...of ambassador and G25 class : tafseerkoran.blogspot.com.

Friends, Dato' and Tansri,

I started this 'tafseer journey' some 3 years back in December 2012, with just a handful of following weekly.

Now it is twice weekly and benefited some 1000 friends, whom some i have met and majority, i have not met.

A close friend of mine asked last week as to why i take the trouble to go thru tafseer and tafseer in the net for hours a day, listening to them, review and select;

all done in between a very busy hospital practice; sent to people whom you do not know; to be told oftentimes that :

' No thanks doc, please stop sending these sh.. to me , I never read them! I am secular and I am proud I will die secular!'. 

They are amongst the elites, a couple of ex ambasssadors and  a few from the g25 class!

I told my friend that , 'this is why I am precisely still doing this! '

It is a pleasure having 100 over contemporary 'minor mufasirin' [ if I can call them so ] working for you FOC and 100 over world class qari to choose from, also FOC, at the click of a finger! Thanks to Bill Gates!

It is a pleasure listening thru video lectures  of shaykhs  and ustazs of the likes of Hamza Yusuf, Ninowy , al-Yacoubi, Harun Din, Dr Ismail Lutfi  and the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz, etc and etc, to fill the 'spaces' in between the elucidation of the Divine Letters.

Noah alaihusalam who sweated over 950 years  of daawa had only 80 people on his ark by the time of the Great Flood.

And he had no assistants, no qari and  contemporary 'mufassirins' to help him, and no Bill Gates and Microsoft either!

My effort is so very very very miniscule compared to Noah alaihisalam's.

Mashallah! it is my great pleasure to be just the humble postman, insyaallah.

Rasullallah is not only for the Muslims. 

His message is for all, the non Muslims, the atheists, agnositcs, the trees, the animals, the seas and the mountains.

He is after-all the 'Rahmatul Alamin' !

We move on to ayat 18 to ayat 25, at the end of it is about Noah alaihisalam

dr nik

http://tafseerkoran.blogspot.my/2013/01/surah-al-muminun-believers-23prologue.html  

Case History : Cest' Dieu Qui Direct

Remember Encik K, the 50+  year old , ex-Petronas, Oil and Gas man ,I implanted a 'plastic' bioabsorbable coronary scaffold some two years back. He is diabetic, with 30 kg excess weight then and suboptimally controlled diabetic.

[ http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2013/08/absorb-new-absorbable-plastic-stent.htm ]

He went on to reduce the 'volume' of his food intake, follow optimal medication regime and his hbaic blood test on subsequent follow was great!

But two years down the 'lane' he was diagnosed to have an advance nasopharygeal carcinoma  with significant spread [ NPC, 'cancer of the throat ] and underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Subsequent to this, unfortunately, I later was told by his oncologist, he developed  the dreaded 'neutropenia' [ very low white cell count ] which predisposes him to viruses and bacterial infection.

Just two weeks ago I bumped into his son along the hospital corridor, " Doc, my dad is in ICU, in coma. The doctors say he has epilepsy and has to be intubated........"

Just now I bumped into his wife and retinue along the corridor, " How is Encik K...? "
" Not good Doc... he is still in coma. The neurologist says he has viral encephalitis....".
Sounds not good at all. 
Two weeks and still in coma.

Cest Dieu Qui Direct
It is just human to plan, but it is only Allah who direct
Welcome to life !

When Will NTR Resign......[ or what will david cameroon do if he is in the same position ? ]

friends, dato' and tansri,

i think it is a forgone conclusion.

it is no longer 'will ntr resign?'.

it is when will he resign. some near the inner circle says between the next few weeks to a month.

there will be a lot of horse trading and cow trading going on.

for those of you guys who owns islands or big pieces of property overseas or local, you guys could do the nation a service to expedite his resignation.

this long wait is affecting the economy, not that we have much economy left.

anywhere in the maldive will do for this beleuguered  couple. diego garcia where mh370 is currently housed also ok

worse case scenario, pulau tok gajah near semerak.

i am sure the pas people will be generous with the couple

nik howk

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




from Dato Azman



From: nikazman@
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: najib will resign
Date: Fri, 29 May 2015 10:26:15 +0000

Dr Haji Nik Isahak,

I doubt he will do that. He is a fighter and a survivor. But Dr Mahathir's continuous attack is putting the pressure on him.



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

From: Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah Sent: Friday, 29 May 2015 7:24 PM To: Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid - Dato'

dato,

you are in the epu

ada pitih lagi ke kita nak bayar gaji?

even asb/asn will not be able to cover the lubang in 1amgedebe

from my perspective, bila seluar dah terlondeh, it is time to resign

ni sekarang dah lebih dari terlondeh

dr nik howk

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

From: nikazman@

To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com

Subject: Re: najib will resign

Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 08:54:30 +0000

Dr Haji Nik Ishak,

From the info I got, the issue is more of the cash flow rather than the issue of liabilities exceeding assets. The assets should be sufficient to cover the liabilities. While there are unanswered questions, the investigation by PAC and AG should provide some answers to it.

So does the Government still has the money? Yes. But if 1MDB is unable to meet its debt service obligation, there will be opportunity cost to the people if the Government has to come to rescue 1MDB. Some expenditure readjustment will have to be made. If and only if...

