Reddit, Atheism and the Seduction of Knowledge - hubris vs adab (good manners)

I disagree with him. But I have picked his best-looking picture.
I am fair that way. He he he.

DAWKINS. I have written a few postings on Atheism in popular culture. And in pop culture, there is no Atheist more prominent than Richard Dawkins. With his interesting mix of history, prejudices, science and culture, he has been on the wagon trail espousing his profound faith in Atheism. I even bought and read his book, entitled 'The God Delusion', to understand his points of view better.

ATHEISTS AND BELIEVERS. Of course, Atheists and believers sit on different polar of the knowledge spectrum. We believe in the existence of God, while the Atheists believes not in God, but (increasingly) in some alien civilization that visited Earth a while back and proceeded to seed the planet with ingredients to make life, beginning with barely a hint of protein, into a single cell organism before evolving into homo sapiens. The recent movie, Prometheus touches on this theory.

r / atheism in reddit. 

But while we differ, I had hoped that we are actually still sitting on the same spectrum. And that discourse around our differences can actually enliven and entertain. So, with naive optimism I posted one of the earlier Atheism postings on reddit. If you don't know, reddit.com is (I am informed) the number one pusher of internet news, and it is organised into communities. I posted 'Richard Dawkins is not Godless, the Essence of Belief and Disbelief, and a Bagel' (Click Here to read) in the Atheism category. I found the few comments garnered very passionate, although, alas, not very surprising...

Moses dropped by to defend my posting there.

I suppose if I step into the lion's den, I should expect to be chewed on a bit. He he he. I must have looked like a succulent morsel of God-believing goat to them. He he he.

The subscribers to Atheism in Reddit number almost 1 million. And they are very active, and as you can see, quite earnest in their beliefs.

EUGENICS. Like converts to a new faith however, Atheists are not much for talk-back, considering people with religion as not-very-intelligent. Which is kinda sad when you consider that it is knowledge that brought them to where they are now. Or is it actually prejudices? Certainly, I cannot blame the Atheists like Dicky or Bill (Maher) for reacting so strongly against the mad and bad actions of some believers who say that they act on behalf of God Himself. But that is the errors of humanity and not the religion itself. For surely they must admit that one of the more logical and ruthless conclusion of Atheism is eugenics, that now discarded and condemned policy once practised in USA (under the banner of scientific enlightenment) and with horrifying results in Nazi Germany (under the Aryan regime). Eugenics basically means that if Nature's true purpose is to evolve creatures (including Man) to a higher level, then surely, the weak, the dim-witted, the handicapped, the destitute and the criminal class should not be permitted to breed - which led to asylums, prisons, concentration camps, forced sterilization and vasectomies, and ultimately to executions and genocide. This in the name of science and good of mankind.

Yeah. It always sounds like a good idea in the beginning.

But Dawkins will say, "Noooo. They are not true atheists! They are an aberration!" But this is the very same explanation which believers give for nut-head crusaders and fruit-cake jihadis too. That they are not true believers and their terrorism is born from an aberration and confusion in their understanding of faith. So how are we different, and how can we be distinguished?

ADAB. It is good manners, polite discourse and courtly courtesies that distinguishes one person from the other. Knowledge is a seductive power and can lead to hubris. When this happens, the most fair-minded Atheist or believer will sound sanctimonious and condescending. And this is not cool at all.

Wow. I wrote more than I wanted to. Sorry, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Sinners Guide to Scams and Cons

“Between a fellow who is stupid and honest and one who is smart and crooked, I will take the first. I won’t get much out of him, but with that other guy 
I can’t keep what I’ve got”~Lewis B Hershey

THE LANGUAGE OF THE CON. As a practicing lawyer, I have heard many, many fishy stories. I have read many, many documents, great works of forgery, and in some instances, fantasy - in one instant that I shan't easily forget is coming across an official Land Office document which was written over by one individual to alienate a certain part of his property as a garden and home for elves (no kidding). I have learnt a little I think, to distinguish between the sincere and the less-than-sincere, and use my nose to smell a rat. I have also come across many ‘businessmen’ who are honest but naïve in the ways of the world. But  of course, I have also come across a number of con artists. These are some telling points about our ethically-handicapped friends (of course, some of whom are down right criminal) –

