Crisis in the Muslim Ummah

The contemporary Muslim world is afflicted by numerous diseases which have spread to almost every aspect of its being. Moral torpor and intellectual paralysis, subversion from within, subjugation from without, the absence of justice and fair dealing, exploitation and corruption, extremes of ignorance and disease, poverty and waste, dependence and insecurity, discord and internecine strife - the list is long and painful. The number and gravity of these afflictions are capable of wiping whole nations and peoples off the face of the earth, even though some may be well-endowed with wealth and resources.

Beset by such catastrophic afflictions, one wonders in fact how the universal community of believers - the Muslim Ummah - has survived. That this Ummah has been spared and continues to exist to this day must be due to the fact that it still holds the legacy of the Qur'an intact as well as the example of God's final messenger to mankind, may the peace and blessings of God be on him. It may also be due to the fact that there still exist some elements of righteousness in this community who continue to depend on God and genuinely seek His guidance and forgiveness. This we may infer from a Qur'anic verse which says that God did not choose to punish even a disbelieving people because the Prophet himself was among them and there remained the possibility that they might yet repent (al-Quran, 8: 33).

Arguably, the most dangerous disease which now afflicts the Muslim Ummah is the disease of disagreement and discord. This disease has become all-pervasive and affects every area, town and society. Its appalling influence has penetrated into ideas and beliefs, morality and behaviour, and ways of speaking and interacting. It has affected both short and long term goals and objectives. Like a dark spectre, it finally envelops people's souls. It poisons the atmosphere and leaves hearts sterile and desolate. Multitudes of people are left contending with one another, and the impression is given that all the Islamic teachings, commands, and prohibitions at the disposal of the Ummah are there only to spur people on to discord and make them revel in internecine strife. This is a trend which is in total contrast to the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (Sunnah literally means "path." It refers to the example of Prophet Muhammad which consists of all that he said, did, approved of, or condemned). After stressing the paramount duty of affirming the oneness of God (tawheed), both the Qur'an and the Sunnah stress one thing above all: the unity of the Muslim Ummah. Their object is to treat and rid the Ummah of any disagreements which disturb the peace and harmony in Muslim relationships and ruin the brotherhood of believers. It may also be true to say that after the abomination of associating others in worship with God there is nothing more repugnant to the teachings of Islam than discord in the Muslim community. The commands of God and His Prophet are abundantly clear in calling for the unity and solidarity of Muslims, reconciling their hearts, and marshalling their efforts in a single cause.

Since the Muslims have pure faith in and worship God alone, since their Prophet, their scripture, the direction they turn in salaah (salaah refers to the special act of worship or prayer performed in the manner taught by the Prophet) and the acknowledged reason for their existence are all one and the same, it must follow that they should be united in a common endeavour: "This, your community," says God in the Qur'an, "is a single community and I am your Lord and Sustainer; therefore worship Me" (21: 92). In spite of this, Muslims have unfortunately forsaken the uncompromising belief in and worship of God alone and abandoned the call to join forces with one another.

We need to be fully conscious of the dangers of this situation and make sincere attempts to deal with the roots of the crisis of Muslim disunity. To begin with, we need to restore "the dimension of faith" in the hearts of Muslims. This dimension has almost ceased to be the primary factor in regulating Muslim relationships. This is the result of a distorted understanding of Islam, harmful practices, and the pressures and impositions of non-Islamic societies. The restoration of the faith dimension and a sound understanding of Islam are the only true guarantees for rectifying our relationships, getting rid of our differences, and removing all traces of rancour from our hearts. How comforting and how delightful this would be! A sound knowledge and understanding of Islam would give us a proper appreciation of the various categories of actions: what is recommended or permissible, what is compulsory or obligatory, and so on. We would be able to keep before us the higher objectives of our striving and be wary of constant jostling with one another via argumentation and discord. We have undoubtedly lost the ethics and norms of proper Islamic behaviour and the proper regard for moral imperatives and have thus fallen an easy prey to internal disintegration and internecine strife. This is the legacy of what the Qur'an calls "a narrow and constricted existence" and a life of failure. We have ended up in impotence and ruin. Such indeed was the warning of God: “And do not dispute with one another lest you fail and your moral strength deserts you” (8: 46).

The Qur'an relates to us the history of the followers of earlier prophets that we may derive lessons and warnings from them. It shows clearly how nations rise, how civilizations are built, and how they flourish. It also shows how they decline. We are warned that decline and downfall are direct consequences of disunity and the disease of discord and sliding into narrow factionalism:

“And be not among those who ascribe divinity to any but Allah, [or] among those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects, each group delighting in what they themselves believe and follow” (30: 312).

Disputes which lead to division and disunity are tantamount to abandoning the guidance of the Prophet and becoming alienated from him. God addresses the Prophet Muhammad in the Qur'an with regard to "those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects" and says: "You have nothing to do with them" (6: 159). This verse expresses a condemnation of all sectarianism arising out of people's intolerant, mutually-exclusive claims to being "the only true exponents" of divine teachings.

This verse is applicable to followers of revelation which predated the Qur'an; their problem was not that they had too little knowledge or that their knowledge was misleading; their undoing was that they used that knowledge to commit injustice and sow mutual antagonisms: "The followers of earlier revelation differed among themselves only after knowledge had come to them, out of mutual jealousy" (3: 19). In the light of this verse we may well ask if Muslims are really the proper custodians of the last authentic divine revelation and the true knowledge and guidance it contains, or whether they are inheritors of the weaknesses of these followers of earlier revelation, their tendency to mutual jealousy and hatred, and the other patterns of destructive behaviour they have set.

Disagreement, mutual jealousy, and religious schism were thus the factors which contributed directly to the undoing of the Jews and the Christians in pre-Qur'anic times and the superseding of their religions. Their history is a clear and permanent lesson for those who hold the legacy of authentic scripture (the Qur'an) and Muhammad's prophethood. This fact is made more poignant if it is realized that there will be no replacement and no abrogation of the Qur'an. In one sense, however, this fact does provide some optimism that the diseases with which the Muslim Ummah is now afflicted are not terminal. They may either continue to fester with the Ummah persisting in a state of feebleness, or they may be cured. This is the outcome which many yearn for. Should it come to pass, the internal disintegration will cease and the Ummah will be back on the right course, healthy and full of vitality. These are possibilities which the final divine message holds out, and this is the responsibility and the challenge which it places on the Muslim Ummah.

How do we achieve this outcome? We should first recognize that there are natural differences in the way different people view things and conduct their affairs. There is an inherent uniqueness in each individual who contributes in large measure to the diversity which is essential for the building of human society. It would be impossible to establish social relations between people who are all alike and who have the same capacities. There would then be no scope for interaction, for giving, and for improvement. Diversity in talents and skills stem from diversity in individual mental and functional skills. When these inherent and acquired differences combine they make for human betterment. In all this we see the manifestation of God's power and wisdom. If differences of opinion operate in a healthy framework they could enrich the Muslim mind and stimulate intellectual development. They could help to expand perspectives and make us look at problems and issues in their wider and deeper ramifications, and with greater precision and thoroughness. Sadly, with the waning of the Ummah, this is not the case. All of the positive advantages that can stem from healthy differences have given way to the chronic disease and deadly poison of discord which is weakening and eroding our spirits and putting us on a self-destruct course. The situation has reached such a state that some of those who hold divergent positions actually engage in physical annihilation while others take to regarding the enemies of Islam as closer to them than their fellow Muslims who share the same basic beliefs. Recent and earlier Muslim history has witnessed many sad and painful scenes when the vast energies and resources of the Ummah have fed and continue to feed the flames of discord, strife, and civil war which only seem to increase in intensity with each passing day.