Nik Azman

Sent from my Blac

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

On 4 Jun 2015, at 08:26, Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah <drnikisahak@hotmail.com> wrote:

dato,

you sound encouraging.

as for myself, when i heard of ntr's scatterbrained plan some 2 years before the inception of oneamgedebe and a wak from teluk intan trying to bring in billions of sovereign fund back i had a sinking feeling.

his economic adviser should  be hanged by the balls, actually.
as for himself, we in malaysia has no institutions yet well placed to send him to pulau jerejak or prison.

very sad.

nik howk
ps ; 
i remember some years back a junior minister in john major's cabinet had to resign because he accepted a concorde two way ticket to new york to see some broadway show.
our leaders have lost all sense of marwah and public accountability.

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

From: azmiwanhamzah@halfmo..

Subject: Re: najib will resign

Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 11:53:48 +0100

CC: 

To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com

Nikhowk, 

1.  IMDB has finally come up with some accounting of its liabilities and how the proceeds from the creation of these liabilities have been applied/invested. Let's just assume everything is hunky-dory as CEO Arun Kandasamy would have you believed. The question remains: if it is so straight forward, why do they have to take months to release the simple facts and burden the country with a political crisis? Perhaps 1MDB believed it is above accountability, in which case it did have a governance, ethics and attitude problem.  Vested with a custodianship and trusteeship. role ( as all GLCs are), the obligation is neither to throw stones nor to undress in the dark, but to dress and undress with all the lights on in your Rakyat-owned glass house.

2.  Let us now re-look at 1MDB's numbers. The 42 billion borrowings, which presumably included bonds, syndicated loans and advances from friends whether that be KWAP, Tabung Haji or Ananda Krishnan, have been applied for investments, costs and interest paynents. What it has airbrushed is the Jho Low hijack of its funds to finance the UBG adventure which has been painstakingly detailed by The Edge, The Sarawak Report and TDM. Not grabbing the bull by the horns (as DPM puts it) and finally prove it is mere bullshit is to prolong the controversy. Selective exposure may be great in a night club, but on matters as critical as these accusations, it has no place in corporate life.

3. But the detailing of its liabilities and proceeds applications hardly tells the full story. It is not even as good as footballer George Best's accounting for his lost millions by saying that he spent some on booze, some on birds and the rest he merely blew away. What we need to know as citizens and tax-payers are the following:

a. whether a fair price was paid for each individual investment;

b. how each individual investment has performed;

c. what portion of that investment performance is due to wise management and policy decision making;

d. what portion is due to acquisition of grossly under-priced government assets; 

e. what portion is due to government intervention designed to shore up values of dubious acquisition pricing ;

f. what of these expenditures have no real carrying values ( the equivalent of any of George Best's three Bs of fund applications).

4. It is only when the above questions are answered, can we analyse and arrive at the truth of the 1MDB adventure. At that point we can decide whether it was a vision of great wisdom but badly executed, stupid but innocent, stupid and dishonest or a grand larceny by design and by execution. 

4. I shall not hazard to impose my suspicions on your readers, Nikhowk, because someone here such as Nik Azman, may be able to give perfectly good innocent answers to the niggling questions posed. But until the questions are explained, I don't believe we can afford to be sanguine.

My two sens worth. Salam, Azmi.

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

On 7 Jun 2015, at 04:54, Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah <drnikisahak@hotmail.com> wrote:

tq ts.

i am just a frog under the tempurung looking at things.

just back from my telga papan teganung refuge.

you are a global malay from your global village in hamstead, london, with a global perspective.

from your global perspective, if this oneamgedebe thing ever go to court, the billion ringgit question is, is najib jailable?

i am aware that one of the oneamgedebe's basic tenet is that the pm is the final say in all its deliberations.

is there not an iota of doubt  that he was aware of all the goings on from its inception to its current demise, or almost demise?

from the simple raayat's perspective, that is of interest

it would be nice to for malaysia to send its first  pm to jail for once, at least we are telling the world that we are dead serious to change.

otherwse we are not much different from our neighbour, the myammaris:

when asked in cnn, who the rohinggas, one senior fellow replied," we do not know where they come from! "

nik howk

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

On 7 Jun 2015 13:43, "azmiwhamzah" <azmiwanhamzah@halfmm> wrote:

Nikhowk, As always in the imperfect world of man-made regulations or even God-made laws but administered by men, the answer is it all depends. 

On the basis of the laws as written, specifically the Penal Code ( the secular Hudud if you like) and various legislations enacted by Parliament, thieving and activities of similar nature is an offence carrying custodial sentence. (But I am no lawyer, so please proceed to read my views here with caution).  So is money laundering, conspiracy to cheat, abuse of powers and quite a few other choice possibilities that an honest and conscientious prosecutor can choose to pursue in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

The global perspective is a spectrum that runs from Britain and Scandinavia to Myanmar, Zimbabwe and the Tribal hinterland of Pakistan. If something like this were to happen in Britain, you can be certain that within days of the scandal breaking out and without waiting for the public to file a report at some remote police station, a full investigation by the Serious Fraud Office would have been launched. The SFO findings would be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service and charges would be made against those implicated in the findings. By this time, any politician remotely involved would have already resigned from both their positions in the organisation and in government.

Would David Cameron be charged under similar circumstances? British politicians have learned a long time ago not to sit on the Boards of GLCs or of NGOs other than the most benign ones like the Charitable Home for Handicapped Cats. You have to assume, if there was a similar British IMDB situation, DC and everybody associated in that chain of command would be prosecuted (in a real  rather than the Razak Baginda way). And if found guilty, yes DC would have to eat Her Majesty's prison rations.

The dissimilarities between Britain and Malaysia are not about the laws, but the framework of governance. Some countries uphold the independence of their judiciary, police, civil service and such other institutions, making sure they are protected from political influences and control. Some countries have yet to evolve these values. Some others, having had some of these institutional framework in place, have allowed their dismantling because politicians in power have found them inconvenient.