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS - If it looks like pyramid scheme. If it smells, walks and talks like a pyramid scheme. Then, in ALL probability, it is a pyramid scheme. It doesn’t matter what the ‘object for sale / trade’ is. In my short life I have come across blatant gimmicks like shoe polish, mattresses and herb-infused women’s err... feminine pads that doubles as an alternative remedy for high-fever – you plop it on your forehead. (I kid you not), that is utilized as the ‘trade’ to justify collecting a disproportionately high ‘purchase price’. Alternatively, I have come across pyramid schemes organized around a real estate development, with millions upon millions of dollars invested to market and give a veneer of legitimacy to the fraudulent program. The simple rule is that if there is a ‘down-liner’ structure, if you are required to make a hefty deposit (say, 20-30%), then it is highly likely that it is pyramid-ponzi scheme.

THEY ARE FAST TALKERS! Conmen tend to talk fast. They are not too fond of pauses and silent contemplation. They have a story to sell and they don’t want you thinking too much over it…”And you said that Ferdinand Marcos had this deal with…? What date exactly? Waitaminute, wasn’t he overthrown already then?

THEY TRAVEL IN GROUPS! They often come with hanger-ons. Sometimes two, three even four ‘partners’ who appear to have no role whatsoever but to take up valuable space in your meeting room. Oh, they sometimes nod vigorously in agreement with the lead speaker's claims, and that's it. Most of the time not  a word would they breath through out the entire pitch.

THEY ARE BEING SHADOWED BY THE CIA! If they throw in words suggesting grand conspiracies like the CIA, the FBI, IMF, President of the United States, World Bank, McDonalds, Freemasons… and how these people would come down hard on them for their product (whatever it may be) if only they BUT knew! But of course, in the real world, those that need to be-in-the-know are probably already in-the-know. So the question is, why are such ‘malevolent forces’ not doing anything? Of course the truth is, they don’t care, because it is all a pack of lies.

He was caught and punished. But mainly because he
soaked and conned his own class, the rich.

IT IS YOUR LUCKY DAY! If it is such a great idea, if it is such a brilliant scheme… why are they coming to you? Why not just keep it to themselves, or at the most to their close friends and family? Why need they set up shop in your country and not their own? And even if they had to, why not get venture capital from the USA, Britain or Europe? If the idea is too good to be true, you KNOW that it is too good to be true.

JUST PAY USD20,000 AND YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO GET USD6 MILLION! And finally, the clinching evidence if you have any doubt as to the honesty of any deal - If such a scheme entails you paying a small amount relative to what you will get – say, paying a USD20,000 to help ‘facilitate lottery administrative charges’, ‘pay death duties’, ‘settle bank financial fees', ‘help procure necessary permits to remit monies cross-borders’, through which a disproportionate amount of money (maybe USD6 million and above) is released / remitted into your account, then come on… you have to be naive to fall for such trickery.

Listen to your heart… Though your dry-bone and almost empty wallet is shouting to be filled. This will save you money, or at least the blushes of being duped by a con artist.

This has been a public service broadcast from the sinners’ almanac. I hope you found it to be helpful. Actually, I have been wanting to write this for the longest time.

Thank you for dropping in, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Alhamdulillah for Little Nayati! - Abducted Boy Released Safe & Sound

Recently I posted about the tragic abduction of young Nayati Shamelin Moodliar, the 12-year old son of an Indian-Dutch South African couple living here in Kuala Lumpur. As days pass, I started to worry as the chance of finding the boy alive and unhurt begins to ebb.

I did not like writing the post (Click Here if you wanna read it), because I was worried how this drama would end. Last night, about 4 in the morning, I suddenly woke up and thinking (and I don't know where that thought came from) that Nayati has been discovered safe and uninjured. So I immediately checked the internet, but there were no news. *Sigh* Feeling a little disappointed I went back to bed.

