A week full of events!

Alhamdulillah, my past week had been great! A lot of lectures/mawlids/hols! Hehe

On Tuesday 21 apr, attended the lecture by Shaykh Yahya Rhodus at Arqam.

Then on fri 24 apr, had a beautiful majlis maulid with Ust TM Fouzy at Al-Kaff Pheng Geck; it’s been a long while since I last came to Pheng Geck, Dr Ahmad and I used to go there for zikir, that was years back lah. Now I also don’t know what kitab is Ust TM Fouzy teaching. Anyways, Habib Umar came and so did Shaykh Afeefudeen! Melodious and Ecstatic qasidah!

On Sun 26 Apr, had Majlis Hol of Almarhum Sidi Abdul Rasyid bin Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id Al-Linggi. Prior to the majlis, Ust Hasbi was explaining some of the contributions of Almarhum Sidi Abdul Rasyid, some of which include spreading Islam to European Italy. Shaykh Abdul Wahid Pallavicini, one of the earliest Italians to embrace Islam, is also an ikhwan of TAI. Together at the zawiyah in Milan, Shaykh Abdul Wahid and his son, Shaykh Yahya Pallavicini, guided many Italians into the fold of Islam, most of the time completing the ‘Islam package’ with Tariqah Ahmadiah Idrisiah. MasyaAllah, I miss Shaykh Yahya Pallavicini and the other Italian Ikhwans.

Now that reminds me, insyaAllah, Tuan Guru, Shaykh Faiz bin Shaykh Ahmad bin Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id Al-Linggi will be coming to Singapore to lead majlis zikir at Mjd Mohd Salleh Mqm Habib Nuh on Sunday, 17 May 2009 after isyak, InsyaAllah.

Antara RUKUN bertariqah ialah hendaklah para ikhwan berjemaah/berikhwan.
Zikir sendirian bukan tak boleh, silakan, tetapi kurang power nyer…

I’ve read Ust Taha’s Qadha and Qadar book, which I must say, answers unequivocally, all the thorny questions on the concept of qadha and qadar. Succinct and precise, this thin book ties in several wide-ranging concepts such as God’s Justice, Time, human free will, Will of God etc.

InsyaAllah I will post a summary on it, will require time though, in order to best arrange the points elucidated by almarhum Ust Taha, may God bless him always and may we benefit from the knowledge of this renowned scholar, amin.

Off in Lieu!

Hehe, had the pleasure of staying at home one full Tuesday! Maximized my time fully man! Managed to do summary for my muamalat notes, played with Izharul and Izdiyad…blog, watch SAW 5 and insyaAllah later will be attending lecture at arqam by Shaykh Yahya.

Oh ya, about Saw 5 and the entire Saw series, I’ve watched them all! Not that I am a diehard fan, just that I love having to grim and squirm and cover my eyes at some CRAZY scenes, hehe. SAW takes things to the extreme man! This mastermind Jigsaw and accomplice Detective Hoffman made the ‘theme of selflessness’ a central objective in all their sadistic games/traps/torture devices. No one will deny me that they take the test for selflessness to the EXTREME. I mean selflessness is a commendable virtue, but in SAW, it’s really something not what one would expect.

Technically speaking, Jigsaw’s intentions were not to kill; he always emphasized on CHOICE, OPTION etc.
But those are absolutely extreme, you know for example, you EITHER die OR survive, on the PRECONDITION OF having done some gruesome sacrifices such as severing your arms to set yourself free. That, to me, is tantamount to killing, if not already so. YUCKS! But I love the plot and the ultimate twist at the end of SAW 5 =)

Oh My God, any of you who thinks I am weird or eccentric, I will give you the benefit of doubt because I may myself need to see a psychiatrist! Care to sponsor? Hehe

Aaaaahhh, I just love Offs-In-Lieu, being able to enjoy life away from work commitments etc, just simply taking a break. That reminds me, I should be going out more often will friends, to eat out, movies, games, or cycling at Ubin ke…I miss those times when I have lots of free time.

I hope life won't get voring when they ORD one batch. We can always catch up! khekhe

The Melancholic Lone Tree at Ubin

with Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti

With Dr Afifi, Dr Ahmad, Lukman, Nash, Jahanger and the Malabar Imams

I count myself lucky to be with Shyakh Dr Afifi Al-Akiti on Wed 15 apr 2009. I rushed back home from camp and then to Malabar for maulid and a short talk by Dr Afifi. After Malabar, we rushed to Ba’alwie since Dr Afifi was already an invited guest of Habib Hassan. He is a very learned scholar who studied under many illustrious teachers, including Shaykh Yahya Fadani.

