There has been a lot of commotion going on these past few weeks regarding the use of ‘Allah’ in referring to Jesus by the Christians in Malaysia. Amongst the Muslims unfortunately breakage of groups further and adds to the already existing ones. Those who agree give their opinions based on either academic rationale be it Islamic wise or historical wise or pure freedom of rights. Those who disagree too give their opinions based on academic rationale Islamic wise and historical too.
As a humble servant, I am writing this only to give my point of view over the unnecessary dispute. If you want to introduce anyone to anybody, you most likely will introduce the person by his/her name. The person to whom you introduced the first person will then remember the person being introduced (some may take a few re-introductions before recognizing a person, some remember effortlessly). The question lies on how do you actually remember a person or anything? It is very simple, you do not really remember, your mind only register a specific character(s) of the person that distinguish the person from everyone else. You might remember ‘A’ because he has a thick moustache or his bespectacled being or because he likes to use a certain phrase or word. Anything!
Thus how has Allah tell us how we can recognize Him and distinguish Him from other god(s)?
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begets not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.
(al-Ikhlas: 1-4)
If anyone or anything fits in all the attribution of ‘Allah’ then it deserves to be called Allah. If not then it doesn’t.
The second thing that I find grieving is how we do not consider others work and how our opinion (though it is perfectly right) can affect them. It is easy for academics to give their opinion generally but Islam has taught us that in making any decision you must follow the shari’ah, sunnah and also ‘uruf that is the culture of a society. If the culture fits shari’ah and sunnah, you may proceed. This brings us to the term waqi-‘iah that is the present time and place. There has been no confusion for the Arabs to refer Allah as Jesus or Allah as Allah. Yet will it not be confusing to be used in Malaysia? Is it really feasible in our country? What is the reason for using it? Why now? What is the outcome of it? What is the long term risk we are taking by saying yes now as our opinion is being sought and we give a straight answer backed with tons of reference just because we can? Or just because we want to portray ourselves as ‘the sought for leader’ to lead Malaysia? Put some thought in it, winning one chair here might just as well make you win a chair you never want in the hereafter. It is a personal call.
The academics that had not been to the root or the political party that could not spare a cent for the work carried out cannot possibly know how hard it is for the people working on the ground to get our youngsters to turn their face towards Allah and not something else or how these people had risked their lives and sacrificed almost everything they have to propagate Islam to the orang asli and how tiresome and how much trouble these people had gone through to teach comparative religion for free just to help others to understand Islam better and realize the discrepancy of Christianity so they will in turn do da’wah and propagate Islam. What do we say now? We have already owed them too much for not joining their course, let us save ourselves by not turning their efforts into vain.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
THEY DRINK COFFEE, EAT DOUGHNUT AND…
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).
Al-Hujuraat: 13
It has been a really long time since the last entry and I am wondering if this blog is still active yet I had my mind set that if it is not, I will make myself start a new one (probably using the same name though) and be more committed to it in a more practical and doable way insya Allah.
When I get an offer to pursue my study overseas and given the chance to take my family along, I am thrilled. I am looking forward to see people very different from my people for a change. Well, guess what? Other than their great fond of doughnut and addiction to coffee, we are very much alike in so many ways.
If we have intellectuals who cannot stop discussing about their area of expertise or how they always see things from their respective areas no matter when they are walking, eating or making small talk that you wonder if they even dream of what they are preaching, we have a bunch of them here. If we have seen girls coming face to face with each other over a guy they like, well here they take it in the open air where we prefer in a close room. The common conversations that you catch while passing by people in Malaysia, you can get everything here down to the gossip!
It strikes me how similar people are and how true al-Quran is! We are nothing better than the other unless we have more taqwa than the person next to us. And speaking of taqwa, Dr. Mohd Nor Manuti gave a good background from the Arabic standpoint of the word itself. Taqwa comes from the root word wiqaya that means cautious. Thus taqwa means always being cautious (towards Allah) in the sense that you always watch that you do what He asked you to and leave what He asked you not to. Saidina Umar al-Khattab explained taqwa with an analogy as one walking on a road lined with thorn thus you can never be off guard at all time.
Indeed we are blessed at least we have a deen. We have Allah to hold on to for that matter. For the smart people here, sometimes they get above their head and feel like they are far off better and know everything. Unfortunately they do not realize that there is One who is All-knowing. Some are very humble, down to earth yet not humble enough to submit to Allah.
All of us have our insecurities. It might be our fear of an unfinished study or research or just a plain interview. Some of us lack confidence. They have it too! But we are blessed because at least (I would say we have the most) we have Allah while they feel like they are struggling alone and fighting their own battle. We can cry to Allah, we can ask Allah to help us and we know Allah can listen and Allah can help. We are a notch more hopeful than any other despairs in the world and hope is a powerful tool!
Now come to the getting to know each other to LEARN and NOT DESPISE. Yes, everybody has good qualities as well as the bad ones. Allah asks us to learn, not despise be it good or bad.