Of Clogged Arteries and Clogged Souls....

[ zikran khasira ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ma2tN54QFI

Friends, Dato' and Tansri,

I drove up to Ipoh last Sunday to meet a noted scholar from Atlanta, USA, a friend of mine.

He was running a short series of hadith lectures for senior staff  and post-doctoral fellows of an ugama univ in Perak Darul Ridzuan.

'' Sidi,'' , I said to him , '' in my  30 years of plumbing profession, I see lots of people with clogged arteries but  I see more clogged souls now than i see clogged hearts......amongst friends and acquintance, and patients, muslims and non-muslims. I see them often  and from my vantage point, I come to love all of them. Love in an empathic-mahabbah way that is. It is quite sad, Sidi, that I can open up clogged hearts with the latest in balloons and stents in one hour or so, and at the most, 2 to 3 hours, but most clogged souls remain impervious to all kinds of probing.....'

" Nik, " , he said, " I can  understand that and I can emphatise with you, your sadness. 

We  are all fellow travelers. Muslims and non-Muslims. But most are running on the spot and some go round and round. Very few travelers[ salik ] move on.

The problem is most of us see  syaitan in just metaphorical and figurative sense. As long as we see syaitan in this way, we are not going to move anywhere, does not matter if we live a million years. "

"Syaitan is not a metaphor, Nik . He is real!! "

Dr Nik Howk

ps : ' How is my heart with Allah today '.....I like that expression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blJ8neV3wYU

[ on 'basic immunology  ]......on three level of travelers

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

relevant article in the blog :

http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-long-prescription-for-friend.html

On Hudud and Tok Bali Revisited..........

From Dato RKS,

Dear NIK and friends,

In the 1970s I studied Marxism as a philosophy to engage my leftist friends in Melbourne. At least I could do something as a minor leader of a Muslim student movement in the face of a strong and convincing Socialist Internationale. 

Since then economics has never been far from my understanding of Islam and whatever cause célèbre Islam has a word to contribute to. Unfortunately my experience with the Kelantan establishment since 1990s (advising on JDA gas) has never been pleasant. It's like shouting to a citadel populated by people with unique dresses and sense of homage to a select group of leaders. If I want to be a hypocrite and not say anything of Islam's views of disused and unused agriculture land and the exploitation of natural resources, the shared responsibility towards a common wealth of Kelantan, I will be welcomed to the citadel as an enlightened professional exemplar extraordinaire. But professionals will only be allowed a few levels below the higher hallowed circles. It's a Malay innovation that gives birth to a class that can accept and survive under any regime. Now it wants to be the regime. And the people in the regime will not blink when non-Shahadah taukays offer to help with the proceeds of their exploitation. They are most welcomed but not me after all these years. These taukays are even sought for solutions and advice.

I am convinced that the actions of the Prophet (s.a.w) in the first few days in Medina and his Farewell Sermon place a lot importance to the role of economics, although no such word exist during his times. It was ibn Khaldun who put up the framework of its knowledge but still without a name. 

Fortunately for me, it's never too late to study. InshaAllah, I will complete my Masters in Islamic Finance mid 2015 and probably continue to the next level. I am going for the long haul. Slowly I will revive my broken Arabic which is still important for me to read the original text and nuances of  ibn Taymiyyah, Baqir al-Sadr, al-Shatibi etc. Together with some friends, I am going to develop some models in LKY's incorruptible and appreciative Singapore. Then and only then I will enter the citadel when invited. For now the citadel will only welcome the the sanitized version of J.Low (minus Ms Hilton) or the popular version of an alim. 

Don't worry, I will not disparage the revered ones who say the Earth will lose gravity and float into space due to excessive oil extraction. Or the cure of cancer is in some mythical plant or whatever. I have stopped going for Jumaat prayers at the Bangi mosque of a Murshid that continues the takfiri of my non-Sunni and non-conformist friends but profusely make doa for those who were ordained but still drink and womanize. I can keep my sanity and Iman that way.

You will find me very boring because I will not give any opinion on hudud until I am ready to enter the citadel.

Wassalaam.

RKS



.........................................................................................................
from Nik Howk :


Well said RKS

From my own experience with the Kelantan state govt, I do agree with you that the non shahadah tawkeys are easier to handle than people like nik howk or rks.

In the words of yb Husam himself, ' kito pong nok pitih sekeleng jugok, doc ! '

And I can understand this. the Kelantan state govt being squeezed tight by dire lack of federal funding needs 'cash' to run the state and to continue winning elections. But 'cash' was what I was thinking about in asking them to go into plantation business  but cash that can only come after 10 years of gestation...which is understandably difficult because of the large initial capital outlay. But from my viewpoint could be offset partly by income from 'harvesting the 'balak' in the 1st place. Nothing is free.

That was sometime 8 years ago when i propose to him, that the state govt should 'tahan senafas', get some soft loan from middle east somewhere and that they should embark slowly slowly into plantation industry. I was proposing 10,000 acres to start with. Definitely not under the MB Incorporated scheme which was poorly runned. If amenu can have nominee companies, kelantan can also have nominee companies. Get one of those Kelantan billionaires to run it. They will do this for free. Who does not want a passport to heaven??

'kito pong nok pitih sekeleng jugok'  mentaliti cuts across both political divide.