A more detailed bio on him can be found here: http://resources.theology.ox.ac.uk/staff.phtml?lecturer_code=aalakiti
His various articles here: http://www.abc.se/~m9783/maa/index.html

Prior to this, I’ve heard of him and his works; and the instant I hear him speak, I was like admiration all over. He speaks with a great deal of zeal and passion on religion, and being a very well trained and learned faqih as he is, he is able to explain issues in fiqh in very technical terms, sometimes even foreign to the ordinary muslim. I count myself as one who is mesmerized and lost when he discussed, guess what? solat tarawih.

A Malaysian, graduated from Oxford and is now a lecturer at one of the universities in London, Dr afifi never lost his Malay and Nusantara background. This was evident when he related to us something ‘homecoming’ about the Malay-Nusantara way of reciting the folk-lore, traditional salawat; how much it reminded us of our childhood etc. He never made secret that he is Malay and Malaysian, though he mentioned something’prophetic’ about the name Malay is English as being similar to Malaise and hence, God Forbid, MALAS.

At Malabar also, he shared with us Imam Syafi’e’s 6 keys to becoming a good student.

I Cant remember all, will need to replay the recording, but intelligence, thirst for knowledge and the keeping company of one’s teacher are all components of the objective.

At Ba’alwie, Dr Afifi discussed about how the Grandfather of the Holy Prophet s.a.w. made maulid for Nabi s.a.w. right after his birth.

In the qasidah: Salla alaikallahu Ya ‘Adnaani…Ya Mustafa Ya saffwatar Rahmanii

Abdul Mutallib, a hanif, was narrated to have said:
Alhamdulillahil ladzii ‘athoni, hadzal ghulamat thoiyibal ardaani.

Praise be to Allah who has given me, this child, good in character.
Ardaani is also about akhlaq.

And just just now, this same qasidah was played by the Naqshabandi Ensemble at Simply Islam, during the talk by Shaykh Yahya Rhodus, Shyakh Khalil Moore and Ust Iqbal. Yet another blessed majlis that certainly increased our motivation to love Nabi s.a.w more and more! Met my JC classmate, Zamir, and his twin brother Zakir there, nice to meet them. And if I was not mistaken, I saw Ust Nasiruddin also.

Anyways, back to Wednesday night at Ba’alwie. Dr Afifi even highlighted that there is some attraction in the way the Nasantarans rendered the salawats; he highlighted that even the legendary P Ramlee made use of the Nusantaran-salawat tunes for “Achik-achik, bukak pintu, Nana balek hai pukul satu” adapted from “Ya Rasulallah, salaamun ‘alaik, Ya Rafi ‘asyani wad daraji’” Subhanallah. Met my teacher who taught me Tasawwur Islam, Shaykh Abdul Halim at Ba’alwie also.

Then, we had a closed door session with Dr Afifi in the Imam room at Ba’alwie. That was when Dr shed light on some very interesting issues, like why Arab was the language medium for Allah’s Quran. It is not because of Nahu, Grammar, for Latin has a more complicated Grammar. Nor is it Balaghah, Greek has a more complicated system, rather it is because of Ilm Bayan where words in Arabic can carry vast meanings. Suitable for the Quran which must have a vast ocean of meanings. We see Sufi shaykhs, time and time again, coming up with new tafsirs that make sense and touch the heart. Masyaallah.

Dr also discussed why Tarawih 20 rakaat is established and why Tarawih 8 rakaat is a new thing; not endorsed by old scholars from both Sunni and Shia schools.

Evidence he gave was multi-pronged. I could only be amazed and tercengang, first just by the language-approach itself, Tarawih, a plural, cannot be 8 rakaat. Dr taught us to see Tarawih as a set of 4 rakaats with 2 salams, so minimum rakaat would be 3x4=12, but 20 is established. The long rest in only considered after every fourth rakaat, though tarawih is done 2 by 2…

As for 8 rakaat, the hadith that mentioned so does not refer to tarawih, probably other nawafil like tahajjud, and we know Nabi s.a.w. does a lot of nawafil.

That and more Dr Afifi discussed…I really look forward in the future to the next time he speaks. Meanwhile, go read his articles!

