On the eve of 15th September 2008, 15th of Ramadan 1429, I sat alone watching the flowing stream under the feet of my house in Wadi Hussien Janda Baik, Bentong, Pahang. While observing the water glide trough the pebbles finding its own way, as it produces a soothing natural melody, suddenly I felt a surge in my thoughts, almost like the river that needs to flow. I feel very thankful to God who described heaven as a garden with a river flowing under it, and a good home in that garden. A home sweet home.
I am also reminded of a hadeeth where someone who performs the prayers 5 times a day is like a man who bathes in a river 5 times in a day, where all the dirt and impurities will be wiped off.
I also remembered Kitaro, who looks for inspiration on the sides of the streams, and Leonardo Da Vinci who also draw on the river as a source of inspiration. Well if you don’t believe me, then observe the portrait of Mona Lisa on the net, and you will notice that behind her is a bridge that cuts across a river.
The 17th of Ramadan has been reported as the night that Allah sent down the Al-Quran to prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) as he was contemplating and pondering in the cave of hira. This book was sent to people who ponder, who reflect and who thinks. Li qaumin yatafakkarun. They say it is better to be unborn than untaught, for we are thinking beings after all.
Al-quran isn’t an empty slogan, instrument for rethorics, it is not something one toys with. La yamassuhu illal mutahharun (nobody touches it save those who are pure). Al-quran is a source of energy, a power-house for spiritual strength, it is a phenomenological cure for the sickness of hearts and minds. So powerful is the spiritual source of energy that the prophet Yunus who was in the belly of a whale could survive. Yunus was a prophet who at one point gave up on his people, and as a punishment he was swallowed by the whale(nun as they would call it) . His cry ‘la illa ha ila anta subhanaka inni kun tu minaz zalimin’(there is no God but you, Glory be to you, indeed I was among the people who were unjust) rejuvenated his spirit and upon release he kept on delivering the messages of truth.
Why doesn’t the so called ulema adopt a similar attitude and realize that their task is in delivering and not forcing people to believe in them? Why not ask for forgiveness and ponder upon the miracles in the Quran? Miracles happen to those who believe in them.
As I continued to gaze on the river, looking at the swimming fish, I thought, why don’t I share the significance of the night of the revealation of the quran(Nuzul Quran) with my readers who are close to me at heart?
Revealation(Wahy) from Allah is light that causes darkness to disappear, but before-hand the frozen brain must be de-frosted, and one must not be arrogant, or remain stubborn in one’s ignorance and stupidity(Gundu’s and dungus)A reader who only memorizes the quran without pondering upon its wisdom and meaning.
It is not an easy task, but if you do it for Allah, Allah will help you when you sincerly practice ‘amar makruf nahi mungkar’. I belief it is my duty to try and change the mindset of fellow Muslims, my brother and sister, who are willing to emulate the Godly characters of Loving,Caring, Sharing, giving and forgiving.
Perhaps this change is not possible in a single writing, but I will be satisfied if this could serve as an eye-opener, for History is rich with writings that has changed millions of people all over the world. It is ideas that drive the world and improve the human condition.
In the end of times, it was said in a hadeeth that Knowledge would be lifted from the world. Today we are faced with a dire shortage of scholars who not only espouse their ideas but also live by them. I pray for the appearance of Scholars like Tok Kenali from kelantan and Sheikh said Linggi from Negri sembilan. I also pray that we will have among our young generation Students who aspire to be the 10TH Wali of the Wali Songo, Ameen.
Al-Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad trough the angel Gibreel for hearts that were guided, those who submit to the power and grace of Allah the almighty, who have a deep conviction in ‘Ilmullah’. The miracle that God endowed Musa for example, when he took a branch from a tree and made to be his walking stick, that Allah made it turn into a snake that devoured all the snakes of firaun’s sorcerers, until the court believed in his prophethood. Of course Firaun executed all his sorcerers. a king who plays god when he should be godly.
