HANG TUAH, THE MALAYS AND ISLAM - in the foxhole of faith with you...

SEBELUM... 

Sebelum ilmu cukup di dada,

Sebelum adab cukup di hati,

Sebelum airmata cukup mengalir di mata,

Sebelum senyuman cukup terukir di bibir,

Sebelum murshid selesai bercerita,

Sebelum sunnah di jiwa bertumbuh subur,

Sebelum kita di kapan dan tersemadi di dalam kubur,

Selagi kita masih bernyawa...

Tahulah, wahai sahabatku yang disayangi,

Kebenaran hanya ada pada Allah dan Rasulnya.

Dan bukan milik seseorang insan abdi. 

BEFORE...

Before knowledge has filled up our chest,

Before good manners has filled up our heart,

Before we have shed enough tears from our eyes,

Before we have carved enough smiles on our lips,

Before the Master has finished his tale,

Before the traditions of the Prophet is growing healthy in our spirit,

Before we are wrapped in a shroud of white and lowered into our grave,

Know this, my beloved companion,

That truth is only with God and His Prophet

And not the property of any one servant.

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

We are always learning. From the first moment we open our eyes and to the last second we breathe our last. Thus, it is always best and the highest station of good manners (Adab) to be circumspect and discrete in how we live our life with people. So why be abrasive? Why be argumentative? The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) himself said that a definition of his follower, is a person from who no one need worry of any harm, either from that person's hand or his mouth.

My name is Taufiq, and I am a Malay and a Muslim. But Allah(s.w.t.) has sent the Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w.s.) to all Mankind, and the Devil has declared war on all Mankind. So we are in it together, sunshine, in this foxhole of what little faith we have. And alhamdulillah, I am happy with your company, whether you are black, white, yellow or brown, whether you are a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian or a Hindu.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

In Certainty is Mercy

Race, Nationality and History - in the River of Time all come together at the Station of the Lover of the Beloved

This Thing Called Love!

I cannot tell you how it tastes,

This thing called love,

I can go on and on and on explaining,

But the thing is utterly mystifying.

But as love range from one station to another,

It gains speed and it gains a different nature,

For love, that starts its journey with exclusivity,

Between you and the Beloved, later transforms itself 

Between you and the Nation of the Beloved,

Finally coming to rest in the station of the Lover of the Beloved,

Where people of all walks of life, race and religion come together,

Beneath the all-encompassing banner of Muhammad,

Mercy to all nations, Mercy to all the worlds

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

Independence Day of Tanah Melayu

History defines you. It befuddles me. It worries me even, this thing called race and nationality. I worry that people pine too much for race and national identity, to the exclusion of other races and nationalities. But truth be told, there is a place for seeking to understand and explore your people's history, whether you are a Malay, a Chinese, an Anglo-saxon, a Slav, an Indian, an Eskimo... etc. After all, you are what your history makes you to be. You may like to think yourself as an enlightened world citizen. But the reality of the language you speak, the food you eat, the music you listen to, the books you read, the friends you keep and the family you are  born in, defines specifically who you are - a British Punjabi, a Malaysian Indian, an Australian Aborigine, an American Anglo-Saxon, an Argentinian Arab, a Japanese, a Chinese, a British Jew, an Australian Korean, a Baltic Slav, a German Turk.

History of Hate. But history can divide people. Why, not too long ago, my people feared the Japanese soldiers tramping down the village lane. Not too long ago, the Red Indian nations of North America were annihilated, the remnants herded into unwanted infertile lands. Not too long ago, the Anglo-Saxon and Slav nations of the world ranged in a terrible war against Germany, Italy and Japan. So much blood. So much suffering. How can we forget all that hate?

In the River of Time. But I have forgotten. Or rather, someone forgot to teach me to hate. And despite the continuing litany of hate and violence the world over, I refuse to give up our common humanity. For this is the signal command and message of the Lover (God) of the Beloved (Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w.s.) at this station of my thoughts and emotion. I am of the Nation of Muhammad, but I cannot be one, if I was not also one of the Nation of Adam. For this is the lesson of Muhammadan traditions, to respect and love all, and to see the different strains and colours of humanity flowing back in the River of Time to the cradle of mankind, to Adam and Eve.

After all, we are of one God, are we not? And if caught alone in the blazing desert, who will we ask for help if not from another man or woman that we chance to meet, another brother and sister united in the worship of God, however he or she may call unto Him.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Malaysia Merdeka Thoughts 2012 - fear, democratic tyranny, education, neo-colonialism and NGOs

We should always remember. We should respect history and our elders.
And we should learn how old problems can return in a new form.

