediately afterward, deputy prime minister.

But the most important of the indigenous Muslim secularists, by far, was Ali Abdel Raziq (1888-1966), a graduate of Al-Azhar and Oxford whose key work appeared one year after the abolition of the caliphate in 1924. This work Al-Islam wa Usul al-Hukm: Bahth fil-Khilafah wal-Hukumah fil-Islam (Islam and the Fundamentals of Governance: A Thesis on Caliphate and Government in Islam) turned out to be one of the most controversial works in modern Islamic history. In it, Raziq denied the existence of a political order in Islam and claimed that the Prophet had never established one, that it had not been part of his mission to found a state. In turn, Raziq’s work became a main source of ammunition in the vigorous campaign, launched by ‘secularists’ in later times, against the validity of Shariah. The book pioneered the idea of rejecting conventional interpretations and replacing them with innovations based mostly on Orientalists’ opinions and writings on Islam.

But the pioneers of Arab secularism founded the principles of their thought on a number of incorrect assumptions. They likened Islam to Christianity and assumed it to be just another religion that could, or even should, be restricted to the spiritual sphere of human life. They assumed Islam’s spiritual authority hindered progress and prohibited freedom of thought, and should therefore be prevented from interfering in temporal matters. But these assumptions about Islam’s conflicts with logic or science were merely extrapolations from the Euro-Christian context. The presupposition that Islam and Christianity held identical positions on the freedom of thought and the emancipation of the mind led to the conclusion that, just as Europe had rid itself of the influence of religion as a prelude to progress, the Arabs needed to constrain Islam. And Westernization was said to be the sole means of modernization, which further blurred the distinction between secularization and modernization.

What the secularists have advocated has been pursued with varying intensity across the Muslim world since the start of the twentieth century. Secular nationalist elites took over from the colonial authorities and claimed to embark on a quest for progress, development, and industrialization. In territorial states created within artificial borders, mostly by colonial power at the turn of the twentieth century, Islam has been nationalized, marginalized, and suppressed in the name of reaching out to modernity and catching up with the advanced world. If anyone is in doubt, consider the achievements of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey (1881-1938), Ahmad Sukarno (1902-1970) and then Suharto of Indonesia (1921-2007), Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia (1903-2000), Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (1918-1970), Houari Boumedienne of Algeria (1925-1978), Hafiz al-Asad of Syria (1930-2000), and Saddam Hussein of Iraq (1937-2006).

What do they share in common? They are secularist dictators who succeeded in building huge corrupt bureaucracies and failed miserably in their fiscal and industrial policies.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Arab writers, who could see salvation in nothing short of espousing European modernity, failed to recognize that Islam is a religion that continues to shape and influence the lives of its adherents, who believe its values and principles are aimed at liberating mankind, establishing justice and equality, encouraging research and innovation, and guaranteeing freedom of thought, expression, and worship.

Like their nineteenth-century Muslim forebears, many contemporary Arab intellectuals believe that Islam is not incompatible with modernization. We argue that the scientific and technological underpinnings of modern civilization are reducible to categories of knowledge and practice that Muslims can learn and benefit from without having to give up their cultural identity. We also believe that Islam is consistent with republican and democratic forms of self-rule.

Indeed, today Arab secularists routinely try to justify the suppression of democratic trends. Their attitude toward the aborted Algerian legislative elections is illustrative. The victory of the Islamic Salvation Front was a clear indication that the majority of the Algerian people sought a change after three decades of enforced secularization. Free democratic elections have proved secularization to be unpopular with the masses.

Fearing defeat, contemporary secularists appealed to the army to intervene. They cheered as tanks crushed the ballot boxes and as thousands of citizens were apprehended and jailed in detention camps set up in the desert. They claimed they were protecting democracy from the majority, because according to them the majority could not be trusted.

Islam is a divinely ordained set of commandments, values, and directives. Its claims are not incompatible with those of science, technology, and democratic self-government. Its appeal is profound and profoundly popular. And it is not liable to be vanquished anytime soon by a form of secularism that has been foisted by colonizers and despots on Muslims in order to weaken, if not destroy, the basis of our social order, and render us colonisable and controllable.

Sekalung Tahniah...

2009-03-26T08:40:00.001+08:00

Tahniah diucapkan buat YB Datuk Razali Haji Ibrahim, Ketua Pemuda UMNO Johor, merangkap Ahli Parlimen Muar, yang telah berjaya memenangi kerusi Naib Ketua Pemuda UMNO Malaysia. Semoga amanah dan tanggungjawab yang tergalas di bahu YB Datuk Razali dapat dilaksanakan dengan penuh rasa keinsafan dan kebertanggungjawaban dalam kita mengharungi suasana haru-biru politik nasional dan jua kemelesetan ekonomi global.

Sinar Pagi dan P. Ramlee

2009-03-24T14:23:00.005+08:00

Ketika bercuti tempoh hari, aku mula gemar mendengar rancangan Sinar Pagi di stesen radio Sinar FM. Walaupun ada suara-suara sumbang yang berkata pada ku, Sinar FM hanyalah untuk mereka yang berumur 35 tahun dan ke atas, namun aku mendapati rancangan Sinar Pagi kelolaan Khairil Rashid (Keril), Raja Azura (Kak Ungku) dan Salleh Yaacob amat menarik dan mampu membuatkan ku ketawa berpanjangan. Aku berasa seronok mendengarkan telatah Wak Tabib yang cuba merungkaikan makna mimpi para pendengar, nyanyian Mat Salleh yang terlalu ‘sedap’ dan ‘tidaklah merapu langsung!’ serta senaman abang Jem yang sunggug ‘mudah’ dan ‘amat menyihatkan’ itu. Selama empat jam, bermula enam pagi hingga sepuluh pagi, pastinya pagi aku akan dihiasi dengan gelak ketawa yang tidak sudah!! :P

Satu lagi perkara yang suka aku lakukan ketika bercuti tempoh hari ialah menonton filem-filem allahyarham Tan Sri P. Ramlee di Astro Prima (105). Baik pagi ataupun petang, siang ataupun malam. Bagiku, aku tidak pernah merasa jemu menonton filem-filem beliau walaupun ada sesetengah teman mentertawakanku bila mengetahuinya. Pada pandanganku filem-filem P. Ramlee banyak unsur sosialnya walaupun sesetengahnya diketengahkan dalam bentuk jenaka komedi. Lihat sahaja cerita Bujang Lapok. Filem itu banyak menggambarkan keadaan masyarakat Melayu Singapura ketika itu. Sama seperti Datuk A. Samad Said menceritakan masyarakat Melayu Singapura dalam novelnya Salina. ‘Kampung Kambing’ adalah gambaran dan kiasan keadaan sosio-ekonomi masyarakat Melayu ketika itu. Mungkin perkara sebeginilah yang perlu ditelaah oleh seniman-seniman muda masa kini.

Bercanda-Canda Di Tepian Pantai.......

2009-03-23T11:35:00.008+08:00

Bercuti memanglah suatu perkara yang amat menyeronokkan. Mengujakan setiap individu yang bernama insan. Ditambah pula percutian itu disertai oleh mereka yang dekat di hati kita, yang senantiasa diingati, dicintai dan dikenang dalam doa [ayat bukan main!! kredit to ‘aisyah!! :D].

Aku baru kembali dari bercuti hampir tiga minggu. Demi menyahut seruan ‘tuan doktor’ yang begitu beria-ia memujukku untuk bercuti untuk merehatkan diri dan jua minda [thanx doc!! :P]. Destinasi percutian hanyalah kampungku sahaja. Tiada perancangan untuk ke mana-mana setelah berhempas-pulas menyudahkan tesis sarjana ku.

Aktiviti percutian banyak diisi dengan pembacaan material-material yang berkisar tentang politik nasional mutakhir ini. Ditambah dengan aktiviti menonton televisyen, aktiviti ‘kanak-kanak ribena’ dan aktiviti ‘mendugong’kan diri. Dan percutian diakhiri dengan aktiviti bergembira dengan anak buahku [rindu yang teramat sangat pada mereka!!].

Berkumpul untuk menikmati kelapa muda [dalam istilah kami ialah kelapa ‘degan’]. Masing-masing begitu teruja untuk menikmatinya!!

Harith yang tidak sabar untuk merasai kenikmatan kelapa muda hasil tangan pakcunya!! :P Tidak sabar rasanya untuk meniti waktu hingga ke Oktober ini, untuk menyambut anak buahku yang ke sembilan. Pastinya chomel seperti ………. :D

Dan kini aku telah kembali bertugas. Tugasan pertama yang diberikan padaku adalah mengajar semester pendek yang akan datang ini. Subjek SOCA 2410 Stratifikasi Sosial (Social Stratification) dan SOCA 3310 Masalah-Masalah Sosial (Social Problems). Tidak sabar rasanya untuk bertemu bakal murid-muridku. Pastinya ia suatu pengalaman yang mengujakan!! :P

Tekanan dan Tidak Sihat

2009-03-05T15:27:00.012+08:00

I was stressed, totally stressed, last two week. It was due to my thesis, family, works and other things, which I think it is not appropriate for me to mention it here. I had to review, entah kali yang ke berapa ntah, my thesis and that made me a little bit depress. Though I know that it is good to review my thesis many times, but doing the same thing to me it is a bit irksome. Well orang muda kan. Tapi memang I really have to thank my supervisor, Professor Dr. Mohamed Aris Othman for his patience throughout the writing of my thesis. I also have to be grateful to him for all the painstaking corrections, meticulous alterations and removal of punctuation mistakes from my thesis that has made the thesis readable. Without him and his never ending helps, encouragement and constructive suggestions, the completion of my thesis would not have become possible. I submitted my thesis to the department this morning for internal assessor. Hopefully takda masalah lagi lah….

Sebagai hadiah seminggu yang penuh dengan stress, I got this ‘body balance’ problem. I feel like floating every time I walk or sit. Macam mat pit pas amik heroin rasanya. Hehehehehehehe. So I went to see my family doctor kat Muar, Dr. Mohamad Taslim (Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri [ADUN] Johor kawasan Maharani dari Parti PAS). Hasil pemeriksaan rapi aku disahkan yang blood circulation tak sampai ke otak. Pasal tue lah duk melayang-layang. And aku tak tanya pun apa sebabnya. Tak kuasa aku nak layan. Just amik ubat and makan. Memang rasa cukup tak selesa yang amat sangat. The best part ubat tue asal makan ajer mesti tido. So kejenyer aku membutalah 24 jam. Bangun solat, makan and kemudian tido. Betol-betol mendugungkan badan. Hehehehehehe……

Dalam waktu-waktu yang stress dan tidak selesa tue (maklumlah aku nie kan tak sabar sampai ader orang cakap aku nie impatient of time!) what I did to ease the feeling ialah dengan melihat gambar-gambar Harith.

Chomel kan!! Tapi chomel laie pokcu nyer. Ahakzz!! :D

Owh just had my dinner. Of late I am quite lazy to cook. So most of the time I have a simple dinner, which I can prepare it in less than 3o minutes. Hehehehehehe :P

The Impacts of Secularism on Muslim Education

2009-03-04T18:27:00.001+08:00

It seems that the affirmative stance of Islam on scientific inquiry and method created a basic attitude of receptivity to modern/Western influences in the spheres of education, the legal profession and the judiciary. Notwithstanding the many questions that were asked as to whether Western secular methods should be accepted in Islam’s traditional center’s of learning, that resistance has gradually diminished and significant changes have been made to educational curricula and methods in Islamic schools and universities. Reforms of this kind continued to be undertaken even decades after the end of colonial rule in some Muslim countries.