When reading a good book, one does not just read it for its presentation, but look for a moral of the story, be it in fiction or non-fiction. Applied in this scenario, are leaders today free of sorcerers? One can take it literally and look at the practices of some politicians who make use of mystics, witch doctors and practices of the paranormal craft. But beyond that, the media is today the sorcerer for the leaders, it is like magic, used to propagate their interests, and like black magic when it serve evil intentions. Writers and bloggers could either choose to be instruments of Satan and propound Half-truths and Fitna(slandering) or they could call a spade when they see one.
This phenomenon is so powerful that it can conjure up an illusion so believable that the undiscerning will take their words as Divine. The art of Political spinning is also included in this category where Instead of genuinely thinking about the fate of the people, politicians present a likeable image but behind it is a fascade to promote one’s private interests.
But because this phenomenon happens in the universe of Allah the creator, than it obeys His law, and just as Musa’s snake has eaten all the other fake snakes, than the truth will cause falsehoods to disappear. This is the era where the Internet will be the new medium for the Snake of musa to be eating up all the other snakes, its time that we produce musas’ as they would say, its sometimes not the writer, but the book he writes, but i will say that in this day and age, its sometimes not the book, but the writer,just like how A-list actors is a sure-bet for movie makers, although Time magazine predicts differently for the 21st century with the proliferation of personal media. But irregardless, when it is the voice of truth, it is the voice of God.
The Quran, trough Surah Al-ikhlas guides us on the truth of our creator.
1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4. And there is none like unto Him.
–Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Now, if we strongly believe in the power of prayer, as William james has demonstrated in his book ‘varieties of religious experience’, and if we strongly believe in God’s promise,
When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way.-Baqarah 186.
Why then do we ask from sources other than God? Why do we depend our lives on mortals? We fear the laws of men more then we fear the laws of god. It seems as if we have ‘killed’ god from our daily practices.
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? –The madman, by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Of course, Allah is AL hay, He is Al-Awwal wal Akhir, HE cannot die, dying is impossible for Him. But what we can learn from this sentence is that, people has shut God out of their daily lives, they play god insted of being godly, they read the Quran as they would read the newspaper(Koran in the Indonesian language), but even worse since they don’t even try to understand it, and dont take it as a surviving miracle.
It is He that causes life, and it Is He that is powerful over death. " one does not die before the appointed time"-malay proverb
Just look at the prophets for lessons in life, yunus as we said earlier who was stuck in a whale’s belly, or Ibrahim surviving arson. All that helped them survive was their strong faith, a true beliver in god, and their living out their teachings, much different from people today who potray a religious outlook, venturing to sell words of God who are privately neither believers nor doers of what they preach.
As far as I can recall, it has been 51 years since Malaysia my country has been independent. Which means, we have celebrated the Nuzul quran for 51 times, if not more. But I have not seen a paradigm shift, at least not towards a more holistic paradigm. It is as if we are stuck in a capsule in history. One needs to ask what role has the so-called ulema and the paid intellectuals played in this ‘Nation-building’? Why is there this void in mentality and attitude?
There has been enormous progress in economy, education, and technology,we have produced sky-scrapers,a world class airport, not to mention other infrastructures worthy of awe, but where ideas are concerned are we not dwarves? We should work on producing human capital that is capable of adding value to whatever they are tasked with, where our mentalities are in tune with our facilities.
We are still at the level of the masses that Al-Ghazali has described in his Munqidh minal-dalal (deliverance from error). Rather then facing ideas and in turn improve our own conception of truth, we prefer to reject them head on, without learning valuable lessons from it. May God bless the dungus and the gundus.
Man is a special creature, blessed with the senses and a faculty of reason, with various intelligences, including the intellect, spiritual, physical emotional and socio-cultural capital. How many then actually believe that the Quran is God’s medium of communication with us?
Read the Quran as If it’s Revealed to you-Arabic proverb.