But God works in wonderous ways - for this morning it has been confirmed that Nayati has indeed been found safe and sound, released early this morning by the kidnappers on a highway lay-by near Rawang, about half an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur. The family paid a substantial ransom after a protracted series of negotiations with the curs. You can read the link to the news coverage here - Click Here.

So the dream was true after all. And I am happy, because his pictures were everywhere and long would I have been haunted by his face if the worst were to have happened. But as it turns out, he is back, alive and unharmed in the embrace of a relieved family. As a father myself, I can only imagine the overwhelming sense of relief that the parents must be feeling right now - the world is once again wonderful and full of infinite happy possibilities. May God bless them and protect us always.

As for the kidnappers and their ill-gotten gains? This world is very small, and justice will find its mark, sooner or later. I do not like to wish bad things on anyone, but I believe that when you weigh karma in such a negative way by threatening the life of an innocent child... how will you answer God for your actions? I pray that the criminals will repent and find ways to redeem themselves with God and the rest of mankind.

But again, alhamdulillah for little Nayati! For it is a joyful news to savour!

May you continue to have a happy day, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Abducted and still missing

If you are living around my neighbourhood or just visiting, you would have come across this poster pasted all over the place since yesterday - At the traffic lights, along the shop frontages, at restaurants and retail shops, in the banks, at the police stations, offices, at the mosques, churches and temples. Everywhere.

20. Dzikr is not

The remembrance

Of God and Prophet by recitation,

But through listening.

Yea! Listening!

In the purring of kittens,

In the laughter of children.

In the crying of women.

Distraught mum and dad.

Yesterday, early Friday morning, a little 12-year old boy studying in Mont Kiara International School (MKIS) was abducted as he was about to enter the well-secured school compound. As an international school, the majority of its students are mostly kids from the large migrant diaspora in the wealthy suburbs of Mont Kiara. The school is perhaps 3 kilometres from my home, so the kidnapping made my heart skip a beat. Because if this could happen in MKIS, it can happen anywhere, including at my son's government public school, SKBD.

I will not say much about this incident. I worry in writing about something which I cannot imagine the outcome, although in the hearts of all people is a strong hope that this will turn out okay and young Nayati will be rescued or released unhurt.

Below are a pair of Youtube videos made by Nayati's schoolmates begging for everyone's help to find him. It is heart-wrenching.

We are all hoping and praying.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Click on link - UPDATE 03.05.2012 - RELEASED AND FOUND ALIVE AND UNHARMED. 

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I have died a million times over. We all have - the sanctity of life and the madness of men

THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO

I have died a million times over,

I have mourned my own passing more times

Than there are grains of sand by the sea.

I have died a million times over,

I have drawn the shroud over my lifeless body

And as the mourners shuffle around my burial plot

I could hear myself mutter, “Goodbye Mummy.”

I have died a million times over,

In my house, in my village, in the lonely desert,

In the forest, in the hills and gentle valleys,

Wherever Man have settled

I have died there.

I have died a million times over,

I have been killed over pride and money,

Over land and bigotry,

Over lies and jealousy,

Alone or in a phalanx of soldiers

Or standing with my back against the wall,

They killed me.

I have died a million times over,

And my Lord has mourned over my passing,

And I have laid my broken heart into His embrace

As He asked, “How could have they done this to you…?”

I have died a million times over, you see,

And each time I answer God,

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do…”

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

This posting is written on the weary back of this sinner, who sometimes despairs at the madness of man and their terrible ways - Our destructiveness on this Earth and our spite that we lash out towards our own brothers and sisters for all sorts of reasons. The Angels were aware of our inner dark fires. They forgot themselves when they deigned to question God in the Holy Quran 2:30...

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not." (Yusuf Ali translation)

Of the act of unlawfully taking another person's life, this is said in the Quran 5:32

On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. (Yusuf Ali translation)

So I am not far wrong, you see. When a 5 year old girl was kidnapped and murdered in cold blood recently here in Malaysia, we all died. When a Rabbi and the three children were killed by a so-called Jihadist in France recently, we all died. When that so-called Christian crusader went on a bomb and shooting spree and killing almost 80 people in Oslo last year, we all died.