Public education in Muslim countries, including scientific education, was brought by colonial powers who replaced the Islamic educational system that prevailed earlier, or else the new methods were superimposed on an under-layer of the traditional system that still remained operative. The Western approach to education basically precluded religion from the purview of science and led to inevitable conflict with it. The product of that combination was duality and bifurcation between the old and the new, a colonial legacy which persists to this day in the educational system of many Muslim countries. It has proved difficult to blend the two systems into an integrated whole, despite the fact that policy makers in Muslim countries have often tried to achieve that.

The Western scientific approach to liberal education can be seen in the 1946 Harvard Committee Report entitled General Education in a Free Society, which divides knowledge into three categories: natural sciences, humanities, and social studies. General education is expected to develop certain capabilities of the mind which are “to think effectively, to communicate thought, to make relevant judgments [and] to discriminate among values.”

Effective thinking is described as having three phases: logical, rational and imaginative. Logical thinking is applicable to practical matters such as whom to vote for and whom to befriend; it is also the ability to extract universal truths from particular cases and infer the particular from the general. It is manifested in the ability to analyze a problem and recombine its relevant elements with the help of imagination.

By rational thinking, the Report means the ability to think at a level appropriate to a problem. The Report adds that making relevant value judgment involves the ability of the student to bear a whole range of ideas upon the area of experience. “Discrimination among values” means the ability to distinguish various kinds of values, aesthetic, moral and intellectual and then to commit oneself to such values in the conduct of life.

The Report excludes metaphysical knowledge and religious studies from the sphere of knowledge, and confines the attention of educationists to a concept of man for whom belief in God or even pursuit of knowledge beyond the domain of the senses does not have any special significance. One commentator noted that by ignoring religious studies the Report failed to appreciate the effect of religion on personality and the direction that effective thinking might take as a result of the impact of religion on the whole person.

The view that Islam subordinates science to the teaching of religion finds support in Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr who wrote that by contrast to the Western world which views the science of nature to be mainly concerned with “quantitative aspects of things,” and science is closely identified with technology and its applications, Islamic science “seeks perfection and deliverance.” To understand it requires placing oneself within its perspective as a “science of nature which has a different end, and uses different means from those of modern science.” The ultimate aim of Islamic science, Nasr added, has always been to relate the corporeal world to its basic spiritual principle which seeks to unite the various orders of reality. “The arts and sciences in Islam are based on the idea of unity” and its aim is to show the inter relatedness of all that exists. In contemplating the unity of the cosmos, man may be led to the unity of the Divine principle, of which the unity of Nature is the image. Professor Nasr’s views have been met with some reservation, as one of his critics noted: “For me the true worth of science lies in helping us to understand nature ... We need science and technology not to make us more spiritual, moral and ethical...[but] to make us more productive” and enable us to subdue and manipulate nature. I also have some reservation over the statement that Islamic science has different ends and uses different means compared to modern science. For I started the basic theme of this essay with a hypothesis that the inductive method, being the principal means and tool of modern science, is equally accepted in the Islamic theory of knowledge, be it the arts, the natural sciences or medicine. Soroush is of the view that modern science explains the world as if it was not created by a god, not denying his existence, but rather finding no need to postulate it. It is thus assumed that even if there were a god, science would nonetheless be able to explain the world without relying on his existence. Soroush has thus acknowledged a degree of disharmony between religion and science but added that the tension which exists between them need not be exaggerated.

Secularism is widely regarded as one of the tools, and also a major contribution, of modern science, which stands at odds with spirituality and religion. Yet it is interesting to note that secularism has penetrated public education in the Muslim world especially during the colonial rule and ever since. Secularism is defined as the deliverance of Man “first from religious and then from metaphysical control over his reason and language.” Secularism and modernization both subscribe to a fundamental belief in rationality and scientific thought: Just as Nature is separated from the will of God, Man is ‘freed’ from the restrictive demands of religion. It would be difficult to claim that Islamic thought can accept secularism as such without some reservations. Yet certain aspects of secularism have been adopted in the Arab world and brought about considerable transformation in its institutions of learning, the judiciary and the status of religious scholars and ulama. It is also manifested elsewhere in the replacement largely of fuqaha’ by lawyers, and of religious teachers by trained teachers in modern schools, especially when the kuttab/maktab, the Qur’anic schools, were transformed into modern schools on the Western model, even though the process was gradual and uneven. One of the reservations that may be noted here is as follows: Muslims have adopted many of the premises of secularism without, however, isolating religion from public life. This may be said to be manifested in many of the formal constitutions of Muslim countries which recognize Islam either as the state religion or accord other forms of recognition to its validity and acceptance.

The changes that took place in public education and Islamic institutions of learning were on a wider scale in other parts of the Middle East compared to Egypt, where for various reasons, al-Azhar kept its control over primary education. In the Maghreb, French colonialism divided the education system into a modern sector closely modeled on the French system and another, older sector, based on the kuttab. The transformation was extended with the replacement of the madaris, which used to teach the fiqh, the Qur’an, the hadith and elements of Arabic, by universities applying modern curricula. Drastically revised curricula were later, and somewhat reluctantly, introduced by institutions like al-Azhar, and Zaytuna, perhaps less drastically in the former. But Zaytuna was transformed so much that reduced its status from a university to what is now a part of a modern university, known as the Faculty of Religious Studies. Changes in al-Azhar were not as radical as the new faculties, and their revised curricula still remained under the umbrella of the old al-Azhar principles and traditions.

Turkey under Kamal Ataturk had imported Western secular education without even attempting to reform the traditional system. Indonesia, and Malaysia, although Muslim majority countries, almost uncritically accepted secularism or else remained non-committal to the idea of a reformed Islamic educational system beyond retaining religious education as a subject in the curricula of their national schools. Both countries have in the meantime retained their traditional madrassas, some of which have been expanded, and to some extent reformed, in recent decades.

These changes led to a shift from a perception which saw public affairs, society and education through the prism of religion, to one that bore the imprint of modernity, or nahdah (awakening), that implied openness to further modernization. Changes were often accompanied by social upheavals that took place in Arab and Muslim societies far over a century that affected their education system and the judiciary more than most. The body of ulama was displaced from the leading places it had occupied in public life. The introduction of legal codes in many fields that were previously governed by the fiqh texts added to the marginalized status of the ulama. Formal constitutions introduced on the eve of colonialism in many Muslim and Arab countries were yet other instrument of secularism which articulated the ideas and foundations of the Western nation state in these countries.

Faith and Reason: A Qur’anic Perspective

2009-03-04T16:59:00.003+08:00

The basic harmony of faith and reason is also manifested in the Qur’an through a series of exclusions which seek to clarify the correct from the misleading means and avenues of knowledge. These are manifested in at least four contexts, which may be summarized as follows:

(a) Rejection of conjecture (al-zann) vis-a-vis certitude (al-yaqin)

This is a basic guideline that the Qur’an advocates not only in religious disputation but also in the context of learning, testimony and adjudication, and indeed in most other areas of human relations. Although certainty remains the ideal standard of knowledge, conjecture that inclines toward probability is nevertheless accepted as a basis of judgment in practical human affairs (mu’amalat), such as in court decisions that are often based on zann, for want of certainty, in order to facilitate resolution of disputes among people.

The Qur’an precludes conjecture and probability as a basis of belief, as faith must be based in conviction, which precludes zann. To this effect the text takes its deniers to task, for their blind faith in what is no more than conjecture: “... they follow not aught but conjecture, and surely conjecture avails nothing against the truth” (al-Qur’an 53: 28). Conjecture in this verse, as in many other verses of the Qur’an (al-Qur’an 10: 36; 6:116), is used in contradistinction to knowledge (‘ilm, yaqin), and it is ‘ilm acquired through hearing, seeing and reason that command acceptance. This is what the believers are instructed in another verse to “...follow not that of which you have no knowledge ('ilm). Surely the hearing and the sight and the heart are all accountable” (al-Qur’an 17: 36).

(b) Rejection of passion and untrammelled desire (hawa’)

Qur’anic references to hawab occur in contradistinction to correct guidance and truth. Thus it is provided in an address to the Prophet-King David: “O David! We made you a vicegerent in the earth so that you judge among people with truth, and follow not the passion that sways you away from the path of God” (al-Qur’an 38: 26).

Confusion that can be caused by passion, whether consisting of love, hatred or anger etc., can be so powerful as to obfuscate rational judgment. The basic message of this verse is that the best qualified of judges, even prophets, are not immune to the influence of hawa’. Equally clear is also the point that knowledge and truth must be pursued and vindicated through reasonable methods that are not influenced by personal sentiment and passion. The extensive influence of hawa’ is elsewhere indicated in the Qur’an, which provided in an address to Prophet Muhammad: “Have you seen (the predicament of) one who chooses for his god his own passion? Would you then be a guardian over him?” (al-Qur’an 25: 43).

Passion can dominate a person’s outlook totally in which case truth and reason can have but little place in his order of priorities. The Prophet Muhammad has been repeatedly warned as to the little or no impact his teachings could make on such persons. This evidence sustains the conclusion that rationality is a means to knowledge, discovery of truth, and justice only when it is not tainted by the vagaries of hawa’.

(c) Rejection of blind imitation

Islam’s outlook on reason is also based on its intrinsic merit that is inspired by nothing less than conviction, as opposed to blind imitation of the custom and legacy of the past. The objectivity of reason is to be ensured by its independence from conventional practice which does not necessarily provide correct knowledge and guidance. The past must be judged in the light of reason and rejected if it is found misleading. To this effect, the Qur’an has recounted the attitude of its deniers and the typical response they have given to the Prophet Muhammad: “Nay, we follow the way of our ancestors- even if their ancestors did not know nor were they rightly guided” (al-Qur’an 5:104; also 2:170). This was also the response that Prophet Abraham and many other prophets received from idol-worshipers but the text retorted it in such terms: both you and your ancestors were clearly misguided (al-Qur’an 21:52; 7:70; 11:87). These references to past events and prophets are made with a view to underline certain continuity of values, and in this instance, also to confirm that knowledge and truth stand on their own merit independently of custom and convention of the past.

(d) Rejection of oppressive dictatorship

The Qur’an takes to task those who indiscriminately obey arrogant dictators who are themselves averse to enlightenment and truth. Thus it is provided that the plea of those who say on the Day of Judgment: “O our Lord! Surely we obeyed our princes and great men, but they misled us” (al-Qur’an 33: 66) will have no merit. This is because, as the text explains, they rejected the correct guidance when it was conveyed to them. In another verse, the text refers to the Pharaoh who misled his people: “We sent Moses with our signs and clear evidence unto Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they followed Pharaoh’s command which failed to give the right guidance” (al-Qur’an 11: 96). In another verse it is stated that the Pharaoh persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. They were none other but a wanton folk (al-Qur’an 43: 54).