When you are unaware that the Quran is God’s way of communicating with His creation, and if you never utilise your salat to be your means of establishing this communication, you suffer a communication break-down, it is like trying to surf the net without the modem installed properly.
To read, is to learn, the religious must know the Godly knowledge, spirituality, especially concerning his identity. What is the Human heart? Who am I? What is this ‘I’? Who’s our God? Reading the Quran, without Tauhid( knowledge of His oneness) without affirming the articles of faith, just like knowing the ‘syariat’ is a wasteful act without knowing the Haqiqah and the Ma’rifah. What good is reading the Yaasin but not knowing its wealth of teachings? Among which is that Muhammad was not a sorcerer or an inventor of scripture. The Quran was a revealation, a continuation from the other holy books, the Zabur, the Torah, Injil and the Suhuf of Musa and Ibraheem. Islam is not an invented ‘new’ religion brought by Muhammad, but it follows a continuum of previous messages.
Do we know Muhammad? Muhammad(saw) whom God sent as the living Quran? Muhammad was not the son of God or His partner. His excellence lies in his conduct, which was described as Ma’sum, free from all sins. A clarifier here is that he was capable of doing wrong, but he never chose to do it. To change the mindset of the present generation, we must look at pages from history, especially the successful, and where better to begin then reading the History of our prophet?
The quran is rich with historical episodes. Take for example the lesson we can learn from surah Al-kahfi, when musa met the wise man(we refer him as Khidir), who was capable of seeing with his heart’s eye. To the masses He killed an innocent child, wrecked the ship of the poor, and labored extensively for people who wouldn’t reward them both but for those who know, then Khidir only acted trough his basirah, going beyond Good and evil, he was a superman, who lived with basirah.
Episodes like this should cause readers to think of the Miracles of the Quran, causing people to ponder principal of ethics, metaphysics and the deeper meaning of life.
The prophet Sulaiman was narrated as having the ability to detect the sounds of ants, and able to communicate with them. Perhaps one can ask questions, as per the medium of communication. Is it trough a certain wave-length or frequency, or the light of God perhaps? These questions can be very scientific. Are these not knowledge worthy of study for those interested in building a government based on the Quran as it’s principals?
In a quality prayer, we talk to god with no intermediaries, just like during the Dhikr(his remembrance) and the doa. God is not deaf, even if our earth can be thought of as ageing and sick. God knows what’s in our hearts. Does He have any need for us to use the loudspeaker with radiuses of more than miles? Don’t you know that your heart can be His throne?
If you recall, Tarzan was the one who shouts for animals to come. He calls elephants, the rhinos the monkeys and other inhabitants of the jungle with his bare voice,and even he was more successful.. Let us try and learn from the Kampong people how they manage to get their flock to get back to the coop by their own.
It would be such a waste of the tax-payers money spending millions of dollars building Gigantic mosques, if only contractors stand to profit from it. Does it fit its utility if it’s filled twice in a year for the eid prayers, or at most once a week for Friday prayers?
Be reminded that the hen that has been used to live on a tree, lay eggs and have chicks in the wild do not know the chicken hut. Who’s fault is it if the authorities fail to attract the youth to the Mosques? A river that is contaminated in the roots cannot be clear at the ends, not unless you install a filtering system anyways.
Perhaps some of my readers would think that I have gone crazy, picking on the inhabitants of the mosques. It is strange, but true, that throughout the Holy month of Ramadan, while performing the tarawikh prayer, the loudspeaker is used to annoy adherents of other faiths in almost all the mosques. I suppose this is what happens when Bidaah is introduced in ibadah(innovations in worship of god) One man started to collect everyone together behind the imam so that people pray united, and that was fine, but when these people added ‘lets’ use the loud speaker so that the neighbors who don’t go will feel guilty when they don’t. Or perhaps they want the neighbors to follow the imam in their private vicinities? Have they not heard of the hadeeth that says, in the end of times, voices will be raised in the mosques?
Wouldn’t it be nice, if people who intends on rejuvenating the mosques use a spiritual kind of attraction, and figures who are attractive in their conducts? A person with a quality of a Murshid, a daie and a murabbi. The people became attracted to the prophet because of his character, his honesty and good nature. The messenger written by Tariq ramadan is a good book on the prophets character and life. Or perhaps one should look for writers like Mutahhari and Ali-shariati as muslim intellectuals who are able to answer to the calls of our times.
The prophet Muhammad was the last prophet, but Allah still bestows karamah upon his wali, granting Ilmu laduni or foresight to whom He likes or a kind of Psychic power. Islam is not an empty religion of rituals. Some of the prophets are given the Mu’jizah, whilst the some of the aulia are given the karamah.
Adherents of Christianity, Hinduism and budhists believe in sainthood miracles that gives normal human beings supernormal powers. To the prophet Muhammad, his greatest miracle is the Quran, of which one can gain emotional and spiritual strength, among others.
It also teaches the importance of social capital, putting importance on habluminannas aside from habluminallah. Hence they must start introspecting themselves, and ask if what they are doing is supporting the Islamic principles, causing trouble and dissension among the people. Islam was sent to make life easier for people, not a religion of burden and burdensome on other people. It is a mercy to all mankind.
Those who intend to inherit and run the house of Allah, who intend to do da’wah must first begin by destroying bad traits in themselves, the mazmumah character shouldn’t be left to thicken in their hearts. This is the dilemma of muslims, when islam is such a perfect product, but the packaging and the salesmen are really not up to the job.
There are many miracles, as recounted in the Quran. Isa(Jesus) was able to bring the dead to life, to heal sicknesses, and we hear the same of Qadir jailani and Sayyid Ahmad Al-Badawi or Sidi Ahmad of egypt who are included in a study of Sainthood and it’s manifestations in world religions by University of California press.
The prophet musa parted the sea which engulfed the whole of pharaoh’s army. The spiritual aura of these spiritual masters are like the magnetic forces, the likes of the Wali songo in Indonesia, until their tombs are visited by the hundreds on a daily basis,whilst sidi Ahmad Al-badawi has millions visiting his tomb during the autumn moolid in Egypt.
Where else does this knowledge come from, if not from Allah? The knowledge of Allah is ever present in front our eyes. The tongue yells ‘Allahu akbar’, but still they fear the ‘authorities’, fear they lose their elevated position in society, they even fear if their contracts wont be renewed, but are not afraid to be liars, when the khalifah should be the master of the universe, and not satans that we should allow to be the superpowers.
To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing - Al-quran, surah Baqarah.
Observe the gecko on your ceiling, no wings, but yet able to eat flying insects, not eating carcass. But if you shut you’re hearts eye, of course you’ll be blinded of this. It is indeed a fruitless life if you dont elect to discover your third eye, the eye of the Basirah, or letting God use you as His instrument.
If it is true, that after the prophet’s death, Gibreel will come down a few times, and in one of His visits, he will lift the Quran, then try and learn from it. How many read the Quran today, and yet possess not the understanding and its spiritual significance. The heart needs to be muslim, not just the outward pretences, nor just the gear.
Have you lost your belief in the unseen? You’re soul, You’re mind, you’re sight, you’re hearing are all in the domain of the unseen. You can talk about the physical brain, the physical eye, or ears, but the experience, the phenomena that your mind reads are all in the domain of the unseen. Seek Guidance from Allah, that He may grant you insights on the world of the Psyche and metaphysics.
What a waste to read the quran as a cassette player would. How unfoturnate to read it with arrogance, the orientalists benefit worldly knowledge when they found the treasures of islam in between the lines.Shouldnt it be embarassing to the muslims that rather than leading the way in scientific discoveries only claim that this theory or that theory was already written in the Quran but become lazy thinkers by themselves?
Seek and you shall find, ask and you will be given. Use your powers of thinking and imaginative faculties and the truth shall appear in your mind.
Imagination is more powerful than knowledge-Albert einstein
One must read it as a universal message. Do not start with an exclusivist attitude, causing divisions within your own religion. Because when you do, as per the doctrine of ibn taymiyah or Ibn Abdul wahhab, then you’ll start charging people with a different school of thought as following heresy.
The likes of Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, or Hamzah fansuri, who because of the ‘fundemantalists’ of their time were charged with heresy. It is not different in the Christian world, where if one reads the history of Philosophy, Baruch de Spinoza was branded a heretic by the people of his time,but today scholars in the western tradition has adopted his thinking in their understanding of the world, and spinoza is hailed as one of the most important thinkers in the modern age alongside Descartes and Leibniz.
Should Islam be limited to the rituals without knowledge of the spiritual? When one gives the seat of power to the undeserving, then one can await destruction. It is like allowing an incompetent driver with a crooked chasis for his car drive in a Formula one Grand prix. Do not choose the ulema as you would choose politicians who could buy supporters.
It should be very confusing, if the authorities in the mosques show that they no longer fear Allah, prefer to follow their own desire that is influenced by satan, always wanting to convict people and send them to hell. If that is how you behave, how can you curb the malay youth who are involved in drug addiction, the ‘mat rempit’ phenomena, or the malay youth who fall prey to social problems?
Who would dare to admit that they are pleasing Shaytan more than they worship God? Look around us, the craze for position in the house of Allah, not to mention the craze for positions within a political party and between political parties when they all call themselves muslims. Just ponder, is the Islamic spirit still present?
Minds need to be jolted if we are to escape the era of ignorance.
The beginning of knowledge is the realization that we know nothing-Socrates..
We must learn to extend our minds and not remain encapsulated in the past, following the tradition of the dungus and gundus. We must not fear to admit that we might be wrong. Learn to stare at the mirror, and realize that you normally project on your enemies what you fear and detest in yourselves.
I pity those who take pride on their outward islam, but don’t even apply basic common sense. Who don’t have a criterion to distinguish HAQ(the truth) and BATIL(falsehood), and what is permissible and forbidden. It is strange this holier than thou attitude, where the inhabitants of the mosque, fortunate enough to have an Islamic education automatically feel that they are to be the inhabitants of heaven, and people different from them are doomed to oblivion.
Are we not taught the character of the prophet who teaches us to always have good opinions of other people? Those who fear the wrath Allah will not be controlled by ria’(pride) that could virtually destroy his faith. If we take ‘wudhu’ ablution in order to cleanse ourselves before the salat, why not cleanse your heart of the Mazmumah traits? Allah’s religion is polluted with conducts that arise out of ignorance. Do not forget that Allah is angered by His servant who is Arrogant, Unjust and stingy. Godly knowledge is a prerequisite for the servant who intends to get closer to His lord.
Isn’t the lack of spiritual insight that caused the failure of Islam Hadhari that was introduced by Datuk seri Abdullah Badawi? I suppose this is a problem of giving medicine to the unwilling. Or rather as how one might say in the world of the blind the one eyed jack is king.
Unwilling to take medicine when one is sick, to seek repentance when one has sinned, refusing to learn when ignorant, refusing to educate when educated, coupled with stubbornness, and lack of civic-mindedness, driving slow on a fast lane, not giving way to people who need to get to a place on time. The picture of the driver on the Highway Street who causes a bad experience for all serves as a good example.
Remember, we are judged on our actions, our speech and not appointments or status. Today people no longer care, much less venerate titles like Dato, Tansri, Tun, Ustaz, Tuan guru or Shaykh, whose fault would this be? Who cares about you when you could not careless about the rights of others in your capacity and position?
In a time of IT, the open skies, people don’t care anymore about people who put on the Garb of Sunnah, wearing as Saudi Arabians or the yemenis would, the Kurta from Pakistan, or the songkok melayu, even if you are to wear t.shirt and jeans to the mosque, nobody cares. The best of Garb is the Garb of taqwa says the quran. Allah does not look at faces, ancestry or how you dress, Allah looks at your heart. The most noble among men are those who fear Allah.
It’s mind-boggling, do they obey god, or do they tell Him to obey them? Do they follow the deen al-islam, or do they want islam to follow their style and desires? Do they actually think that Islam is something they inherit from their fore fathers? Since when did they get the franchise? Did they sign an m.o.u with God? Do not follow islam just because your fore-fathers believed in it, it was why Quran was sent to the age of jahilliyya, a people whom, alongside Allah also worship other idols like Manna Latta and Uzza.
The ignorant of today may be smarter in the sense that they no longer pray to this physical idol, but the new idols of the day is power, money and sex who they put alongside Allah in their daily practices.
We live in a nation with different races and religions. We are not in Makkah or madina with 100% muslim citizenry. Can this injustice done by the malays in the name of religion not be brought to the conference of the rulers? Why are the advisors to the kings and the Muftis silent on this? Isnt the king the leader of traditions and religion, and guardian of the people, which should include the non muslims? Are they not tax payers and citizens of the country as well?
I hope for the day when a person like Abu nawas would emerge, and reject the seat of power and not fear his contract be terminated when he speaks on behalf of truth. Or perhaps a sultan like Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz, whom during his reign it was so peaceful that the wolves and the sheep could drink from the same watering hole. Or perhaps like Harun ar-rashid who roams his city at night to ensure justice without a need of sirens and outriders to see for themselves this phenomena of the shouting Imams.
Islam demands justice and the prophet(saw) tells us to help those who are done injustice to and the ones committing injustice. The companions asked how are we to help the unjust? And the prophet replied by stopping them from their acts.
Let us live moderately, let us not overstep our privileges. If we constantly cause anger because of our arrogance just because of the special status of Islam in this country, then don’t forget, the only thing left of the malay race is the fragmented political power that is on the verge of dissolution. The malay race is so disunited like the bubbles in a vast ocean, whereas Umno is in a very critical condition,like the sinking titanic.
If we disagree on a point we have a right to disagree, but let us not transgress the etiquettes and act as Gods. When any effort intended to bring about change and to bring about the muslims towards a more enlightened existence is accused of heresy, will there be any progress then? If we persist in doing things the same way even if we know it does not work, do you think our problems will automatically resolve themselves? History will keep on repeating until the anomaly is corrected, that is why the human kind is endowed with the intellect.
There is no compulsion in religion,
1. Say : O ye that reject Faith!
2. I worship not that which ye worship,
3. Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
4. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,
5. Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
6. To you be your Way, and to me mine. -Quran, the disbelievers.
Harshness was never the path chosen by the prophet when propagating Islam. Moral policing, enforcing your own intrepretaion of islam on people gives the religion of islam a bad name. Why should we use the ISA (Internal Security Act) if we don’t first look to ourselves? Have we practiced enjoining the good and forbidding evil? Will people than not lose respect to the Domestic Affairs Minister, Dato Syed Hamid Albar?
I am not trying to parade myself as a hero to the non-Muslims, the Chinese or the Indians, but as a Malaysian I have a right to speak out because they contribute as much as we do if not more in the building of our nation, and lets not forget that we are trying to become a democratic country, with concerns for toleration and peace..
I’m not trying to be a doctor for all the mental diseases of the society today either, I’m just trying to point out that our people are suffering a heart sickness because we are now being run by materialistic concerns a society where money take the place of god, it is high time someone should do something about it if we want to help those who have lost their soul. May God guide those who have sold their soul to the devil
Although I have charged some of the so called Ulama as not possessing even the slightest common sense, Im not trying to point fingers or blaming any individual. "Who’s eaten the hot soup is bound to suffer from the burns, so read the Bismillah, this writing is meant to be a spiritual dish".