My position on hudud is very simple:

Man  , acoording to HIM , is only divided into 3 groups, as Che Heng, my neighbour, pust it succincly recently: the believers, the alkafiruns ,  and the 'indecisive'[ the other term fr the indecisive' is no longer used in polite society ]

If you think hudud is too barbaric for 2015, we can wait another 50 years and wait and see. The 'indecisive' will remain  more 'indecisive' 50 years on!

See you guys tonight.

Dont worry, Hudud is off limit. 

We are going to discuss about Fasha Sandha and Neelofa.

nik howk

..................................................................................................................................................
from Dato RKS :

Dear Nik,

The issue is never about validity of hudud as Law. It reflects the crisis of confidence in leadership. After 25 years of unmanaging Kelantan, those guys dont inspire my confidence. 

If tomorrow they define Rasuah as theft of Treasury punishable by cutting alternate limbs, I will think they are serious as their lackeys should be the first to have their limbs chopped off. Nadzru will tell you that none of the EXCO can deliver khutbah, so what change can they bring to Kelantan if their own status has not changed after 25 years

For now it is just a political diversion of not managing the state.

May Allah have mercy

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

dato rks,

It is one way of looking at things dato'. Yours  , to my simple mind, is a non generous way , I feel.

you somehow come across as someone with an 'old axe' to grind. 'jangan macam tu, kita hati  mesti bersih...put personalities aside'

Kita kena bersangka baik

I look at it differently.

We all have different talents and certain limitations. The ustazs in the state exco, have limited talents  but 25 years on they still rule Kelantan. That is talent enough if it does not speak volume of the Kelantan people propensity to sabr' with  gross Federal injustice.

Nadzru was asking me just now why I did not go into politics

I do my limited daaawh to 500  elitist people twice a week in between selling my 'panadol' and putting stainless steel wire meshes to people's coronaries in SJMC. That to Ru is still too sedentary.

Had I joined politics, I would not be amongst the kopiah group ruling Kelantan now. Amenu is too 'nauseting'  and rubbish for me. PKR is an 'accident'.

Anyway, I am, like moses, unlike nadzru , very tongue tied. I would need  a 'Harun' all the time. So I will be a third rate politician with no party.

The PAS  people are doing us a service, just being there.......we know they cannot go to putrajaya, tapi acah2 pun dah cukup.

We cannot expect people  to be perfect before they do things. we are not perfect.tghh and his people act as catalyst pun cukup.

There is a well known tradition that says:  ' bala is been held back from society as long as there are individuals in society that remembers HIM in their actions, thought and deed.

I look at PAS people that way. They have taken a vow of poverty and it is a huge sacrifice. 

The 'ulul amri', despite tswa  reservation, one or two of them could well be the billionaire like him, had they put their life and thots in becoming one but they have taken a vow of poverty and it is a big sacrifice.

We have to raise our hats for the people. In indonesia, if you live by the sea it is not safe. At the foot of the mountain also not safe. You fly in the air also not safe. Malaysia is coming to that as well lately. 
Of course Nadzru [ Ru ] with his engineering mind will keep to that geographical fault lines theory etc etc and etc.

To be fair, the federal gomen also is mainly responsible for Kelantan backwardness. Federal funding is almost non existent.  You take any routes from KL to Kota Bharu,  The Teganung way or the Bentong way or the Esat West Highway way, as you enter Kelantan, it is like entering into a state 25 years backward!
Partly also, we can blame for Tok Pha et al for just warming their asses there for decades and having no balls to enlightened their political masters.

On hudud, even if the hudud thing go to parliement and lose, it is still a service. just the parliementary debate itself on hudud will bring to the fore what hudud is.

If pakatan breaks due to hudud , it is positive, as new alliance will be formed  and what need to be 'excreted will be excreted and brassoed'  ,and hopefully more positive.

If pakatan remained it is still positive,because the federal gomen will ahve to be on its toe and hudud can be brought back again. 

In the background, it is the duty of every muslim who calls himself muslim anyway to never tire of hudud.

Be it real or acah2.

All the way it is positive

Now back to Kelantan. what can we do for Kelantan?

The federal gomen own kelantan around 15 billion rm, our conservative estimate during one of our meeting  of the 'Council of Elders on things Tok Bali'.

On a good day, if  Yang Ariff Ariffin Jaka and his band of preselected men sit on the issue of oil royalty, if they all collectively wake up on the right side of the bed that day, we will win hands down, we think.
The fact are all there for us to read.

In between us, over the last threeyears since we met, we have got pledges from the 'whose who' of Kelantan ,almost close to already 1 million dollars usd to reactivate the issue which was adjourned sine die for donkey years now.

Nadzru is sittin on 1 million usd of 'public ' funding now  and doing nothing to change the status of the court's sine die status on the matter.

I can understand that being the most active and experienced oil man in the country, he  is currently bogged down with problems of his own brought about by 'falling oil price' across the board. 

But I must remind the council that Ru in form two last time at SIC, he forgot to read the book and advice by Dale Carnagie  and Reverend Norman Vincent Peale that great people , owe part of their greatness because they are able  to live in compartments!

Great people all have different 'compartments' in their lives.

I am advising him to not get confused with his 'low oil price compartment' and the 'Kelantan oil royalty issue'

Time is of the essence. The last time i met ts aziz and dato N Saghir , all material witness to the 'crime', both have shown some signs of aging. Before they join Dr M in that department . Even Ku Li and my ex-formmate, Hasan Merican  would not evergreen for ever. We have to make hay while the sun still shine brightly.

What is Ru waiting for i cannot comprehend.

On 'living in compartments' I must tell you guys that Dr M was and still is  a current master.