People are thus advised to use their own judgment and distinguish between guidance and misguidance in the light of reason. This is because they themselves, and not their self-styled leaders, would ultimately be held responsible. The intrinsic value of truth and knowledge must therefore remain unaffected by the indulgent claims of oppressive men who often seek to subjugate others for their own selfish interests.

Muhammad ‘Abduh (d.1905) held that there is no necessary conflict between religion and science. Both are founded in reason, and both study natural phenomena, albeit from different angles. Since the Qur’an encourages the Muslims to study and investigate the universe, Islam should be considered as a friend, not the enemy, of science. ‘Abduh also observed that there was nothing against true Islam in modern civilization and science, provided that Islam was rightly understood and rightly expressed.

In saying this ‘Abduh emphasized those Islamic tenets and principles which are fundamental to Islam and are not meant to be of local and temporary application.

The Status of Women in Islam

2009-02-24T18:12:00.002+08:00

In Islam there is absolutely no difference between men and women as far as their relationship to God is concerned, as both are promised the same reward for good conduct and the same punishment for evil conduct. The Qur’an, in addressing the believers, often uses the expression, ‘believing men and women’ to emphasize the equality of men and women in regard to their respective duties, rights, virtues and merits. It says:

“For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God’s praise, for them has God prepared forgiveness and great reward.” (Al-Qur’an 33:35)

This clearly contradicts the assertion of some of the Christian Fathers that woman does not possess souls and that they will exist as sexless beings in the next life. The Qur’an says that women have souls in exactly the same way as men and will enter Paradise if they do well:

“Enter into Paradise, you and your wives, with delight.” (Al-Qur’an 43:70)

“Who so does that which is right, and believes, whether male or female, him or her will We quicken to happy life.” (Al-Qur’an 16:97)

The Qur’an admonishes those men who oppress or ill-treat women:

“O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dowry you have given them - except when they have become guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike something and God will bring about through it a great deal of good.” (Al-Quran 4:19)

Considering the fact that before the advent of Islam the pagan Arabs used to bury their female children alive, make women dance naked in the vicinity of the Ka’ba during their annual fairs, and treat women as mere chattels and objects of sexual pleasure -- possessing no rights or position whatsoever, these teachings of the Noble Qur’an were revolutionary. Unlike other religions, which regarded women as being possessed of inherent sin and wickedness, and men as being possessed of inherent virtue and nobility, Islam regards men and women as being of the same essence created from a single soul. The Qur’an declares:

“O mankind! Revere your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from this pair scattered (like seeds) countless men and women. Revere God, through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and reverence the wombs (that bore you); for God ever watches over you.” (Al-Quran 4:1)

The Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, said, “Women are the twin halves of men.” The Qur’an emphasizes the essential unity of men and women in a most beautiful simile:

“They (your wives) are your garment and you are a garment for them.” (Al-Qur’an 2:187)

Just as a garment hides our nakedness, so do husband and wife, by entering into the relationship of marriage, secure each other’s chastity. The garment gives comfort to the body; so does the husband find comfort in his wife’s company and she in his. The garment is the grace, the beauty, the embellishment of the body, so too are wives to their husbands as their husbands are to them. Islam does not consider woman “an instrument of the Devil”, but rather the Qur’an calls her ‘muhsana’ - a fortress against Satan because a good woman, by marrying a man, helps him keep to the path of rectitude in his life. It is for this reason that marriage was considered by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, as a most virtuous act. He said:

“When a man marries, he has completed one half of his religion.”

He enjoined matrimony on Muslims by saying:

“Marriage is part of my way and whoever keeps away from my way is not from me (i.e. is not my follower).”

The Qur'an has given the raison d'être of marriage in the following words:

“And among His signs is this, which He has created for you mates from among yourselves, which you may dwell in tranquillity with them; and He has put love and mercy between you. Verily in that are signs for those who reflect.” (Al-Qur’an 30:21)

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was full of praise for virtuous and chaste women. He said:

“The world and all things in the world are precious but the most precious thing in the world is a virtuous woman.”

He once told the future Caliph, ‘Umar:

“Shall I not inform you about the best treasure a man can hoard? It is a virtuous wife who pleases him whenever he looks towards her, and who guards herself when he is absent from her.”

On other occasions the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

“The best property a man can have is a remembering tongue (i.e. which remembers God), a grateful heart and a believing wife who helps him in his faith.”

And again:

“The world, the whole of it, is a commodity and the best of the commodities of the world is a virtuous wife.”

Before the advent of Islam women were often treated worse than animals. The Prophet wanted to put a stop to all cruelties to women. He preached kindness towards them. He told the Muslims:

“Fear God in respect of women.”

And:

“The best of you are they who behave best to their wives.”

“A Muslim must not hate his wife, and if he be displeased with one bad quality in her, let him be pleased with one that is good.”

And:

“The more civil and kind a Muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is.”

The Prophet, peace be upon him, was most emphatic in enjoining upon Muslims to be kind to their women when he delivered his famous sermon (Arabic: khutba) on the Mount of Mercy, at Arafat, in the presence of one hundred and twenty-four thousand of his Companions who had gathered there for the Hajj al-Wada (Farewell Pilgrimage). In it he ordered those present, and through them all those Muslims who were to come later, to be respectful and kind towards women. He said:

“Fear God regarding women. Verily you have married them with the trust of God, and made their bodies lawful with the word of God. You have got (rights) over them, and they have got (rights) over you in respect of their food and clothing according to your means.”

In Islam a woman is a completely independent personality. She can make any contract or bequest in her own name. She is entitled to inherit in her position as mother, as wife, as sister and as daughter. She has perfect liberty to choose her husband. The pagan society of pre-Islamic Arabia had an irrational prejudice against their female children whom they used to bury alive. The Messenger of God, peace be upon him, was totally opposed to this practice. He showed them that supporting their female children would act as a screen for them against the fire of Hell:

“It is narrated by the Prophet’s wife, ‘Aisha, that a woman entered her house with two of her daughters. She asked for charity but ‘Aisha could not find anything except a date, which was given to her. The woman divided it between her two daughters and did not eat any herself. Then she got up and left. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, came to the house, ‘Aisha told him about what had happened and he declared that when this woman was brought to account (on the Day of Judgment) about her two daughters, they would act as a screen for her from the fires of Hell.”

The worst calamity for a woman is when her husband passes away and, as a widow, the responsibility of maintaining the children falls upon her. In the Eastern World, where a woman does not always go out to earn her living, the problems of widowhood are indescribable. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, upheld the cause of widows. Most of his wives were widows. In an age when widows were rarely permitted to remarry, the Prophet encouraged his followers to marry them. He was always ready to help widows and exhorted his followers to do the same. Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said:

“One who makes efforts (to help) the widow or a poor person is like a mujahid (warrior) in the path of God, or like one who stands up for prayers all of the the night and fasts all of the day.”

Woman as mother commands great respect in Islam. The Noble Qur’an speaks of the rights of the mother in a number of verses. It enjoins Muslims to show respect to their mothers and serve them well even if they are still unbelievers. The Prophet, peace be upon him, states emphatically that the rights of the mother are paramount. Abu Hurairah reported that a man came to the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, and asked:

“O Messenger of God, who is the person who has the greatest right on me with regards to kindness and attention? He replied, “Your mother.” “Then who?” He replied, “Your mother.” “Then who?” He replied, “Your mother.” “Then who?” He replied, “Your father.”

In another tradition, the Prophet advised a believer not to join the war against the Quraysh (i.e. the pagan disbelievers at that time) in defence of Islam, but to look after his mother, saying that his service to his mother would be a cause for his salvation. Mu’awiyah, the son of Jahimah, reported that Jahimah came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said:

“Messenger of God! I want to join the fighting (in the path of God) and I have come to seek your advice.” He said, “Then remains in your mother’s service, because Paradise is under her feet.”

The Prophet’s followers accepted his teachings and brought about a revolution in their social attitude towards women. They no longer considered women as a mere chattel, but as an integral part of society. For the first time women were given the right to have a share in inheritance. In the new social climate, women rediscovered themselves and became highly active members of society rendering useful service during the wars which the pagan Arabs forced on the emerging Muslim Ummah. They carried provisions for the soldiers, nursed them, and even fought alongside them if it was necessary. It became a common sight to see women helping their husbands in the fields, carrying on trade and business independently, and going out of their homes to satisfy their needs.

‘Aisha reported that Saudah bint Zam’ah went out one night. ‘Umar saw her and recognized her and said, “By God, O Saudah, why do you not hide yourself from us?” She went back to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and told him about it while he was having supper in his room, and he said: “It is permitted by God for you to go out for your needs.”

The predominant idea in the teachings of Islam with regard to men and women is that a husband and wife should be full-fledged partners in making their home a happy and prosperous place, and that they should be loyal and faithful to one another, and genuinely interested in each other’s welfare and the welfare of their children. A woman is expected to exercise a humanizing influence over her husband and to soften the sternness inherent in his nature. A man is enjoined to educate the women in his care so that they cultivate the qualities in which they, by their very nature, excel.

These aspects were much emphasized by the Prophet, peace be upon him. He exhorted men to marry women of piety and women to be faithful to their husbands and kind to their children. He said:

“Among my followers the best of men are those who are best to their wives, and the best of women are those who are best to their husbands. To each of such women is set down a reward equivalent to the reward of a thousand martyrs. Among my followers, again, the best of women are those who assist their husbands in their work, and love them dearly for everything, save what is a transgression of God’s laws.”

Once Mu’awiyah asked the Prophet, peace be upon him:

“What are the rights that a wife has over her husband?” The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied: “Feed her when you take your food, give her clothes to wear when you wear clothes, refrain from giving her a slap on the face or abusing her, and do not separate from your wife, except within the house.”

Once a woman came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, with a complaint against her husband. He told her:

“There is no woman who removes something to replace it in its proper place, with a view to tidying her husband’s house, but that God sets it down as a virtue for her. Nor is there a man who walks with his wife hand-in-hand, but that God set it down as a virtue for him; and if he puts his arm round her shoulder in love, his virtue is increased tenfold.”

Once he was heard praising the women of the tribe of Quraysh, saying:

“. . . because they are the kindest to their children while they are infants and because they keep a careful watch over the belongings of their husbands.”

The Shari’ah (Islamic Law) regards women as the spiritual and intellectual equals of men. The main distinction it makes between them is in the physical realm based on the equitable principle of fair division of labour. It allots the more strenuous work to the man and makes him responsible for the maintenance of the family. It allots the work of managing the home and the upbringing and training of children to the woman, work which has the greatest importance in the task of building a healthy and prosperous society.

It is a fact, however, that sound administration within the domestic field is impossible without a unified policy. For this reason the Shari’ah requires a man, as head of the family, to consult with his family and then to have the final say in decisions concerning it. In doing so he must not abuse his prerogative to cause any injury to his wife. Any transgression of this principle involves for him the risk of losing the favour of God, because his wife is not his subordinate but she is, to use the words of the Prophet, peace be upon him, ‘the queen of her house’, and this is the position a true believer is expected to give his wife. In contrast to these enlightened teachings of Islam in respect of women, Western talk of women’s liberation or emancipation is actually a disguised form of exploitation of her body, deprivation of her honour, and degradation of her soul! Wallahua’lam……

Dikau Yang Pernah Ku Cintai.......

2009-02-20T00:50:00.002+08:00

Lesu……

Itulah sahaja perkataan yang mampu menceritakan dirinya ketika itu. Segala-galanya lesu. Mindanya tidak mampu lagi bertaakul. Untuk mencari jawaban bagi seribu satu permasalahan yang bermain di mindanya waktu itu. Yang hadir hanyalah kedukaan. Kekeliruan. Yang menghambat kecelaruan di mindanya.

Angin malam menerpa ke wajahnya. Dingin. Sedingin hatinya. Yang sudah mula tidak memahami apakah ertinya rasa itu. Yang mengeraskan dinding hati nuraninya. Yang mulai tidak mengendahkan senyuman manisnya. Yang hiba mendengarkan gelak tawanya. Yang jijik dengan janjinya. Yang akhirnya membawanya ke destinasi itu.

Embun malam mula menyinggah ke tubuhnya. Namun ianya tidak mampu walau sedikit pun memberikan kedinginan pada dirinya. Yang hadir. Hanyalah kelesuan…..

===============

“Hey. I think you should read this article……”
“Hah!! Kenapa? Aku tak minatlah benda-benda macam nie…..”
“You better readlah. Nanti ko tahulah naper….”
“Okaylah. Thanx. Nanti apa-apa aku sms ko lah….”

===============

“Ehhh. Ko ingat tue dia ker?”
“Ko piker benda yang sama ker?”
“That’s what I have in mindlah. Tapi possible ker? Takder rupa pun…..”
“Well you never know dear till you finally find out the truth, kan?”
“Yeah. You are right. Hmmmm…….”
“What do you think right now?”
“Gimme a few minutes. I wanna google benda nie…..”
“Kay. Take your time. But I hope you’re okay there….”
“Thanx. Yeah I am perfectly okay here…..”

===============

“You busy there?”
“Nope. Just to settle a few things. Wassup?”
“Hmmmm…. Dunno where to start lah.”
“Well. Let me guess. It’s true kan?”
“Haih…. Betullah tue. Tak taulah nak cakap apa…….”
“Well. Aku dah cakap dari dulu lagi kan. Dia tue penipu.”
“Come on lah. Janganlah macam tue…..”
“Well you cannot start a friendship dengan menipu kan?”
“Benda dah lepas, aku nak cakap macamana laie kan…..”
“Hmmmm…. You okay there?”
“Yeah. I am okay. No worries. Apapun thanx lah. Kalu tak selamanya aku tak tahu pun. Selamanya aku kena tipu……”
“Dahlah tue. Don’t think about it too much. Cheer up. Okay?”
“Hahahahahaha….. Takder aperlah. Aku okay jer.”
“Okay. Aku ada benda nak siapkan nie. Apa-apa nanti aku call balik.”
“Orait…..”
“Hey I beg you, janganlah pikir bukan-bukan. Or else it may hurt you again….”
“Nay…. I won’t. No worries. Dahlah. Pilah buat keje tue. Bye…..”
“Bye….”

===============

Malam itu terlalu amat sunyi. Yang kedengaran hanyalah dendangan sang kodok. Menyanyi memecah kedinginan malam. Disulami nyanyian sang cengkerik. Sahut menyahut. Laksana sebuah fiesta yang sedang berlangsung. Menjadi peneman setia. Si dia yang masih lagi duduk di situ. Tanpa arah. Tanpa tujuan….

Suratan Atau Kebetulan.......

2009-02-19T23:55:00.002+08:00

Sesuatu yang tak disangka

Seringkali mendatangi kita

Itukah suratan dalam kehidupan

Atau hanya satu kebetulan

Kita asyik membicarakan

Persoalan hidup dan pilihan

Sedang kejujuran semakin berkurang

Masih tiada bertemu jawapan

Walau kita dihadapkan

Dengan berbagai pilihan

Mengapa sering terjadi

Pilihan tak menepati

Hingga amat menakutkan

Menghadapi masa depan

Seolah telah terhapus

Sebuah kehidupan yang kudus

Pertemuan sekali ini

Bagi diriku amat bererti

Tetapi ku bimbang untuk menyatakan

Bimbangkan berulang kesilapan

Walau kita dihadapkan

Dengan berbagai pilihan

Mengapa sering terjadi

Pilihan tak menepati

Hingga amat menakutkan

Menghadapi masa depan

Seolah telah terhapus

Sebuah kehidupan yang kudus

Pertemuan sekali ini

Bagi diriku amat bererti

Tetapi ku bimbang untuk menyatakan

Bimbangkan berulang kesilapan

2009 Top Ten Malaysian Billionaires

2009-02-17T00:59:00.012+08:00

Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (RM 26.6 billion)
Kerry Group

Tan Sri Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan (RM 20.1 billion)
Maxis Communication Berhad and Astro All Asia Networks Plc

Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow (RM 8.15 billion)
Public Bank Berhad

Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng (RM 7.4 billion)
IOI Group

Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan (RM 4.5 billion)

Hong Leong Group

Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua (RM 3.5 billion)
Genting Group

Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary (RM 3.2 billion)

Albukhary Foundation

Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (RM 1.8 billion)

Berjaya Corporation Berhad

Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King (RM 1.6 billion)
Rimbunan Hijau Group

Tan Sri Azman Hashim (RM 1.4 billion)
Amcorp Group Berhad

Sepi.....

2009-02-16T01:00:00.002+08:00

Sepi hati terjadi lagi

Mungkin sampai mati aku sepi

Biar senyum hadir di hariku

Namun ini hanya ada di bibir

Di bibir saja

Aku ini yang bisa mengerti

Walaupun yang lain mau mengerti

Namun berat beban hidupku

Biarkan saja

Biar saja hanya ku yang tahu

Sejarah cinta dan hidupku

Penuh duri dan banyak ranjau

Butuh kesabaran yang penuh

Untuk tetap ku berdiri

Ada saatnya ku bicara

Bila hatiku telah bulat

Sepanjang ku bisa atasi semua

Aku tetap diam

Sejarah cinta dan hidupku

Penuh duri dan banyak ranjau

Butuh kesabaran yang penuh

Untuk tetap ku berdiri

Ada saatnya ku bicara

Bila hatiku telah bulat

Sepanjang ku bisa atasi semua

Aku tetap diam

Crisis in the Muslim World

2009-02-15T01:52:00.004+08:00

To understand our current crisis accurately, we need to return to the revelation of the Qur’an and its basic concepts of tawhid, istikhlaf, individual and communal responsibility, ‘umran, and pursuit of knowledge. This supreme and civilized message to humanity transformed the early Arab Muslims into a great people, the bearers of a great religion, and the creators of great civilizations and history. They sought guidance from the Qur’an and developed their means through reason and knowledge of Allah’s natural laws (sunan). For the first time in history they developed the foundations of scientific and experimental methods – the same foundations that gave contemporary materialistic civilization its power of science and technology.

However, Islamic civilization was not materialistic, for it was cantered on istikhlaf, responsibility, and action to create a balanced way of life: spiritually, morally, and materially. Islam and the early generations of Muslims represented a distinguished and dynamic power in the Ummah’s history. This powerful Islamic guidance remains responsible for preserving the Ummah and most of the goodness in Muslims’ lives and consciousness. Unfortunately, the Ummah has retained remnants of old traditions, philosophies, and racial and tribal practices that continue to impact the lives of its people. Over time, this caused the Ummah’s degeneration and influenced new Muslims, as they did before Islam, thus weakening the religious enlightenment. Over the centuries, separation and confrontation within the Ummah’s intellectual leadership developed – a truly disastrous result. In other words, Muslim scholars and the political and intellectual ruling elites confronted each other.

This development weakened both sides and caused serious harm to their social roles and to the Ummah. Thinkers and scholars were isolated from the everyday lives of ordinary people, and their dynamics and concerns became increasingly theoretical. This situation prevented the growth of the social sciences and gradually drove scholars (ulama) to pure imitation and memorization. Students of ancient and alien philosophies did not truly benefit from the early scientific, experimental, and action-oriented Islamic principles and methods, but continued to follow the theoretical path. This added further harm and confusion to the Ummah’s intellectual life. In their isolation, the ulama developed a distorted view of Islam’s universal vision, one that was no longer ummatic and positive. They were no longer concerned with the Ummah’s life, and its public institutions were no longer part of their agenda. This led to the marked deterioration of the Ummah and its public institutions. The ulama concentrated on Islam’s ritual (private) aspects (e.g., salah, siyam, and Qur’anic recitation), which they called ‘ibadat, although the Qur’anic terminology refers to them as dhikr. They called the jihad of life to pursue a halal lifestyle, the jihad to seek knowledge, the jihad to spread da’wah, and the jihad to defend the Ummah. They focused on mu’amalat, mere dealings and contracts almost devoid of spiritual value.

This distortion of Islam’s universal vision was largely responsible for distorting Islamic life and institutions and giving Muslims a negative attitude toward life and civilization. The Muslim masses and societies were no longer the strong muwahidin and mustakhlafin, but weak and submissive. In short, the average Muslim was transformed into a person that concentrated on survival and thus showed little interest in pursuing an important civilizational role in history. The isolation of intellectuals and scholars fragmented the sources of Islamic knowledge. The knowledge was either religious or therefore based on the Qur’an and Sunnah and supported with linguistic tools in a historical context. Or it was human knowledge, and therefore related to foreign cultures and civilizations, and alien to the Islamic worldview, values, and Muslim psychology and culture.

The opposition and confrontation between Islamic scholars and the corrupt political, tribal, and aristocratic elites weakened the rulers’ position in two ways. First, it continually raised doubts about the legitimacy of their rule. Second, they were deprived and alienated from the intellectual base that could provide the intellectual support and ability to deal with Ummah’s changing circumstances. As a result, due to the weakened state of the Ummah and the rulers, both the ulama and the rulers turned to the “lesser evil” of oppression and violence to control the people in order to avoid political and social chaos. The rulers and the political elites imprisoned or executed their opponents, while the ulama threatened spiritual and eternal punishment to suppress intellectual dissatisfaction and revolt against their arbitrary authority and interpretations of religious text. The crushing of intellectual expression and the oppression of corrupt rulers polluted the national culture and created a negative and superstitious mentality that finally influenced the development of the Muslims’ “slave mentality.” It is, therefore, not surprising that Muslims appear to be fearful, negative, and lacking in initiative and creativity. The end result was a distorted universal Muslim vision, deficient knowledge, a corrupt public life, a superstitious mentality, and a damaging slave mentality. After losing their scientific and creative mentality, Muslim scientists turned to memorizing scientific procedures or imitating and importing scientific and technological tools and systems. In so doing, they hoped to achieve the ability to carry out research and development that would help the Ummah to catch up with the developed nations.

But we must do more than this – we need to correct our mental, cultural, and psychological distortions; adjust our world vision in order to regain our ummatic outlook; rectify our epistemological view in order to reunite religious and human knowledge; cleanse our culture from all distortions and superstitions in order to restore our Islamic scientific mentality and methodology; and reform our parental and educational methods.

We need to return to the Prophet’s methods of child development and education. The Prophet used love, care, respect, patience, wise guidance, effective communication, and supervision when dealing with children. For example, when he spoke to children (such as Ibn ‘Abbas), he did not address them in the same way that the Qur’an addresses its enemies, nor did he threaten or frighten them. Instead, he created an atmosphere of love and mutual support between the children and God, and taught them courage. For example, he told Ibn ‘Abbas:

“Now, boy, care about God, for God cares about you. Remember God in your good times, for God remembers you in your hard times of need. If everyone wants to harm you with something that God has not decided would happen to you, they cannot harm you. Likewise, if they want to benefit you with something that God has not decided for you, they cannot benefit you. The pens have been dried, and the records have been closed.”

The Prophet used such words to teach Ibn ‘Abbas courage, because courage is the real basis of a strong character and all virtues. On another occasion, the Prophet addressed the mind and reason while replying to a man who asked him if he could leave his camel untethered and trust in God to protect it while he prayed. The Prophet told him to tether the camel and then trust in God.

The Prophet was very careful and thoughtful in dealing with his grandson, al-Hussain, who once climbed on his back while he was leading the prayers in the mosque. The Prophet made an unusually long sujud, which caused his companions to wonder if it was a revelation. He told them that he did not want to rise (from sujud) hastily, for that would not allow his grandson enough time to enjoy his ride. The lesson here was not that he loved his grandson, but that he was the grandfather of a small child who knew nothing about salah, sujud, or iman. All he could understand was that his grandfather was on the ground, so he climbed on his back to play. The Prophet had two choices: put him down in a hurry without saying a word to him because he was praying, or give him some time to play and enjoy himself and then put him down carefully and continue the prayer. His constant thoughtful and careful nature, which precluded his hitting a child, enabled him to succeed as a father and a grandfather.

Rethinking Anthropology and Islam

2009-02-13T16:32:00.002+08:00

Anthropology has much for which to thank bin Laden. After decades of criticism, anthropology was on the ropes not long ago. Its founding father and mother were discredited: Bronislaw Malinowski for lusting after young natives and Margaret Mead for cooking up ethnographic accounts. Its own practitioners despaired and predicted “The End of Anthropology” (Worsley, 1966; Banaji, 1970). When the field appeared at its weakest, the powerful new voice of Edward Said emerged to denounce it as tainted by the dreaded word ‘Orientalism’ (Said, 1978). Perhaps the unkindest cut was that anthropology was not even seen as a bulldog in the service of the Western imperialists but rather as a mere puppy. Students of anthropology wandered aimlessly – sometimes into postmodernist literary conceit and sometimes into autobiographical excess. Like John Keats’s knight in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ anthropology appeared to be ‘ailing’. It appeared ‘alone and palely loitering.’

September 11 changed all that. The main interests of anthropology – ideas of ethnicity, group loyalty, honour, revenge, suicide, tribal code, the conflict between what anthropologists call the Great Tradition of world religions and their local practice or the Little Tradition – were being discussed everywhere. Perhaps people were not even aware that they were discussing these issues as they were identified with traditional, even ‘primitive’ societies, and therefore discredited; now they were front-page news. What was clear was the sense of hyper-asabiyya and the accompanying paranoia and uncertainty.

Ironically, most religions and communities across the globe felt they were under siege. American television broadcast its news and discussion under the title ‘America Under Siege’; Israelis felt that the Arad had besieged them; and Indian complains of being hemmed in by aggressive Muslim neighbours. The United States, Israel and India appeared paralyzed in the face of Muslim suicide bombers. They had no answer to the violence except more violence.

With each killing the siege mentality spread. State strategy appeared to be to use more brute power and inflict more pain on the opposite side. Where vision and compassion were required, the state was seen to kill and hurt people and destroy property. Its representatives did not even spare the mosque, the House of Allah.

The United States, Israel and India were compromising hard-won ideas of modern, thriving democracy. There were cases of illegal detention, suspension of civil liberties and unauthorized surveillance. The victim was invariably a Muslim.

Muslims, whether living as a majority or a minority felt especially vulnerable after September 11. The fact that all 19 of the hijackers were Muslim appeared to condemn by association every Muslim on the planet. Any expression of Muslim identity would risk the fear of being suspected as ‘terrorist’ activity. Muslims felt that their religion Islam was under siege…….

Hari Itu.......

2009-02-08T22:39:00.001+08:00

Pelik.

Itulah sahaja perkataan yang dapat menerangkan perangai dan sikap Syariff semenjak dia memandu kereta itu. Sikapnya yang suka melambaikan tangan pada pemandu yang memandu kenderaan yang sama dengannya. Perangainya yang suka menegur dan menyapa pemandu-pemandu tersebut di stesen petrol. Baik lelaki mahupun perempuan. Baik Melayu mahupun bukan Melayu. Pasti akan ditegur. Pasti akan disapa. Hinggalah ke hari itu. Hari itu….

===============

“Woi Adik! Nak isi berapa riban nie?”

Soal Kasyah pada Syariff yang ketika itu sudah keluar dari kereta.

“Ikutlah. Tak kisah pun.”
“Okaylah. Kalau macam itu aku isi full tank.”
“Orait.”

Kasyah berlalu. Menuju ke kaunter bayaran. Sambil bersiul-siul keriangan. Dan mengangkat kening matanya pada Syariff. Membuatkan Syariff tersenyum simpul.

Sedang menanti Kasyah membuat bayaran, tiba-tiba sebiji kereta berhenti di sebelah. Dan kereta yang sama dipandu oleh Syariff. Sama warna. Membuatkan Syariff tersenyum lebar.

“Bolehlah aku tegur drivernye nanti….”

Bisik hati Syariff. Dan beberapa ketika pemandunya keluar dari kereta. Membuatkan Syariff terpana. Kelu lidah tanpa bicara. Dan bibir matanya tidak berkedip, walaupun sekali…..

“Oit. Cepatlah isi minyak tue. Duk termenung apanya tue!”

Tegur Kasyah. Membuatkan Syariff tersedar. Kembali ke dunia nyata.

“Ehh… Hang isikan…”
“Wei pasaipa nie?? Ko nak ke mana?”
“Hehehehehehehehehe…….”

Syariff hanya tersengih. Lantas berjalan menuju ke kereta sebelah…..

“Hi…”
“Hi….”

Jawabnya. Perasaan terkejut jelas di wajahnya. Mungkin tidak biasa. Mungkin tidak pernah ada yang menegurnya di tempat sebegitu….

“Dah lama you pakai keta nie?”
“Taklah lama. Baru gak. Dalam empat bulan lebih sikit ajer. Tue keta you or your friend?”
“Mine. Dah nak masuk setahun dah pun….”
“Owh…. Lamalah tue. So far ader apa-apa problem ke?”
“Ader…. My power window kat driver seat tue ader problem. Dah hantar repair kat service centre, but still tak elok gak. Then ader ‘orkestra’ kat bahagian depan tue….”
“Orkestra???”
“Alah….. Ader bunyi apa ntah kat seat sebelah driver tue….”
“Hahahahahahahahaha….. Ingatkan apalah tadi. Pastue dah hantar repair lom?”
“I tengah tunggu my cousin….”
“Your cousin?”
“Yeap, my cousin. He’s senior engineer UMW-Toyota. Dia dulu antara engineer yang terlibat design kereta nie…..”
“Owh really?? Bolehlah I tumpang hantar kat dia nanti…”
“Why? Your car pun ader problem gak ke?”
“My stereng tue. Ader problemlah. Hari tue dah complaint tapi after that macam takder beza pun……”
“Owh… Nanti I tanyakan my cousin tue…..”
“Thanx!! By the way, I’m Ilham… Ilham Allysa ‘Aisyah. You?”
“Amboi sedapnya nama…. Syariff…. Ahmad Syariff….”
“Nah nie kad I. You ader kad?”
“Erk…. Takderlah. Nanti I sms you my number….”
“Okay.. My number ader kat kad tue… Okaylah. Have to go now. Bye….”
“Bye……”

Dan dia berlalu. Dengan senyuman manisnya. Dan Syariff masih lagi berdiri di situ. Terpesona… Terpana… Dengan keindahan wajahnya. Keayuan senyumannya. Kelembutan butir bicaranya. Kesopanan isyarat tubuhnya…..

“Woi!! Sudahlah tue!! Jangan nak berangan lagi. Jom balik!!”

Identiti, Sang Kodok dan Pengenalan Sosiologi

2009-02-07T22:20:00.005+08:00

Kebelakangan ini aku banyak menulis dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Seorang teman lalu bertanya melalui khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS):

“Menulis dalam Bahasa Malaysia untuk menyatakan sokongan terhadap pemansuhan PPSMI ke?”

Aku hanya mampu tergelak, sebagai reaksi awal terhadap pertanyaan tersebut. Dek kerana kami membesar bersama-sama, teman itu sangat memahami setiap perlakuan aku, baik yang tersurat mahupun yang tersirat. Namun jawapan aku adalah tidak. Sebab penulisan aku banyak menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia kebelakangan ini hanyalah sekadar untuk ‘melayan mood.’ Tidak lebih dari itu.

Rumah yang aku duduki sekarang ini terletak bersebelahan dengan sekolah; Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 10. Setiap pagi selepas solat Fajar, satu perkara yang gemar aku lakukan lewat kebelakangan ini ialah berjalan-jalan sambil beriadah kecil di hadapan kawasan rumah yang aku duduki ini. Tapi bukan setiap pagilah :P Sambil pada waktu yang sama aku suka meninjau-ninjau pelajar-pelajar sekolah menengah tersebut datang ke sekolah. Bukanlah bermaksud untuk meng‘usha’ mereka (ahakzz!!). Tapi perkara yang aku suka perhatikan adalah pengangkutan mereka ke sekolah. Rata-rata mereka dihantar oleh keluarga, samada ibu ataupun bapa. Bagi aku itu fenomena biasa. Namun yang menarik perhatian aku adalah jenis kenderaan yang digunakan. Kebanyakannya kenderaan mewah, yang berharga paling kurang seratus ribu. Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo (my favourite car!!), Toyota Lexus etc. Pun begitu ada jua yang bermotosikal, dan hanya berjalan kaki sahaja. Kalau nak dilihat, status sosio-ekonomi masyarakat kawasan yang aku duduki sekarang ini tidaklah seimbang. Ada yang berada dan mewah (upper class and upper middle class), ada yang berada di kelas pertengahan (middle class), ada yang tergolong dalam golongan pekerja dan kelas pertengahan dan bawahan (lower middle and lower class). Di minda ku acapkali berfikir, pasti mereka-mereka ini golongan anak-anak sekolah menengah yang mampu menguasai Bahasa Inggeris dengan baik. Harapnya begitulah…..

Lantas minda ku terfikir kepada mereka yang bersekolah di desa, bagaimana pula dengan mereka yang bersekolah di ceruk hujung dunia. Yang terpaksa menaiki bot dan sampan berjam-jam untuk sampai ke sekolah. Adakah penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris mereka baik, semantap mereka di bandar? Tidak pula dapat ku pastikan. Mungkin rakan-rakan ku di Fakulti Pendidikan (Naemah, sila jawab :P) dapat memberikan jawapan yang lebih jelas.