Often people are unable to look at matters in a balanced, holistic way and see the various dimensions of an issue. Their narrow perspectives only allow them to see a minor aspect which is then inflated and blown up out of all proportion and given an importance to the exclusion of any other aspect or issue. This minor aspect is constantly commented upon and promoted. It becomes the basis for judging, disdaining, or accepting others. To strengthen this aspect, help from the enemies of the religion might even be sought against other Muslims who happen to have a divergent view.

It is related that Waasil ibn `Ataa' (Waasil ibn `Ataa' is regarded as the founder of the Mu`tazilah tradition of thought, he died in Basrah in 131 AH) was with a group of Muslims and they came upon some people whom they recognized as Khawaarij. Waasil's company was in a critical situation and faced possible annihilation at the hands of the Khawaarij, who were of the opinion that Muslims who did not share their views should be killed. Waasil told his group that he would deal with the situation. The Khawaarij came up to him and asked threateningly: "Who are you and your companions?" Waasil replied: "They are mushrikoon (those who associate others in worship with God) seeking protection so that they may listen to the word of God and know His laws." "We grant you protection," said the Khawaarij and Waasil asked them to teach him. This they proceeded to do according to their own positions. At the end, Waasil said: "I and those who are with me accept [what you have taught us]." Thereupon the Khawaarij said, "Go in company with one another for you are our brothers in faith." "That is not for you to say," replied Waasil as he recited the following verse of the Qur'an:

“And if any of the mushrikoon (those who ascribe divinity to any but God) seeks your protection, grant him protection, so that he might hear the word of God, and thereafter convey him to a place where he can feel secure” (9: 6).

"Allow us then to get to our place of security," continued Wasil. The Khawaarij looked at one another and said: "That you shall have." Wasil and his group were allowed to go on their way and they all arrived at their homes safely.

The anecdote shows how the severity of differences had reached a stage where the Muslim with a divergent view on minor issues had no alternative but to pretend to be a non-Muslim to escape terror and possible death at the hands of a dissident Muslim group who regarded itself as alone possessing the genuine, unadulterated truth. The non- Muslim enjoyed more security at the hands of these dissidents than a fellow Muslim!

Violent disagreement (ikhtilaaf) and selfish, egotistic motivations (hawaa) have a tendency to develop and grow larger and larger. They penetrate deep into a person's psyche and take hold of his mind, attitudes, and feelings. Eventually that person loses sight of the overall, total view of things. In the process he ignores the common, lofty goals and objectives of Islam and its basic principles. Such a person lacks vision and insight and forgets the elementary requirements of Islamic behaviour. He loses all sense of balance and of priorities. Speech not based on knowledge comes easily to him, as do verdicts without enlightenment and practice without supporting evidence. With people like these around, accusations proliferate, people are branded as deviant and sinful, and others are declared unbelievers (kuffaar; singular: kaafir).

A person afflicted with these shortcomings fall easy prey to blind fanaticism. His world is filled with darkness and gloom which in reality is but a reflection of his own miserable self on which the light of knowledge, wisdom, and prudence does not shine: “And whoever does not have light given by God, he truly has no light at all” (24: 40).

At the hands of blind followers and inexperienced folk, schools of jurisprudence and legal judgments and opinions arrived at by persons of insight and ability have degenerated into a sort of pseudo-intellectual factionalism and political fanaticism. Verses of the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet are used selectively to support one position or another, and every verse or saying that does not agree with a stand of a particular faction is considered inapplicable or abrogated. The net result is that fanaticism increases and we are thrown back to the sort of ignorance which existed in pre-Qur'anic days when the prevailing dictum was: "The liar of the tribe of Rabee`ah is better than the one who tells the truth from the tribe of Mudar" - in other words, "My people, right or wrong."

The early Muslims did have disagreements. But theirs were differences of opinion and not reasons for estrangement and schism. They differed but they did not separate. This was because the unity of hearts and of objectives was far more important to them than selfish considerations. They managed to rid themselves of personal weaknesses and were keen to recognize and correct any lapses they committed. The Prophet, peace be on him, once told his companions about a man who was among the best of them and about the good news that he was of those destined for paradise. They examined the person's attitudes and conduct to understand the reason for his supreme achievement. The Prophet eventually told them that the person's achievement was due to the fact that he never went to sleep while there was a trace of rancour in his heart against any Muslim. The source of the calamity which afflicts us today is within us, in our hearts. Our tendencies towards isolationism are merely an expression of self-betrayal. In external aspects, we might not differ much from others. God says: "Keep away from all sin, open and secret" (6: 120).

On the level of the Ummah, we can look back and see that the Muslim world was once one state claiming its highest legitimacy from attachment to the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Now it has become some seventy-eight small states with innumerable and extensive disagreements among themselves. Each one of these states loudly professes unity, but in each state one finds several often conflicting entities as well as of ficially sponsored "Islamic" bodies. Often those working for the cause of Islam today who are ostensibly connected with the task of restoring the Ummah are not in reality in a better situation than the official organizations which they manage.

Our crisis is in fact an intellectual one, and it is very serious. When intellectual activity and output in the Muslim world is sound and when the Muslim Ummah once again derives its fundamental and highest legitimacy for its existence from attachment to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, it will then be able to uphold the message of Islam and build a civilization despite the hardships and severity of our material circumstances. We are assured in the Qur'an that “with every difficulty there is ease” (94: 5).

Our deviation from the Qur'an and the Sunnah has landed us in disputation and ruin, for God says: “Obey God and His Apostle. And do not dispute with one another lest you fail and your moral strength deserts you” (8: 46). Islam put an end to petty groupings and internal Arabia, each tribe or grouping had its own god to which it gave obeisance; Islam obliterated all these false gods.

Muslims as a whole today need not complain about scant material resources or about a straitened existence. They are in the midst of the consuming nations, whether of ideas or commodities for living. Their real malaise lies in the loss of the all-embracing significance of their faith and the consciousness of unified and common objectives. Also gone from them is the consciousness of a greater purpose and legitimacy in their lives. Paralysis has afflicted both their resolve and their decisive intellectual endeavour.

How do we get out of the intellectual paralysis which afflicts the Muslim mind and the moral crisis which affects Muslim behaviour except by tackling the roots of this intellectual crisis and rectifying the methodology of thought? There must be a renewed stress on intellectual formation and the recovery of a sense of priorities. These goals must feature prominently in the training of new generations.

There is no way to achieve all this except by returning to the legacy of the early Muslims who were noted for their unswerving attachment to the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Part of this legacy was the unremitting search for true knowledge and the application of this knowledge. We need to recapture the spirit of this search and provide guarantees for ensuring that it continues. The link between knowledge and ethics must be restored. The principles and rules for inference and deduction to regulate independent reasoning also need to be put in place. Studies to ensure the unity of the Ummah must be developed, and areas of mutual cooperation defined with the object of achieving Muslim solidarity. All this must be done and pursued in a clear, systematic way through God's grace.