It is not only... (Merdeka Poem III for 2012)

It is not only independence

That can make a country great,

But the stock of men and women

And their firm sense of rightness,

It is not only liberty

That can make a country good,

But the choice through which

The people enjoy such liberty,

It is not only material wealth

That can make a country rich,

But the respect people hold

To their own tradition and history,

It is not mere tolerance

That can make a country

Of multi-ethnicity live in peace,

But the magnanimity

That people show towards one another

On a day to day basis.

………………………..

Fear in Malaysia 2012. There is a lot of fear out there. In the newspapers, in the blogs and on TV, the mongers of fear repeat the speeches of politicians and preachers and perpetuate a climate of fear. The problem with fear is that if that is the primary thing that motivates your political agenda, it is an easy step to hate, then bigotry and hubris. This is not essentially a Malaysian problem. We are merely symptoms of a greater chronic disease suffered by the international mainstream and alternative news media. A pandemic of fear.

They wore uniforms (they are Germans, after all), but
a lot of common voting folk also thought them swell.

Democratic Tyranny. I am not a fan of either the incumbent government nor opposition parties here. I find both their posturing and vote-chasing distasteful, but then again I do not believe in democracy. I simply see too many people blinded by their own agenda, for that is what democracy is about – fighting for your rights. If it gels with other people’s interest that’s fine, but if it doesn’t, well… tough luck. People often forget that Hitler’s Nazi party came to power in Germany on the backs of a democratic election. Of course they were not actually vanilla in their electoral campaigns, but they won because they were simply more brutal and single-minded than their socialist and communist opponents. And people also forget that when the French King's Bastille was broken into, that so-called symbol of royal oppression, Parisian revolutionaries found only a couple of petty criminals. But the Great Terror that followed the French revolution helped to fill Bastille up with those fortunate few who were lucky enough to escape the bloody Guillotine. Yeah. Democracy. Great.

Education. But what sort? And although I often said before that it is education that firms an enlightened world view, even that is not enough, for education in the modern democratic context often focuses too much on worldly knowledge and material gain. Good education must be based on progressive and scientific ideas but built upon foundations of family, history and Adab (courtly manners and courtesies). In this respect, I believe that the federal government will soon be unveiling its review of the National Education Policy (or has it? I have been missing the news lately). Well, I suspect the single biggest issue which I wish addressed will not be there – the prohibition of any government ministers to send their children to private / international schools. You see, they do not even have the good manners to regard us as people with intelligence. Give the ministers's children 2 weeks in a public national school, and I assure you, sunshine, that the standards and facilities and funding for public education would improve almost immediately. All other options are secondary to this.

World Bank. Their mission is
to eradicate world poverty.
Yeah. Right.

Neo-Colonialism and the NGOs. Non-Governmental Organizations are a necessary check and balance to the executive powers of government. But when we do not have a transparent record of their funding, and when the NGOs patently parrot the Western ideas of human rights, progress and democracy, we have to be a little more concerned. For the progress of the West from colonial overseers to a bastion of equality and freedom is a false story. The West may tolerate a couple of brown, yellow or black leaders as its pin-up poster boy (or girl) for their tolerance and equality ads, but the overwhelming tide of events under the globalization of the economy, corporatist (read none-existent) ethics and the oppressive system of currency and international banking will continue to stoke East and West divide. This is naturally so, because a large segment of people believe that the West is superior to the East. And in a way, they are not wrong, so I don’t blame them for taking measures to protect their overwhelming material and military dominance of the world. But to have our own local NGOs leading the vanguard of this neo-colonialism is unfortunate. The NGOs may think themselves a world away from the corporatist powers of the Halliburtons, Shells and ExxonMobiles, the Morgan Stanleys and the Citibanks, the IMFs and the World Banks, but things are not so black and white in reality. There is a lot of money in CSR (corporate social responsibility), you see. CSR makes behemoth non-human profit-making monsters appear as cuddly as teddy bears, and NGOs needs money, after all. It’s a question of supply and demand, and the graph never lies. And before any politician claims otherwise, they are probably even worse - just see the amount of financial industry and corporatist money pouring into the present American presidential campaign.

These are some of my thoughts about Malaysia today, on it’s 55th birthday (well, for West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak joined in 16 September 1963 – we really should consider combining both celebrations. It makes sense). There are a lot of challenges out there.

Am I worried? Not really, because my mum and dad taught us not to despair and to always persevere. In the cosmic scale, no human (or djinn) conspiracy can overcome the Plan of God and His Beloved Prophet. So Happy Merdeka Day and do not be discouraged! Have faith!

If you have a little faith (and a good camera) like Shamel, even you can defy gravity.
Happy Merdeka Day!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Silver Medal but Golden Heart - Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and the heart of Malaysia

Not Olympic champion, but our champion.

Last night, at about 9.30pm I left my house to pick up Mikhail. The road was empty with only a few cars making their way through the overcast Malaysian night. I knew where everyone were... they were at home in front of their television, recovering from (watching) an epic battle between David and Goliath, between our Lee Chong Wei vs the People's Republic of China's Lin Dan in the finals of the men's badminton competition in London.