Namun perkara yang ‘menggelikan’ minda ku adalah berkenaan pengajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Kononnya pejuang-pejuang Bahasa Melayu mengatakan ianya bersifat tidak patriotik kerana membelakangkan bahasa ibunda. Malahan mereka mempertahankan bawah Bahasa Melayu telah lama menjadi ‘lingua franca’ untuk pembangunan dan penyebaran ‘ilmu. Yang menggelikan aku ialah bilamana mereka memperkatakan bahawa ‘identiti’ Melayu akan terhakis bilamana pengajaran dua subjek itu dilakukan dalam Bahasa Inggeris.

Kasihan. Mungkin para pejuang bahasa ini perlu masuk kelas ‘ilmu anthropologi agaknya. Identiti adalah bahasa yang dipinjam dari bidang antropologi. Malahan ianya mula dibicarakan secara ekstensif oleh para antropologis sosial seperti Edmund R. Leach dalam karyanya Political System of Highland Burma dan E.E. Evans-Pritchard dalam karya agungnya The Nuer. Identiti dari perspektif antropologi akan hanya terjelma melalui proses interaksi. Meminjam kata-kata Jay Clyde Mitchell:

“Identity does not occur in vacuum, it occurs through the process of interaction.”

Bahasa hanyalah ‘simbol’ kepada identiti etnik Melayu. Tidak bermakna bilamana kita berbicara menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris, identiti kita atau sifat ‘keMelayuan’ kita terhakis. Contoh, kalau kita tinggal di negara Arab, pastinya kita terpaksa berbicara menggunakan Bahasa Arab ataupun Bahasa Inggeris hampir keseluruhan waktu, maka adakah itu bermakna kita sudah hilang ‘identiti’ Melayu kita? Maka samalah jua pengajaran subjek Sains dan Matematik. Kalau ianya diajar didalam Bahasa Inggeris, adakah ianya akan melemahkan, melunturkan dan lantas menghakis identiti etnik Melayu kita? Tun Dr. Mahathir dan mereka yang sezaman dengannya telah belajar Sains dan Matematik didalam Bahasa Inggeris. Namun tidak pula sifat keMelayuan mereka itu terhakis. Fikir-fikirkanlah…….

Ketika pulang dari solat ‘Isya kelmarin, aku dapat mendengar sang kodok membuat bising memanggil sang hujan. Hasilnya, malam kelmarin hujan turun agak lebat di kawasan rumah ku. Nyaman dan enak tidur ku. Satu sifat sang kodok yang senantiasa menarik perhatian ku dari dahulu hingga dewasa ini ialah sifatnya yang mampu melompat dengan jarak yang jauh. Inilah bukti kekuasaan Allah. Tuhan yang menciptakan ‘alam ini. Namun sifat melompat tidak hanya ada si kodok. Manusia pun ‘bijak’ untuk melompat. Dan lompatan mereka lagi hebat. Hingga mampu meranapkan sebuah kerajaan negeri. Hebat kan…..

Bagi ku, sang kodok yang perlu diberi ‘penghormatan’ adalah kodok Bota (erk… sape duk dekat Bote yer :P). Aku tidak bermaksud untuk menghina, apatah lagi merendahkan martabat sesiapapun. Cuma ianya agak menarik untuk diceritakan. Itu sahaja. Kodok ini telah melompat untuk mencari ‘rumah’ yang baru. Telah berjumpa ‘rumah’ yang baru, hanya selesa sekadar sebelas hari sahaja. Mula difikirkan dan dirasa ‘rumah’ yang lama sudah ‘usang’. Maka ‘rumah’ baru ini lebih baru, sesuai untuk ‘dunia yang serba-serbi baru ini.’ Namun sayang setelah sebelas hari, ‘rumah’ baru dirasakan ‘usang’ dan ingin kembali ke ‘rumah’ lamanya. Dan kembalilah ia ke ‘rumah’ lamanya. Sayang…… Komen ku sama dengan ‘Sang Bentara Luar’:

“Orang ini tiada ‘political conscience’…….”

Jam sudah hampir 10 pagi. Aku perlu bergegas bertemu dengan penyelia tesis sarjana ku. Dan aku perlu bersegera, dengan kadar yang pantas, untuk menyelesaikan tesis sarjana ku. Kerana semester pendek ini aku diminta untuk mengajar. Tidak perlu menunggu semester satu nanti. Satu subjek dan satu kelas sahaja. Subjek ‘Pengenalan Sosiologi’. Dengan harga RM 1300. Inilah dinamakan rahmat Allah……

Untuk Perempuan Yang Pernah Ku Cintai.......

2009-02-06T09:07:00.002+08:00

Yang tulus ikhlas

Ingin sekali sekala dirinya dibalas

Walau hanya dengan dakapan di angin lalu

Yang selalu memberi

Ingin sekali sekala jadi penerima

Cukup dengan salam dan manis doa

Aku ingin kau merasakan hebatnya cinta

Dan leburkan saja serpihan calar derita

Selamat ulang tahun sayang

Kini kau bersayap, pergilah terbang

Rentaslah langit cita cita mu

Harap nanti kita 'kan bertemu

Selamat ulang tahun sayang

Janganlah engkau tak terbang pulang

Ku nanti penuh kerinduan

Selamat tinggal, selamat jalan

Aku hanya inginkan engkau setia

Kerana setia yang mencipta bahagiamu

Kelmarin.......

2009-02-02T22:32:00.003+08:00

"Haih……"

Syariff mengeluh panjang. Cuba melepaskan masalah yang senantiasa bermain di mindanya. Terbeban dengan masalah itu membuatkan dia pusing. Hatta kadang-kadang mengganggu konsentrasinya. Ribut……

Sufiah, kekasihnya, hanya mampu diam seribu bahasa. Tiada sebutir perkataan pun yang keluar dari mulutnya. Kelu lidahnya. Mungkin dek kerana tidak menyangka ianya akan sampai ke tahap ini. Namun segala-galanya sudah terlambat. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. Begitulah perumpamaannya. Segala-galanya sudah terlewat……

"It’s okay Sufi. Kalu you nak terus diam macam nie, takperlah. I still have a lot of things to do, dari duduk kat sini tengok you diam macam nie ajer."
"Hmmm….. Bukan macam tue."
"Then macam mana lagi? You ingat I bodoh? I buta tak nampak semuanya tue? Hey memang I abnormal, I have four eyes. But still I boleh nampak semuanya dengan jelas. Kalau selama nie you boleh perbodohkan orang lain, it’s okay. But not me Sufi… Not me."
"Tue melampaulah tue. Apa yang I dah buat sampai you marah I macam nie sekali? I didn’t say anything right?"
"Memanglah you tak cakap apa pun, tapi apa yang you buat tue lebih teruk dari apa yang you cakap. And tell you what Sufi, I still ada maruah and harga diri. You jangan ingat I nie apa."
"Hey! Kan I cakap tadi, I takda cakap or janji apa-apa kan? Kenapa you nak marah-marah I pulak nie."
"Tak cakap apa-apa? Yeah memang adatlah. Manusia bila bercakap, janji segala memang akan lupa. Tapi orang yang mendengarnya nie, akan sentiasa ingat. Takper Sufi, one day nanti you akan faham. And that day I harap you akan kena lebih teruk dari apa yang you buat kat I. Dunia balas dunia Sufi. Tak payah tunggu nak mati, you akan tetap dapat balasannya…."

Waktu itu Sufiah terus terdiam. Kelu seribu bahasa. Tidak menjawab kata-kata Syariff. Hanya matanya sahaja yang terus memandang Syariff. Tepat ke anak matanya.

Dan dia terus diam…..

Syariff masih di situ. Namun fikirannya sudah hilang ke mana. Entah ke mana. Cuba menyuraikan kekusutan itu. Yang hakikatnya terlalu kusut untuk dirungkaikan……

Tiba-tiba kekuatan itu datang pada dirinya. Dia bingkas bangun dari duduknya. Berlalu untuk meninggalkan Sufiah.

"Please don’t go……"

Terlalu perlahan. Tapi begitu jelas di cuping Syariff. Membuatkan langkahnya terhenti dengan tiba-tiba……

"Kalau I tak pergi pun, masalah nie tak akan selesai Sufi."
"I love you. I do love you Iff…."
"Really?"
"Haih…. You fahamkan. I takut……"
"It’s okay Sufi. I think it’s better for me to leave you."

Waktu itu Sufiah bingkas memegang tangan Syariff. Dan berbicara…..

"I love you Iff. And I need you…."
"Takperlah Sufi. Kalau I ada pun, you rasa tak senang. Kita selalu bertekak. Ganggu privasi you. I rasa lebih baik I pergi."

Syariff berlalu. Meninggalkan Sufiah. Dengan hati yang penuh sebak. Meredah dingin malam. Untuk mencari jalan pulang.

Dan dia tidak kembali lagi……

Seruan Untuk Kaum Muslimin.......

2009-02-01T01:15:00.002+08:00

Terlalu banyak harapan yang diberikan kepada Presiden Amerika Syarikat yang ke 44, Barack Hossein Obama, dalam mewujudkan hubungan yang lebih harmonis antara Barat dan dunia Islam. Apatah lagi selepas peristiwa September 11, terlalu banyak sentimen anti-Islam lahir di Barat dek kerana kecetekan ‘ilmu dan pemahaman mereka tentang apakah ajaran Islam yang sebenarnya. Kebanyakannya menggambarkan Islam sebagai agama yang menyeru umatnya ke arah keganasan, dan Nabi Muhammad s.a.w adalah pengganas utama dunia. Sedihnya melihat perangai mereka ini…..

Harapan bahawa Presiden Barack Obama akan menukar hala tuju polisi AS mengenai isu Palestin-Israel serta hubungan AS dan dunia Islam hanyalah retorik dan mimpi semata-mata. Ketika berkempen di persidangan tahunan Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Awam Amerika-Israel (AIPAC) pada musim panas yang lalu, kedua-dua calon Demokrat yang berebut jawatan calon Presiden parti tersebut ketika itu iaitu Obama dan Hillary Rodham Clinton menyatakan sokongan yang tidak berbelah bahagi terhadap Israel. Obama berjanji “tidak akan bertolak ansur dalam soal keselamatan membabitkan Israel”, manakala Clinton menyatakan “hubungan baik AS dan Israel akan berkekalan selama-lamanya.” Jika ini diambil sebagai pertimbangan untuk membentuk polisi hubungan luar, apatah lagi kini Hillary Clinton mengetuai Jabatan Negara yang bertanggungjawab terhadap polisi luar AS, maka kita tidak boleh berharap akan berlaku perubahan. Dan jika kita melihat kepada barisan kabinet Obama, beliau dikelilingi oleh Zionis bermula dari Naib Presiden Joseph Biden hinggalah kepada Ketua Staf Rumah Putih (White House), Rahm Emmanuel yang merupakan seorang Yahudi yang pernah berkhidmat dalam tentera Israel. Polisi domestik akan ditentukan oleh anggota Zionis jua seperti Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Paul Volker, Peter Orszag, Jason Furman, dan tidak lupa Jamie Rubin, anak kepada pengasas Rubinomics. Kebanyakan penasihat Obama merupakan Yahudi dan terdapat komentar bahawa beliau merupakan Presiden pertama AS dari golongan Yahudi!

Dewan Perwakilan AS yang dikuasai Parti Demokrat telah meluluskan resolusi “membenarkan Israel mempertahankan hak mereka dari serangan pejuang Palestin di Gaza” dengan majoriti besar, 390 berbanding 5. Ahli Kongres dari Ohio, Dennis Kucinich yang mengundi menentang resolusi sebelum pengundian telah berkata bahawa, “saya tidak berharap kita tidak menyokong tindakan kejam yang telah dilakukan berulang kali oleh tentera Israel. Kita perlu mengambil pendekatan baru membabitkan Asia Barat dan pendekatan baru ini perlu mengambil kira keadaan tidak berperikemanusiaan di Gaza.” Dewan Senat AS mempertahankan resolusi yang telah dibuat untuk terus komited terhadap Israel. Ini termasuklah hak untuk Israel bertindak mempertahankan diri bagi memelihara nyawa orang awam serta menggesa gencatan senjata yang akan menghalang penduduk Palestin dari melancarkan roket ke wilayah Israel. Senator Harry Reid yang mengetuai Demokrat di Dewan Senat berkata selepas pengundian, “resolusi kami menunjukkan keinginan negara Israel dan penduduk AS.” Nah adakah Obama yang kini memerintah Amerika boleh dijadikan sandaran untuk umat Islam melihat dunia yang lebih adil terhadap Islam dan penganutnya?

Telah acapkali kita mendengar umat Islam menyalahkan orang luar, Yahudi dan Zionis, terhadap kehancuran, kelemahan umat Islam ketika ini. Mereka dituduh, dan dipersalahkan, kerana telah menyemai benih-benih nasionalisme dikalangan umat Islam, lantas melemahkan umat Islam yang satu ketika dahulu kuat dan bersatu dibawah sistem Khalifah. Natijahnya kini kita dapat melihat jumlah negara Islam yang agak besar tetapi mereka langsung tidak bersatu, malahan bercakaran sesama sendiri. Ya, fakta itu mungkin ada benarnya. Namun sampai bila kita hendak menuding jari kepada orang luar, meletakkan beban kesalahan kepada mereka? Kenapa kita tidak pernah menyalahkan diri kita sendiri kerana kita alpa, lalai dan leka ketika kita kuat satu ketika dahulu? Sudah sampai waktunya kita bangkit dari tidur yang lena, mimpi yang terlalu indah. Kita perlu bina kekuatan kita sendiri. Dan kekuatan ini hanya akan dapat dibina dengan kepercayaan yang tidak berbelah-bahagi terhadap Allah dan rasul-Nya, serta memahami agama yang suci ini berlandaskan nas-nas dan hadis-hadis yang sahih. Bukannya berpaksikan hadis yang penuh dengan unsur-unsur Israiliyyat! Pabila ketauhidan kita kukuh, pemahaman agama kita suci dari sebarang elemen-elemen yang mengotorkan kesucian agama Allah ini, barulah ketika itu kita dapat bangkit menguasai dunia. Dan untuk menguasai dunia, ianya perlulah bermula dengan penguasaan ilmu pengetahuan.

Untuk seluruh umat Islam: “Dan bangkitlah dari tidurmu yang lena.”

Rindu Ini......

2009-02-01T01:02:00.002+08:00

Seronok betul malam nie dapat bersolat Maghrib dan 'Isya di Masjid UIAM. Kali terakhir berbuat demikian adalah bulan Ramadhan yang lalu. Tadi solat berjemaah berimamkan Imam berbangsa 'Arab. Lantas terasa seolah-olah sedang solat di Masjid an-Nabawi atau di Masjid al-Haram. Dan secara tiba-tiba terasa rindu yang teramat sangat untuk kembali ke sana lagi, untuk menjadi tetamu Allah, untuk ku dambakan rindu ini pada Mu, Tuan yang memiliki jiwa ini.......

Lecturing......

2009-01-30T12:01:00.003+08:00

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as if it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.” George Orwell

I was told by my Head of Department the courses that I am going to teach in semester one (June or July 2009). Altogether there are four sections (two courses) I have to lecture. Three sections for ‘Introduction to Sociology’ (SOCA 1010) and one section for ‘Sociology and Anthropology of Organization’ (SOCA 3540). It is a bit weird isn’t it? I did my master in cultural anthropology specializing in organizational anthropology, yet I have to teach ‘Introduction to Sociology’. Hehehehe... Actually taklah pelik sangat kerana sosiologi adalah cabang disiplin di bawah antropologi, cuma ada sedikit sahaja perbezaan. Tak banyak pun. It is not difficult for anthropologist to teach sociology courses, but it is difficult for sociologist to teach anthropology courses. Hah macam mana tue? :P

Interesting....

2009-01-28T13:13:00.002+08:00

On Jan 24, 2009, Hanan commented on Boycott - this is my reply)

Dear Hanan,

1. I agree entirely with you that building a great nation doesn't only take brains, but as you said it sure does help.

2. However brains alone without a heart (feelings) can produce a monster.

3. Israel is undoubtedly a great nation, becoming great through the brains and the numerous achievements you have listed. Yes I have used Israeli originated products like Microsoft Windows and Pentium chips (made in Malaysia) by Intel, an American company.
4. In fact I owe my life ultimately to Israel because there must be something invented by Israelis in the numerous instruments used in heart surgery. However most of the products used were invented and produced by Japanese.

5. I am amazed at the number of Nobel Laureates Israel has produced. I admit we have not produced even one.

6. But when the brain is without a heart it does not care for the misery resulting from the products of the brain.

7. The atom bombs which killed 100,000 men, women, children and babies are the product of Israeli (Jewish) brain. Most of the diabolical weapons now being used to kill millions of people are also the creation of Israelis on Zionist Jews. The depleted uranium and phosphorous shells being used in Gaza are also the product of Israeli brains.

8. The current financial crisis which is destroying the economies of the U.S. Britain and in fact all the countries of the world is due to manipulations of banks, financial institutions and the monetary system by Jewish supporters of Israel.

9. The negation of the freedom of speech when it comes to the alleged killings of Jews in World War II are also inspired by Zionist Jews.

10. But worse of all is the seizure of Palestinian land to create the state of Israel. Not content with the area given to the Jews by the United Nations you have seized more Palestinian land, built settlements on many parts of Palestine, disallowed the use of roads built on Palestinian land to the Palestinians, erected your own check points at the borders of Palestine with Jordan and built your version of the Berlin Wall through Palestinian villages on land that is not part of Israel.

11. Before the creation of Israel, the Jews and Arabs in Palestine lived in peace. Historically Jews had always sought refuge in Muslim countries when the Europeans conducted pogroms against them. This only stopped after the U.S. offered asylum.

12. All the terrorism that we see today, whether state initiated or by irregulars, started after the U.S. backed Israel against Arab attempts to regain their land through conventional wars. Because they were outclassed in terms of weapons by the U.S, / Israel, alliance, then only did the Arabs resort to what is called terrorism. The Israeli response have always been with greater terrorism as is seen in Gaza.

13. I have asked an American what he would do if Texas was given to the Jews to create the state of Israel. He did not answer. But I believe he would fight to get back Texas, employing all the weapons at its disposal.

14. Yet had the United States been willing to create the nation of Israel in the lands under U.S. control or in the U.S. itself, there would be no terrorism in Palestine or in the Middle East. There would be no terrorism in America either because Israel would be wiped out by the U.S. forces. The world would remain peaceful.

15. The brutality committed by your forces in Gaza is out of all proportion to the puny rocket attacks by Hamas. That attack was the result of Israel and the U.S. failing to accept the results of a properly conducted election.

16. Hamas could only establish their Government in Gaza. But you blockaded Gaza, denying them food, medicine, power, fuel etc. If you had not done that I doubt that Hamas would fire rockets at you.

17. Malaysia is well aware that total boycott of Israel is not possible. We are in fact boycotting American products which is an even more impossible task. We would not be able to bring America or Israel down.

18. But what we aim to do is to demonstrate the disgust and the anger that we feel over the inhumanity of the brainy but primitive peoples of Israel and America.

19. You can collect Nobel prizes and other prizes but the world will look down upon you as very primitive people who robbed land through terror against perfidious British and subsequently used your control over the world's greatest military power to oppress the people whom you had robbed.

20. You have nothing to be proud of, unless of course you take pride in being heartless, in being primitive brutes.

21. The only mitigating factor is the presence among Israelis of a small number who are ashamed of what you have done to the people of Gaza.

Hanan:

Dr. Mahathir,

Very well established a logical basis leaning on an ex Reagan administration that is having microphones and cameras in the Bush administration, Mr. Paul Craig Roberts. You are always collecting the facts not from the first source just from the second hand washed cloth. Of course an anti Jew will look on anti Jew information. You may refer to Al Qaeda humanitarian organization for more information, they have plenty of it.

You are saying:"1. I would like to have the Malaysian Armed Forces attack the United States and Israel."
Oh, great hero. You had the chance to do it while you were the PM in service. Why didn't you tried out the strength of the Malaysian army and its skills? You had a good chance to become the Muslim hero committing Jihad on the apes and monkeys. To become the Salah ed Din of the modern times. How could you miss that opportunity to demolish both, America and Israel and leaving Iran to do it solely? Oh great rhetoric, do you know how a war looks like?

You care about the babies of Iraq, Palestinians, etc... How lucky we are you don't need to care about the Jewish children suffering daily rockets from Hamas who is a Muslim charity organization. Oh, their 8 years of rockets in a quantity of thousands were full of candies ammunition that was spreading sweets to the children of Sederot and the Negev.

Since Jews are controlling everyone by proxy, I'm not sure you, Dr. Mahathir are not controlled by them as well. You'll say that you are not controlled, but I can assure you that I'm controlling you. Can you deny it? Even Malaysia is manipulated by Jews, that's why they are not attacking the US and Israel. You should check very well among your government ministers and officials and find the Trojan horses there.

You hate Israel not because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but you hate only because the hatred of Muslims against Jews, the apes and swine. Your hate is not political, but religious. You are just sinking into the modern era darkness.

You said once in one of your speeches that Muslims should use their brains to get rid of 13 Million Jews dominance among 1.3 billion Muslims. Are you a role model? Do you have the wisdom to do it? Do you have the power to do it? Do you know why your plan is not accomplished? It is because it is not true, not logical, unjustified, not because the Jew are controlling the world by proxy. History is stronger than any empire, leader or people. The Jews survived more complicated events then you are planning, so don't be hoping too much, we survive your approach as well.

Shalom from Hanan, a Jew, Israel.

From:

http://chedet.co.cc/

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad

Former Malaysian Prime Minister, 1981-2003.

Cinta....

2009-01-28T12:57:00.001+08:00

Gambar yang lawa. Kain yang sangat panjang. Ayat yang menarik. Tapi betul ker???

Dr. Juanda Mufti Perlis

2009-01-28T12:54:00.000+08:00

KANGAR 27 Januari

Bekas Naib Mufti Sarawak, Dr. Juanda Jaya (gambar) hari ini disahkan sebagai Mufti Perlis yang baru bagi menggantikan Dr. Mohd. Asri Zainul Abidin yang mengosongkan jawatan tersebut sejak November lalu.

Menteri Besar Perlis, Datuk Seri Dr. Md. Isa Sabu ketika mengesahkan pelantikan itu berkata, Dr. Juanda, 37, yang juga Ketua Penolong Pengarah Bahagian Dakwah Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak dipinjamkan oleh kerajaan Sarawak bagi memenuhi kekosongan jawatan Mufti Perlis untuk tempoh dua tahun.