One should, however, be wary of aggressive ignorance, the arrogant claims of fanatics, the troublesome and contentious nature of those who are obstinate, and the intrigue and plotting of conspirators. Refuting all of these tendencies head-on and clearly and frankly exposing the conflicting positions and interests of the various Islamic groupings will not in my view bring about peace, calm, and cooperation in the Muslim arena. However, arming Muslims, in particular the youth, with a clear knowledge and perception of Islamic ethics and norms of behaviour (adab) is a prerequisite and a guarantee for achieving such peace, harmony, and cooperation, God willing.

Knowledge of Islamic ethics and norms in dealing with differences, the consciousness of its principles on the part of various contending groups in the Ummah, and training Muslims to live according to these norms will undoubtedly release an abundance of energies in the Ummah - energies which are now dissipated and wasted in the theatres of futile internal conflicts. When the Muslim mind becomes conscious of its civilizational role it will seek to win back those who belong to the Ummah but who are alienated. Conscious workers for Islam are responsible for the urgent task of building a sound and stable base for the restoration of the unity and health of the Ummah, and eventually for rebuilding the civilization of Islam. A single moment separates life and death. If our determination is sincere there is nothing that can prevent us from recovering Muslims from anti-Islamic influences for, according to the promise of God, a day will come when the believers will rejoice in the help of God and lost will be, then and there, all who tried to reduce to nothing the truth they failed to understand.

Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru......

Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru atau ringkasannya MJKB yang terletak di atas sekeping tanah yang agak luas (kira-kira empat lot) di Jalan Raja Alang, Kampung Baru, 50300 Kuala Lumpur dianugerahkan oleh seorang dermawan Melayu bernama Haji Bachik bin Abdullah. Haji Bachik berasal dari Melaka dan mempunyai sebuah rumah di Jalan Melayu. Beliau merupakan seorang pedagang yang menjawat jawatan ketua orang-orang Melayu pada ketika itu di Kampung Hujung Pasir.

Sebenarnya nama Kampung Baru wujud atas dasar penyatuan dari beberapa buah kampung Melayu atau mukim. Pada kira-kira akhir tahun 1880 terdapat tujuh buah kampung yang kedudukannya berdekatan antara satu dengan yang lain. Penyatuan kampung-kampung tersebut telah dilakukan tahap demi tahap kerana penduduk mahukan pentadbiran itu harus diterajui oleh mereka sendiri. Misalnya Kampung Masjid telah menjadi sebahagian Kampung Baru pada tahun 1880, Kampung Baru Atas pula dalam tahun 1890. Kampung Hujung Pasir telah masuk ke dalam ikatan perkampungan itu dalam tahun 1900. Dalam tahun-tahun berkutnya jelas kelihatan jumlah penduduk semakin bertambah.

Berita tentang kemakmuran penduduk-penduduk Kampung Baru telah diketahui umum khususnya oleh peniaga-peniaga yang berulang alik dari Kuala Lumpur ke Klang. Maka orang dari keturunan Jawa tidak mahu ketinggalan untuk mencari rezeki di Kampung Baru. Dalam tahun 1906 ramai orang-orang Jawa berhijrah ke Kampung Baru di satu tempat yang digelar Kampung Paya. Dalam tahun 1914 pula Kampung Periok diterima masuk dalam lingkungan Kampung Baru dengan pembahagian lot-lot tanah untuk tujuan penempatan.

Susunan penempatan semula ini telah diserahkan kepada Kerajaan oleh unit Perancang Bandar pada tahun 1929. Kampung yang asalnya mempunyai 12 buah rumah di pesisir Sungai Klang di sebelah Timur dalam awal tahun 1900, tiga puluh tahun kemudiannya telah menjadi tumpuan pendatang-pendatang dari Ulu Selangor, Kajang dan Klang. Misalnya dalam tahun 1930 di Kampung Baru terdapat 554 buah rumah dengan jumlah penduduk seramai 2600 orang. Jumlah ini meningkat kepada 615 buah rumah dan jumlah penduduknya seramai 3562 orang. Sehingga bulan Mei 1935, 750 lot telah dibahagikan bersama hak-milik sementara. Di antara lot-lot tersebut terdapat lot kepunyaan Tuan Haji Bachik yang kemudiannya telah diwakafkan kepada Lembaga Pentadbir Kampung Baru penghujung 1936 untuk didirikan sebuah surau. Dengan jerih payah bantuan penduduk, maka terdirilah sebuah balai dari lantai dan tiang nibong yang kemudiannya telah ditukarkan menjadi surau. Di kawasan ini juga dijadikan tanah perkuburan bagi penduduk Kampung Baru ketika itu.

Sejak dari itu hingga kini, Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru telah menjadi tumpuan masyarakat kampung. Sebanyak tiga kali bangunan asal telah diruntuhkan. Pada kali yang ketiga masjid yang berbentuk seperti rumah Melaka telah diganti dengan bangunan baru, dengan memohon derma dari setiap penduduk kampung dengan mengenakan RM60.00 bagi setiap individu rumah dan pembayaran boleh dibuat secara beransur-ansur. Sehingga tahun 1955 jumlah kutipan yang dibuat melalui cara itu telah dapat mengumpulkan sebanyak RM30,000.00. Oleh kerana kutipan itu di anggap lambat, satu jawatankuasa yang baru telah ditubuhkan untuk menjalankan kempen mengutip derma dengan lebih aktif lagi. Akhirnya Kerajaan Negeri Selangor telah memperuntukkan sebanyak RM90,000.00 dan sekiranya terdapat kekurangan, orang ramai diminta meneruskan derma baktinya. Maka dengan kehendak Allah, Masjid Kampung Baru telah terdiri dengan belanja sebanyak RM214,000.00 yang mana perletakan batu asas binaan telah disempurnakan oleh YTM Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj pada tahun 1956.

Hari ini, Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru terpaksa menampung lebih dari 7000 orang jamaah setiap hari Jumaat. Dan pada waktu sembahyang tidak kurang dari 500 orang jamaah. Jumlah ini bertambah dari hari ke hari. Sebagaimana biasa kuliah tetap diadakan setiap malam selepas Maghrib, sementara kuliah Subuh pula diadakan selepas Subuh hingga pukul 7.00 pagi setiap hari. Kuliah Subuh mula diadakan pada awal tahun enam puluhan lagi oleh tuan-tuan guru terkenal antaranya allahyarham Anuar Mussadad dan allahyarham Tuan Haji Kiai Fathullah Harun dan disambung oleh tuan-tuan guru lain seperti allahyarham Tuan Haji Mohd Tahir bin Jaafar, allahyarham Tuan Haji Osman bin Mohd Noor (bekas Kadi Kuala Lumpur), allahyarham Ustaz Haji Ahmad bin Ramli dan guru-guru yang lain hinggalah ke masa ini.

Masjid ini secara fizikalnya berukuran 69,665 kaki persegi atau 6,472 meter persegi. Kapasiti untuk menampung jamaah dalam anggaran 7,000 orang jamaah dalam satu-satu masa terutamanya pada hari Jumaat. Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru ini juga dilengkapi dengan dewan solat Muslimin dan Muslimat, pejabat pentadbiran, bilik mesyuarat, bilik tetamu, bilik imam dan bilal, bilik pengurusan jenazah, ruang dapur dan perpustakaan. Dewan Solat Muslimin dan Muslimat dilengkapi dengan kemudahan penghawa dingin untuk memberikan keselesaan kepada para jamaah.

A Reply.....

