Of ‘La Ilaha illa Allah’ and ‘Allah, Allah’
In any legitimate Sufi Order (Tariqah) you go to, these two zikir are always pinnacle to that Tariqah. This is because the most preferred of zikir is ‘la ilaha illa Allah’.
Afdhaludz dzikri, fa’lam annahuu, Laa Ilaha illaAllah
When you say “Laa ilaha illaAllah” (there is no God except Allah”), you are invoking an absolute truth that encompasses everything, seriously everything. Even in the material sciences when you question deeper, laa ilaha illaAllah will always be an answer. That is why when the Prophet talked about the Balance (mizan), laa ilaha illaAllah is always heavier than anything else.
Then the zikir shortens to “illaAllah” or just simply “Allah, Allah”, to satiate the desire of the murids or salik (seeker). By then, the seeker would desire more of the sweetness of the ecstasy, that spiritual tasting (zouk), such that they are saying, ‘Get to the point! I want Allah!’
I could still vividly recall one of the most powerful and most moving sessions ever. The lights were dimmed, we were all standing and imploring Allah Almighty for His Divine Grace and Mercy by repeating His Name, ‘Allah,Allah’, in a manner so dependant on Him!
It was then that I opened my eyes and I could see the silhouette of Sidi and the other ikhwans behind him, standing with hands raised, imploring Allah Almighty so fervently. Somehow it occurred to me that this scene was very reminiscent, very reflective of the situation in the hereafter when we all stand before Him, awaiting judgment, and then Sidi will represent us, asking Allah for His Mercy and also the Syafaah of the Beloved Prophet s.a.w.
How is it possible not to have khusyuk when you are doing zikir in a congregation and in the presence of your Shaykh or Mursyid? Allah Himself says in the Holy Quran that the Hearts of Believers tremble upon the mentioning of Allah (Al-Anfal, 8:2). In another verse He says “Verily, with the remembrance of Allah do hearts find peace” (Al-Ra’d, 13:28).
Apparently, the two verses seem contradictory. Actually, these two feelings come together, making you feel something unique, something pleasant, something sweet, I just can’t describe it in words. Trembling, yet peaceful and calm. And as the zikir progresses, you just can’t take it any longer and you shout it out off your chest, “Allah!” Some find it too overwhelming and just faint. Moses (pbuh) himself fainted when the Light of God was manifested to him.
Standing, you look up into the sky and this is the moment when you truly appreciate and understand the Greatness of God. And as though following a nicely planned sequence of events, you just begin to cry, you just can’t control it. You are crying, weeping and sobbing, barely able to muster enough strength to even mention the Name ‘Allah’, with all these while sincere, powerful and emotional implorations of ‘Allah! Allah!’ still going strong all around you, it’s almost like hearing the zikir of nature itself, the zikir of the plants, the air, the water around you. You are literally engulfed by zikrullah, and at this instant you feel like you are ‘naked’, with no hijab (veil) between you and Him, nothing is hiding you from Him, nothing is blocking you from Him. He knows you inside out and outside in, you feel utterly helpless and virtually powerless in His Presence. You are like a piece of clay dough in the Hands of the Maker. This is when; again, you appreciate in totality, the meaning of ‘Thy Will be Done, O Lord!’ Only His Will counts, nothing else matters. Truly at this very instant you would have kicked everything else out of your heart and your mind, only God remains.
Such is the awareness of God that we ought to maintain, but Man is 99% of his time heedless. Therefore we should be thankful to our qualified guides, or murabbi, or mursyid, or shaykh, as not anyone can lead such a zikir. If scholars of this world have professors to get them to their Ph.Ds, what then, do you think is the case with subtle issues pertaining to the development of the human heart and the ruh? Surely there must be a guide! He who has no guide has Satan as his guide. May Allah guide us to see one of his saints, just like how Allah guided Sayyidina Musa to see Sayyidina Khidr.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Humour, and its Beauty ;)
The Prophet s.a.w has a very good sense of humour, and this is what we should emulate. Humour brings light-heartedness, a great sense of camaraderie and it spices up relationships, be they with family, friends or even BGR. It is very heartening to read about the Prophet, how humourous he was. Reports say he is often spotted with a smile across his beautiful visage and that he would always spice up a conversation with an appreciable laughter. How sweet!
There was once when I was never more shocked to see an expression of humour, not to mention that it was from the venerable Shaykh Hisyam Kabbani himself. Shaykh Hisyam made the classic “rawr” kind of biting action when the emcee was trying to fix the microphone on his collar. Terperanjat seh aku! Haha, but it was funny indeed to see such a playful act from the Shaykh. What a humour!
Then there was once when an ikhwan was late for a majlis with Sidi. Out of respect, he called Sidi to explain. Here’s how the conversation went, to the best of me memory hehe.
“Maaf Tuan, saya tak dapat hadir awal. Saya kena jaga masjid.”
“Masjid tu tak lari,” replied Sidi cheekily
“Betul Tuan! Saya kena jaga masjid ni! Ni dah takde orang nih!” his voice panicky already.
“Ye betol, masjid tu tetap tak lari,”
By then all the other pakciks around Sidi started to kekek already, all started to laugh. Sidi just smiled away…
Oh ya, I can never forget the incident when we were playing at the stairway. We were playing at the stairway like childish kids and Sidi was coming down the stairway! We were like obviously blocking his way ah. Sidi then stood behind us, smiled a little and extended his right hand as though saying “Please, by all means,”
Pardon me, but at that moment the three of us were already panicked and we just cabut, tak salam Sidi pun.
This one ustaz also commented something about people who like to accuse shirik on other muslims. He said,
“Jangan, jangan mcm gitu, sepatotnyer kiter ni ajak seberape ramai orang2 lain yg kite boleh, masok syurge same2. Syurge tu luas, lagi besar drpd dunia ni, so kalau yg masok syurge tu korang ngan komplok korang ajer, nanti boring pulak korang kat dlm syurge!”
I was down there kekek already cannot tahan! The sarcasm he put forth so plainly and so sardine, really hit the bulls eye man!
I suppose one of the more classic examples of the Prophet’s humour was when he told an old lady that no old person will be in paradise. The old woman cried.
Chill ah mike, maintain ;) Everyone in paradise will be made young again. Sweet seventeen heh? 18 lah ah, im 18 now...
There was once when I was never more shocked to see an expression of humour, not to mention that it was from the venerable Shaykh Hisyam Kabbani himself. Shaykh Hisyam made the classic “rawr” kind of biting action when the emcee was trying to fix the microphone on his collar. Terperanjat seh aku! Haha, but it was funny indeed to see such a playful act from the Shaykh. What a humour!
Then there was once when an ikhwan was late for a majlis with Sidi. Out of respect, he called Sidi to explain. Here’s how the conversation went, to the best of me memory hehe.
“Maaf Tuan, saya tak dapat hadir awal. Saya kena jaga masjid.”
“Masjid tu tak lari,” replied Sidi cheekily
“Betul Tuan! Saya kena jaga masjid ni! Ni dah takde orang nih!” his voice panicky already.
“Ye betol, masjid tu tetap tak lari,”
By then all the other pakciks around Sidi started to kekek already, all started to laugh. Sidi just smiled away…
Oh ya, I can never forget the incident when we were playing at the stairway. We were playing at the stairway like childish kids and Sidi was coming down the stairway! We were like obviously blocking his way ah. Sidi then stood behind us, smiled a little and extended his right hand as though saying “Please, by all means,”
Pardon me, but at that moment the three of us were already panicked and we just cabut, tak salam Sidi pun.
This one ustaz also commented something about people who like to accuse shirik on other muslims. He said,
“Jangan, jangan mcm gitu, sepatotnyer kiter ni ajak seberape ramai orang2 lain yg kite boleh, masok syurge same2. Syurge tu luas, lagi besar drpd dunia ni, so kalau yg masok syurge tu korang ngan komplok korang ajer, nanti boring pulak korang kat dlm syurge!”
I was down there kekek already cannot tahan! The sarcasm he put forth so plainly and so sardine, really hit the bulls eye man!
I suppose one of the more classic examples of the Prophet’s humour was when he told an old lady that no old person will be in paradise. The old woman cried.
Chill ah mike, maintain ;) Everyone in paradise will be made young again. Sweet seventeen heh? 18 lah ah, im 18 now...
Tattoo
I was listening to jordin spark’s tattoo, nice song…
It quickly reminds me of one incident I encountered, a few months ago while performing Jumaah at Siglap. I was lining up for wudu’ and still wearing my school U. There was this guy in front of me, he was taking his ablution (wudu’) and my first sight of him was that of his tattooed forearm, wet with wudu’, literally shimmering and glittering under the sun. My heart shouted Allah! I couldn’t raise my head up to look at him in the eye.
Those black spots, those inked are etched on his skin, whereas for me, my own heart is covered and blemished and tarnished with even darker black spots, all over…He is forgiven, insyaAllah, clean like a white cloth.
“Man deems himself good even before God, who is Perfection, and when he endeavours to recognize his own wretchedness, he again deems himself good on account of this effort.”
O Allah! It is so subtle! Help me and help us...
It quickly reminds me of one incident I encountered, a few months ago while performing Jumaah at Siglap. I was lining up for wudu’ and still wearing my school U. There was this guy in front of me, he was taking his ablution (wudu’) and my first sight of him was that of his tattooed forearm, wet with wudu’, literally shimmering and glittering under the sun. My heart shouted Allah! I couldn’t raise my head up to look at him in the eye.
Those black spots, those inked are etched on his skin, whereas for me, my own heart is covered and blemished and tarnished with even darker black spots, all over…He is forgiven, insyaAllah, clean like a white cloth.
“Man deems himself good even before God, who is Perfection, and when he endeavours to recognize his own wretchedness, he again deems himself good on account of this effort.”
O Allah! It is so subtle! Help me and help us...
The (addictive) vices of the Material World. (part one)
Every ordinary individual muslim will surely at one point of his time will feel the desire, or the temptation to try something forbidden. It's kind of obvious that Satan and our own Nafs(ego & lowly desires) will want us to indulge in such vices. The test lies in refusing these temptations. Don’t worry, even the best among us are tempted and tested with seemingly unbearable tests. ;)
So yeah, here I intend to talk about those few common vices that God has explicitly forbade us from indulging. The idea here is to ensure that we don’t feel left out or feel that God is depriving us from the forbidden (haram) enjoyment of this world that the non-believers get to enjoy.
So firstly, Gambling, a very common vice and superbly exciting especially to those who are affluent.
We know that gambling is prohibited for us, it gets a “No Muslims” rating, worse than R21 hehe. Ok fine, but you should see and should understand that Islam is complete, it meets the needs of the Fitrah (our inherent nature) adequately, after all, who makes the best manual books if not the Manufacturer Himself? He knows us best, inside out, upside down; nothing is a secret to Him whatsoever.
Actually, to think about it, and also to speak in a manner so called “politically INCORRECT”, “gambling” is within Islam! Only difference is that is it called Sadaqah (charity). The idea is that when u give to charity SINCERELY, and sincerity must be emphasized, God rewards you both materially and spiritually, plus He will reward you without due measure in the Hereafter InsyaAllah. So you stand to gain when you give to charity. In fact there have been really a lot of experiences, some personal, of how quickly one gets rewarded with even more money than what he donates. So, isn’t that ‘gambling’ to you? “Gambling” centered upon the trust in Him.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Just hold it there man! A Really BIG WORD OF CAUTION, the sincerity part really must be emphasized. And here lies the irony, or paradox, whatever you call it lah uh, when you have true sincerity when donating, such an issue about this so called ‘gambling’ and its rewards will never even surface! That’s the irony…and the test as well. A sincere person will just donate and hope for absolutely nothing more than the Good Pleasure (ridha) of God Himself. The sincere person would have eliminated ostentation (riya’) from his heart. If you are donating and are just going to brag and show off how much you have donated, than that is totally pointless. You rather keep that money and splurge it on yourself, as that would be halal for you. God, Exalted, Sublime and Transcendent is He, is beyond requiring absolutely anything from us. Period. May Allah Forgive us and Bless us.
So yeah, here I intend to talk about those few common vices that God has explicitly forbade us from indulging. The idea here is to ensure that we don’t feel left out or feel that God is depriving us from the forbidden (haram) enjoyment of this world that the non-believers get to enjoy.
So firstly, Gambling, a very common vice and superbly exciting especially to those who are affluent.
We know that gambling is prohibited for us, it gets a “No Muslims” rating, worse than R21 hehe. Ok fine, but you should see and should understand that Islam is complete, it meets the needs of the Fitrah (our inherent nature) adequately, after all, who makes the best manual books if not the Manufacturer Himself? He knows us best, inside out, upside down; nothing is a secret to Him whatsoever.
Actually, to think about it, and also to speak in a manner so called “politically INCORRECT”, “gambling” is within Islam! Only difference is that is it called Sadaqah (charity). The idea is that when u give to charity SINCERELY, and sincerity must be emphasized, God rewards you both materially and spiritually, plus He will reward you without due measure in the Hereafter InsyaAllah. So you stand to gain when you give to charity. In fact there have been really a lot of experiences, some personal, of how quickly one gets rewarded with even more money than what he donates. So, isn’t that ‘gambling’ to you? “Gambling” centered upon the trust in Him.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Just hold it there man! A Really BIG WORD OF CAUTION, the sincerity part really must be emphasized. And here lies the irony, or paradox, whatever you call it lah uh, when you have true sincerity when donating, such an issue about this so called ‘gambling’ and its rewards will never even surface! That’s the irony…and the test as well. A sincere person will just donate and hope for absolutely nothing more than the Good Pleasure (ridha) of God Himself. The sincere person would have eliminated ostentation (riya’) from his heart. If you are donating and are just going to brag and show off how much you have donated, than that is totally pointless. You rather keep that money and splurge it on yourself, as that would be halal for you. God, Exalted, Sublime and Transcendent is He, is beyond requiring absolutely anything from us. Period. May Allah Forgive us and Bless us.
Who designed the Designer? Or Who created the Creator?
The above is one of the more popular questions often raised by skeptics to debunk the idea of an Almighty Creator who created the entire universe. Truth be told, such skepticism is not new at all. Questions similar to the ones above have been raised by people throughout history. It seems quite obvious and understandable why such questions are common; you claim that a Divine entity created the entire universe, then a similar question conveniently follows, who created that Creator? Great thinkers of old have also dealt with that question adequately. For instant, Aristotle once mentioned that there has to be a First Initial Cause that is itself Uncaused. Muslims call that Uncaused Initial Cause, God or Allah. Aristotle argued that some point in the past there has to be something that first kicks off everything else and there cannot possibly be no Uncaused Cause; lest everything will be trapped in an infinite, never-ending chain of creators/designers. The questions can climb up, incessantly, the hierarchical ladder of questions of who designed the Designer, followed by who designed the one who designed the Designer and so forth.
Imam Ghazali came up with a similar philosophical argument. Count down all the natural numbers from a million to 1, what is before 1? Nothing.
Then comes the interesting part, where modern science handles the task of answering this seemingly disturbing question…
The theory of relativity founded by Einstein showed that time itself as an entity is relative. Meaning time only exists when you have something else to refer to, hence the relativity. So the religious claim that God is the Creator of everything entails the idea that at one point of time in the distant past, there existed a moment where only God and God alone existed. At that moment, there is absolutely nothing else to refer to in order to have the concept of time existing. Hence at that moment time does not exist and it automatically follows that the concept of before and after fails at that moment. Hence, nothing comes before God the One, the Unique.
Subhanallah, it’s just fascinating beyond description to witness how God enlightens us about the Truth via the sciences. I remember a former atheist Professor of Physics who converted to Islam when he found out that physics could potentially prove the basic qualities of God, namely that He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. He was Professor Muhammad Mahdy and I was fortunate enough to attend his highly scientific lecture at Masjid Istiqamah some years back. If I am not mistaken, he holds a PhD from one of the Ivy League. It was truly breathtaking to understand for yourself how the most fundamental principles of Tauhid is being proven by Modern Science. ;)
Just as a cautionary measure, the concept of God being One or Unique requires a more thorough appreciation than just a simplistic understanding of God being one and not many. Don’t be alarmed if you could still measure time when you are absolutely alone in the universe. This is because you are not one! You are many! You are made up of more than a trillion cells of which each is further made up of parts such as the cell membrane, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, ribosomes and what not. At the bottommost of the scale will be atoms and its constituents.
The Oneness of God is about Absolute Oneness, which automatically entails Indivisibility. That is why Surah Al-Ikhlas begins with the proclamation that God is One, Unique. It further reiterates the concept of indivisibility of God when it denies the Christian Trinitarian doctrine that God has a Son. The Muslim Tauhid rejects the Trinity precisely because God is One and Indivisible. It does not accept “three that bear witness in heaven and these three are one.”
May Allah Forgive us and Bless Us with wisdom and beautiful insights into His Beauty and Majesty, thereby strengthening our faith in Him and His chosen Way of Life, Al-Islam, Amin! Peace and Salutations of God be upon His Most Beloved, Sayyidina Muhammad saw.
Imam Ghazali came up with a similar philosophical argument. Count down all the natural numbers from a million to 1, what is before 1? Nothing.
Then comes the interesting part, where modern science handles the task of answering this seemingly disturbing question…
The theory of relativity founded by Einstein showed that time itself as an entity is relative. Meaning time only exists when you have something else to refer to, hence the relativity. So the religious claim that God is the Creator of everything entails the idea that at one point of time in the distant past, there existed a moment where only God and God alone existed. At that moment, there is absolutely nothing else to refer to in order to have the concept of time existing. Hence at that moment time does not exist and it automatically follows that the concept of before and after fails at that moment. Hence, nothing comes before God the One, the Unique.
Subhanallah, it’s just fascinating beyond description to witness how God enlightens us about the Truth via the sciences. I remember a former atheist Professor of Physics who converted to Islam when he found out that physics could potentially prove the basic qualities of God, namely that He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. He was Professor Muhammad Mahdy and I was fortunate enough to attend his highly scientific lecture at Masjid Istiqamah some years back. If I am not mistaken, he holds a PhD from one of the Ivy League. It was truly breathtaking to understand for yourself how the most fundamental principles of Tauhid is being proven by Modern Science. ;)
Just as a cautionary measure, the concept of God being One or Unique requires a more thorough appreciation than just a simplistic understanding of God being one and not many. Don’t be alarmed if you could still measure time when you are absolutely alone in the universe. This is because you are not one! You are many! You are made up of more than a trillion cells of which each is further made up of parts such as the cell membrane, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, ribosomes and what not. At the bottommost of the scale will be atoms and its constituents.
The Oneness of God is about Absolute Oneness, which automatically entails Indivisibility. That is why Surah Al-Ikhlas begins with the proclamation that God is One, Unique. It further reiterates the concept of indivisibility of God when it denies the Christian Trinitarian doctrine that God has a Son. The Muslim Tauhid rejects the Trinity precisely because God is One and Indivisible. It does not accept “three that bear witness in heaven and these three are one.”
May Allah Forgive us and Bless Us with wisdom and beautiful insights into His Beauty and Majesty, thereby strengthening our faith in Him and His chosen Way of Life, Al-Islam, Amin! Peace and Salutations of God be upon His Most Beloved, Sayyidina Muhammad saw.
Of Pride
Man deems himself good even before God, who is Perfection, and when he endeavours to recognise his own wretchedness, he again deems himself good on account of this effort.
Allah!May God save us all from diseases of the heart!
... Prayer Fashions Man, Frithjoh Schuon
Allah!May God save us all from diseases of the heart!
... Prayer Fashions Man, Frithjoh Schuon
Christopher Hitchens’ God is NOT Great, How religion Poisons everything.
This is my first sincere personal book review, well not that im putting claim to true sincerity though. My point is that in the past (secondary school life), book reviews were forced upon us during the nice, super comfortable holidays and guess what? The teachers don’t even bother to collect them when school reopens. Those were the days yeah…
Anyway, thanks to the ever-enlightening, never-boring and always looked-up-to GP lessons in JC I get to appreciate the true value of a solid argument. In it, in one solid argument, you got to have your thesis, and then a possible anti-thesis plus the rebuttal of that anti-thesis. Those 3 components constitute a whole complete solid argument. I thought that was perfectly wonderful, and even islam encourages us to adopt such an approach when debating or having intellectual arguments. Leave no stones unturned, address every issue pertaining to the subject of discussion adequately.
So, back to the book I read. The title was indeed provocative, blasphemous and perhaps close to apostasy for us muslims. When I first saw the book, I thought if islam is al haqq (the truth) then the arguments raised in the book surely must be flawed or baseless or weak. Because Allah says “jaa al haqq, wa zahaqal bathil, Innal baathila KAANA zahuqaa”
Truth has prevailed and falsehood vanquished, VERILY falsehood is, by its very nature, bound to be vanquished.
True enough, the arguments raised by Mr. Hitchens were not at all convincing to me or anywhere near being able to shake the foundations of iman. Most of his arguments are based on the question of Divine Will, which, I have to point out, is not a matter of science or reason. For example, why would a Divine Creator spend so much creating this majestic Universe only to destroy it on Armageddon? My reply is simple, ask this secularist, naturalist, materialist, atheist the same question about gravity. Gravity is responsible for the formation of the most beautiful stars and also the supernova, the death of that same beautiful star. The author also asked why lower animals such as bats have much more powerful senses, eg. hearing etc.
Wa maa tasyaauna illa ai yasyaa Allah, rabbul ‘alamin.
And you do not Will save that Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, Wills. ;)
Another classic he likes to point our attention to are the actions of adherents of the faiths. An oft-recurring theme in his book, the blameful actions of extremists are mentioned a whole lot, to the finest details. Again the reply is simple, why judge a religion based on the actions of individuals who are not from the mainstream, classical and traditional Islam? These extremists/ terrorist/jihadist shy away when true, mainstream ulama speak out against them. I shall not mention the clichéd details of such contention. By the way, there are a lot of books by authentic Shaykhs which refute such extremist ideologies.
Plus our author so tactfully left out the Golden age of Islam where the Muslim world was at the forefront of civilization, both intellectually and morally. We were the torchbearers of the world when it comes to the sciences, maths, arts and what have you.
Our author also claimed that ethics or morality does not have to be guided by religion, in other words, they can come from “atheistic humanity”. I was literally shocked when I read this. When we mention an atheistic society, the mental picture that we build in our minds is one of brutality, barbarism, violence and the likes of it. We think about the evils of Nazism, fascism etc, all atheistic ideologies hostile to true religion. You can say that this is a bias but history proves the fact and reality. I was shocked and really could not fathom how atheism can produce such refined qualities of morals. The great humanity that Mother Theresa had exhibited surely must come from a devout person who has the awareness of God throughout her life.
And then not to mention the shameful lack of knowledge of a religion when condemning it. I laughed when he spelt “Allahuh Akhbar”. Makhraj all gone, pronunciation don’t have to say. This tremendously diminishes his authority when speaking about Islam. Why would you respect or acknowledge the credibility and qualifications of a guy whose credentials on Islam is very questionable? In all likelihood he is more of a bigot biased against Islam with only one agenda in mind, to bring down Islam, hence the title ‘God is NOT great’, which is OBVIOUSLY a play on Islam’s slogan God is Great. Which other religion uses this slogan more commonly?
And his lack of knowledge about ahadith is truly laughable. Are we muslims not familiar with the Prophet’s injunction that his ummah strive and put on the best effort to look for a cure when ill? The Prophet said (au
kamaqaala rasul) something like “for every disease there is a cure save death.” The message could not be anymore clearer. In fact, this is what inspired the FIRST MODERN PHYSICIAN/SURGEON, a UNIVERSAL GENIUS, to pursue greatness in medicine, ie. Avicenna or Ibn Sina. So it was utterly surprising when Mr Hitchens asserted that muslims were against public healthcare/ vaccination. The only evidence he could gather to back such a statement was, unsurprisingly nothing from the Quran or Hadith, but rather something that the Taliban (or was it the Pakistanis, I can’t really remember) did during the Polio outbreak. Just because the Taliban did not allow vaccination against Polio, Mr Hitchens claim that this is evidence that ISLAM is against public healthcare and thus POISONS everything. What a laughable effort.
So don’t worry about such books, they are not going to shake our iman provided we have the basic knowledge and our iman is strong, from spiritual practices, to begin with. Insyallah I will read Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and most probably have a good laugh hehe. May Allah bless us and forgive us and bring us to the company of the Prophet saw! Amin! Madad Ya Rasulallah, Madad!
Lastly, we pray that Allah guide such atheists to the Ultimate Truth (Haqiqah); verily they are our brothers who need guidance. True religion and true science will always point to the same Ultimate Truth. Louis Pasteur said “On the gates of science it is written “Ye Must Have Faith.’” Atheists are half way to becoming Muslims. They are saying ever so fervently, “THERE IS NO GOD”…what we need to do is add in
Illa Allah (except Allah)…
This is my first sincere personal book review, well not that im putting claim to true sincerity though. My point is that in the past (secondary school life), book reviews were forced upon us during the nice, super comfortable holidays and guess what? The teachers don’t even bother to collect them when school reopens. Those were the days yeah…
Anyway, thanks to the ever-enlightening, never-boring and always looked-up-to GP lessons in JC I get to appreciate the true value of a solid argument. In it, in one solid argument, you got to have your thesis, and then a possible anti-thesis plus the rebuttal of that anti-thesis. Those 3 components constitute a whole complete solid argument. I thought that was perfectly wonderful, and even islam encourages us to adopt such an approach when debating or having intellectual arguments. Leave no stones unturned, address every issue pertaining to the subject of discussion adequately.
So, back to the book I read. The title was indeed provocative, blasphemous and perhaps close to apostasy for us muslims. When I first saw the book, I thought if islam is al haqq (the truth) then the arguments raised in the book surely must be flawed or baseless or weak. Because Allah says “jaa al haqq, wa zahaqal bathil, Innal baathila KAANA zahuqaa”
Truth has prevailed and falsehood vanquished, VERILY falsehood is, by its very nature, bound to be vanquished.
True enough, the arguments raised by Mr. Hitchens were not at all convincing to me or anywhere near being able to shake the foundations of iman. Most of his arguments are based on the question of Divine Will, which, I have to point out, is not a matter of science or reason. For example, why would a Divine Creator spend so much creating this majestic Universe only to destroy it on Armageddon? My reply is simple, ask this secularist, naturalist, materialist, atheist the same question about gravity. Gravity is responsible for the formation of the most beautiful stars and also the supernova, the death of that same beautiful star. The author also asked why lower animals such as bats have much more powerful senses, eg. hearing etc.
Wa maa tasyaauna illa ai yasyaa Allah, rabbul ‘alamin.
And you do not Will save that Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, Wills. ;)
Another classic he likes to point our attention to are the actions of adherents of the faiths. An oft-recurring theme in his book, the blameful actions of extremists are mentioned a whole lot, to the finest details. Again the reply is simple, why judge a religion based on the actions of individuals who are not from the mainstream, classical and traditional Islam? These extremists/ terrorist/jihadist shy away when true, mainstream ulama speak out against them. I shall not mention the clichéd details of such contention. By the way, there are a lot of books by authentic Shaykhs which refute such extremist ideologies.
Plus our author so tactfully left out the Golden age of Islam where the Muslim world was at the forefront of civilization, both intellectually and morally. We were the torchbearers of the world when it comes to the sciences, maths, arts and what have you.
Our author also claimed that ethics or morality does not have to be guided by religion, in other words, they can come from “atheistic humanity”. I was literally shocked when I read this. When we mention an atheistic society, the mental picture that we build in our minds is one of brutality, barbarism, violence and the likes of it. We think about the evils of Nazism, fascism etc, all atheistic ideologies hostile to true religion. You can say that this is a bias but history proves the fact and reality. I was shocked and really could not fathom how atheism can produce such refined qualities of morals. The great humanity that Mother Theresa had exhibited surely must come from a devout person who has the awareness of God throughout her life.
And then not to mention the shameful lack of knowledge of a religion when condemning it. I laughed when he spelt “Allahuh Akhbar”. Makhraj all gone, pronunciation don’t have to say. This tremendously diminishes his authority when speaking about Islam. Why would you respect or acknowledge the credibility and qualifications of a guy whose credentials on Islam is very questionable? In all likelihood he is more of a bigot biased against Islam with only one agenda in mind, to bring down Islam, hence the title ‘God is NOT great’, which is OBVIOUSLY a play on Islam’s slogan God is Great. Which other religion uses this slogan more commonly?
And his lack of knowledge about ahadith is truly laughable. Are we muslims not familiar with the Prophet’s injunction that his ummah strive and put on the best effort to look for a cure when ill? The Prophet said (au
kamaqaala rasul) something like “for every disease there is a cure save death.” The message could not be anymore clearer. In fact, this is what inspired the FIRST MODERN PHYSICIAN/SURGEON, a UNIVERSAL GENIUS, to pursue greatness in medicine, ie. Avicenna or Ibn Sina. So it was utterly surprising when Mr Hitchens asserted that muslims were against public healthcare/ vaccination. The only evidence he could gather to back such a statement was, unsurprisingly nothing from the Quran or Hadith, but rather something that the Taliban (or was it the Pakistanis, I can’t really remember) did during the Polio outbreak. Just because the Taliban did not allow vaccination against Polio, Mr Hitchens claim that this is evidence that ISLAM is against public healthcare and thus POISONS everything. What a laughable effort.
So don’t worry about such books, they are not going to shake our iman provided we have the basic knowledge and our iman is strong, from spiritual practices, to begin with. Insyallah I will read Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and most probably have a good laugh hehe. May Allah bless us and forgive us and bring us to the company of the Prophet saw! Amin! Madad Ya Rasulallah, Madad!
Lastly, we pray that Allah guide such atheists to the Ultimate Truth (Haqiqah); verily they are our brothers who need guidance. True religion and true science will always point to the same Ultimate Truth. Louis Pasteur said “On the gates of science it is written “Ye Must Have Faith.’” Atheists are half way to becoming Muslims. They are saying ever so fervently, “THERE IS NO GOD”…what we need to do is add in
Illa Allah (except Allah)…
The Last Sermon By The Prophet saas
The Last Sermon (This Sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H in the Uranah Valley of Mt. Arafat)
"O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I don't know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today. O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to take usury (Interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived... Beware of Satan, for your safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have right over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and comitted helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to commit adultery. O People, listen to me in earnest, whorship Allah, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. You are all equal. Nobody has superiority over another except by piety and good actions. Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my example, the Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray. All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me direcly. Be my witness, O Allah that I have conveyed your message to your people."
"O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I don't know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today. O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to take usury (Interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived... Beware of Satan, for your safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have right over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and comitted helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to commit adultery. O People, listen to me in earnest, whorship Allah, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. You are all equal. Nobody has superiority over another except by piety and good actions. Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my example, the Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray. All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me direcly. Be my witness, O Allah that I have conveyed your message to your people."
The Urgency to Improve
"Qiamat da dekat dah, tunggu aper lagi?"i can't help but to hear this statement in sidi's voice whenever the notion of questioning in the grave is mentioned. He often repeated this sentence before zkir to get us motivated and to awaken us from our sleep. Time is running short, so he says...
It doesn't take much for one to understand the urgency to improve ourselves, and the understanding and realisation of a reality is the first step towards achieving it. Fortunately, i have stumbled upon the words of a master in this field who puts forth the message in a manner so succint and moving, powerful enough to send shudders down spines and to awaken us all from our own heedlessness... so here it is, from Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (Q)
You should think about the degree of the animal man in relation to the Perfect Man, and then you should try to understand which kind of man you are yourself. For you have the capacity to attain perfection, if you understand. That is why you have been admonished and notified by the whole world. If you did not have the capacity to reach perfection, it would be incorrect to admonish you, and letting you know about perfection would be in vain and useless. So blame only yourself* if you do not reach that to which you have been called!
* " So blame only yourself " is an allusion to the words of Satan to his followers when they enter the chasetisement of Hell, " So do not blame me, but blame yourselves" (Qur'an, 14:22)
Strong words, May God grant us the strength to abide by them. Amin
It doesn't take much for one to understand the urgency to improve ourselves, and the understanding and realisation of a reality is the first step towards achieving it. Fortunately, i have stumbled upon the words of a master in this field who puts forth the message in a manner so succint and moving, powerful enough to send shudders down spines and to awaken us all from our own heedlessness... so here it is, from Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (Q)
You should think about the degree of the animal man in relation to the Perfect Man, and then you should try to understand which kind of man you are yourself. For you have the capacity to attain perfection, if you understand. That is why you have been admonished and notified by the whole world. If you did not have the capacity to reach perfection, it would be incorrect to admonish you, and letting you know about perfection would be in vain and useless. So blame only yourself* if you do not reach that to which you have been called!
* " So blame only yourself " is an allusion to the words of Satan to his followers when they enter the chasetisement of Hell, " So do not blame me, but blame yourselves" (Qur'an, 14:22)
Strong words, May God grant us the strength to abide by them. Amin
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