Katanya, pemilihan bekas Naib Mufti Sarawak itu juga telah mendapat perkenan Raja Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail.
‘‘Beliau dijangka memulakan tugasnya sebagai Mufti Perlis awal Februari ini selepas urusan pemindahannya selesai dengan kerajaan Sarawak dan Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA).

‘‘Saya juga berterima kasih kepada Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud yang sudi meminjamkan Juanda bagi berkhidmat di Perlis,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian selepas Majlis Sambutan Tahun Baru Cina di Dewan Khoon Aik di sini hari ini.

Utusan Malaysia, 28 Januari 2009.

Netanyahu Ikrar Perluas Penempatan Yahudi

2009-01-28T12:50:00.001+08:00

BAITULMAQDIS 27 Jan

Calon pilihan untuk memenangi pilihan raya Israel bulan depan, Benjamin Netanyahu semalam berikrar akan memperluaskan kawasan penempatan haram Yahudi di Tebing Barat jika beliau dipilih menjadi Perdana Menteri baru.

Pendirian Netanyahu itu disiarkan oleh agensi berita AP yang antara lain melaporkan:

* Netanyahu akan membenarkan kawasan penempatan Yahudi diperluaskan bagi menampung ‘pertumbuhan’ semula jadi iaitu bercanggah dengan tuntutan pelan damai anjuran antarabangsa yang menjadi asas rundingan damai.

* ‘Pertumbuhan semula jadi’ merujuk kepada pembinaan perumahan baru bagi menampung keluarga yang semakin besar di kalangan pendatang Yahudi. Sikap Netanyahu itu dijangka cetuskan pertelagahan dengan Amerika Syarikat.

* Tinjauan pendapat di kalangan penduduk Israel menunjukkan pemimpin parti Likud itu memiliki peluang terbaik memenangi pilihan raya yang akan diadakan dua minggu lagi. Netanyahu pernah memimpin Israel pada 1996 hingga 1999.

Utusan Malaysia, 28 Januari 2009.

My Hope....

2009-01-28T12:44:00.002+08:00

I hope that I will be here soon. To leave everything behind. To be with, only, myself......

My Dream.....

2009-01-28T12:39:00.001+08:00

Nice place. Dream to go there soon......

General Characteristics of Islamic Civilization

2009-01-27T01:45:00.001+08:00

Islam was destined to become a world religion and to create a civilization which stretched from one end of the globe to the other. Already during the early Muslim caliphates, first the Arabs, then the Persians and later the Turks set about to create classical Islamic civilization. Later, in the 13th century, both Africa and India became great centres of Islamic civilization and soon thereafter Muslim kingdoms were established in the Malay-Indonesian world while Chinese Muslims flourished throughout China.

Global Religion

Islam is a religion for all people from whatever race or background they might be. That is why Islamic civilization is based on a unity which stands completely against any racial or ethnic discrimination. Such major racial and ethnic groups as the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Africans, Indians, Chinese and Malays in addition to numerous smaller units embraced Islam and contributed to the building of Islamic civilization. Moreover, Islam was not opposed to learning from the earlier civilizations and incorporating their science, learning, and culture into its own world view, as long as they did not oppose the principles of Islam. Each ethnic and racial group which embraced Islam made its contribution to the one Islamic civilization to which everyone belonged. The sense of brotherhood and sisterhood was so much emphasized that it overcame all local attachments to a particular tribe, race, or language – all of which became subservient to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam. The global civilization thus created by Islam permitted people of diverse ethnic backgrounds to work together in cultivating various arts and sciences. Although the civilization was profoundly Islamic, even non-Muslim “people of the book” participated in the intellectual activity whose fruits belonged to everyone. The scientific climate was reminiscent of the present situation in America where scientists and men and women of learning from all over the world are active in the advancement of knowledge which belongs to everyone. The global civilization created by Islam also succeeded in activating the mind and thought of the people who entered its fold. As a result of Islam, the nomadic Arabs became torch-bearers of science and learning. The Persians who had created a great civilization before the rise of Islam nevertheless produced much more science and learning in the Islamic period than before. The same can be said of the Turks and other peoples who embraced Islam. The religion of Islam was itself responsible not only for the creation of a world civilization in which people of many different ethnic backgrounds participated, but it played a central role in developing intellectual and cultural life on a scale not seen before. For some eight hundred years Arabic remained the major intellectual and scientific language of the world. During the centuries following the rise of Islam, Muslim dynasties ruling in various parts of the Islamic world bore witness to the flowering of Islamic culture and thought. In fact this tradition of intellectual activity was eclipsed only at the beginning of modern times as a result of the weakening of faith among Muslims combined with external domination. And today this activity has begun anew in many parts of the Islamic world now that the Muslims have regained their political independence.

A Brief History of Islam: The Rightly Guided Caliphs

Upon the death of the Prophet, Abu Bakr, the friend of the Prophet and the first adult male to embrace Islam, became caliph. Abu Bakr ruled for two years to be succeeded by ‘Umar who was caliph for a decade and during whose rule Islam spread extensively east and west conquering the Persian empire, Syria and Egypt. It was ‘Umar who marched on foot at the end of the Muslim army into Jerusalem and ordered the protection of Christian sites. ‘Umar also established the first public treasury and a sophisticated financial administration. He established many of the basic practices of Islamic government. ‘Umar was succeeded by Uthman who ruled for some twelve years during which time the Islamic expansion continued. He is also known as the caliph who had the definitive text of the Noble Quran copied and sent to the four corners of the Islamic world. He was in turn succeeded by ‘Ali who is known to this day for his eloquent sermons and letters, and also for his bravery. With his death the rule of the “rightly guided” caliphs, who hold a special place of respect in the hearts of Muslims, came to an end.

The Caliphates: Umayyad

The Umayyad caliphate established in 661 was to last for about a century. During this time Damascus became the capital of an Islamic world which stretched from the western borders of China to southern France. Not only did the Islamic conquests continue during this period through North Africa to Spain and France in the West and to Sind, Central Asia and Transoxiana in the East, but the basic social and legal institutions of the newly founded Islamic world were established.

Abbasids

The Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyad, shifted the capital to Baghdad which soon developed into an incomparable centre of learning and culture as well as the administrative and political heart of a vast world. They ruled for over 500 years but gradually their power waned and they remained only symbolic rulers bestowing legitimacy upon various sultans and princes who wielded actual military power. The Abbasid caliphate was finally abolished when Hulagu, the Mongol ruler, captured Baghdad in 1258, destroying much of the city including its incomparable libraries. While the Abbasids ruled in Baghdad, a number of powerful dynasties such as the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks held power in Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The most important event in this area as far as the relation between Islam and the Western world was concerned was the series of Crusades declared by the Pope and espoused by various European kings. The purpose, although political, was outwardly to recapture the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem for Christianity. Although there was at the beginning some success and local European rule was set up in parts of Syria and Palestine, Muslims finally prevailed and in 1187 Saladin, the great Muslim leader, recaptured Jerusalem and defeated the Crusaders.

North Africa and Spain

When the Abbasids captured Damascus, one of the Umayyad princes escaped and made the long journey from there to Spain to found Umayyad rule there, thus beginning the golden age of Islam in Spain. Cordoba was established as the capital and soon became Europe’s greatest city not only in population but from the point of view of its cultural and intellectual life. The Umayyads ruled over two centuries until they weakened and were replaced by local rulers. Meanwhile in North Africa, various local dynasties held sway until two powerful Berber dynasties succeeded in uniting much of North Africa and also Spain in the 12th and 13th centuries. After them this area was ruled once again by local dynasties such as the Sharifids of Morocco who still rule in that country. As for Spain itself, Muslim power continued to wane until the last Muslim dynasty was defeated in Granada in 1492 thus bringing nearly eight hundred years of Muslim rule in Spain to an end.

Islamic History after the Mongol Invasion

The Mongols devastated the eastern lands of Islam and ruled from the Sinai Desert to India for a century. But they soon converted to Islam and became known as the Il-Khanids. They were in turn succeeded by Timur and his descendents who made Samarqand their capital and ruled from 1369 to 1500. The sudden rise of Timur delayed the formation and expansion of the Ottoman Empire but soon the Ottomans became the dominant power in the Islamic world.

Ottoman Empire

From humble origins the Turks rose to dominate over the whole of Anatolia and even parts of Europe. In 1453 Mehmet the Conqueror captured Constantinople and put an end to the Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans conquered much of Eastern Europe and nearly the whole of the Arab world, only Morocco and Mauritania in the West and Yemen, Hadramaut and parts of the Arabian Peninsula remaining beyond their control. They reached their zenith of power with Suleyman the Magnificent whose armies reached Hungary and Austria. From the 17th century onward with the rise of Western European powers and later Russia, the power of the Ottomans began to wane. But they nevertheless remained a force to be reckoned with until the First World War when they were defeated by the Western nations. Soon thereafter Kamal Ataturk gained power in Turkey and abolished the six centuries of rule of the Ottomans in 1924.

Persia

While the Ottomans were concerned mostly with the western front of their empire, to the east in Persia a new dynasty called the Safavids came to power in 1502. The Safavids established a powerful state of their own which flourished for over two centuries and became known for the flowering of the arts. Their capital, Isfahan, became one of the most beautiful cities with its blue tiled mosques and exquisite houses. The Afghan invasion of 1736 put an end to Safavid rule and prepared the independence of Afghanistan which occurred formally in the 19th century. Persia itself fell into turmoil until Nader Shah, the last Oriental conqueror, reunited the country and even conquered India. But the rule of the dynasty established by him was short-lived. The Zand dynasty soon took over to be overthrown by the Qajars in 1779 that made Tehran their capital and ruled until 1921 when they were in turn replaced by the Pahlavis.

India

As for India, Islam entered into the land east of the Indus River peacefully. Gradually Muslims gained political power beginning in the early 13th century. But this period which marked the expansion of both Islam and Islamic culture came to an end with the conquest of much of India in 1526 by Babur, one of the Timurid princes. He established the powerful Mogul empire which produced such famous rulers as Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan and which lasted, despite the gradual rise of British power in India, until 1857 when it was officially abolished.

Malaysia and Indonesia

Farther east in the Malay world, Islam began to spread in the 12th century in northern Sumatra and soon Muslim kingdoms were established in Java, Sumatra and mainland Malaysia. Despite the colonization of the Malay world, Islam spread in that area covering present day Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines and southern Thailand, and is still continuing in islands farther east.

Africa

As far as Africa is concerned, Islam entered into East Africa at the very beginning of the Islamic period but remained confined to the coast for some time, only the Sudan and Somaliland becoming gradually both Arabized and Islamized. West Africa felt the presence of Islam through North African traders who travelled with their camel caravans south of the Sahara. By the 14th century there were already Muslim sultanates in such areas as Mali, and Timbuctu in West Africa and Harar in East Africa had become seats of Islamic learning. Gradually Islam penetrated both inland and southward. There also appeared major charismatic figures who inspired intense resistance against European domination. The process of the Islamization of Africa did not cease during the colonial period and continues even today with the result that most Africans are now Muslims carrying on a tradition which has had practically as long a history in certain areas of sub-Saharan Africa as Islam itself.