Al-Fadhil, Ustaz Hasbi

God knows, it’s been a rather long while since I wanted to post this.
My reflections of an Ustaz whom I truly admire, whose love for the Prophet s.a.w. is clearly evident, who guides others to love Nabi s.a.w.

There have been many times, countless times, during zikir, when the entire halaqah is sending salutations upon the Prophet s.a.w or when imploring him to help us, I stop, did absolutely nothing but look, stare at the face of Ustaz Hasbi. MasyaAllah, how can I describe it in words! His love for a man whose virtue is the greatest! Evident in his sincerity in sending salawats upon the beloved s.a.w, from his tears that never fail to flow, each time he is spiritually in touch with Nabi s.a.w. And he never fails to inspire others to do the same…

The hadith, perhaps his favourite, has perpetually been emphasized by Ustaz; that about Nabi s.a.w. asking his companions when would he s.a.w. be able to see his beloved? The companions then asked “Are we not your beloved, O Rasulallah?’

To which he s.a.w. replied: You are my companions, my beloved is a community who has never seen me, yet they believe in me, and I miss them, very dearly…

Ya Allah, if out of all our doas, You are only going to fulfill one, let that doa be our desire to see the holy countenance of your Beloved s.a.w.! In this world, Ya Allah! Before the hereafter! O Allah, please!

Seeing him would mean everything to us, if You so will it. Because we would be motivated to do all good, to please Your Beloved, and to abstain from all sins, out of our shame to sin while Your Beloved s.a.w is seeing. We know that You, O Allah, for a fact that there is no hiding from You. Every sin, hidden or otherwise, is in Your Perfect Knowledge, therefore shame in front of You wouldn’t move our hearts very much, and You are also aware of our weaknesses and shortcomings. But shame in the presence of Your Beloved, is so very dear and so very moving, O Allah! We feel even more terrible whenever we disappoint Your Beloved s.a.w who himself yearns to see us, before we even know anything! For we are truly ungrateful if we are not ashamed of all our actions that disappoint Your Beloved s.a.w!

Ya Rasulallah, adriknaa…Ya Rasulallah, aghistnaa…

my past few days

A few days back, I caught up with 3 of my jc classmates, it was an impromptu gathering and since we were all available, we met up. The last time we met was like a few months back.

The boys in my jc class are rather close-knit. The usual stuff, we chatted, ate. We decided on doing something interesting and decided on playing first person shooter games on LAN. I nowadays lost my steam to play games, but it was all different when there are friends around. So we thought, since we are all NSFs, we should play games dealing with machine guns and what not haha. We tried out Left 4 Dead campaign mode on the EASY setting. We were such losers that we had to continue several times. Anyways, it was fun and we were suddenly returned our childhood primary school days when we used to be rowdy when playing games. Kecoh ah but once in a while it’s fun. We ended up shooting zombies for like more than 2 hours hehe

Okay, games aside. Just a few days back, a book I ordered online came! And the best part is it did not come out of my pocket! Haha, my bro was kind to pay for the book I asked him to buy ;) arigatok many many! One thing good about having a much older sibling is that they are more focused on the important stuff ;) Most of the time he buys whatever books I ask him to hehe.

Anyway, that book was Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements by John Emsley. A superbly interesting read! Nothing technical about it but it gives us a practical, environmental, economical, industrial, biological appreciation of ALL the elements and how they are used in today’s world. Got to admit that even up till JC Chemistry, most of the elements in the Periodic Table were left untouched. So this book tells us how to appreciate those lesser known chemicals. A distinguishing feature of this work is the inclusion of unusual facts that should appeal to the general reader, even those with little science background.

I will start digging into this book as soon as I am done with all my current tasks!

One thing about Chemistry that interests me is that this Central Science is so mysterious, almost magical yet logical, and that knowing it brings a deep sense of satisfaction.

When I first learnt Atomic Structure in lower secondary, I asked my Chem teacher about the Ionic Salt Na+Cl-. Electron transfer took place, so am I suppose to understand that the chlorine atom has taken up a sodium electron to become a chloride anion? My teacher’s prompt reply was: No, no, you don’t classify electrons as sodium electron or chloride electrons, electrons are electrons and they are the same in all atoms, they are universal.

There I was taken aback and forever intrigued by this simple, truthful statement which has implications so deep that it helps you better understand the Divine.

Electrons and Protons, when combined in various combinations give rise to everything material we know, ions, atoms, molecules, compounds, mixtures, polymers, everything!

Just like how 4 genetic bases, Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, Cytosine give rise to so many genetic codes when they are in the various combinations.

Just like how alphabets bring meaning when they are in specific combinations.

Just like how zeroes and ones run everything digital when they are in specific combinations.

So what is the nature of information? It is definitely not in the letters or the sub-particles, rather it is in the relative arrangements of the alphabets or sub-particles.
This understanding takes us one step up the pedestal towards understanding the Ahlus Sunnah creed on the nature of God’s Kalam, as established by Imam ‘Ashary and Imam Maturidi.

The Sunnis believe that the Word of God is not the letters or the ink that make up the letters or the sound when a qari recites the Quran; rather the Word of God is intrinsic to His Sifat/Dzat/Essence and it is therefore unknown.

So where is information or knowledge? are they in the letters or alphabets? Surely they are not material…

God guide us all! Amin

PS: Izdiyad is, by the day, becoming more and more of a giant! Will post pics of him soon! Gerrrraaaaaaammmm!!!!!!!

Persepolis

I watched the animated film Persepolis a few days back, and as expected, it raised several issues worthy of discussion. Set in the backdrop of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, this film centres around the growing-up life of a girl named Marjane. The film of course received some protests from Iran, much like what had happened when 300 was still popular.

As a pretext, I do not say this film is representative of life in Iran, because I have minimal exposure to Iran or Iranian media. This film is from the view of the producers, but nonetheless, there are several issues to digest.

The Shah took over from the last Qajar Dynasty ruler, and was pro-US. He became increasingly unpopular, which was one of the factors that sparked the Iranian Islamic Revolution.

For history, can read up online or in library.
As for the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/

one of the things I wanna bring up was how things rather drastically changed for the Iranian people after the revolution. Prior to that, they were still secular; after which strict laws begun to determine how they live.

In this film, they have religious police in charge of curbing anything indecent in public. While the objective may be good, but the ways of execution may not always enjoy total agreeable consensus.

For example, the religious police go so far as to infringe on private homes to stem out alcoholism and partying. In authentic Islamic tradition, we are not allowed to infringe on people’s privacy, and there was a narration during the time of Caliph Umar when a man was admonished for doing just that. We are not allowed to spy on our brothers to look for their sins, wa laa tajassasuu. If they sin in private, let it be between them and God.

There was a scene In the film when marjane was so easily able to trick the bigoted religious police into arresting an innocent man reading the papers in the street. Marjane was wearing a Michael Jackson badge on her apparel, and this was the initial reason that attracted the attention of the police to her, the police saw that badge as a symbol of Westernism, and was thus unhappy. To get out of the sticky situation, she just pointed to the man and accused him of ogling at her, allowing her the opportunity to escape. I was surprised how quickly the police took the accusation to be true when in fact, the man was so engrossed reading the paper and was oblivious to Marjane’s presence in the first place.

Another scene was when Marjane rebutted her teacher in school about unfair treatment of the sexes.
She claimed that Iranian women are too highly restricted in their choice of clothing, whereas the man can wear just about anything; need not be traditional or Islamic, as long as they cover up where necessary. This, she say, was unfair treatment. Marjane is definitely unhappy with having forced to wear the hijab, she curses under her breath. She then begins to think that the authority practices gender-favouritism.

While islam preaches unity, It never enforces uniformity. People are free to have choices with regards to what they wear, so long as they meet certain conditions.
Why must a woman be forced to wear hijab when she should actually be willingly doing so, out of love for the religion.

The system of the religious police seems to be sending a message of “since I (outwardly) do what Islam requires, and you do not, therefore, I am better than you”. That is definitely a wrong idea; and this is also not to say that outward acts of worship are not important. Imagine, how would a hardline state compare to one where the Tasawwuf is commonplace, and people are God-conscious and humble, not because they are forced to, but because they understand, appreciate and love God, the Prophet saw and Islam. Surely the entire atmosphere will be different!

The whole issue is about finding a balance, that thin line separating one entity from the other; societal obligation to establish amar ma’ruf on the one hand, and going overboard in finding faults in others, on the other.

In general though, we are enjoined to see the good in others, the bad in ourselves, and not the reverse.

May God forgive us all our shortcomings and guide us all to his Good Pleasure, Amin.
Wallahu ‘alam

Persepolis: The ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty