Saturday, June 6, 2009

Muhammad Abduh

"I went to a place where there was Islam without Muslims and I came from a place where there were Muslims without Islam"

Muhammad Abduh, the Egyptian Islamic reformist, on his first visit to Paris.

10 comments:

Pearls and Gem said...

I went to Chamang Waterfall,Bentong: great place with two dustbins.
At Pantai Cinta Berahi, Serambi Mekkah, Saturday: full of litters everywhere. Just one aspect of looking at things.

Stadium Sultan Mizan, Terengganu, is another way of looking at our state of iman. In the US, there will be instant apology.In the UK,where ethics are more stringent,the Minister of Works would have resigned. In Japan, a 'harakiri' or two. Back home it is business as usual and 'it is not me!'

The Terengganu Stadium debacle is a microcosm of the National Malaise: utter blatant corruption, inept administration,lack of accountability at all level and above all,predominant misunderstanding of what Islam stands for.

We are all Muslims but not yet quite Islamic.

Anonymous said...

Ya Dr Nik, when Dr Yusof Nor (ustaz then, still doing his Phd under UKM scholarship at Darul Ulum, Cairo)) he mentioned the same thing about London.I did not know about Muhammad Abduh at that time.That is why Dato Dr Yusuf Nor never wear kopiah, i think he wants to project himself as a modern muslim.however he lost Dr M's favour because of Tabung Haji's scandal..wallahuaklam!

Pearls and Gem said...

Being an ulama' tied to the government is a perilous and dangerous job, I guess.

Imagine having to agree that 'o.oo1 % pork or alcohol in your drink or food is halal given the circumstances [ Malaysian style Islamic banking for example ], etc etc and etc .The CEO formulate his plan and expect you to 'rubber stamp' as and when necessary. I do not think it is worth the Merc and the driver nor the high salaries of being a Deputy Minister in PM Dept.

Must have been difficult for Yusof Nor or Hamid.

Even being an ulama' in the academia does not absolve one from keeping quiet in a situition of clear cut 'un islamic practice' condone by the "Prince" ie the political CEO's of the country.

Never easy. From the CEO's viewpoint, they can always say ,under the circumstances they have done the best, not withstanding the PKZaffair ,BMF,KWSP, Tabung Haji,Scorpene and a long series of fiasco.

I wonder in Dr M's twilight years now what goes on in his mind! Probably he would have thought under the circumstances he has done his best. His friends failed him!

Lucky by the grace of God we are only judged by our intentions finally,Alhamdullillah! Even then I cant help thinking many at that time of the 'final court hearing' would rather be the inconspicuos green slime in the rock. No questioning , no responsibility.

Who still wants to be PM ?

Anonymous said...

Suddenly the Chinese Community is looking at Hussam Musa as a potential, hoping he would have won the recent Pas DP post. They are scared of Ustaz Hadi's look, but grudgingly they are acknowleding that there is stability under the patronage of the ulamaks as long as they do not become 'lemak'..HUHU MY TEN CENT WORTH OPINION DR NIK!

Pearls and Gem said...

.....I agree with you.

This is the age of the people power.Ameno is rattled to the core.'Change or be changed'.NTR is currently not doing too badly despite his excess baggage.If he can keep his Mrs far away from Putrjaya the better for him. Can Ameno change or are we going to see near occupants in Seri Perdana Putrajaya. We are living in interesting times.

I met Husam once in his office in Kota Darul Naim. He seem to be a nice bloke.Nasharuddin Mat Isa is very much my junior in Malay College. I do not know how he managed to get the ulama' tag to his name after that short stint in MCKK.One short stint as Sec. Gen and 2 stint as deputy now coming to his third. Not bad for a small Napolean.

Even if Nasaruddin et al get his way with the Ameno thing, that would be better than seeing Ameno now going round like 'little boys lost'.Of course Husam's way may also be ok but that presupposes that Ameno is already on its death throes.If I am thinking of getting back to the 'master bedroom' I guess the Nasaruddin route appears better.

We are living in interesting times.

Anonymous said...

Ustaz Hadi is more practical and Nasaruddin thinks the same way, i suppose.If Pas jointly rule with Umno, selangor and perak and kedah is very stable.Anuar Ibrahim does not have any say anymore after the Perak downfall of DAP led Pas fronted government.

That will be the end of kurang ajarims started by Anuar Ibrahim, followed strictly by karpal singh, his son and the Hindraf.

Today I met Peter Seller, the multimlionnaire patient of mine with good connections.He said he had just brought rosmah for holiday in Bali, then back to follow najib somewhere.I think he is the Anandakrishnan of Najib, many years ago Ananda used to jet Dr Mm family whenever they wanted to go..Wallahuaklam

Anonymous said...

A small correction. I checked his namecard at home.Dominique P Salles is his real name.A young man in his forties, very unassuming.He saw me for 5 years as a patient before releasing his secret being a multimillionaire after selling his computer company in London in the early nineties, making 22million pound sterling profit.Married to a Thai girl (daughter of a banker), he moves around S E Asia in his private jet (secret released to me today), has 10 condos in KL each rented out at 10k.,has a house in Bali and Bangkok.Moves around in slippers and T shirt.I charged him nominal fee for each consultation since he started being my patient 5 years ago, and I see no point doing otherwise even now.Today he scolded me again for buying my BMW Cars new..waste of money according to him.He would have preferred me buying two or three years old car from towkays who want o sell them ! Well Dr Nik, that is life as I know it now..HUHU!

Pearls and Gem said...

...just came back from 'banana talk' with a retired banker [ both of us are part time farmers] at one of the yuppies 'watering holes' in USJ, talking 'bananas plus a bit of politics and high finance'.

Fiz, even the famous ' you know who', on the other side of the fence, was not a 'malaikat' when he was calling the shots from Finance Ministry.One call from his boys in Bank Negara means a crony get 500 millions worth of unsecured loan from a 'you know what' bank.

This is an example of what Muhammad Abduh term as Muslims who are not Islamic in content.We have too many of them gunning to be the next PM.

Just take a look at a sahabat, Saiyidina Abu Bakar when he 1st embraced Islam.By present standard, his financial and community standing then, we can call him a Tan Sri or minimum a Datuk Seri.Nobody, at least in corporate Arabia then wanted to be associated with the new religion, Islam, propogated by a lowly ex sherpard ,albeit even heightened in status being married to a rich widow, Siti Khadijah.The only possible converts then were 'low class and low caste' people who were slaves and missfits apart from a sprinkling of 'Tan Sris and dato'.

Abu Bakar met Bilal, the black slave of someone at the outskirt of Mekkah.On his 1st visit, Bilal was hesitant.Abu Bakar went back despondent and could not sleep the night.He was worried that if his own life was to end that night,what would happened to Bilal. The 'Tan Sri' rushed back to Bilal the same night and lo and behold Bilal took the 'syahadah'. Abu bakar went back relieved that he had done his duty to Islam and save Bilal.

That was Islam that was. If we have 'Tan Sris' and Muslims who care for the lowly and the despondents like Bilal, we no longer have the likes of 'Karpals or Lim Kit Siangs' in Malaysia shouting : 'over my dead bodies' !

Now what we have is:How many millions are there for me? No wonder we have PKFTZ,Sultan Mizan Stadium,Masjid Crystal etc etc and etc .

Anonymous said...

Haqqan Dr Nik, you have hit the point there! may Allah save our Muslim nation! Amiin!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ustaz Hadi is more practical and Nasaruddin thinks the same way, i suppose.If Pas jointly rule with Umno, selangor and perak and kedah is very stable.Anuar Ibrahim does not have any say anymore after the Perak downfall of DAP led Pas fronted government.

That will be the end of kurang ajarims started by Anuar Ibrahim, followed strictly by karpal singh, his son and the Hindraf.

Are talking from your nose; "over my dead body".