Thursday, April 30, 2009

Rumi



       What do you really possess,
        and what have you gained?
   What pearls have you brought up
         from the depth of the sea?
            On the day of death,
         bodily senses will vanish:
      do you have the spiritual light
         to accompany your heart?
 When dust fills these eyes in the grave,
        will your grave shine bright?

          ***********************


 The spirit is from God and will return to God
  the present life is only a moment in between.


         ************************


 The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
    dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!




Rumi, from 'Daylight: A Daybreak of Spiritual Guidance'.
A collection of small nuggets of wisdom from Rumi's Mathnawi 

      

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Al-Ikhlas [ Purity of Faith ] : Prof Shaykh Muhammad al- Ghazali

If I am marooned on an isolated South Pacific island I would have loved to have 4 'companions' with me:
Hamka's voluminous 10 volume Tafsir al-Azhar, with all the relevant hadiths and 'contemporary' political world history coming with it.
Ibn Arabi's short treatise on 'What The Seeker Seeks'.
Muchtar Holland's translation of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani's 'Sublime Revelations',
and lastly but by no mean the least, Muhammad al-Ghazali's 'A Thermatic Commentary On the Quran'.

In current Najib's Malaysia, please friends , for God's sake, do not bother to rescue me. I have been feeling 'pregnant' ever since! I think my nausuous feeling will improve being marooned on that island . But back to the more important issue about Muhammad al- Ghazali, Egyptian by birth [1917-March 1996 ], eminent scholar by profession, prolific author of more than 60 books, and finally Chairman of Institute of International Islamic Thought in Cairo before his death. Let me show how al-Ghazali dealt with Surah al-Ikhlas, as a thematic commentary and judge for yourself whether he is worth to be your lifelong companion on that 'lonely island' of yours:


Al-Ikhlas [ Purity of Faith ]

GOD IS ONE: He is neither two nor three. He has no spouse nor offspring. He is Supreme and Omnipotent. The Quran tells us:
"God says, 'Do not take two gods; He is the One God, so fear Me" [ al- Nahl: 51 ].
Elsewhere in the Quran, we read:
"Do not say, 'Three gods.' Refrain from saying so for your own good. God is but One God; far too highly glorified is Heto have a son" [ al- Nisa: 171 ]

The principle of tauhid is the very soul of Islam. In comparision to God, as we come to know Him through the Quran, everything and everyone else is utterly powerless and helpless. The Quran abounds with strong arguments supporting this principle:

"Never has God begotten a son, nor has there been any other god besides Him. Were the opposite to be true, each god would govern his own creation, and some would have overwhelmed others. Exalted be God above their falsehood. He knows the unknown as well as the manifest." [ al- Mu'minun: 91-92 ]

"Were there other gods in the heavens or earth besides God, both heavens and earth would have been ruined. None shall question Him regarding His works, but all else shall be questioned." [ al- Anbiya: 22-23 ]

Advocates of the doctrine of the Trinity believe in three coequal partners in the Godhead, who are in fact one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, existing in total harmony.

They also believe in the crucifixion of Jesus, which raises the question: who was actually crucified: one of the three or all the three? If the three are one, and the 'one' was crucified, does that mean that God was out of existence for a time before He came back to the world? But, if the Son only was crucified, how could he be 'God'?

People are, of course, free to believe what they wish to believe, and this surah, which is said to be equivalent to 'one third' 0f the Quran, gives a most concise definition of the essence of Islamic belief. " Say, God is one, the Eternal God. He begot none, nor was he begotten. None is equal to Him" [al- Ikhlas, 112 : 1-4 ].

God is unique, and there is nothing that can be equal to Him. He could , therefore, have neither been a father nor a son. He is the Eternal to whom all creation refers and will return.

The very nature of the cosmic structure does not allow for multiple gods. It is nonsensical to believe that there is an independent god for the sun and another for earth, or one for the animal kingdom and another for the plants, or one for the African continent and another for Europe. The cosmic order is an integrated whole, set up, designed, run, and controlled by a single self sufficient power. This power regulates the operation of the human digestive system and the orbiting planets and stars in the infinite universe. The plants grow out of the ground, the dawn breaks every day, the sun and the moon move in their charted courses in accordance with His will.

Rational and sensible contemplation of these issues could only lead us to believe that there is only the one God, without a partner, the Sovereign, to Whom belongs all praise, the All-Powerful and Omnipotent.