On the day when KL were in near riot on the eve of AIB's ISA many years back , Dr M was riding on his favourite horse with a group of PDRM boys, going round and round the field at Kiara.

We the 'council of elders on things tok bali' are going to relook into the royalty issue and thinking about getting the best advise from perhaps the best QC in London on how to reactive the process. 

15 billion is a lot of money and Petronas and the federal gomen better sit tight. 

On a good day, alhamdullillah, with a bench of fair minded judges,we are confident we can win.

Insyaallah actually, but Ru's JDA data from Thailand is so positive, I say 'alhamdullillah'.

Daylight robbery of a state can go on for so many years, after sometime we have to do something.

The time is now!

dr nik howk

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

Ru,  

Perhaps while you are in London settling your 'South Sudan fiasco arbitration' problem, you could well pay Madam Cherie Booth Blair QC a visit and get a second opinion about the best way to proceed.

This 'sine die' adjournment has been going on for donkey years.  Several things to raise with her:

1. If we need to change horses we need to change horses. If we need to shake some 'trees' we will shake some trees'.

2. Since you raised the issue of lack of confidence in our courts, whether we can change course and bring the case  overseas, in London or USA where the Govt or Petronas have substantive saving or fund.

3. How long can an adjournment be considered legally 'reasonable'....

4. Any extra judicial measures we can take to force the parties to come to the table and arbitrate fairly.

4. etc etc and etc.....

We, in the Council of Elders'  dont actually mind  this indefinite adjournment, but 15 billion rm at compounded interest can be significant for Petronas and the federal Govt to settle.

We always have their interest in mind. 

We are not interested in killing the goose that lay the golden egg!

But at the end of the day , in the deliberation of nations and states, there must be justice and fairness.

To my mind, these elements have been missing much  too long in the arduous relationship between Putrajaya, Petronas and Kelantan

Nik Howk

Previous article in the blog :

2014, October

http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2014/10/let-us-sue-bastards.html


2011 , March
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2011/03/from-libya-to-tok-bali.html

On Death & Dying......The Friend Revisited.

He is a top neurologist. Our friendship transcends professional inter-connectivity and interest. He is my mentor and 'gold-standard' for ethical medical practice [ a rare commodity nowadays of 'instant everything' ] , and I am his 'agitator' on things spiritual and of the 'heart', even though we have a 14 years age difference, he being older. His and his contemporaries belong to an age ruled by rationalizations and reason, that famously produce people like Tun M and Musa Hitam.  Myself and some of my contemporaries  live mostly by our ' hearts '.

We did Haj together in 1989  under SMAS Travel [ Pak Lah younger sister's outfit ] when 13k Rm per head was quite something to talk about.  Now Siti Nurhaliza's 100K per head is mundane stuff. How time has changed! It was both the second for us two.  He headed the medical mission in Makkah in the early70's while I headed the mission in mid 80's. 

Four packed to a room. One prof in linguistic education, Prof Isahak, one TNB senior engineer who maintained that even eating 'kibas' during haj is tantamount to 'Makruh'. A purist and obscurantist viewpoint but we never at any moment argue with him. The mechanic, the linguist, the 'brain' and the ',heart', a volatile and combustible combination! . Ten long days in ihram in a 12' by 12' room, was long and testing on patience. No rancour, anger or argument. Just shukr, remembrance and continous zikrullah. 

All four of us room mates were doing Haji Ifrad. The best haj I have ever done, minus the 1st one in 1984 when 'seeing the 'Ka'abah' for the 1st time was magical. For that special one , just sitting there in al- Raudhah doing nothing was magical and spiritually uplifting.

Three years back, when he was already diagnosed with advance cancer of the kidney, we had another trip to Makkah. I just challenged him that it may be good for his soul if he can join me in my then annual Umrah during the last 10 days of Ramadan. It was fairly risky since he was not in the best of health, and prone to cross-infection. He took the challenge head on despite a lot of reservation from both wife and children. We had a wonderful 10 days of soul searching , including a near riot at the Jeddah Haj airport by Pakistanis pilgrims who missed their flight home due to Saudi's slow clearance of the crowd. Alhamdullillah it was a great Umrah all round.

Now he lay breathless on his bed in Room 456. His oxygen saturation is only 85 % on 5 litres of oxygen per minute. I stole a glimpse through his clinical notes earlier. Dr K, his oncologist scribbled in his notes : ' DNR'. Euphemism and short for 'do not resuscitate 'if patient were to have a cardiac arrest! '. 'DNR' is usually reserved only for the desperately ill patients, beyond help and no hope to get better.

His chest Xrays showed 80 % chokerblockful with tumour metastases. Dr 'K' has with wisdom put him on continuos morphine drip to help his breathing and ease his mind a wee bit. Thanks Allah, his Missus listened to me to not request for artificial support ventilation to ease his breathing. He would not wake up from that and at point of death, conciousness to the very end is of prime importance. Allahualam. 

To my mind it is a matter of hours or days. A day earlier I called his eldest son, Akashah to not leave his father alone in the room. They thankfully have already 'terminated' the service of the private Filipino night nurse who kept talking about Christmas and Jesus at 2 am in the morning! One talks about the proverbial "Whisperer' coming in with wine in one hand and milk in the other. This 'florence nightingale' probably thought in her innocence she is doing my friend a service. He mentioned to me about this young lady's adventurism. I thought it was pretty dicey situation, and told his wife to terminate her service.

I crept into his room just now sofly softly. He opened his eyes. I signaled to him not to talk, to save his breath and asked the nurses and his daughter in law with two grandsons to wait outside the room .