I was tagged by budakSetan – Vincent @ setan cool and Kelvin @ setan hensem – last two days to answer their question in my blog. The question is rather simple, if you can live forever, what do you live for? (“,)

Well this will be my answer. First, I will live for my religion, Islam – Allah, the Infinitely Good and the All-Merciful, and His messenger, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

And second, surely, I will live for my Saza Ameenah family: my mama, Hajah Salmah Haji Basiron; my kak long and abang yunus; my angah and kak asmah; my kak uda and abang jam; my kak anim and her fiancé abang hisyam; and last but not the least my super-duper coolest fabulous anak buah naQib, baba, tim-tim, najihot, hafiz, ‘aina, fiqot and lovely cutie harith.

So how about you? :P

Why Are Jews So Powerful?

There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas, five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa. For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims. Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together. Ever wondered why?

Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish. Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine's 'Person of the Century', was a Jew. Sigmund Freud – id, ego, and superego – the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew. So were Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman. Here are a few other Jews whose intellectual output has enriched the whole humanity: Benjamin Rubin gave humanity the vaccinating needle. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine. Alert Sabin developed the improved live polio vaccine. Gertrude Elion gave us a leukaemia fighting drug. Baruch Blumberg developed the vaccination for Hepatitis B. Paul Ehrlich discovered a treatment for syphilis (a sexually transmitted disease). Elie Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize in infectious diseases. Bernard Katz won a Nobel Prize in neuromuscular transmission. Andrew Schally won a Nobel in endocrinology (disorders of the endocrine system; diabetes, hyperthyroidism). Aaron Beck founded Cognitive Therapy (psychotherapy to treat mental disorders, depression and phobias). Gregory Pincus developed the first oral contraceptive pill. George Wald won a Nobel for furthering our understanding of the human eye. Stanley Cohen won a Nobel in embryology (study of embryos and their development). Willem Kolff came up with the kidney dialysis machine.

Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion Muslims (other than Peace Prizes). Why are Jews so powerful? Stanley Mezor invented the first micro-processing chip. Leo Szilard developed the first nuclear chain reactor. Peter Schultz, optical fibre cable; Charles Adler, traffic lights; Benno Strauss, Stainless steel; Isador Kisee, sound movies; Emile Berliner, telephone microphone and Charles Ginsburg, videotape recorder. Famous financiers in the business world who belong to Jewish faith include Ralph Lauren (Polo), Levis Strauss (Levi's Jeans), Howard Schultz (Starbuck's), Sergey Brin (Google), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Donna Karan (DKNY), Irv Robbins (Baskins & Robbins) and Bill Rosenberg (Dunkin Donuts). Richard Levin, President of Yale University, is a Jew. So are Henry Kissinger (American secretary of state), Alan Greenspan (fed chairman under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush), Joseph Lieberman, Maxim Litvinov (USSR foreign Minister), David Marshal (Singapore's first chief minister), Issac Isaacs (governor-general of Australia), Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman and author), Yevgeny Primakov (Russian PM), Barry Gold water, Jorge Sampaio (president of Portugal), John Deutsch (CIA director), Herb Gray (Canadian deputy PM), Pierre Mendes (French PM), Michael Howard (British home secretary) and Robert Rubin (American secretary of treasury).

In the media, famous Jews include Wolf Blitzer ( CNN ), Barbara Walters (ABC News), Eugene Meyer ( Washington Post ), Henry Grunwald (editor-in-chief Time), Katherine Graham (publisher of The Washington Post ), Joseph Lelyyeld (Executive editor, The New York Times), and Max Frankel (New York Times). At the Olympics, Mark Spitz set a record of sorts by wining seven gold medals. Lenny Krayzelburg is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. Spitz, Krayzelburg and Boris Becker are all Jewish. Did you know that Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy Crystal, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, William Shatner, Jerry Lewis and Peter Falk are all Jewish? As a matter of fact, Hollywood itself was founded by a Jew. Among directors and producers, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone, Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Andrew Vaina (Rambo 1/2/3), Michael Man (Starsky and Hutch), Milos Forman (One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest), Douglas Fairbanks (The thief of Baghdad) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) are all Jewish.

To be certain, Washington is the capital that matters and in Washington the lobby that matters is The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Washington knows that if PM Ehud Olmert were to discover that the earth is flat, AIPAC will make the 109th Congress pass a resolution congratulating Olmert on his discovery. William James Sidis, with an IQ of 250-300, is the brightest human who ever existed. Guess what faith did he belong to?

So, why are Jews so powerful? Answer: Education.


Written by Dr. Farrukh Saleem, an Islamabad-based freelance columnist.

Sarjana Islam Terulung: Biografi Ringkas

Kira-kira 20 tahun lalu peristiwa itu amat menyayat hati. Pada 27 Mei 1986, dalam waktu dinihari bulan Ramadan al-Mubarak, Prof Dr. Ismail Raji’ al-Faruqi dan isteri, Dr. Lois Lamya al-Faruqi dibunuh dengan kejam setelah ditikam bertalu-talu oleh seorang lelaki misteri. Anak perempuannya Anmar al-Zein terselamat, itu pun terpaksa dirawat dengan lebih 200 jahitan juga akibat tikaman si penjenayah yang tidak berhati perut itu. Kejadian dalam banglo kediamannya di Wyncote, Pennsylvania, Amerika Syarikat itu amat tragis kepada seluruh umat Islam termasuk pengikut beliau, sebahagian besar adalah anak murid beliau yang diasuh di Universiti Temple, Philadephia. Semuanya bungkam, terkejut, kecewa dan bersedih. Ismail Raji’ al-Faruqi adalah professor Pengajian Islam, khususnya dalam disiplin perbandingan agama, satu cabang kepakaran khusus yang amat diperlukan dalam mempertahankan maruah dan wibawa Islam dan ummah. Kepakaran itu amat diperlukan dalam suasana hari ini ketika umat Islam menghadapi pelbagai cabaran globalisasi selain dilabelkan sebagai agama yang menganjurkan keganasan.

Sebahagian besar hayatnya, sarjana dan ulama kelahiran Jaffa, Palestin ini mengabdikan diri dalam usaha memartabatkan ilmu-ilmu Islam atau lebih terkenal sebagai Islamisasi Ilmu (Islamization of Knowledge). Dakwah beliau ialah menerusi gerakan jihad intelektual, satu gerakan keilmuan yang mengajak umat Islam agar giat mempelajari dan mengembangkan ilmu pengetahuan. Khazanah warisan keilmuan Islam dimanfaatkan dan disepadukan dengan ilmu-ilmu moden bagi menzahirkan satu sintesis ilmu yang begitu berharga. Ia adalah gabungan antara ilmu-ilmu wahyu dan ilmu-ilmu akli. Fokus itulah yang menatijahkan beliau bersama-sama rakan sarjana seperti Sheikh Dr. Taha Jabir al-Alwani dan Dr. Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman menubuhkan Institut Antarabangsa Pemikiran Islam (IIIT), berpusat di Washington DC.