Muhammad al- Ghazali


PS:
When people like al- Ghazali passed away from this realm to join his' Lover' in the next, we in the Muslim world lost a very bright beacon but not many felt this loss because the world we live in has changed it's values so much due to crass materialism in part and plain stupidity to a big extent. We let the meek and the clowns, through clever manipulation of the democratic process and an 'insipid' press and media in part and our very own intellectual malaise and the famous  Malaysian brand 'tidakapathy', govern our lives and aspirations. I am not a sociologist expert but my 2 cent worth is that our collective malaise has to do with our long feudal history and we have  clouded and allowed ourselves to respect our 'half part six' leaders, political and in the administrative domain, in the past who transgressed beyond imagination,  like as if they were hereditary rulers!
That was how the meek and the clowns got empowered. The main political party ,UMNO for example is very feudal in its content and philosophy.JMHO

That was a digression but coming back to our 'limited' number of original thinkers like Prof S. Naguib and  a couple of some others, they are treated like as if people of their calibre 'grow on trees' by these  small minded, administrators and politicians  that we elect, who rather care the' issues of the stomach' over that of the mind. [ We have no reservation in treating our 'ulamaks' with disdain ]. At the end of the day, we  as an ummah, deserve the 'shit' we deserve! Please pardon my expression.[ How can I use another word when that smug, smiling, shining face of KT when questioned over the 'Balqis' affair, played and continue to replay in my mind. Or that 'someone''s son who escaped with murder several years back due to massive manipulation of the judiciary and police. That 'lembu' soft loan that has gone awry. The AP kings issue. Far too many to list down here.]

Thinkers as monumental as Iqbal only come once in a few generation. Clowns, hangers-on, court jesters, greedy' corporate people' and crooked, self serving politicians are born every day! Is there an Iqbal in our midst? The rest of the world, including the atheistic Russians thought so. But people like Sanusi Junid [ of the padi planting on roof fame ] thinks he is a greater thinker! Otherwise he would not undo what good has been been done with our very own Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation [ ISTAC ]. Now it is a mere shadow of what it once was: Big , huge buildings and architecture devoid of soul and character!

As a people and a generation, If we care only about matters of the 'stomach' what you get in return is 'what comes out of it'! The proper 'adab' is to place knowledge and the 'knowledgeables' in the proper place.
Allahualam.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Anatomy of an Endurance Ride : Malacca Grand Invitational Endurance Ride 2009

[ from the perspective of a chronic endurance addict]

Malacca never fail to amaze me. Dynamic and forever changing thanks to the solid ground work and vision by former CM Rahim Thamby Chik [ say whatever you like about his other 'interests'] , and Ali Rustam's people friendly pragmatism. Of course being midway between KL and Singapore does help in the tourist industry and the significance of being the region's entreport in the 15th and 16th century under the Portugese, Dutch and finally the British, does add up to its sense of history.

Saturday 11th April saw the flag-off of the 2nd Malacca Grand Invitational Endurance Ride in the novice 40 km, 80km and 120 km events. I was in the 80km along with 28 other contestants. KDYMM was also in the 80. For most of us, we were reserving our 'peak' for next month Edaran Ride in Bidong, Terengganu. MGIER is a good warm-up.

80 km event was flagged off at 630 pm with heavily laden rain clouds threatening to fall any second. We riders do not mind the rain, but thunder and lightning would be a different kettle of fish. The start went off without any incident and it rained cats and dog soon after. KDYMM, as always now were among the front runners and I lost sight of the front group as darkness fell and rain started pouring . Myself along with Peter Lim, probably the only Chinese in this sport in this 'whole wide world' and a couple of his Australian guests were ' sweeping the floor' at the back. Midway through the 1st phase of 30 kilometres even Peter and his group left me. My Mr Gedebe is still new to the game and did not have the pace yet. This was not his race yet, this ride was supposed to be his LSD [ long, slow, distance ]training ride. I am bringing him up for the WEG2010 in Kentucky, USA, next year. For now we have to be used to sweeping the floor at the back. Despite the rain and darkness, the tract was superbly prepared. Weaving through lonely undulating paths in oil palm estates and amongst rubber smallholding in the main with occasional criss crossing on road tarmac, I must concede that by Malaysian standard MGIER trails was highly' techinical' and superbly done. I seek the company of one young rider from PENN Endurance Stable who was busy listening to some music on his i-phone. I was as usual on' cloud nine ' with my usual 'tahmid and tasbih'. I guess all endurance riders have to do something with their minds to help overcome fatigue, bodily pain, the occasional primal fear of being alone in the dark etc etc and to remain focussed.

When I came in for the vet check at the 1st phase at 15 kph average [ quite fast time by normal standard 3 years back],the front runners , including KDYMM were already about to leave for the 2nd phase of 25 km. Malaysian endurance has progressed. Even 'slow coach' Peter, a shipping man from Singapore, who based his arabians in Gelang Patah, has changed. The vets usually had to wait for Peter long after everyone of us have finished, before they could' close shop'. Now in this ride Peter has graduated 'forward'.

Mr Gedebe get all A's for his check and both rider and horse were given a 30 minute holding time [ rest] to replenish and refresh before starting on phase 2.

I left for phase 2 at 930 pm again alone. In the dark, riding alone, your horse give a 100 % trust on you the 'leader'. He tend to get less spooky, the only disadvantage is that your own mind tend to play tricks on you. You tend to be more' spooky'. People prefer to wait for the next rider but as in my case when you are the last rider to leave, you just 'bite the bullet' and ride on. It was a full moon and cool at night with the breeze. Man and horse remained focussed on the job. Horse thinking when "this stupid, crazy boss of mine going to end his madness and behave like like other people his age and shut up his big mouth sometime", man enjoying his 'tasbih and tahmid' oblivious of his mate and the surrounding, just focussing enough on the arrows so as not to get lost.

When I completed phase 2, KDYMM, Burn, Penn and group had already left for the final 25 km. Mr Gedebe failed the vet check due an abnormal gait arising from muscular cramp in the right hind quarter. So much for a 2010 WEG material! I made a mental note to start him on Arcoxia[ I give expensive human NSAID to my horses, Arcoxia costs more than the traditional phenylbutazone but it works faster and is more softer on the stomach lining] for a week, to review in 2, and probably concentrate on hill intervals subsequent 2 weeks before Edaran's, to improve his endurance capacity and heart rate recovery.

That is the plan. A lot of time still for WEG but probably at the rate he is going, Gedebe is B material, unlike my previous Jogho [ horses like Jogho will never come my way again in my present lifetime] and Miss Gedebe. Certainly looks like he is not going to be ready for Sultan's Cup this November!

At ride like this I get to meet many riders from all walks of life. Mus, the migrant worker from Lombok, riding for his boss Che Din of De Dengkil Stable and Stud Farm,on Dayang in the 40 km event. Grinning from ear to ear after coming home 3rd[ A mental note for my good friend Dan ,principal organiser of MGIER: Have some small token prize even for 40 km because even though for us 40km represent the entry point for begining horses, for many people like Mus and the young boys from Kelantan, by virtue of their dimunituve pony size, 40km is the race of their lives !]. I get to meet Hj Otto of Indonesian Equestrian Association who is always here for most endurance ride but this time not riding because he got too excited riding his 'leased horse ' the day prior to the pre ride vet check, on the actual day itself ,the horse was proclaimed lame.

Abang Nor of Paka who owns Duke, a tall and gangly ex-race thorougbred, and was introduced to the madness of endurance only in 2007 at Royal Kedah Ride. All very excited because his son came 2nd on Duke in my event! When I asked him how he did it in 2009 in the face of all the 'ferraris' of the' pure arab' world. He told me he was inspired by my earlier writings on ex-race thorougbred and my insistence on hill work,hill work and more hill work. I was just 'theorising' then when I wrote. That make sense now. Thorougbred already got the height and speed, they just need the stamina build up. Beyond 80 , I do not think they can perform but I also thought in the past only 'horses from heaven cango beyond 16 kph at Bidong and Maria Mercedes debunk that belief. it is back to conditioning , conditioning and conditioning and 'hill work' cut short the LSD and conditioning process to some extent.

Abe Soh of Pekan,Tumpat who came all the way from Kelantan on his own to see his dimunutive champion, a Kelantan A pony [ Kelantan has their own 'breed' namaly crossing exrace thoroughbred stallions with local ponies mares or vice versa ],ridden by his son challenging all the big boys in the 80's event. Abang Sop is a retiree, does not belong to any club, I do not think he has 'high income job' to support his love for endurance but there he is : always around at any endurance event. I salute his sincerity and simplicity in the sport. I think his son did well at this ride. Equestrianism in Kelantan is very much alive and 100 % self driven: no multi million ringgit grant or support from the government.

I also get to meet KDYMM himself but because my Gedebe is not yet 'turbo-charged' at present, we only met at the start, did not manage to exchange pleasantries when passing each other on the trail as happened during previous rides when I was riding a more competitive mount.

There you are : this world is certainly not a level playing field, but for Abang Nor, Abe Soh, Hj Otto, Mus the migrant worker from Lombok, KDYMM ,and this lowly scribe from Subang, we collectively share something in common. We represent a microcosym of Malaysia and we "play accordingly within our 'designated' fields and find our own comfort level" ,and derive contentment and shared pleasure in one of the most beautiful creature accorded to man : The Horse.

Running naked in the park...........

" As long as Muslims make a mockery of Islam and show no respect to the teaching of Islam, that will be how long non- Muslims will look down on Islam and consider the religion a total joke. And this is not the fault of non-Muslims. This is the fault of the Muslims. When you run naked in the street and have sexual intercourse on a park bench, can you blame passers-by for thinking you may not be right in the brain? "

YM Raja Petra, like Farish Noor, yet another 'gallery' specialist.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A Matter of Perception

" The new Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak, took over the premiership this week and witnessed his party lost two third of the seats in a bye election ! "
BBC


" 1-2 , it is back to status quo "
NST


" They will never ever learn "
Raayats on the street

Monday, April 6, 2009

Of Slow Temiang and Tales from Yala....

I was 'among' my 'children' 10,000 of them, young gaharu plants, in a god forsaken place known as Slow Temiang in Mukim Gajah Mati , [ the place was literally littered by dead elephants some 20 years ago,'buthered' by illegal loggers ]bordering between the districts of Kuala Krai and Gua Musang last Saturday and Sunday.After Friday morning clinic and prayer, my brother and I drove our Hilux twin cab to Bentong and stopped at Ah Meng's durian stall to get our 'regular' monthly fill of' Musang King'.

If you are durian cournousiers, but limiting yourselves to just a few 'ulas' of this very premium King of durians [ for it cost soo much: 35 RM per kilo], do not start with 'Musang King' and then further 'dilute' your tastebuds on to the cheaper D24 or the kampong variety . Your durian outing will definitely fall flat .Instead start with the cheaper kampong variety 1st ,then proceed with d24 and finally 'wash up' your taste buds with a few 'ulas' of the King. That would exquisitely give a good taste going up the 'ladder'.Of course if your pockets can afford it forget D24 and the rest, just go for the 'King'. The 'King' is an enduring and addictive habit. I almost always can feel the 'addiction' sensation raking up early in my brain even starting Monday of the 4th week of every calendar month nearing 'gaji time' when I have to make that mandatory 6 hour journey to my 'gaharu' farm in Slow Temiang to give the 'vitamin W' motivation to my workers and replenish their monthly food supply.

Several years ago when the 'King' was just known as durian kunyit by the Malays originally from Tanah Merah,Kelantan, then later planted in Gua Musang and Bukit Gantang/Bukit Berapit of Perak [ my, my, how is that poor Najib fellow going to fare in 'The Erection' this weekend !!?? ], it was still affordable. Durian kunyit was lingering there for years. Then the Chinese took a liking for it. Then the 'Dirty Singaporeans' also liked the taste. Durian Kunyit got rebranded :take away the 'Gua' from the 'Musang' and add 'King' behind it then presto you get a marketable brand:Musang King! Now the ordinary Ahmad, Ali and Ah Kong can no longer afford it . This thing about 'rebranding', leave it to the Chinese. They can even sell their grand mothers as 're-conditioned' virgins ! When D24 sells for 12 Rm per kilo, Musang King will be around 25 to 30. The power of branding and positioning!

Newly' energised' by a belly full of durian we made the slow drive to Slow Temiang via Raub, Padang Tunku,Merapoh and on to Gua Musang . Towns like Bentong, Raub, Kuala Lipis and Gua Musang enriched in the early 70's and still now by the timber and wood related industries. 50 kilometres along the Gua Musang-Kuala Krai trunk road we took a left turn into a laterite off- road build by the' timber people'. After 12 kilometres of winding, hilly and slippery off- road driving ,oftentimes dangerously missing a ravine or two,I reached my 'Shangri La': 50 acres of undulating land ,now all covered by young'gaharus'.

Two days of bliss followed. No handphones. No more tedious, and 'free' hand-phone consultations. No newspapers. No 'rude' bills and letters. No shaving. Our trade off was, sleeping in an 'open' kongsi [ tigers visited my place twice in the last 6 months but probably by now scarred off by the noise of the heavy machineries from the nearby" Ladang Raayat" and "Ladang Acacia" activities ], cool morning bath in the stream that passed by my land, and the biggest , spaciest , private 'restroom' in the world : 50 acres of open space.[ Ladang Raayat and Ladang Acacia and many more' ladangs' sprouting in Gua Musang and Kuala Krai under the guise and 'respectability of Kelantan Government agencies such as KESEDAR, MAIK and Forestry Dept but actually funded ,runned and owned by rich Chinese families from Johore and Singapore etc etc . Last time small time towkeys used gangsters to chase Malay settlers and local pioneers ,now these foreigners used Govt agencies as 'gangsters' to chase the Malays and kampong people, found in their way of massive land grab. Next time when I meet YB Dato' Husam I will give him a piece of my mind ! That would be worth another blog story ! Anak Melayu nak mintak tanah susah ,orang lain suku sakat tak ada problem . PAS and UMNO sama saja!]

We ate what our workers eat: budu, spiced with red hot chilli and a springkling of ikan bilis and omellete with loads of rice for breakfast, maggi goreng for lunch and a repeat of breakfast at dinner. Great stuff ! Dinner by candlelight: powered by 'carbide' .

Over thick black coffee the camarederie between 'kuli' and boss opened up. My two Indonesians addition to the current work force of five people, obviously happy and excited by a couple of hundred ringgit of fresh hard earned currency in their pockets , asked jokingly and loudly their colleague from Yala, known affectionately as Tok Uban, more due to the complete 'whiteness'of his hair rather than actual advance age,as to when they could 'jump' up the train heading toward Golok for a day or two of 'carnal pleasure'. Seriously speaking they can't because non of them have valid passports or visa. "Jump" up because that is how all the "Slows" in Kelantan got their name! Slow Bertam, Slow Mengkuang.Slow Temiang. They used to be small outposts during the Emergency time in the 50's when the only mean of communication between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu was by train. By road it take no less than 15 slow ferry crossings in Terengganu and Pahang, a minimum of 2 days journey. By air ,only the Mat Salleh DO's, member of the royalties and big shots could afford that. Between Gua Musang and Gemas there were originally, only a few legitimate stations in between, for the rest, would be passengers would have to 'jump up' or 'jump down'as the trains 'slowed down' at designated areas . That in short is the history of Slow Temiang and all the "Slows" in Kelantan.

Tok Uban, one of my 3 workers from Patani and Yala replied that Golok is no longer 'safe' for such activities unless one does not mind getting one's head [ top, bottom, or both ] occasionally blown off or shot at in a random fashion . The shooting and maiming of young Muslim youth in towns like Golok is becoming a too frequent occurance.People get shot going to the mosques ,coming back from the mosque, in the market place, on their way to tap rubber, in the padi fields and almost everywhere under the guise of 'suspected' terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism .[ in the US now if you do not fornicate with people's wives , do not consume alcohol or you pray 5 times a day instead of once a year at Chrismas, you are deviating from the norm. You can be termed as a hard core Islamic fundamentalist.You are a potentially dangerous 'animal'. You will be watched.] All in the name of Islam. Buddhist vigilante groups ,1st encouraged and armed by the Thaksin regime were sprouting every where.

My 3 Thai Muslim workers epitomized the long and arduous suffering of the overwhelming but much neglected Muslims majority for decades. I could still recall during the heyday of YAM Tengku Rithauddeen [ he was Malaysia's Foreign Minister in the 80's ] , Malaysia's relation with Thailand underwent a significant degree of 'coldness' as the Tengku was the direct descendant of the Patani Malay Royal Family. That was the 80's . Now in 2009, I dare say that the Bangkok Central Government has not changed much thanks to the 'increasingly inhumane' escalation of agression from the Thaksin era and despite a recent change of government there does not seem to be any let up on the pressure on the 'governed'. Muslims in the South remained poor, no job opportunities opened to them , very small lee ways in term of personal liberties and the right to dissent and speak up. Always living in fear of death and planned 'disappearances'. My 3 workers have more sad and harrowing anecdotal experiences which they shared with me.

If you are Muslim and educated and vocal, and aware of your rights as citizen in Pattani , you may just 'dissapear' permanently suddenly in the middle of the night without your family members knowing your whereabouts. If you are a village' lebai', have some form of education in the religious ways, and leaders of men in your village, the chances of your 'arranged disapearance' is that much more higher.

Downtown Yala is inundated by daily 'shooting' and sudden death amongst young Muslim men. A definite hazard and risk being young , religious educated and Muslim. Shops and businesses close before 5 pm and you better be home and have all your shutters all closed.

In remote villages and hills, stories abound of Sikorsky helicopters hovering by in the middle of the night and young men of the crack paratroop unit wearing their famous and 'frightful' [ they are known by the locals to be merciless ]black uniform with their ' red scarves' abseilling down on selected villages and barging into Muslim houses and taking healthy young Muslim men away into the dark of the night never to reappear again.

People stop tapping rubber in their smallholdings and packed their bags and crossover to Kelantan to 'cari makan' a mussel here and a mussel there. It is obvious the Central Government in Bangkok has failed. They have failed to look after their people in the South. When things happened they are just interested in pointing their fingers to 'neighbours' who has long watched their fellow brethrens suffer in silence .

As my mother's side,half originate from Champa and Patani, while the other half from the hills of Afganistan, I can fully emphatise with the hardship and suffering of Tok Uban, Mat Deng and Mat Stopa [ Mustapha]. The economic hardship of my Indonesian workers [ Remember I am half Sumatran : my paternal great great great grangfather fought for 2 sultans 150 years ago ] is nothing compared to the turmoil, hardship, danger and frustrations faced by our Pattani brethrens.

That night, as my tired fellow workers slept and snored rather loudly in the 'open kongsi', my eyes and mind remained opened, this time, unlike before, not fearful of the possibility of that 'feline' sharp teeth sinking down into my jugulars, but thinking over and over again about our 'collective guilt' as fellow Muslim citizens of the world , being able to accept and stomach and live with these knowledge that our fellow brothers in Pattani, Mindanao, Chechnya and Palestine have been suffering for decades.

What is OIC [ Oh I See ! ] doing apart from the annual' wine and dine' and mere rhetorics. What are the rich Gulf countries doing with their God given petrodollars overflowing through every orifices ,enriching the 'very people' who, directly and indirectly, are complicit in the slaughtering, maiming and killing of our 'brothers', their wives and their children like 'dogs' in the killing fields all across the globe ???!!!!

[" The Prophet[ pbuh ] once, according to an established Tradition,, told a group of' sahabats' that there would come a time when Muslims would be 'pushed' aside like bubbles by waves in the ocean. They would be of no consequence. One sahabat stood up and asked : What could be wrong with them, are they very few in numbers ? The Prophet replied : No, they are not small in numbers, in fact they were millions and millions of them but they they chose to forget the teachings and the lessons of the Quran and chose to disregard my ways."]
Something to that effect. Allahualam.

I like places like Slow Temiang and meeting 'basic' people like Tok Uban ,Mat Stopa , Mat Deng and Kak Joh. They keep me going back to 'base' and reminded myself how blessed and fortunate we are to be Malaysians. Does not matter that in this new era some clowns amongst us sees fit to advertise a full page in the National Newspaper hailing for' health and longevity' to the 1st lady, the  ever ballooning Ringgit Malaysia !. That is a new trend and height  in apple polishing . A world class act !!

And by the way, who in hell is going to be that chap who looks after Finance ?? I know it is the PM, stupid, but who is the de facto working Finance Minister. We all will have to wait and see how things unfold.

Malaysia Boleh..........

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pearls & Gem : A Return To The Quran & Hadiths

America, NATO or whatever can fight their shadowy wars in Palestine, Afghanisthan, Iraq or Checnya, Iran or Sudan but there is no stopping the slow but sure progression of the Truth in people's mind and hearts. Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe and America, the lands of democracy. Democracy is great for Islam.

We Muslims just need to return to the true spirit of the Quran and hadiths. Truth will do the rest of the work. So far globally we are such bad examples, we cannot blame the 'lost sheeps' in Denmark if they start burning the Quran tomorrow. Near home, the Chinese are not drawn to Islam because who wants to 'masuk Melayu': 'Melayu banyak penyakit'.

During the Byzantine era we were continually reminded of that enduring story of the small Muslim army with the governor leaving what is now called present day Syria ,fleeing from the only super power of that time , The Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman invasion did not materialize, and the Jews and Christians who formed the majority of the population pleaded with the Muslims to return and govern them. They did, and many centuries had past , then they had Assad and in nearby Egypt, Nasser, with their own brand of Islamic Socialism. What followed latter elsewhere was the ultimate 'sacralization' [ in pure Kelantanese linggo it is ' dok jubbo' or in more polite circle ,in Teganun term ,'dok belakang' ] and secularization of Islam.......

It is back to 'branding'.
"Sir, do you want it hot or Original?", as they always ask at KFC!

Dr Nik Howk