After winning the first set and trouncing Lin Dan at 21-15, Chong Wei faced a resurgent Lin Dan who won the 2nd set with a confidence-boosting 21-10. In the nail-biting see-saw battle of the final set, the PRC player, seen by many badminton pundits as one the most talented and dominant player in the sport's history finally overcame our Chong Wei at 21-19. The scores barely hint at the drama that was being played on court and in the homes of millions of Malaysians as once again, our champion lost to the amazing Lin Dan.

Because truth be told, I suspect many Malaysians, when they knew that Chong Wei was to face Lin Dan in the finals, kinda sighed a mute resignation, "Oh, well... silver is already an achievement." That is the level of awe inspired by the unquestionable ability of Lin Dan.

Lin Dan. Simply amazing. 

I was close to tears watching the last few minutes of the 79-minute ordeal because my gut feeling was that Chong Wei was not going to make it. And alas, the hopes of millions of my countrymen perished after Chong Wei lost the battle of nerves with only 2 points away from our country's first gold medal. 5 minutes later I was on the road to pick up my son.

Don't fret, my friend. For you have won your place
in the hearts of milions of us back home.

But during the drive I recalled the British female commentator when she exclaimed that Lin Dan had once again broken the hearts of millions of Malaysians rooting for our champion, and it got me thinking... Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), that we as Malaysians had a heart to be broken. And for that thrilling 79 minutes, we forgot our communal and religious differences, our political agendas and historical baggage, our gripes and complaints... to find a common cause and a common hope in the heart of that thin lanky young man standing alone in the centre court of Wembley Arena, London.

Yes, I am right. Alhamdulillah that we had a heart to be broken. For it is a precious thing in this strange and often troubling times that we live in.

Thank you for sharing our sadness and happiness this morning, sunshine. God bless you.

Postscript 10.46am - And after the match the fella actually went and tweeted an apology to the 28 million Malaysians that were rooting for him to defeat Lin Dan... How can you not but love this guy? *smiling through tears...*

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Atheism blames Religion, but the fault lies in Man's Hubris and Bigotry

It is Bigotry and Hubris, not Religion that is the Disease

It is not religion that is adding

A new volatile ingredient into the soup of bigotry,

It is instead racism and hubris that is adding

A new abhorrent ingredient into religion,

Making it all distasteful...

And not just religion,

But Atheism too!

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

Religious right-wing nuts and some Atheist left-leaning elites are selling the same soul-rotting candy but just packaged differently. In their own unique way they are equally narrow-minded, regarding any idea, faith or philosophy coming from the black, brown and yellow people as really second-class stuff.

If people lose their sensibilities and good manners (Adab), it really doesn't matter whether they are religious or Atheists, Caucasians, Latinos, Slavs, Chinese, Indians, Jews, Nordics, Arabs or Malays. For 'knowledge' has possessed them, and they need to be exorcised of their inner demon called the human ego disguised as 'being right all the freakin' time!'.

Intellectual arrogance and religious superiority... oh boy, that doesn't make for an attractive package... does it, sunshine? It rained earlier today, and because it was hot, the water steam up and you can actually smell the grass and the soil in the air. And I bet everyone can enjoy this good Earth, whatever belief or disbelief he may entertain in his heart. Thus it is rather a shame that we often allow our ego to colour our lives... 

It is a slippery slope, I know. If you see me stumble and fall into my own hubris and conceit, help me. For God knows I am weak too.

Easy does it... eaaasy does it....

Have a good Friday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Mohamet and the Saracens - facing up to an ancient prejudice

If you recall, while I was in Singapore I purchased Karen Armstrong's book entitled 'Muhammad - A Biography of the Prophet'. The book was originally written by her as a personal quest to challenge the general Western mass media sentiment vilifying Islam because of the Ayatollah's 1990 'fatwa' calling for the death of Salman Rushdie. The sudden clarion call to defend Western civilization, liberty and freedom became an overwhelming denunciation of almost all things Islam, reigniting ancient European prejudices against those savage Saracens and their false prophet Mohamet, but now dressed less as a Christian response but more as a secular post-Age of Enlightenment indignation.

Within a month after the controversial fatwa, the Islamic Congress of 45 Islamic states voted and resolved by a majority of 44-1 that the fatwa was unIslamic, the one single state alienated being the origin of the ruling itself, Iran. But Armstrong noted that nobody(and I mean nobody) in European politics or media was willing to entertain and air this important decision adopted by the vast majority of Muslim countries. Because, as we shall find in the course of time, the general attitude of the mainstream media is to blame terror and extremism of Muslims as being caused by their religion, and praise Muslim's moderation and tolerance as arising in spite of their religion - fuel for the fire that has been burning in the breast of the West for more than 1,000 years since the founding of Islam.

