EVENT: DINNER DISCUSSION WITH KAREN ARMSTRONG
THE RITZ CARLTON HOTEL WASHINGTON, D.C.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2002 7:15 PM
INTRODUCTION BY ABDERAHMAN SALAH ABDERAHMAN
Minister for Political and Congressional Affairs EMBASSY OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
Transcript by: Federal News Service Washington, D.C.
ABDERAHMAN SALAH ABDERAHMAN: Our gathering tonight is a result of an initiative undertaken by Arab diplomats who deal with the U.S. Congress. In reaching out to our friends on Capitol Hill we have decided to host a series of social events for congressional staffers who deal with foreign affairs. Recently we have decided to further develop this initiative and invite some members of Congress to those gatherings, along with representatives from the administration, the media and the think tanks.
Tonight we are overwhelmed by the very positive response illustrated by the distinguished presence of all of you who are in this room. We are particularly honored to have with us the following members of Congress, distinguished members from the administration and U.S. armed forces. Let me recognize at least some of them. Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon (applause), Congressman Howard Berman of California and Mrs. Berman (applause), Congressman John Cooksey of Louisiana (applause), Congressman James Moran of Virginia (applause), Congressman Henry Waxman of California and Mrs. Waxman (applause). And from the Navy, Rear Admiral Joseph Kroll (ph) Deputy Chief of U.S. Naval Operation and Mrs. Kroll (applause), and Rear Admiral James Stavridis and Miss Stavridis (applause).
Many Republican members of Congress would have joined us as well had it not been for the need to attend the Republican retreat. They are, however, well represented by many members of their staff, therefore we also feel proud to conform to the bipartisan aspirations of this city. We are also excited to have with us more than 50 congressional staffers and their spouses. To them I wish to emphasize that we value their friendship and appreciate their assistance in building bridges with their respective members of Congress. We are equally pleased to welcome many representatives of the major American and Arab media and think tanks in Washington D.C.
Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdelaziz, the Saudi Ambassador in Washington D.C. was supposed to introduce Ms. Karen Armstrong in his capacity as the dean of the Arab diplomatic corps and indeed the dean of the entire foreign and diplomatic corps in Washington, but he regretted because he is sick and he couldn’t make it. So I’m afraid I will do both jobs of delivering my welcoming remarks and introducing Ms. Armstrong.
But let me first try to divulge what is inside your small gift bag that’s at your table for those who haven’t gone through it yet because they have some interesting things that are very relevant to what we are discussing tonight. You will find a copy of Karen Armstrong’s book, “Islam: A Short History” personally signed by the author. She spent about three hours yesterday signing them for you, Also, a DVD of the PBS powerful production, “Islam: Empire of Faith,” and a booklet on the basics of Muslim faith and a video tape that contains a new adaptation of the 18th century classic on religious tolerance, Nathan der Weise by Ephraim Lessing. This has a brief story.
Set in Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades, the play shows a Christian Knight Templar, Nathan the Jew and the great Muslim leader Saladin wondering which is the greatest religion. In his play Lessing brilliantly depicted the ridiculousness of religious bigotry. Two hundred years later, now, his message is still very relevant.
I have had the pleasure of cooperating with George Mason University’s Theater of First Amendment to enable as many people to enjoy this magnificent play and actually the author, the adapter, of this play is with us here, Paul D’Andrea .Our dream was only to have it on TV and now, as it is being produced for public television, we aspire to see it performed at the Library of Congress, and with a bit of luck and perhaps with your support, we might be able also to see it on Kennedy Center. So please watch it and let me know what you think.
The theme of our event tonight is enlightenment and Ms. Karen Armstrong is one of its best champions. Her presentation and our subsequent discussion could not have come in a more opportune time, for despite the fact that the whole world has been united in condemning the barbaric attacks that took place in New York and in Washington on September 11th, efforts by all of us are still needed to ensure that the war against terrorists should not be perceived as a war against Muslims or Arabs. Nor should it develop, albeit unintentionally, into a clash of civilizations.
The U.S. government has done a good job to avoid any such eventuality, and the American people have responded with great maturity and tolerance. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of Muslims and Arabs have rejected the terrorists’ call for inter-religious war. There were some sporadic voices, however, that were not satisfied with this successful, unified and universal stand against those terrorists. Some, out of lack of knowledge, went to the extent of blaming Islam. Others found in the violence created by the vicious terrorist attack against the U.S. an opportunity to spread suspicion and hatred and to divide the world into two antagonistic religious blocks, which is precisely what the terrorists are advocating. Fortunately these hate-mongers have so far failed in their unholy endeavor.
A process to develop better mutual understanding, in my opinion, is the best safety net against these conspiracies. This process is a two-way street or as Ms. Armstrong suggests in her writings, a three-way process. We should all work hard to improve our people’s understanding of each other’s cultures and religions, rectify any residual conceptions, and realize that sometimes words can kill as easily as bullets. The Egyptian parliament is now debating how religious discourse could be improved. Many distinguished Islamic scholars and political leaders all over the Muslim world have come out strongly condemning those who fan religious suspicion and hatred. In the last week alone, leading Muslim scholars were participating in several inter-religious fora in Egypt, United Kingdom and the United States.
Needless to say that we should all cooperate to take away from the hands of the terrorists a very effective weapon of using the grievances of the Palestinian people under occupation, stopping the violence by both sides, and going back to negotiations in order to end Israel’s occupation is the only way to deal with these grievances. And peace is the ultimate guarantee of security for both sides. I believe that members of Congress who traveled to the Middle East recently, and some of them are here today, can testify to the fact that the Palestinian suffering under occupation is the single most agitating in the minds of most people in our part of the world. Egypt will continue its cooperation with the United States and others to bring the parties back to the negotiating table. The United States continued engagement is a vital prerequisite for our endeavor’s success.
History is going to judge our words and deeds during these difficult times, as we must make difficult choices. And future generations will bear the consequences of both our words and out actions. It is up to all of us to prove that those who are predicting the clash of civilization are dead wrong. I have no doubt that our discussion will contribute to that end, which leads me to the second part of my job, which is to introduce Karen Armstrong, who’s really very close to most of our hearts here. I found out that she has not only me but many, many fans, in this room at least.
Karen Armstrong is uniquely qualified to speak on our subject of discussion tonight, “Islam and other Abrahamic religions: how have the three monolithic religions interacted over history up to the present time”. Her background has the right mix of professional and scholarly expertise. She has long been one of the foremost British commentators on religious affairs and has established a similar status in the United States, and now, I’m finding out, in the rest of the Western world and in the Muslim world.
Ms. Armstrong spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun. After leaving her order in 1969, she took a B.Litt. at Oxford and taught modern literature at the University of London. In 1982, she became a freelance writer and broadcaster. 1983, she worked in the Middle East on a six-part documentary television series on the life and the works of St. Paul. Ms. Armstrong teaches at the Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism and the Training of Rabbis and Teachers and is also an honorary member of the Association of Muslim Social Sciences.
Her published works include “Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World;” “Mohammed: A Biography of the Prophet;” “A History of God: The 4000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam;” “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths,” and that was actually the book that introduced me to Karen Armstrong, “The Battle for God, Islam: A Short History,” which you have a copy of in your gift bag. She’s also a regular contributor of reviews and articles to newspapers and journals. Needless to say, Ms. Armstrong’s presentation will reflect her own views as an independent scholar, and are not necessarily endorsed by any of the governments represented here.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming a great historian and an enlightenment visionary, Ms. Karen Armstrong.
(Applause.)
MS. KAREN ARMSTRONG: Thank you. It’s a great privilege to be with you tonight. These are, as you know, terrible times. We are afraid, our world has been shattered, it’s a time of great peril. I’ve been thinking in these days of that film, “A Man for all Seasons” about St. Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII, refused to take the oath of supremacy and was killed, was executed.
There’s a scene in that film where Paul Scofield, who’s playing Thomas More, speaks to his daughter and is trying to explain to his daughter why he is taking this apparently ruinous course. And she says, “There is a time when a man holds himself in his hands as though he were holding a cup full of water in his hands. And if he lets his hands fall and he loses himself at that moment, he will never find himself again.” And I feel that we are -- all of us are, of whatever creed, whatever our nationality, are at such a juncture. As the minister was saying, history will judge us on what we do now. And it’s also a crucial time for religion.
I realize that Washington is a great political town and that I am faced with a room full of highly political human beings. I’m not a political being, I’m a sort of student of religion, I spend my days studying world religion. And so my perspective will probably be a bit different, but I think it’s very important that we now start to think about the religious impulse itself, the religious dynamic itself. In the middle of the 20th century it was generally taken for granted that religion would be confined to the private sphere, the secularism was the coming ideology and that religion would never again play a major role in world events.
But in the second half of the 20th century, religion has come to the foreground again, and not all of it is good religion. Some of it is very bad religion indeed. But nevertheless, as I shall be saying later on in my talk, there are people all over the world who are demonstrating in one way or another that whatever the pundits think or whatever the intellectuals think they want to see religion reflected more clearly in their public life. And it’s very important that they live in a setting where the religion they come up with is healthy and good, and not one which it partakes of negativity, nihilism, despair and discouragement. This is a responsibility for us all.
So people want to be religious and what I’m going to talk to you tonight is about Islam. Originally I was asked if I would speak about the relations between Islam and Judaism and Christianity. But there were special requests coming through to the minister who said perhaps I could go a little more basic and give a more introductory talk about basic aspects of Islam. So I hope those of you who are knowledgeable will forgive me if what I’m saying is rather elementary.
But this is by way of an appeal. I am appealing to my fellow Westerners to not just tolerate Islam but to learn to appreciate it. It’s something that has happened to me over the years -- I’ve been studying Islam now for 20 years or so, among other religions, and it is the study of Islam and the study of Judaism which brought me back to a sense of what religion could be. It’s been very important in my own journey.
But this is an appeal. What I’m going to be talking about tonight is the ideal. And it is an appeal for Westerners to appreciate that ideal and see that it’s not just a question of putting up with Islam, but seeing that it’s good for the world if Muslims practice their religion well. It will benefit us all if Muslims practice their religion well. And it’s an appeal to Muslims too to remember these wonderful ideals and to let -- this is the Islam that the world needs right now, I think, the Islam that is tolerant and compassionate.
Every single major world religion has one essential criterion. Every single major world religion -- and here I don’t exclude the non-monotheistic faiths, such faiths as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism. They all insist that the one test of any religious idea or any religious practice is that it issues in practical compassion. The New Testament is full of that insight. I can have faith that moves mountains, but if I lack charity, says St. Paul, it’s worth nothing. And any religion that departs from this essential ideal of compassion and benevolence and takes refuge even in mean-minded carping of others has lost the thread, let alone anyone who kills in the name of religion.
So that is the criterion of all faiths. It’s the one on which all, in various ways have come to see is essential to religion, and it is that which also is very strongly enshrined in Islam.
Now, so what is Islam? How did it develop? As you know, it developed when the prophet Mohammed brought the Koran to the people of what is now Saudi Arabia, the people of Mecca in the Arabian Hijaz in the seventh century of the common era. At this point the people of Arabia felt they’d been left out of the divine plan. They knew that there were other world religions in the neighboring empires that were more advanced. They’d heard about Christianity and they’d heard about Judaism, but some of the Christians with whom they came in contact used to jeer at them and say that God hadn’t sent them a prophet and they hadn’t got a scripture in their own language.
There was great anomie and distress in the peninsula at this time and the Prophet, like we ourselves, was living in a very violent time. The tribes were caught up in an endless succession of war, vendetta and counter-vendetta, in an endless, ceaseless, pointless blood bath of raid, retaliation, active terror, retaliation, retaliation, counter-strike. And it was the Prophet, in his extraordinary career, who was able to bring peace to war-torn Arabia.
The isolation of the Arabs -- their feeling that they’d been left out off the religious map, ended in Ramadan in about the year 610 when Mohammed who’d been making a retreat on Mount Hiraa just outside Mecca, was wakened from sleep and felt himself enveloped in an overwhelming divine presence. He said it felt like an angel squeezing him. And he heard a voice saying, “Recite”. And he said, “No, I can’t. I’m not a reciter.” There were various soothsayers or fortunetellers who used to wander around jabbering incomprehensible oracles. And the Prophet did not want to be one of these kahin (ph), these soothsayers. He said, “I’m not a reciter.”
And he was enveloped again, “Recite!” And eventually when he felt he was at the end of his endurance he found the first words of a divinely inspired scripture pouring from his lips, and these were the first words of the Koran.
The Koran is for Muslims something of what Jesus is for Christians. The Koran is the word of God, as Jesus is the word of God, the revelation of God for Christians. And it is written in the most extraordinarily beautiful Arabic. It was a revelation. It was a moment when the word revelation means an unveiling, when a veil is torn away from before a reality that is always existed but we couldn’t see it clearly before, and it changes everything. I think September the 11th was a sort of revelation for us all that has changed the world and shown us things that we didn’t see clearly before.
The Prophet too had a revelation that night. But it’s very important that he never considered that he was now founding a new world religion called Islam to which everybody had to subscribe. The Prophet seems to have believed that he was bringing the religion of the one God to the Arabs who’d never had a prophet before. That this was the religion that God had sent to every single people upon the face of the earth. Every one had had a prophet. God had not left human beings without an understanding of the correct way to live.
And so this was now the Prophet’s scripture, the message to the Arabs. And Jews -- the Prophet did not expect Jews or Christians to convert to Islam unless they particularly wished to do so because they had received perfectly authentic revelations of their own. They were the Ahll Alkitab (ph) -- the people of the book. Or perhaps, as there weren’t many books in Arabia at this time, people who belonged to an earlier revelation. And so time and time again the Koran makes it clear that Mohammed and the Koran have not come to replace the great revelations made to Moses, to Jesus, to Abraham, that he is simply repeating to them the message that he has sent to human beings again and again.
What is this message? That humans beings must make a surrender -- that is the word Islam -- it means a surrender of their entire selves, body, heart, mind and soul to God. And they must also strive to create a just and decent society where all human beings are treated with justice and respect. Only in this kind of society can people make this existential surrender of their beings to God and it’s only when a society is run according to these lines that society will prosper.
The Koran constantly tells Muslims, “Be courteous to the people of the book. Say to them, ‘We believe that you believe. Your God and our God is one.’” So today there are Muslim scholars who say that had the Arabs and the Prophet known about the Buddhists and the Hindus, or the Australian Aborigines or the Native Americans, the Koran may well have praised these religious leaders too, because all rightly guided religion comes from God. The Koran constantly says it’s not teaching anything new. It’s simply as a reminder of things that everybody knows in their heart is true, that God created the world and that human beings must live according to this ethic of social justice. This is the way that humans -- then we become fully human. This is the way principles of human life -- and if we’re out of kilter with this, our society and we ourselves, will fail, will fall.
One of the first things the Prophet asked his converts to do was to pray originally three times a day, facing Jerusalem. They were at this point turning their backs upon the pagan practice of Mecca and reaching out to the holy city of the Jews and the Christians whose God they were now going to worship. Allah -- I know some people have asked about this and I know it sounds confusing that some people tend to imagine that Allah is the name of a separate God like Jupiter or Apollo, but the word Allah simply means God. And Allah was the high God of the old Arabian pagan pantheon. But there was a general move towards monotheism in the peninsula at this time and many of the Arabs had come to believe that Allah was also the God of the Jews and of the Christians, so much so that some of the Christian Arabs used to make the hajj to Mecca in honor of Allah alongside the pagans because they felt they were coming to the shrine of their God in this time.
So this act of prayer three times a day, this is originally -- and then later it would become five times a day. It was very hard for the Arabs who were a proud people who didn’t approve of kingship to grovel on the ground like a slave. But the Koran and Mohammed teaches that you have the characteristic posture of Muslim prayer which is a complete prostration. And which is designed, if done in the right spirit, day after day, to teach the human being at a level deeper than the purely rational and the purely cerebral what the act of surrender Islam to God entails. It means a laying aside of that prancing, posturing egotism which is the cause of so much of our problems and so much of our evil. When we ourselves feel in jeopardy, that’s when we tend to lash out and become violent or cruel, but to leave that posturing ego behind.
This is in line with all the teachings of all the great world sages that tell us that it is our egos, our selfishness, our greed, sense of self importance, what the Koran calls istakar (ph) -- self reliance, that holds us back from the sacred or from the divine. And there were other practices too that would later evolve. Islam is not a religion that goes in much for doctrines. It’s rather like Judaism in that respect. It is more a religion of practice. In fact the Koran has a slightly dim view of theological speculation which it sometimes calls zanar (ph), self indulgent guesswork, and it’s often outraged that people quarrel about these things that no one can prove one way or the other and split up the community of the one God into warrings and divisive sects.
But there are practices which if lived in a certain way will help people to make this surrender of their beings to God at the most profound level. These practices are to make the pilgrimage to Mecca -- which I’ll explain at some point in this evening why the prayers switched from Jerusalem to Mecca. It’s a very nice story and I hope I get to it in this sort of inevitably truncated talk.
So you make the pilgrimage to Mecca once in your lifetime, if your circumstances allow. You fast during Ramadan and make a kind of retreat, really. It’s a time of purification, prayer, reflection and also you remind yourself by, as a sort of side issue, that when you can’t eat or drink whenever you choose, that this is what the poor feel all the time. So that every Muslim knows at gut level what it is to be hungry, what it is to be poor. And this should lead to a greater compassion and sense of responsibility for the poorer members of society.
One must make the shahada (ph), the affirmation of faith that there is one God, Allah, and that Mohammed is his prophet, not the only prophet, but Mohammed was truly a prophet of God. And this is taken very seriously. The ideal, the Muslim ideal of towhid (ph), making one, is very much based on their profound sense of the unity of God. There’s one God, Allah. And a Muslim must order his or her life so that priorities are set in order that God comes first and you don’t make other things in your life into gods. It doesn’t just mean bowing down in front of an idol. It means putting money, or ambition, or your career, or a pure ideology like nationalism ahead of your commitment to God. And if you manage to prioritize in this way you will achieve the ideal. You will achieve an integration of the entire personality in your surrender that will give you intimations of the unity which is God itself.
So these five pillars: prayer, fasting in Ramadan, declaring the unity of God, making the pilgrimage, and -- have I left one out? And five -- I must have mentioned them all by this time. This -- zakat (ph), indeed very, very important. Alms giving. Every Muslim must give from his or her income every year to the poor, so that the idea is that this is built into your everyday life. It’s not just dependant upon a generous whim, but it’s a regular commitment to the poor.
And the religion was originally -- one of the names for the religion was originally tazartrar (ph), a word that seems to have been related to zakat, that means by giving of yourself generously you will develop a courtesy and generosity and, as it were, chivalry of spirit that will lead you closer to the divine.
Well, it all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? So what about Jihad, then? What about the Jihad that we’ve been hearing so much about in recent weeks? Well, I said that the Prophet was living at a very, very violent time and he came by preaching this message of social justice and preaching this monotheistic message. He came into conflict with the people of Mecca and was soon engaged in an all out war with Mecca, especially after he’d abandoned -- he’d made the hegira from Mecca to Medina, abandoned his tribe apparently, a sacrilegious thing to do at this time when this tribe was a sacred value in pre-Islamic Arabia, and to leave your tribe and take up your abode, throw in your lot with people with whom you had no blood link was unthought of and it was absolutely shocking.
And the Meccans came after him, this was an all out war. Arab chieftains didn’t hang around in the pre-Islamic period, and if they won a battle they were not expected to leave survivors. And so Mohammed and his Muslims were fighting for their lives, and for about three or four years faced the prospect of extermination.
Now, therefore in the course, some of the revelations that came to the Prophet at this time are concerned with the conduct of armed conflict, conduct on the battlefield. And the Koran develops a theory of the just war, very similar to our Western ideal of a just war. Aggressive warfare is always wrong. A Muslim must not take the initiative in warfare. The only war that is permissible is a war of self-defense. War is always an awesome evil, says the Koran. But sometimes -- it’s not a pacifist religion -- sometimes it might be necessary to fight to prevent yourself from being wiped out or to fight against the kind of injustice and persecution that the Muslims had suffered at the hands of Mecca and to preserve decent values in rather the same way as the Allies in World War II felt it was necessary to fight against Hitler who was threatening to obliterate what we knew as civilization.
So the Prophet was engaged in this defensive Jihad, but the word Jihad does not originally primarily mean holy war. Its primary meaning is struggle, effort. Muslims are enjoined to make an effort, a struggle, a mighty endeavor on all fronts, intellectual, spiritual, social, ethical, and sometimes it might be necessary to engage in a war. And the spirit of this Jihad of this is very well encapsulated in an important and oft quoted hadith (ph), tradition or maxim uttered by the Prophet Mohammed, who, while returning from a battle, he said to his followers, “We are returning from the lesser Jihad, that is the battle, and going towards the greater Jihad, that is the much more important, definitive and decisive effort to reform our own society and our own hearts and make our own society and our own deeper inner selves pliant to God’s will.”
So that was the ideal. Now, there were some -- as there always are in war -- there were some dreadful incidents. And in the course of this warfare with Mecca, the Prophet came into conflict with three of the Jewish tribes in Medina, who were siding with Mecca and wanted a once -- were plotting with Mecca and at one point going to open their gates, the gates of the city, to the Meccans. And there were expulsions and there was killing. But after this the Jews, the other Jews in Medina were still considered part of the Muslim uma, the Muslim community. And there was no -- and the Koran continues to abjure Christians, to treat -- speak with great courtesy to the people of the book.
Now, after the death of the Prophet, Muslims engaged, as you know, in sort of vast wars of conquest, but it would be quite wrong to imagine the Muslim hordes pouring out of Arabia, imperiled by some ferocious thing called Islam, and determined to conquer the world. These were rather secular wars, the Muslims were setting up a state, and wherever a state is set up, even here in the Americas, there were wars when the Europeans arrived here and there was a struggle to set up, bit by bit, what would eventually became the United States.
But the Muslims were not -- the first 100 years of Muslim history, the conversion of non-Arabs to Islam was not generally encouraged. You could do it if you wished, but it was generally considered, for example, that Islam was a religion for the Arabs. It was the religion that had been sent to -- given to them, just as the Judaism was a religion for the sons of Jacob. Later that changed and people converted because they wanted to convert, but the spirit of Islam is, I think, shown very clearly in the conquest of Jerusalem, one of the hot issues today at the heart of so much of the distress, of the conflict that exists between us all.
The Muslim armies arrived in Jerusalem and conquered the city in 638, that’s something like six years after the Prophet’s death. And the Caliph Omar, the Prophet’s successor, the second Caliph, was escorted around the city by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Sophronius (ph). And he was taken round all the great churches, and he was in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the main church of the Muslim -- of the Christians in -- where Jesus is believed to have been crucified at the site of his tomb and resurrection. He was standing beside the tomb when the hour for Muslim prayer came around, and the Patriarch asked, invited Omar to make his prayer right there beside the tomb in the church, and Omar said no.
And he went outside the church and knelt in the thoroughfare, the main street of Jerusalem, the main road outside, and made his prostrations there, facing Mecca. And he said, he explained afterwards that if he had prayed in the Holy Sepulcher church, some later Muslims, in a thoroughly misguided spirit of zeal, might have wanted to turn this church into a mosque to celebrate the first Islamic prayer in Jerusalem. And it was of crucial importance that the Christians kept their holy places intact, and there and then Omar signed a charter to say that the Christians must keep their holy places intact.
Then the Caliph asked, “Where is the temple?” The Muslims, at this point, called Jerusalem Bayt al-Maqdis (ph), the city of the temple. They’d heard about the great mosque that King Solomon had built, they knew that this had been a very important place for the children of Israel, for Jesus indeed, who is of -- the devotion to Jerusalem is -- the Muslim devotion to Jerusalem is very much bound up with Jesus and his presence in the city. And so this is the Bayt al-Maqdis, so where is the temple?
Well, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch looked shifty, I think, at this point, because the Christian sources say that he tried to palm off various churches, modern churches, as the temple. Because what had happened was that the Romans, in the year 70 of the common era, had destroyed the temple, and the Christians had left these ruins unreclaimed. It was a very important part of Christian Jerusalem that the ruins of the temple remain and the Christians could contemplate these ruins and say this is the symbol of our defeat of Judaism. And in recent decades the Christians had taken to using the temple, the Temple Mount, as the city garbage dump.
So eventually there was no way out. The Caliph said, “I want to see the temple.” And he was led up there or had to climb on their hands and knees, up to this appalling place of desolation, covered in burns and broken masonry and stinking rubbish. And the Caliph was appalled and he immediately began to clear the site putting the rubbish into his cloak and throwing it over the parapet into the vale --
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The State of The Nation.....
In the 60's Ghani Minhat and his boys used to run circles round the mighty Koreans and the Burmese defence. In the 70's, Soh Chin Aun, Dali Omar, and Mokhtar Dahari made people like Kamamoto of Japan looked like tortoise. Now Malaysian football is relegated to Cambodia class. Even the lowly Phillipines, who was 'every nation's 'lubok' in the 60's', may be able to beat us somedays.
Away from football, the Koreans and Japanese are now million miles apart from us. When the Korean Foreign Minister today sent in his resignation for alledged nepotism in giving his daughter a junior level job in his ministry, we Malaysians have to salute them. They indeed have reach that level of sophistication in nation building akin to being First World. Compare that with yesterday's local news in The Star:
"Tun Ling happy Tun M going to speak for him in court!".
With a photo to fit,showing him, accompanied by son and bodyguard, beaming from ear to ear. Are We Malaysians going to have to bear with yet another long series of nauseating window dressing and drama in court, ending probably with an inconclusive, open ended story: No one at fault..Just the system!
Was it Ku Li who two years ago said that had it not been for the long suffering, ordinary Malaysians, our politicians would have long time ago driven Malaysia into the gutter? Sounds too good for him to say that. I might be wrong about him. I think it could well be Zaid Ibrahim.
We are indeed already in the gutter in 2010!
Away from football, the Koreans and Japanese are now million miles apart from us. When the Korean Foreign Minister today sent in his resignation for alledged nepotism in giving his daughter a junior level job in his ministry, we Malaysians have to salute them. They indeed have reach that level of sophistication in nation building akin to being First World. Compare that with yesterday's local news in The Star:
"Tun Ling happy Tun M going to speak for him in court!".
With a photo to fit,showing him, accompanied by son and bodyguard, beaming from ear to ear. Are We Malaysians going to have to bear with yet another long series of nauseating window dressing and drama in court, ending probably with an inconclusive, open ended story: No one at fault..Just the system!
Was it Ku Li who two years ago said that had it not been for the long suffering, ordinary Malaysians, our politicians would have long time ago driven Malaysia into the gutter? Sounds too good for him to say that. I might be wrong about him. I think it could well be Zaid Ibrahim.
We are indeed already in the gutter in 2010!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tony Blair on... ' A Journey'
Tony Blair's memoir's initially preposterously titled 'The Journey', then changed to 'A Journey'.What can one say of a man who called his loyal deputy and successor, "zero in emotional quotient"?
He is just a bloody war criminal.....
He and Bush should be tried at The Hague for atrocities against humanity....fullstop.
1 million Iraqis dead
0.5 million Iraqi women being made widows
5 million Iraqi children orphaned
Total dismemberment of Iraq's social, cultural, infra structural services.
People living in shit and no food,no decent jobs, no future and no dignity.
A total human mess.....
And this fellow dare to speak elegantly about the morality and immorality of fox-hunting in Britain.
Thanks to these two clowns, most of the Muslim world have been permanently radicalised since Iraq.
Both Blair and Bush make Saddam Hussien looked so sweet, he could well be nominated for The Nobel Peace prize: at least the people of Iraq were kept well away from each other's throats when he was in charge.....at the price of a couple thousands Kurds and Shiites. Small price compared to the one exacted by Blair and Bush.
Seven years on post 'War of Enduring Freedom' and the tempest is still not abetting.
Now the whole circus will move down to Iran.
Why the member states of OIC still remain poodles to the Israeli-driven UN Security Council and signatory to the Non Proliferation treaty is a mystery.
And 'schizophrenic' Blair, is still loose, plying his trade in the Middle East!.....As for Bush, probably back to his alcohol in Texas.
This is the ultimate in the immorality of political correctness.
Dr Nik Howk
He is just a bloody war criminal.....
He and Bush should be tried at The Hague for atrocities against humanity....fullstop.
1 million Iraqis dead
0.5 million Iraqi women being made widows
5 million Iraqi children orphaned
Total dismemberment of Iraq's social, cultural, infra structural services.
People living in shit and no food,no decent jobs, no future and no dignity.
A total human mess.....
And this fellow dare to speak elegantly about the morality and immorality of fox-hunting in Britain.
Thanks to these two clowns, most of the Muslim world have been permanently radicalised since Iraq.
Both Blair and Bush make Saddam Hussien looked so sweet, he could well be nominated for The Nobel Peace prize: at least the people of Iraq were kept well away from each other's throats when he was in charge.....at the price of a couple thousands Kurds and Shiites. Small price compared to the one exacted by Blair and Bush.
Seven years on post 'War of Enduring Freedom' and the tempest is still not abetting.
Now the whole circus will move down to Iran.
Why the member states of OIC still remain poodles to the Israeli-driven UN Security Council and signatory to the Non Proliferation treaty is a mystery.
And 'schizophrenic' Blair, is still loose, plying his trade in the Middle East!.....As for Bush, probably back to his alcohol in Texas.
This is the ultimate in the immorality of political correctness.
Dr Nik Howk
Issues in Islamic Banking.....Syed Akbar Ali, Dr Rosli Yaakub et al...
Subject: Islamic Banking
by Syed Akbar Ali
I recently attended a talk on “Contemporary Islamic Finance”. The speaker was a young man with
a PhD in Islamic Banking and Finance (UK). He was from an outfit linked to INCEIF ( International Center for Education in Islamic Finance).
Islamic banking or Islamic finance exists because the religious folks have succesfully inculcated the idea that bank interest is riba and therefore haram. The Quran states clearly that riba is haram but nowhere can we derive the injunction that bank interest is riba. The two are not the same.
Anyway the religious folks have created ‘islamic finance’ and ‘islamic banking’. To cut a long story short there really is no such thing. Islamic finance and Islamic banking are just arabised versions of conventional banking. There is nothing islamic about it. Neither is there anything un-islamic about conventional banking either.
If you take a housing loan from a conventional “haram” bank you pay a monthly instalment. If you dont pay, the bank will auction your property. If you go to an ‘islamic bank’ you still have to pay monthly instalments which can be more expensive than the conventional bank. If you dont pay your instalment, the islamic bank will still auction your property too. What is so islamic or unislamic about that?
The conventional ‘haram’ bank will charge you interest say 10% a year. The ‘islamic bank’ charges you what they call a ‘profit rate’ which will also be 10% or more a year. Kira-kira semua sama, tapi ini halal, itu haram. This is called pulling the wool over peoples’ eyes.
Talking about the pricing of his Islamic banking products, the young man with the PhD in Islamic banking made no bones about it. He said it quite loudly and clearly ‘we want to be the same as the market’.
I discovered this islamic banking trick years ago when we were handling the earliest stages of Islamic banking in Malaysia . At that time we called it an ‘Islamic window’ – Maybank did not yet have a full fledged Islamic banking license. But three months Islamic Bankers Acceptances (IABs) were priced exactly the same as three months conventional BAs. And so on. Tak ada beza pun.
A colleague who wore a kopiah to work had volunteered to go and work in the Islamic banking part of the bank. After a while he became even more confused. He said the calculations were all the same. In Islamic banking you add an ‘Al’ prefix to everything. Al Wadiah, Al Murabahah, Al Mudharabah, Al this and Al that. Other than the ‘Al’ its all the same.
Then the speaker dropped a bombshell. There is a famous case where an Islamic bank was suing a borrower for non payment of a housing “loan”. According to Islamic banking the bank does not give you a “loan”. The bank first buys the house from you at the market price. Then it sells the house back to you at a higher price over the period of the “loan” say 10 years, 15 years etc. Its just a deferred payment scheme with a ‘profit rate’ factored in.
The Islamic bank determines the selling price by compounding the “profit rate” (say 10% - copycatting the conventional banking system - ‘we want to be the same as the market’) for 10 years or 15 years. For those of you who have financial calculators (and if I still remember my financial computations), this is just the Future Value (FV) of an annuity at 10% starting with Present Value (PV) being the price of the house today and going forward 10 years, 15 years, 20 years etc. The Casio calculator will give you the ‘islamic’ answer in seconds. Does that make Casio ‘islamic’ too?
In a conventional ‘haram’ bank, if you default on your 20 year housing loan say after just three years, the conventional bank will ask you to pay back the principal amount of the loan plus 10% interest compounded for three years. The islamic bank cannot do that. The islamic bank will ask you to pay the full selling price of the house (based on 10% for 20 years) – even though you defaulted only after three years.
This is what the Islamic bank was claiming. However the very wise judge of the High Court Abdul Wahab Patail, the brother of our present AG, made a landmark decision. He ruled that the Islamic bank cannot charge the borrower the full amount for the full tenure of the “loan” when the borrower had defaulted just a few years into the “loan”.
This decision by Justice Abdul Wahab Patail still stands until today and it has not been overturned. It also destroys a huge chunk of Islamic banking because the Judge has essentially ruled that the islamic banking system in Malaysia is actually unjust. It is worse than riba.
So how does INCEIF and the Islamic bankers handle this situation? This is where the speaker dropped the bombshell – and with a great big smile too. He said “the Muslims dont know” about Justice Abdul Wahab Patail’s decision. Well dear Muslims, I hope that now you know. Please do spread the word quickly.
The speaker said that ‘Islamic banking can still go on in our country because the Muslims dont know the decision by Abdul Wahab Patail’. In other words the islamic bankers are not going to tell the Muslim borrowers either. They will keep it quiet. Shhhhh ! ! And this is Islamic?
Then I learned something else too. While the speaker was talking about murabahah (one method of islamic financing), the Chairman at the talk was getting quite agitated. The Chairman was a foreigner from the Middle East and is an internationally acclaimed Islamic scholar himself. Suddenly he interrupted the speaker and made a clarification. He said that according to the Hanafi madhab (I think he is a Hanafi) murabahah was riba. Meaning murabahah was haram.
He then said that the Islamic banking practised in Malaysia was according to the Shafie madhab. Madhab means sect. Only then did it dawn upon me that in Malaysia we dont have generic islamic banking. It is “Shafie banking”, according to the Shafie madhab.
A Muslim friend with a PhD from Cambridge later explained that this is partly the reason why there cannot be an “international Islamic capital market”. One madhab’s murabahah is another madhab’s riba. One madhab’s al bai al bithaman ajil is another madhab’s riba also.
When a borrower defaults (or prepays) a 20 year housing “loan” say after just three years, the islamic bank can do what is called ‘ibrar’. (In the old days they called it muqassa – I dont know why the change). ‘Ibrar’ means to refund the balance owing but not yet due. In other words ‘buah belum masak lu jangan kira lah’. But there is no fixed or detailed idea about ‘ibrar’ among the islamic bankers.
So defaulting borrowers have no choice but to fight it out in the Courts with the Islamic banks. The speaker said that todate there are 3,500 unresolved cases of islamic banking BBA housing loans (Al Bai Al Bithaman Ajil) being disputed at the Courts in KL. And one judge, a Dato Rohana, has been assigned to handle all these cases. Well good luck Justice Dato Rohana. She will become an expert in Al Bai Al Bithaman Ajil calculations – maybe faster than Casio.
If it is a conventional housing loan, all these 3500 cases can be resolved by a Casio calculator. (Ya Allah, why do the Muslims like to create all these strange things and end up tying themselves in knots?)
During the talk, the speaker put up a slide that had the arabic word ‘zulm’. Zulm in Malay is zalim, meaning oppressive. The meaning was that Islamic banking should not be zalim or oppressive like the ‘conventional’ banking system with its interest based practises.
But how is the islamic bank less oppressive than the conventional bank? You charge the same rates – quite unashamedly saying ‘want to be the same as the market’. The terms and conditions are the same except when the ‘loan’ turns bad. Then the islamic bank can become worse than Shylock the Jewish moneylender. They want their pound of flesh. And the conventional bank is still ‘haram’?
There is another danger lurking. Talk is some ignorant do gooders are thinking of legislation where Muslims will be barred from using the conventional banking system. They can only go to the Islamic banking system. That is how we end up in the Club of Doom.
Note: If a loan is defaulted in Islamic banking, the outsanding amount you have to pay is far worse than borrowing from a chettiar.
........................
Dr Nik
I do not know very much this chap Syed Akbar Ali. He is either addressing a very secular audience or his outlook on Islam could well be termed 'liberal'. On other issues at least that I have read him before, he sounds like a 'Liberal Islamist' , a new animal on the block. I define 'Liberal Islam' as fashionable,populist and playing to the gallery but empty up there 'spiritually', not steeped in 'tradition' and the 'hukum hakam' of things. But yet, here Syed Akbar Ali has got some truth: for sometime now the perception is that 'Islamic banking is not Islamic'.
Personally I got the wrong end of the stick from Islamic banking some 10 years back. I took a' business loan' from Bank Islam under the 'Al Bai Al Bathiman Ajil' concept to buy a shoplot for investment. The investment turned sour and after 7 years for diligently paying the 'loan' I could not sustain the property. I sold the shoplot at cost price[ economy was bad then]. And Bank Islam , after 7 years of payment the residual was still about 80 % of the initial loan that I took. I was not aware at that time there were a backlog of court cases contesting the validity and fairness of the system.Otherwise I would have easily be persuaded to joining the bandwagon of 'defaulters'. I gentlemanly paid Bank Islam the sum asked.....Now that Akbar Ali has brought up the issue of court cases pending, that has left a 'lump' in my throat......
I could have join the bandwagon of people looking for justice from an 'unjust' situation... I assume wrongly that Bank Islam had done their sum from the perspective of 'fairness and justice' diligently!