" I know you are just very weak and breathless, you could not even think of  ' laila haillallah'. Just remember Him just by His names, the simple ones. Follow after me...ya Allah ya Allah ya Allah...
ya Rahman , ya Rahman, ya Rahman ya Rahman...ya Rahim, ya Rahim ya Rahim....ya Latif, ya Latiff............ya Rabb , ya Rabb.....Astagfirullah, astagfirullah, astagfurullah........................
Disregard people going and coming, just remember Him. 
"laila haillallah muhammadarasulllallah , if you have the breath, otherwise say it mentally..."

"Insyaallah we will meet in Jannah...........". 
He smiled and thank me.
I walked away knowing, insyaallah, he would have his 'hasnul khatimah', insyaallah.
He has been a picture of grace in his profesional life, and there insyaallah will be grace in even death.


At this point in time, that is the most important thing in his life: 'hasnul khatimah
The rest pales into insignificance.

Allahumma innaka Affuwon tuhibbul afwa wa' fuanni
[ Oh Allah, only You forgive, Forgive me ]

La ila hailla antasubha nakainni kuntominazlimin
[ There is no god but God, Without Your rahmat and blessing, I am one of the zalimun ]

Allahumma adkhilni Jannatul firdaus






Postscript :
Dr Sabri Rejab went on to join 'the realm of the Beloved', just now at 4 am, 25th December, surrounded by wife, and family at his last hour. He lived a life of grace and died also in grace. 
He was in continuos zikr right up to the moment of loss of conciousness, I was told. Alhamdullillah.
Innalillah hiwainna ilaihirojion.




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



 Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin al-Hamid, on ' Husnul Khatimah ' :

 http://www.lajsiab.com/RDZNai00cG9MbDAz

A Long Prescription For A Friend

I visited him at his house in Damansara. My long time colleague and confidante during our GHKL days and in Subang. He looked gaunt and schrivelled up. In his days he must have been the best brain in neurology. No, not actually the best , since best in any medical field is very relative. The most 'honest' would be the best description. 'Intellectual honesty' in rarefied medical fields like ours is a  definite premium.

I considered him as a mentor of sort, way back in our GHKL days in the late 70's. Even then medical practice was already losing its 'art and gentlemanly'. Schools were already producing super technicians and narrow specialists lost in the old art of practising medicine and strict medical ethics.

Dr Sabri Rejab was botha mastercraftman in his field and belong to the 'old school', of which I was familiar, having spent sometime in the UK.

Unlike myself , Dr Sabri Rejab was board certified neurologist from the U.S

I diagnosed him with advance cancer of kidney some  five years ago on a routine annual medical check up.,:'renal cell carcinoma stage 4, with metastases to liver and lung'. 

Alhamdullillah with state of the art targeted therapy and 'nephrectomy' [ removal] of the involved kidney, he has had a long honeymoon of five years. Five years of continued work with long period of reflection, repentance and remembrance. Insyaallah!

He has been bed-riddened for two months now, with cancer in all organs except the brain. A small peanut size spread in the spinal cord is causing him paraplegia in the leg and a neurogenic bladder.
Otherwise he is as forward looking and cheerful as ever.

" Nik, God is Great! Of all the thing now I have a bladder  and two legs that refuse to listen to my brain. All my life, I have been intellectualizing and advising people on all these things! "

"Mashaallah Doc Sabri, you are telling me one day I may be lucky to end up with a massive acute myocardial infarct. That may be a kinder way to go , just maybe, from the perspective of the 'unschooled' . I remember writing on you some three years back, writing all those jazz about kaffarah , time for reflection and atonement and all that..."

" Yeah...thank you very much for reminding me. I was so engrossed with self pity and denial that time  that initially I was quite cross with you. How can this young punk say cancer is good at any age! But after weeks of soul searching, I appreciate your viewpoint. Thank you.
No,  Nik, All these time I have been busy looking after people , I have no time to ponder on the unponderables. But now since I am like this, I would not be totally honest if I tell you I am not worried about the next life.......the uncertainties, the 'alam barzark and all that "

That was my window of opportunity, I felt for the bulging envelope in my trousers and gave it to him.
We bade farewell with a promise to see him again. The bladder catheter needed to be change next week.


The Envelope :



Doc Sabri,

Both of us are recognized experts in our fields but other than that we are very 'unschooled'. Very unschooled in the ugama. I am not ashamed to tell you that even now I read the Qur'an like a 'bloody....' mualaf. The little doa I learn here and there, I remember by heart and I keep my doa very short and precise. Like you, I cherish my 'relative independence'  from being 'ter-ikat   to any 'tarikat' group , so to speak, but there is a down side to that as well. finding a 'real' tok guru nowadays is not easy. i am pretty sure it also work the other way round as well, from the tok guru perspective...finding the right 'anak murid' is very rare.

Being without a 'shaykh' or a specific 'tok guru' , put us down to not having a definitive awrad or wirid to follow with when we do our zikrullah. We collect several 'bits' and 'pieces' along the way . Both of us are still looking for our mushyid and before that we have to make do. But Doc Sabri, do not despair, for there is a not too well known tradition that concede that for those without a Murshid Tok Guru, if we 'selawat to the nabi' constant enough and of enough 'volume', the Prophet [ pbuh ] himself will act as our murshid. He will be waiting for us at the al Kauthar!

Let  me not beat about the bush,my dear friend!

You are in a dire straight with respect to your health and your life is currently in the balance. With due respect, you will agree with me that you are now more 'there than here'. This is critical time for you.