With each murder on this planet, we diminish as a nation of humanity. Because murder is the rejection of our very humanity. It is the Divine Answer, 'I know what ye know not' that holds us together like a thread, despite the murderers in our midst. And it is the life-savers and care-givers of this world - the doctors and nurses, the paramedics and volunteers, the charities and donors, the kind Samaritans and rescuers, who put back our faith in our own humanity. For to quote God again "...And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people..."

Thank you for allowing me to share my little sorrow and hope with you, sunshine. May God bless you always and may God forgive me. And may we always learn something new to make tomorrow a better day, God-willing. 

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Win Some, Lose Some. But When Weighed On The Cosmic Scale... Win! Win! Win!

They may be thieving curs,
but they care about oral hygiene.

Lose Some. We had a little break-in over the weekend at the office. We lost 2 CPUs and 3 monitors. All other assets are accounted for thus far, so we Thank You God for Your Mercy. On the plus side our back-up system on an external hard drive will help us recover and update our files.

In our preliminary inspection we noticed that the burglars had opened one of our staff's mouth cleanser that she kept on her desktop. So if you come across a dubious looking character with a fresh pepperminty breath and lugging 2 CPUs for a quick-sale, please call us and we will get the police to apprehend the thief!

The ease by which these burglars carry off the now-prevalent slim monitors has persuaded us to replace the stolen monitors with the traditional fat boys. Let's see how easily they can carry off and sell these little monsters! 

Ye old Traditional 'Fat-boy' computer  monitors. More difficult to steal.

Win Some. On the plus side, I have found a beautiful little website called Healing Hearts, which would be of interest to Muslims, if they are interested to learn more of God, Prophet Muhammad and of course, themselves. It may also be of interest to anyone curious about Muhammad and Muslims' loving veneration of their Prophet. It is packed-full of beautiful stories to inspire and sustain us in these days of deception, hate and hubris. It was a reader known as Surya Dharma who pointed me to Healing Hearts, and the very first article I read was entitled 'How is Your Love for Me?', a short story about the Prophet and his wife Aishah.  

So we win some, we lose some. I lost my computers over the weekend, but I also gained access to a beautiful website packed with well-thought articles about Muhammad Habibullah. On the cosmic scale, what I have lost is incomparable to what I have gained.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

The United Kingdom, Beatles & Pink Floyd, the Oracle and the Columbine Massacre. And something about houses - Books connect us

Was the queue long? Is the Pope Catholic?

Hi, sunshine. As I mentioned earlier, we visited the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale last Sabbath, and below are some gems I managed to purchase at really great discounts. They are not the latest books, but awesome nonetheless.

A chilling read says Oprah.
I agree.

'The Sceptred Isle Twentieth Century' is essentially a large but effective tome covering the United Kingdom's 100 years. Great up to page 50 already, and the only sad thing (for me at least) is that it also highlights the crisis in the early 1900s which saw the slow demise of the Ottoman Empire, beginning in the Balkans as well and the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsular. 'The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital' by David Ovason is an interesting but a little laborious study of freemasonry's influence in Washington's iconic buildings. It's not for me actually but for my friend, Longhair, who is an enthusiast in masonagraphy (is there such a word?). Rarely for me, I am also starting to read an uberdark book entitled 'Columbine' by Dave Cullen, about the two high school seniors who decided one day in April 1999 to massacre their friends and teachers in Columbine High School, Colorado. Into the 3rd chapter, I must say that it is very well written, giving me a bird's eye view into the psyche of these 2 demented killers. 

After watching an excellent documentary on the Oracle of Omaha, I was curious enough to pick up this book by Alice Schroeder called 'The Snowball - Warren Buffet & the Business of Life', then one book about the Beatles and a pictorial biography on Pink Floyd. Oh yes, I also picked up 4 home design books for ideas. The houses are so beautiful.

If you wanna build houses, you gonna need some help...

In the early days of Pink Floyd the audiences were expected to sit or stand still
and listen attentively to the music. For Pink Floyd is not just about rock music.
Pink Floyd was a rock renaissance.

Nothing poetic this time, sunshine. Just books. Wonderful life-enriching books. May you have a good read this Sabbath.

wa min Allah at-taufiq