........................................
Encik Zahar,
retired Islamic banker with Standard Chartered
old MCKK form mate to yours truly.
Doc Nik, under the al-bai' bithaman ajil concept the bank buys the prop from the seller/developer on your behalf, say RM100k and sells to you at a price, cost plus profit (as in a trading transaction as trading is allowed in Islam). The profit that the bank makes in selling the prop to you takes into account the period u take to pay back the bank in monthly instalments. If the prevailing housing loan rate is 10%, the bank would sell at RM110k if you take 1 year loan.The transaction is sealed in an akad whereby u agree to buy the prop from the bank at rm110k . Jadi kalau u decide to settle your loan in full 1 month after u take the loan the bank kata u kene bayar ikut akad yang u dah buat, rm110k
I was specifically asked on this issue by a potential customer, a non-Muslim, (at that time there was a pending court case involving BI). I asked the customer, if I insist on full selling price, withoit giving rebate, if u decide for early settlement, am I fair to you? He said .'No'. I told him Muslims decide to introduce Islamic banking because there is no fairness in conventional banking which incorporates riba. Islam demands fairness in all dealings. So, if I insist on something not fair and worse than conventional banking then I am not adhering to Islamic teachings apart from my religion being viewed as devoid of fairness. The customer straight away decided to take our loan but what I couldnt assure him was what would happen if I was no loner in the bank. I used to argue with my mat salleh bosses who obviously expected me to 'lebih kurang' in order to maximise profit for the bank. I told them I would be accountable in the world hereafter and hence could not expect me to compromise.
I think BI put more emphasis on fulfilment of the akad (perhaps with opportunity for higher profit), instead of the fundamental Islamic teaching that we must be fair in our dealings with human beings. Macam mana nak kata Islam itu adil?
Salam
..................................
Dr Nik Isahak
Zahar, despite the bitter experience, I will still do Islamic banking, if I have to borrow. Hanya terkilan saja that 'they did not do proper due diligence' to safeguard ignoramus like me who just play by the rules! Thinking that there is more justice and fairness and compassion in anything Islamic...
That is a lot of money, at my level, I lost due to 'poor due diligence on their part with respect to people wanting to sell or settle midway'. I went in blindly and in good faith.
My lawyer friend did inform me at that time of the avenue for a lawsuit, but the sale had already gone thru and I could no longer stand the excessive 'bleeding' monthly as a result of holding the property which did not bring any income. I did ask the bank to share 'in the loss'. They say they will go bankrupt if they subscribe to that. They only share in the profit not loss! Mashaallah!
Rasa pedih lagi hati di bulan puasa ini. To be let down by a system which appear Islamic and just.....Dulu benda ini dah lupa but when Tuan Syed brought it up, I am now having some heartburn...
But let us hear what Dr Rosli, a one time Senior Bank Negara specialist on the subject, has to say, to be fair.We have to start somewhere, I am sure with time and experience Islamic banking will improve, and all the groans and complaint we have now we have to put aside as necessary price or 'tuition fees' as we fine tune Islamic banking.The whole world will warm to it in due time....we just have to give time
...............................
Dr Rosli Yaakob
One time Senior Bank Negara specialist on Islamic banking
Currently 'Tabung Haji Chairman', Bangladesh
[ He introduced the concept of TH to Bangladesh.]
??? Future Finance Minister, If the present NTR Government got displaced in the next 'Erection'
Yang Berbahagia Dr. Nik Isahak. Your comments on Islamic banking lures me into giving you some response.
First, it must be known that in a secular system of government where Islamic law is not practiced and in the absence of Islamic currency system (Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham), there can never be a true Islamic banking. We have only "Semi-Islamic Banking" at best. For full Islamic banking, we shall have to wait for the day when Islamic State is reestablished and Islamic currency system restored. That could be in the era of Imam Mahdi. Who can tell? Only Allah knows.
Islam requires us Muslims, first, to ensure that not only activities we carry out are halal but the financing modes used to finance those activities are also halal. Second, Islam requires an Islamic bank and its clients to share risks and rewards (profit and loss). Hence, a case where a client puts his money in the bank and earns a fixed income on that money regardless of whether the bank is making profit or incurring loss is unthinkable in Islamic banking and finance. The reverse also holds – an Islamic bank cannot expect to earn a fixed income from the financing facility it extended to a client regardless of whether that client is making profit or not. Third, an Islamic banker ought to be a practicing Muslim. For example, it is unthinkable that a Muslim is an Islamic banker during the day but a drinker during the night.
Many Islamic banks and their clients were already guilty for not willing to share losses. They were only willing to share profits. This is the main flaw of Islamic banking today.
Second, those who say that Islam does not allow one to do business by borrowing money are misguided. Allah allows borrowing for any legitimate purpose so long as no interest (additional money, predetermined, that is, in percentage or in absolute amount) is added to the principal at the time the lending-borrowing agreement was made.
Allah however, allows the borrower, when he returns the money to the lender, to add whatever he likes to the principal sum without the lender asking for it. This voluntarily given additional sum is called hiba (voluntary gift). It is perfectly legitimate. Our Prophet SAW, as reported in many Traditions, always returned things that he borrowed with gifts added. He encouraged others to do the same. It must also be known that he strongly discouraged borrowing. In his supplications, he always asked Allah to free him of debts.
In reality, as banks are profit-seeking entity, lending money on hope that people will give them gift can never be their core business. If this is the case, the banks “will open today and close tomorrow.” But, a bank that is established solely for welfare purposes can do this. Such a bank is called in Islam Qardul Hasan Bank. Those who borrow money from this bank must return the principal at the agreed upon time with or without hiba. Majority of scholars agreed that a reasonable service charge can be imposed on Qardul Hasan loans. Profit-motivated Islamic banks can always set aside part of their resources for extension of Qardul hasan loans to deserving clients.
Third, though musharaka should be on the top of the list of Islamic financing modes, Islam does allow trade-based modes of financing such as ijarah or lease transaction. If for example, a businessman needs a machine for his food processing factory, he can enter into an agreement with a bank whereby the bank buys the machine and leases it to that businessman for an agreed rent (in percentage or in absolute amount) over an agreed period. At the end of the period, the machine is returned to the bank.
If the businessman is also interested to own the machine at the end of the period, he can pay the purchase price of the machine in installment. In this case, his monthly repayment will comprise two elements - rent and payment for gradual ownership transfer. This is called in Islam as Ijarah wa Iqtina and it is perfectly legitimate. Alternatively, he can also pay the market price of the machine at the end of the tenure to own the machine. This is the oldest Islamic banking instrument history ever recorded and because of its simplicity, it is widely used by Islamic banks all over the world today.
Fourth, Islam allows Bai Murabaha or cost-plus sale, that is, seller adds a profit mark-up to the cost of the good he sells. This is also a trade-based mode of financing. A seller can disclose the true cost of the product and additional sum he adds to it to the buyer. If the buyer agrees, then a selling-buying transaction is concluded and payment settled on the spot. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction.
There is no necessity for the seller to disclose the true cost of his product. He just discloses the final price (cost and profit added) and it is up to the buyer to buy it or not. This is a common practice these days. Shops display their products with price tags and it is entirely up to the buyers’ choice to buy or not to buy.
There is also a practice where shops display their products without price tags. When a buyer comes to buy a particular product, the shopkeeper offers an opening price. After some bargaining, they agreed on a certain price and a selling-buying transaction is concluded. Only the shopkeeper and Allah know the true cost of the product sold and the profit portion thereof charged by the seller. The profit, big or small, is perfectly legitimate. When our Prophet SAW was assigned by Hazrat Khadijah to sell products on her behalf in faraway market places, we were told by many Traditions that he always returned with hefty profits, more than she herself or her other traders earned. He SAW disclosed the price and after some bargaining (or perhaps, buyers did not bargain at all), the products were all sold. Hefty profit means at least a double-digit profit and it is perfectly legitimate.
Bai Murabaha is a cash transaction, that is, payment is settled on the spot. Or, even if deferred payment is allowed, the spot and deferred prices are the same as the deferred period is normally short, never goes beyond one year. This mode of Shariah financing is mostly applicable for purchase of small items. Purchase of big-ticket items such as houses, cars, trucks, ships, airplanes and so on normally requires installment payments over a much longer period. How does an Islamic bank handle this? In this case, modes of financing such as Ijarah and Musharaka Mutanaqisa are more appropriate.
Fifth, Islam allows Bai Muajjal mode of financing, that is, deferred payment transaction – “buy now pay later” either in installments (monthly, quarterly or yearly) over an agreed upon period of time or in one bullet payment at an agreedupon date in future. This mode of financing can be best explained by way of an example.
A client (a doctor) comes to an Islamic bank to apply for financing to buy a brand-new E200 Mercedes Benz. The price is RM250,000. After doing the necessary credit evaluation (financing evaluation), the bank agrees to finance the purchase and let say, for simplicity, 100% of the purchase price for a tenure of 3 years. The banks adds a profit mark-up of RM50,000 to the cost price and the client agrees to it. The bank and client also agree that the repayment of the principal amount and profit shall be in 36 equal monthly installments, that is RM8, 333 per month. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction. The issue here is: How do we fix the profit rate? This is where scholars have different views. Some say, in calculating the profit, we can be guided by the prevailing rental rates charged by car rental companies while some others allow reference to be made to prevailing interest rates such as London Inter-bank Offered Rates (LIBOR) or Kuala Lumpur Inter-bank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) or any other interest rate indicators. However, it must be pointed out here that majority of scholars, either rejected the latter outright or strongly discouraged it. It is always better to use car rental rates if data on such is available.
If the client concerned feels that the profit charged by the bank is more or less similar the amount of rent that he has to pay to a car rental company if he were to rent the car for three years, then there no injustice inflicted on him from the transaction. Further, if he were to wait for his saving to accumulate, perhaps, he will only be able to buy the car after three years. By then, the price of the same car could have gone up, by how much, one can only guess. He could also save some money if he can settle the financing earlier as most Islamic banks normally give rebate for early settlements.
Another issue normally associated with Bai Muajjal mode of financing is: Can the amount of profit charged by Islamic banks vary with time? Put it differently: Can the profit be higher the longer the tenure of the financing? Majority of scholars view that relating profit to time is riba. Hence, a more careful Islamic banker would normally limit Bai Muajjal financing to tenure not longer than one year so that spot price and deferred price of the transaction can remain the same. If Islamic bank buys a television set from a dealer at RM1, 000 and sells the same to a client at RM1200, this price will not change whether the client settles the purchase price on the spot or in one bullet payment after one year or in twelve equal monthly installments. The practice in Malaysia is Islamic banks allow profit to increase with increase in tenure. That is why the Malaysian version of Bai Muajjal (Al Bai Bithaman Ajil it is called) is not accepted in the Middle East.
For financing facilities which require longer term settlement, other modes of financing such as Ijarah wa Iqtina (as explained earlier) and Musharahaka Mutanaqisa (explained below) are more appropriate.
Sixth, Islam allows financing under the mode of Musharaka Mutanaqisa or decreasing ownership, that is, over time, the ownership of the financier of the financed item become less and less while that of the client more and more. Again, we explain this with an example.
A client comes to apply for a financing to purchase a brand-new RM300, 000 condominium. After being satisfied with his creditworthiness, the bank agrees to grant him a Musharaka Mutanaqisa facility to finance, for simplicity, 100% of the purchase price of the condominium on the condition that the client must pay back the financing in five equal installments, that is, RM60,000 per installment.
As the acceptable rental rate for this particular condominium is RM3,000 per month, the client and bank agree that the monthly rental rate of RM3,000 be fixed for the property over the tenure of the facility. Of course, rent may increase or decrease during the period but it is agreed that the rental rate so fixed will remain over the period.
As the ownership of the client over the financed property increases over the period and that of the bank decreases, the portion of the rental income going to client also increases over time and that of the bank increases. The following Table shows this clearly.
Example: Musharaka Mutanaqisa Financing
Financing Balance Ownership of Bank (%)
Ownership of Client (%) Monthly Rent due to Bank (RM) Monthly Rent due to Client (RM) Total Monthly Repayment by Client (RM)
Period 0 300,000 100 0 3,000 0 63,000
Period 1 240,000 80 20 2,400 600 62,400
Period 2 180,000 60 40 1,800 1,200 61,800
Period 3 120,000 40 60 1,200 1,800 61,200
Period 4 60,000 20 80 600 2,400 60,600
Period 5 0 0 100 0 3,000
1. Repayment of Purchase Price of the condominium is RM60,000 per period (RM300,000/5 = RM60,000).
2. Client pays less and less every period as his ownership of the property increases, portion of the rent due to bank decreases.
Scholars are in agreement on this mode of Shariah financing. However, disagreement still exists on how the rental rate can be best fixed. The difficulty arises in fixing the rental rates due to lack of reliable statistics on rents and in some Islamic countries the authorities do not collect such statistics on consistent basis. Further, rental rates are variable from location to location. For example, in Kuala Lumpur alone, rents are different from place to place. Let alone rents for the whole country.
If the client concerned feels that the rent charged by the bank is more or less the amount of rent that he has to pay to the owner of the condominium if he were to rent the condominium, then there is no injustice inflicted on him from the transaction. Further, if he were to wait for his saving to accumulate, perhaps, he will not be able to buy the condominium in a foreseeable future. By then, the price of the same condominium could have gone up, by how much, one can only guess. He could also save some money if he can settle the financing earlier as mostly Islamic banks normally give rebate for early settlements.
Islamic scholars are unanimous in saying that Islamic banking should be a musharaka banking. But, given the state of akhlak of the Muslims today, the implementation of musharaka banking will have to wait. For the time being, Islamic banks focus on those simpler modes of financing and ensure that the practice is in total adherence to the Shariah.
Dr Rosli Yaakub
Gulshan 1, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Sunday, 14 August 2010
by Syed Akbar Ali
I recently attended a talk on “Contemporary Islamic Finance”. The speaker was a young man with
a PhD in Islamic Banking and Finance (UK). He was from an outfit linked to INCEIF ( International Center for Education in Islamic Finance).
Islamic banking or Islamic finance exists because the religious folks have succesfully inculcated the idea that bank interest is riba and therefore haram. The Quran states clearly that riba is haram but nowhere can we derive the injunction that bank interest is riba. The two are not the same.
Anyway the religious folks have created ‘islamic finance’ and ‘islamic banking’. To cut a long story short there really is no such thing. Islamic finance and Islamic banking are just arabised versions of conventional banking. There is nothing islamic about it. Neither is there anything un-islamic about conventional banking either.
If you take a housing loan from a conventional “haram” bank you pay a monthly instalment. If you dont pay, the bank will auction your property. If you go to an ‘islamic bank’ you still have to pay monthly instalments which can be more expensive than the conventional bank. If you dont pay your instalment, the islamic bank will still auction your property too. What is so islamic or unislamic about that?
The conventional ‘haram’ bank will charge you interest say 10% a year. The ‘islamic bank’ charges you what they call a ‘profit rate’ which will also be 10% or more a year. Kira-kira semua sama, tapi ini halal, itu haram. This is called pulling the wool over peoples’ eyes.
Talking about the pricing of his Islamic banking products, the young man with the PhD in Islamic banking made no bones about it. He said it quite loudly and clearly ‘we want to be the same as the market’.
I discovered this islamic banking trick years ago when we were handling the earliest stages of Islamic banking in Malaysia . At that time we called it an ‘Islamic window’ – Maybank did not yet have a full fledged Islamic banking license. But three months Islamic Bankers Acceptances (IABs) were priced exactly the same as three months conventional BAs. And so on. Tak ada beza pun.
A colleague who wore a kopiah to work had volunteered to go and work in the Islamic banking part of the bank. After a while he became even more confused. He said the calculations were all the same. In Islamic banking you add an ‘Al’ prefix to everything. Al Wadiah, Al Murabahah, Al Mudharabah, Al this and Al that. Other than the ‘Al’ its all the same.
Then the speaker dropped a bombshell. There is a famous case where an Islamic bank was suing a borrower for non payment of a housing “loan”. According to Islamic banking the bank does not give you a “loan”. The bank first buys the house from you at the market price. Then it sells the house back to you at a higher price over the period of the “loan” say 10 years, 15 years etc. Its just a deferred payment scheme with a ‘profit rate’ factored in.
The Islamic bank determines the selling price by compounding the “profit rate” (say 10% - copycatting the conventional banking system - ‘we want to be the same as the market’) for 10 years or 15 years. For those of you who have financial calculators (and if I still remember my financial computations), this is just the Future Value (FV) of an annuity at 10% starting with Present Value (PV) being the price of the house today and going forward 10 years, 15 years, 20 years etc. The Casio calculator will give you the ‘islamic’ answer in seconds. Does that make Casio ‘islamic’ too?
In a conventional ‘haram’ bank, if you default on your 20 year housing loan say after just three years, the conventional bank will ask you to pay back the principal amount of the loan plus 10% interest compounded for three years. The islamic bank cannot do that. The islamic bank will ask you to pay the full selling price of the house (based on 10% for 20 years) – even though you defaulted only after three years.
This is what the Islamic bank was claiming. However the very wise judge of the High Court Abdul Wahab Patail, the brother of our present AG, made a landmark decision. He ruled that the Islamic bank cannot charge the borrower the full amount for the full tenure of the “loan” when the borrower had defaulted just a few years into the “loan”.
This decision by Justice Abdul Wahab Patail still stands until today and it has not been overturned. It also destroys a huge chunk of Islamic banking because the Judge has essentially ruled that the islamic banking system in Malaysia is actually unjust. It is worse than riba.
So how does INCEIF and the Islamic bankers handle this situation? This is where the speaker dropped the bombshell – and with a great big smile too. He said “the Muslims dont know” about Justice Abdul Wahab Patail’s decision. Well dear Muslims, I hope that now you know. Please do spread the word quickly.
The speaker said that ‘Islamic banking can still go on in our country because the Muslims dont know the decision by Abdul Wahab Patail’. In other words the islamic bankers are not going to tell the Muslim borrowers either. They will keep it quiet. Shhhhh ! ! And this is Islamic?
Then I learned something else too. While the speaker was talking about murabahah (one method of islamic financing), the Chairman at the talk was getting quite agitated. The Chairman was a foreigner from the Middle East and is an internationally acclaimed Islamic scholar himself. Suddenly he interrupted the speaker and made a clarification. He said that according to the Hanafi madhab (I think he is a Hanafi) murabahah was riba. Meaning murabahah was haram.
He then said that the Islamic banking practised in Malaysia was according to the Shafie madhab. Madhab means sect. Only then did it dawn upon me that in Malaysia we dont have generic islamic banking. It is “Shafie banking”, according to the Shafie madhab.
A Muslim friend with a PhD from Cambridge later explained that this is partly the reason why there cannot be an “international Islamic capital market”. One madhab’s murabahah is another madhab’s riba. One madhab’s al bai al bithaman ajil is another madhab’s riba also.
When a borrower defaults (or prepays) a 20 year housing “loan” say after just three years, the islamic bank can do what is called ‘ibrar’. (In the old days they called it muqassa – I dont know why the change). ‘Ibrar’ means to refund the balance owing but not yet due. In other words ‘buah belum masak lu jangan kira lah’. But there is no fixed or detailed idea about ‘ibrar’ among the islamic bankers.
So defaulting borrowers have no choice but to fight it out in the Courts with the Islamic banks. The speaker said that todate there are 3,500 unresolved cases of islamic banking BBA housing loans (Al Bai Al Bithaman Ajil) being disputed at the Courts in KL. And one judge, a Dato Rohana, has been assigned to handle all these cases. Well good luck Justice Dato Rohana. She will become an expert in Al Bai Al Bithaman Ajil calculations – maybe faster than Casio.
If it is a conventional housing loan, all these 3500 cases can be resolved by a Casio calculator. (Ya Allah, why do the Muslims like to create all these strange things and end up tying themselves in knots?)
During the talk, the speaker put up a slide that had the arabic word ‘zulm’. Zulm in Malay is zalim, meaning oppressive. The meaning was that Islamic banking should not be zalim or oppressive like the ‘conventional’ banking system with its interest based practises.
But how is the islamic bank less oppressive than the conventional bank? You charge the same rates – quite unashamedly saying ‘want to be the same as the market’. The terms and conditions are the same except when the ‘loan’ turns bad. Then the islamic bank can become worse than Shylock the Jewish moneylender. They want their pound of flesh. And the conventional bank is still ‘haram’?
There is another danger lurking. Talk is some ignorant do gooders are thinking of legislation where Muslims will be barred from using the conventional banking system. They can only go to the Islamic banking system. That is how we end up in the Club of Doom.
Note: If a loan is defaulted in Islamic banking, the outsanding amount you have to pay is far worse than borrowing from a chettiar.
........................
Dr Nik
I do not know very much this chap Syed Akbar Ali. He is either addressing a very secular audience or his outlook on Islam could well be termed 'liberal'. On other issues at least that I have read him before, he sounds like a 'Liberal Islamist' , a new animal on the block. I define 'Liberal Islam' as fashionable,populist and playing to the gallery but empty up there 'spiritually', not steeped in 'tradition' and the 'hukum hakam' of things. But yet, here Syed Akbar Ali has got some truth: for sometime now the perception is that 'Islamic banking is not Islamic'.
Personally I got the wrong end of the stick from Islamic banking some 10 years back. I took a' business loan' from Bank Islam under the 'Al Bai Al Bathiman Ajil' concept to buy a shoplot for investment. The investment turned sour and after 7 years for diligently paying the 'loan' I could not sustain the property. I sold the shoplot at cost price[ economy was bad then]. And Bank Islam , after 7 years of payment the residual was still about 80 % of the initial loan that I took. I was not aware at that time there were a backlog of court cases contesting the validity and fairness of the system.Otherwise I would have easily be persuaded to joining the bandwagon of 'defaulters'. I gentlemanly paid Bank Islam the sum asked.....Now that Akbar Ali has brought up the issue of court cases pending, that has left a 'lump' in my throat......
I could have join the bandwagon of people looking for justice from an 'unjust' situation... I assume wrongly that Bank Islam had done their sum from the perspective of 'fairness and justice' diligently!
........................................
Encik Zahar,
retired Islamic banker with Standard Chartered
old MCKK form mate to yours truly.
Doc Nik, under the al-bai' bithaman ajil concept the bank buys the prop from the seller/developer on your behalf, say RM100k and sells to you at a price, cost plus profit (as in a trading transaction as trading is allowed in Islam). The profit that the bank makes in selling the prop to you takes into account the period u take to pay back the bank in monthly instalments. If the prevailing housing loan rate is 10%, the bank would sell at RM110k if you take 1 year loan.The transaction is sealed in an akad whereby u agree to buy the prop from the bank at rm110k . Jadi kalau u decide to settle your loan in full 1 month after u take the loan the bank kata u kene bayar ikut akad yang u dah buat, rm110k
I was specifically asked on this issue by a potential customer, a non-Muslim, (at that time there was a pending court case involving BI). I asked the customer, if I insist on full selling price, withoit giving rebate, if u decide for early settlement, am I fair to you? He said .'No'. I told him Muslims decide to introduce Islamic banking because there is no fairness in conventional banking which incorporates riba. Islam demands fairness in all dealings. So, if I insist on something not fair and worse than conventional banking then I am not adhering to Islamic teachings apart from my religion being viewed as devoid of fairness. The customer straight away decided to take our loan but what I couldnt assure him was what would happen if I was no loner in the bank. I used to argue with my mat salleh bosses who obviously expected me to 'lebih kurang' in order to maximise profit for the bank. I told them I would be accountable in the world hereafter and hence could not expect me to compromise.
I think BI put more emphasis on fulfilment of the akad (perhaps with opportunity for higher profit), instead of the fundamental Islamic teaching that we must be fair in our dealings with human beings. Macam mana nak kata Islam itu adil?
Salam
..................................
Dr Nik Isahak
Zahar, despite the bitter experience, I will still do Islamic banking, if I have to borrow. Hanya terkilan saja that 'they did not do proper due diligence' to safeguard ignoramus like me who just play by the rules! Thinking that there is more justice and fairness and compassion in anything Islamic...
That is a lot of money, at my level, I lost due to 'poor due diligence on their part with respect to people wanting to sell or settle midway'. I went in blindly and in good faith.
My lawyer friend did inform me at that time of the avenue for a lawsuit, but the sale had already gone thru and I could no longer stand the excessive 'bleeding' monthly as a result of holding the property which did not bring any income. I did ask the bank to share 'in the loss'. They say they will go bankrupt if they subscribe to that. They only share in the profit not loss! Mashaallah!
Rasa pedih lagi hati di bulan puasa ini. To be let down by a system which appear Islamic and just.....Dulu benda ini dah lupa but when Tuan Syed brought it up, I am now having some heartburn...
But let us hear what Dr Rosli, a one time Senior Bank Negara specialist on the subject, has to say, to be fair.We have to start somewhere, I am sure with time and experience Islamic banking will improve, and all the groans and complaint we have now we have to put aside as necessary price or 'tuition fees' as we fine tune Islamic banking.The whole world will warm to it in due time....we just have to give time
...............................
Dr Rosli Yaakob
One time Senior Bank Negara specialist on Islamic banking
Currently 'Tabung Haji Chairman', Bangladesh
[ He introduced the concept of TH to Bangladesh.]