I am up to page 39 of the first chapter entitled 'Muhammad the Enemy' as Armstrong seeks to put the reaction of the West towards the Ayatollah's fatwa and the more recent 9/11 horror within the context of an ancient and almost tribal vendetta against Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I do not know about anyone else, but I was profoundly disturbed as she reeled out examples after examples of European church, Kings and intellectual denunciations and insults being rained on the 'Arabians', 'Saracens', savages of the desert and the heretical teachings of the imposter, the Antichrist Mohamet. And alas, such perception arose from misinformation and a skewered worldview that firstly, sees the Western civilization as the highest pinnacle of human endeavour and secondly, that nothing of worth can ever come out of the savages and primitive cultures that lie outside the boundaries of Europe. Again, it is the hubris and the racial-driven convenience to divide the world between the 'us' and 'them'.

The old world view is coming back with a vengeance.

It is neither anger nor indignation that wells up in my heart reading Armstrong's exposition of this Mohamet as an enemy. It is a profound sense of sadness and realization that there is a great wall of hate and hubris that stands between nations and religions. How internalized prejudices and bigotry can misguide the most rationale or the most religious of peoples.

I know that some of my readers are non-Muslims. If you sympathise with my writing, I thank you. Thank you for not believing the hate-filled news reports and comments in the mainstream AND in the alternative mass and social medias. Thank you for giving me a little corner of your conscience and allowing me a little time to share with you stories and prose about Islam and the Prophet(pbuh). In whatever creed you may be dressed in, surely God is looking and smiling at the empathy and tolerance that you are showing us. Bless you, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I will vote for the Orange Party. It is a Fruit and it is Good for You!

I Vote

The air is heady in Malaysia for the General Election. As long as I am in the country, I have not missed my chance to vote since I became eligible at the age of 21. The incumbent government has not announced the GE yet, but rumours suggest late March. We shall see...

I Cancel Myself Out

At heart, I think you may tag me as a Socialist-Libertarian-Capitalist. Perhaps the political tags kinda cancels each other out, which is funny. If I was a Sufi, I would be pleased with such an outcome. Sufis should stay out of politics. In fact I strongly abhor the use of God and religion in politics.  

The Choices

Politics in Malaysia is generally based on coalitions between Barisan Nasional (the National Front consisting of UMNO (the Malays party), MIC (the Indians party), MCA (the Chinese Party) (PPP and Gerakan, who are ostensibly non-racial but predominantly Indian and Chinese) against Pakatan Rakyat (People's Coalition consisting of PAS (the Islamist Party), DAP (again, ostensibly non-racial but predominantly Chinese) and PKR (non-racial but largely Malay). This is only in Peninsular (west) Malaysia. In East Malaysia, consisting of Sabah and Sarawak, there are even more political parties, mostly representing the Malays, Chinese and the Indigenous races of the states. There are not many Indians in East Malaysia.

My Choice

I would vote for the coalition that does its best to stand out of my way, and says or does the least stupid things. Based on my understanding of human nature, I am really not entitled to expect anymore than that.

The Orange Party

If no one can meet my criteria, I will probably draw an orange on the ballot paper and write that I shall vote for an orange. Or any fruit really. It is likely to do less harm.  

This is MY political candidate. It does not want to change the world. It does not
want to dominate or change the way I live or think. It just sits there, you know... being an orange.
And if you get tired of it, you can eat it. You cannot say the same think for a human candidate.

Have a good day, sunshine. God bless.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

Who is God? He certainly isn't Anglo-Saxon, Asian, Jewish or Arab

Who Is God?

I am you

And you are me,

And above us

Is God.

I am your life

And you are my death,

And the Beginning

And the Ending

Is God.

I am not your enemy

And you are my friend,

And the Enemy of Enemies

And the Friend of friends

Is God.

I say, “To you be your way.”

And you say, “To you be your way,”

And we part as brothers and sisters

But only to later meet at a crossroad

And the crossroad

Is God…

Where all conjecture ends,

Where all uncertainty ends,

Where God meets us

In the Reality of Who He is,

And for us, as a woman or a man,

The Grandchildren of Adam and Eve.

So who is God?

He Is.

The One in front of the Mirror of Creation,

As the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

To all the worlds,

To all the nations.

GOD IS NOT ANGLO-SAXON, ASIAN, JEWISH OR ARAB. Oh ye who is draped in the flags of your nations; Americans, Malaysians, Saudi Arabians, Singaporeans, British, Australians, Turks, Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Yemenis, etc. God is neither Caucasian, Slav, Anglo-Saxon, Aryan, Negro, Latino, Chinese, Arab, Indian, Jewish, Persian or Malay. It is just the way how we sometimes insult or look down upon other people's perception of God, it is as if we own God... Surely this cannot be true.

Have a peaceful day, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam