Thursday, May 26, 2011

Basic Quranic Arabic




We have been at it since age six, for some even at four.
For most of us,we have even memorised significant portions of it.
Some even go to great length,learning it's TAJWEED and TAJWEED only in their retirement, until their tongue become permanently 'arabised'.
Malaysian Qari and Qariah even have beaten the Arabs and Iranian at international level Quran reading competitions! [ in Kuala Teganun parlance, 'pahang, setabuk dok ! Seumor hiduk dok pahang ! Dari budok sapa peceng ! ]

But the Quran has failed to empower us in our daily lives.
Our prayers remain cold, meaningless rituals of countless standing,mumbling, rukuk and sujud. At best it remained unanswered. Our 'qalbs' remained cold and impervious
Our lives remain stale and uninspiring.
We have failed to 'internalised' our Book.
We avoid it's easily available 'tafseer' in our language like the lepers.
We are just a nation of parrots.

Let us learn basic classical Arabic. Let us start NOW !









Madina Book 1, Lesson 1




59:40  ....   every time you spend in learning Arabic will  insyaallah be regarded as ibadah...there is 
no dunya here...all about the qur'an and akhirah
2:21:10  ....the qur'an is unique. a most beautiful book. it dictates arabic grammer




Madina Book 1, Lesson 2














Madina Book 1, Lesson 3








Madina Book 1, Lesson 4










Madinah Book 1, Lesson 5





Madinah Book, Lesson 6







Madinah Book , Lesson 7















Madinah Book , Lesson 8












The Madinah Arabic Workbook, click here

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Faces in Islam : Shaykh Hussien Yee on Parenting etc and etc

Shaykh Hussien Yee

click here


Ya Fattah, ya Razzaq,ya Wahhab, ya Ghaniyu, ya Mughni.
Ya Qadim, ya Daim, ya Ahad, ya Wahid, ya Samad.
Ya Rahman, Ya Raheem, ya Latif,ya Salaam,ya Hayyu, ya Qayyum,
ya Rabb, ya Dzaljala li-wal ikram.
...give us goodness in this life and the hereafter.

A'u zubikalimatillah hittam mati min syarrima qolak
...I seek refuge in kalimah Allah from the evils of creatures HE created.



Related articles in the blog:
A Journey of Worship by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi
click here

A Dichotomy of Perspective: The Sublime and The Secular
click here

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Heart Attack and Primary Infarct Angioplasty and Stenting : Animation and Live

Heart attack, animation
click here

Angioplasty and stenting, LIVE
click here



Coronary angiography animation,
click here

Saturday, May 21, 2011

"If you do not believe that there are two angels, one on your left and the other on your right, taking notes on what you do in your life, it does not matter. To you and some of your friends,to believe as such, would constitute a major delusion. But reality marches on. Likewise, a mad man caught in a terrible blizzard and rainstorm may feel it is just a fine day with sunshine outside there. Reality does go on despite his delusion.."

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson,
Founder and Dean,
Zaytuna Institute, USA

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Libya.................

Did you know this about Libya ?

Hard to believe........Not many people know about it !


Some other facts (that mainstream media will never tell you)
about this "terrible dictator and blood sucking monster" Gaddafi
who "terrorizes" his own people:

- Loans to Libyan citizens were given with NO interest. Almost
all loans eventually get converted to grants

- Students would get paid the average salary for the profession
they were studying.

- If you'd be unable to get employment, the State would pay them
full salary as if they were employed.

- When you got married, the couple would get an apartment or
house for free.

- You could go to college anywhere in the world. The state paid
2,500 Euros plus for your accommodation and a car.

- Cars in Libya were sold at factory price with no government taxes.

- Libya does not owe money, (NOT a cent) to anyone. No debts.

- Free Education and Health care.

- 25% of the population with university degrees.

- No beggars on the streets and no homelessness (until the recent bombings).

- 20 loaves of bread cost $0.15.

- And many more !

No wonder the US and other capitalist countries do not like Libya.
Gaddafi would not consent to taking the IMF or World Bank loans
at high interest rates. In other words Libya was INDEPENDENT!
That is the real reason for war in Libya!
He may be a dictator, but
that is not a US or European problem.
Then why in the hell are they bombing Libya?
I am sure you know the answer...ask the Zionist US and Zionist Europe this!!!!! They are stooooogests of Israel !!!!

Through UN Security Council, all independent thinking Muslim leaders who dare think differently will be 'hanged'. indicted, criminalised.
That is the world in 2011...no wonder the legacy of Osama bin Laden will live on. Criminals like Bush and Blair will still be free to ply their trade.

--

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Nuggets of Wisdom.............On Supplication...

"Why do you expect things when you are already at His door ?"
Khidr, to a man who was in 'unanswered' supplication for years.

As the story went, a cynic passed by and asked the poor man how long he had been in that state. He answered, 'too many' years, I could not even recall'.
'Why bother when your supplication is not answered'.
The poor man went into a state of stupour and was in a state of shock at the incredulity of his situation and the straight thinking of the cynic. He fainted soon after.

He dreamed meeting Khidr who asked,
"Why do you expect things when you are already at His door ?"

Supplications, Zikir and Repentance.....
These are higher states of existence , beyond mere things !

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Tafsir al-Azhar


And know that your possessions and your children are a test, and that with Allah is immense reward.
8 : 28

I like very this short ayat in Surah al Anfal .
Of all the tafsir, I like most that of Hamka. Not many amongst us visit him.
I find him very much under-rated, most preferring Ibnu Kathir etc and etc.
What I like most about Hamka is that in one read you get the whole spectrum, from the the Salaf to the contemporary and to the 'radical' [ Qutbism, Mawdudi ] with examples given not so alien to our current world view. You just pick your choice and your leaning.

Let us look at his tafsir of 8 : 28 .


Dua kali kita bertemu dengan perkataan Fitnah. Yang pertama fitnah yang umum bernegara dan bermasyarakat[ ayat 25 ]. Sekarang fitnah terhadap diri sendiri. Ayat ini menerangkan bahawa anak dan harta benda adalah fitnah, yang bererti percobaan. Sebagai orang tua yang bertanggong jawab, kita merasa berbahagia sekali dengan adanya anak keturunan. Siang malam kita berusaha mencarikan nafkah buat anak, termasuk isteri. Artinya rumahtangga tanggungan kita. Untuk itu kita memerlukan kekayaan.

Kasih sayang kepada anak adalah termasuk naluri asli manusia, bahkan naluri seluruh yang bernyawa. Sebab anak adalah pelanjut hidup dan penyambung keturunan. Rasa bahagia di hari tua, kerelaan menghadapi maut, kalau anak sudah besar dan memenuhi harapan. Sebab itu kita tidaklah heran jika kita lihat setengah manusia apabila sudah beranak, tidak mengiri-menganan lagi, terus tertumpah segala kegiatan hidupnya untuk memikirkan anak. Mencari kekayaan buat membela dan membelanjai anak. Siang malam memikirkan anak. Dan anak !

Di dalam ayat ini disebutkan, demikian diayat-ayat yang lain, anak terlebih dahulu daripada harta. Kerana betapapun kaya melimpah limpah hartabenda, kalau anak tidak ada, hidup terasa kosong. Tetapi kalau anak telah ada, kitapun giat mencari harta. Dan kalau anak dan harta telah ada, timbullah kebanggaan hidup dan timbullah gembira. Disinilah mulai datang fitnah, artinya cobaan. Orang bisa lupa kepada yang memberi nikmat kerana dipukau oleh nikmat itu sendiri. Ada sebuah hadith yang dirawikan oleh Abu said al- Kudri :

" Anak adalah buah hati, dan sesungguhnya dai adalah menimbulkan pengecut, menimbulkan bakhil dan menimbulkan dukacita. "

'Buah hati pengerang jantung' demikian ungkapan pepatah bangsa kita tentang anak. Lantaran anak, orang bisa jadi pengecut, takut berjuang, takut mati, takut tampil untuk mengerjakan pekerjaaan besar-besar. Sebab anak mengikat kaki. Anak menimbulkan bakhil, tidak amhu berkurban, tidak mahu berderma, tidak mahu membantu orang lain. Tetapi anakpun kerap membawa dukacita. Setelah anak-anak membesar, akan ada saja anak yang membuat hati ayah bundanya jadi duka, makan hati berulam jantung. Dan beranak berdua, bertiga, berlain-lain saja perangai dan nasibnya. Gembiralah melihat yang jaya, pedih melihat yang gagal. Oleh sebab anak dan hartabenda itu, orang bisa mendapat fitnah dan cobaan besar.

Orang bisa hanya menjuruskan segenap hidupnya untuk anak dan harta. Ini adalah bahaya. Kerana di samping kewajiban kepada anak dan mengumpul harta, kita sekali-kali tidak boleh lupa kewajipan kita kepada Allah. Tiap-tiap orang tua mengurbankan hidup untuk anak, padahal anak-anak itu akan membesar dan dewasa dan berumah tangga pula. Merekapun akan beranak pula, sebagai kita beranak mereka. Satu waktu anak laki laki akan keluar dan anak perempuan akan menurutkan suaminya. Kalau umur panjang, kita akan tinggal dalam kesepian, dan setelah itu mati. Apa bekal yang kita bawa untuk menghadap Allah ?

Olih itu didalam memelihara anak dan mengumpul harta, ingatlahlah bahawa yang akan membalas budi kepada kita adalah Allah saja. Anak dan harta tidak akan membalas budi kepada kita, hanyalah Allah saja. Anak dan harta kita tidak akan dapat membantu kita. Pahala yang besar hanyalah tersedia pada Allah.

Maka uruslah anak dan harta itu baik-baik dalam lingkaran mencari pahala yang tersedia pada sisi Allah. Beri kepada anak pendidikan yang baik, sehingga mereka menjadi syafaat di akhirat. Kalau tidak demikian, maka anak dan harta itu akan memebawa celaka sendiri sebab terpisah dari Allah.

Anak dan harta akan kita tinggalkan,atau akan meninggalkan kita. Tetapi kita terang akan kembali kepada Allah.


Very succinct advice and profound observation. That is the ball game of life.
Ringgit Malaysia will continue to seek for more Ringgit Malaysia but at the end of our time, what do we have ?

Rivalry in worldly increase distracteth you . Until ye come to the graves. Nay, but ye will come to know! Nay, but ye will come to know! Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge! For ye will behold hell-fire. Aye, ye will behold it with sure vision. Then, on that day, ye will be asked concerning pleasure.

102 : 1-8

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

On Obesity..Modified Cambridge diet...and EXERCISE

Waalaikum-mussalam Rifqi,

TQ for reading the assignment I gave you on 'Modified Cambridge Diet' [ click here ] At your level of obesity, 15 to 20 kg excess weight,diet alone is not enough. You also need to 'burn' more.
EXERCISE I mean. 5 times a week is better than 4, 4 better than three, everyday better than 5, and once weekly better than nothing at all !

Exercise is boring unless you make it interesting. If you have 'socially pleasurable and interdependent self motivating' group exercise like badminton say 3 times a week, that would be excellent in terms of attaining constancy and frequency. But given our 'cari makan' status and work commitment in a city like KL, to get a similar minded group of people doing such kind of activity on a regular basis with that level of frequency, that would be next to impossible.

Self exercise [ threadmill at home, long brisk walks, swimming, etc etc or even gym work at clubs or Celebrity Fitness Centre even could be difficult to sustain for months], could last for at most a couple of weeks , after that the activity dies off by itself.

People like you need to burn minimum , 300 to 400 kcalories of work at exercise, minimum I think 3 times a week, better still five....minimum 30 minutes per session.
You are already feeling faint ! Okay to keep your spirit up let me tell you of my own predicament. I am, to put it bluntly, in worse predicament than you.

I am carrying an excess of 7 kg from my ideal weight of 70 kg [ height in cm ,minus 100 +- 2 kg, the formullae, I am 168 cm in height ]....small problem but I have 2 sons who are much heavier than you. One has not yet being 'converted' and currently a 'walking time bomb' waiting to explode. While the younger one, has joined me regularly in the late late evening/night swimming at the club, doing 1 kilometre of continuous slow crawl and breast stroke, 40 minutes per session, 3 to 4 times a week. We have tried brisk walking in the neighbourhood at night, but have given up due to safety issues.

The main issue with maintaining exercise on an individual basis is MOTIVATION and a main issue in this is : What do we do with our minds when we are exercising. 20 minutes on the threadmill is too damn long and boring, let alone an hour or so of continuous exercise!...Boring and painful.

Listen to your I-Pod to your favourite music if you are musically inclined. Do your sum if you are mathematically inclined. Think while you exercise if you are philosophically inclined.....but if you are Muslim and get to be my age, in my experimentation, continuous dzikr during exercise is the best option. One can go on for hours without feeling tired.

Choose the simple ones, Asma ul Husna, would probably be the easiest and the simplest. You have multiple permutations and combinations.

I called the formulla : Mixing the Profane and the Sublime.
It works well for me. I now look forward to exercise all the time and get depressed whenever it rains or there is a thunder storm preventing us using the pool!

Enjoy yourself Rifqi !


Nik Howk


Related articles in the blog:
click here, Mixing the Profane and the Sublime
click here, Elixir of Youth
click here, Some Random Thots on Obesity

Monday, May 9, 2011

Noam Chomsky : My Reaction to Osama bin Ladin's Death...

Noam Chomsky: My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death
May 6, 2011
By Noam Chomsky

It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination,
multiply violating elementary norms of international law. There appears
to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably
could have been done by 80 commandos facing virtually no
opposition—except, they claim, from his wife, who lunged towards them.
In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended
and brought to fair trial. I stress “suspects.” In April 2002, the head
of the FBI, Robert Mueller, informed the press that after the most
intensive investigation in history, the FBI could say no more than that
it “believed” that the plot was hatched in Afghanistan, though
implemented in the UAE and Germany. What they only believed in April
2002, they obviously didn’t know 8 months earlier, when Washington
dismissed tentative offers by the Taliban (how serious, we do not know,
because they were instantly dismissed) to extradite bin Laden if they
were presented with evidence—which, as we soon learned, Washington
didn’t have. Thus Obama was simply lying when he said, in his White
House statement, that “we quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were
carried out by al Qaeda.”

Nothing serious has been provided since. There is much talk of bin
Laden’s “confession,” but that is rather like my confession that I won
the Boston Marathon. He boasted of what he regarded as a great achievement.

There is also much media discussion of Washington’s anger that Pakistan
didn’t turn over bin Laden, though surely elements of the military and
security forces were aware of his presence in Abbottabad. Less is said
about Pakistani anger that the U.S. invaded their territory to carry out
a political assassination. Anti-American fervor is already very high in
Pakistan, and these events are likely to exacerbate it. The decision to
dump the body at sea is already, predictably, provoking both anger and
skepticism in much of the Muslim world.

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos
landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his
body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin
Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider”
who gave the orders to commit the “supreme international crime differing
only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the
accumulated evil of the whole” (quoting the Nuremberg Tribunal) for
which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths,
millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country, the bitter
sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.

There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just
died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine”
that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists
themselves and should be treated accordingly. No one seemed to notice
that Bush was calling for invasion and destruction of the U.S. and
murder of its criminal president.

Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so
profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they
are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance
against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after
victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were
to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

There is much more to say, but even the most obvious and elementary
facts should provide us with a good deal to think about.



....

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor emeritus in the MIT Department of
Linguistics and Philosophy. He is the author of numerous best-selling
political works. His latest books are a new edition of Power and Terror,
The Essential Chomsky (edited by Anthony Arnove), a collection of his
writings on politics and on language from the 1950s to the present, Gaza
in Crisis, with Ilan Pappé, and Hopes and Prospects.

for video 1, click here

for video 2, click here


" Who are they going to kill next? Ghaddafi, Ajmadinejad, Ismail Haniah,Hugo Chavez?"

.....................