??? Future Finance Minister, If the present NTR Government got displaced in the next 'Erection'
Yang Berbahagia Dr. Nik Isahak. Your comments on Islamic banking lures me into giving you some response.
First, it must be known that in a secular system of government where Islamic law is not practiced and in the absence of Islamic currency system (Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham), there can never be a true Islamic banking. We have only "Semi-Islamic Banking" at best. For full Islamic banking, we shall have to wait for the day when Islamic State is reestablished and Islamic currency system restored. That could be in the era of Imam Mahdi. Who can tell? Only Allah knows.
Islam requires us Muslims, first, to ensure that not only activities we carry out are halal but the financing modes used to finance those activities are also halal. Second, Islam requires an Islamic bank and its clients to share risks and rewards (profit and loss). Hence, a case where a client puts his money in the bank and earns a fixed income on that money regardless of whether the bank is making profit or incurring loss is unthinkable in Islamic banking and finance. The reverse also holds – an Islamic bank cannot expect to earn a fixed income from the financing facility it extended to a client regardless of whether that client is making profit or not. Third, an Islamic banker ought to be a practicing Muslim. For example, it is unthinkable that a Muslim is an Islamic banker during the day but a drinker during the night.
Many Islamic banks and their clients were already guilty for not willing to share losses. They were only willing to share profits. This is the main flaw of Islamic banking today.
Second, those who say that Islam does not allow one to do business by borrowing money are misguided. Allah allows borrowing for any legitimate purpose so long as no interest (additional money, predetermined, that is, in percentage or in absolute amount) is added to the principal at the time the lending-borrowing agreement was made.
Allah however, allows the borrower, when he returns the money to the lender, to add whatever he likes to the principal sum without the lender asking for it. This voluntarily given additional sum is called hiba (voluntary gift). It is perfectly legitimate. Our Prophet SAW, as reported in many Traditions, always returned things that he borrowed with gifts added. He encouraged others to do the same. It must also be known that he strongly discouraged borrowing. In his supplications, he always asked Allah to free him of debts.
In reality, as banks are profit-seeking entity, lending money on hope that people will give them gift can never be their core business. If this is the case, the banks “will open today and close tomorrow.” But, a bank that is established solely for welfare purposes can do this. Such a bank is called in Islam Qardul Hasan Bank. Those who borrow money from this bank must return the principal at the agreed upon time with or without hiba. Majority of scholars agreed that a reasonable service charge can be imposed on Qardul Hasan loans. Profit-motivated Islamic banks can always set aside part of their resources for extension of Qardul hasan loans to deserving clients.
Third, though musharaka should be on the top of the list of Islamic financing modes, Islam does allow trade-based modes of financing such as ijarah or lease transaction. If for example, a businessman needs a machine for his food processing factory, he can enter into an agreement with a bank whereby the bank buys the machine and leases it to that businessman for an agreed rent (in percentage or in absolute amount) over an agreed period. At the end of the period, the machine is returned to the bank.
If the businessman is also interested to own the machine at the end of the period, he can pay the purchase price of the machine in installment. In this case, his monthly repayment will comprise two elements - rent and payment for gradual ownership transfer. This is called in Islam as Ijarah wa Iqtina and it is perfectly legitimate. Alternatively, he can also pay the market price of the machine at the end of the tenure to own the machine. This is the oldest Islamic banking instrument history ever recorded and because of its simplicity, it is widely used by Islamic banks all over the world today.
Fourth, Islam allows Bai Murabaha or cost-plus sale, that is, seller adds a profit mark-up to the cost of the good he sells. This is also a trade-based mode of financing. A seller can disclose the true cost of the product and additional sum he adds to it to the buyer. If the buyer agrees, then a selling-buying transaction is concluded and payment settled on the spot. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction.
There is no necessity for the seller to disclose the true cost of his product. He just discloses the final price (cost and profit added) and it is up to the buyer to buy it or not. This is a common practice these days. Shops display their products with price tags and it is entirely up to the buyers’ choice to buy or not to buy.
There is also a practice where shops display their products without price tags. When a buyer comes to buy a particular product, the shopkeeper offers an opening price. After some bargaining, they agreed on a certain price and a selling-buying transaction is concluded. Only the shopkeeper and Allah know the true cost of the product sold and the profit portion thereof charged by the seller. The profit, big or small, is perfectly legitimate. When our Prophet SAW was assigned by Hazrat Khadijah to sell products on her behalf in faraway market places, we were told by many Traditions that he always returned with hefty profits, more than she herself or her other traders earned. He SAW disclosed the price and after some bargaining (or perhaps, buyers did not bargain at all), the products were all sold. Hefty profit means at least a double-digit profit and it is perfectly legitimate.
Bai Murabaha is a cash transaction, that is, payment is settled on the spot. Or, even if deferred payment is allowed, the spot and deferred prices are the same as the deferred period is normally short, never goes beyond one year. This mode of Shariah financing is mostly applicable for purchase of small items. Purchase of big-ticket items such as houses, cars, trucks, ships, airplanes and so on normally requires installment payments over a much longer period. How does an Islamic bank handle this? In this case, modes of financing such as Ijarah and Musharaka Mutanaqisa are more appropriate.
Fifth, Islam allows Bai Muajjal mode of financing, that is, deferred payment transaction – “buy now pay later” either in installments (monthly, quarterly or yearly) over an agreed upon period of time or in one bullet payment at an agreedupon date in future. This mode of financing can be best explained by way of an example.
A client (a doctor) comes to an Islamic bank to apply for financing to buy a brand-new E200 Mercedes Benz. The price is RM250,000. After doing the necessary credit evaluation (financing evaluation), the bank agrees to finance the purchase and let say, for simplicity, 100% of the purchase price for a tenure of 3 years. The banks adds a profit mark-up of RM50,000 to the cost price and the client agrees to it. The bank and client also agree that the repayment of the principal amount and profit shall be in 36 equal monthly installments, that is RM8, 333 per month. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction. The issue here is: How do we fix the profit rate? This is where scholars have different views. Some say, in calculating the profit, we can be guided by the prevailing rental rates charged by car rental companies while some others allow reference to be made to prevailing interest rates such as London Inter-bank Offered Rates (LIBOR) or Kuala Lumpur Inter-bank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) or any other interest rate indicators. However, it must be pointed out here that majority of scholars, either rejected the latter outright or strongly discouraged it. It is always better to use car rental rates if data on such is available.
If the client concerned feels that the profit charged by the bank is more or less similar the amount of rent that he has to pay to a car rental company if he were to rent the car for three years, then there no injustice inflicted on him from the transaction. Further, if he were to wait for his saving to accumulate, perhaps, he will only be able to buy the car after three years. By then, the price of the same car could have gone up, by how much, one can only guess. He could also save some money if he can settle the financing earlier as most Islamic banks normally give rebate for early settlements.
Another issue normally associated with Bai Muajjal mode of financing is: Can the amount of profit charged by Islamic banks vary with time? Put it differently: Can the profit be higher the longer the tenure of the financing? Majority of scholars view that relating profit to time is riba. Hence, a more careful Islamic banker would normally limit Bai Muajjal financing to tenure not longer than one year so that spot price and deferred price of the transaction can remain the same. If Islamic bank buys a television set from a dealer at RM1, 000 and sells the same to a client at RM1200, this price will not change whether the client settles the purchase price on the spot or in one bullet payment after one year or in twelve equal monthly installments. The practice in Malaysia is Islamic banks allow profit to increase with increase in tenure. That is why the Malaysian version of Bai Muajjal (Al Bai Bithaman Ajil it is called) is not accepted in the Middle East.
For financing facilities which require longer term settlement, other modes of financing such as Ijarah wa Iqtina (as explained earlier) and Musharahaka Mutanaqisa (explained below) are more appropriate.
Sixth, Islam allows financing under the mode of Musharaka Mutanaqisa or decreasing ownership, that is, over time, the ownership of the financier of the financed item become less and less while that of the client more and more. Again, we explain this with an example.
A client comes to apply for a financing to purchase a brand-new RM300, 000 condominium. After being satisfied with his creditworthiness, the bank agrees to grant him a Musharaka Mutanaqisa facility to finance, for simplicity, 100% of the purchase price of the condominium on the condition that the client must pay back the financing in five equal installments, that is, RM60,000 per installment.
As the acceptable rental rate for this particular condominium is RM3,000 per month, the client and bank agree that the monthly rental rate of RM3,000 be fixed for the property over the tenure of the facility. Of course, rent may increase or decrease during the period but it is agreed that the rental rate so fixed will remain over the period.
As the ownership of the client over the financed property increases over the period and that of the bank decreases, the portion of the rental income going to client also increases over time and that of the bank increases. The following Table shows this clearly.
Example: Musharaka Mutanaqisa Financing
Financing Balance Ownership of Bank (%)
Ownership of Client (%) Monthly Rent due to Bank (RM) Monthly Rent due to Client (RM) Total Monthly Repayment by Client (RM)
Period 0 300,000 100 0 3,000 0 63,000
Period 1 240,000 80 20 2,400 600 62,400
Period 2 180,000 60 40 1,800 1,200 61,800
Period 3 120,000 40 60 1,200 1,800 61,200
Period 4 60,000 20 80 600 2,400 60,600
Period 5 0 0 100 0 3,000
1. Repayment of Purchase Price of the condominium is RM60,000 per period (RM300,000/5 = RM60,000).
2. Client pays less and less every period as his ownership of the property increases, portion of the rent due to bank decreases.
Scholars are in agreement on this mode of Shariah financing. However, disagreement still exists on how the rental rate can be best fixed. The difficulty arises in fixing the rental rates due to lack of reliable statistics on rents and in some Islamic countries the authorities do not collect such statistics on consistent basis. Further, rental rates are variable from location to location. For example, in Kuala Lumpur alone, rents are different from place to place. Let alone rents for the whole country.
If the client concerned feels that the rent charged by the bank is more or less the amount of rent that he has to pay to the owner of the condominium if he were to rent the condominium, then there is no injustice inflicted on him from the transaction. Further, if he were to wait for his saving to accumulate, perhaps, he will not be able to buy the condominium in a foreseeable future. By then, the price of the same condominium could have gone up, by how much, one can only guess. He could also save some money if he can settle the financing earlier as mostly Islamic banks normally give rebate for early settlements.
Islamic scholars are unanimous in saying that Islamic banking should be a musharaka banking. But, given the state of akhlak of the Muslims today, the implementation of musharaka banking will have to wait. For the time being, Islamic banks focus on those simpler modes of financing and ensure that the practice is in total adherence to the Shariah.
Dr Rosli Yaakub
Gulshan 1, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Sunday, 14 August 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Equestrian Endurance.....Playing God.
I had a chance once upon a time to 'play god' to a sport which I stumbled upon just by chance at a ripe old age of 46. Was reading "HELLO" magazine and came across an article on Patrick Swayze of 'Dirty Dancing' fame being invited to ride in a hundred mile race in the desert of Abu Dhabi. That was way back in 1997.....
The rest was history...
Malaysia Story, Part I
Stephanie Teeter
Ridecamp@endurance.net
.............
Anymore it seems like the only time I have to reflect on or write about the places I've been, is on an airplane to someplace else. John and I just got off the plane from Malaysia, spent 2 days in Idaho unpacking and packing, drove two horses and our LQ trailer from Idaho (where Merri is taking care of things for the winter) down to Arizona (where our friends Kevin and Rusty give us a place to park ourselves during the winter), took a day to get organized, take a short ride in the Sonoran desert, and then board a plane for Argentina. We're in transit now, and will soon see our friends Miguel and Celina Pavlovsky for a day in Buenos Aires, and then off to El Reparo - where Mercedes Tapia and Eduardo Becar Varella have their home and Endurance training center on the pampas. They are hosting Argentina's National Endurance Championship this year, at the Cazon Endurance Village which they built in the nearby town of Cazon - with the aid of their Polo friends and contacts. Mercedes and Eduardo are both veterinarians, and have strong lasting friendships with their clients. But more of that story to come, as the adventures of the next couple weeks unfold - including joining Malaysian riders in Uruguay and Chile as they hope to increase their stables of Endurance horses and qualify for their place in the 2008 WEC.
But this story is about Malaysia - about this small country's determination to host the FEI World Endurance Championship of 2008. A truly amazing story about dreams and determination and commitment, and an uncanny drive and ability to do whatever needs to be done along the path to success. This small country is full of highly educated and talented people. Centuries of cultural mixing - from the invading Siamese armies in the south to the introduction of Islam into population which previously embraced various types of 'ancient' religions, as well as Hindu/Buddha. From decades of British colonial rule to years of Japanese occupation during WWII. Complex cultures and dialects, tropical climate, fishing traditions and ocean bound societies - centuries of rebounding from occupiers and invaders - a very nationalistic people with a deep understanding of the best - and the worst - that the rest of the world can offer. In everything the Malaysians do there is a strong sense of art - of beauty - a fullness of color and form - and a precision of line. The Malaysian people have a kindness and calmness about them - a quick smile and genuine warmth and an easy going manner- but a very strong and determined core. They seem to be able to adapt to and understand the western ways as well or better than other 'developing' countries.
They can build the cities and the industries and the academies, they can pump the oil and produce the electronics, they can play in the global market - but they don't seem to jeopardize their unique culture in the process. They revere their royalty - the King, the Sultans - the art and dance and textiles and crafts of Malaysia are strongly supported and proudly displayed. The society is quite complex. Generations of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures seem to have settled into roles in society (apologies for my stereotypical categories - this is my personal observation) with a large segment of business owners and trading companies being of Chinese descent, Indians as professionals and educators, and Malays as the core of government and cooperative business growth. And of course the underlying friction in a society that has a wide range in socioeconomic status, a range of religious and ethnic factions, and conflict between the desire to maintain traditional values and the need to adapt to modern ways in order to be a player in the global economy.
A classic example of the dicotomy - the tension between traditional and modern - is in the definition of 'weekend' in Malaysia. In most of Malaysia, the 2 days per week allocated to 'weekend break' are Friday and Saturday. Friday is the muslim holy day (comparable to Sunday in Christian cultures) and Saturday is the 2nd day of 'weekend' holiday. Government and schools resume on Sunday. But in Kuala Lumpur - the capital city of Malaysia and center of business and economy - the weekend is composed of Saturday and Sunday, as it is in most of the rest of the world. Basically businesses and national government cannot afford to lose a day of trading and communication with the rest of the world in order to survive, and surpass.
So yes, I am a tremendous fan of Malaysia - a place I never ever would have imagined going to, much less becoming involved with to the degree that I have! I'm fascinated with their beautiful people and beautiful tropical climate, with their politically ambitious society, with their balance between religion and industry, art and economy, royalty and parliamentary democracy, poverty and wealth, and gentle but effective persuasion.
My first trip to Malaysia was in May 2005, thanks to Dr. Nik's impulsive notion to bring me over to his country - to experience, first-hand, Endurance riding in the tropics, Endurance in Malaysia. Which then gave me the opportunity to use the internet to share Malaysia and Malaysian endurance with others around the world. (Dr. Nik's clever ulterior motive!) . I received an invitation to come and ride in the Edaran Classic, the country's premier and most professionally run Endurance event at the time. Tansri Tajuddin, owner of Edaran Electronic Systems, is a patron and supporter of Equestrian sport, and an equestrian himself. As Malaysia began to embrace the sport of Endurance riding more strongly, so did Tajuddin. He brought a high degree of professionalism to the sport by guiding his staff in the creation of a first class Endurance event. Located at Tajuddin's Ar Raudah Equestrian Center (north of Kuala Lumpur) an Endurance training center evolved, and a network of trails was created to offer a challenging event. Tajuddin created a first class Endurance event and invited his network of friends and associates to support the sport - and further it's growth in Malaysia. My first experience was amazing - I fell in love with the country, with the people, and made lasting friendships. And was tremendously impressed with the organization and professionalism of the event coordinators. The venue was excellent and the trails were challenging - and interesting! Through palm oil plantations, and villages with curious children and farmers, past farms with goats and dogs and water buffalo, past quarries and ponds with bull frogs piercing the night with loud exclamations. Experiencing amazing heat and humidity and rain and the vivid colors - silk batiks and men with brightly colored clothing and bold signs and banners and the overwhelming jungle greens of the day, and the reds and purples of a sunset on a tropical coast. It was absolutely amazing and captivating and I fell in love with the country.
Malaysia's first dabbling with the sport was in the 1990's on the coast of Sabah (west coast of the island of Borneo). Peter and Penny Toft of Australia helped pioneer the sport, and their stories of tigers and jungle trails and seeking relief from the oppressive heat and humidity by riding in the ocean- and all the growing pains associated with a new equestrian sport are amazing. Malaysia entered the world endurance stage in 1998 by sending a team to the World Endurance Championship in 1998. An intrepid group of riders, including Dr. Nik and Dato (Awang) Kamaruddin who are still passionate endurance riders, came to Dubai with an assortment of Polo ponies and race track thoroughbreds. They managed to qualify for the event by completing a 120km course set up with the guidance of the FEI, consisting of lap after lap around a race track. That's all they could manage at the time, and that's all that they needed. I recall seeing the group from Malaysia in Dubai, and was delighted and amazed that they were there - with boundless enthusiasm and an odd assortment of horses. And I believe 2 of the riders actually completed the event! (those were in the good ol' days when the FEI actually allowed 24 hours to complete a 100 mile course). That was in 1998. A slow and steady growth of the sport followed - with more individuals taking on the challenge, adding venues, buying horses, competing abroad, carrying the sport forward.
Then in the fall of 2005, the year that Dubai hosted their second WEC, the year that I rode at Edaran and many of us first became familiar with Malaysia as a place where they really did have Endurance rides... in that year Malaysia submitted a bid to the FEI to host the 2008 World Endurance Championship. 2006 had already been granted to Aachen, Germany - and the 2008 WEC was a choice between two bidding nations - Bahrain and Malaysia. Both countries were relative newcomers to the sport, both countries had national support but had not yet hosted a major international event, and the bid went to Malaysia.
By this time Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu and next in line to become Malaysia's King in fall of 2006, had also taken up the sport. HRH Mizan was already an accomplished equestrian, with years and family generations of polo and jumping, and he took to Endurance naturally and enthusiastically. And also in 2006, construction of Malaysia's venue for the 2008 WEC, Terengganu International Endurance Park, began. Terengganu was the obvious location for an International venue in many ways - it is one of the few places in Malaysia where there are flat, sandy trails. Tropical climate and mountainous terrain do not combine well to produce a venue appropriate for a world championship - too tough, too dangerous, too hot, too long. Terengganu was the perfect location, and as the home of Malaysia's King, it was a go. Construction of the Endurance village began - the FEI had granted Malaysia the bid, now they had to do it right - and in typical Malaysian fashion this meant the best of everything, as good or better than any other International venue - and not just functionally perfect, also beautiful.
-more later-
Steph
Endurance.net
The rest was history...
Malaysia Story, Part I
Stephanie Teeter
Ridecamp@endurance.net
.............
Anymore it seems like the only time I have to reflect on or write about the places I've been, is on an airplane to someplace else. John and I just got off the plane from Malaysia, spent 2 days in Idaho unpacking and packing, drove two horses and our LQ trailer from Idaho (where Merri is taking care of things for the winter) down to Arizona (where our friends Kevin and Rusty give us a place to park ourselves during the winter), took a day to get organized, take a short ride in the Sonoran desert, and then board a plane for Argentina. We're in transit now, and will soon see our friends Miguel and Celina Pavlovsky for a day in Buenos Aires, and then off to El Reparo - where Mercedes Tapia and Eduardo Becar Varella have their home and Endurance training center on the pampas. They are hosting Argentina's National Endurance Championship this year, at the Cazon Endurance Village which they built in the nearby town of Cazon - with the aid of their Polo friends and contacts. Mercedes and Eduardo are both veterinarians, and have strong lasting friendships with their clients. But more of that story to come, as the adventures of the next couple weeks unfold - including joining Malaysian riders in Uruguay and Chile as they hope to increase their stables of Endurance horses and qualify for their place in the 2008 WEC.
But this story is about Malaysia - about this small country's determination to host the FEI World Endurance Championship of 2008. A truly amazing story about dreams and determination and commitment, and an uncanny drive and ability to do whatever needs to be done along the path to success. This small country is full of highly educated and talented people. Centuries of cultural mixing - from the invading Siamese armies in the south to the introduction of Islam into population which previously embraced various types of 'ancient' religions, as well as Hindu/Buddha. From decades of British colonial rule to years of Japanese occupation during WWII. Complex cultures and dialects, tropical climate, fishing traditions and ocean bound societies - centuries of rebounding from occupiers and invaders - a very nationalistic people with a deep understanding of the best - and the worst - that the rest of the world can offer. In everything the Malaysians do there is a strong sense of art - of beauty - a fullness of color and form - and a precision of line. The Malaysian people have a kindness and calmness about them - a quick smile and genuine warmth and an easy going manner- but a very strong and determined core. They seem to be able to adapt to and understand the western ways as well or better than other 'developing' countries.
They can build the cities and the industries and the academies, they can pump the oil and produce the electronics, they can play in the global market - but they don't seem to jeopardize their unique culture in the process. They revere their royalty - the King, the Sultans - the art and dance and textiles and crafts of Malaysia are strongly supported and proudly displayed. The society is quite complex. Generations of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures seem to have settled into roles in society (apologies for my stereotypical categories - this is my personal observation) with a large segment of business owners and trading companies being of Chinese descent, Indians as professionals and educators, and Malays as the core of government and cooperative business growth. And of course the underlying friction in a society that has a wide range in socioeconomic status, a range of religious and ethnic factions, and conflict between the desire to maintain traditional values and the need to adapt to modern ways in order to be a player in the global economy.
A classic example of the dicotomy - the tension between traditional and modern - is in the definition of 'weekend' in Malaysia. In most of Malaysia, the 2 days per week allocated to 'weekend break' are Friday and Saturday. Friday is the muslim holy day (comparable to Sunday in Christian cultures) and Saturday is the 2nd day of 'weekend' holiday. Government and schools resume on Sunday. But in Kuala Lumpur - the capital city of Malaysia and center of business and economy - the weekend is composed of Saturday and Sunday, as it is in most of the rest of the world. Basically businesses and national government cannot afford to lose a day of trading and communication with the rest of the world in order to survive, and surpass.
So yes, I am a tremendous fan of Malaysia - a place I never ever would have imagined going to, much less becoming involved with to the degree that I have! I'm fascinated with their beautiful people and beautiful tropical climate, with their politically ambitious society, with their balance between religion and industry, art and economy, royalty and parliamentary democracy, poverty and wealth, and gentle but effective persuasion.
My first trip to Malaysia was in May 2005, thanks to Dr. Nik's impulsive notion to bring me over to his country - to experience, first-hand, Endurance riding in the tropics, Endurance in Malaysia. Which then gave me the opportunity to use the internet to share Malaysia and Malaysian endurance with others around the world. (Dr. Nik's clever ulterior motive!) . I received an invitation to come and ride in the Edaran Classic, the country's premier and most professionally run Endurance event at the time. Tansri Tajuddin, owner of Edaran Electronic Systems, is a patron and supporter of Equestrian sport, and an equestrian himself. As Malaysia began to embrace the sport of Endurance riding more strongly, so did Tajuddin. He brought a high degree of professionalism to the sport by guiding his staff in the creation of a first class Endurance event. Located at Tajuddin's Ar Raudah Equestrian Center (north of Kuala Lumpur) an Endurance training center evolved, and a network of trails was created to offer a challenging event. Tajuddin created a first class Endurance event and invited his network of friends and associates to support the sport - and further it's growth in Malaysia. My first experience was amazing - I fell in love with the country, with the people, and made lasting friendships. And was tremendously impressed with the organization and professionalism of the event coordinators. The venue was excellent and the trails were challenging - and interesting! Through palm oil plantations, and villages with curious children and farmers, past farms with goats and dogs and water buffalo, past quarries and ponds with bull frogs piercing the night with loud exclamations. Experiencing amazing heat and humidity and rain and the vivid colors - silk batiks and men with brightly colored clothing and bold signs and banners and the overwhelming jungle greens of the day, and the reds and purples of a sunset on a tropical coast. It was absolutely amazing and captivating and I fell in love with the country.
Malaysia's first dabbling with the sport was in the 1990's on the coast of Sabah (west coast of the island of Borneo). Peter and Penny Toft of Australia helped pioneer the sport, and their stories of tigers and jungle trails and seeking relief from the oppressive heat and humidity by riding in the ocean- and all the growing pains associated with a new equestrian sport are amazing. Malaysia entered the world endurance stage in 1998 by sending a team to the World Endurance Championship in 1998. An intrepid group of riders, including Dr. Nik and Dato (Awang) Kamaruddin who are still passionate endurance riders, came to Dubai with an assortment of Polo ponies and race track thoroughbreds. They managed to qualify for the event by completing a 120km course set up with the guidance of the FEI, consisting of lap after lap around a race track. That's all they could manage at the time, and that's all that they needed. I recall seeing the group from Malaysia in Dubai, and was delighted and amazed that they were there - with boundless enthusiasm and an odd assortment of horses. And I believe 2 of the riders actually completed the event! (those were in the good ol' days when the FEI actually allowed 24 hours to complete a 100 mile course). That was in 1998. A slow and steady growth of the sport followed - with more individuals taking on the challenge, adding venues, buying horses, competing abroad, carrying the sport forward.