Whatever we do, we must do it with the spirit of caring for other, islam and humanity, islam and justice , islam and love are all compatible, and one must not try and divorce islam from all these qualities.
Leaders and Ulama cannot be Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the same time. One cannot be Both angel and demon at the same time, of course the human soul struggles between the two, but inshallah, while Islam still resides in the heart, then we are Under God’s protection. When one attains godliness, then trough his character will emanate the spirit of loving, giving, caring, sharing, and forgiving.
Today we hear the labeling of some groups of people as Quranists. Quranists are seen as the people who seek to deviate the people because the hold strongly to the quran and it’s adaptability for all times, while simultaneously rejecting any hadith that does not conform with the spirit of the Quran.
The emphasis on reason with Quran as guidance maybe dangerous to the masses, but again, why else would be endowed with the mind? Do we know what the mind is? Is it something that is existent in all graduates with Higher degrees?
1. Has there not been over Man a long period of Time, when he was nothing - (not even) mentioned?
2. Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), of Hearing and Sight.
3. We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will). -surah Al-insan(the human), Alquran.
The endowment of the senses, and the Aql(the mind) to discern the truth and evil, and the duty to be grateful is part of being Human. How are we to be his Khalifah, if we don’t exercise this faculty of reason? Are we capable of being the master of the universe if our minds are still encapsulated in the pre-medieval age?
How are we to explain the supremacy and leadership of the malays if we are incapable of being Allah’s vicegerents?
According to Imam Ja’far as-sadiq, the mind is a makhluq, a creature that befriends the human, a creature that obeys the rule of Allah (for example you may deceive others but you cant deceive yourself, and that there are certain rules, like you cannot make 2+2 equals 5), and that it can come and go, (here for example one can occupy space in the universe whilst the mind wonders of unrealisingly).
18. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?- Surah Arrahman.
This life is fleeting, soon we will all die, and rot and be part of the earth, so this short life must be filled with the meaningful, with contemplating our existence
Knowledge must come from teachers, from reading, but that is potential knowledge, knowledge will be realized when we digest it with our own minds. But who else can be our best teacher if not our creator? If we study geology, cosmology, and our moral constitution, then you’ll find signs of His greatness, that we as Humans can utilize in our purpose to serve Him. We need all rejuvenate our spirits, in order that we may save the fate of Humanity.
The Quran does not just serve as a moral and spiritual guide, but at the same time its actually useful even in real-time world problems. Today for example we are at the onset of the world’s financial crisis, the financial melt-down as the media would say it, the magnitude of this crises not just rivals but even supercedes the great Depression of the 1930’s. As the story of the 7 fat cows has told us in the story of yusuf, economic cycles are natural in the world. Ups and downs are inevitable, but human behaviour is something that could effect our survival. The islamic principal of sharing profits and a concern for all in the world, focusing spending on projects for the betterment of humanity as a whole should be applied here. We need to learn to use our resources responsibly, so that we could survive this crisis.
The quran is like a manual to our life, but we ourselves must be the mechanics, but to be a competent mechanic, one must find teachers capable of Helping us obtain mastery of this craft, we must therefore find a teacher that could ensure the cars can run well, and not find teachers who does not do what they say. We are in dire need and in shortage of teachers who are Muallim, Muaddib and Murabbi, but what we have to offer currently and we posess an excess of even, are the Mura’bal, the Bulshitters, the Gundus and the Dungus. May god bless us, everyone.
1. Whatever is in the heavens and on earth, let it declare the Praises and Glory of Allah. for He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
2. O ye who believe! Why say ye that which ye do not?
3. Grievously odious is it in the sight of Allah that ye say that which ye do not. –Surah Saff.
http://www.shalattas.com
No comments:
Post a Comment