Usaha kesarjanaan dan kecendekiawannya amat progresif sehingga beliau menulis kira-kira 25 buah judul buku dan beratus-ratus makalah berkaitan pemikiran Islam, tamadun dan perbandingan agama. Beberapa daripada judul karya beliau terus menjadi rujukan sehingga sekarang termasuklah Islamization of Knowledge (1982), Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life ((1982), The Cultural Atlas of Islam (1986) dan Islam and The Problem of Israel (1980). Sebahagian daripada karya monumental seperti Islamization of Knowledge dan The Cultural Atlas of Islam sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Melayu oleh penerbit Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Faruqi pernah menuntut di Universiti Al-Azhar, Kaherah, Universiti Amerika di Beirut, Lebanon, Universiti Harvard, Amerika Syarikat manakala ijazah kedoktorannya diraih dari Universiti Indiana, Amerika Syarikat dalam tahun 1952. Beliau berpengalaman luas berkhidmat di beberapa universiti di Timur Tengah dan beberapa universiti di Amerika Utara termasuk Universiti McGill, Montreal, Kanada. Beliau juga pernah bertugas sebagai profesor Pengajian Islam di Institut Penyelidikan Islam Karachi, Pakistan. Namun tugas kesarjanaan tidak menghalang beliau untuk menubuhkan Kumpulan Pengajian Islam, Akademi Pengajian Agama di Amerika dan menjadi pengerusi untuk tempoh 10 tahun selain menyumbang perkhidmatan sebagai Naib Presiden Kolokium Keamanan Antara Agama.

Pandangan keilmuan Islam yang diketengahkan beliau menggabungkan kebenaran wahyu Illahi di samping kekuatan dalil rasional dan hujah saintifik. Menjelang penghujung karier dan hayatnya, Faruqi memberi penekanan yang lebih radikal terhadap gagasan Islamisasi Ilmu. Pandangan beliau adalah jelas, iaitu krisis dunia moden hari ini adalah krisis ilmu pengetahuan. Manakala kaedah bagi merawat krisis ini tidak lain dan tidak bukan adalah melalui satu sintesis baru ilmu pengetahuan menggunakan kerangka epistemologi Islam. Baginya, Islamisasi Ilmu adalah satu seruan agar orang Islam menjadi peserta intelektual yang aktif dan memberikan sumbangan untuk memajukan ummah. Bagaimanapun, wadah IIIT yang diasaskannya dilihat hanya memberi tumpuan terhadap disiplin ilmu-ilmu sains sosial, sebaliknya mengabaikan ilmu-ilmu sains tabie.

Penglibatan dan sumbangan Faruqi bersama rakan cendekiawan seangkatannya sebahagiannya telah dapat dilihat pada hari ini. Sumbangan dan iltizam dalam aktiviti kesarjanaan beliau secara serius adalah pemangkin yang mempercepatkan proses Islamisasi khususnya dalam dunia intelektual. Di Malaysia, Faruqi mempunyai puluhan anak didik yang pernah menuntut di Amerika Syarikat. Antaranya termasuklah Profesor Dr. Salleh Yaapar dan isteri, Dr. Fatimah Ali, Profesor Emeritus Dato’ Dr. Osman Bakar, Dr. Mohamad Nur Manuty, dan Dr. Faisal Osman. Tetapi ramai lagi yang berguru melalui pendedahan dengan membaca karya-karya beliau sekali gus terpengaruh dengan ideologi dan pemikiran beliau.

Tatakala menceritakan pengalaman bersama Faruqi, Dr. Mohamad Nur berkata, sebelum meninggal dunia tokoh ilmuan itu memang berhajat untuk meninggalkan Amerika Syarikat dan institusi yang dipimpinnya untuk berhijrah sama ada ke Malaysia atau Pakistan. Baginya, misi dan tugas beliau di institusi yang didokongnya sudah tercapai. Manakala catatan dalam buku Ismail al-Faruqi: Warisan Zaman Yang Abadi (terjemahan Ahmad Shah Mohd Nor) menceritakan pada malam pembunuhan itu Dr. Salleh Yaapar dan Dr. Fatimah menghabiskan masa bersama beliau sehingga jam 11.30 malam. Mereka sama sekali tidak menyangka itu adalah pertemuan terakhir bersama Faruqi, antara lainnya mereka membincangkan gagasan kesenian Islam.

Menurut Faruqi jika meneliti hasil kesenian Islam seperti permaidani, seni tulisan khat atau seni bina yang ketara ialah suatu daya bentuk berterusan, sambung menyambung tiada akhirnya. Bagi Faruqi, bentuk novel itu sendiri tidak berunsur Islam kerana ia mempunyai plot, iaitu ada permulaan dan pengakhiran walhal kesenian Islam melambangkan teknik dan jiwa al-Quran yang tidak mempunyai permulaan atau akhirnya. Dalam suasana gawat yang dihadapi umat Islam hari ini, Faruqi berpandangan bahawa dunia Islam sedang menghadapi ketandusan intelektual dan tekanan politik manakala dunia Barat pula mementingkan kebendaan, bersikap permisif dan yang lebih dahsyat dunia Barat amat anti-Islam. Pandangan beliau itu nyata masih tepat dan relevan. Justeru umat Islam sendiri mestilah mengambil peranan proaktif, kembali menerajui kepimpinan intelektual dan mengukuhkan perpaduan ummah.

Tahun 2006 yang lalu genaplah 20 tahun pemergian Faruqi. Beliau pergi sebagai seorang syuhada. Sumbangan beliau dalam dunia keilmuan dan kesarjanaan memang tidak ternilai. Wajarlah kita pada hari ini meneruskan iltizam dan warisan intelektual yang ditinggalkannya. Cuma ada persoalan yang masih tidak terungkai sampai hari ini ialah mengapakah beliau dibunuh dengan begitu kejam bersama isterinya? Adakah beliau sengaja dibunuh atau apakah memang terdapat satu konspirasi terancang untuk menamatkan riwayatnya ketika dunia Islam ketika ini sedang memulakan satu babak baru dalam kebangkitan Islam? Wallahu’alam……

Principles of Muslim Family Life

The Question of Pre-marital Sex

First of all, before a family is made or before a family is born, is it possible to engage in the kind of family relationship, in the very same kind of relationship that the family blesses and legitimizes, before marriage? In plain English, what about pre- marital sex? Certainly our daughters do not practice pre-marital sex. They keep their chastity and their purity and for us sex is legitimate only within the bounds of marriage, only in the family, and this very restriction upon our sexual lives saves us from the evils of sexual promiscuity, the sexual libertine that is taking place today in all Western societies. The consequences of this sexual promiscuity are clear for everyone to see. The spread of venereal diseases, the disappointment of the newly-weds in the first week after marriage because everything has been déjà vu as, we say in French. Having been accustomed to having more than one sexual partner, this becomes a habit which is continued even after marriage and, therefore, there is no fidelity in the Western home. The children are illegitimate in the eyes of the father because he is not their father and all this brings about emotional ruin.

The leaders of the women’s liberation movement in the West, practically all of them are now retracting what they had been advocating by way of sexual liberty in the 50's, the 60's and the early 70's because they say to themselves now and to their own people: That is not what we have been dreaming of by way of liberty for women. It looks as if we have given birth to a monster that is eating up our stand in society and ruining it. You have also all heard about the teenage pregnancies and the unmarried mothers. You have heard about infanticide, about how people throw their babies into garbage bins and leave them at the doors of others. There is an extremely active business of buying and selling babies which is without parallel in the history of the West and also that despite all this, the so-called ideal of women's liberation, namely that women may have a career, a career which may give them dignity and self-respect, has failed. Despite all the work that has been done in this field, women are still looked upon as sex toys or sex objects. They are still under-paid and their legal personalities are incomplete. In other words, there are still many legal rights which women do not enjoy on par with men and so, this whole movement which liberated women in order to improve her situation has brought ruin upon itself, upon women, as well as upon the family. However, the Islamic family, by upholding the Islamic ideal of sexual purity, of sexual legitimacy only in and within marriage and married life, has saved itself from all these evils. In New York, where at the entrance to the public library stand two big lions made out of stone, the common saying is that these two lions roar whenever a virgin passes by them. Well, now the saying is that the two lions roar whenever a sane woman, whenever a woman who has preserved her mental health, passes by them. All these evils, Alhamdulillah, we are saved from by virtue of our upholding the Islamic ideals of sexual chastity and purity.

The Patriarchal Family

Secondly, the family in Islam is a patriarchal family and the patriarch, that is to say, the head of the family, carries a tremendous burden of responsibility. Along with this responsibility he carries the burden of leadership. He acts as a fulcrum around which the life of the family revolves and all the talk about the superiority of men over women is nonsense unless it refers to this leadership role and the responsibility role. It is absolutely essential. Even in the case of the universe, of the cosmos, Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, has said to us in His Holy Book: "But if there were more than two Lords in the universe, one of these Lords would have contested the power of the other and fought to ride over him." In other words, it is impossible to have a management, to have an organisation, to have a going concern such as the family without somebody assuming the role of leadership and responsibility. And this is really all that Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, has meant us to achieve and to understand when he established for us the leadership, the family as a patriarchal institution because our Shari'ah, without apology does regard the family as a patriarchal institution. The ship without a captain cannot run for long, nor does the ship without a rudder. Allah has blessed us by imposing this leadership, by vesting the patriarch of the family with it and demanding its fulfilment, in fact, making the question of fulfilment a question of law. A father who is not fulfilling his role as a responsible leader is a father that can be sued under the law, under the Shari'ah, and he can be sued by any member of the Islamic Ummah because the Ummah and the Shari'ah regard this role as constitutive, it is a public role.

The Social Features

A third advantage which the Islamic family has over the Western family is the fact that the family is made out of a cement which is social and therefore begins long before the marriage, but the special relationship that we refer to as the love relationship is supposed to begin and to grow only after marriage and not before. Before marriage, there is social affinity between the two families of the couple. After marriage, one enters upon this relationship with a determination to make it grow and, therefore the chances of a love relationship between husband and wife growing and becoming more secure and stronger are better under the Islamic system than they are under the Western system. Under the Western system, as you know, it is supposed to grow as a result of courtship, but because of illicit fornication which may take place between the couple before they become husband and wife, marriage is looked upon as a confirmation of that which has already been developing for a year or two or three or ten or whatever. In our society, marriage is regarded as the beginning not the consummation; it is not something that is practically finished on the wedding day. It is something that begins on the wedding day, and has all the future in which to flower and become greater. The determination with which this is entered into by the Muslim spouses allows ample room for adjustment because the commitment has already been made and therefore a Muslim who enters into marriage is determined to make that marriage work, determined to make the love relationship between the two spouses grow, and is therefore more ready for the adjustment that family life demands. It is the other way round in Western society. If this relationship has grown to its apex before marriage and marriage is looked upon as a consummation of that movement, then the consequence is that the desire to adjust, the preparation to make the necessary sacrifices and adjustments, would be all the more because the interest in it would be on the wane rather than on the increase.

Arranged Marriages

A fourth advantage is the advantage that we talk about in arranged marriages. Arranged marriages are really the coming together of two families. Of course, the individuals are involved, and as we said earlier it is possible for such a marriage to succeed because from the standpoint of the marriage the love relationship begins after and not before the wedding. But then, the relationship between the two families is something that has been cultivated for some time, and so we speak of the Muslim marriage not as a marriage of two individuals but as a marriage of two families. And the two families with all their resources, their human resources, their economic resources, their wisdom resources are at the service of the newly-married couple and there is no doubt that nobody in the world needs more advice, more economic assistance and more support than the newly-married couple and this is provided for them from both sides of the marriage if it is truly a Muslim marriage, that is to say a marriage of the two families. Compare and contrast this with the situation of the Western young men and women who meet under all kinds of circumstances on their own and having met and fallen in love, decide to enter into marriage. They are literally alone and this is why the greatest overwhelming majority of these marriages are contracted outside even the knowledge of their parents and their relatives.

Marriage: A Civil Contract

A fifth point is that our marriage is by contract; it is a civil contract between two equal parties, between two equal families, not just between two individuals. It is a civil contract that requires the consent of the two parties. The two parties may include outside of the Shari'ah requirements, anything that may lead to their happiness and mutually agreeable to both of them. Once the marriage has taken place and the contract has been signed and agreed upon, witnessed not only by the individual spouses, but also by their guardians and their elders, then it becomes a legal and binding document. Now, this creates a constitution for the marriage. Now consider its fate, and the home as a state. It has internal affairs and it has external affairs, it has public security affairs and it has police affairs and jail affairs, sometimes. It has educational affairs and it has propaganda affairs, and public information. All the ministries of government, all the functions of the ministries of government are there to be per- formed in the family, in the home unit. Can you imagine all these activities being carried out with- out a constitution in the state? But such is the Western marriage. The Western marriage has no constitution. It is a state without a constitution.

They say it is a sacrament and a sacrament is an equal act; it is a mysterious cement which has created, a cadre or framework that has been vested upon that couple outside of their family and it is not spelled out, that is to say, nobody knows its terms and this is why when there is dispute, when there is trouble, when the marriage is on the rocks, they have to refer to custom, to common law, to what- ever the arbitrary wisdom of the judge may happen to hit upon by way of solution. Therefore, we can say that the Western marriage is a chaotic marriage, it is the founding of an institution without a constitution, whereas our Islamic marriage, being built upon the constitution, its terms being spelled out in the constitution which is the contract of marriage, is an orderly, a societal institution, that is to say it is an institution very much in society. And Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, has commanded us in the Holy Book that if we agree on anything, to write it down, and writing down the contract of marriage is a blessed act which saves the marriage as well as a great deal of unhappiness and suffering.

Marriage - Settles Life and Relations

Likewise, this contract of marriage, and this is my sixth point, settles life and relations should the marriage for any reason come to an end, whether this is by death or separation by divorce. The consequences are all or should all be spelled out in the contract of marriage and in this way the life of the spouses after marriage are also regulated. I remember a case which I read about in the American press not too long ago, a case in California. California is the state which is most liberal in man- woman relations and now they recognise that a man and a woman coming together and living together without marriage, without the sacrament, still entitles the woman to some kind of settlement, some kind of compensation. I remember one very famous American woman sued the man who was her paramour, with whom she had been living for many years without marriage, without bond, neither civil nor religious nor anything. She pleaded her case to the judge that "after all, I have given this man the flower of my youth, I have given this man all the service and all the company and so on and so forth, now he is telling me to get out of here, and no settlement, nothing, and he is a man of means. Am I not entitled to something, despite the fact that I have no marriage and we have been living in sin?" So the judge pronounced his verdict that because there had been no contract, no marriage agreement, and at least the sacrament is a kind of agreement that is recognised by society, you the woman are not entitled to anything. So this famous woman went out and met the press and she began cursing the judicial system of America for this atrocious piece of injustice and she was saying: "all fellow women of America, do not ever enter into marriage, do not allow your men even to kiss you unless you agree with them on the consequences of termination of that relationship, and put it down in writing for only then will the judicial system operate."

And when I read that, I said that here, finally, these American women, after running away from the Islamic value of pinning down and spelling out the relationship and the consequences of the relationship in a contract which has been available to everyone for fourteen centuries, finally they are coming to realize its value. How much education and how much safeguarding of the future for our Western neighbors, our non-Muslim neighbors it would provide if we were to invite them to our homes and show them our contracts of marriage and tell them that life within marriage, or should the marriage be terminated outside the marriage, are all here, written down and spelled out, agreed upon not only by the two individuals concerned, but also by the two families. What a tremendous source of relief this could give them if they were capable of practising it and, of course, this would be an introduction to them to enter the fold of Islam because only Islam gives them that assurance and that guarantee.

Women's Personality

The seventh point that I want to make concerns woman's personality. I have already mentioned women's liberation and you are aware, I am sure, how much has been done since the days of universal suffrage; the right to vote, to elect officers of the government, or a right to all property or what you have, but the West still has a great deal to learn from Islam on this question of legal status, regardless of the relationship that marriage has brought about. In the West, only very recently and only a few women are beginning to carry their maiden name and then only those that have achieved a reputation and a career before marriage. It has become something of a business value, like the name of the business world, therefore they want to keep the name, but very few among them believe that they are total and complete personalities and of course, the law does not allow them to be. There is no faith in the union, in America that would allow a married woman, or a married man for that matter, to sell a property without consideration for the other spouse. And so it looks that, as far as buying and selling property is concerned, women are half persons, not fully legal persons, and in the continent in Europe, there are still many states which do not recognize at all such rights of married women or of unmarried women for that matter.

The Extended Family

Then our family, and this is my eighth point, our Muslim family is an extended family, it is not a nuclear family though the nuclear family is quite fashionable . We said that the nuclear family, forgive me for using this term and playing on the term nuclear and fission, the nuclear family consisting only of husband, wife and children does not have the resources, the human resources, the wisdom resources, the friendly resources that the extended family brings to the scene. This tendency, unfortunately is gripping the whole Muslim world and I would not be surprised to see it gripping the Muslim population of England, Europe and America as well, that every person who gets married wants to go and live in a flat of his own, avoiding his relatives, immediate or distant. This is a terrible development, this is the Westernisation and the corruption that we are subjected to, that we are undergoing in our lives in the West, and we should resist it. We should resist it for several reasons. The Shari'ah has prescribed for us who our dependent is and who is not our dependant, who is our heir and who is not our heir and therefore, to the extent that the Shari'ah has done this, then those people who inherit from us and who are our dependants must live together. We must eat together from the same kitchen and live as far as possible in the same home. We, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our grandparents, our cousins, uncles, nephews, nieces and so forth, because these constitute the extended family of Islam. Now the extended family of Islam is the noblest, the greatest, and the most valuable social institution that the world has ever seen. By going nuclear, that is to say by going individualistic, Western society has lost all these values and they are suffering terribly.

Let me point out to you a few of those consequences. Because we live with our parents and our elders, we love them, they have brought us up, they have played with us when we were young, they have told us stories, they were patient with us and they have educated us, guided us, and advised us, so we love them because we are in constant communion with them. However, in the Western case, there is alienation and a strangeness because as soon as the youth period is past, the children strike out on their own and the result is that when the parents become old, there is no respect for them; they end their days pining for their children in old folks' homes or the nursing homes for old people. There could not be a more cruel death for anyone than that of being taken to the old folks' home to die slowly, away from his own progeny, from his own dependants and there could not be a worse fate for any man or woman than to be deprived of the relationship and affection of their own children. But you see, respect for elders has to be cultivated and it will not be cultivated by separation, hence this is the great benefit of the Muslim extended family. Secondly, the extended family permits no generation gap among Muslims. In the same family there are babies, teenagers, adults and elders, maybe elders of the first level and elders even of the second level and, since they live together, they are in constant communion with one another; this is precisely the socialization, the acculturation that the sociologists are talking about and are pleading for, and yet the nuclear family makes it impossible. This is why acculturation and socialization have to be obtained in the drug store, through the television screen or through one's peers in the schools, but then this is not acculturation, this is not socialization. This is demagogisation, if the term can be used. Acculturation and socialization means the passing on from one generation to another of norms, of social norms, of social values. It does not mean a group of people coming together Ad hoc in order to have fun. That is not socialization, that is not acculturation, and where in the Western society can this process take place anyway?

This is why Western society today is so radically different from Western society of yesterday, and this is why the old values of Western society do not obtain today and why there is no continuity. On the Islamic side, because of the extended family, there is no such generation gap. Thirdly, a great consequence of the extended family is the fact that considering that human beings are social animals, as the philosophers used to say, they need company, they need solace. I need somebody with whom to love sometime and I need somebody with whom to play sometime. I need somebody with whom to complain sometime and I need somebody with whom to cry sometime. Now where else but in the extended family can I find that somebody? Now if I do not have the extended family, if I do not give vent to these pent-up emotions, these emotions will build up in me and make me insane, make me crazy, they will make me take to drugs, to alcohol, to running after other women outside the home.

A nuclear family endangers that sanity and opens the door to all kinds of maladjustments. Another consequence of the extended family is that we learn to be loyal to a group, we learn to be altruistic, we learn to give our emotions, our love, loyalty and fidelity to a group that is, of course, the microcosm of the Ummah, in other words, to defeat our individualism. All of us are individualists, this is something inside us, it is an instinct. We are all advocates, everybody wants to promote himself and fill his own tummy and so on and so forth. This is natural, Allah has put that inside us, but Allah has also planted us in an extended family in order to curb those instincts, to discipline them. In fact, to make something good come out of them instead of the egotistic pursuit which brings ruin. Without the extended family there can be no Ummah because there can be no Ummatic feeling bred in the members and the result would be dissolution, and this is exactly what we are seeing in the Western family and in Western society. Western society today is built upon individuals and upon egotism, everybody wants his own thing, his own pleasure, to pursue his own interests, and nobody is willing to adjust and sacrifice and co-operate with another and this is why the society is falling apart. And to bring a Western person into an extended family and to let him experience what we experience in the extended family situation is undoubtedly, if he or she has any measure of sensitivity, to convert them to Islam, to make them one to that kind of relaxation, that kind of thirst that is enjoyed by the Muslim who is living in an extended family.

The Benefits of an Extended Family

Another point, the ninth point, can be regarded as a consequence of the extended family. We have heard about women going out to work and having a career, but for a woman to go out to work and have a career in the West, in the nuclear family, must always be and can only be done at the cost of the home and the children. Either there are no children, deliberately, in order to pursue the career or, if there are children, they are abandoned to the television set or to the baby-sitter or to the street corner if they cannot afford the baby-sitter. Sometimes they even bum themselves or burn the house down by playing with fire without a supervisor. Or the woman comes home from work, exhausted to the point of being uninterested in the spouse or another person, and then tempers fly, because everybody is exhausted and so family life is ruined. I want to tell you that only in the Muslim family can the woman have a career outside the home. Why? Because she can absent herself, if she has a talent; if she has the talent to invent things or produce things that would benefit the whole Ummah, a woman can do that without losing either home or children. Why? Because there are so many other women in the home, because there are so many other people in the home carrying on the business of the family and so preventing damage to the career or the home. Of course, the first career of a Muslim woman is her family. There can be no doubt about that, and that comes before driving shuttles to the moon or whatever or inventing robots. It is her duty, it is her function, it is her prime function, and the function for which Allah has created her is, indeed, to be the pillar, the main pillar of the family and the mother. But this may not exhaust all her years or all her energies. And therefore, if it is possible for her to serve the Ummah additionally, besides being a mother, this could be done only in the case of the extended family and the Muslim family. And it is also the condition for the preservation of her femininity because the tensions under which women work outside of the home are dissipated when she comes home and the same femininity, the same feminine touch never leaves the home. This is always available.