It is easy to learn from the good qualities for instance learning to be on time when you make appointment with the Swiss or Japanese, learning to be diligent and hardworking when you meet the Chinese, learning to honour your guests from the Arabs, learning to be courteous from the Malays, learning not to beat around the bushes from the Westerns and the list goes on. But how do we learn from the bad qualities?
I would like to quote the answer from the Prophet Isa a.s. when people asked him how he became good when he was amongst the Israelites (who are known to be very bad)? His answer was simple, “ I don’t want to be like them.”
Hence that is how we learn from the bad qualities. Try to eradicate them from ourselves. And if we meet anyone with certain bad qualities, now that Allah forbids us from despising him/her there must be a way for us to face this person and there must be a reason for that too. For this, our utmost muallim, Rasulullah s.a.w. had given the perfect answer.
In an occasion a guy was coming towards Rasulullah s.a.w. house with Aishah r.a. Rasulullah s.a.w told Aishah all the bad qualities that the man has. Yet when he entered the Prophet’s house, Rasulullah s.a.w treated him very well. When the guest left, Aishah r.a. asked Rasulullah s.a.w if what the Prophet told her before was all correct, Rasulullah s.a.w said yes. Aishah r.a. asked then why did Rasulullah s.a.w treat him very well? Rasulullah s.a.w said, “If no one shows him kindness, he will never learn to be good.”
Subhanallah! If only we strictly follow what Islam has taught us, this world is guaranteed to be a better place. I would bet my life on this. Wallahu a’lam.
Al-Hujuraat: 13
It has been a really long time since the last entry and I am wondering if this blog is still active yet I had my mind set that if it is not, I will make myself start a new one (probably using the same name though) and be more committed to it in a more practical and doable way insya Allah.
When I get an offer to pursue my study overseas and given the chance to take my family along, I am thrilled. I am looking forward to see people very different from my people for a change. Well, guess what? Other than their great fond of doughnut and addiction to coffee, we are very much alike in so many ways.
If we have intellectuals who cannot stop discussing about their area of expertise or how they always see things from their respective areas no matter when they are walking, eating or making small talk that you wonder if they even dream of what they are preaching, we have a bunch of them here. If we have seen girls coming face to face with each other over a guy they like, well here they take it in the open air where we prefer in a close room. The common conversations that you catch while passing by people in Malaysia, you can get everything here down to the gossip!
It strikes me how similar people are and how true al-Quran is! We are nothing better than the other unless we have more taqwa than the person next to us. And speaking of taqwa, Dr. Mohd Nor Manuti gave a good background from the Arabic standpoint of the word itself. Taqwa comes from the root word wiqaya that means cautious. Thus taqwa means always being cautious (towards Allah) in the sense that you always watch that you do what He asked you to and leave what He asked you not to. Saidina Umar al-Khattab explained taqwa with an analogy as one walking on a road lined with thorn thus you can never be off guard at all time.
Indeed we are blessed at least we have a deen. We have Allah to hold on to for that matter. For the smart people here, sometimes they get above their head and feel like they are far off better and know everything. Unfortunately they do not realize that there is One who is All-knowing. Some are very humble, down to earth yet not humble enough to submit to Allah.
All of us have our insecurities. It might be our fear of an unfinished study or research or just a plain interview. Some of us lack confidence. They have it too! But we are blessed because at least (I would say we have the most) we have Allah while they feel like they are struggling alone and fighting their own battle. We can cry to Allah, we can ask Allah to help us and we know Allah can listen and Allah can help. We are a notch more hopeful than any other despairs in the world and hope is a powerful tool!
Now come to the getting to know each other to LEARN and NOT DESPISE. Yes, everybody has good qualities as well as the bad ones. Allah asks us to learn, not despise be it good or bad.
It is easy to learn from the good qualities for instance learning to be on time when you make appointment with the Swiss or Japanese, learning to be diligent and hardworking when you meet the Chinese, learning to honour your guests from the Arabs, learning to be courteous from the Malays, learning not to beat around the bushes from the Westerns and the list goes on. But how do we learn from the bad qualities?
I would like to quote the answer from the Prophet Isa a.s. when people asked him how he became good when he was amongst the Israelites (who are known to be very bad)? His answer was simple, “ I don’t want to be like them.”
Hence that is how we learn from the bad qualities. Try to eradicate them from ourselves. And if we meet anyone with certain bad qualities, now that Allah forbids us from despising him/her there must be a way for us to face this person and there must be a reason for that too. For this, our utmost muallim, Rasulullah s.a.w. had given the perfect answer.
In an occasion a guy was coming towards Rasulullah s.a.w. house with Aishah r.a. Rasulullah s.a.w told Aishah all the bad qualities that the man has. Yet when he entered the Prophet’s house, Rasulullah s.a.w treated him very well. When the guest left, Aishah r.a. asked Rasulullah s.a.w if what the Prophet told her before was all correct, Rasulullah s.a.w said yes. Aishah r.a. asked then why did Rasulullah s.a.w treat him very well? Rasulullah s.a.w said, “If no one shows him kindness, he will never learn to be good.”
Subhanallah! If only we strictly follow what Islam has taught us, this world is guaranteed to be a better place. I would bet my life on this. Wallahu a’lam.
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