PS :

I , as well as countless millions other Muslims,[and I can only assume as I do not have the statistics to back up], share the same sentiment as Noam Chomsky. Correction...plus a wee bit more : 'Silent' anger and grief at this blatant disrespect to International law and decorum, and this I believe come direct from the hearts and does not require much rationalization or thinking.'Silent' because anything more audible than a soft murmur now would be construed as passive terrorism. That is the degree and state of 'fascism' preexisting in the world now.

The West can be celebrating bin Ladin's assasination forgetting that even in Islam one need to treat even your enemy with respect.In death, and especially in death, often times, even in so called criminals and renegades, form subjugate substance .

The 'pain' and grief can almost be heard and palpable across the whole Muslim landscape despite some muted 'polite apologies' from so called Muslim head of states.To feel otherwise would be to be entirely less honest with ourselves.

By a single senseless stroke of the pen, Obama and his cohorts have , in their utmost ignorance and infinite arrogance, open up more potential trouble in the future. My gut feeling is that the bin Ladin saga, thanks to Obama, will escalate to a higher plane from now on. It remain to be seen as time unfolds itself.

On the issue of bridging the seemingly 'unbrigeable', politicians across the globe cannot beat the British monarchy in their class and perception. I am reminded of a speech given by Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, given in Oxford just last year. While Prince Charles may seem to some people to 'have gone bonkers' by present standard,, do listen to him......this world would be a more peaceful place, if the likes of Obama share the same perception.
[... and again I am saying this at the obvious risk of some smart a-leck somewhere throwing back to me the assumption that 'there you go again, putting the blame on the West !]

click here

click here

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Faces in Islam......Charles Le Gai Eaton

Charles Le Gai Eaton (Hasan le Gai Eaton or Hassan Abdul Hakeem) (1 January 1921 – 26 February 2010)[1] was born in Lausanne, Switzerland and raised as an agnostic by his parents.He received his education at Charterhouse and at King's College, Cambridge. He worked for many years as a teacher and journalist in Jamaica and Egypt. He then joined the British Diplomatic Service.

Eaton converted to Islam in 1951. He served as a consultant to the Islamic Cultural Centre in London. In 1996 he served on a committee that drafted the constitution of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Authored the following books:
Islam and the Destiny of Man
King of the Castle
Remembering God
A Bad Beginning
A Path to Islam



Kristiane Backer interview with Le Gai Eaton

click here for part 1

click here for part 2

The Radical Middle Way : Charles Le Gai Eaton
click here


" God alone can read hearts "
Charles Le Gai Eaton

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Power of Arabic language.....Shaykh Muhammad Al Yacoubi

I think I have already told you this personal story of mine but I will tell you again since it is a costly personal lesson on ignorance and some lesson could be gain from it.

2003.... World Equestrian Game in Jerez, Spain...I was representing Malaysia in the 160 kilometre endurance event.
200 horses started at 4 am in the morning amidst thunder and storm. Horses were going crazy jumping around like mad with lightning everywhere. Riders failing like flies at the start.
I started well with ya Rahman, Ya Rahim.....Past the 10 kilometres mark all settled.
By the 100th kilometre mark I was running out of Name.
At well past noon, three quarter down the race I was number 20 or so out of 150 remaining riders and horses.

Was stuck at ' ya Mutakkabir' for 20 kilometres or so.
My horse fell down and died of exhaustion....I was still too strong at that time I felt I could lift the horse and finish the race !

A probable case of wrong name for the wrong horse at wrong time. More of a case of gross lack of Ilm.??...but not of trying.

I was a 'pariah' in the international endurance scene for 2 years, pending investigation. 'Horse death' was a major NO NO, even at such incredible distance under difficult circumstances involving difficult terrain and unfriendly weather condition. Finally exonerated by the world equestrian body though, Federation Equestrian Internationale. Mashaallah, what a life !

[ on hind sight, 'ya Latif' or 'ya Salamm', at the last 20 kilometres or so may well could have put me and my horse in good stead, huwallahualam ! ]

Shaykh Muhammad Al Yacoubi, Mufti of Syria
on The Power of Arabic language
click here

The Arabic language is sacred,
click here