The 'whisperer' can appear to you in your semi-sleep state as your long gone parents. That is the most dangerous part and 'they' turn your aqidah upside down in the last minute. We have talk about 'suul khatimah' and 'husnul khatimah' before and this is the critical time. In order not to give time and space for the 'whisperer'  I feel it is of paramount importance for you to be in continuous zikrullah in all your waking hours. If you do it constantly enough you will find you wakes up in zikr!

If you have not yet have a 'modus operandi', let me humbly suggest this one.
It is important we keep our mind focused on Him and not give'space' and time for syaitan and iblis to creep 'inuendoes' and 'doubt', especially in your case now Doc,, with your brain just intact, with no movement in both legs and even no sensation in your bladder.

the awrad i am proposing now is mainly from imam al ghazali's 1st volume of his voluminous 4 volume opus magnum, " ihya ulumiddin", with a smattering addition here and there from 'this shaykh and that shaykh'  whom i have the priveledge to cross path in what i may term as 'my  mainly secular life pathway and trajectory'.....so far.



Start with  your morning , say at  5 am with:


1.  Astagfirullah...[ Oh Allah!, forgive me  ]

My personal favourite is, "Astagfirullah hal Azim. Astagfirullah hal Azim.....Atagfurullah hal azim......[ punctuated by ]              Astagfirullah hal Azim allazi laila hailla huwal Hayyul Qayyum wa atu bu ilaik. Rabbir firli          waliwa lidayya wal mukmini wal mukminat. Nayau mayaku mulhisab.............

[ Oh Allah forgive and bless me..........Forgive and bless both my parents, and muslimin and muslimah  on the day of al Hisab]    x1 , x3,  x7 or more up to a hundred time if you like, the more the better, if you have the time, motivation and the mental energy. After sometime, it become second nature and if time allow, the more the better. A 100 time will do for istiqamah
The second part of this doa is actually doa nabi Ibrahim. 
'waliwa lidayya wal mukmini wal  mukminat', was taught to me by, personally by a shaykh teaching ugama in the masjidil haram, 33 years ago. he opined that this is the best doa and thing you can do for your parents. i never stop doing it in all sujud and my prayer doa for 32 years. such a simple but profound doa it is. i have forgotten the shaykh's name. i think it was something something al banjari....he ws from sumatera but domiciled in makkah and teached ugama in the haram.
he must have started teaching even when you were there in the early seventies!

How many time? you ask me doc sabri.
In our position of 'ghaflah and indifference, and at our age when our house are slowly saying good bye and the grave a calling, 100, 1000, 10,000.......that question is superfluous!
I do a hundred times at least after every obligatory prayer.
In your position and state of health, you can do the whole day and night!



2. subha nallah wal hamdullillah wala ila haillallah huwallah hu akbar , wala haula wala kuwwata illa billa hil aliy yul azim                                                    x 100 would be best or more

[ 1 and 2 are exceprt from ihya's volume 1 on recommended wirid by imam al ghazali ]


rise to do your tahajjud, 2 rakaat , 4, 6 or 8, or your sunat fajar prayer

while waiting for fajar prayer [ in the context of a congregational subuh prayer in the masjid, which does not apply to you know doc sabri, repeat 1 and 2 ]


and after fajar prayer
another series of astagfirullah , x3  or x7.....


3.  Allahumma ajirni minannar
[ Oh Allah, keep me away from the hellfire ]   x1, x3,  x7 or more.
Doc Sabri, there are wirid and wirid, with long doa's asking for jannah.....but you and me , we have missed the boat for schooling in these wirid, let us keep it simple.



4.  Allahumma antasalam ,wa min kas salam, wa alaika ya u' dussalam, wa adkhilna jannata daras            salam, ta baa rok tarabbana wa ta allai taya Zal jala liwal ikram.



5. Al Fatihah         x7 



6. An Nas              x7



7. Al Falak            x7



8. Kul Huwallah   x7



9. Kulya ayyuhal kafirun         x7


10. 1st 5 ayat of surah al baqarah  x7



11. Ayatul Kursi                        x7



12. Last 2 to 3 verses of surah al baqarah     x7


13. Selawat to the Nabi  [pbuh ]:
      Allahumma sallaliala sayyidina Muhammmadin nur'i wa ahlihi     [ x1, x 3, x 100  or more ]



[ footnote:  item 5 to 12,  is the opening 'gambit' of a zikr handed to me by Shaykh Ninowy of the Shadili Rifa'i Qadiri Sufi Order. it is also recommeneded by imam al ghazali in his ihya..........as the story went, one karaz bin wabrah an abdal of the early century around al ghazali's time related that he was given this wirid by ibrahim at taimi, a well known wali of his time. ibrahim at taimi , according to al ghazali got it in dream from al khidr himself, and al khidr got it from our nabi........if you belong to a wahabbi type of thinking and very partial about wali getting good dreams , and think it is an impossibility, you can of course forget about this. your ugama is still safe, except it is high and dry, 'sanitized' would be the exact word, devoid of sublime pleasure.....etc and etc ]



14.. La ila haillah antasubha nakainni kuntuminazolimin [ doa nabi Yunus ]    
[ My favourite and my Tok Guru's favourite. It represent both 'tasbih' and 'taubat' ]   x3, x7, x100 or more if you please ]

[   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1v7Av63qo   ]


15. Laila haillah huwahdahu la shari kalah lahul mulku walahul hamdu wahuwa ala kullishai in' Qadir       x7 , x100

[ according to one well known tradition, your 'estate' in jannah is 'flat and empty', whatever it mean. This zikr  are your 'trees' and 'garden' in jannah !  Allahualam ! ]

[ in another well, known tradition, if repeated 10 times after our daily wajib prayer, before one changes position from the last position of the last ruku' antara sujud, and followed by allah huma ajirna minar nar x3, this is better than the whole world and all it's content.....allahualam. in our local mosque, if you frequent them , you will notice the imam shifted position facing the makmun only after this zikr, in response to the tradition  ]

16. Allah humma innaka affuwon tuhibbul afwa wa' fuanni x7
[ Oh Allah, only You can forgive, forgive me ]     


17. Allahumaya mukalibal qulub thabit qalbi ala ka di nik    
[ Oh Allah, the One who changes hearts, firm my heart on your Din ]     x7 

18. Allahumaya mukalibal qulub thabit qalbi ala ka ta'atik
[ Oh Allah, the One who changes hearts, firm my heart in your obedience ]   x7

19. Allah humma adhilni jannatul firdaus
[ Oh Allah grant me your Highest Paradise ]    x7



20. Ashaduanla ila haillallah huwah dahu lashari kalah, wa ashhaduan na muhammadan abduhu          warasuluh    x3, x7 or  [  x 100  ], if you like 


21.. Subha nallah wabihamdihih subhanallah hil Azim    x100
[ another powerful zikr ]

22. ya Allah

23. Ar Rahman nya Rahim   x100


25. ya Hayyu ya Qayyum   x100


26  ya Rabb ya Zaljala liwal ikram  x100



27. Ya Fatah , Ya Razak, ya Wahab, ya Ghoni, ya Mughni, x100 or more


28.. Ya Qhodeem [ no beginning, eternal ] , ya Daim  [ no end ], ya Ahad, ya Wahid, ya Samad

[ item 27 and 28 handed to me some 20 years by a local tok guru in a tarikat operating somehwere in Ampang at that time. We used to ahve many 'happy' hours of group zikr then ]


29. ya Latif   x129 or 133 or more

[  footnote: ya salam, 400x followed by ya latif,  also x400, highly recommended by some shaykhs i come to know personally to be a great panacea for all hajat and special needs!...allahualam.
don't ask me how it work,,the al ghaiba is beyond ordinary mortals like all of us, but personally i have tried this two formulation for months and weeks ...and it work!!!
these two asma al husna now has practically replaced most of my sembahyang hajat  which i have a tendency to do very often for my special needs .  if you combined your sembahyang hajat with these wirid involving these two asma al husna, that would certainly be an 'explosive' situation!...
allahualam . i have not yet tried it  ]


30. . Laila haillallah    [ the best of them all! ] .  x100 , x1000 or more, one can go whole day on just this....one cannot be wrong!
[ The most powerful statement in the whole wide universe.]

[    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8zgt6ZKvqk&spfreload=5   ]

31 . And lastly, your private doa for salvation and Robbana atina fiddunya hasana....................
[ after all the zikr ,followed by a substantial series of HIS really big Names, you doa with tawakkul to all HIS big names, insyaallah your doa will be heard ]



Well Doc, both of us are 'unschooled' in these things. These wirid I collect from here and there along the years. I am sure there are better ones out there but this one is the best I can think of, from my very limited knowledge in these things. . ..they are easy to remember.
At this rather eleventh hour, you and me , we just have to do it!! 
Both you and me , we ignoramus and cannot remember long zikr and long doa.

It is not our time to be academic and argue. 
JUST DO IT !!!


I would have loved , to advice you to do daily solatul tasbeeh prayer.

It is a great sin -expiation prayer as highly recommended by our nabi to his young uncle, Ibnu Abbas.

But alas, in your state, you may not have the stamina , and if you do solatul tasbeeh just lieing in bed, you may get all the numbers and order all mixed up.



Nonetheless, if you do all these wirid and, asma al husna and zikr very well, by the time you finish with it, it will be time for solat sunat Israq. The whole process actually will take a good one and a half hour at least.
And if for the next, you can attempt a longer cycle, by the time you finish, it will be  time  for solat Dhuha. After Dhuha, carry on your zikr to Zohor, and so on and so forth. With practice , you will find when you wake up you are in zikrullah! 

[ ...if we go by imam al ghazali, it would be good to repeat the whole gamut of zikr and doa again around asr time....why you may ask?
the people of the higher circle have their 'shift' around asar and subuh, that was the answer.
allahualm....]

It is critical that in your condition now, you dont give space to  the 'Whisperer'.


In your condition ,get your son to help you to be in 'perpetual ablution.

May you and me, in our 'final hour', be granted hasnul khatimah. 
May our life past and present be a blessed one.
May our friendship remain 'dunia dan akhirat'.
May God bless you.



Nik Howk


Postscript :

Dr Sabri Rejab went on to join 'the Realm of the Beloved',  at 4 am, 25th December, surrounded by wife, and family at his last hour. He lived a life of grace and died also in grace. 
He was in continuos zikr right up to the moment of loss of conciousness, I was told. 

At 2 am thereof he woke up his semi comatosed state, said the shahada, and still able to ask his son to check on the correctness of his shahada, and then slipped into coma again.
Alhamdullillah.
Innalillah hiwainna ilaihirojion.

His demise left a big gapping hole there in my heart.








Other similar articles in the blog :

1.   http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2008/11/death-eternal-life-after-death.html

2.   http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2011/04/death-and-dying-revisitedsteps-to.html

3.   http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2013/11/just-visiting.html

4.  http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-passing-of-bulldog-drummond.html