We had 'Wukuf' yesterday in Arafah coinciding with 6 PM Malaysian time, 15th November. It was 'Open Sky' policy for dua and prayer, with no veils and hindrance between the abdals and his Lord! The Saudis must invariably got their timing of Wukuf correct to the T every year because this is no 'play play' for them.Wukuf, Haj and the beginning of Ramadan are divinely serious matter. Admittedly our Malaysian time is just only exactly 3 hours ahead of Makkah time. It is not conceivable to my humble thinking that year in and year out the 'anak bulan' is dead perfect for the Saudis and 30 or 24 hours late for us Malaysians.On the basis of probability this does not add up!
This year even so-called Non Muslim countries like Communist China, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong,Fiji, Papua New Guinea and 'pancasila' Indonesia, all longitude just about us or slightly ahead celebrate 'Raya' a day ahead. What is so damn special about Malaysia!?
Why our Malaysian 'institution of ulama' still want to insist playing the game of being 'ostrich hiding our heads in the sand' with our bottoms showing is everybody's guess. Why we still can't get our Hari Raya and puasa timing right in these years and age of space age exploration really escaped me!The 'institution of ulama' advises the Royal Council. This is what Dr Abdullah Hakim Quick , an ulama from Canada termed as 'some ulama being not even able to enter into the discourse!'. And we are not yet talking about matters of science,periphery of knowledge or high finance and economics, let alone splitting the atoms or gene splicing. We are just talking of having our damn 'timing' CORRECT. CORRECT and bloody well CORRECT. Pardon the language but it is getting to the stage it is no longer non-nonsensical.They must improve their IQ and EQ to be in line with the age.
My maternal great great grandfather Tuan Haji Tok Kono', a long time Makkah domiciled ulama' skilled in the science of astronomy, who came back to Kelantan to spread 'the word',[thought to be a 'waliallah' by some people around his time as the story went], , got his head chopped off when words got around to the then young sultan that he and his nuclear family privately stopped fasting one day earlier than the Sultan. Lesser ulama of low calibre around the sultan of that time must have intimated the 'well kept' secret, out of jealousy, to the still young, rash sultan. That must be some 85 to a 100 years ago. The young sultan ordered his summary execution that same day before Hari Raya. The next day the sultan died mysteriously. So much for sub standard ulama' then, and occasionally even now, surrounding our Royal Houses.
Now we have technology, we have modernity but our 'institutions' are still stuck within the 'old kopiahs'....how long we must insist on doing this we have to wait and see.
But for now ,let us drown our collective sorrow today with a very good discourse from Dr Ameenah Billal Phillips on a topic most important to our akidah : " MAN RABBUKA ?"
Eloquent, articulate and outspoken are some of the words that describe Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips. His quest to search for the truth led him from his birth island of Jamaica to the streets of Toronto where he grew up and accepted Islam in 1972. This journey has led him down many paths and he is known the world over as an Islamic scholar, Lecturer, Author and Thinker. Dr. Abu Ameenah completed his B.A. from the College of Islamic Disciplines (Usool ad-Deen) at the Islamic University of Madeenah in 1979, and thereafter went on to complete his Master's in Aqeedah at the University of Riyadh in 1985 and finally obtained his PhD from the University of Wales, U.K. in Islamic Theology in 1994. He has taught Islamic Education and Arabic in private schools, lectured M.Ed. students in the Islamic Studies department of various universities and has founded Islamic information centers while traveling extensively across the globe imparting Islamic knowledge as dictated by the Islamic tradition. Abu Ameenah enjoys playing squash at least three times a week with his wife and sons as a means of keeping fit and de-stressing and he also supervises his children in martial arts. It is interesting to note that in his earlier days, he acquired a black belt in Karate. His greatest achievement is the founding of Islamic Online University that has over 3000 students and authoring over 100 Islamic books of which, the fundamentals of Tawheed is his favourite. He currently resides in Doha, Qatar with his family where he continues to teach at the Islamic Studies Academy.
Some 'food' for thought:
The Big Bang is a massive explosion from a Singularity Point with no mass or matter.....producing the universe,..... and subsequently billions of you and me!
The chance of this chance happening occurring just by itself without prior design is one to a figure with four thousand zeros behind it!.......a kilometre of zeros!!!
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One can 'taqlid' or follow the ulama on the issues pertaining to Syariah but on the issue of Iman, you need to be fully convinced, you need to have ILM.
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"In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him."
Surah Al Ikhlas, 112 : 1-4
Translation of The Noble Qur'an by Marmaduke Pickthal
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