Then in the fall of 2005, the year that Dubai hosted their second WEC, the year that I rode at Edaran and many of us first became familiar with Malaysia as a place where they really did have Endurance rides... in that year Malaysia submitted a bid to the FEI to host the 2008 World Endurance Championship. 2006 had already been granted to Aachen, Germany - and the 2008 WEC was a choice between two bidding nations - Bahrain and Malaysia. Both countries were relative newcomers to the sport, both countries had national support but had not yet hosted a major international event, and the bid went to Malaysia.
By this time Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu and next in line to become Malaysia's King in fall of 2006, had also taken up the sport. HRH Mizan was already an accomplished equestrian, with years and family generations of polo and jumping, and he took to Endurance naturally and enthusiastically. And also in 2006, construction of Malaysia's venue for the 2008 WEC, Terengganu International Endurance Park, began. Terengganu was the obvious location for an International venue in many ways - it is one of the few places in Malaysia where there are flat, sandy trails. Tropical climate and mountainous terrain do not combine well to produce a venue appropriate for a world championship - too tough, too dangerous, too hot, too long. Terengganu was the perfect location, and as the home of Malaysia's King, it was a go. Construction of the Endurance village began - the FEI had granted Malaysia the bid, now they had to do it right - and in typical Malaysian fashion this meant the best of everything, as good or better than any other International venue - and not just functionally perfect, also beautiful.
-more later-
Steph
Endurance.net
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Diary....On a hot,lazy and thirsty Ramadan Sunday 22nd August
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps on this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools their ways to dusty death;
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and futy,
Signifying nothing..."
Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'
On this rather hot,lazy and thirsty Ramadan Sunday, reading Macbeth's sonnet above sent by 'a friend' somehow reminds me of Syed Qutb's tafseer of Surah Al Takathur, Chapter 102, of The Noble Qur'an. Don't ask me why. Perhaps Shakespeare's look at life via his story Macbeth underlined the West's view of life itself as a foreboding tragedy. A reminder to me of that famous and most influential early 19th century German humanist-philosopher, Schopenhauer.
Life, according to Schopenhauer, is determined by the WILL to carry on and on. The tapestry of one's life is the interplay of Wills of surrounding individuals. At the end of one's time, one's life is a tragedy: old age, unfulfilled dreams, and subsequently death.From the Western perspective, Life indeed is a tragedy:The promise and vagaries of youth, old age and ill health, and death....Fullstop. Western philosophical thoughts almost never address death and life beyond death.The station at the end of the line is death. What their thinkers cannot comprehend is not there!
Surah At Takathur,on the other hand, even as one of the shortest chapter of The Noble Quran, does not mince words on life after death, and addresses the issue head on. It opens up man to future probability of eternal happiness despite also a promise of damnation if the formullae and mix is not correct..Life,for it not to be an eternal tragedy, has to be 'walked through' with certain knowledge.....
Rivalry for Wordly Gain
at Takathur
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
"Rivalry for wordly gain distracts you, untill you visit your graves.
Indeed you shall know! Again, you shall certainly come to know.
Indeed, were you to have certain knowledge ... You shall certainly
see the fire of Hell. Yes, you will it with your eyes. Then, on
that day, you shall be questioned about your joys and comforts."
Sayyid Qutb had this to say regarding life:
This surah has a rhythm that is majestic and awe-inspiring - as if it were
the voice of a warner standing on a high place and projecting his voice
which rings out in weighty emphasis. He calls out to people who are
drowsy, drunken, confused. They approach a precipice with their eyes
closed and their feelings numbed. So the warner increases the volume of
his voice to the limit: "Rivalry for worldly gain distracts you until
you visit your graves."
You drunken and confused lot! You who take delight and indulge in rivalry
for wealth, children and the pleasures of this life - from which you are
sure to depart! You who are absorbed with what you have, unaware of what
comes afterwards! You who will leave the object of this rivalry, and what
you seek pride in and go to a narrow hole wherein there is no rivalry or
pride! Wake up and look around, all of you ! For indeed, "rivalry for
worldly gain distracts you until you visit your graves".
May your Ramadan and mine be a blessed one!
'Peppered' by moments of taqwa and remembrance.
Dr Nik Howk
Creeps on this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools their ways to dusty death;
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and futy,
Signifying nothing..."
Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'
On this rather hot,lazy and thirsty Ramadan Sunday, reading Macbeth's sonnet above sent by 'a friend' somehow reminds me of Syed Qutb's tafseer of Surah Al Takathur, Chapter 102, of The Noble Qur'an. Don't ask me why. Perhaps Shakespeare's look at life via his story Macbeth underlined the West's view of life itself as a foreboding tragedy. A reminder to me of that famous and most influential early 19th century German humanist-philosopher, Schopenhauer.
Life, according to Schopenhauer, is determined by the WILL to carry on and on. The tapestry of one's life is the interplay of Wills of surrounding individuals. At the end of one's time, one's life is a tragedy: old age, unfulfilled dreams, and subsequently death.From the Western perspective, Life indeed is a tragedy:The promise and vagaries of youth, old age and ill health, and death....Fullstop. Western philosophical thoughts almost never address death and life beyond death.The station at the end of the line is death. What their thinkers cannot comprehend is not there!
Surah At Takathur,on the other hand, even as one of the shortest chapter of The Noble Quran, does not mince words on life after death, and addresses the issue head on. It opens up man to future probability of eternal happiness despite also a promise of damnation if the formullae and mix is not correct..Life,for it not to be an eternal tragedy, has to be 'walked through' with certain knowledge.....
Rivalry for Wordly Gain
at Takathur
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
"Rivalry for wordly gain distracts you, untill you visit your graves.
Indeed you shall know! Again, you shall certainly come to know.
Indeed, were you to have certain knowledge ... You shall certainly
see the fire of Hell. Yes, you will it with your eyes. Then, on
that day, you shall be questioned about your joys and comforts."
Sayyid Qutb had this to say regarding life:
This surah has a rhythm that is majestic and awe-inspiring - as if it were
the voice of a warner standing on a high place and projecting his voice
which rings out in weighty emphasis. He calls out to people who are
drowsy, drunken, confused. They approach a precipice with their eyes
closed and their feelings numbed. So the warner increases the volume of
his voice to the limit: "Rivalry for worldly gain distracts you until
you visit your graves."
You drunken and confused lot! You who take delight and indulge in rivalry
for wealth, children and the pleasures of this life - from which you are
sure to depart! You who are absorbed with what you have, unaware of what
comes afterwards! You who will leave the object of this rivalry, and what
you seek pride in and go to a narrow hole wherein there is no rivalry or
pride! Wake up and look around, all of you ! For indeed, "rivalry for
worldly gain distracts you until you visit your graves".
May your Ramadan and mine be a blessed one!
'Peppered' by moments of taqwa and remembrance.
Dr Nik Howk
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Biblical Stories in The Noble Qur'an...Surah Maryam , Chapter 19 ,
Maryam
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Kaf. Ha. Ya. A'in. Sad. (1) A mention of the mercy of thy Lord unto His servant Zachariah. (2) When he cried unto his Lord a cry in secret, (3) Saying: My Lord! Lo! the bones of me wax feeble and my head is shining with grey hair, and I have never been unblest in prayer to Thee, my Lord. (4) Lo! I fear my kinsfolk after me, since my wife is barren. Oh, give me from Thy presence a successor (5) Who shall inherit of me and inherit (also) of the house of Jacob. And make him, my Lord, acceptable (unto Thee). (6) (It was said unto him): O Zachariah! Lo! We bring thee tidings of a son whose name is John; we have given the same name to none before (him). (7) He said: My Lord! How can I have a son when my wife is barren and I have reached infirm old age? (8) He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me, even as I created thee before, when thou wast naught. (9) He said: My Lord! Appoint for me some token. He said: Thy token is that thou, with no bodily defect, shalt not speak unto mankind three nights. (10) Then he came forth unto his people from the sanctuary, and signified to them: Glorify your Lord at break of day and fall of night. (11) (And it was said unto his son): O John! Hold fast the Scripture. And we gave him wisdom when a child, (12) And compassion from Our presence, and purity; and he was devout, (13) And dutiful toward his parents. And he was not arrogant, rebellious. (14) Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dieth and the day he shall be raised alive! (15) And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, (16) And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. (17) She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing. (18) He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. (19) She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? (20) He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a Revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. (21) And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. (22) And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! (23) Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, (24) And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. (25) So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. (26) Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. (27) O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. (28) Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? (29) He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, (30) And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, (31) And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. (32) Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! (33) Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. (34) It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is. (35) And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. (36) The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. (37) How well they hear and see and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! yet the evil-doers are to-day in error manifest. (38) And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. (39) Lo! We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. (40) And make mention (O Muhammad) in the Scripture of Abraham. Lo! he was a saint, a prophet. (41) When he said unto his father: O my father! Why worshippest thou that which heareth not nor seeth, nor can in aught avail thee? (42) O my father! Lo! there hath come unto me of knowledge that which came not unto thee. So follow me, and I will lead thee on a right path. (43) O my father! Serve not the devil. Lo! the devil is a rebel unto the Beneficent. (44) O my father! Lo! I fear lest a punishment from the Beneficent overtake thee so that thou become a comrade of the devil. (45) He said: Rejectest thou my gods, O Abraham? If thou cease not, I shall surely stone thee. Depart from me a long while! (46) He said: Peace be unto thee! I shall ask forgiveness of my Lord for thee. Lo! He was ever gracious unto me. (47) I shall withdraw from you and that unto which ye pray beside Allah, and I shall pray unto my Lord. It may be that, in prayer unto my Lord, I shall not be unblest. (48) So, when he had withdrawn from them and that which they were worshipping beside Allah, We gave him Isaac and Jacob. Each of them We made a prophet. (49) And we gave them of Our mercy, and assigned to them a high and true renown. (50)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Kaf. Ha. Ya. A'in. Sad. (1) A mention of the mercy of thy Lord unto His servant Zachariah. (2) When he cried unto his Lord a cry in secret, (3) Saying: My Lord! Lo! the bones of me wax feeble and my head is shining with grey hair, and I have never been unblest in prayer to Thee, my Lord. (4) Lo! I fear my kinsfolk after me, since my wife is barren. Oh, give me from Thy presence a successor (5) Who shall inherit of me and inherit (also) of the house of Jacob. And make him, my Lord, acceptable (unto Thee). (6) (It was said unto him): O Zachariah! Lo! We bring thee tidings of a son whose name is John; we have given the same name to none before (him). (7) He said: My Lord! How can I have a son when my wife is barren and I have reached infirm old age? (8) He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me, even as I created thee before, when thou wast naught. (9) He said: My Lord! Appoint for me some token. He said: Thy token is that thou, with no bodily defect, shalt not speak unto mankind three nights. (10) Then he came forth unto his people from the sanctuary, and signified to them: Glorify your Lord at break of day and fall of night. (11) (And it was said unto his son): O John! Hold fast the Scripture. And we gave him wisdom when a child, (12) And compassion from Our presence, and purity; and he was devout, (13) And dutiful toward his parents. And he was not arrogant, rebellious. (14) Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dieth and the day he shall be raised alive! (15) And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, (16) And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. (17) She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing. (18) He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. (19) She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? (20) He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a Revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. (21) And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. (22) And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! (23) Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, (24) And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. (25) So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. (26) Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. (27) O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. (28) Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? (29) He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, (30) And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, (31) And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. (32) Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! (33) Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. (34) It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is. (35) And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. (36) The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. (37) How well they hear and see and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! yet the evil-doers are to-day in error manifest. (38) And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. (39) Lo! We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. (40) And make mention (O Muhammad) in the Scripture of Abraham. Lo! he was a saint, a prophet. (41) When he said unto his father: O my father! Why worshippest thou that which heareth not nor seeth, nor can in aught avail thee? (42) O my father! Lo! there hath come unto me of knowledge that which came not unto thee. So follow me, and I will lead thee on a right path. (43) O my father! Serve not the devil. Lo! the devil is a rebel unto the Beneficent. (44) O my father! Lo! I fear lest a punishment from the Beneficent overtake thee so that thou become a comrade of the devil. (45) He said: Rejectest thou my gods, O Abraham? If thou cease not, I shall surely stone thee. Depart from me a long while! (46) He said: Peace be unto thee! I shall ask forgiveness of my Lord for thee. Lo! He was ever gracious unto me. (47) I shall withdraw from you and that unto which ye pray beside Allah, and I shall pray unto my Lord. It may be that, in prayer unto my Lord, I shall not be unblest. (48) So, when he had withdrawn from them and that which they were worshipping beside Allah, We gave him Isaac and Jacob. Each of them We made a prophet. (49) And we gave them of Our mercy, and assigned to them a high and true renown. (50)
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