And, in conclusion, I should remind you of all the other values that our Muslim family enjoys by virtue of adhering to the prescriptions of the Shari'ah. The fact that we do not drink alcohol or take drugs is a tremendous source of strength for the family. The fact that gambling is Haram and that the resources of the family ought to have one kitty in which to put their incomes and from that kitty should come all the expenses of everyone according to a system of priorities established by the responsible leader or father. All these are tremendous props which the Western people do not enjoy at all.

Note: An essay I wrote during my ‘malas-malas’ time while enjoying my holiday. For further reading, please consult The Principles of Islamic Family by Ismail Raji’ al-Faruqi and Islamic Sociology by Maulana Wafa Taufeeq.

Fakta Berkenaan Palestin

1. Negara-Negara Arab yang berjiran dengan Israel serta merta melanggar negara itu dan mengulanginya beberapa kali dengan mengalami kekalahan teruk;

2. Akhirnya semakin banyak negara Arab sama ada mengiktiraf Israel dan menandatangani perjanjian damai dengannya atau tidak lagi memberi keutamaan kepada isu Palestin;

3. Melalui perang psikologi, Israel dan penyokong Yahudinya dari seluruh dunia menyusup masuk dan menguasai politik, ekonomi serta media massa Amerika Syarikat (AS);

4. Israel dan gerakan Yahudi antarabangsa berjaya menjadikan Amerika boneka, pelindung dan pembiayanya;

5. Menurut John J. Mearsheimer dan Stephen M. Waltdalam tulisan mereka berjudul “The Israel Lobby and U. S. Foreign Policy” (Lobi Israel dan Dasar Luar Amerika Syarikat), Israel menerima bantuan langsung bernilai AS$3 bilion (RM10.62 bilion) setiap tahun atau 20 peratus daripada bantuan luar AS;

6. Setiap orang penduduk Israel menerima subsidi daripada AS bernilai AS$500 (RM1,770) setahun walaupun Israel adalah negara perindustrian yang sama pendapatan per kapitanya dengan Korea Selatan dan Sepanyol;

7. Menurut Perkhidmatan Penyelidikan Kongres Amerika, bantuan kepada Israel bagi tahun 2007 berjumlah tidak kurang daripada AS$2.5 bilion (RM8.85 bilion). Ini tidak termasuk AS$138 juta (488.5 juta) bagi projek pertahanan bersama peluru berpandu dan jaminan hutang sebanyak AS$$1.4 bilion (RM4.95 bilion);

8. Purata AS memberikan AS$6.8 juta (RM24 juta) kepada Israel setiap hari berbanding AS$300,000 (RM1.06 juta) kepada Palestin pada tahun 2007;

9. Janji Amerika membantu Palestin adalah janji kosong sejak daripada tertubuhnya Medinat Yisra’el pada tahun 1948;

10. President Truman dalam ucapannya pada 28 Oktober, 1948 – lima bulan selepas rampasan bumi Palestin oleh Yahudi -- antara lain, berkata:

“Adalah tanggungjawab saya memastikan dasar kita di Israel menepati dasar kita di seluruh dunia; kedua adalah hasrat saya membantu membina negara Palestin yang kuat, makmur, bebas, merdeka dan demokratik. Ia perlu cukup luas, cukup bebas dan cukup kuat untuk membolehkan rakyatnya berdikari dan selamat.”

[ “It is my responsibility to see that our policy in Israel fits in with our policy throughout the world; second, it is my desire to help build in Palestine a strong, prosperous, free and independent democratic state. It must be large enough, free enough, and strong enough to make its people self-supporting and secure.”]

11. Dan bolehkah Barack Obama diharap untuk mengatasi pembohongan AS selama ini? Pertimbangkan kenyataan beliau ketika kempen pilihan raya Presiden baru lalu yang berbunyi:

“Kita jangan sekali-kali mencuba mengatakan apa yang terbaik untuk orang Israel dan keselamatan mereka dan tidak seorang pun Perdana Menteri Israel yang patut diseret ke meja perundingan...”

[We should never seek to dictate what is best for the Israelis and their security interests" and that no Israeli prime minister should ever feel "dragged" to the negotiating table...];

12. Yahudi mempunyai perwakilan yang kuat dalam politik nasional AS. Pada bulan Jun tahun lalu (2008), 7.8 peratus Ahli Kongres adalah Yahudi walaupun penganut agama Yahudi di AS dianggarkan hanya 1.4 peratus daripada penduduknya;

13. Kalau AS menjadi boneka, pelindung dan pembiaya Israel, banyak negara Islam, khasnya negara-negara Arab, menjadi boneka dan pak turut AS;

14. Dari mula lagi banyak negara Arab tidak mahu Hamas berjaya di Palestin. Hamas adalah singkatan kepada Harakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah atau Pergerakan Penentangan Islam yang terdiri daripada pengikut Sunnah. Ia ditubuhkan pada tahun 1987 oleh Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi dan Mohammad Taha yang berupa penggiat Ikhwanul Muslimin cawangan Palestin pada permulaan gerakan Intifadah pertama;

15. Oleh sebab Hamas diasaskan atas landasan Ikhwanul Muslimin maka ia dicurigai dan ditolak oleh banyak negara Arab. Ikhwanul Muslimin diharamkan atau dikawal kegiatannya di banyak negara Arab;

16. Ikhwanul Muslimin atau Persaudaraan Muslim adalah organisasi Muslim yang diasaskan oleh Hassan al Banna di Mesir pada tahun 1928 berikutan keruntuhan Empayar Ottoman;

17. Pada mulanya Ikhwanul Muslimin menyokong kerajaan sekular Presiden Gamal Abdel Nasser tetapi apabila seorang anggotanya dituduh membunuh Perdana Menteri Mesir, Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi, pada 28 Dis. 1948, pertubuhan itu diharamkan dan Al Banna sendiri dibubuh oleh agen-agen perisik kerajaan pada bulan Februari tahun berikutnya;

18. Majoriti negara-negara Arab tidak demokratik. Mereka bimbang jika kerajaan Hamas berjaya di Palestin mereka akan menghadapi tekanan daripada rakyat jelata mereka sendiri agar memperkenalkan demokrasi;

19. Negara-negara Arab sendiri terus bercakaran dan serentak itu menjadi tali barut kepada hegemoni AS di Asia Barat seperti yang terserlah dengan sokongan mereka terhadap serangan dan penaklukan AS ke atas Iraq;

20. Akhir sekali, politik Palestin sendiri kucar-kacir akibat ketidaksepaduan sokongan negara-negara Arab dan persengketaan di kalangan pelbagai kelompok agama di Asia Barat, khasnya pergeseran antara pengikut Sunnah dan Syiah.

From the The Scribe A.Kadir Jasin